“Oh?” Miss Cheerilee said carefully. “What about?”
“Well, it’s been the first day of a new school year,” Diamond’s mother said as she entered. Behind her, Diamond Tiara followed suit, ears and tail down, clearly feeling more mortified by the second. “Classes have begun again. And plans, for however much they’re worth, are being made.”
“Yes, that’s what the first day of school is,” the teacher replied with an eyeroll. “We all know—”
“Actually, I’m not sure we all do,” the pink mare interrupted, cocking an eyebrow at Sunrise. “I’m certainly not familiar with your latest curiosity.”
“Mom, I already—” Diamond Tiara started.
“Don’t speak while your elders are talking unless you’re spoken to, Diamond Tiara,” her mother cut her off primly. “It’s a sign of poor breeding.”
Taking in Sunrise’s mohawk and ear piercings, and then letting her gaze slide down to her bandaged hoof, the older mare added, “Amongst other things I could mention.”
Wincing, Cheerilee snuck a glance at Sunrise. But Sunrise seemed to be contemplating the ceiling with an almost philosophical air.
You’re putting on airs about being a thoroughbred pony, Sunrise thought, keeping her face neutral as she could. You’re actually doing this. You’re a pony, and you’re bragging about your own breeding. That’s… kind of amazing.
Just how many competitions did you have to show in, before your hubby said ‘I do,’ she wondered. Or did you judge him on his dressage instead, make him show his technical skills and endurance before condescending to let him into your boudoir?
Then, her eyes narrowing as she brought her attention back to the ponies around her, It would be funny if you weren’t using it to stab your fucking kid.
“Oh,” Cheerilee was saying. “Well, Mrs. Rich, this is Sunrise. She’s—”
“Not the pony I came here to speak with,” Mrs. Rich interrupted.
“…been helping me teach today, and incidentally doing a splendid job of it,” Cheerilee plowed on with slightly gritted teeth. “Sunrise, this is Spoiled Rich—”
“Diamond Tiara’s mother, and senior member of the Ponyville School Board,” Spoiled broke in again with a dismissal wave. “Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get down to the matter at hoof.”
Cheerilee sighed. “Which is?”
“My Diamond Tiara happened to mention that there’s to be a school play put on this year, and obviously you’ll want the best actress for the lead,” Spoiled said, circling Cheerilee and Sunrise as she spoke. “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that Diamond is a gifted artiste, and sure to make your little production a smash hit not only by her own performance, but also by her star example as a natural diva.”
“Mom, that isn’t what that means anymore!” Diamond Tiara objected, mortified.
“Quiet, dear, adults are talking. Anyway, as you know, the budget for this year’s school projects is coming up before the board in a few weeks. And, of course, the higher the quality of performance being offered, the more likely a higher number is to be settled upon…”
“Mother, stop it!” Diamond cried. “Please!”
“Diamond Tiara, that will do,” her mother snapped.
“Do you think I want you to buy a part for me?” Diamond demanded. “Do you really think anypony will respect me for that? You’re always doing this, making sure everypony will hate me, no matter what I do!”
“Diamond Tiara!”
“Just this once, let me earn it myself!”
There was a moment of pure ice, while Spoiled stared at her daughter, one eyebrow upraised. Then, she spoke.
“Let us be completely clear on something, young lady, right now.” She spat. “You were allowed to attend this little shack of a school again only under certain circumstances, Diamond Tiara. This filthy little chattel cage is lucky to have someone of your superior class and breeding even condescend to grace their peasant little lives with an example of proper pony leadership and the very least you could do is be grateful that you have parents who are willing to do the thankless work of guiding your life in a proper direction, not that I ever expect you to show any true gratitude…!”
The tirade continued, with Diamond Tiara shrinking more and more beneath it, wincing with every emphasized word as though she were being physically struck. Her ears lay flat and her eyes were tightly shut, with tears forming in their outer corners from sheer humiliation.
But Sunrise was no longer hearing Spoiled Rich’s words. A dim, high-pitched whine had overtaken her voice, drowning her out completely, even as a crimson, flickering haze had begun to overtake the edges of Sunrise’s vision.
Sunrise closed her eyes. She could feel the warm, dark hatred rising up to enfold her like a well-worn and comfortable robe. An old friend, now returned to visit her again. And for all that it had been a relief to be without it for so long, crazily, she realized she’d also missed that crimson rage.
And Spoiled Rich was certainly well-named. She was pampered. Soft. And ponies were just as fragile as humans, really.
From within the hidden recesses of Sunrise’s heart, a voice identical to her own seemed to hiss softly to her, It would be so easy…
With a deftness born from a lifetime of practice, Sunrise took hold of her hatred and expertly folded it within her psyche like a poisonous cloak. She caged it in a box and stored it in the back of her mind along with countless others acquired over the years, to be quietly forgotten.
Then, she opened her eyes again.
Outwardly, the entire process had only manifested as a long inhale, and then a longer exhalation. It had taken a moment at most. Mrs. Rich seemingly hadn’t noticed, her attention now being focused entirely upon Miss Cheerilee. Apparently the teacher had said something – Sunrise thought she might have dimly heard a ‘that’s enough’ – and Mrs. Rich was now staring at her in stunned silence. Meanwhile, Diamond Tiara was looking away from them all, obviously struggling against her tears.
Then, Cheerilee broke into Sunrise’s thoughts.
“Sunrise, would you take Diamond to the playground, please,” she said in a quiet and controlled voice, still looking at the matriarch before them. “Mrs. Rich, perhaps you’d care to join me in the classroom. Then we can continue this discussion in privacy.”
Recovering herself somewhat, Spoiled Rich shifted her condescending gaze back to Sunrise with the inevitability of a lighthouse’s glare.
“Oh, by all means, let’s do,” she said. “This is a conversation for the grown-ups, after all.”
Sunrise exhibited more self control than I would have in that situation.
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Yeah. Fortunately for all concerned, Cheerilee was there to make Spoiled take a step back, at least for a moment. I suspect she can crack her voice like a whip when needs be.
Just curious to what level does “professional confidentiality,” and “right to privacy,” exist in your Equestria?
My first thought reading this chapter was “Wait till Sunrise tells Luna about her day,” then the second was “Oh, private home life of a student is involved, she can’t,” then “the previous chapter made a point that Equestria isn’t a democracy and has different values and Luna is a Princess, maybe she can?”
So yeah, curious what Equestrian ethics say about the situation and what Sunrise can share.
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This is a brilliant question. I shall answer as completely as I can, and hopefully not ramble too much.
(maximum verbosity)
It is important to remember that within this nation, there has never been a Magna Carta, nor any form of a Bill of Rights. It is not a constitutional monarchy, per se, simply because a need for limits to the central government - the Two Sisters - has never been perceived to such an extent that any such limits were ever placed. At least, not yet.
Literally the closest to a limit to diarchal power this Equestria has is the law making it illegal for Luna and Celestia to be worshipped as gods. Which really isn’t very close. “Democracy” is considered by the vast majority of ponies to be a synonym to “mob rule.” The principal practitioners of democracy known to ponykind are pirates, which doesn’t exactly help matters.
A lot of the laws in this Equestria are a century or more behind our world’s “first world” nations, simply because the need for those laws either doesn’t exist, hasn’t been recognized, or hasn’t reached the royal ears yet. Child / foal labor laws, for example, are way behind most modern Earth society. This is both because of the apprenticeship system being partially still in practice (though social change is slowly phasing it out) and because of the relative lack of child abuse in pony culture in the first place.
There are other areas where this Equestria’s laws are a bit ahead, usually in areas that modern human society would consider to be related to social justice. Non-discrimination laws, for example. Additionally, some laws are leftover from traditions centuries ago and were simply never abolished. And, of course, there are also pony laws that humans just don’t need, such as laws governing the use of magic.
Professional confidentiality and right to privacy do exist within this Equestria, and in the other Equestrias I am writing about. Each law or revision, however, exists only because a problem arose and needed to be addressed (with perhaps a few isolated exceptions). And the thrones were always involved in those laws.
All of which is to say, on the face of it, “professional confidentiality,” and “right to privacy” do exist in this country, and at a glance would seem to be somewhat comparable to our own expectations. However, the princesses (including, now that she has become royalty, Twilight Sparkle) are categorically above the law.
Sunrise sharing such information without being asked by a princess to do so would generally be illegal, unless the foal in question was in danger. And, that includes sharing it with Luna. However, technically Sunrise could say that she had a serious concern about one of her students, and then reply with full disclosure if Luna asked for more details. Being the ponies they are, of course, there would be a great deal more discussion on the necessity of such a revelation first.
Furthermore, Equestria has a far stricter interpretation of “higher degree of responsibility” than our world does. While commonly left to the discretion of a judge, it is commonly understood that the more personal power you have and/ or the greater responsibility has been placed upon you by pony society, the higher the expectations are upon you to cause no harm with your influence, even through ignorance. And, potentially, the greater the punishment if such a responsibility is neglected or abused. Any old pony telling a crowd to burn down a store would be in trouble, but Mayor Mare doing the same thing would be in much, much more.
(Though this is somewhat balanced by the pony tendency towards forgiveness of the repentant, the irony that pony society cannot legally call the princess to task for abuse of their highest responsibility at all is not lost on the other races.)
While common Equestrian ethics would only require that the princess ask, the personal ethics of both ladies would call for more care... which is one of the reasons the Two still have such a latitude in their power, and why Luna has such trust in her marefriend. And professional ethics for Sunrise would demand that she broach the subject with Luna only under the most dire of circumstances, especially considering the responsibility she holds regarding the well-being of foals as any kind of instructor. But legally, Luna has no obligations whatsoever... even when Sunrise does.
Everything gets tangled when you throw princesses into the mix, in part because for so long there were so few of them and they were so far removed from the rest of society. The laws just haven’t caught up yet. Technically, whether Sunny would be considered in legal violation of her degree of responsibility towards the well-being of the foals, as well as their right to privacy, could rely more on Luna’s actions than her own, with Luna’s actions being judged in part as the consequences of Sunrise’s actions. After all, Luna is above the law. Sunny isn’t. Which is kind of messed up.
Also technically, so long as Sunrise doesn’t name names or drop any other identifying information, she could share the basics of what happened. The problem is: how do you tell Luna any of this without the Princess of Dreams immediately knowing who you’re talking about? It’s unlikely she hasn’t been counseling Diamond Tiara at least a little by now. And barring emergency, Sunrise has a higher degree of responsibility regarding the foals’ safety. Which, in Equestria, includes their privacy.
So, ironically, because she’s in a relationship with somepony who is above the law (and can therefore legally hear anything), Sunrise is also in a relationship with somepony who cannot be given any information at all without compromising her students’ privacy (and therefore she can ethically tell little to nothing).
Meanwhile, while Luna is under no legal constraints whatsoever, she never speaks of the dreams she helps speaking folk navigate every night due to her own personal ethics and her own concerns for the privacy of others. You can bet there will be times these two will be bonding over how frustrating it can be to not talk about their jobs to one another, at least in any detail.
EDIT: In retrospect, it looks like I did ramble a bit. Sorry about that; I was tired.
So, is Diamond Tiara going to use her talent and MAKE her mother listen to her, or is Sunrise going to corner Spoiled and tell her something like: "You are Spoiled. Complely spoiled. Rotten to your core. You should have been tossed out like the garbage you are age ago. But no. You are still here. Poisoning all around you, your daughter most of all. But, I am fairly certain I am the first pony to speak to you like this. You know why? BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER ME! I answer only to the Princesses."
Well, there's your first problem.
Also, someone needs to remind Spoiled that the sister of national heroes attend this school, her family's fortune was earned in this town, and literally no one likes her. She is categorically wrong in literally every view of society she has, and she'd be pitiable if she weren't so very good at inspiring disgust and outrage in everyone she met. I don't suppose we can call in the Blueblood from a nearby timeline? Might be a bit outside the school's budget, but I can dream.
FUCK HER UP, CHEERILEE!