Timed Ramblings

by Midnight herald

Stupid

“Tiara, you don’t say stuff like that about my friends! You should know better by now!”

Tiara cringes and struggles with the urge to smack her head into the wall repeatedly. I really should know better by now, she snaps at herself. Way to screw it up again, DT. “Sweetie, I’m sorry. I just...”

“Ran your mouth off without thinking first, I know,” Sweetie sighs. “I know you’re trying, just... don’t go there again, alright?” Tiara just nods, shyly working up the courage to meet Sweetie’s eyes. They’re complicated, as always. Some honest anger is in there, burning deep and furious and terrifying, and irritation is there in spades, but it’s all tempered out and softened up by the genuine affection Tiara can see there. The frozen tightness in her chest melts into hot shame, melted by Sweetie and those beautiful eyes.

It always goes like this. Tiara messes up and says sorry, and each time she means it, and each time it’s true. And each time, like the angel she is, Sweetie forgives her, gives her another second chance, and everything’s sweet and wonderful until it happens again.

But lately, Sweetie’s been sighing a lot, especially after Tiara messes up again. She knows she’s on the last legs, that Sweetie’s running out of second chances for her. Is running out of patience for Tiara’s blunt stupidity about other ponies. Sweetie was always the one out of the three of them who was more likely to talk things through than come to blows on the hot summer days of childhood and playgrounds. That was why she’d gotten to know her better in the first place, had become friends and slowly, inevitably, more than that.

And so Tiara talks. She talks and promises and tries, but she never really acts. Not as much as she should. She swallows at the fear that coats her tongue, all sticky and heavy and tasting of silence, because she knows what she has to do. She needs a second opinion, she needs to fix the rift before it gets wider, needs to know more about her lovely unicorn and the ponies who make her who she is.

“Sweetie,” she murmurs, nuzzling her girlfriend, the best girlfriend in Ponyville, “I’m going to go talk to Applebloom this afternoon.” Sweetie tenses up suddenly, so Diamond kisses her gently on her silky white head, right above the ear, to help her calm down again. “And I promise I’m going to be civil about it,” she continues, rubbing Sweetie’s withers with a gentle hoof. “It’s stupid of me to think that I can be with you without getting along with your friends. It’s not fair of me to ask it, because it’s not fair to you to give it.” She gives Sweetie a quick little peck on the cheek and trots out of the room. “See you tomorrow, alright?” she calls as she sprints down the stairs.

She runs all the way to the Acres, her chest burning with every stride. She has to run, though, has to reach the point of no return before her cowardice can catch up to her and hold her down. It’s like the time when she pulled a tooth out with a doorknob on a dare. The longer she takes, the more likely it is that this’ll never happen.

Apple Bloom’s on the front porch, chewing on a haystalk like the ones Big Mac has sometimes. It falls out with her shocked gasp as Diamond Tiara comes to a sweating, panting halt at the steps below. “Diamond Tiara, what the hay are you doing here of all places?” Apple Bloom shouts. “I thought today was one of your days with Sweetie Belle.”

Tiara cringes again. It’s not fair to schedule out Sweetie’s time like she’s some kind of object to be passed around. “I... thought it would … good to talk with you,” she gasps, looking around and trying desperately to catch her breath. “If I’m... going to be with Sweetie, I should... know her friends better.”

Apple Bloom raises one eyebrow in perfect, deadpan confusion and total disbelief. “And what makes ya think I have any good reason to talk with you?” she spits.

Tiara thinks for a minute. “I don’t know, Apple Bloom.” She droops and turns around, defeated. “Sorry for bothering you.” She’s all set to walk away and bury this, to let it all die out when a gentle cough makes her whirl around. Apple Bloom waves her up onto the porch and gives her an arch, schoolteacher glare.

“So, Diamond Tiara, ya gonna give up just like that?” Apple Bloom growls. “That’s not the mare I know. So, we don’t have a good reason to talk? Then make one.”

TIME LIMIT------------------

This is it, her chance to make something new happen. To change herself, to become more like the mare that Sweetie deserves, more like the mare Sweetie tells her she is. So she marches up the steps and stands close enough to Apple Bloom to smell the sweat and machine grease and apple-somethings that surround the handymare. Close enough for a close aquaintance, according to Gentle Manners’ book for Ladies. She’s just being stupid right now, being afraid of the neighborly, accepting mare who’s offering her a chance.

“So, Apple Bloom,” she begins, testing out the path before her with hesitant, wary hoofsteps, feeling out her way. “What does a mare do around here for fun?”

Author's Note:

Prompt 276: " I need to change, but I don’t think that I can."

Comments

[DarkwingSnark]

Ya know, I don't actually give Tiara much thought in the show. To me she's just the cliche bully, and is too close to somebody I used to know in school. But saying that...you make me want to give her a second chance. Who knows, maybe she can become a better person...er, pony, with time. As always, I would be interested in where you might take her.

[Midnight herald]

2374581 I imagine that once Diamond Tiara gets laid, things will be a lot smoother around Ponyville. And call it the artist in me, but I don't believe in flatline cliches. Show me a cliche bully character and I'll do my best to show another side to them, within bounds of sanity. For the most part, anyhow...

[Mermaid]

as far as bully redemptions go this one is believable :0