Diamond Hard

by Betty_Starlight

Chapter 16: Sobriety

Diamond Tiara read the paper while lounging on her green couch… She read because she had nothing better to do at that time… She read because she was lonely… She read because once again, Silver Spoon was late for dinner…

By this point, Diamond had stopped waiting up on her. She learned that if she did that, the food would only grow cold… She had toyed with the idea of making dinner later, since she knew her love wouldn’t be around yet, but the only problem with that is that it’s impossible to determine just how late Silver would be… She frowns and sighs, when finally, she hears the doorknob lock unlatch and in trots a familiar silver mare…

Silver Spoon trots in and glances at Diamond on the couch to her right as she passes, “I’m sorry about that, I’m late AGAIN! I swear, they really need to hire another accountant for the Appaloosa accounts!” she adjusts her body right, almost as an afterthought and trots forward to her pink love, sitting on the couch…

The pink mare who married her but a week earlier and was now glaring at her with an annoyed look in her azure eyes. Silver Spoon stops dead in her tracks to see the irritated, frowning gaze from the pink mare, before clearing her throat, “Uh, I’ll just order takeout!” she nods. “Yes, I will order takeout for us to eat now…” before trotting away from the couch to the other room, as Diamond continues to sit there, wordless, and deep in thought…

<*****>

Diamond stares up at the same familiar mahogany door, there in the family’s head office in Canterlot… She always adored the woodworking and designs they had put on the edges, and took a few seconds to admire that, before sighing as she stares at the door blankly with her blue eyes, and then deciding that now was as good a time as any, and so, she raises her right foreleg to knock on the door…

She hears the familiar masculine voice of her father yell from inside the office, “Come on in!”

Diamond opens the door inward to her right with her forehoof and trots into the office, with fire and determination in her sapphire eyes as she says in the same whiny petulant voice she’s used since she was a foal, “DAAAAAAAAAAD! Silver Spoon is ALWAYS working now and we NEVER have any time together! Could you PLEASE hire another accountant for the company in the south so we can have more time together?”

Filthy smiles from behind his bushy dyed black goatee and uses his right forehoof to comb back his slicked back black mane and then, fetches a cigar from the humidor box sitting on his right at the edge of his ornate antique desk, before moving it around in the air and putting the end in his mouth… He then grabs a hoof lighter from next to the box with the same hoof and squeezes the black device to create a flame and brings that to the front of his stogie before inhaling the flame to the end, where it ignites the front of the cigar… He then calmly says out the right side of his mouth, “Sit down, daughter! I have something important to talk with you about…”

Diamond gulps before beginning to trot leftward towards the wooden chair there, before Filthy’s desk. She props herself down on her haunches while witnessing a big cloud of smoke exit her father’s mouth. She then sees the haggard old stallion pull out a clear glass bottle with a brown amber liquid inside with his forehooves from somewhere underneath the desk and set it down gruffly as the liquid splashed back and forth inside. He then fetches two small glass tumblers and proceeds to pour some of the brown liquid into the glass on his left… He looks up at his daughter and smiles with the burning cigar still in his mouth as it slides to the right of his snout, he asks in his distinctly male rustic voice, “Would you like some bourbon, sweet Diamond Tiara?”

Diamond widens her eyes at the spectacle as it’s only about 10 in the morning! “Uh, no thanks, father!”

Filthy nods and smiles wider, “Oh, but I must insist, sweet daughter! I really think you should have a drink…”

Diamond gulps and frowns at this strange concept, “Well uh, okay dad!”

Filthy smiles, “Excellent!” before proceeding to pour bourbon into the other glass as he takes a drag from the stogie in his mouth and feels the warm tobacco smoke enter into his throat over his tongue. He then puts the bourbon bottle down to his left on the desk before and throwing the glass tumbler on his right over the table and towards his daughter before looking up at her with the burning cigar in his mouth and says out the right side, “Drink up, Diamond! I’d feel better if you were relaxed when you heard this…”

Diamond lowers her eyes to the lone glass of bourbon, sitting at the edge of her father’s desk before grasping it with her forehooves and bringing it to her snout…

Filthy grasps his own glass in his right forehoof while taking out the cigar with his left and after setting it down into his glass ashtray on the side, currently containing only a single cigar butt with some other ashes, and grasps his glass with both his hooves. He looks at his daughter sitting across from him and smiles, “Drink up!” and then power slams the whiskey down his snout as he greedily drinks it down and empties the glass in one fell swoop!

Diamond forms a frown on her face as she grasps her own tumbler and cautiously takes a timid swig of the strong tasting oak flavored liquor contained within, before obviously suppressing a grimace on her face…

Filthy eyes his daughter carefully as he notes, “You haven’t had nearly as much experience drinking as I, I see…” before grasping his cigar from the ashtray with his left forehoof and bringing it to his snout to take another drag, causing the embers at the end to glow…

Diamond blinks, “Father! Could you please explain to me why we’re drinking whiskey in the morning?”

Filthy smiles again before opening a drawer on the right side of his desk with his hooves and pulling out a picture…

Diamond cannot see the picture, although she’s certain she knows what it’s of as her father grins widely with the burning cigar in his mouth before he brings his left hoof up to grab it and flick off the ash into his ashtray, “You know, even after all this time, I still never forgot your mother…”

Diamond widens her eyes, “What do you mean? She lives in Ponyville, just a short train ride away!”

Filthy narrows his gaze at his daughter, with the burning cigar in his mouth, “I haven’t spoken to your mother, Spoiled Rich in about a year and a half now, Diamond…”

Diamond frowns, “W-what?”

Filthy lowers his gaze slightly as the tobacco roll continues to burn while held in his lips, “Drink your whiskey, dear! But yes, that’s why I was hoping you’d come by!” before setting the picture of Diamond’s mother on the desk...

Diamond blinks and takes another timid draw from her glass tumbler while Filthy pours himself another with the clear bottle of amber colored liquid on the table. She tries her best not to make a face in disgust as the bourbon sloshes down her throat and she widens her eyes when she manages to gulp it down. She then looks at the stallion, “What do you mean, father?”

Filthy raises his snout and takes a draw from his cigar as Diamond witnesses the burning front end glow red with heat and more smoke begins to pour out the front as Filthy stops inhaling only to take it out with his left hoof and exhale it to the right of his daughter, who soon narrows her eyes. He smiles slightly after leaving the stogie in his ashtray and bringing the tumbler of bourbon to his face, “I mean, I wanted to show you what happens, before it’s too late for you, too!” he nods, “Drink up!” before grasping his glass in his hooves and taking another mighty swig that empties most of the bourbon down his snout!

Diamond Tiara does not normally drink hard liquor. She doesn’t care for beer either and might have a single glass of wine on New Year’s Eve. And so, the powerful liquid was a different experience for her as she poured it into her mouth and tasted the bitter overpowering flavor of the bourbon on her tongue as it slid down her throat… She soon sits the empty glass down at the edge of her father’s desk… She sniffs the air and stares at her father, “I quit smoking, but I still love the way they smell!”

Filthy smiles at the pink mare, “Well, slide me your glass darling and I’ll pour you another! And grab a cigar if you like, darling! You’re family, after all!” before using his right forehoof to slide his ornate stained wood humidor box to Diamond’s side of the desk…

Diamond squints her eyes before using her right forehoof to slide her glass over to her father, and says to him, “Alright, dad! Alright…” she sighs from her snout. “I’ll smoke a cigar with you! But if you tell Silver Spoon about this, I’ll murder you with my bare hooves!”

Filthy chuckles slightly with the cigar still in his snout, “It never leaves this room, oh sweet daughter o’ mine!” he lowers his gaze deviously, “It’s our little secret!” before playfully winking at her with his right eye.

Diamond leans forward and slides the box lid off the top forward and grabs one of the cigars in the cleft of her right forehoof, and brings the stogie to her snout, before looking down at it with her blue eyes.

Without missing a beat, Filthy courteously ejects from his chair and trots around the desk on Diamond’s right before stopping and looking at his desk on his right before reaching there to grab his trusty black hoof lighter with his right forehoof and bringing it before his daughter’s face where he sparks it with the clefts of his hoof, causing it to ignite right in front of the cigar, currently in Diamond’s mouth. He smiles with his own stogie still burning in his mouth and says out the right side, “Inhale the flame to the cigar, sweetie! It gives you a mellower and more enjoyable light! And remember, you are not to inhale!”*

Diamond scrunches her brow at the blazing lighter before her before moving her head an inch forward to begin inhaling as she says out the right of her mouth, “I know that, dad!”

Filthy nods while Diamond inhales the flame into her cigar, “Of course, Diamond! But you know my philosophy! If you’re going to do something, do it right!”

A small smile forms on Diamond’s face as her lips puff at the now burning cigar and she feels the warm robust tobacco smoke traveling into her mouth, “Of course, father!”

Filthy closes the lighter and sets it down on his desk at his right before using the same right forehoof to remove his cigar from his mouth and he looks into Diamond’s eyes before saying, “Diamond… I know I haven’t really been there for you, in the past…”

Diamond widens her eyes and frowns before saying out the right of her mouth, “W-what?”

Filthy smiles and giggles slightly, “Yeah, it’s true! Whenever you had a problem, all I ever did was just throw bits at it! I never actually took the time to be a father for you, and for that, I am truly sorry…”

Diamond’s pupils continue to be enlarged as the stogie burns harmlessly in her snout, “What exactly are you trying to say, dad?”

He breathes long and hard out of his nostrils with a slight whinny and looks at the pink mare, dead in the eyes and says, “I’m saying, that I don’t want you to be like me… I’m saying that I can accept you being with a mare after all… But there’s just one thing…” he lowers his gaze while staring into Diamond’s eyes seriously, “You need to be with her, alright? Hire assistants and talk to me about your workload, if you need to, but family comes first, y’hear?” he nods and grins slightly wider, “I’m proud of you, daughter!”

“P-proud?”

Filthy maintains the smile on his face, “Why wouldn’t I be, Diamond Tiara? You’re doing a wonderful job managing your section of the Barnyard Bargains empire and now, you’ve managed to find love! I think those are achievements!” before looking over at his desk and using his right forehoof to slide over his glass ashtray for both ponies.

Diamond exhales a small cloud of smoke between her and the old stallion before removing her cigar with her left forehoof and ashing a bit into the glass tray on her left as she stares into the blue eyes of the worn old stallion… “So, me and Silver Spoon are to be together?” she blinks as the startling realization of what her father was trying to tell her set in… She stares back up at him, “Y-you don’t want us to turn out like you and mom?”

Filthy snickers lightly as the burning tobacco roll sits on the left side of his snout, “Correct! And that’s precisely why I didn’t hire more accounting help earlier! I needed you to see first hoof what can happen if you don’t learn to prioritize!”

Diamond frowns with her own burning cigar in the right side of her snout… “Wait! You already had ponies set to come in and help Silver Spoon?”

Filthy nods, “Correct! But first, I needed you to see what can happen...”

“Uh, dad! I don’t drink! You know this! And I really didn’t think I’d be asking you this but uh…” she adjusts her gaze to the stallion. “Can I please have another glass of bourbon?”

Filthy smiles and replies, “Oh, but of course, sweet daughter!” before reaching over to the table and sliding the bourbon bottle over with his right forehoof and then, adjusting his body to its haunches with the smoking cigar in his mouth so he can use both forehooves to pour the amber liquid into the empty glass his daughter was using.

Diamond frowns as her eyebrows furrow in earnestness, “And you’ll hire two new accountants, today, right?”

Filthy’s grin widens, “Oh, I had already planned on it!”

Diamond ashes her cigar with her left forehoof into the glass receptacle, once more, “You can afford any sort of bourbon you like, but you always get Pony Beam black label…” she frowns. “Why is that?”

Filthy lowers his gaze, “Diamond, that’s lesson number two! For love to be the most successful, you must keep it simple! The more outlandish or exotic things get, the less real it is and you two need to simply be there for each other…” he lowers his gaze and breathes heavily out of his nose, “You don’t need anything else! Do you understand?” before a small tear escapes his right eye socket and begins to fall down around his muzzle…

Diamond widens her eyes as she leans forward slightly, “Dad! Are you crying?”

Filthy eyes the pink mare carefully before replying, “Y-yes Diamond… I suppose I am…”

“Why are you crying?”

Filthy lowers his gaze and furrows his brow, “I love Spoiled Rich, okay?” he blinks. “I-I love her… Or I did love her?”

“Dad! Of course you love mother!”

Filthy raises his gaze and widens his blue eyes, “Do I, Diamond? Do I really? Because I haven’t seen your mother in a very long time!”

Diamond stammers out, “W-well! It’s not too late!”

“Yes it is, Diamond! She’s gone now and it’s too late for me… She might as well not even exist, anymore!” He gazes at the pink earth mare in his office, sitting before him in the plush red leather chair. “I…” he blinks and lowers his gaze in seriousness, “I heard what my spies told me about you and her… “ he shakes his head, “I don’t know much Diamond, but I do know love when I hear about it… That got me thinking…” he raises his gaze back up and sternly stares at the mare. “Don’t do what I did! Be with her!”

Diamond takes a draw from her cigar before exhaling the smoke out the other side of her mouth, “I-I’ll do my best, dad!”

Filthy smiles again, with the ashy cigar still in the left side of his snout, “That’s all I can ask, sweet daughter… And hey! You and I do have something in common! We both like mares!”

Diamond smiles and giggles, “Dad!”

Filthy chuckles before ashing with his right forehoof and bringing the stogie to his snout for another draw, “What? It’s true! Now drink up, Diamond!”

Diamond frowns, “Okay, father… I will…” her eyes go up to the stallion, “But I do have one request!”

<*****>

Silver Spoon marches back to the home she shares with Diamond Tiara on the North side of Ponyville. She thought it was very strange that her boss, the assistant manager of finances, specifically told her to go home when it wasn’t quite 3 in the afternoon! Still, she complied, and saw the familiar sight of her home, but it was different now… The door was slightly ajar, almost inviting into a darkened living area, and she also couldn’t help but notice the red rose petal trail on the ground, leading into the cottage…

She trots up to the door and yells, “Diamond? Are you in there?”

She hears the familiar feminine voice of her love say from the inside, “Come on in!”

Silver widens her eyes and gulps at the scene before trotting in…

She’s barely in the doorway when she’s tackle-hugged affectionately by a pink mare!

(To be continued...)

Author's Note:

*I know smoking isn’t generally considered kosher anymore and my generation is probably the last to do this, but traditionally, the male lights for the female. Smoking pot is often different however, depending upon whom you’re smoking with.

Comments

[Mike the Red]

very cute chapter, nice to see Filthy being more than accommodating to his daughter.