Startled, she looked inside. It was late at night. Nopony should have been in there!
But no, there she was, clamoring down from a cushion in one corner of the clubhouse with a frown on her face. The flightless wonder herself, Scootaloo. What in Equestria was she doing here tonight?
Well, it wasn't like she could find anywhere else to go at this point. She'd have to stick it out, Scootaloo or no Scootaloo. She strode right in the clubhouse, attempting to call up whatever section of her dignity hadn't been trampled on.
"What am I doing here?" she said haughtily, with a flip of her mane. "I could ask you the same thing. Shouldn't you be back at home right now? Or doesn't anypony care where you are at night?"
Looking closer at Scootaloo, she noticed that she was bandaged up in several places. She looked away from the bandages guiltily, feeling somewhat responsible for them.
"Or maybe you should still be in the hospital, getting your side looked at?" she asked.
Scootaloo glanced down at her bandages and frowned. "This is nothing, no thanks to you. Nothing compared to a broken leg, anyways! Where do you get off just waltzing in here, especially after that?"
Taken back at the sheer venom in her voice, Diamond Tiara tried to make a recovery. "I wasn't-"
"You have some nerve!" Scootaloo continued on her rant, brushing aside anything Diamond Tiara had to say. "Have you even given a moment's thought to what Apple Bloom is going through right now? Do you even give a flying feather about anypony other than yourself?"
She hadn't stopped to think about it, actually, with everything else happening today. She normally didn't really think much about other ponies anyways, since it was really what happened to her that was important.
But something daddy had said earlier went through her mind. Apple Bloom was the heir to Sweet Apple Acres, just like she had been for Rich Enterprises. Suddenly she could picture herself in Apple Bloom's position. And she didn't like what she was seeing.
Diamond Tiara imagined herself, both hind legs broken, being wheeled from place to place in a wheelchair. She shuddered at the thought of not being able to walk on her own, and being totally reliant on other ponies for help. Nopony should have to deal with that. Not even Apple Bloom.
Feeling shaken, she took a step back. "I-I d-didn't mean-"
"You didn't mean what?" Scootaloo said, not letting her finish her sentence. She pushed forward, making Diamond Tiara step back again involuntarily. "You didn't mean to break both Apple Bloom's hind legs? You were aiming for just one, perhaps?"
She wasn't sure she'd ever seen Scootaloo this worked up before. "It wasn't like that!"
"Then what was it like, then, huh?" she fired off, pushing Diamond back into the doorway. "You leave Apple Bloom crippled, and then you have the gall to show up here of all places, with that stupid-looking tiara of yours-"
She paused for breath, and finally took in Diamond Tiara's appearance.
"Wait a minute. Where is your tiara? And what's with all this," She gestured at the bundle by the door, "feathering junk you've brought with you? What the hay are you doing here?"
It had been a really long night. Diamond Tiara had had more stress tonight then in most of the rest of her life, save maybe when her mother died. A good argument might not have been foreign to her, but she usually leaned on Silver Spoon, and she wasn't here.
Diamond Tiara was about at her breaking point, and even without the other factors at work, her missing tiara and her memory of its destruction still felt like a gaping wound. Its mention might have been enough to set her off by itself.
But she just couldn't take any more tonight. Her legs suddenly gave way under her, and she collapsed on the spot, sobbing. These weren't a couple decorative tears and sniffles. She began absolutely crying her eyes out nonstop, paying no attention to Scootaloo whatsoever.
She knew Scootaloo was still there somewhere in front of her. She just didn't care any more. She'd had way too much thrown at her in one night, and was giving up. Everything else faded into the background for her, except herself and her misery.
"Oh, come on now," she heard a disgusted voice from in front of her. "This isn't fair. You're the bully here. You aren't supposed to break down crying."
Then what was she supposed to do? She might have been mean and a bully before, but she'd been strong. Tough. Like a diamond. But she didn't feel that way now.
"Don't think I'll let you off for what you did to Apple Bloom just because of this. It was unforgivable!"
Now she just felt fragile. Broken. Like her tiara. Shattered.
A sigh came from in front of her. "I cannot believe I'm going to do this."
Diamond Tiara suddenly felt two forelegs wrap themselves around her and squeeze her in a big hug. She didn't care who it was. She was beyond that point. She just accepted the warm embrace and sobbed into the chest of the flustered filly in front of her.
She felt one foreleg gently stroking at her mane, and the other awkwardly patting her on the back. She felt as though something stopped up had been released inside of her.
"There, there," Scootaloo murmured. "It'll be alright. Now quit your crying so I can go back to yelling at you."
At this, she let out a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a sob. "I- I'm sorry."
"You're sorry?" she asked. "What about, crying?"
She was too drained for anything but honesty. "'bout A-Apple Bloom. D'n't m-mean to hurt her."
"Yeah?" she said, rubbing Diamond Tiara's back in circles. "Well, you did hurt her. She'll probably be out of the hospital in a couple days, but she's going to be in a wheelchair for months. Maybe longer. I spent most of my day sitting next to her, you know."
She hurt everypony. She hurt. "W-Wish there was s-somet'ng I could do to m-make it up to her."
Scootaloo just kept rubbing her back in circles, which was doing a lot to help her calm down. If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine her mother was there for her. But of course she wasn't.
"I'm not really sure you can make it up to her," Scootaloo said. "Though, you know she'll be in a wheelchair when she gets out, and is going to need a lot of help getting around. You were good at pushing her before..."
This did actually get a laugh from her, feeble as it might have been. "I suppose I shouldn't stop now. Though I'm not sure Apple Bloom would trust me with that."
"Well, I'd be there, too. And I'll kill you if you do anything like that again, and Apple Bloom knows it."
Diamond Tiara shivered at that statement. She really didn't want to cross Scootaloo right now.
Scootaloo stopped rubbing. "Anyways, think you can cope now?"
She wasn't sure she would ever be able to cope again. But she nodded anyways.
Getting out of each other's embrace was even more awkward than the embrace itself, especially since a part of Diamond Tiara really didn't want to let go. Afterwards, she felt very vulnerable. It felt like part of the armor she normally wore to protect herself from the outside world was suddenly missing.
Another part of her felt totally offended by the situation. Had she really needed to be comforted by Scootaloo, total loser and blank flank?
But then, I'm a total loser now, too. No home, no family connections, hardly a bit to my name. It's pathetic.
And she was actually warming up to Scootaloo despite it all. Alright, Diamond Tiara, pull yourself together. Enough self pity, enough being nice to blank flanks.
"Don't go thinking this means I like you or anything," she stated.
"Of course not." Scootaloo frowned. "You know, you're lucky I'm nice."
Diamond blinked as Scootaloo said this, apparently without irony.
"Right. With all that shouting and all." Who did she think she was kidding?
"No, seriously," Scootaloo stated. "Things could have gone a lot worse for you with somepony else here."
"What do you mean?" How could things possibly have gone any worse?
"Well, you walked straight onto my turf and attempted to lay claim to it," Scootaloo explained. "And you had previously injured one of my friends. Breakdown or not, by rights I should have beaten you up and tossed you right out on your flank, followed by your stuff, or worse. I'm still not sure I shouldn't do the latter."
"What? You couldn't just do that!" Nopony'd dare touch her, would they?
"Things may be different up on your manor. You might call for the servants to have me removed, or discuss matters over tea and crumpets. But this is the real world we're dealing with. Not the elite circles you are used to."
"B-but- My father-" she stammered out, earlier events quite going out of her head.
"Well, as far as your father goes, either he doesn't know you are here, in which case he doesn't matter, or he does know, in which case you are really in trouble. In either case, he isn't here, and this isn't a schoolyard, so you can't just call over Miss Cheerilee."
Diamond Tiara's mind whirled as she tried to comprehend what she had gotten herself into.
"In any case, like I said, you're lucky I'm nice," Scootaloo said. "Now, why are you here?"
Well, the only reply she could think of that might actually get her somewhere was also the truth. "I didn't think anypony'd be here, and I needed someplace to sleep tonight."
"Well, I am here," Scootaloo stated. "So, why should I let you spend the night?"
She actually still had a possibility of staying here? Why would Scootaloo be willing to let her sleep here?
"Um, because you're nice?" she ventured.
"Nice is why I'm even considering it. Why should I do it, though?" Scootaloo asked.
Well, she hated to do it, but if daddy had taught her one thing, it was that money takes care of most problems. She just didn't have much at the moment. But if it was the difference between having somewhere to sleep and not...
"I suppose could offer you a few bits to stay here." she said, regretfully.
"Well, if you're going to offer," Scootaloo said, "five bits for the night?"
She needed to save her money more than that. "Five bits for the week."
Scootaloo put one foreleg to her forehead and groaned.
"The week, huh?" She said. "If we're talking that long, I really need to know what's going on, and we'll need to lay down some ground rules."
Oh, she really didn't want this getting all over the school, and this was Scootaloo, who had all the reason to want to spread about her misfortune.
"Pinkie Promise not to tell anypony?" she said meekly.
"You really don't understand the situation you're in, do you?" Scootaloo sighed. "Things have happened tonight that neither of us want to talk about. I know you understand blackmail. This is that type of thing, only it goes both ways. But we can exchange your silly promises if you want."
They did so, and she felt much better, knowing that if either of them talked, they'd be faced with a wrathful Pinkie Pie.
"After Miss Cheerilee talked to daddy, we had a big fight about what happened with Apple Bloom."
"Good," Scootaloo said. "So what happened, then? You got upset about it, and ran away from home afterwards? If there are going to be search parties looking for you, I'd really prefer you slept somewhere else."
"No, nopony's going to be looking for me." It was her turn to sigh.
"Then what happened?"
"He started yelling at me, and s-smashed my t-tiara, then kicked me out," she said, feeling shaky again even thinking about it.
"Wow, sounds like he was angry. If he's cooled down and had time to think, he might already be looking for you, though."
"No, he said he was disowning me, had some paperwork there, and told Grey not to let me back in. I think he meant it."
"Ponyfeathers," Scootaloo swore. "Why am I the nice one, anyways? Alright, you can stay here for the moment, but you'll need to understand the ground rules, though."
She was going to be able to get some sleep at some point. Perfect.
"What rules?" she asked.
"Well, main one is this is my place, or ours when Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are here. So pretty much anything the three of us says goes without question, with my decision being the final one."
"Isn't this actually Applejack's?" she asked. It was on Sweet Apple Acres, after all.
"Sorta, though most of it was made by Apple Bloom at this point. But if Applejack found out we were sleeping here, we'd have more problems than arguing over rules."
"I suppose so." Not to mention she'd be upset about her sister. And she was business partners with daddy, so if Applejack found out she was here, she'd probably kick Diamond Tiara right off the property, too.
"If you want to use anything in the clubhouse, ask first," Scootaloo said. "And you'll be expected to help keep things clean around here."
"You want me to be your maid?"
Scootaloo closed her eyes. "No. But we don't have maids here. So you'll be expected to clean up any messes you make, just like anypony else. I am so not cleaning up after you."
"Whatever," she said tiredly. Something occurred to her that she hadn't asked before. "Why exactly are you living here, anyways?"
"That's personal, and is my business, not yours," Scootaloo said. "It's already really late, and we'll be pretty tired as it is at school tomorrow. Lets just get to sleep."
School. Oh, she didn't even want to think about that. Sleep sounded good, though.
"Where do I sleep, then?" she asked.
Scootaloo pointed to another corner of the clubhouse, which, indeed, had another cushion. "You can sleep over there. Do you need any of that stuff you brought in tonight?"
"Just a minute." She grabbed a blanket and a pillow. After a moment, she decided to grab her teddy bear as well. Scootaloo took the bundle and shoved it through a trapdoor in the ceiling, presumably leading to a storage area.
Afterwards, she held out her hoof and waited. Diamond Tiara puzzled over this for a moment, then sighed and hoofed over five bits from her bag. Scootaloo made them vanish, then climbed back on the cushion she'd been on earlier.
Diamond Tiara settled down on her own cushion. She wrapped herself in a blanket, snuggled up to her teddy bear, and tried to forget where she was and get some sleep. It wasn't easy.
I do not know if I like this story line or not but I will keep tabs on it. Maybe I'll be able to figure whether I do or not later
Okay, so I wasn't actually expecting Scootaloo to beat Tiara up, so I'm not really surprised she decided to be reluctantly nice. That "Now quit your crying so I can go back to yelling at you" line was pretty funny, though, along with the bit about her crying not being fair. That's how you know your yelling is working, Scoots!
Hmm, I wonder what's going to happen the next time Tiara encounters, well, lots of different ponies, actually. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if practically their whole class hates her now, especially since she's not likely to tell any of them about her punishment. The CMC might the only ponies she can turn to for a little while, ironically enough. At least Sweetie Belle is, well, a sweetie, so she'll probably be nice too. Not sure about Bloom, though.
2570207
I mentioned going through no less than four drafts of this chapter? Both the lines you mentioned stayed the same through all four drafts, with maybe some minor polish along the way. The whole breakdown and awkward hugging scene is one I knew was a keeper.
In fact, the area that underwent the most changes was the discussion afterwards. Scootaloo was acting far too nice in early drafts, even talking all about her backstory(Which changed since I cut it, anyways). I was trying to get a good balance between nice and pissed off. Though I miss some of the bits I cut.
Obviously, Scoots hasn't actually reduced her opponent to tears before. Though she didn't really this time either. Diamond probably would have broken down next time she had a chance to actually think about things anyways.
There is the question of how many of her classmates know what happened, but Apple Bloom's absence will be rather noticeable, and word spreads quickly about these things. While Diamond would probably be in a lot better position if she did tell a few other ponies about her punishment, she isn't very likely to. So, that leaves the CMC knowing, and Silver Spoon having a bit of an idea.
Sweetie Belle's reaction should be next chapter. Generally kids with a broken leg are kept under observation for a few days, so I'm figuring Apple Bloom will be back in the story come the weekend, and we can find out what she thinks of the whole situation then. And poor Scoots gets stuck with showing Diamond how you get by when you don't have anypony taking care of you...
2568860
Eh, Scootaloo may be upset, but she's good at heart. She wasn't going to make Diamond go find a bush or something to sleep in for the night. Of course, that doesn't mean she's happy with her, or that they are friends.
Glad you're enjoying the fanfic so far, though.
2568874
Hope you end up liking it.I realise this is one that isn't likely to please everyone...
Scootaloo was way nicer than I expected. Also, this is awesome.
2572072
I was worried about making her too nice, actually. I toned down how nice she was and made her considerably more hostile between drafts. There was an element of reminding myself that just because I know backstory for her doesn't mean she's going to go around telling everypony about it, for example.
After I cut her angsty backstory from the dialogue, I decided to change it to a different angsty backstory I liked better.
Also, Diamond Tiara was due for a break. You have to have good things happen to a character periodically, or all the bad stuff happening to them will lose its impact.
Glad you like it, in any case. And Diamond Tiara's making progress. She actually thought about somepony elses situation for once in her life. Doubt it'll last...
I realize I'm late, but are you even still working on this? It's been an awful long wait for the next update. Honestly, I love the idea, and this is shaping up to be a really great story, as it has already. Keep up the good work, I'll be waiting!
2617731
Um, yes, I am still working on it?
I published this fanfic on Apr. 29th, and the last chapter was May 12th, with another one in between there. The first two chapter dates are just messed up due to being from rough drafts.
So it's been about a week and a half, which isn't too bad. My other story, Just Winging It, hasn't been updated since May 4th, so I'm concentrating on a new chapter for that. As it happens, I'm about done with the first draft for that chapter, and then plan to do a more polished draft. I'm likely to release a new chapter on that fanfic this weekend, since it's a long weekend.
At that point, I'll be concentrating on the next chapter for Cubic Zirconia. I'm actually about 1k into the current draft for that chapter, though, and I have a 3k earlier draft, though I'm reworking things a lot from that.
Figure it won't be too uncommon to have a few weeks between updates. And last weekend really sucked as far as writing goes. I actually have a fairly good mental plan of where things are going on this, though.
Anyways, glad you like the story so far.
Two things kind of bother me about this chapter:
1) Scootaloo sounds too old in places. There are a few lines that are just golden (you know which one, don't pretend you don't), but when she talks about her 'turf', it sounds way too formal and adult. Unless she had the exact same speech from a grownup and is mimicking that, her dialogue needs to be toned down and simplified. Everything she says is good, but the way it's worded can use help.
2) Orphanloo, or the hint thereat. I rank Orphanloo on the list of "Banes of my Existence" somewhere in between 'procrastination' and 'Powerpoint presentations'. There had better be a reason Scootaloo is not being taken care of by a responsible adult, be it her blood relative or a designated guardian. And it had better be a good one .
2632022
Yeah, it is a very difficult situation, especially since I have a fairly naive Diamond Tiara for this story. Actually, Silver Spoon's parents seemed to have a better handle on punishments in this case...
And I fixed the double "just".
2632058
Thank you for mentioning Grey. I enjoy his character for exactly the reasons you mentioned.
As far as Apple Bloom goes, keep in mind that we've heard from Filthy Rich and Scootaloo about the extent of her injuries, not a doctor. And I'm tending to think of Zecora's cures as not everyday things. Of course, Apple Bloom will think of it.
I'm tending to go with a few days of hospitalization, than 6-8 weeks in a wheelchair, and an assessment from there.
2632088
Remember me saying in a pm at one point that this fanfic was going to invoke a cliche you didn't like? This chapter is it.
I had so many issues writing Scootaloo in this chapter, and some of it was dialogue. It was even more adult in a previous version. And she was too nice before that. The section about turf actually did feel to me like she was quoting what someone had said to her at some point, though.
And, yes, I know Orphanloo is unrealistic, and a bane on existence. Writing it in was pretty much a sacrifice I made for where I wanted to go with the story. And I do have a backstory for Scootaloo, and know why she doesn't have a guardian. I'm just hoping I can pull it off properly.
For the record, this line of dialogue made it through three drafts before being cut:
It got cut when I realised that this Scootaloo was too stubborn to talk about her backstory with Diamond Tiara. So it'll take awhile to come to light. In fact, the next chapter's a bit difficult to write because I'm trying to reconcile things I want to have Diamond Tiara notice with them not having been noticed generally.
I can't wait for the next chapter. DT has been in need of a serious reality call for a while.
2634052
Thanks. To be honest, for me, a lot of why I'm enjoying this one is trying to write from the perspective of someone who has had their entire world shattered. That and trying to write her thinking consistently with the way it should be. Self centered, egotistical, and naive.
And making her likeable while doing so, which is the real trick. I actually feel somewhat sorry for her while writing this.
Of course, I know what's happening at school tomorrow, and what's actually going on with Filthy Rich.
Scootaloo's a bit of a challenge for me in this one, actually. I'm not used to writing a full orphan!Scootaloo, even if I have lots of practice writing her otherwise.
2634152
You are doing a good job on scoots.
But yeah I like DT being homeless for once, although I don't know if Filthy will keep her gone forever. But I have a feeling that he'll keep her gone until she learns not to be such a her.
I'm really loving this story. Keep up the good work!
2676834
Thanks! Still trying to get past the next chapter. Sweetie Belle's being a bit difficult. 1.9k into it, and it's taking forever...
Doesn't help that there's a paragraph or two that catches my eye the moment I open the document, and immediately hits me in the feels.
Oh hells yeah. Scootaloo!
Fun fact: Diamonds aren't nearly as tough as most people belive. In proportion to their density, they are actually surprisingly fragile. As is often the case, people confuse toughness with hardness. Quite symbolic, don't you think?
Why doesn't one question why she lives in a tree house?! Anyways, I'm loving this. Diamond actually BECOMING like Scootaloo in the future will be a shock.
2809301 I think Scootaloo is homeless.
I have been reading a lot of Diamond Tiara fan-written literature recently. Even though stories like ----- ----- and ----- ---- --------- ------- ---- deal with Diamond Tiara's relation with Applebloom, the former being the entire Apple family, albeit philosophical, there is one thing these stories have that this one doesn't: a premise.
Also, this may sound a bit petty, but isn't Diamond Tiara too young to, oh I don't know, BE TREATED LIKE A ******* ADULT?!?! She's a filly, for the love of Diarchy!!!
Oh wow. It just dawned on me how much of a horrible person both her father and his butler are.
4892584 The butler isn't horrible, he's just doing his job, its like with police, some police seem bad for doing stuff when they are actually doing there job, police brutality however is when they do something that they shouldn't have done nor needed to have done just because they can. The butler here, did what he was told and allowed her back in the house just long enough to get her stuff, so he was actually kind and went against his employers wishes.
4892584 you say filthy rich is a horrible person i say he is having an extremem reaction to a life changing realization, he's realized everything he's done for his daughter has only lead to her becoming a socialy distable monster. if he kept her in his house he likely reasoned it would eventualy lead to him making excuses for her more and more until eventualy daimond escalated too something worse. he is doing his best to save both of them by sending daimond too learn how the real world works he likely hopes she well learn how to interact with others. considering we haven't heard charges have been pressed for what would in ANY other case be a criminal act with automatic juvenile detention center time at the least, it's logical he managed to use money to keep her from facing charges. too me this shows him as a much more loving (if mislead) father then anything else.
Way to do it, Scootaloo! LIKE A BOSS.
Man... best pony is hard enough, but then a fic like this comes around and now it's impossible for me to even pick best crusader? Horse-apples!
Pure gold.
I wish I could use this in real life.
One small point, it is Cerilee, acording to site canon.
6387421 .
Thanks. I've mentioned before that I totally rewrote this chapter four times before I was satisfied. As I recall, that line, or a variation of it, was in all of the versions. It was too good to lose. It's one of the lines I'm really happy with.
6387506
I'm not sure what you mean here. I will mention that this story was started in 2013, and takes nothing in seasons four on into account, though I occasionally work things from later into new chapters.
--arcum42
Ok soooo diamond is basically becoming an orphan...... I did not see that coming. Also this is really sad. I'm loving it!
Cap.
_____________
8107450
Not sure it's absolutely needed, but alright.
--arcum42
3253737
filly that still delibretly cause a accident that most likly lead another filly handicap by breaking her legs