> Friendship Splits
>  by Discorded SheepcityUSA
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Old Buddies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Monday.

It goes without saying that this day is hated by most ponies. Just the knowledge that your fantastic weekend is coming to an end and that you must go back to school is enough to bring a foal to tears. It was on this dreaded day of the week that the little colts and fillies of Ponyville must return to their daily studies. 

But this Monday would be different. For today, Ms. Cheerilee’s class would be getting a new student.

On the west side of this village was a small, yellow building with a rather large, inflatable ice cream cone resting on its rooftop. It looked quite humble for what it had to offer, by Ponyville’s standards at least. This place was known as “Rocky Road”. It was an ice cream parlor owned by two enthusiasts of the frozen desert from Hoofington. One of the ponies a pink unicorn mare with a purple mane and an ice cream cone Cutie-Mark. This pony’s name was Soft Serve, and she had started this little business with her husband. He was a brown Earth Pony stallion with a black mane and a root-beer float Cutie-Mark; This pony’s name was Shaken Soda. Together, these two not only had a successful business, but also had a foal.

And that’s where this story begins.



As stated, it was Monday morning in Ponyville. All of the foals in town had gotten into their morning routine and prepared for the upcoming school day.

All except for this one unicorn filly.

In one of the upstairs bedrooms Rocky Road had to offer, you would think that a mad scientist would’ve lived inside. There were several hundred beakers filled with unknown, colorful liquids, burning hot plates everywhere, a gigantic ice cream dispenser, and several notebooks scattered across the floor, all seemingly filled with notes and formulas of various kinds, but all leading back to a similar topic.

Making and perfecting ice cream.

Sitting at a small desk among the organized chaos was a short, blue unicorn filly with a purple mane, not too unlike her mother’s. Her orange eyes were extremely bloodshot from a lack of sleep and over-concentrating. Emblazoned on her flank was a Cutie-Mark of two scoops of ice cream with a large banana resting next to them. Covering her forehead were a pair of protective goggles.

This filly was Beauty Split. Daughter of Soft Serve and Shaken Soda. 

And she was in what she called “The Delight Zone”

You see, you unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension. A dimension of deliciousness. A dimension of chocolate. And most importantly, a dimension of mind. Your moving into a land of both creativity and taste of things and ideas.

You’ve just crossed into, “The Delight Zone”



…In other words, Split had an idea.



“Come on Split. You’ve got this old girl. Just hope to Celestia this one doesn’t blow up.” She said in a determined tone with a hardened expression plastered onto her face. Before her on the desk were two things. A large, red book titled “Dessert Magic for Morons”, and a bowl of vanilla ice cream.

Split reached up and pulled the goggles over her face. She looked like she was in an intense stare down with the frozen dessert, narrowing her eyes. She immediately closed and began to charge up the magic in her horn, which lit up a light blue. Now surrounding the ice cream was an aura of the same color. After a few seconds, it started to bubble and change from its natural whiteness to a light pink.

Split was twisted into a state of pure concentration as she worked. All night she had been working to perfect this spell. This specific type of magic had the power to change the flavor of any kind of ice cream into another.

It probably would’ve ended a lot better if her mother hadn’t interrupted her.

“Split, are you awake honey?” Soft Serve said with a knock on Split’s door.

“Wha-?” This sudden action broke Split’s concentration almost instantly which in turn caused her spell to overload and…


Soft Serve then heard a loud boom from the other side of her daughter’s glitter-sticker covered door and felt genuinely afraid to observe the scene in Split’s room should she open it.

The action was done for her by her daughter, who appeared to be drenched from head to hoof in melted ice cream, the liquid covering her goggles so it blocked out her eyes.

Soft Serve wore a very concerned look on her face as she looked at her soaked daughter.

“Ummm…Split are you alright?” she asked.

Split then pushed the goggles back to her forehead, revealing the only part of her body to be unfazed by the explosion. The area around her eyes had been completely untouched thanks to her protective lenses.

“I was.” She said in a grumpy pout.

Soft Serve tilted her head to its side.

“Oh, I broke your concentration again didn’t I. Sorry Sweetie.” Soft Serve apologized.

“It’s fine mom. Wait a second…what’re you doing up in the middle of the night?” Split asked with a confused look.

“…Split its eight in the morning. Were you up ALL night?” Soft Serve asked.

Split’s eyes widened in terror and she took a very deep breath.

“WHAAAAAT?!” She screamed. Split had been so caught up in her work that she had COMPLETELY lost track of the time. It only got worse when she remembered that today was her first day of school in Ponyville, and she was probably going to be late.

Split then bolted out of her room, zipped past her mom, and quickly galloped down the stairs, where she saw her father, Shaken Soda standing at Rocky Road’s counter drinking his morning coffee with a newspaper in his hoof.

“Morning Split. Have a good slee…oh dear.” He said when he laid eyes on the mess covering the filly’s fur.

“Yeahgoodmorningdadcan’ttalkrightnowori’llbelateforschool.Loveyoubye!”Split said all in one breath as she grabbed her saddle bags and zipped out the front door, slamming it shut behind her. 

“…She’s actually going to school like that?” Shaken Soda asked his wife who had just trotted downstairs.

“Don’t worry honey. Knowing Split she’ll find some way to look presentable before she gets to school.” Soft Serve assured.





After rinsing herself off with somepony’s garden hose and shaking herself dry like a dog, Split had made her way to Ponyville’s small, red schoolhouse, hearing the bell at the top loudly ring. 

“Alright Split. First day in a new school. You’ve got to make a good impression!” Split said in a determined tone. She then levitated a small mirror out of her saddlebag and looked at herself in it.

Putting it lightly…

Her mane was a horrendous, poofy abomination that would probably make a certain white unicorn run for the hills on sight of the accursed thing.

“Oh dear Celestia! My mane looks like it was assaulted by a manticore! I can’t go in there like this! I’ll be a laughingstock!” Split wailed. She then levitated a brush out of her bag and started to brush her mane back into place with a few gentle strokes. She then managed to tie it back into its normal, ponytail fashion with a ribbon from her bag.

She looked back into her mirror, carefully inspecting the current state of her newly brushed mane. Being the very detail-specific perfectionist she tended to be, Split wanted to make sure she made a good first impression on her new classmates.

Unfortunately, this enormous attention to detail tended to sometimes drive her a little nuts.

“Ooooh. I just don’t know. What if they don’t like me? What if my stupid perfectionist self annoys everypony? What if-“

‘Will you stop being an insecure wuss already and just go inside?!’ she thought to herself. Split then slapped herself across her cheek.

“No! You can’t chicken out now Split! Just be nice to everypony, try and introduce yourself, and try to makes some new friends. Everything is going to be just fine!” Split assured herself as she trotted up to the schoolhouse’s door…





Diamond Tiara rested her chin on her hoof, a look on her face that clearly conveyed that she didn’t care what Ms. Cheerilee was lecturing the class about. Not that this was very different from any other day really. Not even Cheerilee’s upbeat and happy tone of voice was enough to keep the rich filly’s attention.

But it really isn’t her fault. NOPONY in Equestria can make math sound even the slight bit interesting.

It. Is. IMPOSSIBLE. 

‘Ugggh. Why do I even have to go to public school with these losers?’ She thought bitterly to herself. This really was a legitimate question on her part. She never really understood why she couldn’t just go to private school with foals that were more like her. Her dad said it had something to do with “Teaching her humility” or something like that.

Well if that was what he intended, it definitely wasn’t working.

In her bored daze, her eyes shifted to the desk next to her. Her best friend, a grey filly with glasses and a spoon Cutie Mark, Silver Spoon, sat there practically asleep.

‘Hehe. At least somepony other than me has enough sense when to realize when something is hilariously boring’ Diamond thought.

Just when Diamond felt like she was going to doze off herself, there was a slight knock on the schoolhouse door which jolted the filly out of her trance, as well as Silver Spoon. The disturbance also caused Ms. Cheerilee to stop talking.

“Oh that’s right! Class I forgot to mention that today we would be getting a new student! She must have been running late this morning, the poor dear.” Cheerilee said loud enough for the class to hear her as she trotted to the door.

Diamond looked over to Silver Spoon and the two smirked devilishly and engaged in a bit of silent conversation.

‘New kid huh?’

‘Looks like it. You know the drill. Show em’ who’s boss.’

Cheerilee turned the doorknob and opened the door. The new pony apparently was a little skittish and hadn’t actually come in yet, and was out of view to everypony else.

“Well hello. Are you Ms. Beauty Split by any chance?” Cheerilee asked.

“Umm yes ma’am, that’s me. Sorry I’m a little late. I kind of got caught in “The Delight Zone” last night and didn’t pay attention to the time. Sorry.” The voice of the new pony said.

“…Erm…well, I’ll let it go this one time since it’s your first day. Just try to be on time from now on alright?” Cheerilee said, obviously not aware of this filly’s strange state of mind when she was having a creative explosion.

After this information was made aware to Diamond Tiara, she instantly gave her first buck of the day.

‘Hoooooold up! That voice. That name…No way.’ Diamond thought. Her realization had come as an even bigger shock to her when the filly who owned the voice walked into the classroom.

‘…It IS her!’ Diamond screamed internally.




Beauty Split’s eyes nervously scanned the room around her with a very sheepish smile. Seeing all of these ponies staring at her made her extremely uncomfortable. 

All of those eyes.

Looking right at her.

Silently judging her every move and every decision.

‘You’re looking absolutely stupid staying quiet like this. SAY SOMETHING YOU MORON!’ her conscious screamed.

“Umm…Hi?” She said nervously.

Her mental self facehoofed.

‘Nice first move idiot’ 
‘Shut up.’

A few of the colts and fillies waved “Hi” in her direction with happy and welcoming looks on their faces. Though this relieved Split a little, she still didn’t feel quite right about so many ponies looking straight at her at the same time, and she nervously darted her eyes around the room for something, ANYTHING to break the tension.

And that’s when she saw the overly fascinated pink filly wearing a tiara.

Split knew only one pony that had the combination of that face and that purple and white mane, and she recognized the filly almost instantly.

“…Diamond Tiara is that you?!” Split said with a now beaming smile, the uncertainty from before not seeming to take affect anymore.

Split’s smiling seemed to be contagious, as Diamond did the same.

“Split, you didn’t tell me you were moving to Ponyville. Great to see you again!” Diamond said in a rather cheerful tone that was incredibly rare on this filly. 

Upon seeing that these two somehow knew each other, everypony in the room perked up in shock. Silver Spoon had a sort of “What the buck just happened” look, The Cutie Mark Crusaders all had their mouths agape, and even Cheerilee looked surprised.

“…You two…know each other?” Cheerilee asked.

“Oh absolutely! Diamond used to live next to me back in Hoofington. Heck, we were best buds the two of us.” Split said proudly.

“Yeah, Split and I go waaay back. She’s a cool filly, and I can’t say that about a lot of ponies.” Diamond said.

Cheerilee wasn’t entirely sure how she was supposed to respond to the ending of that statement, so she decided it was best to just move forward with class.

“Well you two will have plenty of time to catch up during recess. Split, there’s an empty seat right next to Featherweight over on the right.” Cheerilee said, pointing to the only vacant desk in the room. Split thanked Cheerilee and made her way over to her desk. On her way there, she noticed the looks the other ponies were giving her had dramatically changed. In a sharp contrast from earlier, they were looking at her now with glares so hard that she swore she would burst into flames if they stared any harder.

The feeling of uneasiness was starting to creep back into Split’s mind as she noticed the looks the ponies were giving her.

‘What’s that about? Did I…do something? Oh jeez, I thought I had taken every possible precaution to avoid this.’ She thought to herself. She took her seat next to a buck-toothed Pegasus colt whom Cheerilee had identified as Featherweight. To try and break the tension starting to build up, Split decided to directly introduce herself.

“Umm…Hello. My name’s Beauty Split. Nice to meet you.” She said with the most optimistic tone of voice possible considering her situation. 

Featherweight visibly flinched and started to cower back into his seat and he was starting to shake.

“Y-You k-know Diamond Tiara?” he asked with a nervous stutter.

“Uhhh yeah?”

“Oh dear Celestia…Please…just don’t destroy my social life. I didn’t do anything to you!” Featherweight pleaded.

“…Huh?”

> Catching Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The one thing Split had been afraid of before coming into her new school was that other ponies wouldn’t like her for her overly perfectionist personality. That part of her seemed to drive off a few ponies back in Hoofington; it seemed to make her come off as annoying to most other foals.

But here, it didn’t seem like that was the case.

She had barely even said a word, and yet these foals all seemed to want nothing to do with her already. The entire class period, she couldn’t get over the several pairs of eyes glaring at her. Her mind had been mostly focused on trying to understand why Featherweight was still shifting uncomfortably in his seat next to her.

‘What is everypony’s problem? I’ve barely even said two words to anyone.’ She thought to herself.

After about another hour of mathematics (And if Split knew Diamond Tiara, she knew she didn’t understand any of it), Ms. Cheerilee dismissed her students for lunch time. Everypony  had lined up and trotted outside to the lunch tables. 

After the disaster with Featherweight, and seeing the dirty looks she was getting from her classmates, she felt a little unsure of where she was going to sit.

“Hey Split, over here!”

Split heard the voice of Diamond Tiara calling to her from across the playground, and saw her sitting at a table with the grey filly she had been sitting next to in class. 

Although the day so far was starting to leave a sour taste in her mouth (and not in the good “Sour Gummy Worms” kind of way Split was used to), she was happy that her best friend was around. Split trotted to Diamond’s table, sitting herself on the opposite side of Diamond and Silver Spoon.

“So, it’s been a while hasn’t it? How’s Ponyville been treating you?” Diamond asked. 

Split shrugged. 

“Alright I guess. Mom and Dad got this ice cream place set up on the west side, and I’ve been experimenting with my magic there.” Split said.

Diamond Tiara was fully aware of Split’s over the top obsession with perfecting her magic (as well as her looks) and it never ceased to amuse her.

“Still working on that whole ice cream magic thing? OCD much?” Diamond teasingly asked.

“The Delight Zone has no rhyme or reason when it comes to these things Diamond. Whenever I enter, I HAVE to stay in until my work is to my liking.” Split said in a manner that showed her great deal of knowledge on the subject of her brain surges.

Diamond seemed to understand, but Silver Spoon obviously did not. 

“Ummm, what the hay is this whole 'Delight Zone' thing you’re going on about?” she asked.

Split cleared her throat.

“Oh. Well allow me to enlighten you on the subject…?”

“Silver Spoon”

“Of course. As you can see by my Cutie-Mark, I have a talent for perfecting the science and magic of creating ice cream. And whenever I get a new idea, whether it be for a new flavor or spell regarding it, I enter this state of mind. A 'trance' of sorts. I have come to call it, 'The Delight Zone.'"

“How the heck does THAT work?” Silver Spoon asked.

“Basically, The Delight Zone has one rule. I absolutely have to continue working on my idea until I deem it “worthy.” If I don’t, it’ll cause me to fidget and twitch uncomfortably until I get back to work and complete it.” Split said.

Silver Spoon was silent for a few moments before putting on an overly large smile and nudging Diamond’s shoulder.

“Diamond, I think we need to talk” she said through her teeth.

“Uhhh, alright. Split, can you give me a minute?” Diamond asked.

Split nodded and Diamond Tiara trotted next to Silver Spoon out of Split’s hearing distance.

“Alright, I’m just going to get right to the point…Diamond, that filly is CRAZY!” Silver Spoon exclaimed.

Diamond Tiara only rolled her eyes.

“Spoon, Split’s not crazy. Alright she’s a little eccentric, but-“

“Diamond, she basically just described a dimension inside of her head that consistently spews out ice cream flavors.”

“Okay, she’s a LOT eccentric. But when your friend’s very weird state of mind results in some of the greatest ice cream in Equestria, are you really going to question it?” Diamond asked.

Silver Spoon let out an annoyed sigh.

“It isn’t JUST that Diamond. It just feels…weird. It’s like she doesn’t fit into our circle here. I mean, just look at her.” Silver Spoon said, pointing a hoof at Split, who Diamond had noticed now had a butterfly perched on her nose.

“Oh. Um…Hello?” Split said to it before it flew off in another direction, prompting her to turn her head in said direction it had been flying.

“…Starting to see what I’m talking about?” Silver Spoon asked.

Diamond Tiara gave a hard deadpan. 

“Spoon, I’ve known Split for quite a lot longer than you have. All you’re really doing is saying things I already knew about her. So can you just try and give her the benefit of the doubt of here?” Diamond asked with an expectant look. 

Silver Spoon still wasn’t entirely convinced this was a good idea, but when it came to Diamond Tiara, a mule’s stubbornness pales in comparison to hers, so it was pretty much a losing battle.

“…Fine. But you DO remember what happened the last time we let a goody-four-hooves hang out with us right?” Silver Spoon asked.

Diamond kind of wished she didn’t remember what happened with Applebloom’s cousin, and how quickly she turned against them, ditching them for those “loser blank flanks”  and she visibly scowled at the memory.

“Don’t remind me. Ever.” Diamond said.




Split still sat at the table, eating a daisy sandwich she pulled out of her saddlebag and watching Diamond and Silver Spoon talking to each other across the playground.

“Huh. Wonder what they’re talking about…Whatever, I guess it’s none of my business. Time to focus on the task at hoof.” Split said taking another bite of her sandwich. 

At the table next to her, Split noticed a few foals whispering to each other and pointing hooves at her. She couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but she was fairly certain she heard the word “Sellout” in there somewhere.

‘…Alright, this is getting a little ridiculous. I mean, I can understand being a little weird around the new kid, but my Celestia! They weren’t acting like this this morning until-‘ Split’s train of thought was broken when she remembered the situation she had had with Featherweight earlier in the morning. He looked pretty scared when she confirmed that she had been friends with Diamond Tiara.

…Was Diamond…somehow responsible for this?

…

“No no no. That’s absurd. Why would Diamond be driving these foals away?” Split said to nopony in particular. Split saw Diamond and Silver coming back to the table and immediately shut up.

“Sorry about that Split. We just had to…what’s with that look?” Diamond asked.

“I’m just thinking. All day it seems like everypony is either making mad faces at me, or is too scared to even get close…You wouldn’t happen to know the reason would you?” Split asked with a suspicious look.

“Have they?! Hmph. You know what I think? I think they’re just jealous of you.” Diamond said.

Now Split was thoroughly confused.

“What? Why?” Split asked.

Silver Spoon trotted over to Split’s left side and put a hoof around her shoulder.

“Listen Split. Diamond and I happen to be in the higher ranks. Around here, we’re the popular ones. A lot of ponies would kill to be in your position; being able to hang out with us.” Silver Spoon said.

Split shook her head in amazement.

“Really?!”

Diamond only gave a cocky smirk and nodded.

“Hehe. Well, it’s good to hear you’ve made quite a reputation. Especially after all that junk that went down in Hoofingt-“ Split was cut off by Diamond putting a hoof over her mouth before she could finish her sentence.

“…Don’t talk about that.” Diamond said with a serious expression.

Now it was Silver Spoon’s turn to be confused.

“What? What happened in Hoofington?” she asked.

Diamond let out an annoyed sigh.

“Look, just…drop it. Alright?” Diamond said. At that moment, the school bell rang, signaling that lunch was over and it was time to return to class. Diamond and Silver Spoon trotted to the school house, and Split was getting ready to leave too.

But before she could she was stopped by the feeling of a hoof on her shoulder.

“Beauty Split?” a voice from behind her said in what sounded like a southern accent. Split turned around to see a yellow Earth Pony filly with a red mane and pink bow giving her a very serious look. It wasn’t the “I’ll kill you in your sleep” look she had been getting recently, but just…serious.

“Uhmmm…Yeah?” Split said.

“Ah need to meet with ya’ll after school. We need to talk.” The filly said.

Split raised an eyebrow.

“What about exactly?”

“…About your 'friend'.” she said.  

> The Part Where She Finds Out
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Beauty Split can sometimes find it difficult to multitask on a few instances. She sometimes felt that if she did, she’d focus too much on one thing and neglect to give the other as much attention, resulting in inferior performance on her part, and to her that was simply not acceptable.

This is why her mind was reeling right now. 

Between trying to focus on Ms. Cheerilee’s lessons, the thought of her possibly being the most hated filly in class, and wondering what that yellow Earth Pony filly had to say, Split was a mess. On the outside, she looked alright. Wearing a rather convincing smile, and looking straight ahead at her teacher…

On the inside however, her situation made her want to slam her head on her desk repeatedly until blood came out of her ears, all the while cringing  from a severe mind break and extreme paranoia. 

So why didn’t she?

Frowning isn’t good for ponies’ complexion, that’s why.



The thing that had bothered her most though, was the delivery of that filly’s sentence.

About your ‘friend.’

What was that about? Why would she need to talk to her about Diamond? Diamond was just fine. According to her, she was in the higher ranks in terms of popularity here. It was SPLIT with the problem. Celestia knows why, nopony gave her the time of day. And what was with the extreme emphasis on the word “Friend”? What the hoof was she implying with that?

Split was abruptly torn from these thoughts when the school bell rang, signaling the end of class, much to everypony’s delight.

“Alright class! I’ll see you all tomorrow! Have a good evening!” Cheerilee said with a warm smile to her students as they departed.

All of the other foals had mostly exited the building, all except Beauty Split, who was still packing up, and Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon who appeared to be drowning in a pool of their own drool as they slept with their heads pressed against their desks.

Cheerilee noticed the sleeping foals and frowned.

“Asleep during class again I see. It’s a wonder the bell didn’t wake them up.” She said.

Split saw the state Diamond and Spoon where in right now, and slightly cringed. As a pony that strived for perfection, Split couldn’t stand a sight such as this. Both ponies’ manes were shaggy and all over the place, they were snoring loudly, and a large puddle of saliva was forming on their desks…

For her sanity and Cheerilee’s, she needed this to stop.

Now.

Split trotted over to Diamond’s desk and nudged her shoulder slightly.

“Diamond? Diamond get up. Time to go home.” She said softly. This didn’t result in any response from the rich filly, other than more snoring. Split then tried the same tactic on Silver Spoon.

“C’mon, school’s over girls…and no offence but…you guys are looking a little…uhhh…rumpled.” She said, seriously trying to hide how terribly unseemly she thought this display was, in this instance by covering her face with a hoof.

“Did she do this when you two first knew each other?” Cheerilee asked.

“All. The. Time. I’m pretty sure this filly has narcolepsy or something…Oh well. I didn’t want to have to resort to this, but she’s not leaving me with many options.” Split said with a sigh. She levitated the textbooks that were on both foal’s desks into the air above them with her magic, and slammed them down hard, almost instantly jolting the two awake.

“Argh! What the heck Split?!” Diamond screamed, obviously quite enraged at the sudden and unpleasant awakening.

“Morning sunshine.” Split casually remarked with a grin.

Silver Spoon wasn’t as equally grouchy as Diamond is when she’s abruptly disturbed from her sleep, but she wasn’t far behind.

“Split, if you absolutely have to wake us up, can you at least do it in someway that WON’T result in Diamond and I getting a panic attack?!” Silver Spoon exclaimed.

Split gave a slightly awkward laugh.

“Hehe. I’ll try my best not to scare you guys to death next time…maybe.” Split said, whisper/laughing that last part to herself. Although Diamond had been a good friend in the past, Split couldn’t deny that it was hilarious when she got angry. This wasn’t to say Split herself didn’t have anger issues of her own…

Diamond stuck out her bottom lip in an angry sort of pout, before she caught the disapproving gaze of Ms. Cheerilee.

“You two really need to start paying attention in class. This is the third time this week I’ve caught you sleeping during school.” She said in a stern tonality. 

The fillies had been told this countless times before, and each time had taken this lecture with a grain of salt. In order to get the conversation over with faster, they simply agreed to try and quit going into dreamland in the middle of class.

Did they ever actually do it?

I’ll give you three guesses as to what the answer to that is.





The trio had trotted to the outside of the building, two of which were still slightly dazed from their horrible awakening, and were discussing what they were going to do for the afternoon on the front steps.

“So Di, what’re your plans for the day?” Silver Spoon asked.

“Well, I’ll be at home having my servants give me a slight makeover. I’m afraid that little nap session has made an atrocity of my mane. And no offense Spoon, but yours looks like it could use a little…touching up as well.” Diamond said, gesturing to Spoon’s mane, which looked about as ungodly as Diamond’s at the moment.

“You two don’t know how lucky you are. I normally have to keep up appearances on my own. I can’t have a pony at MY beck and call to do whatever I ask.” Split said.

Diamond scooted over to her old friend and put a foreleg around her shoulder.

“Maybe you’d like to join us Split? If I know you, then you’ll definitely want to make sure not a hair on that mane of yours is out of place.” Diamond said, again in a sort of teasing tone of voice.

Split honestly wanted nothing more than to agree to Diamond’s proposition right now, whilst contemplating the benefits of having friends with such obscene amounts of bits, but then realized…

She still had to go ‘talk’ with that filly.

“Uhhh, I’d love to Diamond, but I have, ummmm….previous arrangements. Sorry.” Splits said reluctantly. 

Diamond looked a little bit disappointed that Split wouldn’t be attending, but still kept her composure.

“Oh. Alright then. We’ll meet back up tomorrow then?” 

“Totally! You think I’d just meet back up with my best friend and NOT hang out at some point? I’ll try to make it next time.” Split assured.

Diamond and Spoon got up from their seats on the stairs and nodded.

“Cool. See you tomorrow Split!” Diamond said as she and Spoon trotted out of the schoolyard and into the streets of Ponyville. Once Split was out of earshot, Diamond started to talk to Silver Spoon.

“So, still think she’s some kind of mad-pony?” Diamond asked the still-doubtful Silver Spoon.

“Mmmm…She’s TOLERABLE. I’ll give her that much. But honestly Diamond, I haven’t quite seen what makes her so cool in your book.” Silver said.

Diamond again wore a deadpan look and slightly sighed.

“Well for starters, she happens to be a good friend. On top of that, she doesn’t nag, doesn’t judge, doesn’t question, and unlike you lately, doesn’t complain!” Diamond said, putting emphasis on the last two words.

“Sorry Diamond. But after the whole mess with Babs, I just don’t know if we should let anypony else into our group.”

“Look, Babs was a traitor. She convinced us that she was cool and was going to be a good friend, but instead, she stabbed us in the back. I’ve known Split for a long time. She’d never do that to me.” Diamond said, confident in Split’s loyalty to the team.

Silver Spoon wasn’t usually one to disagree with Diamond, but she still didn’t understand Diamond’s friendship with Split.

But when Diamond Tiara is involved in a disagreement, you WILL lose.

“Alright alright. Just…don’t say I didn’t warn you if this whole thing snowballs.” 

“It. Won’t. Trust me. Have I ever let you down before?” Diamond asked.

‘Oh, only repeatedly.’

“Of course not.” Silver Spoon said with very little enthusiasm, considering her position in the conversation.

Diamond didn’t seem to notice the state of still being unsure still on her friend’s face as they continued their walk to Diamond’s mansion.

“Good good. Now, let’s just try to focus on relaxing, kay? We’ve got an entire afternoon of luxury spa treatments ahead of us!” Diamond said with an excited smile.




Diamond and Spoon’s departing had left Split by herself on the stairs of the schoolhouse. She hated blowing her friend off like that, but she was sure that if she was a no-show to this “meeting”, the filly who insisted upon it would bite her head off.

‘You supreme bonehead. You realize that you just passed up the opportunity of a lifetime here?’

And then there was the doubting voice in the back of her head that was definitely NOT making things any better.

“Quiet brain. I had my reasons, and you know it.” She said to herself.

‘Yeah, because completely blowing off your best friend after you two just hooked back up can TOTALLY be justified.’

“Listen, from the way she was talking, that filly probably would’ve hunted me down and burned me at the stake if I didn’t hang around. Is that enough reasoning for you?”

‘There you go again, only thinking of yourself. Did it ever occur to you how upset Diamond could be right now?’  

“I swear if you say one more word-“

‘No wonder all these ponies are hating on you. You’re so selfish! It’s a wonder Diamond even puts up with you and your stupid paranoia.’

“SHUT UP!” Split screamed at the top of her tiny lungs. 

“Ummm, who’re ya’ll screamin’ at?” 

The paranoia-driven conscience of Beauty Split had been silenced when she heard the same voice from the playground speaking directly to her again. She looked in front of her and saw not only the Earth Pony to which the voice belonged from earlier, but alongside her were two other fillies that Split didn’t quite recognize. One was an orange, purple-maned Pegasus, and the other was a white unicorn with a pink and purple curly mane.

‘Uh-oh, she’s brought backup.’ Split thought to herself.

“Ummm…I was talking to…myself.” Split said, as strange as it sounded.

The unicorn filly piped up in what Split could describe as what she thought her pet mouse would sound like if it sucked in a metric ton of helium.

“You see? The poor filly’s so lonely she’s resorted to conversation with herself! You two were just way too quick to judge!” she squeaked.

The Pegasus turned to the unicorn, then to Split and gave a look which was somewhere between a grimace and an intimidating suspicious expression.

“I don’t know Sweetie Belle. She’s probably just trying to lure us into a false sense of security by playing innocent.” The Pegasus said.

The filly now known as Sweetie Belle looked curiously at the orange pony.

“That…has to be one of the most logical things I’ve ever heard come out of you Scootaloo.” Sweetie Belle said.

“Ask me how I know all of that, dictionary.” Scootaloo said with a deadpan.

Sweetie Belle conveyed a look of irritation mixed with offense. Just because she sometimes liked to use big words is no reason to refer to her as a “Dictionary.”

The yellow filly in the middle cleared her throat.

“Ahem. Anyway, mah name’s Applebloom. Those two are Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. We’re the founding members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.” Applebloom said to Split.

“…The Cutie Mark what-now?” Split asked. 

“It’s a club we started devoted to helping blank-flank ponies get their Cutie-Marks! We’ve got our own capes, emblem, clubhouse and everything!” Sweetie Belle squeaked.

This definitely piqued Split’s interest. 

“Huh. Quite a noble cause you girls have going. Glad to here you three are making an effort to help others find their true selves. Getting a Cutie-Mark is an experience like no other. Putting so much effort into something you love doing, and discovering that it happens to be what makes you special. Heck, I remember the time when I got my-“ Split wasn’t given the time to finish her statement, because Scootaloo had zoomed up to her, mere inches from Split’s face, glaring her down intensely.  

“We didn’t come here to listen to the same speech we’ve heard a thousand times! We came here to show you that your friendship with Diamond Tiara is a BIG mistake!” Scootaloo shouted. Scootaloo’s loud tone of voice, combined with the short distance between the two of them, was starting to scare Spilt a little. If she had known that THIS is what was in store for her, she probably would’ve just joined Diamond at her mansion.

“M-Mistake? W-What’re you talking about?” Split stuttered, starting to cringe.

Applebloom trotted up to Scootaloo’s side and put a hoof on her shoulder, trying to calm her down.

“Heel Scoots. Yer scarin’ her ta death.” Applebloom said.

Scootaloo looked back and forth between her friend and Split, and proceeded to pout grumpily as she turned around and crossed her forelegs.

“Grrr. Fine…I still don’t trust her though.” She grumbled.

‘Jeez, somepony woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.’ Split thought.

“Sorry bout’ Scoot’s behavior just now. She can sometimes be a little hotheaded. Look, we ain’t lookin’ for trouble. We just wanna talk. As Scoots was sayin’ it’s about your friend, Diamond Tiara.” Applebloom said.

Now it was Split’s turn to speak up about her thoughts on the situation.

“Yeah, about that. I don’t really know what there is to talk about. Diamond Tiara is doing just fine for herself. I don’t see why we need to bring her up. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’M the one with the issues. EVERYPONY is either scared of me or angry for some reason!” Split exclaimed.

The three fillies looked nervously between each other, Applebloom biting her bottom lip for reasons unknown to Split.

“She…she really doesn’t know?” Scootaloo asked nopony in particular.

“Ah guess not.” Applebloom replied.

“Oh dear Celestia. To lie behind her friend’s back like that. Unbelievable.” Sweetie Belle gasped.

This was when Split won the award for “Most Confused and Uninformed Filly” in her mindset.

“What is going on? Is there something Diamond’s not telling me?” Split asked.

Applebloom returned her gaze to Split and sighed.

“Look Split, ah’m startin’ to see first-hoof that you’re not a bad pony. Just misguided beyond belief. The reason everypony’s been avoidn’ yah ain’t your fault…It’s Diamond’s.” Applebloom said in a serious voice.

“…WHAT?!?!” Split yelled in disbelief.

“Well…how do I put this lightly…” Sweetie Belle started, but was interrupted by Scootaloo.

“Let me... Diamond Tiara’s the Devil.” Scootaloo said, putting it into the most blunt words possible, which caused Sweetie Belle to deadpan.

“Thank you Scootaloo.” She said sarcastically

Split was starting to wonder if her ears were playing tricks on her. There is no way she just heard what she thought she heard.

“W-What? What’d she do?” Split stuttered.

“Hmmm, let’s see… Making fun of every blank-flank in class, possibly in town even…Teasing ponies with disabilities…acting like a snobby, stuck-up, self-absorbed, spoiled little brat that thinks she’s better than everypony else…turning Applebloom’s cousin against us at one point…Do I even need to go on?” Scootaloo asked, after listing pretty much every reason Diamond Tiara was considered unlikeable.

“B-But I’ve known her for so long! S-She wouldn’t do any of that!” Split said, still stuttering.

“Sorry for bringin’ this all up on you at once Split. You seem like a nice enough pony, and we just don’t want to see another pony being hated for what Diamond Tiara has been doin’.” Applebloom said, trying to hopefully bring the filly to her senses and possibly comfort her a little.

“W-Wait…Everypony alienating me… Featherweight being scared out of his mind…They were all afraid of me because t-they thought I was…mean?” Split was starting to struggle to even find her words. Part of her wanted to cry, but another part of her reminded herself that she was in the presence of other ponies and demanded otherwise.

“Unfortunately, yes. Silver Spoon’s case is kinda like yours in that aspect, except she really IS like Diamond Tiara. Your case is just a bit of misunderstanding with the others.” Sweetie Belle said, also trying to get Split to maybe calm down.

Split was at a complete loss for words. She didn’t even know what to say to that. Some part of her wanted to say “Look, I don’t appreciate you talking so badly about my friend”, but the logical spot in her mind was screaming at her “LOOK AT THE FACTS YOU IDIOT! DIAMOND HAS BEEN LYING TO YOU!”

“I-I’m sorry. I-I need to go home. It’s not you or anything, I…I just gotta go.” Split didn’t stop to take any questions as she bolted past the Crusaders to her home in Rocky Road on the west side, hoping beyond hope to maybe find some peace.

“Wow…I feel like such a jerk right now.” Scootaloo said sadly, hanging her head low to the ground.

“Don’t. If we didn’t tell her, who would have? She had the right to know, and everypony else is too angry or too scared to go anywhere near her. We did the right thing. Right Applebloom?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Applebloom didn’t answer for a few moments. She had seen the tears starting to form in Split’s eyes as she ran off, and was starting to wonder if she even did what was right or not.

“Ah…Ah don’ know.” She said.





Split didn’t say a word as she trotted up the stairs and slammed the door to her room. She had answered Soft Serve and Shaken Soda's question of how her first day was with a short and simple “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

The slamming of her door resulted in the awakening of Sprinkles, Beauty Split’s pet mouse who slept in a cage in the corner of her room on a pink table. Sprinkles looked like any other mouse normally would. Brown coat, pink tail, and whiskers. Not much else to say in terms of appearance, other than his slightly torn right ear. As stated before, Beauty Split is EXTREMELY particular in very small details, and one would think she wouldn’t want a mouse whose ears were not exactly alike. But Split looked way past that and loved Sprinkles nonetheless.

Sprinkles would sometimes try to act as the “Voice of Reason” for when Split was freaking out over an experiment gone wrong, or if she was obsessing over not finishing a particular flavor of Ice-Cream in situations which “The Delight Zone” had her in a choke-hold…

…Of course, this would probably be a lot more effective if Sprinkles could actually speak his mind to ponies. Most of the time, split just took a wild guess as to what he was saying.

But tonight proved different for him when he heard “Mistress Split” slamming the door to her room, a look of utter sadness glued to her face.

Sprinkles got up from his pile of bedding upon seeing his owner’s face, and started to squeak in concern.

Split slightly got out of her trance long enough to pay Sprinkles some level of attention.

“No Sprinkles, Mommy’s not in the mood to talk.” She sighed.

Squeak Squeak Squeak Squeak!

“Ugh. Alright, if you’re going to pry, I’ll tell you. Sprinkles, you remember Diamond Tiara don’t you?”

Squeak Squeak?

“Yes, the one with the bits. Anyway, all day everypony’s been avoiding me and for the longest time I couldn’t figure out why. Then after school was over, these fillies told me something that I didn’t want to believe was the truth…heck I still don’t…but looking at the facts, it makes too much sense.”

Squeak?

“…Diamond Tiara is a bully, that’s what.”

Squeaaaaak?!?!

“Exact same thing I said. Sprinkles, I don’t know what to do here! I feel like I’ve been betrayed, and it hurts. Badly.”

Squeak Squeak Squeak!

“Tell her off?! But I’m not the confrontational type!”

Squeeeeeeak…

“Like Ice-Cream, revenge is a dish best served cold? But shouldn’t I just try to be the better pony and take the high road, handling the situation with quiet dignity and grace?“

Squeak!

“Screw the high road? You’re supposed to be the one keeping me from doing this kind of thing remember…you must be REALLY angry about this.”

Squeak Squeak Squeak Squeak Squeak!?

“Well, yes I’m angry too…yes I feel hurt and betrayed by the pony I trusted most…and yes I do owe it to all the ponies Diamond Tiara has hurt since she’s been here...you know what I just realized Sprinkles?”

Squeak?

Split’s composure had noticeably been changing as she went through all of her emotions to her mouse, and she started to change from “Depressed Pony” to “I’m gonna wring that mother-bucker’s neck” Her eyes were starting to dilate, her face was turning red, and a vein in her forehead was starting to pop out.

She then proceeded to stomp her hoof on the ground, which made Sprinkle’s cage shake violently, which made him slightly nauseous.

“I just realized that I don’t WANT to handle this quietly! I don’t want to take the high road; I WANT FLANK KICKING!” She screamed.

Squeak Squeak!

“Good! Now get out of the cage, and let’s go give her a piece of my mind!” Split screamed again, unlocking Sprinkle’s cage with her magic, prompting him to scurry out and onto Split’s shoulder.

“Hmph. Some friend Diamond turned out to be.” Split grumbled angrily as she trotted out of the room, slamming her door again.

> Split Vs. Diamond
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ponyville’s marketplace was bustling with busy ponies looking to get whatever they needed. While this in itself wasn’t exactly an uncommon sight, almost half the population of Ponyville seemed to occupy the marketplace this afternoon, including a majority of Ms. Cheerilee’s class. A lot of them were around only because their parents dragged them on their own errands, much to their dismay.

However, this situation worked out pretty well for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, as it gave them the perfect place to show off when school was out. And on this specific occasion, it couldn’t have worked out any better, seeing as how they had just gotten their manes and coats touched up. 

“Wow, don’t our manes look soooo gorgeous today Silver Spoon?” Diamond asked the grey filly walking by her side, while at the same time remaining loud enough to make sure the other foals around heard her.

“Oh absolutely Diamond. I think you may have the best personal hairdresser in Equestria. I have to admit, I’m a little jealous.” Silver Spoon replied.

Diamond chuckled.

“That’s understandable I guess. Daddy hires only the best for his princess.” Diamond said, slightly pushing her mane to its side with an arrogant look about her.

“Still. I think it’s a shame that Split couldn’t join us. I wonder what those ‘previous arrangements’ were…probably got another creative shocker and had to get back to work.” Diamond said.

“Does that pony ever actually DO anything OTHER than experiment with ice cream?” Silver Spoon asked.

“Well…if she wasn’t doing that or hanging out with me back in Hoofington, she spent a majority of her time sitting at a table with a notebook and quill trying to think of ideas while yelling “C’MON YOU DARN IMAGINATION! WORK!!!” Diamond said, putting full emphasis on those last words.

‘…Still waiting for a legitimate reason as to why that filly isn’t in a padded room.’ Silver Spoon thought to herself. 

Unfortunately, Diamond and Silver didn’t have much time to discuss this matter, as Diamond had not been looking where she was going, bumped into another pony, which caused both Diamond and the other pony to fall in a mud puddle below.

“Oh my gosh! Diamond are you alright?!” Silver Spoon asked.

Diamond held onto her head, recovering from the daze the sudden fall had put her in.

“Of course I’m not alright! Look at me! I’m covered in mud!” Diamond yelled.

Diamond got back to her hooves and looked forward at the pony whom she had run into, who she immediately recognized from her purple coat, blonde mane, and horn as one of her classmates, Dinky Hooves, who was also covered in mud from the same puddle.

And when Dinky got back up and saw just who was in front of her, she was terrified.

“Oh dear Celestia, Diamond I am so sorry! I swear that was an accident!” Dinky exclaimed, quickly apologizing in hopes that Diamond would have some mercy on her.

“Sorry didn’t do it blank flank! You did!” Diamond yelled, pushing Dinky back into the puddle with a loud splash. Dinky cowered under Diamond’s glare, and started to make quiet, whimpering sounds. 

“I seriously JUST got back from my spa treatment too! Do you know how long it takes to get this mane into place?!” Diamond continued to yell to the cowering filly.

This sort of thing wasn’t anything particularly new to the rich fillies. Talking down to the less fortunate ponies gave them a sense of superiority over the other colts and fillies.

“Hmph. I guess I wouldn’t expect much better from such a loser. Really. You’re almost as big of a klutz as your mother.” Diamond huffed.

A few tears were starting to form in the corners of Dinky’s eyes, and her bottom lip started to quiver. 

“Y-You can’t talk about my mom like that! Stop it!” Dinky cried.

“What for? It isn’t like anypony is going to-“

Diamond didn’t get another second to finish that sentence when she felt her tail being tugged on quite hard by somepony’s magic, and dragging her across the ground to the hooves of another pony. Diamond turned her head to see who had the nerve to do such a thing…

And she REALLY wished she hadn’t.

Standing above her was none other than Beauty Split, but she looked a LOT different than how Diamond had been used to seeing her. A few strands of her mane were out of place, her eyes were so bloodshot they may as well have been on fire, and she was breathing heavily through her nostrils.

In short terms: She was absolutely SEETHING.

“H-Hey Split. I-Is something the matter?” Diamond stuttered over her own words, giving an uncomfortable laugh.

“Oh, I think you know EXACTLY what’s wrong with me Diamond Tiara! I’m finally able to reconnect with my best friend after so long and THIS is what I find out you’ve been doing?!?!” Split screamed at the top of her lungs, pointing at the filly lying in the mud, who appeared to be a combination of scared and confused.

A small tuft of Split’s mane started to shuffle, and out of it popped the small form of Sprinkles, who added his own set of disapproving eyeballs to the barrage of looks Split was giving Diamond.

Not wanting to stay in this position any longer than necessary, Diamond scrambled to get back to her hooves and met Split’s unnerving gaze and try her best to keep up her usual, “I’m the superior one” façade.

“So what?! She totally had that coming!” Diamond defended herself.

“Oh waaaah! A little mud got on your coat. The world would just fall apart if Diamond Tiara’s precious fur gets just in the least bit dirty!...That is no excuse for this Diamond. I saw what happened here. It was an ACCIDENT!” Split shot back. Split may not have liked to get dirty herself, but she knew what Diamond had done was wrong on all accounts.

“How dare you talk to Diamond like that you psycho!” Silver Spoon yelled as she started to trot in the ponies’ direction.

“You take one more step Silver Spoon, and so help me Celestia, I will turn you into a toad on the spot.” Split growled, not taking her eyes off of Diamond.

Silver Spoon immediately backed off when Split finished that statement.

The ruckus these fillies were causing was starting to draw the attention of the many ponies in the marketplace, including many of the foals from the school.

“Hold on! I thought you were on my side here Split! Why are you defending this blank flank?!”

Just those last two words were enough to make Split flinch at look at her “friend” with a look of utter shock with her ears folded backward.

“…How…dare you?” Split whispered.

“Wha-“

“HOW DARE YOU?! DO YOU NOT REMEMBER HOW CRIPPLING THAT INSULT WAS FOR US BACK IN HOOFINGTON?! THAT SCARRED ME FOR LIFE! AND NOW YOU’RE USING IT TO MAKE FUN OF OTHER PONIES?! I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS!” Whatever composure Split had left had gone right out the window. The one thing Split hated more than Celestia on a hot day that made all of her precious ice cream melt, was the insult the other foals had used to poke fun at Diamond and herself in Hoofington. Just the fact that the same two words were being used in such a manner by Diamond herself just sickened her.

The look of Diamond’s face started to get angrier as Split continued her yelling.

“Why are you choosing a blank flank over your best friend?! Do you have any idea what you’re doing right now Split?!” Diamond yelled.

“Hmmm let’s see. Would you like me to start at the fact that I’m doing what’s right? Or perhaps that you have been lying to me this whole time and because of your actions nopony wants anything to do with me? Or maybe you’d like for me to point out that you JUST USED THAT SUN-FORSAKEN NAME AGAIN?!?!” Split screamed, her face only inches from Diamond, who also looked quite mad.

The peanut gallery of foals that circled around the group had begun to idly comment on the situation.


“Wait, she WASN’T going to make fun of us?”

“Dang, Diamond’s getting it bad.”

“Wow. That Split girl looks like she’s gonna freaking murder her.”

“Why does that filly have a mouse on her head?”


Unfortunately for everypony there, somepony yelled out possibly the worst thing you could possibly yell out in a time like this.

“CATFIGHT!”

And that set it off.

Split and Diamond tackled each other to the ground and started to fight. Both ponies were in a big cloud of dust obscuring most of them out of the vision of the other foals. Out of the tumbling, a very disoriented Sprinkles was thrown out of Split’s mane and he rolled across the ground and held onto his head, trying not to vomit from the dizziness.

Meanwhile in the dust-cloud, it was absolute chaos. Blows were being struck, manes were being pulled, and every name under the sun was being thrown back and forth. Both sides had their advantages. Split was a unicorn, so she had the advantage of the occasional magic blast and not to mention Split was just an absolute psycho when she was angry. However, being an Earth Pony, strength came naturally to Diamond Tiara when blows come to blows. The ponies were further egged on the entire time by the crowd of foals chanting “FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!”

Many minutes of this later, both ponies had gotten too exhausted to continue, and were simply sitting on the ground, panting and glaring at each other.

“You…had enough…yet?” Diamond said in between breaths. Split didn’t respond. Instead she got up and walked past Diamond.

Diamond was going to question what she was doing, when she saw that Split had trotted over to the teary-eyed Dinky Hooves in the mud and extended a hoof towards her.

“Are you okay Ms…?” 

The purple filly looked curiously at Split’s hoof, and then back at her face. She looked like she was trying to help her, and she had just gotten into a fight with Diamond Tiara over how she was being treated. 

She felt that Split could be trusted.

“…Dinky.” She said, taking Split’s hoof, which helped get her back up and out of the mud.

Split nodded and then looked back at the still-angry Diamond Tiara.

“…Consider this friendship terminated Diamond Tiara. Everything that happened here just shows me how not-sorry you are for how you’ve been acting. And I’m not going to put up with it. We’re done.” She growled before she trotted aimlessly out of Ponyville Marketplace without another word. Sprinkles scurried back into his owner’s mane, stuck his head out, and blew a raspberry at the pink filly.

“FINE! WHATEVER! I DON’T NEED YOU!” Diamond yelled at Split, who had since gained considerable distance from all the ponies.

“I…don’t…need…you.” Diamond had said again, this time being much quieter, with a few tears starting to take shape in her eyes.

Silver Spoon had stayed out of the conflict for fear that Split wasn’t bluffing when she made that toad threat, but trotted next to Diamond Tiara once the fight was over.

“You uh…you want to just get out of here?” Silver asked her crying friend.

Diamond silently nodded her head. The fillies then trotted out of the marketplace, Diamond with her head hanging low to the ground.

“…So who won?” somepony in the crowd of foals asked.

“I think it was the unicorn with the ponytail.” Somepony else responded.

Snails, who was in the crowd with everypony else, put a hoof to his face and groaned.

“Dang it!” he cried as he hoofed over a bag of bits to Snips, who was standing by his side.






Split had calmed down for the most part since she had left the marketplace, no longer fuming from blinding rage, but mostly felt a slight tinge of regret for beating up Diamond.

“I don’t know Sprinkles. I mean…did I say all the right things? Yeah I did what had to be done. But…why do I feel so bad?”

Sprinkles stuck his whiskered face out of Split’s mane and tried to answer the best he could.

Squeak Squeak!

“I know Diamond deserved it. That’s been made pretty clear. But…I can’t really explain it too well. It just…doesn’t feel good.

Squeak Squeak Squeak.

“I guess I’ll just go back home and do what I always do when I get this down…sit around the house, eat cheap ice cream, and watch old Walt Disneigh movies.” Split sighed. Normally she had standards when it came to the quality of the frozen delicacy she was eating, but when she was depressed, she was just too upset to care.

She wasn’t quite proud of it.

“I can’t help but feel bad about how things ended between me and Diamond…can you…maybe tell me a joke or something to cheer me up Sprinkles?”


Squeak Squeak?


Split remained silent after hearing Sprinkle’s latest series of squeaks.

“…WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘CAN IT BE DIRTY?!?!’” Split yelled.

Sprinkles defensively put up his paws in defense.

“…Whatever. Forget I asked…and can you please do me a favor and stop breathing down my neck?”

…Squeak Squeak.

“Well if it’s not you then wh-GAAAAH!” Split shrieked when she saw the pair of bright, cerulean eyes staring back at her from behind. The owner of said eyes was an overly happy-looking pink mare with an incredibly poofy pink mane, a bright pink coat, and three balloons on her flank, on display as her Cutie-Mark.

The pink pony started to happily bounce around Split’s still nervous form.

“Hithere!I’veneverseenyouaroundPonyvillebefore,andIknoweveryponyinPonyville,soIfiguredifIneversawyoubefore,thenyoumustbenew!Andifyournew,thenthatmustmeanthatyoudon’tknowanypony!Andifyoudon’tknowanyponythenyoumustbesooooolonely,andIthoughtthatmightbewhyyouwerelookingsosad,soIcameheretocheeryouup!” The pink pony said all in one breath. 

Split and Sprinkles looked on at the mare in utter amazement and a little bit of shock. Nopony Split knew could talk that much without taking a breather.

Taking that fact into account, Split came to what should have been a logical conclusion.

“…Ma’am, I don’t know what you’re on, but I think you need to see somepony about it.” Split said.

Much to Split’s confusion, the pony giggled.

“Hehehe. You’re such a silly little filly. I don’t think I’m the one that needs help here. You were looking so sad that I just had to come over and try to cheer you up! Turning sad frowns upside down; that’s what Pinkie Pie is here to do!” Pinkie said proudly.

Split’s intelligent and mostly logical mind couldn’t quite wrap around the insanity that this reality-warping mare was giving off.

It started to give her a migraine.

“Well, Ms…Pinkie Pie…I appreciate the gesture, but I really don’t want to talk about it.” She said.

Unfortunately, Pinkie didn’t let up.

“Oh come on! Bottling up your problems isn’t good for you! It can just start to slowly build up and up and up and up until you just explode from the pent-up anxiety!...It isn’t fun. So can you let me help you? Pleeeeeaaaaase?” Pinkie pleaded, zipping in front of Split and begging on her knees.

‘…This mare isn’t going anywhere until I spill it is she?’ Split thought. She looked up to Sprinkles on her head, who also didn’t know quite what to think, as he simply shrugged his shoulders.

With a sigh of defeat, Split caved.

“Alright, fine. Here’s what happened…”

> à la mode
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“-And then we beat each other up, I told her she wasn’t my friend anymore, and I stormed off.” Split explained to Pinkie Pie as they were sitting at one of Sugarcube Corner’s tables. She took another sip of the milkshake that Pinkie had given to her. Ice cream always made Split feel better. Whenever Split got depressed, she’d usually end up indulging herself in a tub of the really cheap and low quality stuff, mostly because she’d usually get too sad to care. This however, was a pretty nice change from that. Pinkie Pie’s logic defying personality may have started to give her little, overly logical mind what she assumed was some sort of tumor, but how big a genius the mare was when it came to sweets definitely made up for it. Split hadn’t tasted ice cream this good since when her parents first showed the stuff to her.

Sprinkles apparently wanted a taste, because he had tried to get at Split’s straw from the of top of her muzzle, but was denied by Split’s magic nestling him back in her mane.

“Sprinkles, no. You know you’re lactose intolerant.” Split scolded.

Sprinkles angrily crossed his forelegs. Being a lactose intolerant mouse was such a terribly cruel joke on his existence. Not only can he never eat cheese without getting a serious stomachache, but he was always surrounded by ice cream where he lived and he wasn’t allowed to eat it.

It was nothing less of torture. 

Pinkie rubbed a hoof under her chin, obviously trying to recall something in her memories.

“Hmmm…this situation seems oddly familiar….Oh yeah! Rainbow Dash had the same problem with mean ol’ Gilda! Boy, that day wasn’t fun for anypony.” Pinkie said.

Split questioningly raised an eyebrow.

“What? One of your friends had an old friend who turned out to be a jerk?” Split asked.

Pinkie nodded.

“Uh-huh. Gilda was soooo mean to everypony! Always trying to keep me from seeing Rainbow, stealing from somepony’s fruit cart, calling everypony ‘Dweeb.’ She even had the nerve to yell at Fluttershy! She was such a meanie mcmeanerson!” Pinkie said with a slightly angry look on her face from the memory of the griffon. 

“So what happened? Did she ever say she was sorry or anything?” Split asked.

Pinkie shook her head.

“Nope. Rainbow cut things off with her and she just left Ponyville. Nopony’s seen her around here since.” Pinkie replied.

That wasn’t quite the answer Split wanted to hear, but it was pretty much what she expected of that situation. She sighed and took another sip of her shake.

Back on Split’s head, Sprinkles was looking down at his owner with a twitching left eye. The inner turmoil he was feeling over wanting that milkshake but also wanting to avoid some serious stomach pain was almost unbearable.

“Guess that shows how much hope’s left for my friendship then.” Split sighed.

Pinkie’s sat up and looked at the filly in shock. 

“Now wait a minute missy! There may still be a chance for you and Diamond to make up! I don’t think you should give up that easy!” Pinkie exclaimed.

Split looked back at Pinkie with the best deadpanned, “You have got to be kidding me” expression she could make.

“Look Pinkie, I like your optimism and all, but let’s be real here. First, Diamond’s turned into probably one of the biggest jerks I’ve met in my life. She pushed a filly into the mud and insulted her mom. I should know; I was there. Second, we beat each other into the ground and insulted the heck out of one another. If you have a way for things to come back from that, I’d sure love to hear it.” Split said in a sarcastic manner.

Pinkie admitted the filly had a good point. This entire situation made the whole Gilda thing look like it wasn’t a big deal. At least Rainbow and Gilda didn’t try to publicly kill each other.

“Hmmmm…well…I think you’re kinda looking at this from an outsider’s point of view.” Pinkie said.

Split tilted her head in confusion. She legitimately didn’t expect Pinkie to make any sort of comeback to that. This mare was just full of surprises. 

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I mean, try thinking about how Diamond may feel. You were one of the closest ponies to her. Is there any reason that she might be acting like this?” Pinkie asked.

Split thought about this for a moment with increasing concentration with every passing second.

She suddenly came to a pretty hard realization, as she slapped her forehead in response.

“Oh my gosh, I am so so so so so so STUPID!” She yelled.

“What? Did you think of something?” Pinkie asked.

Split nodded furiously.

“Yeah, and I feel pretty dumb for not thinking of this earlier.” Split responded.

“Well spit it out! There’s friendships at stake here!” Pinkie squealed while bouncing up and down.

“Okay…a long time ago, Diamond and I lived in a town called Hoofington. It was a pretty nice place actually. Not too big, not too small, not overly crowded…come to think of it, probably the only incredibly huge structure in the entire town was Diamond’s mansion…anyway, neither of us had our Cutie-Marks back then.” Split started. Pinkie nodded as Split talked.

“As you can imagine, foals without Cutie-Marks were not very well received by the others. We were no exception. Both of us were pretty much at the bottom of the food chain.” 

“What? Bottom of the food chain? But…isn’t Diamond’s family like, REALLY rich?”

“Oh they are. But having a ton of bits doesn’t stop ponies from trying to get under your skin, and boy did it drive us nuts. Diamond was used to having whatever she wanted being bought for her. The problem was, your Cutie-Mark can’t be bought, and that made her so upset. We’d always need to keep each other company and to cheer each other up whenever those bullies got to us.” Split said.

“So…you think she’s only doing this because she finally got her Cutie-Mark and just feels the need to rub it in?” Pinkie asked.

Split tapped her chin.

“More than likely. She may be doing this because she doesn’t want to get bullied again, or she just wants to have the same satisfaction of gloating like everypony else in Hoofington had…arrgh, I’m such an idiot for not figuring this out sooner.” Split groaned with a hoof to her face.

Pinkie patted Split’s back. 

“Are you feeling okay?” Pinkie asked with a look of concern.

Split took her hoof off her face and let out another depressed sigh.

“Pinkie, I have a terrible case of OCD, my paranoia knows no bounds, I turn into a raging psychopath when I get mad, and to top it all off, I beat up my best friend…so no. I’m not alright.” Split answered with a tinge of sadness in her voice.

Split hadn’t been looking at Pinkie when she talked, but diverted her eyesight back to her when she heard what sounded like a balloon deflating. She flinched when she realized that Pinkie had undergone a most unsettling change in appearance. Her coat had turned to a much darker shade of pink, and her normally poofy and curly hair had turned completely straight. The look on her face was probably the worst part; her eyes looked incredibly sad compared to earlier, especially with the tears filling them up. 

Before Split even had a chance to voice her concern on the matter, Pinkie grabbed hold of her and held her in a tight deathgrip…way too tight for Split’s tiny spine.

And to add to the agony Split’s back was in, Pinkie was hysterically crying.

“I-I’m so s-sorry! P-Please don’t be sad! W-When other ponies c-cry, I-I-….WAAAAAAAAAAH!” Pinkie wailed. Pinkie’s hug of death was starting to become to the point where Split’s face was turning as purple as her mane.

“Urrrrgh! P-Pinkie…t-too…t-tight.” Split groaned, deathly fearing for her spinal cord. Realizing that she was hurting the filly, Pinkie quickly let go of Split just as quick as she had grabbed hold, and she wiped her muzzle with a slight sniffle.

“S-Sorry. I just really don’t like seeing ponies look so sad.” Pinkie said, a few tears still in her eyes.

‘Wow…Pinkie’s nice and everything, but she looks like she has some serious bipolar issues.’ Split thought to herself. She patted Pinkie’s shoulder to get her to relax.

“Pinkie, you don’t have to be so upset. My friendship with Diamond couldn’t have ended on worse terms, and you wanted to help me when I was feeling down. Not many ponies would bother to help out a nutball like me. Thanks Pinkie Pie.” Split said with a smile. She reached up to Pinkie and gave her a slight hug, a lot gentler than what Pinkie had tried. Pinkie felt a lot better afterwards, and her mane had re-inflated to its full poofyness. 

“Hehehe. Glad I could help! I always want to see ponies at their happiest!” Pinkie cheered, resuming her bouncing. “So, have you figured what you’re going to do about Diamond? I mean, she might be willing to change her ways if you talk to her.” 

“Ehhhh, not exactly. I mean, how am I supposed to go anywhere near her after what happened? I don’t know how to go about this. All I really know how to do is make ice cr-“ Split stopped midsentence when she thought of something. She looked back and forth between her milkshake glass and Pinkie Pie with a wide and entranced look in her eyes.

Sprinkles crawled onto the table and took a good look at his owner. He knew that dazed expression better than anyone else Split knew, and every time she got it it terrified him. Whenever her eyes got that look, her mind was focused on one thing, and one thing only.

A new idea for ice cream.

Split was back in The Delight Zone.

“Pinkie. I have to go. Now.” Split said before quickly darting out of Sugarcube Corner’s doors, unfortunately leaving poor Sprinkles behind.

“Wow. Something tells me that Twilight would really like that filly. I hope everything turns out alright.” Pinkie said happily as she bounced into the kitchen, humming a tune as she did so.

Sprinkles didn’t consider this such a terrible scenario, as he now had the remainder of Split’s milkshake all to himself. Although, he was still contemplating the pros and cons of gulping the whole thing down, knowing he’d probably regret it later on…







Split was now back in her room at Rocky Road, sitting at her experimentation desk with a notebook of dessert-related spells open next to her. She had managed to clean her room of the terrible mess she had made that morning due to her mother interrupting her spell. 

But this time she had to get it right. And for reasons other than her own personal curiosity for what she could do with her magic. 

“Alright Delight Zone, you can’t fail me now. I know for a fact that Diamond loves my ice cream. Maybe I can apologize with something extra-tasty. Maybe something with caramel…whipped cream…sprinkles maybe?...Wait…Oh no.” Split quickly felt the top of her mane where her mouse usually liked to hide when he traveled with her.

Nothing.

“I LEFT SPRINKLES BEHIND!” Split yelled, her hooves held to her cheeks and her eyes widened in terror. Normally, nothing could break Split out of her trance, but the sudden realization that Sprinkles was gone was making her freak out way more than The Delight Zone ever could.

“Nonononononono! I have to go find him before something terrible happens! Somepony might step on him, or he could be eaten by a cat, or-Gah! I don’t want to think about it!” Split wailed as she went for the door. Upon opening it however, she was met with a rather unusual sound.


Squeeeaaaaaak…

Split looked in the doorway to see a rather pudgy-looking Sprinkles holding onto his stomach, obviously trying to ease some sort of pain.

“Oh my gosh Sprinkles! I was soooo worried abou-waitasecond.” Split used her magic to bring Sprinkles a little closer to her face where she could give him a thorough inspection, only to find a few drops of milkshake on his whiskers.

“…….REALLY?!?!” Split yelled.

Sprinkles, in spite of the pain in his stomach due to his lactose intolerance, gave his owner a “Totally worth it” look.   

> Apologies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Split had already been through enough today. Between everyone giving her the cold shoulder, getting in a fight with her best friend, and just about anything else Ponyville had to throw at her, she was at the end of her rope. The last thing she needed right now was Sprinkles being fussy about taking his medicine.

“Sprinkles, I am really not in the mood for this. Take your medicine now.” Split emphasized as she held the medicine syringe near Sprinkle’s mouth with her magic with a stern look on her face. It contained a thick, pink liquid that Sprinkles had to take if he were to ever ingest anything with dairy in it. Despite the terrible mess his stomach was in, Sprinkles kept turning his head and shoving the syringe away from his mouth. He never was really a fan of the taste of it.

Split groaned in irritation. It looked like she was going to resort to scare tactics once again.

“Sprinkles, do you even know what happens if you let your stomach stay like that?” Split asked.

Sprinkles shook his head.

“Your stomach keeps bloating, and bloating up until the point where it can’t handle it anymore and you blow up!” Split exclaimed. A terrified expression came across the mouse’s face when Split told him of the consequences. He opened his mouth and let Split squirt his medicine in without anymore protest.

He still smacked his tongue at the taste of the sticky liquid though. As always, he found it most distasteful.

‘Heh. Works every time.’ Split thought as she levitated Sprinkles back into his cage, despite the defiant squeaks her pet made.

“Oh be quiet, it was your own fault. Maybe next time you’ll think twice about eating that stuff when you know for a fact that you’re allergic. Seriously, you know better than that.” Split scolded, prompting Sprinkles to go in the corner of the cage to sulk. Mice tend to do that when they know they did something wrong.

Split rolled her eyes and trotted back to her desk and slightly cricked her neck.

“Alright, back to the subject at hoof here. From what I can remember, Diamond’s favorite flavor was chocolate. So let me just find that spell…” Beauty Split said to herself as she quickly started flipping through the several pages of her notebook, The Delight Zone giving her that all too familiar rush that she was so used to every time she entered.

Finally, Beauty Split came across the page containing the flavor-changing spell. This particular spell has haunted her ever since she got her Cutie-Mark. She’d happened to solve a flavor inventory problem at Rocky Road when she still lived in Hoofington by accidently setting this spell off, which ended up earning her her Cutie Mark. Since then though, she hasn’t been able to replicate it. You could safely say that that’s what turned her into such a workaholic.

Now though, since her friendship was at stake, her resolve was much stronger than before. She grabbed her goggles off a hook on the wall, wrapped them over her head, and put them on over her eyes. She trotted over to an ice-cream dispenser that she kept in her room for her experimentation. Split levitated a bowl under the nozzle on the bottom, and again used her magic to pull the lever on its side. This made the machine fill the bowl below with vanilla ice cream.

Split focused on the steady stream of ice cream coming from the dispenser, making sure not a drop was out of place. Once it was done, Split let out a sigh of relief.

“Alright, the easy stuff’s done. Now, let me just focus on that flavor-warping.” Split said to herself, setting the bowl down on the table. She looked to her notebook, her face scrunched up in concentration as she read over it. She turned back to the bowl of ice cream and firmly set her hooves on the desk and started to focus her magic. Her horn glowed its signature light blue as she began to cast her spell on the frozen dessert. Just like before, the ice cream began to bubble slightly and change color, only this time it was from vanilla white to chocolate brown.

A few beads of sweat started to form on Split’s forehead. The familiar headache that usually came about when she attempted this spell started to come back, and she clenched her teeth. Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t seem to get the spell to complete. From the looks of it, her Delight Zone didn’t seem to be doing enough for her, which Split would have found unusual if she didn’t have her mind focused on other things. 

Her mind started to drift off. What would happen if she didn’t patch things up with Diamond? Where the hay would she even go from there? Judging how annoying she came across to other ponies in Hoofington with her OCD, she didn’t really know if she’d be capable of making friends in this town, and the fiasco with her and Diamond in the marketplace probably didn’t help her attempts to appear “Clean and intricate.” 

The thought of being alone, without even Diamond to call her friend scared her to death.

“No…No, you need to fix this. Things can’t end off like this…ARGH COME ON YOU STUPID HORN!” Split yelled, her temper starting to flare. 

Just when Split’s magic-induced headache had reached its worst, the light on her horn brightened to blinding levels, and the light around the ice cream did the same. She put a hoof to her goggled-face to block out the light of the magic. Sprinkles noticed the commotion and buried himself in some of the bedding in his cage in fright.

When the light finally died down, Split removed her hoof from in front of her face to see what happened. The first thing she recognized that unlike the last time she attempted the flavor-warping spell, her room remained as clean as it was when she started.

The second thing she recognized was that the vanilla ice cream on the table was no longer vanilla at all. There didn’t remain a speck of white in the bowl, but instead was replaced with what appeared to be delicious, soft-serve, chocolate ice cream.

Split appeared to be mesmerized by what she had just achieved as she pulled the goggles she was wearing to her forehead.

“…I…I actually did it…” Split said to herself.

Split didn’t even know what happened next. It happened all too fast for her to comprehend. She started to energetically jump up and down with an ear-to-ear smile, fully relishing in the victory. Normally, she wouldn’t be caught dead doing something like this, but given the circumstances, she didn’t seem to care much.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA! AT LAST! AT LAST I GOT IT TO WORK! FANTASTIC! ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!” Split cheered. 

It wasn’t until she realized that Sprinkles had been staring at her rather embarrassing outburst that she started to feel a little self-conscious, and ceased her hopping, and slightly pushed her ponytail back into its proper place.

“…This pleases me.” Split corrected herself, trying to act as dignified as possible. 

She then looked to a mini-fridge she had next to her desk and opened the door, attempting to find the whipped cream she kept in there to begin the final stage of the process.

As she did so, she began to wonder what exactly she had done differently to get her spell to work. Things didn’t appear to be going any better compared to any other attempt until she thought of…

“…I hope Diamond’s holding up better than I am.” She said to herself.






“Diamond, come on! Just let me in for crying out loud!” Diamond heard her friend yelling for her from the other side of her large, and very expensive bedroom door.

“No Silver! I really just want to be alone right now!” Diamond yelled from inside her room. Ever since what happened at the Marketplace, she’d been a complete mess. Her surroundings right now where as lavish as could be; a large, soft bed with pink blankets and pillows, walls adorned with pink wallpaper, and a small area in the corner where she could take care of her mane when she so pleased. 

And yet even in the most pleasant of atmospheres, Diamond had never felt more miserable in her life. Tears were still staining the fur under her eyes as they continually ran down her cheeks, and she made small whimpering noises.

Silver sighed from the other side of the door, and Diamond heard her hoofsteps going back downstairs. It seemed that Silver decided to just give her friend some privacy, seeing how fruitless her attempts at trying to help her out were.

Diamond couldn’t believe what was happening to her. For such a long time she’d wanted to see her old friend again, to be able to have fun just like they did when they both lived in Hoofington. Never in a million years did she think this would happen.

She wasn’t exactly ignorant on the subject matter of their argument however. She’d heard quite a few foals saying some pretty bad things about the way she behaved, but she figured they were all just jealous of her, her Cutie-Mark, and her family’s money. She never really thought much of any of it.

But hearing this coming out of the mouth of one of the best friends she’d ever had, somepony who actually mattered to her, and also adding literal injury to those insults…

It hurt her.

A lot.

Diamond tried to distract herself from thinking about it by rubbing away at some of the bruises Split had left on her hooves.

“W-Why? Why is everyone so against me? I-“ Diamond started to think about what caused that fight to even take place. Dinky had bumped into her and…

Split was standing up for her. Against Diamond for what she did to Dinky. 

In the moment, Diamond thought she was only giving Dinky what she deserved, but looking at how fiercely Split reacted to it, she started to feel something very unfamiliar in her chest. Whatever it was, it was painful, and it kept her mind on how Diamond had been treating not just Dinky, but a majority of the other foals she had considered “Below” her.

It was guilt. Undeniable, unavoidable guilt in its purest form.

Diamond hated how it felt. She wanted nothing more right now than for it to go away, to leave her alone so she could just move on. No matter how hard she tried though, the guilt over what she’d done kept creeping back into her subconscious, tearing her emotions to shreds.

“W-What was I thinking? Why did I do all those horrible things? I-I’m such a terrible pony.” Diamond said to herself. There was no way Split was going to take her back now. Not after everything that happened. Diamond wouldn’t blame her. After all she’s done, Diamond was surprised Split could even stand to be living in the same town as she was.

Diamond got off of her bed, wiping a few fresh tears from her eyes as she walked to a bookcase she had in the corner of the room. She took out what appeared to be a large, blue scrapbook with the words “Hoofington” across the top in cursive, pink letters. Diamond started to flip through the pages of the book, which contained images of her when she was a few years younger, quite a few of them with both Beauty Split and herself. One of the pictures always managed to get a laugh out of her. Her Sapphire Shores Karaoke machine had just come in. The thing was pretty enormous, at least for a filly her age, and the entire speaker system she had hooked up to it was also pretty impressive.

Split at that time though, was a little too easily impressed, and appeared to be a lot more interested in the box the entire thing came in, and was hiding inside of it, pretending it was some kind of time machine or something. The picture showed a smiling Split sticking her head out of the box as it stood upright, with Diamond staring back at her with a deadpanned expression. She remembered why she made that face in the first place too. Split had asked her if she had a bowtie she could wear, and Diamond was just at a loss for words.

This time though, the memory didn’t make Diamond laugh in the slightest. If anything, it reminded her too much of happier times and how bad her situation truly was now. A tear fell from Diamond’s eye and dropped onto the page of the book as she sniffled. She put the book down and simply stared at the floor.

“…I hate myself.” Diamond mumbled.




Silver Spoon uncomfortably sat on the couch in Diamond’s living room. She wasn’t even really sure what she was waiting for. There was no way Diamond was coming out of there to talk to her. She was probably afraid that Silver was going to give her the “I told you so” speech, considering Split did end up leaving them just like she thought. 

She figured that Diamond was in no mood for that though. She was going to try and console her, but Diamond just locked herself in her room as soon as she got home. 

“Dang it Di. Why won’t you just let me in there already?” Silver Spoon muttered to herself. Diamond’s father was out of town on business for the next few days, which left Silver Spoon to deal with this by herself, save for the servants in Diamond’s mansion, but they only really interacted with her on a professional level, not having any actual emotional interaction of any kind.

Silver heard a knock on the front door and decided to get up to see who it was. When she got to the door and opened it though, she saw the absolute last pony she wanted to see right now on the other side.

“What in the HOOF are you doing here?!” Silver practically yelled in the face of Beauty Split.

Beauty slightly flinched at how confrontational Silver was being. After she had threatened Silver with magical assault back at the marketplace, she was pretty surprised she’d be willing to try anything against her.

“Ummm…Look, I kinda don’t know how to go about this, but-“ Split awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck as she tried to look at anything but Silver Spoon.

“I’ll make whatever it is easy for you then. Go. Away. You’ve already caused enough trouble.” Silver Spoon growled.

Split sighed.

“I guess I’ll just have to come out and say it…I’m sorry.” Split said.

“If you think that for one minute I-wait. What?” That was definitely not what Silver was expecting.

“I’m sorry about everything. I should have taken Diamond’s feelings into account, and I REALLY shouldn’t have threatened you like I did. It was very uncouth and unprofessional of me.” Split said with a hoof to her chest.

Silver was still a little suspicious. She had been ever since this filly showed up in Ponyville, and her feelings weren’t going to be swayed very easily.

“And why should I believe anything you say? How do I know you’re not just trying to trick me into letting you in so you can just beat Diamond up again?” Split asked with a hint of cynicism.

Split sighed again.

“You don’t. But all I can give you is my word here. Believe me, this is probably one of the most stressful things I’ve had to do in my life. I don’t want to hurt you or Diamond, I swear.” Split tried to assure her. 

Silver still wasn’t quite sure. After all, this was the pony that publicly humiliated Diamond. She looked up at Split’s horn, and noticed that her horn was glowing with magic, which made her flinch, fearing that Split may actually carry out her threat from earlier.

Split noticed this and groaned.

“Calm down, I’m just levitating this.” Split said. She levitated into view a chocolate ice cream sundae with whipped cream, hot fudge, and a cherry on top.

The sight was enough to make Silver drool slightly.

“I’m hoping this’ll help make up for everything I did…how’s Diamond taking it?” Split asked.

Silver looked at Split for a second. From what Diamond told her, ice cream was something she put her blood, sweat, and tears into whenever she made it, and she never joked when it came to her work. If she went through the trouble of getting this, that could only mean that Split was legitimately trying to patch things up.

“Diamond’s…not doing so good. She’s been locked in her room for hours. She won’t even let me in there to help.” Silver sighed.

If Split wasn’t concerned for Diamond’s well being before, she was now.

“Oh, that’s really not good. I need to fix this. Now.” Split said as Silver stepped aside to let her in. 

“Ummm…You need any help with that?” Silver asked uncertainly.

Split turned her head to Silver and smiled slightly.

“I suppose I could use the help.” Split said. Silver nodded and both ponies trotted up the stairs to the second floor of Diamond’s house. Both of them made their way down the hallway upstairs to Diamond’s bedroom door. Silver knocked on it, halfway knowing the response ahead of time.

“Uhhh, Di? Split’s here. She wants to talk to you.” Silver said. 

There was a moment of silence.

“That’s not funny Silver! Why they hay would she want to be anywhere near me ever again?!” Diamond yelled from her room. Silver facehoofed and groaned.

“Oh for Celestia’s sake Diamond.” She muttered under her breath.

‘Oh boy, it’s even worse than I thought.’ Split thought.

“Diamond, I really am here. Can you please open up?” Split asked, hoping to get a better response out of Diamond.

From the other side of the door, both foals could hear what sounded like shuffling of blankets, hoofsteps, and the door unlocking. Diamond opened the door, and Split could almost instantly tell the entire situation took a pretty heavy toll on her. Her eyes were bloodshot, her cheeks were stained with wet marks from her crying, and her mane was disheveled in a way not unlike it was when she fell asleep in class earlier that day.

“Diamond I-“ Split couldn’t even get three words out before Diamond, nearly as fast as lightning, pulled into a tight hug and resumed her crying, almost making Split lose the ice cream she still held in her magic.

“I-I-I’M SORRY! I’M SO SORRY! I’M SORRY I TREATED EVERYPONY SO BADLY, I’M SORRY I HIT YOU, AND I’M SO SORRY THAT I’M JUST SUCH A TERRIBLE FILLY!” Diamond wailed.

Everything happened so fast that neither Split nor Silver knew how to react. Considering her behavior earlier, neither pony had actually expected Diamond to apologize first, and certainly not sobbing this intensely. 

Split slightly returned the rather sudden hug, trying her best to comfort Diamond.

“Diamond, you need to calm down. You’re not a terrible filly.” Split said softly.

“Y-Yes I am! I made fun of everypony that didn’t have Cutie-Marks and I rubbed mine in their faces all the time! I was just-“ Split put a hoof on Diamond’s mouth before she could get another word in.

“Diamond, it isn’t your fault. Just listen to me for a second.” 

Diamond nodded with Split’s hoof still on her lips and tears still in her eyes.

“Look, here’s the way I’m seeing things right now. Yeah, what you did was wrong, but at the same time, I can see why you did it.” Split said.

One of Diamond’s ears fell to her head, indicating that she didn’t understand.

“Okay, you remember those jerky ponies from Hoofington don’t you? Always made fun of us for not having Cutie-Marks?” Split asked. Diamond’s other ear fell back to her head and her tear-filled eyes shifted to the ground. How could a filly forget something as bad as that?

“Wait. Di, you were…bullied?” Silver asked. Diamond nodded in response.

“I’m pretty sure everypony was at some point Silver. Anyway, my guess is that it made you so mad that you just wanted to rub your own Cutie-Mark in other’s faces like they did. You wanted the same satisfaction they got out of having theirs. Am I right?” Split asked.

Diamond sat motionless for a moment. Split took her hoof off of Diamond’s mouth to try and let her talk.

“…Yes.” Diamond said quietly. It looked like Split hit the nail on the head with her assumption.

‘Phew. Thank you so much Pinkie Pie.’ Split thought.

“…Diamond, I need to do some apologizing of my own.” Split said as she slightly pawed at the ground.

Diamond gave Split a confused look.

“What? Split, what the hay could you have to be sorry for?” Diamond asked. She couldn’t be sure, but Diamond could’ve sworn that Split was starting to tear up.

“I-I really shouldn’t have called you out like that in front of everypony. I-I should’ve thought about what you were going through. B-But all I did was make things worse and I…I hurt you.” Split sniffled. Diamond was sure of it now. Split was starting to cry.

There was no way Diamond was going to watch Split cry the way she did. She trotted up to the blue unicorn and put a hoof to her friend’s face and wiped whatever tears were forming.

“Come on, don’t you start too.” Diamond said, giving a slight smile. Split smiled back and tightened her grip on the hug.

Silver Spoon coughed.

“Uhh girls? Can you try not to make me the third wheel here?” Silver asked, not wanting to be left out.

“Oh shut up and get over here.” Split said. Silver Spoon gladly got up and joined the group hug the three fillies were currently engaged in. 

Once the hug was broken, Split pushed the sundae she had brought with her toward Diamond.

“I kinda made this as a token of my apology. I finally got the flavor-warping spell to work, and I used it to put this together” Split said. Diamond had been all too familiar with Split’s work, and was practically drooling at the sight of the delight before her.

“S-Split I…thanks.” Diamond said as she happily picked up the spoon and put the frozen substance in her mouth.

Almost the second the ice cream hit her tongue, Diamond was in bliss. Her eyelids were half closed, her face was in an obvious smile, and she was pleasantly rocking back and forth. 

“…Woah. You even got my favorite flavor right.”

“I take my work very seriously Diamond. Of course I’d pay attention to what flavor my best friend likes the best. Never know when I’ll need to know that.” Split said.

Diamond slightly snapped out of her trance when she noticed Split was staring at the ice cream, drooling in the same way she was. Diamond looked back and forth between Silver and the sundae, and came to a decision.

“Uhhh, Silvs…if you want some, go ahead. I kinda stole your milkshake once, so it’s only fair.” Diamond said with a slight chuckle.

That was certainly a first. Diamond wasn’t normally known for being extraordinarily selfless and generous, and Silver Spoon appreciated the change.

“Hehe. Thanks Diamond.” Silver Spoon said also taking a bite of the sundae.

Her reaction was incredibly similar to Diamond’s. Dazed eyes, a dopey smile, and a swaying motion.

“So, I take it you girls like it?” Split asked with a laugh.

Both fillies nodded.