> Diamond Tiara Likes Anime
>  by Yukito
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Diamond Tiara Likes Watching Anime
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

And so, Daring Do continued bravely through the forest, the pain in her wings nothing when compared to the concern for her friend. Daring Do had made a promise, and she intended to keep it.

Looking up at the setting sun, she knew she didn’t have much time left; the ritual was to start the moment the sun had finished setting. To get there on hoof in time would be impossible. But, when things began to look grim for the young adventure, she heard-

Beep beep! Beep beep! Beep beep!

Diamond Tiara lowered her book, Daring Do – First Raid, and looked over to her clock. That it was beeping meant that it was… Yes! It was indeed 15:55!

“Okay, I guess I’ll finish this later,” she said, placing a bookmark inside her book and placing it down on her bedside table. She jumped off of her bed, stretched her hooves a little bit, and walked over to her computer.

“He should be online any second now…”

BBBFF has signed in!

“Ah! He’s on!” Diamond said excitedly as she immediately dragged her mouse to the notification and single-clicked it. A message window popped open.

Queen Tiara: Hi!

BBBFF: Hello, I take it you want the new ep?

Queen Tiara: Yeah, I’ve been waiting all week to see how she captures the Fire Spirit!

BBBFF: lol, me too. I won’t spoil anything, but it was epic!

Queen Tiara: You’re lucky. I wish I could watch new episodes live, and buy the DVDs and such :(

BBBFF: Well, for a while I tried keeping it a secret from my wife, thinking she’d make fun of it… She did, but at least she’s still accepting of it.

Anyway, here’s the file: Mahou Shoujo Sakura-chan! 22.avi, sorry for the scratchy quality, but it’s still perfectly watchable.

Queen Tiara: Thnx! Can’t wait ‘til I’m older and have my own house.

Diamond Tiara clicked the link, ignored the warning about files potentially containing viruses, and prayed the download wouldn’t take too long. Fifty minutes remaining soon turned into fifteen, then ten. It stayed at that rate, so she decided to continue chatting for ten minutes whilst she waited.





Once the download was finished, a notification popped up in the bottom corner of her computer screen, and she let out a silent cheer.

Queen Tiara: File’s just finished DLing. Gonna watch the ep now :)

BBBFF: kk, have fun.

Diamond Tiara set her status to ‘Busy’ and double-clicked the video file. It opened, took a moment to load, and then started playing. She paused it for a second so that she could plug in her headphones and turn up the volume a little bit.

“This is going to be good,” she said to herself as she hit play.

During the opening sequence, Diamond Tiara found herself silently singing along, though because the words were in Nipponese, it was mostly just gibberish that sort of sounded like the opening song.

Whenever the characters carried out their signature moves, Diamond Tiara found herself copying their poses and speaking their lines along with them.

“God of Rain, answer my call!” she chanted as the colt in the video did the same thing.

“I am Mahou Shoujo, Sakura! In the name of the stars, I will capture you!” she sang as the filly onscreen did the same.

During the battle scene, she was watching quietly in anticipation, virtually on the edge of her seat the whole time. It was only when the show’s main character, Sakura, had captured the Fire Spirit that Diamond Tiara finally let out some noise, cheering for the show’s protagonist as she landed next to her rival, thanking him for his assistance and gazing dreamily into his eyes…

“W-Whoa…” she said as the two started moving closer to each other. She had to bite her lower lip to stop herself from squealing in excitement, but when the sudden intrusion of Sakura’s friend caused the two to separate just short of confessing to each other, Diamond Tiara let out a frustrated groan. “Oh, come on!” she yelled, shaking her hooves in fury. “They were so close! Why must you tease us like this? Just make them kiss already!”

Knock knock!

“Diamond, sweetie? Is everything alright?”

Diamond Tiara quickly turned her head to her door and then back to her computer screen. The door opened just as she managed to hit pause and minimise the window.

Filthy Rich, Diamond Tiara’s father, walked in to the sight of his daughter clicking something on her screen and quickly tossing her headphones away.

“D-Daddy? Is something wrong?” she asked, trying to slow her breathing as she sent him a nervous smile.

“That should be my line,” he said, looking over at her computer screen to see just her desktop background. On it was a picture of herself and Silver Spoon enjoying a picnic together, with the text ‘BFFs 4EVER!’ written above in pink text, and some icons to the side, though the only ones he recognised were the basic ones, such as ‘My Computer’, or ‘Recycle Bin’.

“I heard you shouting,” he said. “Who were you talking to?”

Diamond Tiara gulped and tried to think of something quick. “Uh, I wasn’t talking to anypony,” she said. “It was, uh… online! Yeah, there was somepony dissing your company online, so I… got a little mad…”

“‘Dissing’?” Filthy Rich asked, not quite sure what the strange new term meant.

Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes. “Bad-mouthing, Daddy.”

“Oh!” he said. “Uh, I knew that… but, why would that make you yell at your computer screen?”

“Geez, don’t you know anything?” she asked rhetorically. “If I had confronted them directly, it would have started an argument, something I so don’t wanna get into right now. So I just, y’know, vented my frustration to myself.”

Filthy Rich raised an eyebrow, not quite sure he understood. “I… see?” He shrugged and began to leave. “Well, just as long as you’re okay. Just try to keep it down, alright? Your mother isn’t feeling so well right now.”

Diamond Tiara nodded. “Yes, Daddy.”

The door closed, and Diamond Tiara let out a relieved sigh. She opened up her window again, only to minimise it instantly as the door swung back open. ‘Now what?!’

“One more thing: dinner will be a little late tonight.”

“O-Okay. Thanks for the heads up.”

Filthy Rich scanned his daughter for a bit, who simply stared back with a strange smile on her face. He slowly backed out and then closed the door.

This time, Diamond Tiara waited until she could hear his hoofsteps moving down the stairs before reopening her window, and picking up her headphones.

Sweetie Belle has signed in!

Diamond Tiara groaned as she saw the name pop up on her screen, but clicked on the notification anyway. She still wasn’t sure why exactly she had added the filly… Maybe it was because she knew that she was a similar age, or maybe it had something to do with the fact that there weren’t that many anime fans like herself online that could actually hold up a decent conversation, so she couldn’t afford to be picky…

Whatever the case, she was just glad that Sweetie Belle hadn’t yet caught onto the fact that ‘Queen Tiara’ was Diamond Tiara, and whilst online, the two actually had some fun times together.

“But, honestly, who uses their real name online? That kind of goes against the whole point!”

Sweetie Belle: Hey! You seen the new ep of Detective Ponan yet?

Queen Tiara’s status is now set to ‘Available’

Queen Tiara: That’s been subbed? I’m watching the new MSS right now. Just at the ending.

Sweetie Belle: Awwwwww, I was hoping to talk to somepony about the new character in this ep :’(

Queen Tiara: New character? Send me a link! I’ll watch it as soon as this is finished!

Sweetie Belle: kk! Oh, brb! My sister wants to talk to me. Here’s the link: www.equestriaanime.pon/detective_ponan_129

Queen Tiara: Good luck.

Sweetie Belle: lol, thanks ^_^

Sweetie Belle’s status is now set to ‘Away’

Silver Princess has signed in!

“Okay, now let’s see how this ends…”

Silver Princess: Heya, DT!

Diamond Tiara let out a frustrated groan, as she was once again torn away from her beloved anime. For a moment, she contemplated simply pretending she was away and had forgot to mark her status as such, but she decided against it. Silver Spoon was her only real life friend. She couldn’t risk losing her.

Queen Tiara: Hey. What’s up?

Silver Princess: Oh, not much. Doing this boring homework, and my stupid brother insists on watching the hoofball match in my room!

Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes. “Meanwhile, I’m being prevented from watching my favourite show.”

Silver Princess: Oh, by the way! You’ll never guess what I saw on my way home today!

Queen Tiara: Oh? What?

Silver Princess: It was Sweetie Belle, coming out of the anime store that opened just last week.

Queen Tiara: Anime store? Where?

Uh, y’know, so I know where to avoid going.

Silver Princess: Just round the corner to House of Hats.

Anyway, don’t you think that’s so lame?

Diamond Tiara frowned a bit, and her hooves shook as she typed a response, slowly, to her friend.

Queen Tiara: Yeah, well, what else would you expect from a blank flank whose only good point seems to be making a mess of everything?

Silver Princess: Totally.

Ugh! My brother’s being a pain! Brb.

Diamond Tiara felt her heart sink as she re-read the conversation again.

‘Anyway, don’t you think that’s so lame?’

With a sigh, Diamond typed a quick message to her friend.

Queen Tiara: gtg, see you tomorrow.

She set her status to ‘Appear Offline’ and went back to her episode. She found herself cheering up a little at the last few minutes, but she had lost most of the spirit she had whilst watching it earlier.

“I love anime… Why does it have to be so lame?” she asked herself quietly before moving on to the episode sent to her by Sweetie Belle.
> Diamond Tiara Likes Shopping For Anime
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Diamond Tiara tapped her pen to the paper on her desk, staring down at the sheet with a look of absolute boredom on her face. ‘Don’t know… Don’t know… Never even heard of it…’

She sighed and just gave up, knowing that she wouldn’t pass anyway with the few questions she could actually answer. She looked over to the clock and saw that there were five minutes left. ‘If I could use the Time Spirit, I could just copy off of somepony else’s paper’ she mused, grinning as she recalled the episode where the Time Spirit made its debut.

“Five minutes, class!” Cheerilee announced. “Even if you’re not finished, you may want to start checking your answers now.”

Diamond didn’t even bother. She knew she had failed; even if all the answers she gave were correct, she only answered enough to get 25%, whereas the pass mark was 40%.

“Time’s up! Please leave your papers on your desks, and I will collect them when you leave. Have a good weekend, my little ponies.”

The class wished Cheerilee a good weekend, and the students began to file out quickly, all too eager to start their two days of freedom. Diamond Tiara especially.

“Hey, blank flank.” Diamond walked outside to see her friend Silver Spoon confronting the Cutie Mark Crusaders. A nice bout of harmless teasing and name-calling after such a stressful test? Diamond Tiara decided she had time for that and approached the four fillies. “You were buying anime yesterday, weren’t you? What are you, five?”

Diamond stopped and kept her distance as she listened to the conversation.

“Why don’t ya mind yer own business, Silver Spoon?” Apple Bloom said, confronting the grey filly.

“Yeah! What should it matter to you what she likes?” Scootaloo added. Sweetie Belle simply nodded, putting on a tough face as she stood in-between her two friends.

Silver Spoon simply scoffed and turned to face Diamond Tiara. “Can you believe she’s in the same class as us, when she likes such childish things?”

Diamond Tiara faced the crusaders, and then Silver Spoon again. She nodded and then began to walk past the group, causing Silver Spoon to follow her and ask what was up. “Mom’s ill, and daddy wants me to help him take care of her,” she explained as the two walked away from the schoolhouse. “Sorry, we’ll have to hang out some other time.”

Silver Spoon continued following Diamond, much to the pink filly’s annoyance. “Well… I could help,” she suggested.

Diamond shook her head. “No, I couldn’t trouble you like that.”

“It’s not trouble at all,” Silver Spoon said. “And it’s an excuse to get away from my brother for a bit.”

Diamond tried to think of some way to lose the filly. She deviated from her planned route, instead following the path she takes to get home.

“Silver Spoon!” The two fillies looked at the grey mare that entered their path and who had started approaching them. “Such good timing! Your father and I are redecorating, and we could use an extra set of hooves to help us out!”

Silver Spoon pulled away as her mother reached out. “Mother, I’m going round Diamond’s house today!”

Diamond Tiara saw her chance and jumped at it. “Oh, no, it seems pretty important, Silver Spoon!” she said, smiling at her friend. “I don’t want to interrupt a family moment! You go on and help your parents out. I’ll be just fine on my own!”

Before Silver Spoon could argue, Diamond Tiara bolted down the street, back the way that they had just come from. “What a nice filly,” Silver’s mother said.

Silver Spoon watched Diamond Tiara run off with a confused look on her face. ‘She’s going the wrong way…’





Diamond poked her head out from behind a tree on the side of the street. She looked around, to make sure that nopony was looking, and then turned her attention towards her target: the new anime store that had opened up recently in Ponyville.

She ducked back behind the tree, and pulled out a black hoodie from her bag, and a pair of shades. She put the hoodie on, pulled up the hood – leaving her tiara on, of course – and put on her shades. She looked around again and walked over to the store.

As she entered, she was greeted by the enthusiastic pony at the counter, but only responded with a silent nod. She wandered past the counter and into one of the aisles at random. She looked on in awe at all of the DVDs around her. They were all separated into many different genres: romance, comedy, dark, gore, shoujo, shounen, and more. She even noticed a curtained area, with a sign reading ‘Hentai’, but when she tried to enter she was told that only ponies of eighteen years of age or older could look in that section.

She shrugged and decided to check out the shoujo section. As she had hoped, she found Mahou Shoujo Sakura-chan. And four volumes of it, too! They were reasonably priced – ten bits per DVD – but she had to be careful not to buy too much. She didn’t want her dad to find out, after all.

“Let’s see… I’ll get these four volumes, and that’s it,” she said to herself, picking up the four DVDs before heading over to the counter. On the way, though, she passed by another series she liked: ‘.hack//Night_Mare’. She had only been able to find a few episodes of that, and the subbing was done so poorly, but she liked the animation, and got the general idea of the story line.

“Well… I guess I can get one or two volumes of that,” she said as she picked up volumes one to three. Next to it, there was a DVD that caught her interest, because the main character looked like the one from Gakuen Griffon. She read the title: ‘Full Metal Pony’. She looked at the back, reading the description and looking at some of the images.

“This… This looks worth checking out… I’ll have to search for it when I get home.” She put the DVD back down and began to walk away, but stopped when a thought crossed her mind. “But what if I can’t find it? And… what if the DVD’s not here next time I come?” She looked back at the DVD, her mind conflicted over whether to buy it or not.

“Heya, Diamond! What’re you looking at?”

“This DVD… Should I buy it? If I buy too much…” She stopped and turned her head, slowly. She blinked a few times upon seeing Sweetie Belle smiling at her, and suddenly felt like quickly running out of the store and finding somewhere to hide. Somewhere far away, maybe deep in the Everfree Forest.

“Full Metal Pony?” Sweetie Belle asked. “It’s a little violent for my tastes, but to each their own, right?”

Diamond must have looked like a total idiot, standing there with her mouth wide open and trembling, because Sweetie Belle gave her the strangest look she had ever seen. “Diamond? Are you okay?”

“W-W-W-W-W-” Diamond stopped, closed her eyes, and took a deep, soothing breath. “What are you doing here?!” she asked, as calmly as she could, though it still earned a ‘shush’ from the store’s owner. She tried harder to lower her voice to a whisper. “And how did you know it was me?”

Sweetie Belle smiled and held up a few DVDs that she was carrying. “Same as you, I guess. I’m buying some anime.” She giggled as she pointed to the top of Diamond Tiara’s hoodie. “And you’re the only pony in all of Ponyville that wears a tiara at all times. It really wasn’t that hard. Plus your cutie mark and tail are exposed, too.”

Diamond Tiara looked over her shoulder, and cursed herself for not thinking of that. She then turned back to Sweetie Belle and tried some of that quick thinking she used on her father whenever he walked in on her watching anime. Fortunately, Sweetie Belle barely knew her, so she could make up all kinds of things and probably get away with it.

“I-I’m… D-Don’t misunderstand me! I’m just here to buy a present for my cousin’s birthday party!”

“Your cousin likes anime, too?”

Diamond groaned and removed her shades, allowing Sweetie Belle to see the rage in her eyes. “No! I mean, he does, but I don’t!”

The two were silent for a few moments, with Diamond Tiara huffing and puffing as she glared the other filly down. “… You don’t?” Sweetie Belle asked, to which Diamond Tiara shook her head. “So you didn’t like that episode I sent you yesterday?”

Diamond stared at her in disbelief once again. “W-What do you mean?”

“You know, the new Detective Ponan episode? With the new character introduced? You signed off before I got back, so we couldn’t talk about it.”

Diamond Tiara couldn’t believe it. “H-How did you… I mean, what are you talking about? We didn’t talk yesterday! You know, just because somepony has the word ‘tiara’ in their online username, doesn’t mean it has to be me!”

“… Then, how do you know the pony I talked to had ‘tiara’ in their name?”

Diamond remained silent at that and slammed a hoof into her face. Of all the stupidest things she could have done… “How long have you known?”

“Since the beginning,” Sweetie Belle said, this time surprising Diamond for a different reason. She had known all this time and yet had never said anything to anypony? “You called me ‘blank flank’ the first time we spoke, but I had never told anypony online I was a blank flank. That meant you knew me, and there are only two ponies I know who call me that. And I already have Silver Spoon added.”

“You do?” Diamond Tiara asked, finding more questions being raised the longer this conversation went on. She shook the thought away. There would be time for that later, but for now, there was something more important to discuss. “Then, why haven’t you told anypony?”

“Uh… told anypony what?”

“You know!” Diamond shouted, earning yet another ‘shush’ and a stern glare from the store’s owner. “That I… like anime,” she said, mumbling the last part but still making it audible.

Sweetie Belle shrugged. “Why should I? What should it matter what you like?”

Diamond’s eyes filled with hope, and she looked at the filly as if she were some kind of grand saviour. “So… you’ll keep this a secret?”

Sweetie Belle nodded, though she looked a bit uncertain. “I… guess, if you really want me to…”

Diamond Tiara let out a big sigh of relief and did something neither filly thought she would ever do: she hugged Sweetie Belle. “Thank you,” she said, parting soon afterwards and giving her the same glare she usually gave her. “You tell anypony, blank flank, and I’ll make sure you regret it!”

Sweetie Belle nodded quickly and Diamond Tiara released her. “Um, why exactly do I have to keep it a secret?”

Diamond scoffed at the question and gave her a look as if to tell her that it was obvious why. “Because, if anypony found out, I’d be a laughing stock! You saw how Silver Spoon reacted to you liking this stuff, and I know that daddy certainly wouldn’t approve!”

“I dunno,” Sweetie Belle said. “I think you may be overreacting.”

“Overreacting?” Diamond asked. “OVERREACTING?!” Sweetie Belle nodded, and Diamond took another soothing breath to calm herself down. “… Just, don’t tell anypony. Got it?”

“Don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me!”

Diamond actually smiled a little at that. “Oh, and that new episode? We’ll chat about it later.”

Sweetie Belle’s face beamed to life and the two parted ways on friendly terms. Diamond bought the DVDs that she had picked up and placed them safely into her bag. Now for the hard part: getting home without anypony seeing her leave the store, or carrying these DVDs.





“Mornin’, Mr. Rich,” Big Macintosh said as Filthy Rich approached him. “Sorry, Granny’s havin’ her nap right now, but ah got yer order in the barn for ya.”

“Thank you,” Filthy Rich said as he followed Big Macintosh towards the farm. “Actually, I wanted to ask you something, Big Macintosh.”

Big Mac turned his attention to the other stallion. “Eeyup?”

“Well, when your sister Applejack was a filly, and your parents weren’t around, you had to raise her yourself for most of the time, didn’t you?” Big Mac nodded, and Filthy Rich shuffled his hooves nervously on the floor as he tried to find the right words. “Well, I was wondering, since you’re experienced with raising fillies – more so than me, at least – I was wondering if I could ask you for some advice?”

Big Mac raised an eyebrow. “Advice?”

Filthy Rich nodded. “Diamond has been acting a little strange recently, and I’m not quite sure what to do…”

“Strange how?”

Filthy Rich told Big Mac all of the details of how Diamond had been acting towards him and her mother recently. How she would rush off to her room as soon as she had finished her dinner, how she jumped out of her seat whenever he went to check up on her, how she always sat there, with an obviously fabricated innocent grin on her face, in front of a computer screen with nothing on it, and how she seemed to be acting more secretive about her life lately.

Big Mac laughed, catching the older stallion off guard. “Sorry, Mr. Rich. But honestly, ah don’ think ya need tah worry yerself about it so much.”

Filthy Rich almost let out a sigh of relief but held on a bit longer. “Are you sure?”

Big Mac nodded. “Eeyup.” He released the sigh. “She’s just growin’ up an’ findin’ out new things. That’s all.”
> Diamond Tiara Likes Talking About Anime
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Diamond Tiara scrolled through the list of anime displayed on her computer screen, trying to pick out the top three out of the fifty available. Naturally, ‘Mahou Shoujo Sakura-chan’ got her vote instantly. Her second vote went towards ‘Pony no Go’, an anime that she had recently finished watching and really enjoyed.

For her last vote, she was torn between ‘Canterlot High School Host Club’, ‘Code Pony: Luna of the Rebellion’, and ‘Chibi Changeling’. Unable to make her decision, she decided to ask her friends’ opinions.

BBBFF: I voted for Fate/Equestrian Night myself.

Diamond rolled her eyes and opened her other chat window.

Queen Tiara: Hey, have you voted on that top three anime poll yet?

Sweetie Belle: No, not yet. There are too many choices to choose from >.<

Have you?

Queen Tiara: I’m torn between three different anime for the last spot.

A knock at Diamond Tiara’s door caused her to quickly minimise the chat windows, and she turned towards the door just as her father walked in.

“Diamond? Can I please borrow you for a moment?”

Diamond tilted her head, wondering what she could have done. “What about, daddy?”

“Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble,” he assured her. “And this won’t take long.”

Diamond Tiara was confused but nodded her head regardless. “Um… okay,” she said, and her father left her room, leaving the door open for her to follow him. She set her status to ‘Away’ and told her two friends that she would be back soon.





Filthy Rich asked Diamond Tiara to sit down in the dining room, and the filly was surprised to see her teacher, Cheerilee, waiting for her at the table. As soon as Diamond Tiara was sitting down opposite her teacher, Filthy Rich and Cheerilee nodded to each other.

“I’ll leave her to you then, Ms. Cheerilee,” Filthy Rich said before turning to Diamond Tiara. “Now then, I’ll be taking care of your mother whilst Ms. Cheerilee here has a few words with you.”

“Wait!” Diamond shouted. “What is this all about?”

“It’s about your recent… interests,” Filthy Rich said, causing Diamond’s eyes to widen.

“Y-You mean-” She was cut off by a nod from her father. “D-Daddy, I can explain-”

“There’s no need to worry,” Cheerilee said reassuringly. “You’re not in trouble. Your father’s just worried about you, and wants to make sure you have a proper understanding of… that stuff.”

Filthy Rich nodded and blushed a little. “I’m… probably not the best pony to teach you this stuff, so I asked Ms. Cheerilee if she could spare some of her time for you. I expect you’ll behave, and listen attentively to her?”

Diamond was a little confused… Okay, more than just a little, but she nodded anyway and watched as her father left the room. As soon as he did, Cheerilee began asking her questions.

“Now then, Diamond,” she started, “I understand you’ve been acting a little… different, lately. Is that correct?” Diamond nodded slowly. “Like shutting yourself in your room?” Another nod. “And looking at things on our computer that you don’t want your father to see?”

“H-How did you-”

Cheerilee shushed her by raising a hoof and continued, smiling reassuringly the whole time. “Relax. As I said, you are not in trouble.” Diamond did seem to calm down a bit, though she still looked a little nervous. “Tell me, when did this all start?”

“… About five months ago,” she said, surprising her teacher, who had been expecting only a week or two as the answer. “When I first came across a certain video on PonyTube, completely by accident.”

Cheerilee nodded, and made a mental note to bring up the issue of foals coming across adult videos online at the next town meeting. “I see… And what were your first thoughts about the video?”

“My first thoughts?”

“Were you confused, at all? Or perhaps, intrigued?”

Diamond thought about it, and then only offered a nod. When she realised that wasn’t enough of an answer, she elaborated with words. “I thought I wouldn’t like it, at first. But, for some reason, after watching one video, I just had to watch more.”

A blush crossed Cheerilee’s face, but the filly didn’t seem to notice. “I… see.” Cheerilee cleared her throat. “And so, you watched even more of these videos?”

Diamond Tiara nodded. “At first, I just stuck to videos of the same series, but then I started to give other ones a try… Some were a little too much for me,” she said, shuddering slightly as a memory of ‘Pony Lied’ crossed her mind. “But others had me completely hooked instantly, and there are some that are just good to watch when I’ve got nothing else to do.”

Cheerilee was quite shocked, to say the least, at how open Diamond Tiara was being about having such interests. Most foals who had come to her with this problem usually took about half-an-hour to properly elaborate their feelings, but Diamond seemed to have no problem at all being completely honest with her.

“Diamond, when you first started to develop these… interests… did you not think about going to your mother or father to ask about them?”

Diamond quickly shook her head. “No! I couldn’t let anypony know, especially not them! What if they get the wrong idea? What if they think there’s something wrong with me, liking stuff like that?!”

Cheerilee quickly calmed the panicking filly down by placing a hoof on her shoulder. “Diamond, it’s okay. Nopony’s mad at you, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with you.”

Diamond Tiara sniffed. “You sure?”

Cheerilee nodded. “I’m sure.” Diamond smiled, and Cheerilee went back to her questions. “So, besides watching videos online, have you made any… other discoveries?”

Diamond Tiara hesitated a bit, but then nodded. “For a while, I felt all alone, watching those videos on my own.” Cheerilee nodded. “But then, I found an online community, where ponies with similar interests can talk to each other.”

‘Oh no,’ Cheerilee thought to herself. “I see… And you chatted with some of these ponies?”

Diamond Tiara nodded. “In particular, I made a very good friend on there, who understands my problem, and helps me out by sending me videos that are hard to come by.”

“Does this pony know how old you are?” Cheerilee asked, feeling the issue becoming more complicated by the minute.

Diamond Tiara nodded. “He does. Why?”

“Oh, no reason,” Cheerilee lied. ‘We can deal with that issue later. First of all, I need to make sure she hasn’t gotten into any trouble with this ‘community’.’

“There’s another friend I made, who’s a similar age to me,” Diamond said. “She’s a bit more open about her interests, and recently, she found out who I really was… but she agreed to keep my secret.” Diamond Tiara smiled and wiped away a tear that had recently rolled down her face. “She’s… a really good friend…”

“Somepony your age?” Cheerilee asked. “Can you tell me who?”

Diamond Tiara thought about it for a moment. Sweetie Belle was more open about liking anime than Diamond was, but would she appreciate Diamond telling Cheerilee without asking her first? Then again, Sweetie Belle used her real name online, so she clearly wasn’t concerned about remaining anonymous.

“It’s Sweetie Belle,” Diamond Tiara said, blushing a little as she turned her head to the side.

Cheerilee’s eyes widened in absolute shock. “Sweetie Belle?” she asked, her mouth agape. Diamond Tiara nodded. ‘Sweetie Belle likes… Well, that’s certainly… I’ll have to make sure to stop by her house later. If she’s a part of this ‘community’, I should at least make sure she’s not putting herself in any danger.’

“Sweetie Belle actually helps me out,” Diamond Tiara said. “Recently, I learned of a shop in Ponyville that sells these videos, and she offers to buy some of them for me with my money, since I’m too afraid to go there by myself most of the time.”

Cheerilee’s eyes grew even wider. “You two… buy these videos from a shop?”

Diamond Tiara nodded, an innocent smile plastered on her face. “We sometimes watch them together, too. IRL.”

“IRL?” Cheerilee asked.

“‘In real life’,” Diamond explained. “I’ve been round her house a few times in the past few days, and we watched some of these videos together, and talked to each other about them… and, we even do some RPing, sometimes.”

“RPing?”

“‘Role-playing’. We sometimes act out some of the scenes we see together…”

‘Oh Celestia.’ Cheerilee quickly took a huge drink of the tea that Filthy Rich had offered her when she came by, and then rubbed her temples with her forehooves. ‘Okay, so the situation is more complicated than I first thought… I’d better make sure Mr. Rich knows about all of this, and I’ll have to have a word with Mr. and Mrs. Belle, too.’

“Um,” Diamond Tiara said, gathering her teacher’s attention. “You’re not going to tell anypony about all this, are you? If anypony found out, especially Silver Spoon, I’d-”

Cheerilee once again calmed the filly down, with a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. Besides yours and Sweetie Belle’s parents, what was said here will remain confidential.”

Diamond Tiara’s eyes grew wide with fear. “O-Our parents? W-Why would they need to know?”

“Please understand, Diamond,” Cheerilee said. “Your parents love you, and they’re worried about you. They need to know what’s going on, so that they can be there to help you. And Sweetie Belle’s parents need to know, too.”

Diamond Tiara wanted to protest more, but she knew she wouldn’t win. Resignedly, she nodded her head. Cheerilee had one more question for now: “Diamond, how do you feel about all this?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you feel like what you’re doing is a bad thing?”

Diamond Tiara shook her head very quickly. “I don’t. It makes me happy, and I’ve made some very good friends online.”

“Oh? Then why were you afraid of going to your parents about this?”

“… Well, I just thought that, maybe they wouldn’t feel the same way. I was afraid they’d make me stop, and force me to never speak to my new friends ever again.”

“… And you have fun with these new friends?”

Diamond smiled and nodded her head. “They’re really great! Some of them can be a little annoying, but they totally understand me, and help me out by giving me advice, or showing me various sites where I can watch more videos. If possible, I’d like to meet up with some of them, but…”

“That would probably be a bad idea,” Cheerilee said, rather strictly. “Ponies online hide their identities. You can never be sure of just who it is you’re meeting.”

Diamond sunk her head low. “… Right…”

Cheerilee sighed and stood up. “Well, that will be all for today. Can you ask your father to come back? I’d like to share with him what we talked about today… but I’ll leave out Sweetie Belle’s name for now, okay?”

Diamond Tiara smiled. “Thank you,” she said, before getting up and leaving the dining room.

Once the door closed, Cheerilee pushed her face into her hooves. “… This is exactly what I was talking about during that last meeting. Foals these days need Sex Ed. at a younger age, because otherwise they’ll learn about it off the internet…”





Queen Tiara: Back.

Sweetie Belle: wb! Where’d you go?

Queen Tiara: Daddy dragged me away to have a talk with Miss Cheerilee.

Sweetie Belle: Miss Cheerilee? Why?

Queen Tiara: Somehow, he found out that I like anime, and wanted her to have a talk with me about it.

I told you they wouldn’t approve.

Sweetie Belle: That’s weird. Rarity knows I like anime, but I never had to talk with Miss Cheerilee.

Queen Tiara: About that… I told her that you also like anime, and that we’ve been watching it together recently, and she wants to have a word with your parents, too.

Sweetie Belle: What?! Why?!

Queen Tiara: Sorry, I thought you wouldn’t mind, since you don’t use an alias online :(

Sweetie Belle: First, what’s an alias?

Second, I don’t mean ‘why did you tell them?’, I mean ‘why does she want to talk to my parents?’.

Queen Tiara: Oh… Well, like I said, nopony else would understand us if they found out, especially the adults. They’re from another generation, and totally have the wrong idea about us.

Sweetie Belle: Well, can’t we just show them that there’s nothing wrong with what we like? Maybe show them an episode or two of some of our shows?

Queen Tiara: What if they won’t listen to us?

Anime makes me happy… I don’t want to lose it.

Sweetie Belle: I know! I’ll ask Rarity to help! She’s been so supportive my whole life, so I’m sure she’d be willing to help us out!

Queen Tiara: Well, it’s a start… Just make sure she doesn’t tell anypony about me, okay?

Sweetie Belle: Yeah, I got it.

I hope this goes well. I was gonna ask you if you wanted to come with me to a convention in Manehattan next month.

Queen Tiara: A convention?

Sweetie Belle: ManeCon. It’ll be my first ever convention, but Rarity will only let me go if I take a friend.

If all goes well, would you like to come?

Queen Tiara: A convention is that thing where lots of ponies with similar interest gather, right?

Sweetie Belle: Yeah, it’s gonna be totally neat!

You in?

Queen Tiara: Totally! But first, we need to make sure things go well with our parents first.

Diamond Tiara looked over to her clock, which was now beeping.

She quickly started typing, but Sweetie Belle proved to be the faster typer.

Sweetie Belle: Hay-Ate no Gotoku! is coming on soon!

Queen Tiara: What was that livestream link you sent me before? I forgot to bookmark it!

Sweetie Belle quickly sent Diamond Tiara the link, and for the next thirty minutes, the two forgot their worries as they sat in their homes, watching the new episode together and chatting together about it.

As she watched the episode, a part of a Diamond Tiara found it silly that she was so afraid of other ponies judging her for something that only brought her happiness… but that part was overshadowed by the knowledge that she herself liked to tease ponies for things they enjoyed, too.
> Diamond Tiara Likes Cosplaying As Characters From Anime
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day, Diamond Tiara stopped by Sweetie Belle’s house – along with Rarity – to ask for her help. When they explained that the adults had a problem with them watching anime and that they were going to come round to ‘have a talk’ with them, Rarity was at first sceptical, and sure that there was some kind of misunderstanding. Nonetheless, seeing her sister and her new friend in trouble, Rarity agreed to do whatever she could to help them out.

Whilst they waited for Cheerilee and Filthy Rich to stop by, the two fillies tried on a few costumes that Rarity had made based off of the clothes worn by their favourite anime characters. ‘Cosplay’, as it was known within the ‘otaku’ community.

They also discussed the possibility of attending ManeCon together, but Rarity said that that decision would be up to their parents.

“What do you think, Diamond?” Rarity asked as Diamond looked herself over in the mirror. “It isn’t too loose, is it? I added a little to your measurements, to take into account your body growing in the coming years, but I fear I may have made it just a little too big.”

“It’s fine,” Diamond Tiara said, smiling as she spun around to get a good look at her costume. She was wearing the pink dress that was worn by Sakura in the Mahou Shoujo Sakura-chan opening song, complete with angel wings and a staff.

Sweetie Belle was stood next to her, trying on her own costume. She was wearing a tight-fitting black vest and black trousers, along with a white bandage on her left foreleg and a red bandage on her right foreleg. The purple wig was still a work in progress, but so far, her Dark from D.N.Alicorn cosplay was looking pretty good.

“I just hope Daddy doesn’t get too mad when he comes over,” Diamond said, frowning as she took a seat on Sweetie Belle’s bed.

“Don’t you worry about a thing,” Rarity said in a reassuring tone. “I’ll have a word with your parents and Miss Cheerilee, and we’ll have this whole thing sorted out by the end of the day.

A knock on the house’s front door brought the room to silence, and Rarity poked her head out the door to see who it was. Her father, Magnum Belle, opened the front door to find Cheerilee and Filthy Rich standing there, asking if they could come in to talk.

“They’re here,” Diamond said nervously.

“You two just wait up here. I’ll go and have a word with them.”

The two fillies nodded and watched Rarity leave the room. Once she was gone, Sweetie Belle, noticing Diamond Tiara’s lowered spirits, tried to lighten the mood by suggesting they watch some of her new DVDs.





In the living room, Filthy Rich, Cheerilee, Rarity, and Magnum Belle all sat down together. Rarity had made some tea for everypony and brought it in, but there was far too much tension in the air for anypony to have a drink.

“Mr. Belle, you’re aware of the situation, are you not?” Filthy Rich asked, to which he received a nod from the other pony.

“Miss Cheerilee and I spoke over the phone prior to your coming here today. I’m well aware of our daughters’ new interests.” He turned his gaze towards Rarity. “You already knew, didn’t you?”

Rarity nodded. “Well, yes, but I-”

“You knew and didn’t tell anypony?” Filthy Rich asked, a bit more spite in his voice than perhaps he intended.

Cheerilee tried to calm him down. “Now, now, Mr. Rich. I’m sure Miss Rarity had her reasons.”

“Just Rarity,” Rarity said, smiling at the teacher. “And if I may be honest, I never really saw how it was necessary to tell anypony…”

“How can you think it wasn’t necessary?” Filthy Rich asked, his volume rising. “Diamond Tiara aside, Sweetie Belle is your sister for pony’s sake! How could you be okay with this?”

Rarity looked at him with a mix of shock and disapproval. She looked over to her father, and was positively surprised to find him agreeing with Filthy Rich. She couldn’t believe it; her father, the kind, caring, understanding stallion who had raised her to be the fine lady she was today, was actually agreeing with this intolerant attitude towards a couple of fillies liking anime!

“What should it matter, though?” she asked. “After all, it makes them so happy, and they’ve been getting along so well ever since they discovered this common interest within each other.”

Cheerilee folded her forelegs and creased her brow. “It’s true that they’ve been getting along a lot better recently than they used to.” ‘Though the same can’t be said for Diamond and the other crusaders.’ “And Diamond does seem to be a lot happier now-a-days, but-”

“You see? There’s no need to get in the way of something that makes them so happy.”

“But it’s not right!” Filthy Rich shouted. “It’s just not right for fillies their age to be doing that kind of stuff!”

‘Honestly, what a closed-minded view! Who says anime can’t appeal to an older audience?’ Rarity thought to herself. “Their ages shouldn’t matter,” she argued. “All that matters is that they have fun together, that they’ve become such good friends, and they have found something they can enjoy so passionately!”

“Do you even hear yourself?!”

Cheerilee pleaded for Filthy Rich to calm down. The disgruntled stallion picked up his tea and took a long drink of it.

Magnum cleared his throat to gain the group’s attention. “Well, if it were just the videos, I wouldn’t be so passionately against it. After all, that’s something we could talk to them about in a calm, civil manner.” He took a drink from his own cup and then shifted his gaze towards Rarity. “But, I’m given to understand that they also do this ‘RP’ thing, where they act out the scenes they see, is that right?”

“Yes. They-”

“That’s where I have to draw the line,” Magnum interrupted. “It isn’t right, no matter how you look at it, for those two fillies to be doing stuff like that.”

Rarity was shocked to hear such things coming from her father’s mouth, and her rage was starting to build. ‘Deep breaths, Rarity. Deep, soothing breaths…’

Rarity regained her composure and focused her attention on her father. She would protect her sister and her sister’s friend, no matter what. “Father, if you’re talking about age being an issue, then what about me?”

Magnum gave her a questioning look. “What do you mean? You’re-”

Before her could finish, Rarity cut in. “I’ve also watched those videos you seem to have such a problem with. Sweetie Belle and I often watch them together.” A loud gasp came from the other three, surprising Rarity yet again. Were the ponies in her town really so intolerant? How could she not have noticed before?

“You… What about Diamond?” Filthy Rich asked. “Have you been watching them with my Diamond?!”

Rarity looked at him with a determined look on her face, and nodded. “Yes, I have. Though not as much. I usually watch them with Sweetie Belle because it brings us closer together as sisters.” She turned back to Magnum. “And, to that end, I’ve also joined my sister and her new friend in their ‘RP’ games.”

The three adults stared at her with their eyes and mouths wide open. They couldn’t believe what they were hearing at all. And worst of all, she didn’t even seem guilty about it. She was saying it with such pride in her voice…

“Rarity…” Magnum said, falling back into his seat in shock. “How could you?”

Rarity couldn’t believe how strong the reaction was that she got. So what if she liked to join her sister in a harmless game of pretend? Why should it matter that she joined her sister in watching a show about a cute little filly who uses magic to save the world – and that she even enjoyed it a little, too?

“Father, maybe you don’t approve of this because you don’t understand,” she suggested. “Maybe if you watched their videos yourselves, you would see that there’s nothing wrong with it.”

“You can’t be serious,” Cheerilee said, looking at the Unicorn with a mix of horror and disgust.

“I am,” she said. “And maybe, if you saw how happy it makes them, and how happy they are when they play together, you would see things differently.”

“THAT’S ENOUGH!” Filthy Rich shouted, rising to his hooves and glaring down at Rarity with a look of absolute rage. “You… I can’t believe I ever let such a horrible pony get near my little girl… How can you just sit there and admit everything that you just did, as if there’s nothing wrong with it?

“And how the hell can you suggest we watch our daughters do such immoral stuff together?! Especially when they’re underage?!”

Rarity was about to shout back, but something about his last sentence struck her. “… Beg pardon? What do you mean, ‘underage’?”

“What the hell do you think I mean?!”

“Please, calm down!” Cheerilee shouted, managing to convince Filthy Rich to sit back down calmly. She turned her attention to Rarity. “It doesn’t matter how happy it makes them. Ponies shouldn’t watch those videos, or perform such actions, until they’re much older.”

“…” Rarity stared at the three ponies in utter silence. They were all glaring at her, daring her to make her next argument. ‘Something’s definitely not right here,’ she thought to herself. She turned to Cheerilee and asked: “Just so we’re clear, we are talking about their love for anime, right?”





“Return to your true form: Clover Card!”

The adults watched as an intense light flashed on the screen, and before their eyes, the image of a beautiful mare dressed in feudal attire was transformed into a card. The filly and colt onscreen started to celebrate. The filly hugged the colt, and then they both backed away, blushing intensely.

Diamond Tiara and Sweetie Belle were completely absorbed in the scene on the monitor, whereas the adults were all staring in complete bewilderment.

“You mean… this is what they’ve been doing?” Filthy Rich asked, to which Rarity, who looked very un-amused, nodded her head.

“And we thought they were…” Cheerilee didn’t even finish her thought. She, along with the two parents, lowered her head in shame, her face turning as red as the anime filly’s was just moments ago.

“So… this was all just some big misunderstanding?” Magnum asked.

“It would seem so,” Rarity said, still glaring at the three adults.

Filthy Rich cleared his throat and rose to his hooves. “It… seems I owe you an apology, Miss Rarity.”

Filthy Rich extended his hoof, and Rarity stared at it for a moment before reaching forward and shaking it. “Apology accepted,” she said.

“Right, well,” Filthy Rich said, adjusting his necktie as he looked over at his daughter, who was too absorbed in her show to notice what was going on behind her. “I would appreciate it if we could never speak of this again. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” the other two adults said, also getting up and preparing to leave.





“So… Daddy really has no problem with me liking anime?” Diamond Tiara asked, a little sceptical of the news that Rarity had given her.

“Isn’t that great, Diamond Tiara?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Now you don’t have to hide it anymore!”

“… No, I…” Diamond’s mind conjured up images of her friend Silver Spoon, laughing at her and calling her names, like ‘pathetic’, or ‘dweeb’. She shook the thoughts away for the time being and turned her attention back to Rarity. “So, what did they think we were doing? You said it was a misunderstanding.”

Rarity mentally cursed herself for letting that slip, but luckily, her mind was working fast today. “W-Well, more importantly than that, your fathers have given the okay for you two to go to ManeCon. Provided I go with you, of course.”

The two fillies’ faces lit up, and they both let out ecstatic cheers as they bumped hooves together.

“Yes!” Sweetie Belle cheered. “This is going to be great! Our first con ever! We need to start getting ready!”

“This is awesome,” Diamond Tiara said. “And I wouldn’t be able to go if it wasn’t for you two… Thank you so much!”

Rarity and Sweetie Belle both smiled, and the two fillies spent the rest of the afternoon planning for their first ever convention next month.





Silver Princess: You’ll be away for the whole weekend?

What, is it a family outing?

Queen Tiara: Something like that. Daddy wants me to visit my relatives in Manehattan.

I’d invite you, but it’s family only, so…

Silver Princess: That’s cool. I think I’ll be able to manage one weekend without you.

Queen Tiara: I’d better sign off now. Daddy doesn’t like me staying up so late.

See you in school tomorrow.

Silver Princess: Yeah, see you.

Diamond Tiara shut off her computer and stretched her hooves. “… It would be nice if Silver Spoon could come, too. But if she found out I like anime…”

Diamond sighed and lazily walked over to her bed. She fell down on top of it and slowly crawled inside the covers, letting a loud yawn escape as she got comfortable. ‘It’ll be fine, just as long as she doesn’t find out.’
> Diamond Tiara Likes Conventions For Anime
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Diamond Tiara’s eyes grew heavy as she stared down at her exercise book, flipping through the pages to check over her answers to make sure that they were right. After making a few adjustments here and there and making a few doodles of catponies and tiaras on the side of her page, she was satisfied with her work and put down her pen whilst she waited for the class to end.

“Snips,” Cheerilee said at the back of the class. “About this homework you handed in…”

“Is there a problem, Miss Cheerilee?” Snips asked, obviously nervous by the tone of his voice.

“How to put this delicately… Can you stay after class, so that we can discuss it? It’s just… not terribly up to standard.”

Snips groaned, and Cheerilee made her way back to the front of the class. Diamond Tiara heard Snips and Snails whispering to each other behind her and could vaguely make out Snails telling Snips that he shouldn’t have done his homework at literally the last minute.

Diamond Tiara smirked to herself and whispered: “Mada mada dane.”

“What was that?” Silver Spoon asked, causing Diamond to snap to attention and turn to her friend.

“Uh… I said that Math is boring.”

“Ugh. Totally.”

Diamond Tiara sighed in relief that she had managed to get out of that just fine. ‘I’ve got to be more careful with that. I keep quoting anime out loud like that, and I’m going to get caught.’

“You’re leaving tonight, aren’t you?” Silver Spoon asked. Diamond Tiara nodded. “… You wanna come over my house before you leave?”

Diamond Tiara shifted her eyes to look over at Sweetie Belle, who was still hard at work – and looked to be having trouble – and then back at Silver Spoon. She told Sweetie Belle that she would meet her at Carousel Boutique after she had packed today, so that they could go over their convention plans one last time together.

Silver Spoon turned to her book and started to scribble in the corner of the page with her pen. “We don’t hang out that much anymore…” she said, bringing a frown to Diamond’s face. “What gives? Are you losing interest in me?”

“O-Of course not,” Diamond said, leaning over and placing a hoof on Silver Spoon’s shoulder. “I just… I’ve just been going through some things lately, that’s all.”

“What kind of things?”

“Uh… family things?” Silver Spoon didn’t seem to be buying it.

“Ugh, just forget it,” Silver Spoon said, leaning her head onto her table and turning to face away from Diamond Tiara.

Diamond was about to say something, but Cheerilee caught the two talking and reminded them that they were to work in silence. Letting out a heavy sigh, Diamond Tiara leaned down on her own table, her excitement for the coming weekend suddenly slipping away.





Sweetie Belle noticed Diamond Tiara’s strange behaviour ever since she arrived at Carousel Boutique, but when she asked about it, Diamond denied anything being wrong. Sweetie wasn’t sure what else she could do, so she simply left it for now, hoping that she would feel better after a few episodes of HeatPony J. She did not.

She then suggested a game of Po-Ni-Oh!, but that did little to raise Diamond’s spirits, either. It probably didn’t help that Sweetie Belle went all out, and completely thrashed Diamond Tiara.

A Hayblade match, a new episode Ponypuff Fillies Z, and even the first Ponymon movie failed to lift Diamond’s spirits, and when the two fillies boarded the train to Manehattan along with Rarity, Sweetie Belle finally decided to ask what was wrong.

“It’s nothing,” Diamond insisted.

“Come on, it’s clearly not nothing,” Sweetie Belle said. “Are you worried about being away from home for the weekend?” Diamond Tiara shook her head. “Are you feeling unwell?” Diamond shook her head again. “Hmmm… Ooh! Is this the ‘pre-mens-trell’ thingy that Miss Cheerilee told us about?”

Rarity almost choked on her tea and quickly looked around to see if anypony was listening in. Thankfully, there were no ponies nearby. “Sweetie Belle, that’s not the sort of thing you should bring up in polite conversation.”

“Why not? Miss Cheerilee said it’s all natural, and nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Even so-”

“It’s not that,” Diamond Tiara said in an annoyed tone, her face red. “It’s… something else. I’d just prefer not to talk about it.”

Rarity smiled and placed a hoof on Diamond’s shoulder. “That’s quite alright, darling,” she said reassuringly. “You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to. Just know that we are here for you if you ever decide you need somepony to talk to.”

Sweetie Belle nodded and wrapped her forelegs around Diamond Tiara. “Yeah! I don’t know how much help I’ll be, but I’ll always be willing to listen and do whatever I can to help.”

Diamond Tiara, despite feeling a little annoyed at having her personal space violated – which she demonstrated by pushing Sweetie Belle away – still smiled and thanked Sweetie Belle and Rarity for their kindness.

The two fillies slept through most of the train trip to Manehattan, and when Rarity woke them up after they had arrived, Diamond Tiara was feeling a lot better. She was still down about Silver Spoon, but she decided not to let it ruin her first ever convention.

‘I’ll definitely fix things with Silver as soon as I get home,’ she told herself as she and Sweetie Belle followed Rarity to the hotel that they would be staying at for the weekend.





The first day of the convention finally arrived, and two very excited little fillies wasted no time getting themselves ready in the morning, by eating their breakfasts, taking quick showers, brushing their teeth, getting changed into their costumes, and then packing their lunches and sorting out their bags, making sure that they had everything they needed.

Rarity, on the other hoof, wasn’t quite as excited as the two fillies were. In fact, being woken up at seven in the morning, when the convention started at ten, no less, didn’t exactly put her in the best of moods, and it took all of her willpower not to snap and start the day off badly for her sister and her sister’s friend.

By 08:30, Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara were already ready to go. Rarity had tried to go back to sleep, but when that proved impossible, she resigned herself to her fate of an early morning, and dragged herself around the hotel room to get herself ready.





Sweetie Belle hopped through the convention hall excitedly as soon as she entered, looking in awe at all of the costumes she saw, the video game demonstrations on display, and all of the stalls of various merchandise. Anime, manga, figurines, video games, card games, cosplay props… It was like a dream come true for the two excited little fillies.

“Hey!” one of the convention staff shouted. “No running in the convention hall! Somepony could get hurt.”

“Terribly sorry, sir,” Rarity said as she quickly caught up to her sister, with Diamond Tiara alongside her. “She’s just a little excited for her first convention is all.”

“I can understand that, but safety must come first, y’hear?” Sweetie Belle nodded, and the staff member smiled down at her. “Well, enjoy the rest of the convention, okay?”

“I will!” Sweetie Belle said, getting ready to run off again, but stopping when she saw the hard stare from her sister. “Eheheh… sorry.”

The three walked through the hall, stopping at each stall on the way – or rather, each stall that had space for the two fillies to actually take a look at the merchandise – and the two fillies pointing out and identifying as many costumes as they could.

As they were passing by a manga stall, Rarity caught sight of a familiar stallion in the crowds. It was hard to recognise him at first with his costume on, but as soon as he was close enough to her, she quickly recognised him as Shining Armour, Twilight Sparkle’s big brother.

“R-Rarity?” he asked as he passed her by, looking a little nervous. “W-What a surprise! I didn’t know you were into this stuff.”

Rarity giggled and waved her hoof dismissively. “Oh, no no no noooo… I’m not against it, but I’m not exactly a fan, either.” She motioned her head towards her sister. “I’m here with my sister and her friend.”

Shining Armour, now blushing, nodded and leaned forward. “Hey,” he whispered, “Um, listen… any chance you don’t tell Twilie about this?”

Rarity cocked an eyebrow at the strange request. “Why? I hardly think Twilight, of all ponies, would have a problem with you liking something like this.”

Shining pulled back and scratched the back of his head nervously through his long black wig. “Well… it’s just that, as a kid, she really liked the old anime shows they used to show… Y’know, stuff like Draconequusball, and Sea Pony Melody…” Shining shuddered as he took a moment to remember certain times that Twilight, as a filly, would start singing loudly in their room when he was trying to study. “… And, she got teased for it at school. At first, she just denied liking it. But later, she actually grew to hate the stuff and wanted nothing to do with anime at all…”

“Oh, surely you don’t think she’s still like that?” Rarity asked. Shining nodded. “Come now, Twilight may be sensitive, and may do silly things every now and then, but I’m sure she’s over whatever awful things may have happened to her at school when she was just a little filly.”

Shining shook his head. “You’d think so, but Twilie can be pretty stubborn sometimes… She spent so long trying to convince everypony that she doesn’t like anime that now, it’s become part of who she is.”

Rarity couldn’t help but disagree with what Shining Armour was saying. “I’m sure Twilight wouldn’t mind if she found out you like anime… but if you still insist on me keeping it a secret, then I shall do just that.”

“Thanks, Rarity,” Shining Armour said with a smile.

“Byakuya Kuchiki!” Sweetie Belle shouted out, pointing up at Shining Armour.

“With his ‘Sen-pone-zakura’!” Diamond Tiara added excitedly.

Shining Armour smiled at the two fillies and waved at them. “Hello there. You two enjoying the convention so far?”

The two nodded, and Sweetie gave a sly grin to Rarity. “So, you found yourself a new ‘special friend’?”

Rarity blushed and quickly shook her head. “Sweetie Belle! Do you not recognise him?”

Sweetie looked at the stallion confusedly, but then immediately recognised him when he removed his wig. “Shining Armour?!”

“That’s right,” Shining said, placing his wig back on. He turned his attention to Diamond Tiara. “And who’s this? I don’t believe I’ve met her before.”

“Diamond Tiara,” Diamond said with a small bow. “Nice to meet you.”

Shining placed a hoof to his chin. “Hmmm… that name seems familiar…” Try as he might, he couldn’t quite place his hoof on it. “Well, nice to meet you. I have to go and meet up with somepony now, but I hope you three enjoy the rest of the convention.”

“We will,” Sweetie Belle assured him, with Diamond Tiara nodding in agreement. After he left, Sweetie turned her attention to Rarity. “Hey, Rarity?”

“Yes, Sweetie Belle?”

Sweetie Belle picked up a manga that was on Diamond Tiara’s back and opened it up. “What are these two colts doing?” she asked as she showed her the inside.

Rarity’s face immediately turned red as she saw an image of two handsome – very handsome – teenage colts embracing each other in a field of flowers, one of them placing his lips on the other’s neck, and the other looking like he was in a state of pure bliss.

“Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-That’s…” Rarity took the manga from Sweetie Belle and closed it up. “That’s… not something you need to know about. Not until you’re older, at least.”

Sweetie Belle tilted her head. “Why?” she asked.

“They’re just vamponies, right?” Diamond asked, but Sweetie Belle shook her head.

“I told you, the previous page showed that it was day. Vamponies can’t go out during the day.”

“What if they’re reverse vamponies?”

Sweetie put a hoof to her chin as she considered it, and Rarity decided to use this chance. “Y-Yes! That’s right,” she said. “They’re just reverse vamponies. Nothing more.”

The two stared at her oddly for a few seconds, but then simply shrugged and decided to move on. Rarity let out a sigh of relief, and went to put the manga back on the stall. She stopped just as she was about to place it down and quickly glanced left and right, before facing the stall owner. “Excuse me, but how much is this?”





The rest of the convention’s first day went rather well for the two fillies. There were a few disappointments here and there, such as not being able to see various special guests due to arriving at the panel late and having trouble getting to and purchasing some merchandise due to the huge crowds, but all-in-all, it was a great experience for the two of them, one which neither would forget any time soon.

Rarity wouldn’t, either. She never would have thought that the video games her sister played could be so addicting, and after just one round of Russell the Hedgehog, she had to purchase the game for herself… and the console to play it. And after playing a few more games, she soon found her wallet slowly slimming away at the video game stall.

She also managed to strike a deal with a fashion firm during the cosplay masquerade, after they found out that she designed Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara’s costumes. They wanted her to design cosplay outfits for their clients, and they would split the profits 50-50.

After the crowds had died down a bit, the three decided to go around the dealer’s stalls one more time, to visit the stalls that they previously couldn’t. In particular, a certain figurine stall really caught Diamond Tiara’s attention, as it had figures of some of her most favourite characters.

She bought two big figures and four small ones – all of which Rarity was made to carry – most of which Rarity recognised from the anime that she watched with them. The last one, however, took both her and Sweetie Belle by surprise. It was a figure of a pale pony, covered with blood, with chains and shackles attached to its hooves and a demonic grin on its face.

It sent shivers down Sweetie Belle’s spine from her just looking at it, and Rarity was amazed that Diamond Tiara had an interest in such anime.

By evening, the three decided to have some dinner in the park just around the corner to the convention hall. After finding a nice spot underneath a large oak tree, Diamond Tiara offered to set things up and look after their bags, whilst Rarity and Sweetie Belle went to a nearby fast-food shop to pick up some dinner.

“Today was so awesome,” Diamond Tiara said to herself as she flipped though a volume of Harmonical Gelade. “I bet tomorrow will be even better…”

“Hey!” Diamond Tiara looked up from her book and looked side-to-side. She saw an orange filly approaching her. “I remember you. Diamond Tiara, right?”

Diamond studied the approaching filly for a bit. No cutie mark… red hair… red cape with the Cutie Mark Crusader logo on it… “Oh!” she said as she remembered who the filly was. “You’re blan-I mean, Apple Bloom’s cousin, aren’t you? Um… Bad Seed?”

“Babs Seed!” Babs corrected. “What’s with the costume?”

Diamond Tiara looked over herself and remembered that she was still in her magical filly cosplay. “W-What does it matter to you?”

Babs laughed and approached Diamond Tiara. “So, the big, tough rich kid is actually just some soft little filly, huh?”

“G-Go away!” Diamond shouted, getting up and glaring at Babs.

“I wonder if that friend of yours knows about this?” Diamond made the mistake of flinching very noticeably. “So she doesn’t? Well, I guess I know what I’m writing in my next letter to Apple Bloom, then.”

“N-No! You can’t!”

“What, it’s okay for you to embarrass others, but the other way round isn’t?” Babs moved even closer to Diamond Tiara, getting into her face. “Time to take a dose of your own medicine!”

“Babs!” Babs and Diamond turned to see Sweetie Belle running towards them, an excited look on her face. “Wow, it’s really you! How have you been?” Sweetie Belle asked as she jumped forward to tackle-hug Babs.

Babs tried to pry Sweetie Belle off of her, but found it rather difficult. “S-Sweetie Belle? You’re here, too?”

“Sure am!” Sweetie said, letting go and smiling widely at her friend. “Oh, you remember Diamond Tiara, don’t you?”

Babs nodded. “I do, but… why are the two of you together?”

Sweetie Belle looked over at Diamond Tiara, who was motioning for her to stay silent. “Uh… well, we’re uh…”

“It’s none of your business!” Diamond shouted, pushing Babs as a way of telling her to move along.

“Get your hooves off me!” Babs shouted, pushing Diamond back.

“G-Girls,” Sweetie Belle said, getting in-between them. “Please, don’t fight.”

“Sweetie Belle, don’t tell me you’re actually sticking up for her!” Babs said. Sweetie nodded. “You’ve gotta be kidding me! After all she’s done to you guys? Apple Bloom told me about how she’s still giving you trouble!”

“I-It’s not like that… anymore,” Sweetie Belle said. “We’re friends now. She’s not as mean as she used to be… kinda.”

“Kinda?” Diamond asked, raising her eyebrow.

“Well, you still kinda have a bit of a temper,” Sweetie Belle said.

“I WHAT?!” Diamond shouted, before composing herself and clearing her throat. “I what?” she asked, much more quietly this time.

“Babs! We’re leaving!”

Babs turned around and faced her parents in the distance. “Coming!” she shouted before turning back to Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara. “… I don’t know why you would want to be friends with the likes of her,” she said, pointing at Diamond Tiara, who simply glared in response. “But whatever. You wanna hang out with a bully, that’s your own choice… Just don’t come cryin’ to me when she humiliates you for her own fun…”

As Babs Seed walked away and Sweetie Belle waved her goodbye to her, Diamond Tiara’s mood sank back to the level it was at the previous day.

‘Silver Spoon’s going to find out, for sure! Why did this have to happen? And things were going so well, too…’

“Diamond? You okay?” Sweetie Belle asked, giving Diamond a concerned look. “Did… Did you and Babs get into a fight just now?”

Diamond Tiara looked up at Sweetie Belle and, before she knew what she was doing, reached out and wrapped her forelegs around the other filly. She didn’t care if she was out where ponies could see her, or if she looked like a complete idiot… She just needed her friend right now.
> Diamond Tiara Likes Confessing That She Likes Anime
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Diamond Tiara groaned as she approached the school. She had gotten barely any sleep last night and honestly didn’t feel like going to school today, but she knew that she had no choice. Her father would never approve of her missing school unless she was ill, and although she was good at playing innocent, she was terrible at feigning illness.

“Good morning, Diamond,” Sweetie Belle said as Diamond Tiara passed her by on the street.

Diamond turned to face her and wave a hoof weakly. “Morning…”

“Oh my,” Sweetie Belle said, “You look awful. Didn’t you sleep well last night?”

“I didn’t sleep at all,” Diamond said groggily. “I was up all night watching PoniMyu and eating hay pocky.”

Sweetie Belle giggled. “Yeah, I’ve been there. You get used to it.”

“You’ve stayed up late watching anime before? Is that why you’re always sleeping in class?”

Sweetie Belle shook her head. “No, that just happens whenever I sit still for too long.”

“Oh.” Diamond let out a loud yawn, and then stopped when the two reached the schoolyard. “Well, I guess you’ll want to meet up with your fellow crusaders,” she said, looking around nervously for a certain pony.

“Yeah, guess so,” Sweetie Belle said, watching Diamond looking around the schoolyard. “Hey, are you okay?”

Diamond nodded but didn’t stop looking around. “I’m fine.” She noticed that Sweetie Belle hadn’t left and turned to see the Unicorn looking at her with concern on her face. “Really, it’s nothing. Go on and join your friends.”

“… Well, okay, if you say so. See ya!” Sweetie Belle ran off into the schoolyard, leaving Diamond Tiara standing at the gate, still looking around for a certain pony.

A hoof tapped Diamond’s shoulder, causing her to shriek and spin around quickly. “W-What?!” she shouted, only to find a startled Silver Spoon looking at her. “O-Oh… H-Hi, Silver Spoon.”

“Are you alright?” Silver Spoon asked. “Whoa, you have bags under your eyes… Rough night?”

Diamond Tiara yawned, and then nodded. “I guess you could say that…”

The school bell rang, signalling the start of the school day and telling all of the foals to get inside for their first lessons.





After the first two lessons, the students were let out for a fifteen minute break. During this time, Diamond Tiara dragged Silver Spoon around to an isolated area behind the school building, telling her that she had something very important that she needed to talk to her about.

After checking to make sure that they were indeed alone, Diamond Tiara took a deep breath and gathered her courage.

“Silver Spoon… I need to tell you something. Something important.”

“You’re not going to confess your love to me, are you?” Silver Spoon asked, surprising Diamond Tiara.

“N-No! Of course I’m not! N-Not that there’s anything to confess in the first place!” Diamond Tiara was now red, and very flustered. “W-Why would you even suggest something like that?!”

Silver Spoon shrugged nonchalantly. “You drag me here where there’s nopony else and tell me that you have something important to tell me. Just seemed like that kind of setup. So what’s up?”

Diamond Tiara calmed herself down and took another deep breath. “I… like anime.”

As soon as she said that, the entire world seemed to stop. Silver Spoon’s expression was unreadable. Was she mad? Upset? Or was she okay with it? Maybe even delighted? Diamond just couldn’t tell.

Everything grew darker, and Diamond looked up to see that the sunlight being obscured by the tall school building.

“Anime…” Silver Spoon said, causing Diamond Tiara to turn her attention back to her. “You… like anime?”

Diamond Tiara nodded nervously, and Silver Spoon let out a disappointed sigh, whilst shaking her head. “I… hate anime.”

Diamond Tiara felt her heart sink and took a step closer to Silver Spoon, only to find herself being pushed back by the other filly. “Silver Spoon… why?”

“Why?” Silver Spoon raised her head slowly, her eyes being obscured by the overcast shadow of her mane. “Because anime…” Silver Spoon’s head raised completely, revealing her eyes. But rather than the purple eyes that Diamond Tiara was expecting, she instead saw two blood-red eyes, with small black pupils, and two tomoe orbiting each pupil. “Killed my parents!”

Silver Spoon’s body was enveloped in a red aura, and Diamond Tiara took a few frightened steps back.

“Diamond!”

Diamond Tiara turned around to see Sweetie Belle standing at a distance. She threw something at Diamond Tiara, which the pink filly grabbed with her mouth. It was some kind of strange, long pink key of some kind.

‘A Keyblade?’ Diamond thought to herself before turning to face Silver Spoon, who was now five times bigger than before and charging up a magical orb of fire in her mouth.

Silver Spoon fired the ball, and Diamond Tiara nimbly dodged it. She wanted to fight back, but she couldn’t yet. She needed to wait. It wasn’t the right time to strike just ye-

DING!

The ‘ding’ that sounded told her that her ATB had charged up, so now, she was free to use whatever attack she wished. She chose to use her Limit Break.

‘Dying Will, T-Burner!’ A bright flash of orange light in the shape of a tiara shot forth from her Keyblade, engulfing Silver Spoon and causing the grey filly to roar in pain.

“Dia-mond… why?”

Diamond Tiara let out a tear as she watched her friend turn to ash before her very eyes. She couldn’t believe what she had just done… but she knew, deep down, that it had to be done…





“Forgive me, Silver Spoon,” Diamond Tiara said as she opened her eyes.

“What for?” asked Silver Spoon, who was sitting right next to Diamond Tiara, in the middle of class.

Diamond Tiara took a moment to process where she was and then quickly bolted up in her seat. Around her, the other foals in the class began to laugh out loud.

“Are you well rested up now, Diamond Tiara?” Cheerilee asked, walking up to Diamond Tiara’s desk. Diamond simply nodded, her entire face red from the realization of what had just happened. “That’s good! Then you’ll have plenty of energy to sit through an extra thirty minutes after school.”

Diamond moaned, but knew that protesting would only make things worse. “Yes, Miss Cheerilee.”





After school was out, and Diamond Tiara had served her thirty minutes detention for sleeping in class, the pink filly made her way out of the school building and met up with Silver Spoon, who had agreed to wait for her outside.

“Hey there,” Silver said as Diamond approached her. “What’d you do? Just sit there, or did she make you write lines?”

“I had to listen to a lecture on the importance of paying attention in class.”

“That doesn’t sound so-”

“And then she tested me on it.” Silver Spoon gave her a sympathetic look, but Diamond Tiara shrugged it off. “Anyway, thanks for waiting for me.”

“NP. But what exactly did you want to talk to me about that’s so important?” Diamond was about to answer, but Silver cut her off. “Is this about what Apple Bloom said about you and Sweetie Belle hanging out together in Manehattan?”

Diamond Tiara bit her lower lip. “So… you heard about that…” Silver Spoon nodded. “… And that’s all?” Another nod, this one slower. “… Are you free right now? I’d like you to come ‘round to my place, so I can explain there.”

“Yeah, I’m free right now,” Silver Spoon said. Diamond Tiara paused for a second, and then began leading the way back to her house.

“First off,” Diamond Tiara said, stopping for a moment in the middle of a street. “Is your family still alive?”

To say Silver Spoon was confused would be an understatement. “Uh… yes?” she said. “You met them a few days ago, remember?”

Diamond Tiara nodded, grinning sheepishly. “Just checking,” she said. ‘Okay, so this is reality this time, right?’





The two rich fillies entered Filthy Rich’s house and were quickly greeted by said house owner, who stopped Diamond Tiara for a moment to give her a package that had come for her earlier.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon stopped just outside of Diamond’s room. Silver Spoon was waiting for her friend to open the door and invited her in, but something seemed to have caused Diamond Tiara to hesitate.

“Um… could you close your eyes, please?” Diamond asked, smiling nervously at Silver Spoon.

Silver wasn’t sure what to expect but complied anyway, closing her eyes until Diamond told her to open them. She heard the door open and felt Diamond Tiara leading her forward by her hoof.

Once they were inside, Diamond Tiara closed her bedroom door, placed her package on her bed, and took a deep breath. “Okay, you can open your eyes now.”

Silver Spoon opened her eyes and was taken aback by what she saw. There was no way that this was Diamond Tiara’s room. Not a chance.

On the bed was a stack of books… No, not books. They were manga, Silver Spoon realized. ‘The Legend of Celestia’ was written on all of their spines, with a different subtitle for each one.

She looked over to Diamond Tiara’s desk and saw a whole stack of DVDs. ‘The World Faust Only Knows’, ‘Sombra May Cry’, and ‘Equestria Axis Powers’ were among a few of the titles that Silver Spoon could see.

On Diamond Tiara’s wall, where there used to be pictures of jewellery and cool colt bands, there was now a poster of an anime stallion with a tidy appearance holding an apple and with a black notebook behind him, and another poster of a group of ponies in sailor uniforms.

“So… I guess you’ve probably figured it out by now,” Diamond Tiara said, after Silver Spoon hadn’t said anything for a full minute.

“… This is… certainly different than I last remember.”

‘Oh, good. No signs of anger yet,’ Diamond thought to herself, a slight feeling of hope finding its way into her.

“So… you like this kind of stuff?” Silver Spoon asked, walking over to a shelf that was lined with a variety of plush toys. One was a white… rabbit thing, Silver Spoon assumed. It had a red gem on its forehead. There was a black one with a blue gem sitting next to it. “I had no idea.”

Diamond Tiara shuffled about on the spot nervously. “Um… does it… make you angry?”

Silver Spoon turned to Diamond Tiara and raised an eyebrow. “Angry? Why would I be angry?”

‘She’s not angry!’ Diamond thought to herself excitedly, a smile creeping its way onto her face. “Well, y’know… You’re always going on about how lame anime is, and how it’s ridiculous that Sweetie Belle likes it at her age…”

Silver Spoon scratched the back of her head. “Oh, that…” She shifted about on the spot whilst keeping her attention on Diamond Tiara. “That was… I was only trying to find new ways to tease her.”

“You were?” Diamond asked.

Silver Spoon nodded. “You… hadn’t really teased them in so long. I thought that something was up. That you were depressed or something… I’m not very good at talking to ponies about their problems, so I thought that, if I could find something new to tease them about, you’d feel better.”

Diamond Tiara breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s all it was?”

Silver Spoon nodded. “Well, honestly, I don’t like anime all that much…” Diamond’s expression fell. “But I like you, so if it’s important to you, I think I can look past it.”

Diamond’s face lit up and she jumped forward to tackle-hug, or ‘glomp’, as she’d seen it referred to as online, her friend. Silver Spoon yelped as she fell to the floor, and struggled a bit to get Diamond Tiara off of her.

Once Diamond backed away, and Silver Spoon had been given time to breathe, the grey filly looked over at the package on Diamond Tiara’s bed. “So… what’s that? More anime stuff?” She looked around the room, wondering where in Equestria Diamond would even fit more merchandise. She noticed a figure of a pony in a maid outfit, wearing cat ears, striking some strange pose, and raised her eyebrow at it. ‘… I won’t ask.’

Diamond Tiara picked up the package and shook her head. “I don’t only collect anime stuff, you know?” She opened the package up and pulled out two pony dolls, both with brushable manes and a few accessories to go with them. “They’re the new dolls that are coming out next week! Daddy gets to purchase them early, remember?”

Silver Spoon gasped excitedly at the sight of the two new dolls and leaned forward to examine them more closely. “Awesome! So, you still collect ‘Little Pony Friend’ dolls?”

Diamond Tiara nodded. “Yeah. It’s not like anime is replacing my previous interests… I still like dolls, and tea parties, and everything I liked before.” Diamond Tiara handed one of her new dolls to Silver Spoon to allow her to examine it more closely. “By the way, just out of curiosity, why exactly don’t you like anime? Is it just not your thing?”

“Hm?” Silver Spoon looked up at Diamond Tiara and then back down at the doll. “Uh, not really… I haven’t really tried any. It’s just… I have my reasons. Let’s leave it at that.”

Diamond Tiara frowned. “Well how do you know if you don’t try it first?”

Silver Spoon looked around at all of the anime-related things in Diamond’s room, and then at Diamond Tiara herself. She had to admit to a certain curiosity about her friend’s new interest, and also, she supposed it would be unfair to just dismiss it like that without giving it a proper chance.

“… Well, I guess I could watch an episode or two…”





After a full afternoon of nonstop anime, with Diamond Tiara making sure that Silver Spoon watched at least two episode of each different genre, Silver Spoon finally had to leave and go home.

”So? What do you think?” Diamond Tiara asked enthusiastically, running a brush through one of her new dolls’ mane.

“They were… Alright. Well, some of them were,” Silver Spoon said, running a brush through the other new doll’s mane. “I can’t say it was bad, but I can’t really see what the big appeal is.”

Diamond pouted at Silver Spoon’s reaction. “You obviously have no soul.”

Silver Spoon rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t mind watching it with you now and again, but I just don’t find it as interesting as you do. And, I still have my reasons for not liking anime very much.”

“What are those reasons, anyway?”

“… It’s personal.”

Silver Spoon sighed as she opened the front door to her house. “I’m home,” she said, walking inside and placing her key in the bowl next to the door.

“Gotcha now, demon!” a little brown colt shouted as he suddenly appeared from around a corner, wearing a green cloak and a pair of goggles around his neck. He charged at Silver Spoon, who attempted to run up the stairs to get away, but she was tackled before she could make it all the way up.

“Get off of me!” she shouted.

The colt ignored her and instead stood triumphantly over Silver Spoon’s body. “Success! Another one of the Princess’ memory feathers has been found!”

Silver Spoon sighed and rubbed her temples as the colt began hitting her with an inflatable sword. ‘This is why I hate anime…’