A Push And A Shove (Revised 10/2/2014)

She really ought to have known better.

It had been the perfect setup, though. Scootaloo's scooter had been sitting in the road on top of a hill, while Scootaloo had climbed into the wagon hooked up to the back. She'd been chatting away with those two other blank flanks, totally oblivious to anything around her. And down the hill had been a mud puddle with their name on it.

So what else was there for her to do? It wasn't like they didn't totally deserve it for what had happened with Babs, anyway, and imagining the look on their faces as they sailed right into the mud was almost worth it in itself. So she pushed the wagon, sending it rolling down the path.

And then everything went wrong.

The wagon hadn't gone right down to the mud puddle, the way she had planned. Instead, it missed the puddle and hit some rocks beyond it at high speed. All three of them had flown out of the wagon on impact. It was the first time she'd ever seen the chicken fly, though, with the way she landed with a thud on the ground, her wings were useless as ever.

Sweetie Belle lay next to her, and Apple Bloom had been thrown onto a pile of rocks. A moment later, the wagon itself landed with a horrible cracking sound and a painful scream. It had crashed right into Apple Bloom, and her legs were right between the wagon and the rocks.

Diamond Tiara hesitantly walked closer to the site of the crash. She didn't really want to associate herself with it, given how badly wrong that had gone, but it had a certain horrid fascination. She had done this, and she just had to see the results.

While Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were lying there groaning, and were battered and bruised, they looked like they'd be fine. Apple Bloom was a different matter. She seemed to have passed out, and what she could see of her legs below the wagon didn't look good. She was pretty sure that there were bits sticking out that should still be inside them.

Miss Cheerilee was at the crash scene, checking on the three of them while talking to a nondescript stallion she didn't recognise. A few other colts and fillies milled around at the crash scene, looking on with a mixture of horror and curiosity.

The stallion nodded to Miss Cheerilee and galloped off, presumably going for help. Miss Cheerilee then said something to a blue unicorn filly with golden mane, who took over watching over the crusaders and making sure nopony else got too close.

Then, much to her shock, Miss Cheerilee headed straight in her direction. She immediately launched into something between a lecture and a rant, and it was obvious Cheerilee blamed everything that had happened on her!

It just wasn't fair! She was acting really upset, too. The other foals in the area were all backing away from the two of them, and she was sure they'd spread gossip all over town about this. There was no way she was going to be living this down.

A team of ponies arrived with a cart as Cheerilee was still ranting. They got the wagon out of the way, very carefully moved Apple Bloom on to a stretcher and loaded her on the cart, then moved the other two crusaders on as well before taking off.

Diamond hadn't exactly been paying the best attention to what Miss Cheerilee had been saying, and not all of it was that intelligible anyway, but she did catch something about talking to her parents.

She would have thought Miss Cheerilee would have remembered that Mommy had died a few years ago. It was going to just be Daddy, and Daddy would straighten it all out for her. He always did.

Somehow, though, thinking about Apple Bloom as she'd been taken away on the stretcher, and the way you could see the bones in her leg where the wagon had hit, she wasn't so sure.

In her bedroom, Diamond sat on her bed, trying not to nibble on her hooves or chew on her mane, or any other of those disgusting nervous habits she still found herself doing from time to time. She hardly needed to have to have another hooficure or mane styling done, as she expected Daddy wouldn't be very sympathetic to that right now.

She'd been sent upstairs shortly after Cheerilee had arrived at the manor to discuss what had happened, and her and Daddy had been talking down there ever since. She was trying to relax, but every so often, scraps of what they were saying downstairs drifted up.

Daddy was angry. She had never heard him yelling this loudly before, even when a particularly big business deal fell through. He was so angry that she was actually starting to get pretty scared.

"So you actually saw my daughter shove the wagon before the accident?"

She winced. That did explain why Cheerilee had jumped on her back about what had happened so quickly. She hoped Daddy believed her over Miss Cheerilee. Still, she was probably grounded.

Diamond still couldn't make out most of the conversation that was going on down below. Usually when things did drift up, it was Daddy she heard, because he was so much louder than Miss Cheerilee. The things she heard him say did nothing to calm her down.

"Both of her hind legs have been fractured?"

Oh, that sounded bad, though it certainly matched with what she had seen. She didn't like Apple Bloom, but that didn't mean she wanted her legs broken. She might even have to be nice to her for a while, and try to find some way to make up for it.

"So you can show a consistent pattern of her maliciously targeting them in the past?"

That was hardly fair! She wasn't being malicious. Not really. They were just a lot of fun to mess with. It's not like she had really meant anything by it. They were really just asking for it, anyway.

The voices were gradually fading as the conversation dropped to a more reasonable volume, not that that helped her state of mind any. She remembered how he'd acted after Mommy had died. He'd been calm and collected, but you could see the fury burning somewhere behind his eyes.

Not to mention he'd been acting pretty odd for a while. She'd noticed him just staring off into the distance a few times, and not paying attention to what was going on around him. He'd been a little forgetful, and some of his decisions didn't always make the most sense to her, though there was probably something she was missing. And he'd been getting upset more easily than usual, though not like this.

She was so dead. She really wished Mommy was here right now. She'd always managed to calm everypony down before things got too bad, and Mommy would have been there for her right now. She missed her.

Maybe she should stop picking on those blank flanks so much. Sure, they were really lame, and made easy targets, but things just kept getting worse and worse between them.

She supposed she could try to offer a truce, but Diamond doubted they would ever take it. There was just too much bad blood between them. They could never be friends, and she wasn't sure any of them would be able to leave each other alone.

The conference was probably over by now. She thought she'd heard the front door a little bit ago. Daddy was probably just letting her stew over everything that had happened before they talked about it, which was fine, since that gave him a chance to calm down, too.

There was a knock on the door. Opening it a crack, she saw the familiar face of Mister Greywithers, their faithful butler. As she started to greet him, it was obvious something was wrong. She'd been mostly raised by her mother and Grey, and most of the time, he was willing to let his stiff demeanor drop somewhat around her. Today, he was acting very formal, and very much the part of the prim, proper butler.

"The master has requested your presence in the study, ma'am," he said stiffly.

Oh, this was bad. For him to act this formal with her, something he was really uncomfortable about had to be going on.

"Thank you, Grey," she said. "I'll be down directly."

Okay, she was walking into a tempest. How should she approach this? Should she just deny everything? Would bursting into tears and saying she was sorry help? Maybe she should just meekly submit to everything he said?

Not coming to a firm conclusion, she decided she'd better just play it by ear. Slipping out of her room, she easily caught up with Greywithers.

"So how mad is he, Grey?" she asked him softly.

"I'm sure it isn't my place to say, ma'am," he said, avoiding looking in her direction.

Really mad, she interpreted. Really really mad.

She ought to be fine. Daddy had always stood by her before, and this shouldn't be an exception, even if he was mad. So why was she shaking as she walked down the hall?

Arriving at her father's study, the elderly butler held the door for her, and followed her inside.

Daddy was sitting behind his desk in the study, putting the final touches on some paperwork in front of her. Hearing the door open, he looked up and glared in her direction with such intensity that she found herself looking away uncomfortably. He stood up, and pushed the chair back.

"Thank you, Greywithers. Leave us for a few minutes, but stay nearby, as I'll be needing you afterwards."

Mister Greywithers nodded and left the room, closing the door afterwards, leaving her alone at the mercy of her father. She'd have rather been anywhere else.

"Sit," he told her curtly, though Daddy didn't sit back down himself.

Diamond obediently took a seat, heart racing, as he paced back and forth, agitated.

"Diamond Tiara. To say I am disappointed in you is a huge understatement, but for the moment it will have to do. As a direct result of your actions, three of your classmates are in the hospital, and one is seriously injured. What were you thinking?"

Under his glare, she could hardly help herself, and started stammering out excuses. "It wasn't me! Miss Cheerilee—"

"Miss Cheerilee saw you push the wagon with her own eyes, and has several witnesses to back her. Care to revise that?"

"It was an accident! I didn't mean it!" That was almost true, at least.

"According to all reports, you grinned, and then shoved all your weight against the wagon. That is not an accident, but a deliberate act. I didn't ask you for excuses. I simply want to know this. Why did you do it?"

"I thought it'd be funny!" she finally confessed in desperation.

"You… thought… it… would… be… funny." He rubbed his eyes wearily for a moment, and then continued. "A filly is currently lying in the hospital with two broken hind legs. She may be limping for the rest of her life. She might not walk at all. Is that funny?"

"No," she mumbled.

"I can't hear you. Is that funny?"

"No!"

"Tell me, what business gave Rich Enterprises its start? And, in fact, is still our most major supplier and directly responsible for our success?"

"Um, Sweet Apple Acres?"

"And who runs Sweet Apple Acres?"

"Granny Smith?" she guessed.

"She used to. These days, she passed on all the business aspects to Applejack and Big Macintosh, as you would know if you payed any attention to my business dealings. Now, you have been the heir to my business. Who do you think they will be passing the farm on to when they get older?"

With all the stress, Diamond's mind was drawing a major blank. Business wasn't her strongest suit anyway.

He huffed. "Let me give you a little hint. You have been tormenting her for years, and she is now lying in a hospital, both leg broken, which I may add is also your doing. I am covering her hospital bills personally, but I wouldn't be surprised if she wants as little as possible to do with Rich Enterprises, both now and in the future. All due to you."

Diamond looked down and closed her eyes. She'd never really thought about it that way before. Not only had she hurt Apple Bloom, she was hurting his business, and worse, had disappointed Daddy. He still wasn't done, though.

"You have paid no attention to the details of how my business is run, and your schoolwork shows you have no aptitude for it. You spend all of your time antagonizing everypony around you, and now you are even putting them in danger. Your mother spoiled you rotten."

He stopped his pacing and stood directly in front of her.

"She did it with my help, sadly." He shook his head. "And you cry crocodile tears any time you think you aren't going to get your way."

Tears were, in fact, streaming down her face, but this time there was nothing fake about them. Hearing her father tear her down like that had hurt, and he was probably right. She opened her eyes back up when she felt him unceremoniously yank the tiara off her head.

"You should be paying attention to the world around you. Instead, you spend all your time admiring this!"

He flung the tiara to the ground, and stomped on it angrily several times. There was a terrible crash of hooves on metal, and it shattered into pieces, diamonds flying loose from the twisted, broken metal. Diamond stood there in shock, looking down at it. She'd had that tiara for as long as she could remember.

"That's all over now. You certainly can't handle the business, so I'm making my second cousin heir to Rich Enterprise. We may not see eye to eye, and she may not have a great head for the business, but she'll certainly do better than you ever could."

Still reeling from the destruction of her precious tiara, it took a moment for this to sink in.

I'm not my father's heir any more?

He eyes grew wide. It was like her worst nightmares, all wrapped together and coming to life at once. "Wait! Y-you c-can't—"

"I can, and I am," he said, stomping one hoof on the ground. A piece of her broken tiara clattered next to it. "Matters are clearly beyond the point of fixing. What's more, I am formally disowning you. I simply cannot tolerate your behavior any more."

What?

"Greywithers?"

He popped in the room so quickly that Diamond had to wonder if he had been listening in. Filthy Rich turned to him.

"Please escort Miss Diamond Tiara off the premises. As of today, she is no longer welcome here."

"Sir?" he said, in a questioning tone.

"You heard me," he said sternly. "She has failed me for the last time. As far as I am concerned, she is no daughter of mine. Get her out of my sight. She is not to be allowed anywhere in the manor."

Her brain starting to kick back into gear, Diamond protested. "Daddy, no! I can change! I can do better, I promise!"

She ran up to him, heedless of the broken metal and precious gems scattered on the floor, and tried to put her forearms around him in a hug, desperate to do something, anything to get him to reconsider. Diamond found herself so abruptly shoved back that she toppled over backwards, and had to pick herself back up.

"I've already made up my mind," he said coldly, one eye giving a twitch. "This has gone on for far too long."

"B-but where can I go? What can I do?"

He turned away. "Frankly, that is no longer my concern. Greywithers!"

At that, the butler gently but firmly escorted her out of the mansion, picking her up delicately when she dug her heels in and refused to move.

"Grey!" she pleaded. "You've known me your whole life! You can't let this happen!"

"I am sorry, Miss Tiara," he said. "But my loyalty is first and foremost to Mister Rich, as the head of the Rich family. I will talk to him about this, but until I have permission, I cannot allow you to come back."

"I—" she started to say, and then choked up. She just didn't know what she could say.

"I'll do what I can. That is all I can promise you," he said, and then closed the door. She could hear the clicking of locks and bolts being set in place.

Diamond just stood there afterwards, paralysed and afraid. What could she do now?

Finding Her Place

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Standing in the cold night air, Diamond Tiara shivered.

Daddy wasn't coming back for her. She'd fully expected him to come out after a few minutes and take it back, tell her it had been a bad joke, or a test or something. But the minutes had turned to hours while she just stood there, feeling totally numb after what had just happened.

But it was cold now, and getting dark. Daddy hadn't changed his mind. Maybe he would tomorrow, but she needed to find someplace to find the night. She couldn't stay here.

There was one place that she could try going. She didn't have many friends. Well, thinking about it, she only had one friend. She'd never needed more. But Silver Spoon didn't live that far away, and she had stayed overnight there before.

Of course, those sleepovers had been planned in advance, but hopefully that wouldn't be a problem. They could have a slumber party, and take her mind off of what had just happened. She really didn't want to think about it right now.

She wouldn't be able to stay over there too long, but maybe daddy would have changed his mind by the morning. And if nothing else, maybe she'd have a better idea of what to do after a good nights rest.

She walked down the winding path that led to Silvy's home. It didn't take long to get there. The Silvers and the Riches had been friends for ages, and had settled down in the same area when the town was founded.

Going to the front door of the manor, she rapped the large silver knocker several times sharply. After a moment passed, the door opened a crack, and the butler looked out. He'd never been particularly friendly to her, not like Grey was, but he was reliable, at least.

"Greensborough?" she asked politely. "Is Silvy in? I really need to see her right now."

"Miss Tiara," he said, disdain clear in his voice. "After events earlier today, it has been decided that you are a bad influence on Silver Spoon, and as such, you are no longer on the admittance list for this manor. Good day."

He closed the door in her face, nearly nicking the end of her muzzle in the process.

Why that! She'd never liked Greensborough! Forbidding her access! That no good- she needed to see Silver Spoon right now! Diamond Tiara started hammering violently on the knocker, and the face of the now-annoyed butler appeared again.

"That can't be right! Do you know who I am? Let me in now!" she demanded. No one ever denied her!

"I do indeed know who you are, Miss Tiara. You are a young lady who has been explicitly forbidden access to this manor by my masters. Now, good day."

He slammed the door shut and refused to open it again, no matter how much she banged on it.

Well, let's try a more direct route. I'll circle around to her window. Silvy'll let me in, at least.

She walked around the manor until she could see Silver Spoons room, and tapped on the outside of her window. "Silvy!"

The window opened a crack. "Diamond? What are you doing out there?"

"That dumb butler of yours wouldn't let me in! I need your help. Daddy's really mad at me, and I need somewhere to stay the night."

"My parents are really mad, too," she said, sounding gloomy. "My mother was passing by when Apple Bloom was being taken to the hospital, and heard all about you having pushed her. They won't even let me talk to you, at least for the next week or two."

"Oh." Her ears drooped. "Maybe you could sneak me in for the night? Nopony'd have to know."

"They're being really strict about this, Diamond," she said regretfully. "If I'm caught anywhere near you, not only am I grounded and my allowance forfeit, they'll cut off my access to the family workshop. And you know how much that means to me."

And she did. Most ponies didn't realise that Silver Spoon was actually becoming a fairly skilled smith, taking after one of the family trades. Few things actually made her happier than when she was working on a new creation. And she'd always been pretty close to her parents anyways.

"I know," she said reluctantly. "But where can I go, then? I have to find someplace for the night, at least, 'till this blows over."

Silver Spoon appeared lost in thought for a minute. "Well, you know, I bet you could stay in those blank flanks' lame clubhouse. It's not like anypony would be there at night."

You know, that could work. For tonight, anyways.

"Good idea. At least I wouldn't have to be outside, anyways. Thanks."

"Sure." Silver Spoon started to close the window.

"Um, Silvy, we're still good, aren't we?" she asked at the last moment, worried about losing her, too.

"I don't know, Diamond. I just don't know." She secured the window.

Diamond Tiara shook her head. What was happening? She couldn't even rely on Silver Spoon?

Well, she'd go and spend the night at the rickety old treehouse. It seemed appropriate enough, anyways. Though she doubted it'd be that comfortable, sleeping on a hard wooden floor. She'd have to do something about that.

It was time for her to backtrack. She didn't have any of her things. Daddy really should have at least let her grab everything she owned.

Though, he really shouldn't have kicked her out. Or at least, if he was going to kick her out, he could have sent her to live with somepony else. She really didn't want to think about it, though. It just made her upset. Upset and angry.

Of course, she wasn't about to try coming through the front door. Grey would be really nice about it, but he wouldn't let her in. But after Silvy's bedroom, she had an idea. Approaching Rich manor, she circled around towards the back, and right toward the outside wall of her room.

Fortunately, it had a really large window that she could pull herself up into. After trying a few times and failing, she eventually forced the window open and fell inside, gaining a minor collection of scrapes and bruises along the way.

She breathed a sigh of relief once she was inside. Home sweet home. She wondered if anypony would notice if she just crawled into bed and snuggled up under the covers and pretended it had all been a bad dream. Maybe she'd wake up and everything'd be ok.

Then the door opened, and Mister Greywithers stood in the doorway. Seeing her there, he raised one eyebrow.

Well, there goes that idea. She turned to him.

"You don't see me here, Grey! You see nothing, understand?" she hissed in desperation. Couldn't she get a break?

"Indeed. I can avoid seeing anypony in this room for around five or ten minutes, no longer. You did make a fair amount of noise on entering, and I will be required to investigate eventually, though."

"Thank you, Grey. At least that'll give me time to get my things."

"It's the least I can do for you," he said. "Though one more thought occurs to me."

He pulled a small pouch out of his uniform, poured a few coins into it, and tossed it to her. "It is, in fact, time for your weekly allowance, and while I suppose being disowned would stop it, I never received instructions to that effect. Spend it wisely."

Oh, that would help. She didn't like the idea of being on her own, but being on her own with no money was even worse.

"Thank you," she said again, sincerely. "Um, if I'm still not welcome here next week, do you think I can get my allowance then, too?"

"That will all depend on whether Mister Rich thinks about it, and instructs me otherwise," he told her. "Gather your things quickly. I'll try to make sure nopony comes by for a few minutes. Good luck, Miss Tiara."

He left the room, closing the door behind him.

Her allowance. Shiny, precious bits. Thank goodness. Diamond Tiara wished now that she'd actually tried to save her allowance from previous weeks. She'd have to be stingy with it this time, and not let it vanish like it usually did. She had no idea when she'd get more, though she'd check next week anyways.

For now, it'd make all the difference. But she'd better get going.

She pulled all her sheets, blankets, and comforter off her bed, and lay them in the middle of the floor. She tossed her pillows in the middle. Pulling the dresses out of her closet, she piled them on as well. Then she threw in her diary, her teddy bear, and a box with a few pieces of jewelry.

The last made her think of her tiara again, and a tear ran down her face. She'd always had that tiara. It was her name. It was her cutie mark. It was her. And it was shattered. Of all the things daddy could have done, that was the worst. She'd rather he'd hit her.

Well, no time to stop and think about it. She thought she'd heard hoofsteps. Probably just Grey, but she'd better get out of there. She tossed on her saddlebags, not bothering to check the contents. Then she wrapped the blankets around everything, tied a big knot in it, and grabbed it in her muzzle. Oof. Heavy.

Diamond Tiara tossed her bundle out the window, then jumped out after it, landing in the shrubbery. Picking it up in her muzzle by the knot, she heaved it over her shoulder, and began laboriously trudging over to Sweet Apple Acres. Eventually the treehouse was in sight.

She had no idea what she was going to do tomorrow. She'd sleep on it. Maybe she'd even go to school if she woke up on time, since she had no alarm or anything. She hauled everything on up the ramp to the clubhouse, then tossed it just inside the entrance.

She was walking in after it when a voice called out from further inside.

"Hey!" somepony said angrily. "What are you doing in here?"

Détente

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Startled, she looked inside. It was late at night. Nopony should have been in there!

But no, there she was, clamoring down from a cushion in one corner of the clubhouse with a frown on her face. The flightless wonder herself, Scootaloo. What in Equestria was she doing here tonight?

Well, it wasn't like she could find anywhere else to go at this point. She'd have to stick it out, Scootaloo or no Scootaloo. She strode right in the clubhouse, attempting to call up whatever section of her dignity hadn't been trampled on.

"What am I doing here?" she said haughtily, with a flip of her mane. "I could ask you the same thing. Shouldn't you be back at home right now? Or doesn't anypony care where you are at night?"

Looking closer at Scootaloo, she noticed that she was bandaged up in several places. She looked away from the bandages guiltily, feeling somewhat responsible for them.

"Or maybe you should still be in the hospital, getting your side looked at?" she asked.

Scootaloo glanced down at her bandages and frowned. "This is nothing, no thanks to you. Nothing compared to a broken leg, anyways! Where do you get off just waltzing in here, especially after that?"

Taken back at the sheer venom in her voice, Diamond Tiara tried to make a recovery. "I wasn't-"

"You have some nerve!" Scootaloo continued on her rant, brushing aside anything Diamond Tiara had to say. "Have you even given a moment's thought to what Apple Bloom is going through right now? Do you even give a flying feather about anypony other than yourself?"

She hadn't stopped to think about it, actually, with everything else happening today. She normally didn't really think much about other ponies anyways, since it was really what happened to her that was important.

But something daddy had said earlier went through her mind. Apple Bloom was the heir to Sweet Apple Acres, just like she had been for Rich Enterprises. Suddenly she could picture herself in Apple Bloom's position. And she didn't like what she was seeing.

Diamond Tiara imagined herself, both hind legs broken, being wheeled from place to place in a wheelchair. She shuddered at the thought of not being able to walk on her own, and being totally reliant on other ponies for help. Nopony should have to deal with that. Not even Apple Bloom.

Feeling shaken, she took a step back. "I-I d-didn't mean-"

"You didn't mean what?" Scootaloo said, not letting her finish her sentence. She pushed forward, making Diamond Tiara step back again involuntarily. "You didn't mean to break both Apple Bloom's hind legs? You were aiming for just one, perhaps?"

She wasn't sure she'd ever seen Scootaloo this worked up before. "It wasn't like that!"

"Then what was it like, then, huh?" she fired off, pushing Diamond back into the doorway. "You leave Apple Bloom crippled, and then you have the gall to show up here of all places, with that stupid-looking tiara of yours-"

She paused for breath, and finally took in Diamond Tiara's appearance.

"Wait a minute. Where is your tiara? And what's with all this," She gestured at the bundle by the door, "feathering junk you've brought with you? What the hay are you doing here?"

It had been a really long night. Diamond Tiara had had more stress tonight then in most of the rest of her life, save maybe when her mother died. A good argument might not have been foreign to her, but she usually leaned on Silver Spoon, and she wasn't here.

Diamond Tiara was about at her breaking point, and even without the other factors at work, her missing tiara and her memory of its destruction still felt like a gaping wound. Its mention might have been enough to set her off by itself.

But she just couldn't take any more tonight. Her legs suddenly gave way under her, and she collapsed on the spot, sobbing. These weren't a couple decorative tears and sniffles. She began absolutely crying her eyes out nonstop, paying no attention to Scootaloo whatsoever.

She knew Scootaloo was still there somewhere in front of her. She just didn't care any more. She'd had way too much thrown at her in one night, and was giving up. Everything else faded into the background for her, except herself and her misery.

"Oh, come on now," she heard a disgusted voice from in front of her. "This isn't fair. You're the bully here. You aren't supposed to break down crying."

Then what was she supposed to do? She might have been mean and a bully before, but she'd been strong. Tough. Like a diamond. But she didn't feel that way now.

"Don't think I'll let you off for what you did to Apple Bloom just because of this. It was unforgivable!"

Now she just felt fragile. Broken. Like her tiara. Shattered.

A sigh came from in front of her. "I cannot believe I'm going to do this."

Diamond Tiara suddenly felt two forelegs wrap themselves around her and squeeze her in a big hug. She didn't care who it was. She was beyond that point. She just accepted the warm embrace and sobbed into the chest of the flustered filly in front of her.

She felt one foreleg gently stroking at her mane, and the other awkwardly patting her on the back. She felt as though something stopped up had been released inside of her.

"There, there," Scootaloo murmured. "It'll be alright. Now quit your crying so I can go back to yelling at you."

At this, she let out a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a sob. "I- I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?" she asked. "What about, crying?"

She was too drained for anything but honesty. "'bout A-Apple Bloom. D'n't m-mean to hurt her."

"Yeah?" she said, rubbing Diamond Tiara's back in circles. "Well, you did hurt her. She'll probably be out of the hospital in a couple days, but she's going to be in a wheelchair for months. Maybe longer. I spent most of my day sitting next to her, you know."

She hurt everypony. She hurt. "W-Wish there was s-somet'ng I could do to m-make it up to her."

Scootaloo just kept rubbing her back in circles, which was doing a lot to help her calm down. If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine her mother was there for her. But of course she wasn't.

"I'm not really sure you can make it up to her," Scootaloo said. "Though, you know she'll be in a wheelchair when she gets out, and is going to need a lot of help getting around. You were good at pushing her before..."

This did actually get a laugh from her, feeble as it might have been. "I suppose I shouldn't stop now. Though I'm not sure Apple Bloom would trust me with that."

"Well, I'd be there, too. And I'll kill you if you do anything like that again, and Apple Bloom knows it."

Diamond Tiara shivered at that statement. She really didn't want to cross Scootaloo right now.

Scootaloo stopped rubbing. "Anyways, think you can cope now?"

She wasn't sure she would ever be able to cope again. But she nodded anyways.

Getting out of each other's embrace was even more awkward than the embrace itself, especially since a part of Diamond Tiara really didn't want to let go. Afterwards, she felt very vulnerable. It felt like part of the armor she normally wore to protect herself from the outside world was suddenly missing.

Another part of her felt totally offended by the situation. Had she really needed to be comforted by Scootaloo, total loser and blank flank?

But then, I'm a total loser now, too. No home, no family connections, hardly a bit to my name. It's pathetic.

And she was actually warming up to Scootaloo despite it all. Alright, Diamond Tiara, pull yourself together. Enough self pity, enough being nice to blank flanks.

"Don't go thinking this means I like you or anything," she stated.

"Of course not." Scootaloo frowned. "You know, you're lucky I'm nice."

Diamond blinked as Scootaloo said this, apparently without irony.

"Right. With all that shouting and all." Who did she think she was kidding?

"No, seriously," Scootaloo stated. "Things could have gone a lot worse for you with somepony else here."

"What do you mean?" How could things possibly have gone any worse?

"Well, you walked straight onto my turf and attempted to lay claim to it," Scootaloo explained. "And you had previously injured one of my friends. Breakdown or not, by rights I should have beaten you up and tossed you right out on your flank, followed by your stuff, or worse. I'm still not sure I shouldn't do the latter."

"What? You couldn't just do that!" Nopony'd dare touch her, would they?

"Things may be different up on your manor. You might call for the servants to have me removed, or discuss matters over tea and crumpets. But this is the real world we're dealing with. Not the elite circles you are used to."

"B-but- My father-" she stammered out, earlier events quite going out of her head.

"Well, as far as your father goes, either he doesn't know you are here, in which case he doesn't matter, or he does know, in which case you are really in trouble. In either case, he isn't here, and this isn't a schoolyard, so you can't just call over Miss Cheerilee."

Diamond Tiara's mind whirled as she tried to comprehend what she had gotten herself into.

"In any case, like I said, you're lucky I'm nice," Scootaloo said. "Now, why are you here?"

Well, the only reply she could think of that might actually get her somewhere was also the truth. "I didn't think anypony'd be here, and I needed someplace to sleep tonight."

"Well, I am here," Scootaloo stated. "So, why should I let you spend the night?"

She actually still had a possibility of staying here? Why would Scootaloo be willing to let her sleep here?

"Um, because you're nice?" she ventured.

"Nice is why I'm even considering it. Why should I do it, though?" Scootaloo asked.

Well, she hated to do it, but if daddy had taught her one thing, it was that money takes care of most problems. She just didn't have much at the moment. But if it was the difference between having somewhere to sleep and not...

"I suppose could offer you a few bits to stay here." she said, regretfully.

"Well, if you're going to offer," Scootaloo said, "five bits for the night?"

She needed to save her money more than that. "Five bits for the week."

Scootaloo put one foreleg to her forehead and groaned.

"The week, huh?" She said. "If we're talking that long, I really need to know what's going on, and we'll need to lay down some ground rules."

Oh, she really didn't want this getting all over the school, and this was Scootaloo, who had all the reason to want to spread about her misfortune.

"Pinkie Promise not to tell anypony?" she said meekly.

"You really don't understand the situation you're in, do you?" Scootaloo sighed. "Things have happened tonight that neither of us want to talk about. I know you understand blackmail. This is that type of thing, only it goes both ways. But we can exchange your silly promises if you want."

They did so, and she felt much better, knowing that if either of them talked, they'd be faced with a wrathful Pinkie Pie.

"After Miss Cheerilee talked to daddy, we had a big fight about what happened with Apple Bloom."

"Good," Scootaloo said. "So what happened, then? You got upset about it, and ran away from home afterwards? If there are going to be search parties looking for you, I'd really prefer you slept somewhere else."

"No, nopony's going to be looking for me." It was her turn to sigh.

"Then what happened?"

"He started yelling at me, and s-smashed my t-tiara, then kicked me out," she said, feeling shaky again even thinking about it.

"Wow, sounds like he was angry. If he's cooled down and had time to think, he might already be looking for you, though."

"No, he said he was disowning me, had some paperwork there, and told Grey not to let me back in. I think he meant it."

"Ponyfeathers," Scootaloo swore. "Why am I the nice one, anyways? Alright, you can stay here for the moment, but you'll need to understand the ground rules, though."

She was going to be able to get some sleep at some point. Perfect.

"What rules?" she asked.

"Well, main one is this is my place, or ours when Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are here. So pretty much anything the three of us says goes without question, with my decision being the final one."

"Isn't this actually Applejack's?" she asked. It was on Sweet Apple Acres, after all.

"Sorta, though most of it was made by Apple Bloom at this point. But if Applejack found out we were sleeping here, we'd have more problems than arguing over rules."

"I suppose so." Not to mention she'd be upset about her sister. And she was business partners with daddy, so if Applejack found out she was here, she'd probably kick Diamond Tiara right off the property, too.

"If you want to use anything in the clubhouse, ask first," Scootaloo said. "And you'll be expected to help keep things clean around here."

"You want me to be your maid?"

Scootaloo closed her eyes. "No. But we don't have maids here. So you'll be expected to clean up any messes you make, just like anypony else. I am so not cleaning up after you."

"Whatever," she said tiredly. Something occurred to her that she hadn't asked before. "Why exactly are you living here, anyways?"

"That's personal, and is my business, not yours," Scootaloo said. "It's already really late, and we'll be pretty tired as it is at school tomorrow. Lets just get to sleep."

School. Oh, she didn't even want to think about that. Sleep sounded good, though.

"Where do I sleep, then?" she asked.

Scootaloo pointed to another corner of the clubhouse, which, indeed, had another cushion. "You can sleep over there. Do you need any of that stuff you brought in tonight?"

"Just a minute." She grabbed a blanket and a pillow. After a moment, she decided to grab her teddy bear as well. Scootaloo took the bundle and shoved it through a trapdoor in the ceiling, presumably leading to a storage area.

Afterwards, she held out her hoof and waited. Diamond Tiara puzzled over this for a moment, then sighed and hoofed over five bits from her bag. Scootaloo made them vanish, then climbed back on the cushion she'd been on earlier.

Diamond Tiara settled down on her own cushion. She wrapped herself in a blanket, snuggled up to her teddy bear, and tried to forget where she was and get some sleep. It wasn't easy.

Morning Is Broken

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Diamond Tiara's first thoughts were that somepony must have left her curtains open. She heard a noise and groggily swung her hoof towards her alarm. It was Thursday, so Grey should be on his way soon with cinnamon buns and a cup of rose tea for breakfast.

Her hoof swung freely over the edge of her cushion and down to the ground. Unbalanced, she toppled to the floor in a tangle of blankets. She then heard the noise once again, and this time, she realised that it was not her alarm after all, but a rooster. How does one turn off a rooster?

Opening up her eyes, she realised that she wasn't in her room, after all. There were pink curtains hanging on the window, but that was where the similarity ended. The floor was hard wood, there was a map hanging on one wall, and looking around, her tiara was nowhere to be found.

And then it hit her. Of course her tiara was nowhere to be found. It was broken. Daddy had broken it. Daddy had broken it and thrown her out. Stupid. He had no right. He had no right to do that to her!

She lashed out at the cushion next to her, and started pummelling it in fury, picturing Daddy's face there.

This is for my tiara! *Wham!* This is for abandoning me! *Wham!* This is for not being there when I need you! *Wham!* This is for not loving-

She squeezed her eyes closed and hugged the cushion to her face, choking down a sob. Then she tossed it back down to the ground in irritation and gave it a few good whacks, embarrassed at her weakness.

"Morning workout?" a voice said wryly. She flushed, suddenly remembering that she wasn't the only one in the clubhouse. Whirling around, she saw Scootaloo standing in another corner. She appeared to be tying down a bandage on her side. How long had she been watching?

"What's it to you?" she snapped angrily, and then regretted it. She might not like Scootaloo, but she needed her help right now. She shouldn't try to antagonise her.

"Oh, nothing, I suppose." Scootaloo finished adjusting one last bandage. "I was actually just about to start my own workout. It's sort of pegasus only, though."

With that, she dropped to the floor and started doing wing pushups. Diamond Tiara watched in fascination. She'd never thought those small wings were that strong. She didn't really get to see anypony working out too much, let alone exercising their wings.

It was actually sort of impressive how she just cranked them out, one after another. Diamond Tiara found herself involuntarily walking closer as she watched.

"You do all that every morning?" she asked, curious in spite of herself.

"Yeah," Scootaloo said, stopping her pushups and stretching. "My wings are pretty tiny, so I've been working on my wing muscle strength."

Well, she supposed that was reasonable. Now that Scootaloo had stopped moving,but still had her wings out, something caught her attention. In an area her wings normally covered, she had an old-looking scab on her side, and her fur was kinda thin in a line on either side of it.

Diamond Tiara would never have noticed if she hadn't been this close and Scootaloo hadn't been exercising. What could possibly have caused that?

"What's that on your side?" she asked.

Scootaloo looked up. "Hmm?"

"That spot there?" she said, pointing.

Scootaloo looked at her side and frowned. "I told you, that's personal."

Then she went back to her pushups, ignoring Diamond Tiara completely.

But she didn't say that was personal. She said the reason she was living here was. Diamond Tiara shook her head. Whatever. There were more important matters right now.

"What's for breakfast?" she asked the exercising pegasus.

"I... just said-" Scootaloo managed between pushups. "that you... could sleep here. I didn't... say anything about breakfast."

She finished her exercises and lay there panting. Diamond Tiara frowned.

"But I just left last night. How am I supposed to have anything here for breakfast?" she said, a high whiny tone entering her voice.

"We're ponies," Scootaloo said simply. "You do realise you can eat grass, right?"

"Well yes, but that's so uncouth, undignified, so-"

"Impractical? You will find yourself eating grass on occasion, but if it was the only thing you were eating, you'd have to graze all day." Scootaloo gestured outside the clubhouse window. "Take a look outside. What do you see?"

Diamond Tiara glanced out. "Trees."

Scootaloo sighed. "Could you be a little more specific than that?"

"Apple trees?"

"Right," Scootaloo said. "So what do you think is for breakfast?"

Diamond Tiara thought for a moment. "Apples?"

"Got it. Not much to it, but it's better than nothing."

A potential problem occurred to her. "Wouldn't Applejack notice apples around here were going missing?"

"Of course she does. But Applejack gave this treehouse to us knowing that it was in the middle of an orchard. She expected that we'd eat some of them. And Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle haven't been, so I can eat them without anypony noticing."

"So that's all you eat for breakfast? Raw apples?"

"Well, no, sometimes Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stop by, and we go out." She looked out the window herself. "In fact, it looks like she's on her way now."

"Wait, Sweetie Belle's coming over, like, right now? While I'm still in the clubhouse?"

Scootaloo folded back up her wings, and as she did so, Diamond Tiara noticed a few spots that were either bare or had really short feathers. Funny. They're all in line with that old scab I noticed.

She vaguely wondered why she'd never spotted them before. Then Scootaloo started preening her feathers, rearranging them to cover up the patches, and it became kinda obvious.

However, Diamond Tiara had other concerns at the moment. "If she comes over right now, I'll be discovered here!"

Scootaloo adjusted another feather carefully. "Well, you could hide in the clubhouse till she's gone, or rather, we're gone. But this'll hardly be the last time she comes over. You'd be better off just letting Sweetie Belle know you're staying here."

"Until we're gone?" she asked. She wasn't totally sure she'd be able to find her way to school in time by herself.

"Well, we're probably headed out for breakfast, so... yeah," Scootaloo said.

She sighed. Her whole ordered world of how things should be was in ruins anyways. The way things should go, she'd have a nice, sophisticated breakfast, be groomed, make sure she looked her best and get ready for the new day. Silvy would meet with her, and they'd talk about what they were going to do for the day, and maybe make fun of the blank flanks, if she ran into them.

Now she was here with one of the blank flanks, she hadn't even had breakfast, probably had horrid bed mane and bed fur, another was on the way, and Silvy probably wasn't even going to talk to her today. That hurt, even knowing why.

And Sweetie Belle would be here any minute.

It wasn't that she really hated Sweetie Belle. She seemed nice, after all. But she had so much potential, and she wasted it. She could have been one of them. She was sisters with one of the best, most sophisticated fashionistas in Ponyville.

Rarity understood the importance of always looking good, going to the spa, and undoubtedly knew what a proper, high-class breakfast should look like. She had even made a large number of Diamond's dresses, though some were Canterlot high fashion.

But Sweetie Belle had none of that. She ran around wreaking havoc with the Crusaders, going to the pond and catching frogs, and unerringly getting every single bit of tree sap in the area on her. Anytime she tried to do anything with any amount of grace, it ended in disaster.

She could probably force herself to get along with Sweetie Belle for now. She wasn't that bad. She did so want her breakfast. And she didn't think she'd done anything really bad to her personally.

She looked out the window and frowned as another time she'd looked out of this window occurred to her. It'd been back when Babs had been here. Babs had really known how to have a good time. It was a shame things had ended between them the way they did.

But they'd kicked the Crusaders out of this very clubhouse, and she remembered seeing Sweetie Belle crying through the window as they left. Bother. Why do there suddenly have to be consequences to everything now? she thought irritably. There never were before.

"Do you think Sweetie Belle would still be upset about the time we took over your clubhouse?" she asked tentatively.

Scootaloo glared at her. "We're all still upset about that. But Sweetie Belle will keep a secret if I ask her to."

Well, she supposed she'd better get down and face her. Sweetie Belle would figure it out eventually, anyways. Besides, maybe if she told all three of them how sorry she was, Daddy'd take her back in.

"Alright, I guess I'd better talk to her," she said wearily, and walked slowly to the door, only to find Scootaloo blocking it.

"Hang on, let me talk to her first. If you just walk out of the clubhouse, she might get the wrong idea."

"Morning, Scootaloo!" a voice called from down below. "You up?"

"I'll be right down, Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo called out, then headed downstairs, out of Diamond's sight.

Diamond Tiara stood there, nervously, a knot in her stomach, as bits of what was being said drifted up to her. She felt as though everything was about to go wrong somehow, and much more tense than she really should be.

After a moment, she placed the reason she was feeling this way. This was just the way things been before Daddy had kicked her out.

Well, she doubted things could go that badly, at least. She settled down to listen.

"Morning! How are you - *gack*" Scootaloo's voice was suddenly cut off with a whumping sound.

"Scootaloo!" A second voice called out enthusiastically. It sounded like somepony was either being tackled in a big hug down there, or possibly being attacked. It was hard to tell. Most likely the former, though.

"Sweetie Belle... I know... you're happy to... see me, but... not on my side..." Scootaloo's voice came up faintly to her.

Ouch. That must have hurt.

"I'm sorry!" she heard Sweetie Belle say. "I just thought after yesterday that you'd really need a hug, and I needed a hug, and-"

"That's fine, but gently, alright?" Scootaloo said resignedly.

"Ok," Sweetie Belle said. "You missed a spot on your left wing, by the way. I thought those had all come back in?"

"Some of them have, but that was just a partial molt."

Partial molt? What exactly is a molt? Some pegasus thing?

"Shouldn't you have had a full one by now, though?" Sweetie Belle said, sounding puzzled.

"It's running late, ok?" Scootaloo rebutted, annoyed. "Can we drop it?"

"Right," Sweetie Belle said. "So, did you want to get some breakfast over at Sugarcube Corner? My treat."

"That'll be great!" Scootaloo exclaimed, then got ahold of herself. "But something kinda happened tonight. Can you keep quiet about this?"

"You know I can. What's wrong, Scoot?"

She couldn't really hear Scootaloo's reply. She figured Scootaloo had whispered it. She heard the response loud and clear, though.

"You slept with Diamond Tiara?!"

Alright, that does it. She charged through the door and down the ramp, working up a head of steam.

"I did not sleep with-" she paused and took in the scene. Sweetie Belle was looking at her, wide-eyed, while Scootaloo cradled her own head in her forelegs.

"-Scootaloo," she finished weakly. "Morning?"

Water Flowing Underground

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Diamond Tiara stared at Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo in confusion. She still wasn't totally sure what was going on between the two of them, with all the fuss about her sleeping with Scootaloo and all that hugging they were doing. She'd always thought hugging was a little undignified. She couldn't think of the last time she'd been hugged, before last night, that was.

Sweetie Belle seemed equally confused, looking back and forth between the two of them before finally speaking.

"Um, what were you doing in the clubhouse?" Not giving Diamond Tiara a chance to reply, Sweetie Belle turned back to Scootaloo. "Scoots, what's going on?"

Scootaloo looked at Diamond Tiara sheepishly. "Given I messed up my first try, maybe you should tell her?"

"But you said you should tell Sweetie Belle," Diamond replied.

"One of you should tell me," Sweetie Belle huffed. She pointed at Diamond Tiara. "You are the one who went from what you did yesterday to being in our clubhouse this morning. Why don't you explain what's going on? Starting with your breaking Apple Bloom's legs."

Here goes nothing. Diamond Tiara took a deep breath.

"Well, I didn't exactly mean to break her legs. There was a mud puddle nearby, and I totally thought you'd all end up in it. That would have been funny."

Scootaloo glared at her when she said that for some reason. But it would have been. They thought it was funny when me and Silver Spoon were the ones in the mud, didn't they?

"But then Apple Bloom ended up in the hospital, and that was even funnier, right?"

"No, that wasn't funny at all! I totally wouldn't have done it if I'd known what was going to happen." Which was quite true. If she'd had any idea it'd lead to Daddy kicking her out and her having nowhere to live, she certainly wouldn't have done it. "I'm sorry."

There. She'd said it.

"Uh huh." Sweetie Belle crossed her forelegs and frowned. "And the clubhouse?"

"Well, Daddy was really angry at me afterwards," she said, a lump forming in her throat as she went back over what had happened once again.

"So he made you come down to the clubhouse to apologise?" Sweetie Belle guessed. "I'm, um, kinda pretty upset with you still. I'm not ready to accept an apology yet."

Sweetie Belle wasn't going to accept her apology? Was that allowed?

"No, he was really really angry. Smashing my tiara to pieces and kicking me out of the house angry." She shuddered, and blinked. She wasn't going to start crying again. Not now.

Sweetie Belle blinked. "Your tiara isn't still upstairs?"

Scootaloo spoke up. "No, she didn't have it on her last night."

"Oh," Sweetie Belle said softly, and was quiet for a few minutes before picking back up where she left off.

"Ok, so if you needed someplace to stay last night, I can see how you ended up here, I guess. But I'm still not sure why Scoots let you stay." She turned to Scootaloo quizzically. "Weren't you talking about dunking her in boiling oil yesterday?"

She'd been talking about what?

"I wasn't talking about dunking Diamond Tiara in boiling oil yesterday," Scootaloo replied.

Oh. Good.

"I thought-" Sweetie Belle said, confused.

"No, that was Apple Bloom. I wanted to draw and quarter her!" she said enthusiastically.

Not helping, Scootaloo, not helping.

"Oh, that's right!" Sweetie Belle said.

"Wait, you were talking about killing me?" Diamond Tiara screeched.

"Well, yeah," Scootaloo said. "It's boring sitting around a hospital bed, and we needed something to do."

Hmm. If Scootaloo got bandaged up yesterday, and was sitting around with Apple Bloom, wouldn't they have tried to notify her parents?

"If you were in the hospital yesterday, did they, like, try to get in touch with your family or anything?"

"They did ask me about it a couple of times," Scootaloo admitted. "Good thing they got distracted, and I wasn't badly hurt."

"You told her about your family?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"No, but if you're sleeping in a treehouse, some things are sorta obvious, you know?"

Scootaloo flicked one ear, idly dislodging a fly that had been bothering her.

"Right. So what happened last night?"

"I wanted a fight last night. I tried to get in one," Scootaloo said. "But I'm not going to hit somepony when they're down. She needed my help."

Diamond Tiara's ears pinned to the side of her head, thinking about her collapse last night. That had been so totally embarrassing. It would have been bad enough for anypony to see it, but for Scootaloo to see it-

And the way Scootaloo had reacted had been unexpected. It wasn't how she would have acted. But Scootaloo wouldn't hit somepony where they were down, and helped them when they needed help. Diamond Tiara wasn't able to say the same, and somehow she felt a little smaller for it.

Then she realised that both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were looking at her. Had she missed something?

"Sorry, could you repeat that?" she said, hoping one of them had asked a question.

"So, were you going to go to Sugarcube Corner with us for breakfast?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Oh, right. She supposed she'd better, even if she wasn't sure her meager supply of bits was up to it.

"Sure, let me just get my things."

She ran up the ramp, grabbed hold of her saddlebags, and went back down. After the ransacking of her room last night, she wasn't sure of the contents, but her allowance would be there, at least.

She rejoined the others, and started rummaging through her bags.

"Looking for a comb or a hairbrush?" Sweetie Belle asked.

When she said this, Diamond Tiara came to a horrid realization. She started searching for either frantically. Her bedmane must be horrible.

"Oh Celestia, my beautiful mane..." she moaned, as she searched. An awful suspicion dawned on her. Her set of combs and brushes was still sitting on top of her dresser by the mirror, weren't they?

Panicstruck at the thought of going to school with her mane sticking in all directions, she went up to Scootaloo and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Quick, I need to borrow your comb!" Diamond Tiara said, face to face with Scootaloo now. "It's an emergency!"

"You think I have a comb?" she replied, taken aback.

"Um," Sweetie Belle said hesitantly. "Diamond?"

"Oh, I'll be the laughingstock of the school!" Diamond Tiara groaned, continuing to paw through her bag.

Abruptly, a hairbrush and mirror passed right under her muzzle. Looking up, she realized Sweetie Belle was holding them out to her. She gratefully took both.

Checking out her reflection, she found she was right on the money about her appearance. She started detangling her mane and brushing it out. Her normal look wouldn't work, since she didn't have- there wasn't anything to hold it down. She just swept her mane back and let it fall loosely behind her for now.

It was different, but different might be good, and it wasn't like she had anything to tie it back with. She didn't even have a brush and mirror, since these weren't hers. She gave them back to Sweetie Belle after giving her mane one last stroke. She'd probably have to buy her own. No way were her bits going to last, at this rate.

"Thanks," she said sheepishly, now that she was no longer panicked. "At least I'll be, like, presentable today."

Sweetie Belle tilted her head one direction and peered at her. She put both forelegs in front of her, and looked between them, then dropped them to her sides, evidently satisfied with what she saw.

"That'll do," she said. "Um, I think this look might suit you better, actually."

Really? Sweetie Belle might be, well, Sweetie Belle, but she was Rarity's sister. This might not be all bad.

"So, Scoots, got everything ready for breakfast?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Oh, right, just a minute," she replied, and vanished up into the clubhouse.

Diamond Tiara turned to watch her, and was suddenly aware of the tip of a horn resting against her throat. She froze.

"You know, Scootaloo is my very best friend and for a long time was my only friend," Sweetie Belle said quietly. "And she's helping you now. Don't hurt her, alright?"

Diamond Tiara gulped, and would have nodded if she could have done so without injury.

"Right."

Sweetie Belle moved her horn away quickly enough that Diamond Tiara almost wondered if she'd imagined the whole thing. "Good."

Diamond Tiara just stood there in sheer shock for a minute afterwards. It was like having been threatened by a bunny rabbit. But one with very sharp teeth.

Scootaloo came cheerily down from the clubhouse, totally oblivious to the conversation that had just taken place. "Ready to go?"

"Ready!"

They started chattering along about their plans for the day far more cheerfully than Diamond Tiara ever thought the early morning would warrant. Well, they could be cheerful. Everything'd be alright for them. Except for Apple Bloom being missing, it was a normal day.

Well, maybe it would be for her, too. She would have a typical boring school day. She'd hang out with Silver Spoon, and when school was over, Daddy would pick her up. They'd go home, and everything would be the same as it ever was. She sighed, and was lost in blissful fantasy for a few minutes, then snapped out of it.

Things would never be the same. Silver Spoon couldn't hang out with her today. Her lovely tiara was broken. And even if Daddy picked her up, it wouldn't be the same. She wasn't sure she'd ever really trust him again, or that she'd feel secure about having someplace to live again.

Maybe it'd be a boring, non-eventful school day, at least. She wasn't really sure she had to go to school after what had happened, but it was the normal thing for somepony to do, and she needed normal right now.

Besides, Scootaloo went to school, and nopony was forcing her. There must be some reason to go.

Looking up, she noticed that they weren't that far from Sugarcube Corner. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were still chattering away. She paused, pulled out the bag all her bits were in, and started counting.

Noticing her falling behind, the other two stopped and walked over to her.

"What do you have that out for?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I was just trying to figure out how much I can afford for breakfast," she said, frowning.

Numbers had never been her strong suit, and she wasn't sure of the prices at Sugarcube Corner.

"Oh, well, I was going to pay for all three of us," Sweetie Belle said, then glanced in Diamond Tiara's direction.

"Unless you were planning on a really big breakfast or something, that is."

She was giving her threats of bodily harm and breakfast? Or was that threats of breakfast?

"You don't like me, but you're buying me breakfast?"

"Well, I may not like you, and I haven't forgiven you yet," Sweetie Belle said, looking her in the eye, "but like Scoots said, you need help right now."

Diamond Tiara flushed. She really hated having to rely on others charity. It wasn't supposed to be this way. Daddy was supposed to take care of all that for her. He was supposed to take care of everything for her, not-

She cut off her train of thought. She was just going to get herself angry or upset, and she didn't need that right now.

"I don't-" she started to say, then it was Scootaloo's turn to grab her by the shoulders.

"Excuse us," Scootaloo told Sweetie Belle, and dragged Diamond aside with her.

"That bag's all the bits you have on you, right?" she asked.

Diamond Tiara nodded.

"Let me see it for a minute?" Scootaloo asked, extending a hoof.

Diamond Tiara gave her the bag, then immediately felt very dumb for doing so. What if she didn't give them back?

However, Scootaloo just poked around the bag for a moment, counting under her breath, then returned it.

"Well, you can last for a little bit on that, but you'll still really need to stretch it as far as it can go. Let Sweetie Belle buy you breakfast today."

"But I don't really want to be-"

"In her debt? I tried that. Not accepting anything unless I could pay them back somehow, running around doing a bunch of errands to earn money-"

"And?"

"I ended up starving and not getting any sleep 'till some friends knocked some sense into me. There are lots of friendly ponies around town that want to give you things. You accept them, they're happy, and you're happy. Don't try to drive yourself crazy doing everything yourself."

Diamond Tiara had to wonder, thinking like that, how Scootaloo hadn't ended up living with somepony else, but didn't feel it'd be a good idea to bring it up. What she was saying did make sense, even if she didn't like it.

"I guess I see what you mean."

Then something else struck her.

"Wait, why were you starving? Didn't you say we could just eat grass earlier?"

Scootaloo laughed. "Yeah, you can, but you have to eat a lot of it, and I was trying to do too many other things to get enough. Food or sleep isn't a great choice to have to make."

"Right, I suppose not."

"Anyways, make sure to keep that bag on you. Giving it to anypony else, even for a moment, is usually a bad idea."

She flushed even more, thinking about how stupid that had been. Though at least now she knew she could trust Scoots, er, Scootaloo with it.

"So let's get back to Sweetie Belle, and you can thank her for getting you breakfast."

The two of them walked back to where Sweetie Belle was waiting. Sweetie Belle looked up at them.

"Thanks," Diamond Tiara said reluctantly. "Breakfast would be great."

"Great!" she said. "Now let's get over there while we still have time!"

In a matter of a few minutes, they were at Sugarcube corner. Pinkie Pie came over as they sat down at a table together.

"Good morning, Scootaloo! Morning, Sweetie Belle!" Pinkie Pie's smile slipped a bit as she noticed her. "Diamond Tiara."

The three of them took a seat at one of the tables there, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle on one side, and Diamond Tiara on the other. Pinkie Pie turned to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo's side of the table, ignoring that Diamond was there.

"What can I get you girls today?" she asked.

Well, she'd wanted to wait to see what they got first, anyways, she supposed.

Sweetie Belle spoke up. "I'd like a vanilla hayshake and an apple turnover."

"A chocolate hayshake, and a cinnamon roll sounds good!" Scootaloo cut in.

As Pinkie looked about ready to leave, she hurried with her order, following their lead on what to get.

"A strawberry hayshake, and a blueberry muffin, please," she asked, hoping she'd take it.

"Okie-dokie-lokie!" Pinkie glanced at Diamond Tiara briefly, then vanished to get their orders.

Looking away, she realised that both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were staring at her.

"What!?" she said grumpily. "Do I have something on my face?"

"No." Scootaloo looked away hastily, followed by Sweetie Belle. "It's just... When we come here with Apple Bloom, she usually gets a strawberry hayshake."

"So I like the same flavor hayshakes as Apple Bloom," she grumbled. "Big deal."

"It just feels weird," Sweetie Belle said.

"What seemed weird to me was the way Pinkie seemed to be totally trying to ignore me," Diamond Tiara said. "I wouldn't think that'd be good business."

"Well, she is good friends with Applejack and Apple Bloom," Sweetie Belle said. "Chances are that she already knows that Apple Bloom is in the hospital and that you were involved."

Pinkie Pie came back out and gave Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo their orders, and then begrudgingly put Diamond's order on the table, far enough away that she had to pull it over to where she was sitting.

"Yeah, I guess so." She sucked on the straw in her hayshake, depressed. At least it tasted like it should.

Conversation was pretty stilted, and was mostly between Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, leaving Diamond Tiara feeling like a third wheel. It didn't help that most of the comments that came to her mind were nasty, so she ended up not saying them.

It wasn't like she could talk to them like she did Silver Spoon, either. She had known Silver Spoon for years, and she was the closest friend Diamond Tiara had. Well, the only friend she had, actually. It hurt knowing Silvy was going to be avoiding her, but she understood why. Silvy's parents were everything to her. Just like hers had been.

She blinked angrily. She was not about to start crying in public. She tried to pay more attention to what Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were talking about, which was good, as Sweetie Belle's next question was addressed to her.

"So, about your staying at the clubhouse. Was that just for last night, or-"

"Sorry, Sweetie Belle, this wasn't a 'I don't want to see you again tonight' type thing," Diamond Tiara told her.

"Are you sure? Because I've, um," she looked down, "kinda had that happen before."

"Daddy smashed my tiara in front of me and said he was disowning me!" Diamond Tiara said angrily. "Then he told me I wasn't allowed back. I don't think that's changing. "

"He actually disowned you?"

Diamond Tiara thought she heard a gasp from elsewhere in the building, but didn't pay it much attention as she continued.

"Yeah. I'll try to find someplace other than your clubhouse if I can, but I doubt Daddy's just going to, like, pick me up from school and pretend nothing's happened."

But how I wish he would!

"Don't worry about it," Scootaloo said. "There's nowhere else that even compares to the clubhouse in Ponyville if you need someplace to sleep and have nowhere to go. You can stay there as long as you need to."

Why were these blank flanks being so nice to her when she'd done nothing but make their lives harder?

After they all finished their breakfasts, Diamond Tiara noticed a bill on the table. When had that gotten there? There was a paper bag by it, too, which she didn't remember any of them ordering. Wait, should they have been talking about all this in public?

"Um, do you think Pinkie heard what we were talking about earlier?" she asked, trying to make it sound like an innocent question and not a pending disaster.

"Oh, probably," Scootaloo said. "She hears most of what happens in here. She considers anything she overhears private, though, so she won't tell anypony. I'm pretty sure she knows where I'm living."

"Why is that?"

"Well, she's done things like given me extra things I didn't order, and not billing me for things. In fact-" She opened the bag, then, after taking a peek inside, slid it over. "Yep, blueberry muffin. I'd say that's yours. Lunch."

She'd forgotten about lunch, hadn't she? Diamond Tiara tucked it in a saddlebag, remembering Scootaloo's words from earlier.

"We'd better get going," Sweetie Belle said. She counted out some bits, lay them on the table, and the three of them continued on the way to school.

Well, at least I can forget about everything for a while and just concentrate on school, she thought, as they arrived. I hope Miss Cheerilee isn't still mad.

She slowly entered the schoolhouse, getting ready for a long day.

Twist & Shout

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Diamond Tiara had barely made it in on time, and she had gotten some odd looks on the looks on the way, with her new mane style and missing tiara. She did her best to pretend that Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had just happened to enter at the same time as her, and they all went to their normal seats. Silver Spoon glanced at her from her seat, then immediately looked away.

That wasn't really any surprise after what had happened last night, but it still really really hurt to have her best friend pretending she wasn't there. Today certainly wasn't going to be easy for her. The more the room filled, the more everypony seemed to be focussing on Apple Bloom's empty desk, consciously or not. After a moment, she suddenly realized that she was staring at it herself, and turned to the front of the classroom.

Once everypony had taken a seat, Cheerilee got up from behind her desk and walked to the front of the classroom. She cleared her throat, and the noise of the classroom faded into silence.

"Good morning, class! Before we get started today, some of you may have noticed that Apple Bloom is not here today. Yesterday, she was hospitalized with both her hind legs broken after school." Diamond Tiara swore Cheerilee was looking right at her as she said that. "Barring complications, she should be out in a few days. I thought I'd pass a get well card around the classroom everypony could sign to cheer her up."

Cheerilee set the card on Twist's desk. Twist scribbled a message on it, drew a little picture of a peppermint stick by it, and passed it over to Silver Spoon. The class started talking again as the card was passed from desk to desk. Most of it was about Apple Bloom, making Diamond feel awkward. Worse, it had to be passed around Apple Bloom's empty desk, and when it was, it managed never to make it to her, either.

Snails finished signing the card, and held it up for Miss Cheerilee to pick up. Seeing this, Diamond raised one foreleg high in the air to catch her attention.

"Yes, Diamond Tiara?" Cheerilee asked.

"Miss Cheerilee, I haven't had a chance to sign the card yet!" she protested.

"Of course," she said, bringing it over. "I wouldn't want to forget you."

As Cheerilee set the card down on her desk, Diamond thought about what she should write.

Alright, how should I sign this? I really need to make this up to Apple Bloom somehow. She's the one I really need to apologise to the most, if I'm ever going to have a chance to make things up with daddy.

After a moments thought, she decided simple was best. In the one free spot, she crammed in "I'm sorry. Get better soon.", signed it, and pass the card back. Glancing at it, Miss Cheerilee nodded, and took the card back to her desk with her.

No longer occupied with the card, she noticed that Twist and Silver Spoon were talking enthusiastically, as if they'd been friends for a long time. Something inside Diamond Tiara burned. Had she really been replaced that easily?

Miss Cheerilee quieted the class down once more.

"Thank you, class. I'll be taking this card with me when I visit Apple Bloom tonight, and I'm sure she'll be very happy to see all your well wishes." She walked over to her desk. "Now, if you can all take your history books out and turn to page 216, let's begin our lesson."

Her history book. Oh Celestia, did she even have her schoolbooks?

Diamond Tiara started searching futilely through her bag for what was the second time this morning. She was pretty sure it wasn't gonna turn up, too. After all, it would have shown up when she was looking for her comb earlier. She'd probably just left it in her room last night, in which case, it might as well be lost forever.

"Diamond Tiara?" Miss Cheerilee called out. "Do you have your book?"

"I'm s- sorry, Miss Cheerilee," she stammered out, flustered. "It must not have been in my bag."

Miss Cheerilee sighed. "Would somepony be willing to share their textbook with Miss Tiara for the rest of the class?"

Embarrassingly, there was total silence for several moments, as absolutely nopony raised their hooves, not even Silver Spoon. Finally, a lone hoof popped up in the air near the back of the class. Miss Cheerilee glanced in that direction.

"Thank you, Sweetie Belle," she said. "Diamond Tiara, can you move seats next to her, and share the book? Once you are settled in place, I'd like you to start reading to the class at the beginning of the chapter."

Diamond Tiara slowly got up, put her saddlebags on, and hiked to the back. She pushed an empty desk next to Sweetie Belle, who immediately moved her history book between them. Once Diamond had sat down, she looked at the book and began reading in a bored monotone.

“Before Equestria was founded, ponies were separated into three tribes…”

Fortunately, she only had to do this for one page of the book, then Cheerilee switched readers. She continued doing this, switching who was reading every so often. Very few of them managed to make anything they were reading sound at all interesting.

The lesson dragged on and on. This was so boring! Usually when things got this boring would be about the time she started passing notes to Silvy. Silvy wasn't anywhere near her, though. She could try with Sweetie Belle, but she honestly didn't think she'd reply.

Pushing her mane back in frustration, and wincing as she remembered her tiara wasn't there, her only solace was that Silver Spoon was in the same exact spot as her. She glanced in that direction to confirm that, and was surprised to see a note in her hoof.

Well, maybe she was going to try to pass it to her, half the room away or not? She waited a minute, and Silver Spoon passed it alright. She passed it over to Twist, who opened it up, read it, and started scribbling out a reply.

Was it that easy to replace her? She'd known Twist and Silver Spoon had hung out before, back when she'd been busy running the paper, but that was different. The two of them had always passed notes to each other, walked to and from class together, and hung out together. They were best friends.

Now, suddenly, she felt like she'd been replaced. She pictured Twist as Silvy's new best friend. Images of the two of them going to the movies together, gossipping about the other ponies, and having fun together ran through her head. She pictured the two of them laughing and doing her and Silvy's private "Bump Bump Sugar Lump Rump" greeting, and fumed.

Lost in her own private thoughts, in took seeing Sweetie Belle get up next to her for her to notice that half the class had already gone outside.

Right, it must be lunchtime.

Pulling herself out of her seat, she stumbled and nearly fell. Diamond automatically felt for her tiara to catch it. Not feeling it there did absolutely nothing to improve her mood.

Looking down, she discovered that one strap of her saddlebags had wrapped itself around one of her legs. She pulled her trapped leg carefully out of the straps, and put them back on.

She slowly walked outside, not really looking forward to lunch, given that all she had was the muffin she'd been given earlier in the day. Everypony seemed to be reading the Foal Free Press, but she ignored them, since she didn't really want to talk right now, anyway. Picking out a table no one else was sitting at, she took her saddlebags back off.

Searching through them, she pulled out a paper bag and put it on the table in front of her. Opening it, she found the muffin inside crumbling to pieces. It must have gotten smashed some time earlier in the day.

On a normal day, this would be nothing more than a snack for her. With it crumbled into pieces like that, she might have even tossed it. But this muffin was all she had, and she wasn't even sure what she was going be able to bring tomorrow.

She reluctantly started eating one of the pieces of the muffin, thinking of the rice pilaf and waldorf salad she would have had normally today. As she did so, she heard a thud behind her. She craned her head around, and saw Twist laying on the ground next to her saddlebags.

"Oops!" Twist said, seeming far too cheerful. "Thorry!"

She dusted off Diamond's saddlebags, picked herself up, and trotted off, totally oblivious to Diamond's irritation turning into full-blown anger behind her.

How dare she just crash into my stuff like that after stealing my best friend and act like nothing's wrong! I'm going to give her a piece of my mind!

Getting up, Diamond charged over there in a fury, shoving aside anypony unfortunate enough to be in her way. A few copies of the student paper went flying, and even more eyes seemed to be on her.

"What do you think you're doing, crashing into my bags like that?" she screeched in a fury. "You could have broken something?"

Twist seemed entirely taken aback by this and just stood there, looking blank. Silvy stepped in to defend her.

"Don't you think you're being a little-"

"And you! One day!" Diamond yelled at top volume. "One day and you've already replaced me!"

"It's not like that!" Silver Spoon replied.

"Isn't it?" she replied. "You've spent the whole day ignoring me and passing notes with Twist. And now you're spending lunch with her after she nearly tramples over my bags!"

Diamond's eyes were starting to tear up, even if some part of her said she was being unreasonable. Twist seemed to have lost a bit of her normal happy detachment from everything and actually seemed upset now.

"I thaid I was th-thorry!" she protested. Then a copy of the Foal Free Press lying on the ground caught Twist's eye. She picked it up and started reading the front page intently, ignoring Diamond.

Twist not paying attention to her only served to make Diamond Tiara more upset. What could possibly be more important than her right now?

"Maybe if you actually looked where you were going occasionally, instead of traipsing around with your eyes closed and that stupid smile on your face all the time-"

Eyes tearing up, Twist looked up from the paper. "D-Diamond? I t-think you have o-other pro-problems right now."

Twist held the paper out to her, turned to the front page. She went to brush it aside, but then the picture on the front cover registered with her. Her annoyance at Twist and Silvy faded, and she got a sick feeling at the bottom of her stomach.

On the front page was a big picture of Apple Bloom laying under her wagon, leg clearly broken. The headline read "DIAMOND TIARA CRIPPLES APPLE BLOOM - HAS SHE GONE TOO FAR?".

She remembered how many ponies around her were reading that paper and she went pale. Looking around, she was receiving even more glares, and a few foals seemed to be heading in her direction.

Not even paying attention to the fight she'd started a minute ago, she stammered out. "I-I'm sorry! I'd b-better go.."

Fear in her eyes, she blindly stumbled back to her bags, only to be cut off by Snip and Snails blocking her way. Normally she wouldn't have too much trouble with those two morons, but they actually looked upset, and with a few others starting to come over, she might actually be in trouble.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Snips said.

"Yeah. Where are you going?"

Approaching from one side, a blue earth pony chimed in. "We heard about what you did to Apple Bloom."

She thought her name was Archer, but couldn't really remember. She'd never talked to her other than in passing. Looking away, she suddenly noticed Rumble was approaching from her other side, and was really starting to get worried.

"Where do you get off yelling at Twist like that? What she'd ever do to you?" he exclaimed, and the others sort of glanced at him for a moment, then looked away.

"You see, we like Apple Bloom," Snails continued. "We thought you should know how she feels right now."

"Yeah. What he said."

As all four of them approached, she panicked. She couldn't have a broken leg right now! Nopony'd help her out if she got hurt. This was bad.

"Miss Cheerilee?!" she called out, getting pretty freaked out. There wasn't any response.

What was with this? Why wasn't Miss Cheerilee ever there when she was needed?

She took a deep breath. Ok, think, Diamond. Daddy always talked about knowing ponies weaknesses and taking advantage of them. Can I do that here? What are their weaknesses?

Well, Snips and Snails were dumb, she supposed, but how could she take advantage of that? Then she noticed something. The two of them actually were leaving a lot more room between them then they should be as they approached.

Not even stopping to think, she darted forward as fast as her pudgy legs would let her, rather than backwards like they were expecting, pushing right between them. Startled, they didn't manage to block her and got shoved aside. It took a moment for them to grasp what had happened and turn around.

While they were doing that, she grabbed her bags and fled the schoolyard, adrenaline making her go the fastest she thought she ever had run. She ran and ran and kept on running, paying absolutely no attention to where she was going.

After a while, she tripped over a tree branch, and fell to the ground. Exhausted, she lay there for a moment, just hoping it would be over quickly. When nothing happened, she slowly picked herself up, and looked around.

All her pursuers were gone. Maybe they'd been gone for a while, even, since she hadn't been looking. She walked over to where her bags lay from her fall, and winced as one hoof touched the ground.

Examining it, she picked out a stone that had managed to get stuck in it. It had left a bit of a bruise behind, though. Well, she'd have to live with it for now. She limped over and put her bags back on.

Looking around, she she had gotten a lot further from the school then she thought. And, it suddenly occurred to her, from her lunch.

Well, there was no way she was going back now. Even if Miss Cheerilee didn't get on her about leaving school grounds before school was over, she couldn't go back. They'd gang up on her again, and she'd be hurt worse next time.

And now everypony knew what she'd done. Worse, the paper had acted like she wanted Apple Bloom hurt or something! How could they do that? How could they do that to her? It wasn't fair!

She wanted her daddy. She wanted her daddy so bad to come and make it all better, and make all her problems go away. It hurt that he wasn't there for her, and it hurt even more that some of her problems were his fault.

Diamond Tiara trudged along the road, hoof hurting, and a stitch in her side from running so hard. She wasn't really sure where she was going, but eventually found herself at the edge of Sweet Apple Acres.

She abruptly turned, and started making her way towards the clubhouse. She'd be in big trouble if any of the Apples caught her, but once she got to the treehouse, that was probably the best place for her right now, oddly.

She cautiously made her way through the orchard, quite aware how much her pink coat made her stand out. A few times, she thought she heard something, and hid behind a tree, but nopony turned out to be there.

Eventually she made it to the clubhouse and limped slowly up the ramp. Unsurprisingly, nopony was there. Well, school was still going on without her, she supposed. She doubted anypony really missed her.

Well, Miss Cheerilee might. At least, enough for her to be in trouble if she went back tomorrow, especially since she still wouldn't have her schoolbooks. She might even want to talk to her parents again, which couldn't happen.

Why had she been stupid enough to go off on Twist and Silvy like that, anyways? Sure, Twist shouldn't have crashed into her bag like that, but it wasn't really her fault if she was clumsy. Diamond supposed she couldn't really expect Silvy to go on with no friends, either, even if she had to.

But here she was. Living in a cobbled together treehouse that wasn't even hers. And nopony liked her. Perhaps nopony had ever liked her, and she'd just never quite figured that out before. Morosely, she tossed her bags in a corner, making a crunching sound when they hit.

Wait, had she just broken something?

She limped over to her bag and started rooting through it for what must be the third time today, trying to figure out what had broken. Everything looked about how she'd left it. Then she noticed the edge of a plastic bag under everything.

Pulling the bag out, it turned out to be full of more than a dozen peppermint sticks, and since they were broken in half, she was pretty sure they were what had broken. At least it wasn't anything major. But where had they come from?

Suddenly something clicked in her mind. She hadn't actually seen Twist fall, she'd just heard it, and saw Twist dusting off her bags afterwards. What if she hadn't actually fallen, but had actually just pretended to, and stashed these in there?

They were Twist's signature peppermint sticks, too, of that there wasn't any doubt. Why would she have done that, though? It wasn't like they were friends or anything. Her only real friend had been Silvy-

Silvy. Silvy, who Twist had just spent all morning talking to, and passing notes with. Oh Celestia, she was dumb. How could she have been so stupid?

It was obvious to her now. Because they were friends, Silver Spoon and Twist had been talking about her all morning. Twist, after finding out how bad things were for her, must have wanted to cheer her up, and stuck those peppermint sticks in her bag as a surprise for her.

And all she gotten for her trouble was yelled at. Twist probably wasn't thinking very good thoughts about her now, and neither was Silvy. She doubted they'd try to help her out again.

With the article in the school paper, everypony else was bound to be against her, too. So she didn't have friends. She couldn't go to school. She didn't even have lunch. Why couldn't she have anything? Why couldn't something go right?

She dissolved into full fledged nonstop crying and this time there was nopony there to comfort her. She cried, and called out for her daddy despite some part of her mind knowing he wasn't going to be there. She wasn't even sure how long she cried for.

Hours later, when somepony pulled a blanket around her, she didn't wake up.

Another Day In Paradise

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Lying on a cushion in the clubhouse, Diamond Tiara slept a restless, disturbed sleep for the rest of the day and well into the next morning. Periodically she awoke, and then, as the events of the previous few days registered with her, she drifted back off to sleep. If she actually had to get up, she would have to deal with things, and right now, she just couldn't.

Eventually, after the fifth time a rooster had crowed, she woke up, and the sunlight hitting her eyes was too bright for her to just go back to sleep again.

She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and looked around. A blanket was wrapped around her that she didn't recall putting on the evening before, but then, she had been in a pretty bad state at the time.

In any case it was morning, and it must be time for school. Memories of how she had left school yesterday came to her mind.

No. No school. She wasn't going back. She was never going back. They couldn't make her.

Diamond pulled the blanket over her head. Maybe without the sun in her eyes, she'd be able to go back to sleep again. Then she heard hoofsteps coming in her direction.

"Morning!" a voice said cheerily.

She resolutely stayed curled up under the blanket. Maybe if she ignored Scootaloo, she'd go away.

"Good morning, Diamond! Time to get up!"

"Mrrggmmmph!" she replied.

Suddenly, the blanket was pulled from over her eyes. She blinked as the bright sun shone in her eyes. The first thing she saw was Scootaloo standing there looking satisfied, blanket in her muzzle. Then the blanket was dropped unceremoniously on the floor.

"I was willing to let you sleep in earlier, but if you don't get cleaned up and ready for school now, we'll both be late."

What are you, my mother? she thought irritably, then winced. Her own mother's death still hurt, even a few years after the fact. She covered it up with a scowl. "I'm not going."

Scootaloo frowned as well. "What do you mean, you aren't going? It's a school day!"

"I can't go back after what happened." She buried her head in her forelegs. "I just can't."

Scootaloo sighed. "If I spend time arguing with you, I will be late. Fine. We'll take about this later. Just make sure you forge a note for when you return to class on Monday."

She grabbed her saddlebags and marched out of the clubhouse. Diamond snatched the blanket off the floor, curled up, pulled it over her head, and went back to sleep.

Eventually she had to get up, though. Her stomach was grumbling too much, and her bladder was about ready to burst. She lay there for a few minutes anyway, then forced herself up and darted out the ramp, ignoring her hoof's protests.

There weren't any bathrooms anywhere close enough for her to get to, unfortunately, which, in her mind, was a major strike against the clubhouse as a place to live. After using a bush, much to her embarrassment, her stomach's complaints came to the forefront.

Diamond had never been this hungry before. She was used to just calling for Greywithers anytime she wanted a snack, and if she missed a meal, she'd have just gotten something from Grey afterwards. Now she'd gone a full day with only a hayshake, a muffin, pieces of another, and some peppermint sticks. Upset as she was, she was still going to have to find something to eat soon.

Well, she was surrounded by apple trees, wasn't she?

She looked around, and, fortunately, none of the Apples were there. She really should have looked before coming down. That was going to get her in trouble if she wasn't careful, though it didn't really seem like they came by this area often.

So, there were apples all around her. How was she supposed to get them down?

Actually, Diamond had seen the Apple family getting apples down. They just kicked the trunks, and a whole bunch of them fell. It seemed almost pathetically easy. Big Macintosh, Applejack, and even Apple Bloom did it. Though, she thought guiltily, Apple Bloom wouldn't be doing that again for a good while.

Her eyes darted around, despite having already checked for other ponies, because she really didn't want to get caught doing this. She backed up slowly to a tree, and kicked out with one of her hind legs, as hard as she could. Then she fell down as pain shot through her leg.

She lay there for a few minutes, clutching it and whimpering, eyes watering.

Dumb, Diamond Tiara, dumb. Kicking the tree with the same hoof you bruised earlier was a really really dumb idea.

When her eyes stopped watering and the pain subsided, she realised that not a single apple had fallen. This was clearly far more complicated than she'd thought.

At this point, she'd better just go into town and buy something with some of her precious allowance. She didn't want to. Some part of her was still huddled under the blanket in the clubhouse. But she was too hungry. She would have to ask Scootaloo how she got apples later.

Her course of action decided, Diamond got herself up, hoof still hurting a bit, and limped down the road towards town. The dirt road turned to cobblestones, and soon she was coming up on the town square.

The first stall she saw made her wince and back away a little. It was the stand for Sweet Apple Acres, and Applejack was manning it. On seeing her, Applejack looked at Diamond with such a glare that she found herself quickly trotting to the other side of the square, regardless of how her hoof felt.

She'd have to deal with Applejack eventually, of course, but that could be later. She wasn't in any state for a confrontation at the moment. She'd just buy something from one of the other vendors.

On the side of the square she was at now, there was a two-pony stall that seemed to be selling teriyaki bowls with mixed vegetables and rice nearby. That was a little plebeian, but it was food, and wasn't going to use up all her bits. She trotted over and looked over the menu. Well, this would do, anyways.

Standing in front of the stall, she looked up. There was only one pony behind the stall at the moment, a cream colored young stallion with a red mane who was busily counting bits behind the counter. He didn't seem to have noticed her.

She could take care of that. Diamond Tiara loudly cleared her throat, and stood there expectantly. The lanky stallion's head jerked up, and the bits spilled out of the box he was counting from, causing him to curse and start gathering them up.

After he had gathered his bits up, he straightened up and gave her a hard look. Well, she had his attention, at least.

"I'll have a rice and vegetable teriyaki bowl with raspberry ice tea," she ordered, in a no-nonsense tone of voice. The tea was a little overboard, but she was pretty thirsty, too. Now, be a good food merchant and get me my lunch. I'm starving!

She wasn't particularly prepared for the look of scorn that crossed his face, or the response he gave.

"You!" he said loudly. "You've made me lose my place! Do you know how long I spent counting that out?"

"Well, I-" she started, before being cut off.

He gave her a closer look. "Oh, it's you. I almost didn't recognise you without your muzzle in the air like some Canterlot wannabe princess. Where's your high and mighty father? Or that tagalong of yours?"

"That's not fair-" She'd never been treated like this when getting something to eat before. Shouldn't he have been serving customers?

"And what would somepony like you know about fair, going around starting fights and breaking other ponies legs?"

What? Did everypony know about that?

A few hoofsteps sounded to the side of the stall, but Diamond Tiara paid them no mind.

"I-I'm not- I didn't-"

"Sure you didn't." He snorted. "We don't need your kind of business. Get out of here! Get your no good, stuck-up muzzle away from this stall!"

Sure, she couldn't go to school, but she couldn't even buy anything to eat? Was the whole universe out to get her? She wanted to be tough and put him in his place, but she just couldn't deal with this today. Tears started streaming down her face despite herself.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Scram!" He stomped one hoof for emphasis. At the same time, she heard hoofsteps ring out coming towards the stall.

Diamond bolted away from the market. Behind her, she heard some arguing, and a strident female voice giving a lecture, but she didn't turn around, even when she heard somepony calling her back. She ran out of the town square as fast as her legs would take her.

She couldn't cope. She was past that. She wanted her daddy. She wanted her mommy or daddy so bad right now. And they weren't there for her. Daddy wouldn't help her, and mommy was gone. With the tears in her eyes, she couldn't even tell where she was going, but it didn't matter. Everywhere was bad for her now.

The funny thing was she'd thought she'd cried herself out yesterday. It didn't seem like she should have any tears left, but evidently she did. She kept going until her hoof started complaining again. Nopony seemed to be following her, so she slowed, then stopped.

Getting slightly better control of herself, Diamond blew her nose, blinked away her tears as best she could, and tried to figure out where she'd ended up. As she looked around, she realised that maybe her thoughts had influenced where she'd gone after all.

This section of Ponyville was fairly deserted, especially this time of day. She would have known where she was from the trees, flowers and the black iron gate in front of her, even if a sign saying "Ponyville Cemetery" wasn't right there.

Nopony really liked to visit the cemetery, and she really was no exception. She hadn't been there in quite a while. But she nudged the gate open anyways, and walked inside, closing it behind her.

Wandering down a grassy path, she weaved between trees and gravestones, her hooves automatically going down a route that was etched in her memory. Soon enough, she was there, standing on a well maintained patch of grass in front of a gravestone. The headstone read "Primrose - Beloved wife and mother".

She lay down in front of the gravestone. She wanted her mommy, but this was about as close as she could get. This was as close as she'd ever get again. At least she could talk to mommy, even if she couldn't answer back.

She lay there shaking for a moment, fumbling for what to say.

"Mommy?" she said hesitantly in a weak voice. "I'm sorry I haven't visited in a while. I miss you, and I really need you right now."

There was no reply but the wind whipping through the trees, not that she'd expected one.

"I've really m-messed everything up. I k-kinda broke another fillies legs. I didn't mean to! But now everypony hates me and nopony wants me and daddy doesn't love me anymore and I just d-don't know what to d-do or where to g-go."

She sobbed uncontrollably for a few minutes before getting her composure back enough to continue.

"I-I know I'm not wearing my t-tiara," she managed. "You always thought I looked l-like a p-princess with it on. Daddy b-broke it. I d-don't even have the pieces."

She sniffed, and blew her nose on the grass.

"Everypony t-thinks I'm a b-bad pony. Am I? Maybe they're r-right. M-Maybe Equestra doesn't even need a stuck up p-pink pony that hurts e-everypony around her."

There was nothing but silence.

"Oh, what's the use? I'm just lying here talking to some d-dumb stone," Diamond sat up. "I wish you were here. I l-love you so much…"

She set her head down in her forelegs and just sat there sobbing for some time. She didn't know how long and didn't really care. She only snapped out of it when she felt something furry rubbing against her side.

Diamond Tiara wiped her tears away, and looked behind her. Rubbing against her was a tiny white kitten. It was the cutest thing she'd seen in quite a while. She managed a bit of a smile.

"Hello there, kitty. Are you sure you want to hang out with a bad pony like me?"

In response, the kitten walked up, looked at Diamond Tiara and started walking back and forth next to her, rubbing her head against one of Diamond's forelegs in universal cat for 'pet me now'.

She started stroking the kittens fur obligingly. The kitten purred and arched up against her, rubbing against her side. Her tail flicked back and forth.

She just kept on petting the kitten, feeling its soft fur against her forelegs. After a while, the kitten rolled over, and demanded her attention on its soft underbelly. Of course, this turned out to be more of an invitation to play, as the kitten started tussling with her, grabbing her hoof with its paws and doing a fierce mock attack on her with her claws and fangs.

After a few minutes, the kitten settled down, and let her rub its belly, especially once she started scratching behind its ears as well. Her emotions gradually calmed down as she devoted all her attention to pampering the kitten next to her.

As she returned to a more normal state of mind, she looked at the kitten.

"Now what exactly are you doing wandering around in a cemetery, anyways?" The kitten looked back with unblinking blue eyes. "I'm sure somepony has to be missing you."

She'd be glad to just keep the kitten, of course, but she couldn't even feed herself. Besides, the kitty was wearing a collar. She must already belong to somepony.

Diamond Tiara scratched her under the collar. The kitten purred even louder, enjoying the scratching, and a tag worked its way from the underside.

She flipped the tag over. "Snowpuff. If found, please return to Vanilla on 34 Black Currant Rd., Ponyville 4723". She didn't think that address was too far away, actually. She supposed that wasn't surprising if 'Snowpuff' got here on foot. Maybe she could at least make sure the kitty got home safely, even if she couldn't.

Of course, Snowpuff wasn't that great of a name for a kitten, to her mind. Maybe 'Pearl', or 'Iris', or 'Ivory' would be better. Or Claws, she thought, as they dug into her hoof once again.

"Okay, kitty, come on," She stood up. "Let's get you home to your family."

When Snowpuff didn't want to move from the spot she was in, Diamond just scooped her up, and put the kitty on her back. There, she curled up and seemed to go to sleep faster than Diamond would have thought possible, not even waking up when Diamond started walking.

Following the same path as before, she left the cemetery, and started trying to figure out how to get to the kitten's home. Soon she was walking between houses, looking at addresses, and it wasn't that long before she spotted a little filly wandering around looking back and forth, clearly upset.

The girl's face lit up as she saw Diamond with Snowpuff curled up on her back. She ran up to her.

"You found my kitty!"

Suddenly Diamond found herself embraced in a surprisingly big hug for such a little filly. The kitten, feeling a jolt, cracked open one eye, assessed the situation, and closed it again.

Diamond found that she had very little prior experience that would cover having a young filly clinging to her. "She's yours, then? Are you Vanilla?"

The filly nodded, letting go, finally. With her off-white coat and dark brown mane, it was pretty easy to tell where her name came from.

"I was just going outside, and Snowpuff ran out before I could stop her!"

Several snide responses did run through Diamond's mind, but she stopped herself. Everypony already thinks I'm awful. Why prove it?

"She came up to me, and started rubbing up against me. I think she just wanted to be petted."

"Oh, well, I can do that!"

Vanilla grabbed the kitten by the front legs, and started rubbing her belly. The cat looked at Diamond Tiara with a resigned 'the things I have to put up with' look.

"I don't think she likes being held like that," Diamond Tiara said, having to restrain herself even further. "Maybe you should put her down, and pet her on the ground?"

The filly dropped Snowpuff to the ground. The kitten circled around Diamond once, rubbed against her, and then went over to Vanilla, who started stroking her.

"Thanks for finding my kitty!" the filly called out, and the two of them walked off together as Diamond Tiara looked on, a bit enviously.

If only life were that simple. Well, maybe Scootaloo was back from school by now.

As Diamond Tiara started to back to the clubhouse, her stomach rumbled yet again, reminding her how hungry she was. She sighed, and started munching on the grass on the side of the road as she walked.

Cleanup Time

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Diamond Tiara trudged slowly up the ramp, tired, and looking much worse for wear. From inside the clubhouse, she could hear the occasional hoofstep, and things being moved around. Oh good, she thought to herself, Scootaloo must be back.

It was only later that it occurred to her that somepony else could have been in the clubhouse making noise, or, for that matter, that she wasn't supposed to actually like Scootaloo. Fortunately, this time Scootaloo was alone.

She looked up as Diamond entered, wrinkled her nose, and said "Man, Diamond, you really stink."

It goes without saying that this wasn't what Diamond wanted to hear after the day she'd had.

"And now you're starting in on me, too? It's just 'kick Diamond while she's down day', isn't it?" she fumed. "If I suck so badly, I suppose you won't want me staying here, either, then! I'll just find… a bush or something to sleep in, I g-guess…"

Diamond turned around in a huff, trying to keep herself from crying. She took a few steps down the ramp, not even really sure where she was going. Before she'd gone too far, she felt a tug on her tail. She turned and glared behind her. Scootaloo released Diamond's tail from her mouth, looking as though she'd just tasted something foul.

"Woah, woah, woah! That is not what I meant. Chill a little. It sounds like somepony had a bad day," Scootaloo said, sounding exasperated. "It just smells like you haven't had a bath in days, that's all. I could tell when you walked in by my nose alone."

That hadn't even occurred to her. She slumped a bit, hating to think of the condition she must be in, and suddenly itched all over just thinking about it.

She wiped off her eyes with one foreleg. "Oh."

"You know, you don't look so hot, either. Your coat is all dirty, there are green stains on your muzzle, and I saw something green sticking out of your teeth," Scootaloo said, then did a double-take. "Wait, have you been eating grass?"

Diamond's ears drooped as she remembered her attempts at getting lunch.

"I was so hungry," she told Scootaloo, feeling downhearted. "I haven't had anything else to eat for…"

Her voice trailed off as she tried to remember the last time she'd eaten a good meal. Scootaloo seemed to have gotten the idea, though.

"I know you don't have many bits, but-" Scootaloo said. "I'll tell you what, hold on a sec. I'll be right back."

Scootaloo pushed past Diamond on the ramp and headed down. Diamond heard some rustling, and a few minutes later, Scootaloo was back. Bits of twig and leaves were in her mane and coat, and she was carrying a few apples. She gave them to Diamond, and the two of them headed into the clubhouse.

"Why don't you eat these first, and then we'll talk."

How had Scootaloo done that? That was embarrassing, and she hated being dependant on Scootaloo. She really, really hated it. But she hadn't gotten enough grass earlier to do more than take the edge of her hunger. She gobbled down the apples, core and all, only pausing to spit out the seeds. Scootaloo watched with poorly concealed amusement.

Finally having gotten something substantial in her, she became a bit more self-conscious.

"Where did you even get these from?"

Scootaloo gave her a 'boy are you dumb' look. It seemed like she was getting a lot of those lately.

"The apple trees." Scootaloo pointed to the door. "Right outside the clubhouse? All over the place, in fact?"

Diamond looked more than a little put out. "I tried kicking one of those trees to get some apples earlier! I can still feel it in one of my hind legs! How did you get them down?"

"Diamond," Scootaloo replied as she shook her head. "You don't just kick them. You have to know how and where. It's an Apple family thing. Just kicking them any ol' which way won't work."

"You're not an Apple either, though," she pointed out.

"Well, no," she said, "but I'm pretty good at climbing up trees."

"Climbing trees." Diamond put her foreleg to her forehead and closed her eyes. "Right."

Her mother had always told her climbing trees wasn't a proper activity for a young lady. She'd always followed everything her mommy told her, but surviving was more important than being a proper young lady. The trouble was she didn't really know how to do it. She'd probably fall and break something.

And it's not like she was athletic like Scootaloo was. Diamond watched as she opened a trap door on the ceiling and pulled things out. She was pretty sure she wouldn't have even been able to reach it.

"What's all that stuff for?" she asked, pointing at the tub Scootaloo had pulled down. It had a scrub brush, a bar of soap, and a bottle of some sort of green goop inside it. Scootaloo grabbed a few towels and tossed them in as well.

"We're gonna take a quick trip down to the pond," Scootaloo said.

"What for?"

"Well, I'm ready for a bath myself. And you are way more than ready." Scootaloo waved in Diamond's direction. "Obviously, we don't have a bathroom or anything, but there are ways around that."

A bath would certainly be lovely, but that stuff wasn't anything she associated with a proper bath. No bath salts, bubble bath, or bath toys, for one thing. Whatever. Let's see what Scootaloo has in mind.

"Alright," she said, resigning herself to yet more walking. "Let's go."

Scootaloo picked up the large tub and awkwardly balanced it on her back. "I'd usually toss this in our wagon. No chance of that, though. It was pretty smashed up."

With everypony talking about Apple Bloom's hind legs, she hadn't thought much about their wagon. It would have been damaged, though, wouldn't it?

Scootaloo slowly walked down the ramp, and Diamond Tiara trotted after her.

"You know, how did that wagon manage to hit Apple Bloom hard enough to break her legs, anyway?"

Scootaloo glared back at her, as if she wasn't sure if Diamond was trying to make fun of her.

"Didn't you see it? It was your fault, after all," Scootaloo growled.

Diamond shrank away from Scootaloo. "I was kinda far away, and by the time I got closer, Miss Cheerilee was yelling at me."

"We all got tossed out of the wagon, but Apple Bloom landed on some rocks right in front of it, and her hind legs got caught between the two," Scootaloo explained. "You really just thought it'd be funny?"

Somehow, with all the horrible things that had happened to her, even if things had gone as planned, it didn't seem that funny any more.

"I don't know." She sighed. "It just seems dumb now. It was dumb. And now everypony in town hates me."

"I doubt everypony would even have heard 'bout it," Scootaloo said, then frowned. "I know you weren't able to get apples earlier, but why didn't you just buy something for lunch?"

"Because everypony does hate me," she insisted. "When I went to buy lunch, they wouldn't sell me anything!"

"What?" Scootaloo asked, surprised. "Even if they don't like you, usually they'll sell you something. That's why they're there! They might overcharge you, of course."

"They wouldn't. The stallion in the stall started yelling at me. At me!"

"At somepony who looked like they'd gone rolling in the dirt a few times?" Scootaloo said.

"That was from later. I went to visit my mother."

"Don't think I've met her. Good idea, though. Maybe she could take you in or talk to your father for you," Scootaloo said, looking hopeful, probably at the prospect of not having to deal with her in the future. "How is she?"

"Dead," Diamond said flatly.

"Oh," Scootaloo said. "I'm sorry."

"She's been dead. I just-" Diamond shook her head. "I don't really feel like talking about it, okay?"

"Alright," Scootaloo replied, and they continued walking in silence. Once they got near the pond, Scootaloo stopped for a minute and wiped the sweat off her forehead with one wing, panting. The stuff on her back must be heavy.

"So, what now?" Diamond asked, still not sure what they were doing.

Scootaloo put the tub down, and started emptying it.

"We're close enough to the pond, I think," Scootaloo said, looking over at the pond. "Now we need to take this bucket and fill the tub with water."

"Wouldn't the water in the pond be all muddy, though?" Diamond asked.

She shook her head. "Nah, it's pretty clean. Kinda cold, but it's warm enough out right now. Winter is a pain, though."

Yeah, when it's snowing or the pond is covered in ice would be a problem. "What do you do during winter?"

"I don't take baths nearly as often, that's for sure. It seems like a lot of Cutie Mark Crusader sleepovers happened last winter, though."

So Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were helping her out. It must be nice to have friends like that. She missed Silver Spoon even more, thinking about it.

Scootaloo brought the bucket over to the pond, filled it, and dumped water into the tub. Then she went back to the pond, and repeated the whole thing all over again. She kept doing it until the tub was mostly full, pausing once to scoop a fish out of the tub and bring it back to the pond.

"I don't know if you noticed, but there's a cork here on the side." Scootaloo tapped the side of the tub, where there was indeed a cork plugged in. "I'm gonna get in and scrub myself down with the brush and soap, and wash my mane and tail. Then I'll pull out the cork to drain it, and it'll be your turn."

Diamond dipped one foreleg into the pond experimentally and shivered. Summer or not, that water was cold!

"This doesn't seem very much like a proper bath to me," she said.

"Oh?" Scootaloo replied. "What would you consider a proper bath, then?"

"Well, first I'd call for Grey, and he'd draw up a bath for me. I'd check the temperature and get in, he'd add rose-scented bubble bath to it, bath salts, and a few toys, then he'd start scrubbing my back…" her voice faded off as she saw Scootaloo's look of disgust.

"Man, you really were spoiled, weren't you?" she said. "I've had baths at a buncha places, including at Rarity's, and none of them were like that. Though sleeping over at the Carousel Boutique was close. Certainly nopony's ever scrubbed my back for me."

Diamond Tiara bristled. "And what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing if you don't wanna be able to take care of things when nopony is there. But if you hafta do things without help, and you can't even take a bath by yourself…"

She was actually getting pretty worried about that, and not just in regards to baths. But she wasn't about to admit that to Scootaloo.

"I can manage."

Scootaloo sighed. "Sure you can. Well, watch me while I take my bath, I guess, and just try to do the same thing when it's your turn."

With that, Scootaloo jumped in the tub, splashing Diamond with water. Diamond sputtered and shook herself off indignantly. She was pretty sure watching somepony else bathe had absolutely no decorum to it, so she tried to ignore her, no matter what Scootaloo might have said.

Not that Scootaloo made that easy, of course, as she seemed to feel it was her duty to provide Diamond with a running commentary.

"So, you splash all around and get yourself good and wet. Then rub soap all over, especially in hard to reach places, like under your wings…"

"I don't have wings," Diamond interjected.

"Next you grab this scrub brush, and scrub off all the soap," Scootaloo said proudly, like she'd just described how to solve a complex physics problem. "Easy."

Right. She could have figured that much out. But Scootaloo just kept up the chatter. She scrubbed as Diamond tried to avert her gaze, then grabbed that awful-looking bottle of green goop.

"Now, just rub the shampoo in your mane and tail, work it in real good, wait a minute, then wash it out."

Diamond thought back to her own previous baths. She knew something about this. "Aren't you supposed to have separate shampoos for your mane and tail?"

"Why bother?" Scootaloo shrugged. "It's not like I got a buncha bits for shampoo or anything. No conditioner, either, if you're gonna ask 'bout that next. Not quite sure what it's for, actually."

Well, this was certainly going to be crude. She was distracted when Scootaloo jumped out of the tub. Wet and dripping, she shook herself off, splashing Diamond yet again.

As Diamond gave her a glare, Scootaloo wrapped herself in a towel, and pulled the cork out of the tub. While it drained, she dried herself off, then put the cork back in.

"I'll right, I'm done," she told Diamond. "Just fill it with the bucket, and you can get started."

Diamond looked at her blankly. "Fill it?"

"Yes, fill it," Scootaloo snapped at her. "I brought all this stuff here myself, I filled mine, I'll probably be lugging it back, and I'm helping you out with buying dinner. I'm not filling the tub for you, and I'm not scrubbing your back. Got it?"

Diamond waved one foreleg dismissively. "Fine, fine."

She trudged over and filled up the bucket from the pond, then lugged over to the tub and dumped it in. Filled, it was actually pretty heavy. With a sigh, she picked up the handle with her teeth, and took it over to fill it again.

"Make sure you don't scoop up anything else with the water," Scootaloo said, and pulled a piece of seaweed out of the tub. Diamond just ignored her and kept filling. Once it was high enough, and she was too tired to fill it further, she delicately stepped in. Gah, that's cold.

Scootaloo shrugged. "You'll get used to it after a bit."

Somehow, that didn't seem likely. Now where did that bar of soap go? Diamond started fishing around, and after nearly slipping, found it. She started crudely smearing the soap all over her body.

Rudely enough, Scootaloo seemed to still be watching her as she bathed. Worse, she started up her commentary again.

"You missed a spot over there," she said, pointing.

Diamond quickly smeared soap on the spot in question. "I was just about to get that!"

Finally, when she figured she'd gotten everywhere, she set down the bar of soap. Scootaloo seemed to have different ideas, though.

"Aren't you gonna clean under your tail and between your hind legs?" Scootaloo said.

Diamond flushed. Scootaloo wanted her to do what?

"Why are you even looking there?" she yelled.

"You don't wanna end up smelling like pee, do you?"

She huffed a bit, but decided Scootaloo had a point, and reluctantly gave in.

"Fine, but just… don't watch me, okay?"

Scootaloo did look away for a minute, much to her relief. Then Diamond started scrubbing all the soap off, and Scootaloo was right back on her case.

It seemed like her comments just came one after another: "You know, you aren't holding that right."

Moments later, it was: "You're missing spots again."

Then: "I think you need to scrub over there harder."

At this point, Diamond wasn't too sure if Scootaloo was trying to be helpful or annoy her. Possibly both. She picked up the shampoo, and immediately had more on her mind once she looked at the label.

"A sophisticated formulation guaranteed to prevent fleas and ticks… This is dog shampoo!" she said.

"So what?" Scootaloo said. "Winona has a nice, shiny coat, doesn't she?"

"Yeah, but…"

"This is the same shampoo she uses." Scootaloo waved one hoof. "The exact same shampoo, in fact. Applejack accidentally bought a new bottle when she didn't need to, and Apple Bloom grabbed the old one."

"B-but it's for a dog!" Diamond sputtered.

"It's still mostly the same stuff. I've used it on my mane and tail without problems. It's even better, really. Do you want fleas and ticks?"

Grumbling, she started lathering up her mane and tail. Afterwards, something occurred to her. "Do I actually need to worry about fleas?"

"Not with that shampoo you don't!" Scootaloo quipped. "The clubhouse is kinda in the open, though, and they could get in. I've done a few things to try and keep them out, though."

She tilted her head curiously, then quickly wiped off some shampoo suds that were on a collision course for her eyes. "Like what?"

"Do you remember the clubhouse kinda smelling like peppermint when you came in?"

The main thing that reminded her of Twist's peppermint sticks. She shrugged.

"I looked it up. Fleas don't like the smell of peppermint."

Sure they don't, Scootaloo. When are you ever in a library?

Diamond rinsed out her mane and tail, unplugged the hole and let the water drain out. She daintily stepped out of the tub. She then grinned, stepped closer to Scootaloo, and started shaking all over, getting as much of the water on her as she could before grabbing another towel and rubbing her fur off.

"Hey!" Scootaloo yelped. "No fair!"

"You did it to me twice," she said smugly. "If anything, you still owe me one. But I shall ignore that out of the kindness of my heart."

"You have a heart?" Scootaloo muttered.

Ignoring her, Diamond dried herself off, then wrapped the towel around her mane. She glanced back at the tub and noticed something.

"Um, Scoots?" Diamond asked, somehow feeling a bit closer to her after their banter. "How are we going to get that tub back without, like, getting mud all over the place?"

Scootaloo glanced back at her, one eyebrow raised at the use of her nickname. "Well, I guess I'll just rinse it off, then one of us will carry it back on that extra towel I brought along."

A few minutes later, the orange pegasus had the tub rinsed off, and had gotten rid of the mud that got on her in the process.

"I'll tell you what. I'm kinda tired now," she said. "Why don't you carry it back, Diamond?"

"Do I have to?" Diamond said automatically.

Scootaloo gave her a look that said she'd better grab the tub right now or there'd be trouble. She sighed, put the extra towel over her back, and put the tub on top. Scootaloo grabbed the bucket and stuck it in the tub with everything else.

"Come on," Scootaloo said, and the two of them slowly walked back to the clubhouse. When they got to the ramp, she looked at it for a moment dubiously.

"Don't worry, I'll be right on your tail," Scootaloo assured her.

As she proceeded slowly up the ramp, the tub kept wanting to slip in this direction and that one, and every so often, Scootaloo nudged it back into position. Eventually Diamond dropped the tub on the clubhouse floor with a clatter. Scootaloo grabbed it back up, and shoved it back where she'd gotten it from.

"Well, after all that, I'm ready for dinner. Why don't you come to the market with me. If you give me the bits to pay for it, I'll buy your dinner, and you won't hafta deal with nasty merchants."

Diamond was embarrassed to realise that after those apples, she was still hungry. She'd missed several meals, and they hadn't really been enough, though they had helped a lot. Well, looked like she was going to need to be even more dependant on Scootaloo.

It was funny, though. Diamond had always pretty much considered Scootaloo comic relief. The funny flightless pegasus that buzzed around on her scooter, and was always trying to get her cutie mark. A real loser. But Scoots was okay. She vaguely wondered what else she had been wrong about.

"So, I guess we're just waiting for Sweetie Belle, then?" she asked.

Scootaloo raised one eyebrow. "You think the three of us spend all our time outside of school together? We do spend a bunch of time crusading, but not every day."

"So she's probably just having dinner at the Carousel Boutique, then?"

"She's at home with her parents," Scootaloo corrected. "She doesn't always stay with her sister either, you know."

"Oh, right," Diamond said. She wasn't sure she'd even met Sweetie Belle's parents, actually. "Give me a few minutes and we can head over, then. I've done more walking in the last few days then I remember ever doing."

"Well, that'll give us a few minutes to talk about this morning, then," Scootaloo said, crossing her forelegs.

She glanced at Scootaloo. "Actually, I think I'm ready."

"You know, you hafta go to school," Scootaloo said. "Ponies get suspicious if you're out during school hours, and you'll have trouble finding a job later if you don't."

"I can't go back," Diamond told Scootaloo again. "Everypony hates me. I think they were going to try and break my legs yesterday."

"Look, I've always had to deal with bullies, but I still go to school every day," Scootaloo frowned and Diamond winced, realising she had been one of them. "It's just part of life."

"I couldn't even call Miss Cheerilee over to get some help, though," Diamond said.

"She isn't always gonna be there. Of course—that's right, you weren't there today or half of yesterday, so you wouldn't know."

"Know what?" Diamond asked.

"Miss Cheerilee saw that issue of the Foal Free Press. She gave us a long lecture about good journalism yesterday after lunch, and announced a few staff openings at the paper."

"But she was really upset at me! I heard her yelling the other day!" Diamond protested.

"Maybe so, but she was really upset about this, too," Scootaloo continued. "When she found out how you were chased away from school, she handed out detentions to everypony involved."

"How would she even know what happened?" Diamond said, perplexed.

"Not everypony hates you. Twist, Silver Spoon, and one or two others told her about it."

This made no sense. "So she isn't upset I left?"

Scootaloo scowled. "Well, you might get talked to about yelling at Twist. What didja do that for?"

"I don't know, alright?" Diamond defended herself. "It felt like I was losing Silvy to Twist, and I just lost it."

"That hardly helped ponies' opinions of you, you know."

"Yeah." Diamond sighed. "I figured out afterwards that Twist was, like, trying to be nice to me, too."

"Anyways, try to go back to school on Monday? Apple Bloom gets out of the hospital tomorrow, so she'll probably be the center of attention in any case."

"Wait. Apple Bloom's getting out of the hospital tomorrow?"

"And we're having a Cutie Mark Crusader meeting here, too," Scootaloo stated. "You might want to talk to her first, you know? Getting a wheelchair up that ramp oughta be fun."

Oh Celestia, I'm gonna have to talk to her about all this tomorrow. She's gonna kill me.

"So, ready for dinner?" Scootaloo asked.

With a lump in her throat, Diamond just nodded and followed Scootaloo out of the clubhouse.

Breathe

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"I still don't think everypony hates you," Scootaloo said, as she walked back to the market with Diamond. "They might not like you, maybe, but as far as they know you have money. Ponies selling things usually sell to anypony, and really like ponies who have money. It was probably just whoever you talked to."

"I doubt that," Diamond said gloomily. She was still a bit sceptical about coming back here, but if she stayed away from everypony, and gave Scootaloo money to buy her dinner, it'd probably be fine.

She did feel a bit better after that bath, at least. She might still be a homeless loser, but at least now she was a clean homeless loser. And nopony had to know how far she'd sunk by now, living in a treehouse, and relying on Scootaloo for her food.

Of course, there were still a few ponies she really wanted to avoid here.

"Well, why don't I just ask somepony?" Scootaloo said. To her horror, Scootaloo waved to Applejack, attracting her attention. "Hi, Applejack!"

"Well, howdy there, Scootaloo!" Applejack replied warmly. Then her gaze fell on Diamond, and the smile vanished. "Diamond Tiara."

Something in the look on her face just made Diamond instinctively shrink away, Scootaloo, however, didn't seem to notice anything amiss.

"Diamond Tiara told me that everypony here hated her and that they wouldn't sell her anything." Scootaloo asked, obliviously, "Is that true?"

Somehow, Applejack's gaze softened a bit at that.

"I reckon she would think that, after earlier," she said. "No matter what she did, most of 'em would still sell her things. She just picked the one bad apple out of the bunch. You don't do that to your customers, no matter how badly they deserve it."

Really? Diamond tried to wrap her head around that. Had she actually just walked right over to the one pony who hated her enough to start yelling at her and refuse to sell her anything?

"So if I had come to your stall, you'd have sold me apples?" she asked hesitantly.

"I'd have tanned your hide! An' Big Macintosh's got blood in his eye where you're concerned," she snapped, and then grudgingly added, "but I'd have sold you apples first."

Diamond wasn't really sure if that was reassuring or not.

"Which makes me wonder what you are doing hanging out with her, Scootaloo," Applejack asked, "I thought you and my sis were friends?"

"We were!" Scootaloo protested, then caught herself. "I mean, we are! And I was really upset at Diamond. We've just talked things out already, that's all."

"Oh, you did, did you?" Applejack slowly nodded. "Well, I did have Filthy come over and promise me that he'd taken care of Diamond, and his family wouldn't cause us problems any more. Of course, I don't know what he's done that he thinks'll keep you in line. Granny Smith'd have had her hairbrush ready."

A lump formed in her throat, and a tear formed in her eyes. She wouldn't cause any problems, huh? For a moment she was bound and determined to cause all the problems she could for everypony, just to spite him.

However, the urge faded as quickly as it had appeared. She couldn't even take care of herself. How could she possibly go around causing everypony else problems? Her ears pinned back on her head.

Applejack eyed Diamond Tiara speculatively.

"Well, maybe he did get something through your head. You ain't wearing your tiara, are you? Never see you without that thing on."

Diamond shook her head, not really trusting her voice right now.

"While taking your tiara away might have gotten you to stop, do you really understand why what you did was wrong?"

What more was there to understand? I broke Apple Blooms legs!

"First and foremost, you hurt my lil' sister," Applejack said, an eerie calm in her voice. "She's currently lying in the hospital with both her hind legs in casts."

"I know she is!" Diamond snapped, then regretted it. She should be trying to be nice to Applejack.

"You wouldn't know it if you looked at her casts! I think every other member of the class has signed them by now."

"You really think she'd want me visiting her?" Diamond asked. And when did everypony in school visit?

"Well, you could've at least signed her card."

"I did sign her card!"

"Um, Applejack?" Scootaloo cut into the conversation. "Remember that spot on the card that was scratched out so you couldn't read it?"

"Ah." Applejack adjusted her hat. "Reckon not visiting was a good idea, then. Apple Bloom'll be home tomorrow, but her casts will still be on for more than six weeks. Meantime, she's in a wheelchair. She'll need somepony to push her anywhere she goes, and she won't be able to help around the farm barely at all."

"How much could her not being able to do a few chores affect things?" Diamond asked. It's not like Apple Bloom was single-handedly running the farm or anything.

The answer, though, turned out to be quite a lot. Her jaw dropped as Applejack listed job after job that Apple Bloom helped out with. From slopping the hogs, whatever that meant, to helping collect bruised apples, to making grape juice, and even a bit of applebucking.

"Fact is, sugarcube, thanks to your lil' stunt, we may need extra help for the next few months. I'm thinkin' of sendin' a letter to my cousin Braeburn in Appleloosa, and seeing if he can help out, or if he knows somepony who can."

Wasn't that an awful long way away? "Why would he help, though?"

"He'd help 'cause he's family, and that's what family's do. They're there for each other when they need it."

But not Daddy. It wasn't really just now, either. He'd mainly left raising her up to Grey and the other servants. It hadn't mattered so much when mommy was there, but since then, it'd been pretty lonely. Though there'd been Silvy. There'd always been Silvy. Until now, anyways.

"What happened to Apple Bloom affects our whole family and our business. The business concerns aren't even the largest part of it for me, really. My lil' sis' is in the hospital, hurt, upset, and angry, and it's all your fault."

Wasn't everything?

She threw her forelegs in the air in exasperation.

"Look, I'm sorry! I didn't mean this to happen. I was already going to stop by and try to apologise to Apple Bloom tomorrow and see what I could do to try to make it up to her, alright?"

"Well, I won't stop you. Can't say I think she'll accept." Her gaze did seem to have softened a bit. "If you're here for dinner, why don't you try the teriyaki booth again. You may be surprised. Now, if you'll pardon me, I got apples to sell."

With that, Applejack turned to an approaching stallion, and started haggling.

Diamond turned to Scootaloo.

"Did you have to get Applejack on my back? You know she hardly considers me the best pony right now."

"Well, she was the best pony to ask."

"Except maybe for, I don't know, anypony else?"

"Whatever. She said to check out that teriyaki booth again, didn't she?"

"And get yelled at by that stallion again?" Diamond Tiara snorted and pawed at the ground. "I don't think so."

Scootaloo scanned the marketplace.

"Um, Diamond?" Scootaloo said after a moment. "There's a mare at the teriyaki booth, not a stallion."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, and it looks like she's seen you. She's waving at you."

She looked over in that direction, and sure enough, a tan mare behind the teriyaki booth was waving her over, and there was no sign of the stallion who had been behind it earlier.

Diamond approached the booth with some trepidation, given how she'd been treated last time. As Scootaloo and Diamond got closer, the mare called out to her, sounding a bit harried.

"Were you the filly that idiot chased away from my booth earlier? I only got a glimpse of you as you were leaving."

Her booth? She did have a cutie mark of what looked like rice. Maybe she was the owner?

"Er, I think so?"

"Good." The mare breathed a sigh of relief. "I tried to call you back here, but you'd already taken off. Look, I'm really sorry about what happened. He was a new employee, and I thought he could be trusted to take care of the booth alone while I ran a few errands. Apparently I was wrong."

"I just… tried to order something from him. I didn't think he'd start yelling at me."

Diamond hated even thinking about it. Apparently it had just been the one pony, though. Maybe things weren't as bad as she'd thought.

"From what he told me, you'd had a fight with his little sister recently, and he was still upset. Not that that excuses him. Anypony who can't keep their head with customers has no business dealing with them. If you're still hungry, why don't you and your friend let me know what you want for dinner, and I'll give it to you, on the house this time. It's the least I can do."

Diamond Tiara looked between the mare and Scootaloo, not quite sure she wanted to categorize Scootaloo as a friend yet, but also not wanting to antagonise her.

Scootaloo apparently had no such reservations. "I'll have a broccoli n' garlic n' pepper rice bowl with chips and root beer."

Sure, milk it while you have a chance, Scootaloo. Now I'll have to deal with garlic breath all night.

She took a deep breath, and calmly repeated her order from what seemed forever ago, for the teriyaki and vegetable bowl and her raspberry ice tea.

The mare behind the stall pulled out two bowls, quickly put scoops from various containers in them, squeezed sauces from squeeze bottles over them, and filled two glasses for them. Some plastic forks and napkins, and both of them were set.

"Again, my apologies for the earlier behavior towards you, and let me assure you that your business is always welcome here," the vendor repeated.

Diamond was about ready to go find someplace to eat, but Scootaloo seemed to have other ideas.

"So, I guess you're just running that stand by yourself now, then?"

The mare turned to face Scootaloo. "I was before, really. I just thought I was doing well enough that I may as well get some help and make things easier. I can manage."

"Well, you know," Scootaloo continued, "if you just need some help after school sometime, I could always use some extra bits, and I'm sure I'd do a better job than that other guy did."

The mare smiled at that. "I'll be alright, but I'll keep that in mind."

She then turned back to her stand, subtly dismissing them. Diamond and Scootaloo left the market square and sat down on a bench. Diamond had to assume there was some reason they didn't go back to the clubhouse, but this was closer.

The teriyaki bowl was good, though. And she hadn't had to even use any of her bits for it. She slurped down a couple of sips from her iced tea happily, then looked over at Scootaloo.

"So what was all that about her needing help you were going on about?"

Scootaloo was already halfway through her own bowl, and barely slowed down to answer her.

"Well, you hafta keep your eyes open, y'know? If she needs help, and I come by and help out every so often, she's happy, I get some extra bits, and maybe when somepony else needs help, she suggests asking me. You want to get by, you need bits for things."

Diamond had to agree on that one.

"So you just take little jobs all over the place to get bits? Doesn't anypony wonder why you need all those bits?"

"Nah, they just figure my scooter needs to be fixed a lot or that I like going out to eat. Ponies can be pretty dumb when they don't wanna see something. Actually, I should stop by Mr. Breezy's when we're done here, thinking 'bout it."

"Mr. Breezy's?"

"Yeah. I just need to stop by the clubhouse and get my scooter and-"

Scootaloo froze mid-sentence, as if coming to a realization. She closed her eyes and cradled her head in her forearms, ignoring the rest of her food.

This couldn't be good.

"What's wrong?"

Scootaloo cracked open one eye and looked at her. "This is all your fault, Diamond Tiara,"

She stifled a sigh. Back to this, were we?

"Of course it is. Everything's my fault. Can you be a little more specific?"

"I needed to bring the wagon along, and it's broken. I can't help him today." Scootaloo picked her head back up."We'll finish dinner, then we'll go over and let him know. I needed that money, though."

"We can't just get your wagon fixed up quickly?"

Scootaloo laughed for a moment. "No, for this, Apple Bloom could fix it, if she wasn't in the hospital, but otherwise, I'd need to pay somepony a buncha money I don't have."

Diamond thought about this.

"Wait, it'd take somepony really good at repairing things or Apple Bloom?"

"When her legs aren't broke, she can fix anything. That clubhouse was a wreck when we got it, and a lotta stuff was added just for me by Apple Bloom."

"She's that good?" Diamond Tiara said incredulously. "Shouldn't she have her cutie mark in fixing things, then?"

Scootaloo spread her forehooves and shrugged. "Maybe there's something she's even better at? You're the one that should know. You have one."

"Yeah, well, everyponies cutie mark's different," she said weakly. Fortunately, Scootaloo seemed to buy it. She didn't really want to tell her that she had no idea what her cutie mark was about at all.

She'd been proud of it at the time, but really, 'I was posing in front of a mirror with my tiara, and my cutie mark appeared' was one of the lamest cutie mark stories ever. And now her tiara had been destroyed. Did that mean that she didn't have a special talent? That she'd never have one again, ever? Was she worthless?

And her mommy had helped her pick that tiara out. It was one of the last things she had to remember her by. Though Daddy had been the one to actually pay for it.

Looking down, she realised she'd finished her teriyaki bowl and tea without thinking about it. She tossed them in the trash.

"So, Mr. Breezy's, I guess?" she said, trying to put a smile on her face that she didn't really feel.

"Yeah, we'd better get it over with." Scootaloo got down off the bench. "Mr. Breezy'll understand, but…"

"Is it going to be really bad without the money from him?" She needed Scootaloo's help, and if Scootaloo couldn't give it because she was having enough trouble taking care of herself, that'd be no good.

"Hopefully, I can cover things with a little help from Sweetie Belle, and I do have a few other ways to get money, but it'll be tight." She shot a glance at Diamond. "And it doesn't help when I have other ponies mooching off me."

"I do have some money," Diamond said haughtily. "And hopefully I'll be able to get more. Grey'll probably give me my allowance despite what happened, as long as daddy doesn't tell him not to. He's funny about things like that."

Scootaloo gave her a sidelong glance, then waved one hoof. "Come on."

They walked through town, past all the usual shops: the Quill and Sofa shop, the Ink and Mortar, a few flower shops, one of which had an 'All you can eat' sign up, and finally, Mr. Breezy's Fans. The front display showed all manner of fans for sale, large, small, portable, and even wearable ones, and a sign in the window showed that was still open.

Walking under a checkerboard patterned awning, Scootaloo pushed the door open, causing a bell to jingle, and Diamond followed her in.

Walking around inspecting one of the displays was a friendly-looking stallion wearing a green cap, green vest, and red bowtie. He looked up when he heard the bell, and smiled, seeing Scootaloo.

"Good afternoon, Scootaloo. Brought a friend along today?"

"What?" Scootaloo exchanged glances with Diamond. "Um, Diamond's gonna be, er, helping me out for a while, I guess."

"Good. I do have a fair number of deliveries for you today, but I'm sure with that scooter and wagon of yours, you'll be able to zip right through them."

Scootaloo walked up to Mr. Breezy. "Er, that's the thing. My wagon's broken, so, um, I don't think I'm gonna be able to do the deliveries today. An' Apple Bloom's in the hospital, so I don't know when I'll be able to get it fixed."

"Oh! Well, I'm very sorry to hear about your friend," Mr. Breezy said. "That does put us in a pickle, though. Why don't the two of you come around back, and help me load all these fans into my cart, then, since I'll have to do the deliveries myself this time."

"What if somepony comes in the shop?" Diamond asked, as they walked to the back.

"I'll be able to hear it from here, don't worry," Mr. Breezy assured her.

The three of them started grabbing fans and shoving them into a large cart. Diamond wasn't really sure why she joined in, but it seemed expected of her, and after the last few days, it kind of felt good to be doing something useful, anyways.

Pretty soon they had everything loaded. Unfortunately, the cart looked like it could only be used by a full-grown pony, so there was still no way Scootaloo would be able to pull it.

"Now, in order to get these all out on time, I should go deliver them now. I could close the shop early, but I'd rather not. Scootaloo, you've been around my shop enough times. Could you and your friend run the shop for an hour or so, while I get the deliveries out? The prices are all in the book on my desk. I doubt you'll get more then a customer or two, anyway."

Scootaloo seemed dumbfounded. "Well, I guess I could-"

"Great!" Mr. Breezy removed his hat, stuck it on Scootaloo's head, then put the harness on the cart on his back and took off. Right about that point, they heard the bell on the front door chime.

"Great…"

"What was the price on the small paper hand fans, Scoots?"

"Three bits each, or five for two. Do we have any hat-mounted fans over there?"

"One, but it's kinda silly looking."

"They probably all are. Can you bring it over?"

"Give me a minute."

If this was slow, she really didn't want to see fast. It wasn't like the store was flooded, but it'd been nonstop since Mr. Breezy had left. It'd taken both of them to keep up with everypony coming in.

She gave two paper fans to the filly in front of her, and accepted five bits in exchange. Then she put on the silly beanie with the motor-powered fan and trotted over to Scootaloo. It was a crime against fashion, but she had it off of her head soon enough, and dropped it in front of Scootaloo.

Diamond jotted down her sale on a piece of paper as Scoots finished selling some dorky-looking colt the beanie. She quickly jotted down that sale as well, and put the bits in the register. That seemed to have been the last customer for the moment, at least. Out the window, she saw the colt flick the fan on, and quickly get carried away into the sky, wailing, but that was hardly her concern. It must have been a pretty strong fan.

This wasn't all that bad. She had been around Barnyard Bargains long enough to know how this works. This was, admittedly, rather lower level than she'd like to be, but there was a certain satisfaction in taking care of the store successfully. Of course, her opinion would change if she didn't get paid for all this.

The bell on the door chimed again, and she turned, getting ready to deal with yet another customer. However, this time it seemed to be Mr. Breezy.

"Whew! All those deliveries takes it out of me. Did you two have any customers while I was gone?"

Diamond Tiara silently held up the piece of paper she'd been recording sales on. There were more than a dozen.

"That many? I'd have had trouble dealing with that many customers if I'd been here. Still, it looks like you two have kept things under control admirably. Let me just close up and count the register out."

He trotted to the front window, flipped the sign to closed, then went back to the desk. Accepting his hat back from Scootaloo, he totalled the purchases, added them to his own totals, then counted out the money in the register.

"Off by one bit, but that's within tolerance. That could easily be a math error."

Just then, a bit dropped from his hat to the floor below.

"Or it could have been misplaced, I suppose."

He flipped the bit in with the rest, took out two piles of bits, and pushed them over towards Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara.

"I gave the two of you a bit extra because I wasn't really expecting you to have to handle that rush of customers. Also, Scootaloo, here you go."

He slid a folded piece of paper over to her. Scootaloo picked it up and looked at it, puzzled.

"Take your wagon over to the repair shop across from my shop, and give them this note. They'll repair it and put it on my tab. That way, you can have it repaired now, and then pay me back later on. I'm sure a few deliveries and it'll be taken care of."

Hmm. Daddy did something like this. He loaned ponies money, then had them pay it back over time.

"What kind of interest will Scootaloo owe you on that?" she asked.

Mr. Breezy looked over at her. "No interest. I'll get a bill, show it to Scootaloo, and keep track of payments. Scootaloo does enough deliveries for me that I'm sure it won't take long to pay off."

She was pretty sure that wasn't how a business normally did things, but she didn't feel like arguing.

"Thanks, Mr Breezy!" Scootaloo said. "I was gonna try and see what I could do about the wagon, but that'll help a lot."

"That's fine, Scootaloo. It really helps me in that I won't have to do the deliveries while you save up to get the wagon fixed, so it's not an issue."

"I'll get it taken care of."

"Not tonight, I hope. It's getting dark out, so the two of you should probably get back home before your parents get worried. If it isn't fixed by next week, I may want you to run the store again for a while, though."

"Thanks! See you next week."

Scootaloo dragged Diamond Tiara along with her to the door. She waved, then got yanked through the doorway, which Scootaloo closed behind them.

"What's the big hurry?"

"If it's getting dark, he mighta wanted to walk us home, and that'd be a problem."

She supposed she could have had him escort her right outside Rich Manor, then waited for him to go away, but that could have gotten tricky.

"Has Mr. Breezy done that before?"

"Once or twice. He already thinks my parents are broke, because he's seen me buying stuff for myself with the money he pays me that they would usually have bought. He's nice, just kinda too nice, sometimes."

"Everything went really fast. I didn't expect to end up running the store."

"Yeah. I figured we'd just let him know what happened and leave. It's not like he couldn't have just closed the store when doing deliveries. He had to have done something like that before I came along."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Never seen the store that busy. It was just one pony after another, but somehow we got them all taken care of! I thought for sure somepony was gonna end up waiting or get impatient. I'm not even sure Mr. Breezy could have done better! That was actually pretty awesome!"

Diamond Tiara looked bemusedly at her. Scootaloo backtracked.

"I mean, you did acceptably for your first time. Of course, you had my help."

"Your help? Which one of us wrote down all the purchases?"

"Oh, well, I knew you'd be able to handle that."

"Sure you did."

"Besides, what about that one stallion…"

Eventually, the two of them managed to make it to the clubhouse, Diamond not really that sure what to make of their last exchange. I mean, they didn't like each other, right? They couldn't possibly be friends, with everything between them.

So why had that felt so natural, then? Maybe some part of her was thinking of Scoots as if she was Silvy. That must be it. It wasn't like the two of them had anything in common or anything.

By now, it was dark out, so going up the ramp was a nervous matter, and they had to be really careful when walking in not to bump into anything. Which seemed a bit stupid to Diamond.

"Can't you turn on the lights?"

"You think the clubhouse has electricity?"

"Oh." Diamond closed her eyes. "This is going to suck."

"I do have a flashlight and some candles, but mostly I just go to sleep when it's dark, unless I really hafta be out for some reason. "

Diamond stumbled over to her cushion.

"Usually I'd stay up, but it has been a long day." Diamond Tiara yawned.

"Yeah, and Apple Bloom will be back tomorrow!"

Diamond groaned, dug into her cushion, and tried to get some sleep. She tossed and turned restlessly, but couldn't get comfortable, and her mind kept going back to tomorrow.

"Scootaloo?"

"Hmm?"

She felt silly bringing it up, but…

"About tomorrow?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think it'll go okay? With Apple Bloom and all?"

A yawn came from the other side of the clubhouse. "Dunno?"

"I know I've really got to tell her I'm sorry, but I have a bad feeling about this."

"Diamond?"

"Yes?"

"Get some sleep."

"But-" She was really nervous, but she didn't really want to admit that. Hard like a diamond, right?

"Stop worrying. It's not like Apple Bloom's gonna kill you or anything tomorrow. Lets get some sleep, okay?"

Reluctantly, she did.

The Mare In the Mirror

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Diamond Tiara ran. She wasn't sure how all this had started. She just fled down the street as though all the forces of Hell were after her. Or at least, a vengeful white unicorn filly with a scowl on her face.

"You hurt my friends!"

This was no good. The street dead-ended ahead. The only way she could get back was past Sweetie Belle, and Sweetie Belle wasn't alone.

"I warned you!" Sweetie Belle continued, advancing towards Diamond. "Now it's your turn to pay!"

From another direction, Scootaloo came at her with a bloody muzzle and a fierce look in her eyes, her feathers all in disarray. Standing right between them was Apple Bloom, looking larger than life, anger written across her face.

"What did I do?" Diamond panicked, looking one direction and then another for some way out of this. "I didn't mean-"

A blast of sickly green light coming from Sweetie Belle's horn hit her. A strange feeling washed over her, and her legs stiffened and locked in place. She tried to force herself to run, but Diamond's legs wouldn't obey her.

Everything around her seemed to be growing larger and larger. Looking like a giant, Apple Bloom walked over and scooped her off the ground. Holding Diamond up to her face, she started to laugh.

"Now you will pay for everything you've done!" Apple Bloom declared. "Now I am the true princess here, and you are nothing!"

With that, Apple Bloom placed Diamond squarely on top of her head. What did Sweetie Belle do? What's happened to me?

A green mist in front of her suddenly solidified into an ornate full-length mirror. Reflected in it, she saw Apple Bloom, posing with her mane tossed back. Sitting on her mane was a tiara. It wasn’t just any tiara. It was her tiara. Only her tiara didn’t normally have a pair of wide eyes in the center staring back at her.

She blinked, and they blinked back. Her eyes widened, and she would have screamed, if she still had a mouth to do it with. She'd always loved her tiara, but that didn't mean she wanted to be her tiara.
"You always were nothin' but decorative, y'know," Apple Bloom said, looking at her in the mirror. "Now you can be decorative without bein' such a big, stinkin' bully."

Apple Bloom admired herself for a few moments in the mirror, adjusting her mane, until a stallion stepped in front of it, looking straight at Diamond. It was her father, and he didn't seem amused.

"Diamond Tiara, you're pathetic," he said, scowling. "You're a good-for-nothing brat, and you always have been. Didn't you wonder why I wasn't at your cute-ceañera? Or your last birthday party?"

Diamond tried to say something in reply, but couldn't move. He was just busy! He didn't have time to go, that's all.

"I didn't have time for someone as worthless as you," he continued. "I've never loved you. All you were ever good for was being my heir. And now you aren't even good for that."

Filthy Rich yanked her off of Apple Bloom's head.

"All you are now is nothing but a gaudy piece of junk."

Getting a firm grip on her diamond-studded base, he threw her right at the hard cobblestone road below. She let out a high-pitched scream and prepared for impact…

*
*
*

And tumbled off her cushion to the wooden floor of the clubhouse.

Diamond Tiara blinked, and the world came into focus. A quick check proved that she had the usual assortment of limbs, and did not appear to be an inanimate object, which was a bit of a relief. She experimentally moved one leg, and then another, and other than feeling a little prickly, they seemed fine.

Dim light filtered through the window, but it was still pretty dark. Loud snoring came from the other side of the room. Funny, given that she’d screamed, but maybe she’d just dreamt that. She walked over.

Scootaloo looked like she was okay, at least, and not all messed up like in her dream. Not that she'd really been worried. While she didn't really think Sweetie Belle could turn her into a tiara, there was that threat she'd made the other day.

The area did smell all garlicky, which was no surprise, given that teriyaki bowl from last night. Scootaloo’s mane was rumpled up and sticking in all directions, and her feathers were ruffled enough that Diamond could see that bare patch she’d taken such care to cover up earlier.

What was that about, anyway? Had she hurt herself falling off her scooter or something?

Maybe she had made too much noise after all, because Scootaloo's snores stopped with a snort, and she opened one eye, then sprang to life and jumped off her cushion.

"Huh? What? Must've fallen asleep here accident-" Scootaloo said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Oh. Diamond."

"Do you always start the day by claiming you don't know what you're doing here?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

"It's not like I'm used to somepony else being here when I wake up, especially you," Scootaloo said, blinking repeatedly and yawning. "What were you doing standing right next to me when I woke up, anyways?"

Well, she could hardly tell Scootaloo she'd had a nightmare. She'd better change the subject.

"What exactly is with all those big bald spots?" Diamond asked bluntly. "I noticed them the other day when you were messing with your wings."

"Messing with my wings?" Scootaloo repeated, a blank expression on her face. "You mean when I was preening?"

Now it was Diamond's turn, as she hadn't a clue what Scootaloo meant. "Preening? This have something to do with that molten thing Sweetie Belle was talking about?"

Scootaloo sighed. "You don't know a thing about pegasi, do you?"

Typical. Scootaloo wasn't up a minute, and was already insulting her. How much was there to know?

"Sure I know about pegasuses! Er, they have wings, they come from Cloudsdale, and they can fly." She looked at Scootaloo's wings again. "Usually."

"That's all you know? There are lots of pegasus cities besides Cloudsdale, and that barely covers things."

Scootaloo sat down on her cushion. "Look, when you have wings, you hafta take care of your feathers, an' that's called preening. If you don't do it, they stick out any which way, get all itchy, and you can't fly as well. And you can't zoom around on a scooter as well, either."

"And preening's just shuffling around your feathers?" Diamond was actually starting to get a bit curious.

"Not really. You hafta remove damaged ones, move the others around to the right places, and make sure they get some oil on them, spread out just right. It's kinda tricky, especially if you're trying to teach yourself from books an' watchin' other ponies."

"Wait, oil them? I didn't see you using any oil."

At this, Scootaloo grinned for the first time this morning. "Don't need any. There's this thingy in the back of a pegasus's throat that can create oil. Everything tasted kinda oily while I was figuring it out, but now I can oil my feathers just fine, an' even spit oil if I wanna. Though if I do, I might not have enough for preening."

Diamond Tiara wrinkled her nose. "That's gross!"

"Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do."

Diamond didn't even want to think about the whole oil thing. "So those bald spots were all broken feathers? They’re huge. And what was that thing Sweetie Belle'd been talking about?"

"Molting? Pegasus feathers gradually fall out and grow back. It's not all at once. It seems like different feathers molt at different times. I'm still waiting for those to grow back in, and it's been a while, so they should start soon. I hope."

"If you pull out broken feathers, how did you have that many break? And it looked like you'd been cut there or something."

This earned her a frown. "Bad things don't just happen to you, alright?"

"Bad things?"

"It's not like I'm living on my own 'cause I thought it'd be a fun idea. Can we drop it? We need to get ready to go meet Sweetie Belle."

"Wait, weren't we heading over to see Apple Bloom?" She still was worried about how that'd go, even more so after that dream.

Scootaloo looked at her in a way that was all too familiar by now. "Apple Bloom's not gonna be back 'til around lunchtime. We'll meet Sweetie Belle over at the Carousel Boutique and get some breakfast first."

Oh. She imagined that made some sense. But...

"I thought Sweetie Belle was at her parents?"

"Yeah, but she wanted to go stop by her sister’s place first for some reason. Beats me."

Whatever. Insights into the life and times of Sweetie Belle weren't high on her list of priorities, which now suddenly included food, shelter, and a place to sleep. The only reason she wanted to know more about Scootaloo was because she had to live with her now.

It wasn't like Scootaloo was a friend of hers, after all. Maybe... maybe she was an acquaintance. That was what you called other ponies that weren't quite your friends but you were getting to know, wasn't it? Not a friend, though. She wasn't ready to replace Silvy yet.

She brushed part of her mane out of her eyes and frowned. She couldn't really get cleaned up properly this morning. She really shouldn't have given that mirror and comb back to Sweetie Belle. Diamond moved around until she could mostly see her reflection in the window and tried to straighten out her mane as best as she was able, while Scootaloo appeared to be giving a full on demonstration of preening technique. Her feathers were sort of glistening after she moved her mouth over them, weren't they? That was so icky.

Taking her eyes away from the spectacle Scootaloo was making of herself, Diamond rummaged through that wad of clothing she'd so carelessly thrown into the clubhouse a few nights ago, only to discover masses of wrinkles on everything.

This, of course, should have been expected, but normally anything she carelessly tossed aside, she'd find neatly folded and pressed later. She really missed Greywithers right now. Even if she had an iron, she'd hardly know how to get them out. It was better to wear nothing at all, unfortunately.

She pulled her saddlebags on, and once Scootaloo had finished doing unmentionable things to her feathers, the two of them set off.

The Carousel Boutique had always been the high point of Ponyville fashion, and you could tell before even walking in the door. Of course, Diamond rarely actually got clothes from there herself.

What was the point of being fashionable if you were going to be wearing the same things everypony else in Ponyville who was with it wore, after all? She got things sent from Manehattan or Canterlot or Prance, custom designed for her. She couldn't just wear a sweater. It had to be a Polomare original. The name was practically as important as the clothes themselves.

Well, she couldn't be that picky any more. Custom dresses from Rarity's would have to do, if she could even afford those. Maybe she could pay somepony to iron the ones she had? But that'd seem strange, too, and she couldn't be too conspicuous.

She'd get by, of course. Barely anypony wore clothes in Ponyville, anyway, except special occasions, and she could probably find ways around that. It was difficult, though. She was supposed to be the center of attention anywhere she went, not hiding away someplace.

Lost in thought, Diamond automatically followed Scootaloo as she went into the boutique, not paying attention to anything around her. She heard Rarity get about as far as saying "Good morning, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle will be-" before something big and furry landed straight on top of Diamond’s head.

"Mwowwrr!"

All she could see was a pair of white furry arms dangling in front of her, claws out and ready for attack. She reacted with all the poise and confidence she felt could be expected of her in a situation like this.

"Aaaaugggh! Get it off me! Get it off me!"

Diamond Tiara ran back and forth and shaking her head, trying to get the white furry monster that seemed to be clinging on to her head for dear life off. Claws raked past her eyes as she continued to panic.

Suddenly, there was a blue glow at the edge of her vision. The weight on her head suddenly vanished as a pudgy white cat floated into view and was levitated over to Rarity.

"Oh, Opal-wopal, are you lonely? Did you want some attention?" Rarity cooed at the cat, as it gazed at Diamond, frowning with narrowed yellowish-green eyes. "That was very naughty of you. Why don't you apologize for scaring-" Rarity looked in her direction for a moment. "Miss Tiara half to death?"

The cat responded by hissing and swiping a paw in Diamond’s direction as she was lowered to the ground. She skulked off to a pillow in the corner, where she made a big show of walking in a circle on it several times before curling up, one eye open a crack, staring malevolently at Diamond Tiara.

"Don't mind her," Rarity said, "she's just a little out of sorts and feeling a bit moody right now."

"Is she ever not feeling moody?" Sweetie Belle said, entering the room. "Now where is it?"

Sweetie Belle looked back and forth around the room intently, before lighting on the top shelf of a bookcase, where several spools of ribbon were. "Aha! Found it."

She looked hesitantly at the shelf, then at a stool nearby. "This looks familiar... Um, Rarity, can you get that ribbon down for me? The pink one?"

"Not now, Sweetie Belle, we have guests."

"They're my guests, though. Remember what happened last time I tried to get something from that shelf?"

Rarity gave a dramatic sigh as the ribbon glowed blue and floated down to Sweetie Belle's waiting hooves. "Oh, very well."

Then she turned to Scootaloo, who'd been watching the goings on with obvious amusement, and Diamond Tiara, who was still standing there panting.

"Now Scootaloo, I'm sure you and Sweetie Belle had something planned. Don't let me stop you," she said, dismissing her with a wave.

Rarity then focused in on Diamond Tiara, and her condition finally registered. "Oh dear, this won't do at all. Opal has made a total mess of your mane."

She paused for a moment, looking at her closer. "Wait! Your tiara! Did Opal knock it off? Is it missing? We simply must find it!"

Rarity started frantically searching around the boutique, looking on shelves and under tables, and even turning Opal's basket upside-down.

"Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, help me find Miss Tiara's tiara, will you?"

Losing her tiara was a great excuse, but what would she do when Rarity couldn't find it? And Diamond was sure Scootaloo or Sweetie Belle would eventually say something anyways, rather than pretending to search. She cleared her throat.

"Don't worry, I wasn't wearing my tiara. Tiaras are totally last week. I decided it was time for a new look." She tossed her mane back, or tried to. Given that it was still sticking in all directions, it didn't have quite the effect she wanted, but it still got Rarity's attention, causing her to put down the potted plant she'd lifted up and come back over. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle sighed.

Rarity's eyes lit up as she approached. "Of course. Say no more! That explains everything. I didn't want to say something, as I'd assumed it was some sort of family heirloom or something, but the style on your tiara was quite out of fashion. Something more simple and elegant was called for, having style and taste, yet not flaunting your wealth."

She walked around Diamond, examining her from all angles as Diamond stood there uncomfortably.

Her tiara had been out of style? It helped that Rarity thought that, but it also kind of hurt. She'd always thought it was beautiful, elegant, and glamorous, just like her. Gaudy and in bad taste weren't traits she'd ever associated with her tiara. Taking down measurements, Rarity didn't seem to notice her mood.

"Your mane style is geared towards having something hold it down, so that will have to change." Rarity herded her in front of a full length mirror, all too similar to the one in her dream. "Now let me see. How about this?"

Swaths of fabric, brushes, and haircare products descended on her, and a fury of activity engulfed Diamond. When she looked back at the mirror, she was wearing a traditional bluish-black kimono with a red rose design on it, a red sash, and her mane was in a bun with a pair of ivory sticks holding it in place.

Rarity clicked her tongue as she examined Diamond. "No, no, too formal."

Before Diamond could say anything, a swirl of activity wrapped around her again. This time, when she looked up, she was in an almost transparent white summer dress with a floppy white hat on and flip-flops.

Aside from the flip flops, it might not have been bad, but Rarity was already shaking her head.

"Too casual."

Suddenly, Diamond found herself in a frilly black shirt with long baggy sleeves. A black pair of pseudo-leather pants covered her back legs, with a hole for her tail. Somehow a black collar covered in spikes found its way around not only her neck, but all four fetlocks. At least there wasn't a leash. She did have the cutest little pair of clip-on silver skull earrings on, though.

"Way too urban."

On an impulse, she flicked the earrings off her ears towards her saddlebags as Rarity began removing her clothing once again. Before long, she was dressed in a blue and white sailor suit with a red tie. This time, her mane had been separated into pigtails, each held in place by some sort of large white ball.

Maybe Rarity likes playing dressup with ponies, and the whole dressmaking thing was just a scheme to get them to go along with it? Hearing Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo snickering in the corner didn't help matters.

"Too cutesy."

There was a blue magic glow all around her again, as she was changed into yet another outfit. Was being around too much magic bad for you?

This time, she was in a royal blue dress with silver accents. Her mane seemed to be pulled back in a ponytail, though not braided like Silvy's was. There was even some sort of silver hairclip holding it in place.

Before she could voice her approval, Rarity was nodding. "Perfect. Of course, I'll need to make some adjustments."

She whisked the dress off of Diamond, leaving her mane as it was.

"Come back later today, and I'll make the final adjustments. Shall I put this on the Rich family tab?"

Oh, right, money.

"I'm afraid I don't-" she said, and then her brain caught up with her, and she smiled a wicked smile for a moment. "Actually, yes, bill it to daddy's account. Maybe you could add a matching blouse and sweater, a brush and comb, a handheld mirror, and whatever you used to keep my mane in place, too?"

Rarity's smile didn't flicker. "Very well. I can have the hair accessories ready for you in a moment."

She levitated several items and wrapped them together in a bundle, which tucked itself in her saddlebag. Sometimes it seemed like unicorns just liked to show off their magic. Rarity could have easily done all that by hoof.

A moment later, Rarity had Sweetie Belle tugging at her foreleg, though. She must have just been waiting for her to finish with Diamond.

"Rarity? Me and Scootaloo were going to go down to Sugarcube Corner for breakfast. Can I have some money to buy breakfast?"

"Well-"

"Please? I'll even take her." Sweetie Belle pointed at Diamond.

"I don't know-"

"Of course, I could just make them all breakfast here." She gestured at the kitchen. For some reason, Rarity's eyes widened, and she levitated a small bag of coins to Sweetie Belle.

"Fine."

Sweetie Belle looked through the bag. "You know, I'm probably going to be taking the crusaders out to lunch today, too. Apple Bloom's finally going to be back."

"Haven't your parents given you your allowance?" Rarity burst out.

Sweetie Belle looked down. "You know how they are."

Rarity sighed and levitated over more bits. "I shall go over and remind them myself. Once I'm done with my work, that is."

"Thanks, Rarity!"

Sweetie Belle hugged her, then sped out the door, pulling Scootaloo and Diamond with her. Rarity shook her head and started straightening back up the boutique again.

In a few minutes, Sweetie Belle slowed down and let the two of them go.

"Sorry, but if we'd stayed longer, my sister might have come up with more dresses for us to wear."

"For me to wear, you mean?" Diamond said.

"For any of us to wear! What was that deal with putting the dresses on your father’s tab, though? Won't he notice?"

"That's the least he owes me! Besides, aside from Barnyard Bargains, Grey handles the finances." Diamond frowned for a moment. "Still, I probably shouldn't do that too often."

"What if you just bought a house and put it on his tab?" Scootaloo said, wings buzzing. After a moment, they slowed. "Nah, they wouldn't sell it without at least checking with him."

"I might get away with a hotel room. He'd notice after a few days, though. Or the hotel ponies'd start asking questions."

Scootaloo sighed. "Yeah. Still, there ought to be something we could do with it."

"Isn't that kinda stealing, though?" Sweetie Belle said.

Diamond's thoughts went to the two earrings she'd grabbed earlier.

"He kinda should be paying for all Diamond's stuff anyways, so not really," Scootaloo said. "An' it was Rarity's idea."

"So, are we actually going to Sugarcube Corner, or was that just to get away from Rarity?" Diamond asked, wanting to get the subject away from stealing. "Why were you there, anyways?"

"Apple Bloom's going to be back today," Sweetie Belle replied, "and I remembered that her ribbon tore when she got hurt, so I thought I'd replace it."

"Doesn't she have more than the one ribbon?" Diamond Tiara asked, surprised.

"Well, I always see her wearing it, so I figured it was the same one. Kinda like Applejack's hat, you know?"

"We're at Sugarcube Corner," Scootaloo pointed out. "Why don't we continue this over some breakfast?"

Diamond had to agree with her on that front. It'd already been a pretty weird morning. She wanted a nice, sensible breakfast before she even thought about talking to Apple Bloom.

"Yeah, let's do that," she said, and they entered Sugarcube Corner.

Fade To Black

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When Diamond entered Sugarcube Corner, it seemed a bit busier than last time. She made her way to one of the furthest back tables, away from everypony else, and took a seat with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. She could see both of the Cakes behind the counter, but Pinkie Pie was the one who actually made her way over to them.

She'd always seemed more than a bit crazy and unpredictable to Diamond, but Pinkie had done a good job with her cuteceañera party. It wasn't Pinkie's fault that Daddy hadn't been able to come, or that Apple Bloom had made a big scene and spoiled things for her.

She didn't really like the look Pinkie had in her eye right now, or the way she was twitching, though.

"Good morning, girls!" Pinkie said, with far too wide of a smile on her face. "What can I do for you?"

Priorities were priorities. What type of milkshake shall I have today?

Scootaloo scooted her chair forward, wings fluttering back and forth. "How 'bout some orange juice an' pancakes?"

"I'll have blueberry waffles and a glass of milk, please," Sweetie Belle said, leaning forward in her chair as she spoke.

Nopony else was having milkshakes? Well, she could do dignified and refined like none other. She'd show them all what a real lady’s breakfast looked like.

Her stomach gurgled.

Fine, what a real hungry lady’s breakfast was like, then.

"I will have a cup of hot Oolong tea. Make sure to put the tea leaves in first and steep them for three to five minutes," she instructed. "With my tea, I'll have a hot cinnamon bun, and a cranberry-orange scone." There! Both dignified and filling. Now why was Scootaloo rolling her eyes, and Sweetie Belle staring blankly forward?

Pulling a pencil from behind one ear, Pinkie Pie scribbled on a notepad. "Okie-dokie-lokie! I'll give this to the Cakes, and they'll have it to you right away! Now, if you'll excuse me, girls, I'll need to borrow Tiara for a few minutes. Though she isn't wearing a tiara. How can you be Diamond Tiara without wearing a tiara? Are you reeeally Diamond Tiara?"

What? "Of course I'm Diamond Tiara!"

"Good! Come on!" As Pinkie Pie said this, she grabbed hold of Diamond and dragged her out of the room. Before Diamond knew what was happening, Pinkie had taken her upstairs and was pulling her through a door.

The room she found herself in was painted in pink, pink, and more pink, and she was pretty sure this was Pinkie's own room. Not that there was anything wrong with pink, but she felt like she could just inhale and disappear into the background.

Diamond couldn't even imagine what living someplace as low-class as a bakery would be like, but at least it would be better than where she was staying now, she supposed. The real question, though, was how to get out of here.

She turned to the door and there was a green, slimy, icky aligator there! It looked at her placidly with bulging eyes, perhaps trying to figure out how many meals it could get out of her before it finished her off.

Of course, for all she knew, Pinkie could be thinking the same thing, with how weird she was acting. She'd just wanted something to eat, not to have to deal with some crazy pink party pony.

"What do you want?" she said crossly. "I distinctly told you I wanted breakfast, not to be dragged up to some dusty old room!"

Pinkie crossed her forelegs. "We need to talk."

"We did talk," Diamond stated. "You asked what I wanted for me breakfast, and I told you. That's talking. If you want to talk some more, you could say 'Diamond, here's your pastries and tea,' even."

"That's not what I meant, you silly!" Pinkie propped up her chin with one hoof in a rather futile attempt to look serious. "What we need to talk about is what you were talking about."

"What I was talking about?" Diamond said, feeling lost.

"You know, last time you were here?"

A sudden lump formed in Diamond's throat. "No, we don't. That was a private conversation, and you weren't a part of it."

Suddenly, without warning, Pinkie's face was within an inch of hers. "Yess! It was priiivate!!"

She moved back slightly, but was still close enough to unnerve Diamond to no end. She preferred ponies to keep a bit of distance and know their places, which wasn't right in front of her. Oblivious to this, Pinkie continued.

"When Mr. and Mrs. Cake first agreed to have me start helping out in Sugarcube Corner, they had this big ol' long list of rules they wanted me to follow. And one of them was that private conversations in Sugarcube Corner stay private. They went over that one with me a whole bunch for some reason."

Like they wanted to make sure you remembered it? Well, that was a relief, anyways. "So they made you Pinkie Promise to keep them private?" Everypony knew that Pinkie Promises were the strongest promises that could be made, after all, at least in Ponyville.

At that, Pinkie flushed a little. "Of course I Pinkie Promised!"

Good. "Then there's nothing for us to talk about."

Diamond looked back towards the door, but there was still a googly-eyed gator guarding it.

"Just because it's private doesn't mean it doesn't need to be talked about." Pinkie looked around shiftily. "And sometimes there are things that are worth risking a cupcake to the eye."

Pinkie might tell on her anyways? That was no fair! She sighed. "So talk."

"Weelll," Pinkie started, "you, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle came in Sugarcube Corner and nopony seemed very happy. That wasn't surprising, 'cause of what happened with Apple Bloom, which was toootally your fault. Not that you should be obsessively blaming yourself, going over what happened in your head and letting it eat away at your insides as you ask yourself Why? Why? Why?-"

"Pinkie!" Diamond interrupted, a bit more upset than she'd have liked to admit.

"Anyway," Pinkie said, as if she hadn't just gone into a mini-rant, "All of you being unhappy wasn't a surprise, but the fact that you were all sitting together was. That could have been good, but then-" Pinkie lowered her voice, "-I heard you say that Filthy Rich had disowned you and thrown you out of the house. And that's no fun at all."

Diamond's heart plummeted to the bottom of her stomach, as she discovered that some part of her, at least, had still hoped Pinkie hadn't heard all of that. "And?"

"We obviously can't have that. Everypony knows little fillies shouldn't be living on their own. It's bad enough-" She bit back on whatever she'd been about to say. "Well, it's not right."

Diamond drew herself up proudly. "I'm not a little filly."

Pinkie Pie drew herself up to her full height as well. "Littler than me."

Diamond shrugged. "Whatever."

"So you need someplace to live, but I can't figure out how to fix this without telling somepony about it. Maybe I could get you and Filthy Rich in the same room and try to convince him this is a really bad idea and tell him that he needs to take you back…" She trailed off as Diamond looked at her.

Diamond Tiara shook her head slowly. "Daddy was really upset, and I don't think that'd help. Greywithers should be talking to him about it anyways, and if Greywithers can't persuade him, I don't think anypony could."

Then Diamond realized that she'd just admitted that Pinkie Pie had heard things correctly, and wished she could take it back. It was too late now, though.

Still, there had to be some way to get her not to say anything. Daddy had talked about knowing ponies’ weaknesses. What could she do to get Pinkie not to talk about her situation?

Pinkie liked parties and making other ponies happy. Was there some way she could convince her that it'd make ponies unhappy or stop her from partying?

Pinkie Pie continued chattering on. "Now, if he won't take you back in, I could hold a 'Filthy Rich is a big ol' meanie and Diamond needs a new home' party! I'd invite everypony in town there, and I'm sure somepony would want to take you in."

Everypony in town, looking at her, pitying her, knowing what had happened? She'd be so embarrassed and ashamed. There was no way she could deal with that.

"And if nopony took you in at that party, I could always take you over to Fluttershy. She does have an adopt-a-pet service she runs."

Adopt-a-pet? Right.

"Pinkie, if you plan on t-telling the whole town, I'll scream," Diamond declared, voice breaking for a moment. "Everypony saw you drag me up to your room. I-I'll scream and say you tried to touch me, and everypony will think you're a- a fillyphile, and nopony will ever go to your parties again!"

She wasn't quite sure that was the right word, but the expression on Pinkie’s face made her think she'd gotten the idea through.

"That'd be mean," Pinkie sniffed, sinking back a bit, and some of the enthusiasm going out of her. "Don't you want somewhere to sleep and to have somepony taking care of you?"

"Not if it means the whole town knowing what happened!" Diamond said. "I may not have much, but everypony still thinks I'm somepony, at least. I don't want everypony knowing I don't have anything. And I have found someplace to sleep."

"Sleeping in a bush or something doesn't count," Pinkie groused.

"I am not sleeping in a bush. I'm staying over at Scootaloo's, if you must know," Diamond said, deciding Pinkie wouldn't be happy unless she knew that much, at least. A thought occurred to her. "Have you talked to Scootaloo like this?"

"She's at least as stubborn as you, and at least she has her friends looking out for her." Pinkie frowned. "Even if you've got someplace to sleep, there's still a matter of food, and you really do need somepony to take care of you."

"I can get food. I was trying to, when you brought me here. You can give me food, too, if you want. I don't need somepony to take care of me." She paused to think about it for a moment. "Though lately, it seems like Scootaloo's sort of doing that too."

"Scootaloo can't be your guardian, silly!" Pinkie said. "She isn't old enough. Though she's old enough to have a pet."

Diamond considered a scathing response. Then she reconsidered, and thought about what response would get her away from the crazy pink party pony the fastest.

"Why, yes, Pinkie, that's exactly it. I'm Scootaloo's new pet, but you can't tell anypony because it's a secret. I'm sure she'll take good care of me, and she's getting me something to eat right now, because I'm really hungry. So why don't you make me a Pinkie Promise that you won't talk about any of this, and let me get back to her, because I'm sure she's getting worried, okay?"

Wow. That had actually worked? Well, she wasn't going to question it.

"Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, I'm back. Did my breakfast ever show up?"

Mrs. Cake walked over as Diamond said that, and dropped off a cup of tea and a teapot, still hot to the touch, as well as her two pastries.

"They said they'd keep it warm for you," Sweetie Belle said belatedly.

"What was that all about, anyways?" Scootaloo asked.

Diamond flushed slightly. "Pinkie wanted to… have a talk with me, that's all."

A look of comprehension came over Scootaloo's face. "Oh. One of those talks."

Diamond nodded. "She's kind of crazy, isn't she?"

"Crazy like a fox!" Pinkie half-sang, walking by the table and dropping a paper bag by Scootaloo's place. "Well, maybe not a fox. A marmot?"

She winked at them and walked off.

"Do I even want to know?" Scootaloo asked.

"Um, do we really want to open that here?" Sweetie Belle said, glancing furtively at the bag.

Worried about what Pinkie might have come up with, Diamond changed the subject. "So, what are we doing after breakfast?"

She wasn't really sure it was they, but it sounded better than asking what the two of them were going to do.

Sweetie Belle looked over at Scootaloo, then over at Diamond. "Changing into all those outfits and things kinda took a while. I think Apple Bloom will be back pretty soon."

"Yeah," Scootaloo said slowly. "Originally we were gonna go see Apple Bloom, check out her new wheelchair, take her up to the clubhouse, and try an' figure out what type of crusading we could do. 'Course, that was before all that stuff happened…"

"Did you even want to come along?" Sweetie Belle asked. "I don't think you're really Apple Bloom's favorite pony at the moment. You could always hang out at the library or park or something for a few hours, or even go check and see if my sister’s got your stuff yet, I guess."

That was kind of tempting, though the library itself didn't appeal much to her. What could she do there to occupy herself? All it had was a bunch of dusty old books!

But that wasn't really an option. Face it, Diamond, you're staying in their clubhouse. You're going to see all three of them regularly, and you have to be on reasonable terms with them. All of them.

"No," she said reluctantly. "I've got to tell Apple Bloom that I'm sorry, and if I put it off, it'll be that much worse."

"So are you sorry for her?" Sweetie Belle asked, resting her elbows on the table. "Or are you sorry for yourself?"

Diamond was taken aback. "Can't I be both?"

Sweetie Belle frowned. "It's just, if you aren't sorry, then telling her you are isn't much good, either."

"Look," Diamond said defensively. "I don't really like Apple Bloom, okay? My cuteceañera was supposed to be my big day. Then Daddy couldn't make it, and when I went to the party, everything turned into a whole big thing about her and everypony ignored me!"

"You know you were acting pretty rotten to Apple Bloom at the party, don't you?" Scootaloo crossed her forelegs.

"I know, I know. I probably was. But nopony but Silvy'd even talk to me at the party after that. I left the party early and nopony even noticed. I was really mad and wanted to make her pay for it. And since you two were part of it, that ended up going for you, too."

"Sooo… you aren't sorry, then," Sweetie Belle said.

"I am! I was mad at her, but I didn't want her to be stuck in a wheelchair! It's just-" Diamond sighed. "I am sorry, and want to try and make it up. But I'm more sorry about what happened to me since I like me, all right?"

Sweetie Belle shook her head. "I guess."

"Good, 'cause I'm hungry." Diamond shoved the cinnamon bun unceremoniously in her mouth, quite forgetting her normal manners, and washed it down with some tea.

Polishing off another one of her pancakes, Scootaloo shrugged. "I figured you'd just tag along with us when we visited, say your piece, and we'll go from there. Long as you aren't planning on telling her how much you don't like her, that is."

"I have no idea what I'm even gonna tell her. I'll just be winging it," Diamond said after scarfing down the bun. Scootaloo glanced backwards, then immediately looked back at Diamond and Sweetie Belle.

"We're going to hafta tell Apple Bloom what happened to you too, you know," Sweetie Belle said. "The clubhouse is our clubhouse. We're all up there a lot."

Maybe she really should have found somewhere more private. A bush someplace was sounding better and better.

"Not in her home!" Diamond stamped one hoof on the table. "I don't want everypony else there knowing. They'd all laugh at me. They certainly wouldn't want me in the clubhouse, and that's on their property. They could just tell me I wasn't allowed here. They probably would."

"I don't think they'd laugh..." Sweetie Belle said softly.

"They would. They'd laugh and make jokes and poke fun and make my life miserable. It's bad enough that we have to tell Apple Bloom. She's gonna love this."

"But not at her house?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"You can tell her at the clubhouse. You were taking her there anyways." Diamond ate her scone and slurped up the rest of her tea. "Aren't the two of you done yet? Let's get this over with."

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at their empty plates and glasses. Sweetie Belle raised one hoof. "Pinkie, we're ready to go. How much do I owe you?"

"That's okay, I'll get it today!" Pinkie hopped over, grabbed the dishes, and dropped a book on the table. "When I first got Gummy, I read all about how to properly train him in this book. Let me know when you're done with it. Whapping them on the nose with a newspaper when they're bad usually works!"

Pinkie thought Scootaloo should hit her with a newspaper? Then again, that'd have hurt less than what had happened.

Scootaloo looked at Pinkie with a bewildered look, but tucked the book in her bag anyway. "Er, okay, thanks, Pinkie. Let's go."

They all got up, and proceeded out of the bakery as quickly as possible.

"What was that all about?" Scootaloo asked as they walked off. "Pet training?"

"Um..." Sweetie Belle looked at an empty paper bag, and held up a gem-studded collar and leash with one hoof. Diamond flushed. "Maybe we... shouldn't even try to find out what she's thinking this time?"

Scootaloo nodded, grabbed the leash and collar, and shoved them with the book in her bag, much to Diamond's relief. She really hoped Pinkie would forget about the whole pet thing. Maybe that hadn't been such a good idea after all.

She did actually have a few ideas for how to make things up with Apple Bloom, based on things she'd talked about with Scootaloo and Applejack previously, but she wasn't sure she wanted to talk about them at risk of sounding stupid. Besides, she could probably only do what she was thinking of due to having basically no life or friends at this point, which wasn't something she liked to advertise.

She wasn't even sure what there was to keep going for, really. The situation at school was still where she wasn't sure she could even come back, she was staying in the clubhouse, scrounging for food, and her only real friend wasn't on speaking terms with her.

She wasn't even sure what else she could do. Right now, she had a goal, at least. She needed to make things better with Apple Bloom. Maybe it'd all go away after that, and Daddy'd take her back in. Maybe it'd get better. If it didn't…

Well, if it didn't, what else could she do? Maybe she could go work for the criminal underground. Wearing a fedora and designer pinstriped suit, she'd go from business to business, demanding 'protection' money. And if they didn't pay up… Rat-tat-tat-ta-tat!

Scootaloo gave Diamond a look. "What are you doing?"

To her embarrassment, she realised she'd been making machine gun noises out loud and grimacing. "Nothing. Just… nothing."

Scootaloo arched one eyebrow. Ignoring her, Diamond took a look around. "Aren't we there yet?"

"Getting close. We should be there in a few minutes."

As Scootaloo said this, a dog ran up to greet the trio. Completely ignoring Diamond Tiara, it ran in a meandering path around Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. As it reached Sweetie Belle, she began scratching it behind the ears, and it stopped in front of her.

Diamond frowned as the mutt leapt up at Sweetie Belle and licked her on the face, undoubtedly getting all sorts of dog germs and ick all over her. She'd hardly let the beast slobber all over her like that!

Sweetie Belle being Sweetie Belle, she didn't seem to mind, and soon the dog was lying on it's back blissfully as she rubbed its belly.

"So, are we going to get going, or play with a dog?" Diamond said, a little annoyed.

Sweetie Belle stopped rubbing, stroked the dog's nose a few times, and patted her on the head. "Winona's just being friendly. Something you might try occasionally."

"What, and slobber all over ponies’ faces?"

"You know what I mean," Sweetie Belle said. Seeing she was no longer the center of attention, Winona darted off.

"We're almost there. Of course, before we go find Apple Bloom, we should prob'ly check in with somepony, like-" Scootaloo trailed off, looking beyond Diamond. "Oh. Hi, Big Mac."

Diamond turned to look, and sure enough, there was a big red stallion approaching, Winona by his side.

Uh-oh. Wasn't this Apple Bloom's brother? The one that was supposed to be really mad at her?

He looked the three of them over, and stopped, his eyes fixed on Diamond Tiara.

"You've got some nerve!" He snorted, and stamped the ground with one hoof. "What the hay are you doin' here?"

Why was everypony immediately getting on her case? "What's it to you?"

"This is Apple family land, and y'all are on it. That makes it my business. And you hurt my little sister! You aren't welcome here!"

Right, he could kick her out. She probably shouldn't be trying to push his buttons. "That's why I'm here."

"Come again?"

"I'm here because of Apple Bloom," Diamond said, smoothing her mane back trying to look a little more presentable. "Look, I already talked to Applejack about this, alright? I just need to talk to her for a few minutes, that's all."

"I highly doubt she wants to talk to you."

"Maybe not, but I need to talk to her about what happened. I'm not planning on hurting her."

He stood there, looking for all the world like he was just restraining himself from demonstrating proper apple-bucking technique on her face. She waited nervously.

'Um, Big Mac? You know us? Scootaloo? Sweetie Belle?" Scootaloo waved a hoof between them. "We'll be there, and you know we won't let anything happen to Apple Bloom."

Finally, he spoke. "AJ already knows 'bout this?"

"She knows I was going to stop by to talk to Apple Bloom."

"Fine. But if anything happens to her…" He stomped the ground again.

"Nothing will happen," Diamond said, with more confidence then she felt.

"It better not." The large red stallion turned and headed off in the direction they'd been headed. By unspoken consensus, they followed.

Walking into the house, Big Macintosh looked back at them. "She's in the guest bedroom."

"The guest bedroom?" Diamond echoed, but he'd already disappeared down a hallway.

Scootaloo looked over at her. "Well, yeah, it's not like she could stay in her bedroom. The one upstairs?"

"Oh."

Turning a corner, they came to a door with a hoof-knitted square of fabric hung crookedly on the door. It had a picture of an apple, and the words "Apple Bloom" right below.

Diamond stood in front of it and stared.

She should enter, but her hooves didn't quite want to obey her. Sweat clung to her neck and she trembled slightly. This was it. Apple Bloom was behind there, and was certain to be angry with her. Was it too late to go back?

After a minute of her standing there, Sweetie Belle squeezed by her, opened the door, and walked in. As Scootaloo nudged her from behind, she forced herself to follow at a distance.

The room was pretty dark for the middle of the day. Light was coming in from the hallway, and trickled in from the edges of the closed curtains on the window. Sitting next to it was an beaten-up old wheelchair, a manual one that looked to Diamond's eyes like it might have dated back to Granny Smith's day.

Lying in the wheelchair was Apple Bloom, both hind legs in casts and slightly raised in the air. Her tail lay limply behind the wheelchair, and her red-rimmed eyes were closed. She really didn't look all that great, and just looking at her was a bit depressing. This was Diamond's fault, and no matter how she tried to shrug it off, that kept going back through her mind.

Sweetie Belle had no such problem. She proceeded right up to Apple Bloom while Diamond was still standing there looking.

"Hi, Apple Bloom! I brought you a new ribbon!" Sweetie Belle held the red ribbon up high, and started tying it in her hair as Apple Bloom's eyes opened.

One loop of the ribbon found its way around her ear, and she quickly took it from Sweetie Belle and started tying it properly as best she could.

"Um, thanks, Sweetie Belle. You've got Scootaloo and..." she leaned forwards for a moment, "...somepony else with you?"

"How can you stand having it so dark in here?" Hooves freed of the ribbon, Sweetie Belle pulled the curtains open, flooding the room with sunlight. Diamond quickly closed her own eyes. All that light hurt!

When she opened them up, Apple Bloom was looking right at her, eyes narrowed.

"You!" She looked from Diamond to Scootaloo, and then glared at Sweetie Belle. "What is Diamond Tiara doing in my bedroom? She's not supposed to be here! She's not supposed to be on the farm! She's not supposed to be in my life! Out! Now!"

Sweetie Belle backed away from the window, eyes wide, looking between Apple Bloom and Diamond. Diamond's jaw locked in place as she walked forward rigidly. Having finally managed the courage to go forward, she wasn't about to back down now.

"I told you to go away!" Apple Bloom made a shooing gesture ineffectually in Diamond's direction, finally stopping when Diamond was next to her. "Come to see what you've done? I guess I can't make you go, so just go ahead an' take a look, then!"

She pointed down at her casts, covered in signatures.

"Both my hind legs broken. I saw my bones sticking out! You shouldn't be able to see that! An' I need these legs to get around on, an' I really need them strong for apple buckin'! Without strong hind legs I can't buck apples, an' I can't buck at harvest time, an' I can't even buck ya outta my room like I oughta! I can't even move!" By the end, her voice had practically reached a wail.

How is she even able to say all that in one breath? Diamond's eyes picked out a badly drawn picture of Rainbow Dash on the cast, and she had to fight not to go into a very inappropriate fit of laughter. As it was, her mouth quirked, something that didn't pass unnoticed.

"That's right, go ahead an’ laugh!" Apple Bloom babbled. "Laugh at the crippled blank flank an' her friends! Now maybe she'll fit in, now that her legs match their wings an'-"

Diamond heard a fierce snort from the other side of the other side of the room, and on this side, Sweetie Belle started walking back over.

"Girls!" Sweetie Belle said, sounding fairly annoyed. "Stop it!"

Diamond looked over at Scootaloo. Her face was flushed, her ears pinned back, and her wings pinned back and trembling. Then she looked back at Apple Bloom, almost not wanting to do this any more.

"Look! I didn't come here for any of that!" she snapped. "I came here to apologize." As much as I might not be feeling like it right now.

Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. "What was that? Come closer. I can't hear ya."

"I said," Diamond leaned over the side of Apple Bloom's wheelchair, "I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry-"

Diamond was not expecting Apple Bloom to reach out and wrap her forelegs around her neck, pulling her partway onto the chair while squeezing.

"You're sorry, all right! You're a big, mean, sorry spoiled brat whose daddy always gives you everything you want! I bet that's even why you're here. Apologize to the cripple an' you're off scot-free with your daddy, right?"

Fighting the chokehold, Diamond thrashed around. Apple Bloom was surprisingly strong for someone in a wheelchair.

"Do you know how much my legs hurt? Do you know how it feels not to be able to move around on my own?" Tears were streaking down Apple Bloom's cheeks. "Why can't you go away? Why can't you just die?"

Diamond was starting to feel rather dizzy.

"Okay-" she managed.

Then she felt hooves at her back, pulling her backwards. Her back hit the floor, and she felt her head hit the ground hard a few seconds later. For one blurry moment, she saw Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo standing over her, then her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and everything went black.

I'm Only Sleeping

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The first thing that Diamond was aware of was pain. There was a throbbing coming from her neck, and her throat felt like she'd been eating gravel. She shifted her position slightly, and could feel a comfortable blanket lying beneath her. Moving may have been a mistake, though, as it caused her head to start pounding. She let out a low moan.

Sleep. She really needed sleep. She wanted nothing more than to escape into slumber for just a couple of hours. Burying her head in her hooves, she tried to make everything stop hurting just long enough for it all to fade away.

"You awake there, young filly?" a wavering voice called out.

No, she was asleep. No wakefulness here. Just let her sleep in her bed. Her bed?

"I'm sure you want to rest a while, but I need you awake so I can see how you're doin'. Seems like Apple Bloom did quite a number on you."

Apple Bloom? Oh, that's right, Apple Bloom had tried to kill her. Maybe she should have let her complete the job. Dying might be an improvement from the way her head felt. She moaned again.

She probed at her throat gingerly with one hoof and winced. Oh, that hurt.

Then Diamond felt another hoof pressing on her other foreleg.

"Hearts beatin' faster than the stampin' at a hoedown, but I suppose that's no surprise."

She cracked open an eye to see a wrinkled and green old lady hovering over her. This was Apple Bum's grandmother, wasn't it? So now she was being cared for by a kooky old lady on the bed of the filly who'd throttled her. Great.

"Well there you are." The old lady turned Diamond to face her, and started applying a wet rag around Diamond's throat, which, admittedly, felt wonderful. "Just take it easy. I know Filthy never was much for doctors. Ducked out of a visit any chance he got. I don't know if you're the same way, but I need to know where you're hurt. I've taken care of generations of young'uns, so I ought to have some idea what I'm doin'."

Diamond supposed that being over a hundred, she'd have learned something about medicine. Ugh, her throat felt horrible. "Wargglh."

"Try that again, dear?"

She made an attempt to clear her throat, which only made things feel worse. "W-water."

It felt like she'd been chewing razor blades. Usually if she felt like this, she'd be under the covers of her bed for days with cough drops and tissues and Graywithers taking all her meals to her. She was going to have to deal with this herself, though, wasn't she? There was no way she could just stay here.

"Of course. I'll be right back." Granny Smith got up and slowly walked out of the room. Diamond opened her other eyes and stretched out a little, trying to get as comfortable as she could, to make the most of it. She wouldn't have a chance to be on a bed again anytime soon.

So Apple Bloom had tried to kill her. She didn't have much to live for right now, but that seemed a little extreme. And what was with that crack she'd made about Scootaloo's wings? Weren't they supposed to be friends?

Diamond's headache was still going full force, but at least her mind still seemed to be mostly working. Her main idea for how to make things up to Apple Bloom seemed a bit much now, but it was all she had.

Of course, she was all beat up now, but maybe she could make that an advantage.

Her thoughts were interrupted by approaching hoofsteps. Perhaps Apple Bloom's grandmother was back. Then a big red stallion was right in front of her, huffing.

"What did you do to my sister?" Sweat poured off his forehead, and there was anger in his eyes.

So much for that. Apple Bloom's brother was going to kill her.

"I- I didn't-" she started to protest, and then started coughing. Big Macintosh didn't seem to notice her condition. Maybe it ran in the family.

"I told you not to-"

"Big Macintosh!" Granny Smith's voice came shrilly from behind him. "You get away from that poor filly at once!"

He looked behind him, and for once, looked a bit sheepish. "But Apple Bloom-"

"Apple Bloom's already done enough to her. She doesn't need more hassles from you."

"She must have done something-" He adjusted his harness and wiped some of the sweat from his brow.

"The way I heard it, Apple Bloom attacked her while she was trying to apologize. If you want to lecture somepony, save it for your lil' sister."

"And you believe everything she says?"

"That pretty little filly there didn't tell me a thing. This is what her friends told me, and I don't think they'd lie about that. Now you get over to the living room. I heard that lil' unicorn friend of hers giving Apple Bloom quite a lecture out there."

Big Macintosh turned around and slowly left the room, head hanging down.

Granny Smith sighed, and approached the bed, putting a tray with a glass and a pitcher of water on the table next to the bed, scooting a heavy vase over to make room.

"Children. Nothing but headaches and heartbreak, mark my words." She lifted up Diamond's head and tucked a pillow under it, propping her head up at an angle. "Now don't try to hold on to this. I'm going to give you some water."

Granny Smith filled the glass with water from the pitcher, and brought it up to Diamond's lips. Gulping down the water, a bit of the roughness in her throat went away, though it still felt raw. Granny Smith put the glass back on the table. "Feelin' better?"

"A little," Diamond managed.

"Good! Now I'm gonna touch you lightly in a few places. Just nod if it hurts and I'll stop."

She started probing around Diamond's chest and throat, causing Diamond to wince and nod a few times before she was done.

"Looks like mostly a few bruises, though they're hard to see with your coat. One of your hooves is bunged up, too, but I don't think that was Apple Bloom's fault. Maybe you do take after Filthy. We'll get that squared away soon enough."

With all the other aches and pains, she'd almost forgotten about that hoof. It would be a relief to have some proper care for it, and she was sure somepony in the Apple family would know how to deal with hoof trouble.

It was pretty nice to have somepony fussing over her, really.

"Why don't you tell me how you’re feelin'? Dizzy? Lightheaded? Can ya see proper, or seein' double?"

"I can see fine, and I'm not dizzy now. Head hurts, though, and my throat."

"Not surprising. She got you pretty good there. Do you remember what happened?"

"I went into her room, and Apple Bloom started yelling at me. When I tried to apologize, she said she couldn't hear me, and when I got closer, she grabbed me and put her forelegs around my throat," Diamond winced at the thought. "Then I think Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle pulled me away too hard, and I hit my head."

"You seem to remember clearly, at least. That's a good sign. Comin' over to apologize is good on you, too. Reminds me of your great-grandfather, Stinkin' Rich. He was a real stand-up stallion."

"You mean my grandfather?"

"You sayin' he wasn't great? If he did somethin' wrong, he'd fess right up to it, and take whatever the consequences were. His way of straight-talkin' and dealin' fair was why everypony went to him in the first place."

Just then, a whistling sound came into the room.

"Hold on there, young'un'. I'd best go get that. If anypony comes in while I'm gone, tell 'em to go see me in the kitchen."

Nopony'd better come in here and bug her. That'd be all she needed, Big Mac coming back or something. She was in no mood, and she wasn't sure how well she could fend somepony off, or even if she should.

She hadn't really heard that much about Stinkin' Rich from Daddy. She'd always tried to be more like him, but she wasn't sure she wanted to now, after everything, and if Stinkin' Rich was the one who made Rich Enterprises big anyways, maybe she should pay more attention to him.

Diamond hadn't really thought about it much before, but maybe Granny Smith being old actually meant she knew stuff. Now that she was thinking a bit better, Granny Smith shouldn't really be helping her, though, should she?

She heard a noise outside, but it was just Granny Smith coming back in with a tray with a few mugs with saucers over the openings, a large pot of hot water, and a box with a cross on it. She set it down on the table, and brought the box to the bed with her.

"Here, now let me just see to your hoof while the tea steeps, and you can have some right lovely tea after. Well, some right horrible tea then some right lovely tea, but you gotta take the bitter with the sweet, don'tcha?"

Granny Smith pulled out a rag and damped it down with hot water from the pot. She cleaned Diamond's hoof off, then started smearing some odd-smelling goop from a jar on it.

Meanwhile, Diamond was about at her bursting point.

"Why are you doing this?"

"You don't want to take chances with a hoof bruise like this, or it could get infected. I'll have it bandaged and covered properly in a moment."

"Not that!" Diamond Tiara said, waving her forelegs around. "Why are you being nice to me? Don't you know what I did?"

"Settle down or you'll hurt your voice more," Granny Smith said mildly, as she put a pad on Diamond's hoof and started bandaging it up. "You pushed the wagon my granddaughter was in when she broke her legs, didn'tcha?"

"Yes, I did!" Diamond said, frustration in her voice.

"Yer regrettin' it now, though, or you'd hardly be here to apologize, would you?"

At that, her sudden determination to make Granny Smith act like she was supposed to collapsed. She just nodded, and let her forelegs fall back to the bed.

"Look, dear, I'm sure you don't like to think of yourself this way, but you're just a child," Granny Smith said kindly, "and children do real stupid things sometimes. I certainly did in my time. Learnin' from those things is how you start to grow up and be an adult. Now, let me put this cover on and your hoof will be fine for a bit of walkin'."

Blinking, she wiped at her eyes irritably with one foreleg. Why did she have to be so nice? They were all supposed to hate her over here, weren't they? It was easier when they hated her, kind of. At least it was consistent.

In the meantime, Granny Smith seemed to have attached something to the bottom of her hoof and wrapped it in bandages.

"There! Just leave that on your hoof for a few days and you'll be fine. I'd tell you not to walk too much on it, but I know how young fillies are. It's cushioned, but try not to stamp down too hard. I'd best see to your throat before the water gets cold, though."

The elderly mare took the saucer off one of the cups.

"I know this tastes bad, but I'll need you to drink it all down."

She held it to Diamond's lips. Diamond gulped it down and immediately wished she hadn't. It tasted horrible. Granny Smith was still holding it to her mouth, so she didn't really have much choice but to finish it off.

Granny Smith took away the empty cup.

"Ugh. What is that stuff, mud?" Diamond noticed as she spoke that the back of her throat was actually feeling a little better.

"Tree bark, actually. Don't know the hows or whys, but that type of bark helps a lot with a sore throat. Now, lets get that taste out of your mouth and do something 'bout your head."

She gave Diamond two pills to swallow, then held the other cup of tea to Diamond's mouth. She took a small sip, wary after the last cup, but this one actually tasted like lemon and chamomile. It seemed pretty thick, but she swallowed the pills and finished it off anyways.

"Exactly how much honey did you put in there? And what were those pills?" she said after Granny Smith lowered the cup, belatedly realizing taking unknown medicine might be a bad idea, especially from ponies that have reason to be upset with you.

"Just some aspirin, and it takes a good amount of honey to coat your throat. I'm sure it feels awful."

"I think I'm starting to feel a little better. Still don't feel much like moving." Then something occurred to her. "Wait, how long have I been here?"

Granny Smith chuckled. "Not too long. And don't worry, young'un, we've already sent word to Filthy 'bout what happened. Be irresponsible not to."

Well, that wasn't what she wanted to hear. She tensed up. Was the whole thing blown? Would they all find out how pathetic and useless she really was?

She closed her eyes again. This was bad. Though some treacherous part of her thought it might not be all that bad if it meant staying here with Granny Smith longer. Who would've gone, though?

Lets see, Big Mac, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle were in the other room, and Granny Smith was here…

"So Applejack went off to talk to Daddy?" she guessed. Granny Smith shook her head.

"Actually, that orange pegasus friend of Apple Bloom's said she could make it there faster. Probably back soon with the way she's always zoomin' 'round town on that thing."

"Scootaloo went to go tell Daddy?" she said carefully, hope raising up in her. Scootaloo knew her situation. Diamond was pretty sure she'd cover for her.

"Reckon that was her name. Knew it had somethin' to do with that scooter of hers. Seemed a mite upset for some reason."

After that wings crack, she probably was. That could've been part of why she wanted to get away, even.

"I'm sure you don't want to fritter away all your time talkin' with an old lady, though. Why don't you rest for a bit while she gets back, then we can see about you and Apple Bloom makin' peace? Been with you long enough to be pretty sure you'll be just fine, and I figure all her friends should be back for that."

Granny Smith gathered up the tray and box. "I'll just be outside, so don't you fret about ponies comin' in. I'd best have a little talk with Big Mac, too."

With that she left the room, not actually closing the door all the way, but enough to give Diamond some privacy. Diamond just lay there, looking at the ceiling. It felt really weird being here in Apple Bloom's room by herself, not to mention lying on her bed.

Of course, maybe that'd leave Apple Bloom thinking about how Diamond Tiara had been in her bed come nighttime. That was fun to think about. Smiling, she slipped a few loose hairs out of her mane under the pillow for Apple Bloom to find later.

So, time to strategize. She could play on how lousy she was feeling with Apple Bloom, not to mention take advantage of how little she really felt like she cared about anything right now. Shake her up a little, get an apology, get her over to the clubhouse so that she could be filled in, and make her proposal.

Yes, that sounded good. But first, she was in a bed, and she certainly was going to take advantage of it. Diamond snuggled into the covers and the blanket, and was soon fast asleep.

One Way or Another

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Diamond Tiara wasn't sure how long she'd slept for, but when she woke up, she could hear voices talking outside the room. It sounded like she was going to have visitors shortly.

Normally, the realization she was going to have other ponies coming in would have started her grooming herself and getting ready, but that wasn't the impression she wanted this time. She looked herself over carefully.

Looking down, she could see a few nasty bruises on her throat. Her tail lay limp on the bed, and her mane and tail were all matted and sweaty. All in all, she looked pathetic, which was perfect.

Of course, all things considered, she was actually feeling like she was pretty pathetic right now, but what was important for the next conversation was that it showed. One thing she'd learned from Daddy was that how you presented yourself in public was very important, especially for business transactions and other important matters.

You should always act whatever way would get you the desired result, even if this was totally opposite to how you felt. She had paid attention to Daddy, whatever he might think. It was just that the numbers would all dance around and call her names, and it all slipped away under pressure anyways. But not this time, she hoped.

So, pathetic: check. She scooted over to the edge of the bed next to the table. Splashing some water on her face might give her even more of a drowned and strangled kitten look, but Granny Smith'd probably disapprove. At least her head wasn't going round and round so much any more.

It was so nice just lying here on the bed. She could almost imagine things were normal again, staring up at the ceiling. It was a pity it was Apple Bloom's. Did she even realize what she had here?

She'd love to trade places with her right now, really, broken legs and all, even. Farm living wasn't the life for her, but Apple Bloom had a comfy place to sleep, regular meals, Granny Smith to fuss over her, and a protective brother and sister.

Too protective for her liking, but it was more than she had.

She lay back, enjoying the soft blanket under her, and closed her eyes. Enough of all this. She needed to know what was going on out there. Her ears perked up as she strained to hear what was going on.

"Back already? You've already talked to Filthy? I'd imagine he must be in a right state."

That sounded like Granny Smith, and she must be talking to Scootaloo. She really hoped Scoots hadn't actually talked to Daddy, or it was all over.

"Er, he mainly wanted to know about if Apple Bloom accepted her apology and if the Apple family was still upset about what happened. He didn't ask much about how Diamond was doing," Scootaloo grumbled. "He did say she should stay here until they've made up and she's feeling better."

With the way Scootaloo was going on about Daddy being more concerned about the apology than her, it made her think that Scootaloo didn't like him, or maybe was even upset with him on her behalf. That was sort of a warm glowing feeling she wasn't really used to.

Scoots had also given her an out to stay here as long as she wanted, or at least, until she was feeling better.

Thank you, Scoots. Maybe in a few years, I'll feel better.

"Hmmph. I'd think he would show a bit more concern for his daughter," Granny Smith said, more than a touch of annoyance in her voice. "Did he seem like he was alright to you? He's seemed a mite off for quite a while to me, and was awfully twitchy last time we met."

"Dunno, really. Never talk to him, so I wouldn't know how he usually is. How is Diamond doing?"

"Last I looked, she was sleeping like a lamb. A few bruises and head aching, but nothing time and a little rest won't fix. why don't you see if Apple Bloom and your other friend are ready to talk, an' I'll see if she's up?"

Was she up? Not being able to wake her up after she hurt her head might be enough to get them to actually talk to Daddy, so she supposed she'd better be.

The door creaked open.

"You up, young filly? How're you feelin'?"

Diamond brought one foreleg to her head and tried for a dramatic groan. "Horrible! I think I might have to stay for a while until I get better. Next week?"

Granny Smith laughed good-naturedly. "Feelin' good enough to be thinkin' 'bout getting out of school, I see. Think you're ready for company?"

Maybe her acting skills had gotten rusty. While she'd had a part in a play once, it'd been a while. Or maybe it was just Granny Smith. She seemed pretty sharp for such an old lady.

Daddy would've bought it, but he didn't really pay that much attention, and while Grey would've seen right through her, Daddy was always the important one to convince.

He had been, anyway. That still hurt. Suddenly feeling much worse than she had a minute ago, she gave up the act and opened her eyes wearily.

"Okay, I guess. Can I have something to drink first, though?"

She was going to have to do some talking, after all, and her throat was still a little raw.

Granny Smith raised an eyebrow and picked up a glass of water from the table right next to Diamond and passed it to her. Oh, right.

"Why don't you go ahead and try drinkin' it yourself this time. Your nap oughta've done you some good. You see, your body works on fixin' itself up when you're sleepin'. An' let me tell you, when you get to my age, you'll need that."

Diamond gulped down the water, a bit dribbling down into her fur, then set it back down. Her throat had needed that, even if her bladder didn't.

Well, here it goes. She was even less ready for this than when she'd come in the room, and what she had in mind to do next was probably pretty stupid, but she needed to get this over with.

"I guess I'd better talk to them. They're going to the clubhouse afterwards, too, and I think I'll have to go along." She bit her lip. "The only way I could think to make things up to Apple Bloom will involve stopping by pretty often to help her. That's not a problem, is it?"

Granny Smith, after all, was obviously the real head of the house here. Getting permission ahead of time wasn't really something she usually did, but Granny Smith was being so nice to her right now, so she might as well.

"That'd be nice of you, dear. I don't mind you helpin' out, long as you stay clear of Apple Bloom if she starts gettin' agitated. Do you want me in the room while the two of you have your lil' talk?"

Was Granny Smith worried about her? Nah, she was probably worried more about Apple Bloom, since she was her granddaughter. She shouldn't go reading too much into it.

She shook her head, though. If Granny Smith was in the room, she'd probably try to stop Diamond before she did anything stupid. And since she was going to do something stupid, she couldn't have that.

"I think this'd go better if this was just the four of us, though you might want to come back if it sounds like I'm being strangled again."

"As long as you're sure. I'd hate to see you getting hurt again." Granny Smith did look concerned. Why was she concerned? Maybe it was because of her business relationship with Daddy. She didn't know that he didn't care what happened to her. No one did. Did they?

"If anything happens, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle'll put a stop to it." She wasn't at all sure of that, but as long as she sounded confident, maybe it'd be enough.

Granny Smith looked a bit skeptical, but let it go. "Just let me know when you're finished, then. And if you need it, when you go out the door, there's a bathroom to the right."

Diamond nodded. She certainly would need it sooner than later. All that tea was starting to catch up with her.

A few minutes after Granny Smith left, the Crusaders filtered into the room. Despite the new ribbon on her mane, Apple Bloom did not look at all happy. The way her wheelchair lurched around as Sweetie Belle pushed it didn't help. Her casts almost hit the bed before the chair came to a rest beside it.

Scootaloo walked in a moment later and settled down on the other side, closer to the door. The way she was looking at it suggested she'd much rather be out of here as well.

Sweetie Belle nudged Apple Bloom. "I think somepony had something to say here?"

"Guess I went a little far," Apple Bloom muttered sullenly. "Sweetie Belle says I need to apologize to you."

The conversation was off to a great start so far. Diamond gave what was supposed to be a small cough for effect, but quickly turned into a much larger bout of coughing before she sipped some more water.

"I'm still not feeling so good, so come over here." Diamond waved Apple Bloom closer. "Sweetie Belle, can you get the wheelchair right next to me and the table?"

"Um, okay, I guess." She looked doubtful, but she somehow managed to lurch the chair into position.

"Good." She pointed over to the table. "See that vase there, Apple Bloom?"

Apple Bloom glanced at it in confusion. "Yeah, why?"

"It looks nice and heavy, and you're pretty strong. Why don't you pick it up, and smash it right against my legs? I won't move. The way I feel, I couldn't move fast enough to get away anyways."

Several horrified looks were shot at her, but Apple Bloom spoke first. "What!?"

"You wanted my legs broken like yours, didn't you?" Diamond asked. "Actually, no, you wanted me dead. That's right. Well, aim it at my head instead, then. It's all the same."

"It's not-" Sweetie Belle said, before being cut off by Apple Bloom.

"You're crazy!"

"Just practical." Diamond crossed her legs. "Look, if you're gonna kill me or break my legs, can you please do it now? I kind of need to pee."

"I'm not gonna kill ya!"

"Breaking my legs it is, then!" Diamond said cheerily. "Here, let me get them a little closer, so you can reach them better."

Diamond scooted a bit closer to Apple Bloom's horrified face, feeling a heady rush go through her. She was in total control of the situation now, all because she didn't really care all that much what happened to her. It was wonderful, giving her a type of freedom and power, something she hadn't felt in quite a while.

Apple Bloom yelped and would have backed up, except that the chair was still being held in place by Sweetie Belle, who was just standing still, plainly with no idea what to do. She couldn't quite see what Scootaloo was up to at the moment, but she was sure they'd talk about it later anyways.

"I won't break your legs!" Apple Bloom managed to say.

"Why not? I thought that was what you wanted, wasn't it? An eye for an eye and a leg for a leg or something?" She took another drink of water. "Think about it. There I am, stuck in a wheelchair, totally at everypony's mercy, and every time you see me, you know that it's all your fault. Wouldn't that be great?"

"It'd be horrible!"

Diamond slumped down a bit, pretty sure she wasn't going to be attacked any time soon. "Okay, you win, it'd be horrible. So why won't you at least let me apologize?"

Apple Bloom was witty and verbose as ever. "Huh?"

Did she really have to spell everything out for her?

"I'm the one who put you there, remember? You think maybe that's how I feel?"

From the look on her face, she didn't, but she was beginning to. Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle took a swig of water from the glass Diamond had been drinking from, which was kind of disgusting, really. She made a mental note not to drink from it again.

"Look, you're acting real weird, you know? I shouldn't've attacked you. I was upset, and I didn't mean to, all right? I'm sorry."

"Me too. I really didn't mean to break your legs. A lot's happened while you were in the hospital, and I just want to make this right."

"You can't, though. You just can't! I'm stuck here in this chair an' can't use my legs! How can you even start to make up for that?" Apple Bloom looked like she was about ready to go into hysterics again. Sweetie Belle put one foreleg on her shoulder, and she settled down a little.

Diamond leaned closer. "I did have one idea. What if I was your legs for a while?"

"What, you mean like get Twilight to use a swapping spell on our legs or somethin'?"

"I don't think that'd work." Diamond certainly hoped it wouldn't. "Since pushing you got me into this whole mess, what if I push you around some more? Only this time I'd be pushing you to school and back, and anywhere else you needed to get to in that wheelchair or yours."

For once Apple Bloom was lost in thought, which was a rare thing to see. "I dunno. Thing is, I don't really trust you. I'm sure Sweetie Belle an' Scoots'd help me out with all that."

"Sweetie Belle almost hit your legs on the bed a minute ago, and as far as Scootaloo goes- well, I don't think you've made up with her yet, unless I missed it."

"Made up with her?" Apple Bloom asked, a startled tone in her voice.

"Well, she's all the way over there acting like she doesn't want to be here, so I'd assume you haven't talked about it yet." As she pointed over at Scootaloo, Scootaloo suddenly looked in their direction.

"Scoots?" Apple Bloom shifted her gaze across to her. "What's wrong? Are you upset about somethin'?"

There was an awkward pause, which in Diamond's experience, was usually best filled with sarcasm.

"Well, I'm sure I wouldn't know. It's not like somepony called her a cripple earlier or anything."

"I didn't?" Apple Bloom's face turned ashen and she started babbling. "I did, didn't I? Oh geez, I'm sorry, Scoots, I really didn't mean it that way. You know I don't think of you that way, don't you? I didn't mean that, really I didn't."

Across the room, Scootaloo finally spoke up. "Apple Bloom, you're such a flankface."

"But I'm your flankface, right? Are we okay?"

The nod Scootaloo gave looked halfhearted at best, but Apple Bloom seemed to treat it as if it had settled things. She turned back towards Diamond.

"There, see? Scoots knows I didn't really mean it," Apple Bloom said. "And don't you get any ideas 'bout telling everypony in the school her wings don't work."

Diamond blinked.

"Her wings don't work? I see her buzz around town all the time with them," she said, as innocently as she could manage. She saw no reason to let Apple Bloom off the hook about this, even if Scootaloo's backbone seemed to have vanished.

Apple Bloom frowned.

"You know what I mean. Why are you still here, anyway? You've said you're sorry, I've said I'm sorry, and we've got a Crusader meeting to go to." A smug smile replaced her frown and she crossed her forelegs. "Members only."

"You know, Apple Bloom, there's this thing where if somepony gets hurt in your house, especially by somepony in your family, where you take care of them until they are feeling better?" Diamond said. "It's called hospitality. Your grandmother could teach you a thing or two about it, I think."

"I couldn't have hurt you that much. You're probably just faking it for sympathy. That'd be just like you."

Diamond pointed at her neck. "These spots here aren't normally purple. I wonder what I should say when everypony asks me how I got them?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, this? I just got it when Apple Bloom tried to murder me. She's quite mad, you know. I don't ever know what came over her." Diamond said in a mocking tone of voice. She considered trying to fake a swoon, then realised she'd probably end up really unconscious if she tried that.

"You are not telling everypony in school that." Apple Bloom glared at her.

"What, these bruises? I'm sorry, Apple Bloom told me I can't say anything about them. Why don't you ask her?" Diamond said flippantly. "Maybe if you buy me a nice scarf, I'll consider wrapping it around my neck and just saying it's a new fashion accessory? I can compromise, after all."

That was actually what she'd already had in mind to do, but getting Apple Bloom riled up was always fun.

"Oh, I'll get you a scarf, all right. I'll get it and wrap it right around your big, fat-"

"Girls!" Sweetie Belle's voice came stridently from behind Apple Bloom. "That's about enough of that! Apple Bloom, I don't know what's gotten into you, but stop it. And Diamond Tiara, stop acting like you usually do. Um, but don't act like you were when we came in, either. That was scary."

Apple Bloom's ears lay back on her head.

"Sorry, Sweetie Belle. Can't we just do our Crusader meeting now? I didn't want any of this really. I just wanted to act normal an' not think about things for a while. Can't I have that, at least?"

"We'll do our Crusader meeting," Sweetie Belle said. Apple Bloom brightened. "But Diamond is coming too."

Apple Bloom's face fell again. "Don't see why."

"Diamond has a few things she needs to talk about, but not here," Sweetie Belle told her. "And she needs to talk about them."

"Look, I'll say my piece at the beginning, all right?" Diamond cut in, suddenly sick of all this. "Then I'll let you guys have your whole silly meeting."

Apple Bloom sighed. "Fine. But it better be quick."

"Okay, come on, then. Scoots, can you push Apple Bloom this time?"

Scootaloo slowly walked around and silently traded places with Sweetie Belle.

Diamond crossed her hind legs a second time, then slowly climbed down the bed and walked towards the door. "I'll meet you in the hall."

"Where are you goin'?" Apple Bloom asked.

"I need to use the bathroom, remember? Don't think I can hold it much longer."

That said, she ducked into the hall and into a room to the right. Fortunately, it actually was the bathroom, not a closet or something, and she was able to go about her business normally for what was probably the first time in days, instead of having to use a bush or tree. It was funny how amazing having something like plumbing seemed after a few days without it.

After freshening up, she left the bathroom, wondering vaguely if they'd still be there. It wasn't the end of the world if they weren't. It'd give her an opportunity for another nap.

This, however, seemed unlikely, as something zoomed past her. Looking at the end of the hall, she saw Apple Bloom's wheelchair come screeching to a halt, Scootaloo hanging on to the back. Sweetie Belle came following a moment later.

Diamond walked up to the wheelchair.

"You know," she said casually, "it seems to me like if I really had it out for you, all I'd have to do is not offer to help. You'll end up back in the hospital if you keep this up."

"What do you know?" Apple Bloom snapped at her.

"Well, I doubt I could do much worse. Why don't I just push your chair to the clubhouse, at least?"

Apple Bloom rubbed a hoof across her forehead. "Fine. But if you try anything…"

"Sweetie Belle's already let me know where she'll put her horn and what she'll do with it."

Sweetie Belle nodded solemnly at this.

"I don't even want to think 'bout it. Let's just go."

"Going somewhere?" Granny Smith asked as she rounded the corner with Applejack.

"We had a Crusader meeting?" Sweetie Belle offered.

"Exactly how much crusading do you think you're going to do with my sis's legs broken?" Applejack asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Well, we were gonna talk 'bout it, anyways. We'll be careful, honest," Apple Bloom said.

"You're always going to be careful." She looked between Diamond and Apple Bloom. "You girls make up yet?"

Diamond scowled. "I tried. We both said sorry at some point, which is probably as good as it's going to get right now. "

"You sure you should be out of bed?" Granny Smith asked.

"I'm sure I can make it to their silly little meeting," Diamond said. "If you find me lying on the ground somewhere afterwards, maybe I'll need more time to get better."

"Now don't go pushin' yourself too hard if you still aren't feelin' good," Applejack said. "There'll always be time later."

"I have to pick up some dresses from Rarity later anyways," Diamond said breezily. She gave Apple Bloom a glare. "And a scarf."

"I told ya I'm not gettin' you a scarf!" Apple Bloom scowled and returned the glare.

"Girls…" Sweetie Belle said, a distinct warning tone in her voice.

"Your family always was too headstrong for your own good, I reckon," Granny Smith said, and then turned to Sweetie Belle. "Sweetie, can you keep an eye on her and get her back here or home if she isn't doin' too good? An' maybe try an' keep 'em from fightin'?"

"I keep trying!" an exasperated Sweetie Belle said. "They just keep going at it, though!"

She looked at both of them and seemed to come to a decision.

"All right. Either of you start at it again, you both are getting stuck in a three-way hug with me, and I'm not letting go until you both start playing nice! I swear I might as well have brought Opal along!"

"A group hug?" Apple Bloom said, not seeming particularly pleased with the thought. "With Diamond Tiara?"

"Uh-huh," Sweetie Belle said. "And I might make you kiss and make up. Don't try me."

Wait, kiss and make up was just a phrase, wasn't it? She didn't mean that literally, right? Diamond looked to Scootaloo questioningly.

"Go along with it," Scootaloo said, breaking her silence. "Believe me, you don't want to cross Sweetie Belle. She doesn't get mad easily, but…"

"I'll be good," Diamond said hastily. She wasn't sure how hugs could be so menacing, but wasn't sure she wanted to find out.

"Well, if you're all intent on this clubhouse meeting, don't be out too late, and try not to hurt your legs any worse or the wheelchair. It's been in the family for generations, you know," Applejack said.

"You take care of yourself," Granny Smith told them, and Diamond swore she was looking right at her.

Grabbing ahold of the wheelchair, Diamond started through the hall, finding it surprisingly easy to manage, despite her condition. It made her wonder how the others could possibly be so bad at it. Filing through the door, they all finally started on their way to the clubhouse.

It'd be awfully nice if that was the end of it, Diamond thought. But now I have to talk all about my disgrace and humiliation to somepony who totally hates my guts and I haven't had a single civil word or polite conversation with.

Well, maybe she won't gloat too much.

Crosseyed and Painless

View Online

Now that she was outside, maneuvering the wheelchair was rather more difficult. Diamond had to watch for rocks and apples and other such obstacles. She had to stay on the dirt paths now, and it was difficult to avoid getting all that icky dust on her that the wheels kicked up.

It didn't help that Apple Bloom kept looking backwards and glaring at her. She wasn't even sure she understood why. She'd much rather have somepony pushing her anywhere she wanted rather than having to walk everywhere.

Better yet, how about having several ponies carry her around in a chair? They could give her something to drink when she was thirsty, snacks, and wipe off the sweat on her forehead when she was hot. It would be even better if they were ponies she didn't really like.

Pushing this chair around wasn't so bad, though. It was just a matter of keeping an eye on where you were moving it to. It was just a matter of watching that turn, avoiding those rocks, going around that tree ahead, making sure not to crash into that boulder… actually, wait, no, that was Apple Bloom's brother ahead.

What was his name again? Big Mac, wasn't it? Had there ever been a Little Mac? Maybe he had actually been Little Mac originally, and it had just been changed when he got big.

Either way, that was him right ahead of her, blocking the path. Diamond stopped pushing the wheelchair. She really hoped he wasn't in a yelling and killing her type of mood right now. For all she knew, Apple Bloom took after him.

It didn't seem too likely as he got closer and she got a good look. His head was hung low, and he seemed a bit more flushed than usual as he walked towards her, though it was hard to tell with all that red.

As he came up to the wheelchair, he nodded to Apple Bloom, said "Lil' sis," and then continued around to Diamond. Stopping there, they both stood in silence until he finally spoke.

"I reckon I shouldn't have yelled at you back there."

"No," Diamond replied, "you shouldn't have."

"It seems I owe you an apology. Shouldn'ta have jumped to conclusions."

"Why's everypony being nice to her all of the sudden?" Apple Bloom grumped. "She broke my legs!"

Big Macintosh turned to her and frowned. "Now you just hush. I was yelling because I thought she'd hurt you, an' now I find out that you were the one doin' the hurtin'. You should be ashamed. She was a guest, an' you don't do that unless they're tryin' to hurt you first. I know you're upset, an' I know what happened to your legs, but that ain't how we Apples do things."

Apple Bloom slumped downward in her chair and seemed to become a bit smaller. "But I…"

"You an' me will talk 'bout this later," he said firmly. He looked back at Diamond. "Again, my apologies for my and my sister’s actions, Miss Tiara. I'll just be on my way."

Without saying another word, he continued on past them, nodding briefly to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo as he went by.

After a minute of standing there wondering about the sudden turnaround, Diamond continued down the path. It wasn't actually that far to the clubhouse from where she was, and in a minute she was standing at the bottom of the ramp up. She looked it over dubiously, and back at the wheelchair.

"I think I can get you up there, but all those bumps are going to make it pretty tough," she told Apple Bloom.

"Yeah. I forgot 'bout those," Apple Bloom said faintly, not sounding nearly as cocky as earlier. "I thought those hoofholds were a real good idea when I made the ramp, but now I'm not so sure. I didn't want anypony slipping, so they'll make it so you don't go too far, but I never thought 'bout wheelchairs."

"You made the ramp yourself?" Diamond asked. That sounded like a lot of work, cutting things, banging on nails, getting splinters and all that. It was exhausting just to think about.

"She made most of the clubhouse herself, really," Sweetie Belle said softly from behind Diamond. "It was a real wreck when we got it, and most of it needed to be totally rebuilt."

"You made most of it?" Diamond looked back at the clubhouse in a new light. "And you still don't have your cutie mark?"

"Can't you at least let up on the whole 'blank flank' thing for once?" Apple Bloom said.

"No, its just, well, that's a lot of work, and it looks pretty well made. I'm just surprised if you can build things that well that you didn't get a cutie mark for it."

"Wouldn't that have been ironic?" Scootaloo said. "Spending all that time getting the clubhouse together so we could go crusading to find our cutie marks, and then getting a cutie mark for it and not having to use it?"

"Let's just get up past all those bumps. They're not going to get better looking at them," Apple Bloom said, sounding more than a little embarrassed.

Diamond shrugged and started going up. It was pretty tempting to make each bump as rough as possible, but things hadn't gone well last time she'd given in to temptation, and she wanted to at least try to do this properly. It was slow, but eventually she made it to the top, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle behind her.

"Okay, we're here. Why don't you say what you have to say, then you can get back home and we can have our meeting? " Apple Bloom said. "I'm sure there are all sorts of things you'd rather be doing."

A hard lump formed in Diamond's throat. This wouldn't be easy. "First, you won't tell anypony about what I'm going to say. I need your promise on that."

"Why not? Didn't you want us to spread all the juicy gossip all over Ponyville?"

"That was different!"

"I'm not sure how," Apple Bloom said. "None of the ponies we wrote about for you wanted their secrets talked about."

"And that worked out so well for you that you want to try it again, huh?" Diamond took a few deep breaths. "Look, I already told Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle about this, and they promised. Can't you?"

"Will that get it over faster?" Apple Bloom sighed. "Fine. I promise. Now talk."

It was now or never, she supposed. never might have been better.

"So, about that night… Miss Cheerilee came over to talk to Daddy. She wasn't happy, and he was really upset at me."

"Good," Apple Bloom said. "He should be. I guess he's actually punishing you this time, instead of letting you off the hook like usual? Is that why you're acting so weird?"

She walked out in front of Apple Bloom’s wheelchair.

"Look, didn't you notice something missing?" She passed a forehoof through the air above her mane, to illustrate her point.

"Huh. You do usually wear that thing everywhere, don't you? You got it taken away?"

"Not taken away. He… he broke it. I don't think it could be fixed." She closed her eyes, feeling weary. She supposed she should have been more upset than she was right now, but she'd she'd been through so much recently that it was starting to just all feel numb.

"Geez. So that's why you decided to apologize and all this?"

"It's not just that that. Afterwards, he, well, he kicked… he kicked me out." Diamond took another deep breath. "He said I wasn't his daughter any more."

It was out there, at least. Goal met. Now she could either chauffeur Apple Bloom around in her wheelchair, or go crawl off in a hole somewhere and die. She wasn't sure she cared which at the moment.

"Well, that's not right. How could you not be his daughter any more? That's not how families work. He might have gotten angry an' grounded you, but he'd still be your family. That's what families are for. They're there when you need them. That's the whole point. He couldn't have done that. Could he?"

"Not all families are like yours, Apple Bloom," Scootaloo said.

"You know, no comparison to Scoots, but my parents don't really remember I'm there most of the time. If I'm not home, they figure I'm with Rarity. That might usually be true, but…" Sweetie Belle trailed off.

"And your mother just went along with this?"

"Mommy… mommy's dead," Diamond said, a little perplexed. "Weren't you at the funeral a few years ago? I thought the whole Apple family was there. You didn't know that?"

"There was a funeral a few years ago, wasn't there? I don't think I was ever told who it was for, though. Right. So who are you living with now?"

Now that was a tricky one. "That's really why I needed to tell you about this. I've spent the last couple of nights here. We'll probably be seeing each other a lot, I'm afraid."

"In the clubhouse? Scoots, you're okay with this?"

"She doesn't have anywhere else to stay. You remember where I was sleeping before the clubhouse, don't you?"

"Yeah, but it's our clubhouse? Don't you have any other relatives that could take you in?"

"Not in Ponyville," Diamond said.

"Well, outside of Ponyville, then," Apple Bloom said. "It's not like you have to stay here."

Diamond spent a minute in thought. "I… I think I have an aunt somewhere. I haven't seen her in a long time."

"There you go, then, go live with her," Apple Bloom said matter of factly.

"Move away from Ponyville?" Ponyville was her home. It was the only place she'd ever lived. Even thinking about going somewhere else was weird. "I don't actually know where she lives. I'm not even sure she's alive. She had a big fight with Daddy a few years ago, and I haven't seen her since."

It wasn't like she'd have a reason to take her in, either, if she wasn't on good terms with Daddy.

"You could try to find out. I don't really like the idea of you staying in my clubhouse…"

Sweetie Belle stepped between them. "Diamond, could you go outside? It'll just be a few minutes. I think we need to talk about this."

Oh good, another important conversation she wouldn't be in the room for.

"Fine," she said, walking out the door. She decided to lie on the ramp just outside, out of view. It might be uncomfortable, with the bumps working into her back, but she wanted to hear some of what was going on.

"Look, her situation sucks, but this is our special place. It's not like we owe her anything. She's always been horrible to us."

"Sweetie Belle, could you remind Apple Bloom of the spot I was in when we first met? She needs help. Diamond isn't able to cope with all of this herself, and she shouldn't have to."

"We really should let her stay here. It'd be better if we could get her to tell somepony and have her get a real home, but since she's as stubborn as another pony I know, I think we should let her stay."

"Why are the two of you on her side?"

"Look, I've been thinking," Sweetie Belle continued. "Remember Babs?"

"What about Babs?"

"Remember what we did to the float? I know we tried to stop it, but suppose things had happened a little differently? What if Babs had ended up breaking her legs in the crash, and it was all our fault? I don't like what Diamond did, but I can understand it. We're not that much better, really."

"I… I guess. I don't like it, but… it'd be pretty bad of me not let her stay, wouldn't it? It's just… I'm stuck here in this chair. I can't walk around by myself, and even need help getting to the bathroom. Things are all in pieces, and I'm really mad an' upset. It's easier if I have somepony to be mad at. I just… I don't know what I'm supposed to do…"

Starting to feel uncomfortable, Diamond quietly got up and went down to the ground, where she wouldn't hear as well. With as bad as she was acting, it was hard to remember, but Apple Bloom was about as bad off right now as she was, wasn't she?

That probably should have been obvious. It was hardly like she'd never taken out her problems on everypony around her. It just didn't feel the same when it was somepony else doing it, especially since it was her fault.

There'd been some other interesting information. So they'd really been responsible for that float crashing? Why had Babs picked them over her, then? Maybe they just didn't tell her. Babs had been such a lousy friend, though. They spent all that time together and she got ditched without warning like that?

There had been that crack about her mother, too. That had hurt more than the mud. She'd really wanted to get her back about that for quite a while. But then, that's how she'd gotten into this mess.

After the last bit she'd heard, she was more than content to be excluded from the rest of the meeting. That had seemed like something that really should be private.

She'd feel better about sitting out here if she had something to eat, of course. She wasn't even sure if lunch was going to happen, with the way things were these days.

Not knowing when your next meal was was certainly going to get old. She should have been able to wave one hoof and have a fire-roasted eggplant sandwich in it the next. Well, maybe something a little less fancy. The cook had left a few weeks ago, after all. Grey had been pretty good at getting her something suitable to eat even after that, though.

Everything that came next was basically up to the Crusaders. If they were going to go to town, she should come along and push the wheelchair there. She wouldn't be surprised if she managed to get another free meal from Sweetie Belle if they did. Should she feel guilty that she was doing that so often?

"Diamond?" Sweetie Belle's voice came from behind her, almost as if she was summoned by thinking of her. "You can come back up to the clubhouse now. We're done talking."

Diamond got up, and followed Sweetie Belle back up the ramp, and went in the clubhouse once again. Scootaloo was sitting on her cushion, and Apple Bloom's eyes were red and slightly damp.

"I guess you can stay here," Apple Bloom said, without any sort of opening. "though you'd be better off just telling somepony about it. But you said you wanted to spend your time pushing me around in my wheelchair earlier?"

"It seemed like one of the few things I can do to make up for things, and it's not like I don't have time now. I've got nothing but time, really."

"You’re doing a lot better at it than Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were, so I guess if you're gonna be around that much, we can do that. You'll probably be able to get snacks and such, too, as long as my family knows you're helping," Apple Bloom smiled, as if she'd just thought of something. "That means you're working for me, and will do anything I say, doesn't it?"

Visions of Apple Bloom ordering her to do all sorts of embarrassing things as vengeance went through Diamond's mind.

"I'll do anything Scootaloo says," she quickly amended. "If I think it's reasonable I'll do it, but otherwise, Scootaloo can decide if it's fair."

Right after that, she remembered Pinkie Pie's whole weird thing about being Scootaloo's pet, and wondered if this was a good idea. Too late now, of course.

"I guess the two of you are getting along, at least, then? That was one of the things I was worried about with you staying here."

"I can live with Scootaloo. Other than the first night, she's been fine. It's everypony else I have to worry about."

"Scoots did let you know that Miss Cheerilee gave them detention and talked to the class, right?" Sweetie Belle said. "I don't think they'll give you trouble if you come to class on Monday."

"Wait, gave who detention? Talked to the class about what?" Apple Bloom asked. "What have I missed?"

"I missed most of it, too, but I guess you weren't the only one upset with Diamond," Sweetie Belle said. "She kinda got ambushed at lunch a few days ago."

"It was by Snips, Snails, Rumble, and I think her name was Archer. They thought breaking my legs in return for yours was a good idea. Hurt myself getting away, too."

Scootaloo looked a little uneasy. Just as Diamond was wondering why, Sweetie Belle spoke.

"That's right, you've been sorta avoiding Archer, haven't you, Scoots?"

Scootaloo barely nodded.

"Really? Why?" Then something occurred to her. "Archer actually does look a lot like you without wings, doesn't she?"

She wasn't expecting Scootaloo to violently flinch after she said that. Sweetie Belle quickly was next to her, and moments later had Scootaloo locked in a big hug.

"I said something, didn't I?" As her mental gears ticked away, one thought presented itself to her. "You're worried she might be related to you, aren't you? That she might have heard you’re missing, and let your parents know where you are?"

"Not any more. I happened to overhear Archer tell somepony once that there was no way the two of us could be related. It seems she has a pure bloodline. Nothing but earth ponies all the way back, on both sides of her family."

There was enough sarcasm in Scootaloo's voice for Diamond to be sure she was missing something.

"I think my grandmother was a unicorn, though she died before I was born," Diamond said. "I could see most of your family only being earth ponies, but all? Does that really happen?"

"Not really, but some ponies think it does. It's pretty- Sweetie Belle, could you stop squeezing? I can't breathe!"

"Sorry."

Sweetie Belle reluctantly let go of Scootaloo, though she didn't want to seem to move from near her.

"It's pretty unlikely, anyways. I'd think somepony along the line'd be adopted, or not have the mother or father they think they do."

"That just seems weird." She glanced at Apple Bloom, wondering if she actually had any pegasi or unicorns in her family. "It's not like what type of pony you are matters."

"Really?" Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. "I might have been wrong about you."

"That should be obvious. What matters is how much money they have, their connections, and what they can do for you."

"Oh. Never mind, I might not have been."

Diamond decided to change the subject. "Didn't we come here so you could discuss what to do to get your cutie marks?"

"I'm not even sure what we haven't done at this point," Apple Bloom said. "I think we were going to be brainstorming about it."

"Have we tried mining?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I don't think the wheelchair would fit down in a mine," Diamond stated. "You do realize you aren't likely to all have the same talent, right?"

"Well, yeah, but..." Apple Bloom said.

"And your special talent can be something you've done before, too. It doesn't have to be something you've never done. It probably isn't."

"Look, we know all that, okay?" Sweetie Belle said. "We just haven't come up with anything better, that's all." She looked over at Diamond's flank. "What if you tell us how you got your cutie mark?"

How she got her cutie mark? "That wouldn't help much."

"It might," Apple Bloom said. "Why don't you tell us anyways?"

"I'd really rather not talk about it," Diamond said. It had been an important moment for her, and she'd been excited to get it, but thinking back on it, it just seemed… hollow, somehow.

"I'd really rather not be wearing casts and sitting in a wheelchair. You said you'd do anything I asked, and it's not like this is a big deal. Let's hear it," Apple Bloom said. "If it's alright with Scoots, that is."

Diamond looked at Scootaloo, and when she failed to object, sighed. It wasn't like there was much to it.

"Fine," Diamond said. "I was looking in a really big mirror in my room one day, trying on my tiara in different poses. Suddenly there was a flash and I had a tiara on my flank, too. I was so excited to get a cutie mark at the time, I don't even remember what I was thinking about when I got it. See what I mean?"

Apple Bloom looked over at Diamond Tiara in envy. "That is so unfair!"

A wave of irritation she didn't even know she had swept over Diamond Tiara, and a dam burst inside of her. Apple Bloom thought that was something to be pleased with? Proud, even? Not even really thinking about what she was saying, she exploded.

"You think that's unfair? I'll tell you what unfair is!" she ranted. "The three of you could be a doctor, a lawyer, or even the next mayor. You could be anything! I can't! What kind of special talent is looking good in a tiara, especially when I don't even have one? How'd you like your cutie mark to be for being totally useless?"

And it was true. She hadn't quite acknowledged it until now, but it must have been there beneath the surface for quite a while. She just hadn't really wanted to admit it to herself, especially with how special that tiara had always been to her. But she, and her talent, weren't good for much of anything at all.

She felt a pair of forelegs wrap around her, and didn't even have to look over to realise it was Sweetie Belle.

"You're jealous, aren't you?" Sweetie Belle said, as she hugged Diamond. "You've been jealous of us ever since your cuteceañera, haven't you?"

As quickly as the rant had come, it went. It was hard to stay upset when you had Sweetie Belle hugging you, and she was so tired.

"Maybe," she mumbled.

With Sweetie Belle's forearms wrapped around her, and her chest against her, she could see why Scootaloo had settled down so fast. With Sweetie Belle's soft, fluffy fur pressed against her, she made herself a promise.

She was going to track down whatever conditioner she was using, and get herself a couple of bottles.

She heard Apple Bloom sigh. "How 'bout if we just go to town, try to have some fun, get some lunch, and not think about things? No talking about cutie marks, my legs, being useless, or anything else likely to get any of us upset. I'm kind of tired anyways. Didn't think I would be, having been in bed all the time."

"I had to pick up a bunch of things from the Carousel Boutique, so that's fine with me," Diamond said, "and didn't you have to take the wagon in for repair, Scoots?"

"I already did," Scootaloo replied. "You didn't think I actually went over to see your father, right?"

She hadn't, but it was nice to hear it confirmed.

"I'm kinda hungry, too," Sweetie Belle said. "Let's go for it."

With the general consensus, Diamond got behind the wheelchair, and wheeled it slowly back out of the clubhouse, one bump at a time. With Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle following, she started off until she got to the top of a hill. Apple Bloom held a hoof up, and she stopped.

"I've got an idea. Let's have some fun. Scoots, sit over to my left, on the armrest, and Sweetie Belle, go to my right."

"Wait just a moment…" Diamond protested, as they climbed on board. Apple Bloom grinned and whistled. Winona bounded up from somewhere onto her lap, and Apple Bloom picked her up and sat her down right on top of her head. "Now, lets go."

"I'm supposed to push all of that?!"

Apple Bloom just smiled and started talking in a silly voice.

"Space. The final frontier. There are the voyages of the Chairship-" She looked around for a moment. "Appleprize, on its continuing mission. To seek out new life. To explore strange new places and get our cutie marks. To boldly go where nopony has gone before!"

"What's our mission today, Captain Bloom?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Today we're going on a expedition to meet with, um, the fierce felines of the planet, er, Fabritex."

"I'm not sure I can push all of you at once!" Diamond said. "We might crash!"

"No, no, you've got to get into the spirit of things!" Apple Bloom said. "Lieutenant Scoot?"

"The engines canna take much more of this Captain! They're going to blow!"

"Much better."

As the wheelchair sped down the hill and Diamond clung to its back, not knowing what else to do, she found herself laughing hysterically, accompanied by the occasional bark from Winona, as they rolled on into town.

Space Oddity

View Online

Woosh!

A greenish blur whizzed by to Diamond's left, to the accompaniment of a few barks. Had that been a tree?

"Stop!" Another blur barely missed them to their right.

Oh no, there was a pothole just up ahead! No, now it was behind them, she guessed. Think, Diamond. You need to convince Apple Bloom that they need to stop. And it has to be in character, doesn't it?

"Captain! The wheel— chairship is experiencing heavy turbulence!" she ventured, hoping she was on the right track as she tightly gripped the handlebars. "We almost hit a wormhole and barely missed a, er, facial anomaly. The ship's dangerously overbalanced, and we need to jettison excess cargo immediately!"

"Belle, recommendations?" Apple Bloom asked, not seeming nearly as concerned as Diamond was. She almost had to wonder how Apple Bloom hadn't broken her legs before now, at this rate. Fortunately, the path was leveling out, and the wheelchair was slowing down enough to almost be back under her control.

"Captain, I estimate an 86.479 percent chance of ending up in a collision at our present speed and course," Sweetie Belle hurriedly said. "Suggest we drop to impulse, and send an away team to the anomaly?"

Diamond wasn't quite sure what an 'away team' was, finding herself woefully unprepared for a silly science fiction trek. Still, away was good, especially if it was away from the wheelchair.

"Make it so," Apple Bloom said as she pointed vaguely forward with one hoof.

Diamond was already digging her back hooves into the ground by now, not wanting to trust to a positive reply, and she winced as the wheelchair came to a halt. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle scrambled off the sides, and Apple Bloom nudged Winona until she stopped barking excitedly and jumped down, panting.

Diamond adjusted the padding on her injured hoof and breathed a sigh of relief. Now that they were off, she could probably steer it properly. Of course, there were other things she was unclear about.

"So, what is my position on the crew, anyways?" she asked, half to herself. If she did have to play along, she needed to know the rules. You couldn't take advantage of them and skirt around them if you didn't know what they were, after all.

"Welll…" Apple Bloom scratched at the base of her bow. "Belle is both my science officer and first officer, and Lieutenant Scoot is in charge of engineering. Maybe you could be security? I bet we could find a red shirt for you."

Somehow, that idea didn't sit well with Diamond Tiara.

"How 'bout the ship’s weapon's officer?" Scootaloo suggested. "Ready the futon torpedos! Fire at will!"

"Or maybe you could be the ship's counselor?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Diamond shook her head. They were supposed to be on the bridge of a spaceship, right? Why would a ship's counselor be there? And as tempting as being the weapons officer was…

"Maybe I'm your navigation officer? I am steering, after all," she said, and smiled weakly.

Apple Bloom frowned. "I suppose that does sort of make some sense, though I think that's the helmsmare, and it involves talking in a real funny accent."

"And you have to take a dip in the pond to get all wet, an' then go running all around with a sword, don't you?"

"Aww, are you sure I can't be the helmsmare?" Scootaloo asked.

This wasn't making things better. "I am not talking in a silly voice, swordsfighting, or getting myself all wet. But I am the navigation officer or helmsmare or whatever you call it."

"Oh, fine," Apple Bloom said.

"I still kinda think Counselor Tiara would work, but okay."

"Maybe I get to do the swordfighting, then?" Scootaloo asked.

"Anyway," Apple Bloom said, "Tiara, set a course."

"Where to, Captain?" she asked neutrally. "Shore leave? We could go get ourselves lunch, or some supplies, rather."

"Perhaps we could plot a course to the planet of plentiful pink pony pastries?" Sweetie Belle suggested.

"The Borderland Burgers and Bazaar?" Scootaloo countered.

"I think," Apple Bloom announced, "that our destination should be the Sand Witches of Carts."

"The what of where?" Diamond said, feeling rather lost.

"Remember in the town square, where all those carts were?" Scootaloo asked. "There's a sandwich shop over near there. Just head back over there, and we'll be fine."

Diamond shrugged. That should be easy enough. She turned the wheelchair so it was headed in the right direction.

"I've locked in a course, Captain."

"Engage."

Diamond started pushing at an even pace, in no mood for another ride like she'd had going down the hill, and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo walked on either side of her. As they got into town, navigating became more difficult, especially as everypony took the opportunity to give her directions, or what they thought of as directions.

"There's an Andorian pleasure vessel to the right," Sweetie Belle reported. "Evasive maneuvers."

Diamond looked curiously to the right, unsure what that would even look like, and realised she was headed straight for a table. A blue mare sat there gossipping away, mouth half full of a taco that she was getting entirely too much pleasure out of eating.

Diamond swerved around, the mare not even noticing as food dripped down from her taco onto the table. Some ponies had absolutely no manners or grace.

She tried to look through the crowd in front of her for a path, as moving was getting a little tricky. As she moved forward, she glanced down an alley, and the cutest little black kitten she'd ever seen looked back at her. It wasn't wearing a collar, and looked about as underfed as she felt.

She waved to the kitten, hoping to catch its attention. "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty…"

"Ferengi maintenance vessel dead ahead!" Scootaloo called out, and she snapped out of it. A donkey was right in front of her, hauling a huge cart behind him that smelled absolutely foul, and she quickly got out of the way.

"Maybe you could pay a little more attention to the road?" Apple Bloom said. "Here kitty, kitty? What were you even doing?"

"I saw the cutest little-" Diamond looked back in the direction of the alley, but the kitten had already scampered on. "Sorry, got a little distracted. Why's everypony out right now, anyways?"

"Food?" Sweetie Belle said, and received a glare in reply.

"There's clearly an intergalactic summit… or truce or something going on," Apple Bloom said, not particularly convincingly.

"It's the weekend!" Scootaloo volunteered. "Everypony's getting their shopping done."

"Whatever," Apple Bloom said, and started looking through the crowd herself. What she saw put yet another frown on her face. One of these days, Diamond was going to have to start classifying them. She could even write a book, 'The Many Frowns of Apple Bloom'. "Why are those idiots glaring at me?"

Diamond looked over and sighed. Snips and Snails were watching them from a nearby record shop, and Archer wasn't far away.

"Captain Archer and her crew? They aren't. They are glaring at me," Diamond said. "They were some of the ones hassling me the other day."

"We'll have to do something about that. I'm the only one that gets to hassle you," Apple Bloom said. "Wait, where are we going?"

Diamond had started back into the crowd on seeing them, and was steadily making her way to the town square, and most importantly, away from those jerks. She didn't want another confrontation right now.

"To the destination you requested, Captain," she replied neutrally.

"But- I guess," Apple Bloom said reluctantly. "I'll deal with them Monday."

"Do we really have to?" Diamond asked. She really didn't want to have another confrontation with them.

"Not 'we', since it'll be me dealing with them. You'll just be right behind me, pushing me along," Apple Bloom said. "What's the matter, no stomach for a couple of bullies picking on you? We've had to put up with it, like, forever."

"But that's diff- It's just-" Diamond glanced around fervently and found her salvation for the moment. "Is that the sandwich shop right ahead?"

It would be highly surprising if it hadn't been. Besides the sign declaring this to be "Sunny's Sandwiches", with a big picture of a sandwich on it, there were several tables outside with a few ponies munching down on sandwiches. There was even a menu in the window with various types of sandwiches and prices listed.

"Good. Enter a standard restaurant-centric orbit, and prepare for docking," Apple Bloom said.

All in all, Diamond was starting to wish she had a better grasp on the basics of cheap science fiction. Nopony had ever told her there was going to be a quiz, and she certainly didn't have Silvy's notes to crib off of this time. "Huh?"

"Let's go get some grub!" Scootaloo translated.

"I've been out a few days, so I reckon it's my turn to pay for the three of us?" Apple Bloom said.

The three of us. Of course she wasn't included. Somehow she'd been expecting one of them to pay for her food again, but maybe that was unrealistic. She started digging through her saddlebags for her bag of bits, though she hated spending anything she didn't have to.

"Um, I got enough from my sister this morning that I figured I'd just pay for all of us for lunch today," Sweetie Belle said, causing her to pause for a minute.

"I haven't been here for a few days, though, so it's my turn," Apple Bloom firmly said.

"Let's split it. You pay for yourself and Scoots, and I'll get me and Diamond," Sweetie Belle replied, seemingly ready to out-stubborn Apple Bloom. Scootaloo's ears drooped and she seemed lost in thought, though Diamond couldn't say why.

"You and Diamond?" Apple Bloom said. "Oh."

"You've already gotten me breakfast a couple times, you know. I do have a little money," Diamond said. It wasn't that she really wanted to pay, but she was feeling like a horrible, no-good, filthy freeloader. Daddy would have had some choice words right now.

"And do you have any way of replacing that money?" Sweetie Belle persisted.

She sure hoped so. "Maybe."

"Well, you can buy me lunch when you do, then. But I'm getting you lunch today, and Apple Bloom is getting Scoots’ lunch."

"So, cripples together, then?" Scootaloo said, tiredly, just loud enough to hear.

"I said I was sorry, Scoots…" Apple Bloom said.

Scootaloo shook her head, blinked, and seemed to shrug it off, though Diamond wasn't sure she believed her sudden mood change. "Never mind, it's nothing."

Sweetie Belle pretended not to notice the byplay between them. "In fact, lets make it even more fun. Let's share sandwiches!"

This was something new. "Share? I'm just getting half of your sandwich?"

"No, silly! Let me know what you want, and I'll order both our sandwiches, but they'll be cut in half and we'll swap halves!"

So she had to eat half of whatever monstrosity Sweetie Belle decided she felt like eating? "I don't-"

"Sounds good to me," Apple Bloom cut in. "I'm not sure if I'm up to Scoots' usual, though."

"What, are my sandwiches too awesome for you?" Scootaloo said, picking back up a bit of her enthusiasm from earlier.

"Well, I won't know for sure until I see what you pick," Apple Bloom replied. "Why don't we head inside, at least?"

Doors and wheelchairs. This could be difficult. "Could somepony hold the door open while I get Apple Bloom inside?"

"Got it!" Scootaloo pulled the door open, and Sweetie Belle pressed against it, making sure it stayed open as Diamond pushed the wheelchair in.

A bell on the door jingled, and a fair amount of the customers inside looked their way. Glaring at the crowd, Diamond got a few of the less rude ones to go back to what they were doing as they got in line.

Behind the counter, a yellow mare was taking down orders, and a large menu showed all the shop's advertised specials with pictures of the sandwiches in question.

"There!" Scootaloo said, pointing at one of them. "I'm going to have that one with lots and lots of horseradish."

Diamond looked where she was pointing. The sandwich in question seemed to involve provolone cheese, mushrooms, avocado, sprouts, mustard, pickles, onions, and was dripping with horseradish already. She didn't want to think what that would do to her insides.

Apple Bloom must have been thinking the same thing. "Lots and lots of horseradish on the side, thank you. I don't need all that spicy stuff on my sandwich."

"You're probably just going for something boring."

"An alfalfa, lettuce, and tomato hayburger should be just fine to my way of thinking."

Sweetie Belle looked sideways at Diamond Tiara. "So what did you want?"

Scanning the menu, one thing did stand out. "I was thinking of that roasted bell pepper and eggplant panini with the vinegar and feta on it."

"Okay! And I'll just get the avocado, swiss cheese, and sunflower seed sandwich with oat bread, I think."

That sounded bland, but comparing it to Scootaloo's Sandwich of Fire, she was most likely coming out ahead. Thinking of all that horseradish did bring one thing to mind. "I'll have a glass of ice water too."

This, of course, started a chorus of drink orders, which worked out, as the mare behind the counter had just finished with the customer ahead of them. A few orders and an explanation of how they were splitting the bill, and soon enough they were seated with their sandwiches.

Sweetie Belle happily swapped half her sandwich with Diamond, and Scootaloo did the same with Apple Bloom after a bit of nudging from Sweetie Belle.

On Apple Bloom's part, she was eying the two fragrant containers of white goo on Scootaloo's tray, wincing as Scootaloo started merrily dumping it in both her sandwich halves. Diamond couldn't blame her. Who really ate that much horseradish?

"How can you even put that all in your mouth, Scoots?" Apple Bloom asked, as Scootaloo bit off a big chunk of her sandwich and started chewing.

"What d'you mean?" Scootaloo said between mouthfuls. "It's awesome! 'Sides, your mouth goes all numb after a while anyway."

"That's probably not a good thing, you know," Apple Bloom said.

"So, as long as we're here, anypony have more ideas for getting our cutie marks?" Sweetie Belle asked cheerily. She seemed to have produced a notebook and pencil from nowhere, though logically it must've been in her saddlebags.

Scootaloo swallowed. "You think we should try songwriting again? I still have that one I was working on."

"I don't think that worked out too well last time." Apple Bloom rolled her eyes.

"Your song was, er, original, anyways…" Sweetie Belle said.

"Yeah, I know! I think it'd be great!" Scootaloo said, warming to the subject.

"You wrote a, what did you call it, a epic rock ballad about a sunbathing chameleon," Apple Bloom said. "Who'd want to hear that?"

"Chameleons?" Sweetie Belle guessed.

"Everybody!" Scootaloo said.

"Daddy says that most musicians don't actually make too much money anyways," Diamond added, in an effort to be included in the conversation. "The real money is made by companies that sell all their records."

"We shouldn't sing?" Sweetie Belle said, not sounding thrilled about the notion. Diamond backpedalled.

"I didn't say that. I just think you'd make more recording music other ponies sing and selling their records."

Apple Bloom rubbed her chin. "I dunno. Don't think we've got any way to make records, an' who'd buy them from Sweet Apple Acres, anyways?"

"You could sell them directly to the record store, but it doesn't really matter, I suppose," Diamond said, giving up for the moment. Sweetie Belle was scribbling away in her notebook, and out of curiousity, Diamond glanced at what she was writing. "'If you listen carefully, on every corner there's a rhythm playing-' You're still writing song lyrics?"

Sweetie Belle flushed and she belatedly tried to cover up what she was writing. "Um, kinda. It's probably no good, tho'."

"Looked good to me. I think some ponies do nothing but write song lyrics and sell them to other musicians, too. That'd be something else you could try."

"Mmmmmyh!" Scootaloo said, as well as she could with half a sandwich stuffed in her mouth and both cheeks bulging.

"Honestly, Scootaloo," Diamond said, "how can you even eat that much at once, especially with that much horseradish on it? What were you, raised in a barn?"

Diamond got to see all too much of the sandwich as Scootaloo chewed it with her mouth open, then gulped down the remnants, following it with half her sarsaparilla.

"Yep!" Scootaloo said unabashedly, buzzing with enthusiasm, or possibly horseradish.

"There's nothing wrong with a good, honest barn," Apple Bloom said. "I could think of worse places to be raised."

Diamond rubbed her forehead, trying to keep her headache from coming back. Spending most of her time with them wasn't going to be easy. "It was a figure of speech, all right?"

Before anypony could reply, she picked up her eggplant sandwich and took a small bite, then another. It, as least, was excellent, if slightly chewy. She let the conversation drift away from her, and just sat back and listened.

Trying to keep in the conversation had probably been a mistake anyways. She didn't really belong here, even if she had to be here now, and she wasn't going to fit in with them, whatever she did.

Just listening was interesting in itself, though. Something seemed off in their conversation. As the conversation continued, it occurred to her that while Scootaloo would respond to things Apple Bloom said, she was mostly talking to Sweetie Belle.

That wasn't really that surprising. After what she'd said a little earlier, she was probably still pretty irritated at Apple Bloom. She just wasn't sure why Scootaloo was trying to hide it. If she was irritated, Diamond had normally made sure everypony else around was well aware of it and why.

She could always ask Scoots about it later, though. Diamond finished up the eggplant sandwich half, and started in on the avocado one from Sweetie Belle. Despite her worries about it being bland, it wasn't bad at all.

Of course, Sweetie Belle and her half of the eggplant sandwich didn't seem to be going nearly as smoothly. She seemed to have managed to yank a large piece of eggplant out of the sandwich with her first bite, and after chewing off a piece of it, was gainfully employed trying to put the rest back in her sandwich without getting everything else all over.

At least I'm better than her at some things, Diamond thought. She took another bite of her own sandwich, and as she did, the avocado slid out of the section in the middle she was holding the sandwich by, and several pieces of avocado fell down onto her plate from the other end.

She made a valiant effort to ignore them and finished up her sandwich. Afterwards, they were still there, mocking her.

Normally she'd have thrown them away or left them on her plate. But she was still hungry and far too conscious of her limited budget, even if she found the idea of eating something that fell out of her sandwich a little icky.

Self-consciously, she cut the remaining avocado into smaller pieces, and started spearing them with a fork and eating them one by one. Finishing the last piece, she looked up to notice several eyes on her.

"What? Is everypony done?"

Surveying their plates, that certainly did seem to be the case. Maybe she was just imagining that they'd all been looking at her, or had just looked up at the wrong moment.

"So where next? The Carousel Boutique? Or were we headed somewhere else first?"

There was silence for a minute. Then Apple Bloom spoke.

"I guess. I didn't really think about where we were going. I just wanted to be away, really. I wanted to do something fun, but how much fun can you have sitting down, no matter where you are?"

"We can still have fun!" Sweetie Belle said, sounding a little too enthusiastic to be real. "Come on, and let's brave the fierce feline natives and retrieve our cargo!"

Apple Bloom sighed, though a slight smile crossed her face. "Right. Prepare to disembark."

Diamond got up, and went into what was now seeming like her normal position behind the wheelchair. They headed out of the sandwich shop, and were quickly on their way.

Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes

View Online

As she pushed the wheelchair down the path leading to the Carousel Boutique, one thing occupied Diamond Tiara's mind more and more: Rarity herself was high-class and every bit a lady, but she still had that maniac cat for a pet.

It had attacked her on sight earlier when she stopped by. It wouldn't surprise her if it was out for round two. Cats were smart, and she had said she was going to be back later today.

By now, she was practically expecting to be under attack at any point anyways, with the way her life had been going recently, but here she knew that it was probably sitting there, stretching its claws, lying in wait for her. She needed a plan of attack.

She stopped before getting too close to the Boutique, and addressed the Crusaders.

"Sensor sweep!" she announced, falling back on their ongoing game. "Scan the area for hostile lifeforms!"

She half expected to have Apple Bloom snap at her for giving orders, but the three of them gave a show of looking around in all directions. All directions, she noted irritably, but the direction the Carousel Boutique was in.

"Hostile lifeforms ahead," she clarified. "Feline lifeforms."

"Oh!" Sweetie Belle said, as if coming to a sudden realization. "You think Opal's gonna attack us?"

"I think she's going to attack me. That cat has it out for me, I just know it."

"She has it out for everypony, not just you," Sweetie Belle replied. "Just let her catch you and bat you around a bit, and treat you like a new plaything. She'll get bored an' end up leaving you alone."

That might be, but she wasn't about to be beaten by a cat. There had to be something she could use to get the upper hoof. She started digging through her saddlebags, and paused when one item came to the top.

Perfect. She pulled out a leash and collar triumphantly. "There!"

"Why do you have a leash and collar in your bag?" Apple Bloom said, frowning. "Why do you have one at all?"

"Pinkie Pie," she stated, as if that explained everything. Quite often that would, really. Hopefully Apple Bloom wouldn't press the issue.

"So, I'll dart around the door, grab the cat before she suspects anything is wrong, then put the collar around her neck."

Scootaloo eyed the collar warily, not having gotten a good look at it earlier. "Isn't that kinda too big? Who'd even need a collar that big?"

Somepony who wanted to put it on another pony, not a pet, Diamond thought. What had Pinkie Pie been thinking, giving this to her? Why would she even agree to be Scootaloo's pet? That'd be just wrong!

But now that the thought bubbled back up in her mind, it didn't want to go away. Images started running through her head that both horrified and fascinated her.

Scootaloo taking her on a walk through the park at the end of the leash. Scootaloo giving her a bath, though that had practically happened. Lying down back on her cushion at the clubhouse, and having Scootaloo scratch her behind her ears…

She snapped out of it as the real Scootaloo started waving a hoof in front of her face.

"Hello? Earth to Diamond Tiara?"

Trying to avoid blushing at where her mind had gone, Diamond looked down at the collar rather fixedly, avoiding Scootaloo's gaze, and noticed something.

"Look here, it's actually one size fits all." She held up the collar and pointed. "The holes go a lot further down than usual. I think it'll fit." Hopefully they'd think that was what she'd been looking at all along.

Scootaloo frowned. "If you say so. We can always try Cutie Mark Crusader cat wranglers again, I suppose."

Sweetie Belle rubbed a spot on her side. "I don't know about this…"

"Well, the first thing is going to be finding that darned cat," Diamond said, determined to have a victory of some sort, no matter how small.

Shrugging, Scootaloo walked towards the Carousel Boutique. The way she maneuvered into a position where she could see in without being spotted from inside was so smoothly done that Diamond had to wonder if she'd done this before.

A minute later, she came back.

"Opal's waiting right by the door flexing her claws, probably just waiting to pounce, from the look of it," Scootaloo reported. "She must've seen us coming."

"I don't see how anypony could've missed us, with this huge wheelchair an' all," Apple Bloom said.

Diamond's mind whirled. "All right, so I'll open the door. Sweetie Belle, you can be next to me, ready to grab the cat when she pounces, then I'll put the collar on her, while Scootaloo helps you hold her. Apple Bloom…"

"I reckon I'll just be sittin' here. It's about all I can do."

Sweetie Belle looked at Apple Bloom, like she was thinking of saying something, but went over by the door instead. Diamond moved the wheelchair where Apple Bloom could see everything, and then stood in front of the door, while Scootaloo walked over next to Sweetie Belle.

Collar in hoof, Diamond hesitantly opened the door, all the while wondering if this was really such a great idea. This thought was not helped by a hissing, spitting cat hurtling itself through the door at her.

Sweetie Belle grabbed at Opal, getting a scratch or two in the process, but getting ahold of her near her neck, and Scootaloo grabbed her lower half. As she squirmed and threw a thoroughly feline fit, Diamond hurriedly wrapped the collar around the cat's neck, trying to resist the urge to just pull on both ends.

Buckling it in place, she wrapped the other end of the leash around one hoof, holding it tightly in place. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle breathed a mutual sigh of relief. They stepped inside, and let Opal drop to the floor.

In retrospect, dropping her may not have been the best move. Now free, with an evil glint in her eye, the cat jumped right back at Diamond, who awkwardly dodged out of the way, worried about getting slashed by her sharp claws.

As the now-peeved cat circled around, ready for another go at her, Diamond felt a tug at the back of her hind legs. There was a crash, and almost before she could register what was happening, she was falling onto her back, the leash tangled all around her.

Diamond managed to get her forelegs behind her head in the nick of time. One head injury today was enough! Unfortunately, that got the leash even more tangled, making her look like a kitten who'd had a terrible mishap with a ball of string. It was better than being knocked out, though.

The cat circled around her head leisurely before sitting down right on her chest. Then it curled up, and pretended to be sleeping, snores interspersed with little feline snickers.

Diamond assessed the situation. One one side of her, a shelf appeared to have crashed down, leaving a pile of partially unrolled fabric on the floor. After a moment, Sweetie Belle's head came poking sheepishly out.

Scootaloo seemed to have ended up on the floor herself, and was pulling herself upright, looking like she was about ready to have another go at the feline menace. Through the door, Diamond could hear Apple Bloom, her laughs echoing those of the cat.

And into all of this came Rarity, finally, walking through a doorway with a swath of fabric floating in front of her, blithely humming a cheerful tune to herself. As Sweetie Belle came into her view, still struggling to work herself out from under the pile of fabric, Rarity came to a halt, dropping what she was doing.

"Oh, Sweetie Belle…" she groaned in disappointment, and shook her head.

"Um," Sweetie Belle said, biting her lip. "the cat did it?"

At this, Rarity took a look around the rest of the room. Diamond was still lying there on the floor, afraid to make a single move due to the cat on her chest, and seeing this, Rarity hurried over. Bending down, Rarity reached towards Opal, only to back away as the cat hissed and swiped its claws at her, abandoning any pretense of sleep.

Having finally managed to free herself from the fabric, Sweetie Belle trotted over to her sister’s side, joined by Scootaloo.

"Do you want me to go get out the tuna?" she asked her sister.

"I do believe we ran out yesterday," Rarity replied. "If you would, why don't you be a dear and get a tin of cat food from the cabinet. Nothing from the left side, mind. She's a very fussy eater, and those upset her little tummy-wummy. She likes the Happy Cat ones, as long as it isn't the chicken. And perhaps you could bring a can opener as well?"

Sweetie Belle happily trotted over to the kitchen. A crash or two later, Sweetie Belle walked back in with cat food and a can opener, both of which immediately floated over to Rarity. The tip of her tail flicking back and forth, Opal watched the can intently.

"Let me just get this a tiny bit looser," Rarity said absentmindedly to herself as she tugged on the leash and gave it more slack. Then she walked a few steps back, keeping the can where Opal could see it. Once she was a fair distance away, she started opening it.

Opal's ears perked up as she heard the sound of the can opener. When Rarity set the can down, she hopped down, nose turned up in disdain, and walked slowly over to the cat food, not looking back once, as if to emphasise how insignificant Diamond was compared to her.

As Opal started eating, Rarity carefully removed the collar, and studied it closely.

"These gems look like paste, and the color scheme is something Pinkie Pie might have dreamed up. Still…" A piece of paper and a quill floated over, and she did some quick sketches, then laid them on her desk. "Now, just why was that collar on Opal? She's never taken to a leash well."

The best defense was a good offense, wasn't it?

"Your cat was lying in wait, getting ready to attack me again! I just thought a leash might get her to behave! How can you possibly run a business with a maniac cat that attacks anypony walking in?"

"She was waiting for you?" Rarity asked, surprised. "She doesn't normally treat customers like that, I can assure you. Perhaps she's taken a liking to you, and decided you are her new playmate?"

Rarity unwound the rest of the leash from around Diamond, and gave it at the collar back to her. "Still, that is neither here nor there. I'd assume you are here to pick up your order?"

Diamond nodded, eager to change the subject, especially since Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle seemed to have started trying to get the overturned shelf back upright. The fewer reminders of what happened, the better.

Rarity picked up a piece of paper off her desk and gave it to Diamond. "This is your receipt, so you can be sure what I am charging is fair, and that everything you are getting is what you wanted. Why don't you look it over while I return with your things?"

A faint, sarcastic voice came from the doorway. "Or you could, you know, bring me inside. As fun as that was to watch, it's not like I really like being stuck out here."

Diamond had practically forgotten that Apple Bloom was still outside with all the mess with Opal, and wasn't sure she hadn't been better off that way. Grumbling, she wheeled Apple Bloom inside, and parked her in front of Rarity.

While Rarity fussed over Apple Bloom, Diamond started going down the list, though she didn't really care that much. It wasn't like it was her money.

Everything seemed to be in order. She wasn't sure on the prices, since that wasn't something she'd ever had to pay attention to before, but this one was on Daddy. Then she got to the last item.

"Silver skull earrings?" she said out loud, despite herself.

Rarity looked up from where she was tucking a blanket over Apple Bloom. "I'll let it go this time and just put it in with your purchase, but in the future, do let me know if you get attached to a particular fashion accessory."

Diamond supposed she should be glad Rarity wasn't taking that one any further. The last thing she needed right now was being accused of theft. She didn't see any way she'd have been able to get out of that without her situation coming to light.

Some sort of apology or excuse was probably called for from her, wasn't it?

"Sorry," she said reluctantly. "I wanted to set those aside and forgot about them."

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes, but Diamond wasn't sure if that was because of what she'd said or due to the heart-patterned blanket Rarity had just put on her after removing her previous selection.

"Just don't let it happen again," Rarity said. "I expect you'll be wanting your dress, though I really should do something about this wheelchair. Perhaps cover for the armrests and seat to hide the wear and tear and unfortunate color choices?"

Diamond smiled and looked at Apple Bloom. "I told you it needed work."

Apple Bloom crossed her forelegs and scowled. "This wheelchair was just fine for my granny, an' it'll be fine for me, too. It just has character, that's all."

Character evidently meant 'rickety, scratched, and all beat up', Diamond noted to herself.

"If you say so," Rarity said, and reluctantly went to the back of the shop and retrieved a bundle.

Before Diamond Tiara knew what was happening, a dress was being pulled over her head. She managed to get her head through it as the dress was draped over the rest of her.

"What?" she yelped.

"I still have to do the final adjustments and fit the dress to you, dear." Rarity pulled the dress much tighter than Diamond really felt was necessary, and shoved a pin in, barely managing not to prick Diamond with it. "Now, I did happen to hear how Apple Bloom got into that wheelchair in the first place. I do hope you realise that that type of behavior is totally unacceptable?"

Diamond gulped. How many times-

"I already said I'm sorry!" she said hastily, as Rarity shoved another pin in. "I pushed Apple Bloom's wheelchair all the way here and I'm helping her out!"

"Oh?" Rarity said, holding up another pin, and adjusting Diamond's collar.

"She already apologized at least two or three times," Sweetie Belle said, walking up to Rarity. "I think she's already learned her lesson."

"You've already received an apology?" Rarity asked, turning to Apple Bloom. Sweetie Belle glared at her, and Apple Bloom reluctantly nodded.

Rarity loosened her grip slightly. "Well, if it's already been addressed, no need to belabor the point. Hold still while I make a few more adjustments."

Diamond winced. She wasn't looking forward to this at all.

Having finally escaped the Carousel Boutique more or less intact, other than the occasional pinprick and scratch, Diamond mentally cursed herself for not thinking about how to get her new clothes home, though a strong desire to leave while her skin was mostly intact may have had something to do with it.

She could manage, of course, but trying to push the wheelchair with her new bundle was a major pain.

"So, where to next? Maybe the clubhouse, so I can drop this off?" she asked hopefully. "You probably have dinner soon."

Not that Diamond knew what she was having for dinner. Apples, probably. She was going to be sick of them before long.

"I am kinda tired," Apple Bloom admitted. "It's not like I've been doing much but sleeping all the time and being bored recently, so I shouldn't be, but I kinda am anyways."

"Tomorrow's a new day anyways," Scootaloo said. "It's not like we really hafta get everything done today."

"Rarity would be upset if you didn't get those clothes back and treat them properly," Sweetie Belle threw in. "She's funny about things like that."

Rarity upset at her was not something Diamond needed more of right now, but it seemed like that wouldn't be a problem. She breathed a sigh of relief as she pushed the wheelchair along while talking.

"I guess it's back to the clubhouse, the-"

Her words cut off as the wheelchair skidded.

Thunk. Flop. Thunk.

"What the?"

Diamond pushed the wheelchair forward slower, experimentally. It felt like she was going over a huge bump, but the road ahead was perfectly flat. She scowled and went to look closer at the side of the wheelchair, but Scootaloo was way ahead of her.

"Uh oh," Scootaloo said. "We've got a problem."

Diamond could see what she meant. One of the tires on the wheelchair had gone totally flat, and was flopping around any time she pushed it.

"Did you hit something?" Apple Bloom said, sounding rather shaken up. "I need this wheelchair. If you've messed it up…"

"This thing's ancient!" Diamond said defensively. "It's probably older than you are. This was bound to happen. Not that you were taking very good care of it earlier. I bet the tires can't take three ponies and a dog sitting on it at once."

"Can it be fixed?" Sweetie Belle said, looking over at Scootaloo.

"The tire probably just needs a patch." Scootaloo shrugged. "If I got it to Big Macintosh, I bet he could fix it. Of course, it'd have to be empty to get it there."

Apple Bloom didn't seem pleased at this. "Now wait just a minute! I can't exactly just walk home."

Diamond shrugged. "I said that I'll push you around in that wheelchair, but without another one, I don't see any way of getting you anywhere."

It wasn't like she could have foreseen this, after all. She had enough problems of her own.

Apple Bloom looked over at her assessingly. "You said you'd be my legs, you know. Well, here we are. I need you to be my legs right now."

"I could get all the bags and dresses and things to the clubhouse myself, I think," Sweetie Belle said. "Scoots, do you think between the two of us, we could lift Apple Bloom out of the chair?"

She nodded towards Diamond, and then exchanged a look with Scootaloo.

"I think we could manage that."

Diamond wasn't sure she liked whatever they were planning. "Don't I get a say in this?"

If Diamond had ever had an opportunity to compile a list of things she never planned on doing, giving another pony a ride would have been high on it. She wasn't particularly happy to have had a chance to do it, either.

"Are you sure she won't fall off?" Sweetie Belle asked Scootaloo.

Now that wasn't something she wanted to have to worry about. The last thing Diamond needed right now was Apple Bloom having more injuries that could be blamed on her.

"I've got some rope," Scootaloo offered.

In a minute, she was looping it around Apple Bloom's waist and tying knots in it. Diamond winced as it went around her as well. Being tied up wasn't exactly one of her fantasies either, and Scootaloo paused in so many spots to tie knots that she began wondering if she'd ever get loose.

Being stuck tied to Apple Bloom for the rest of her life would practically be a fate worse than death, or at least cruel and unusual punishment. Of course, the way things were going, she might be pushing around Apple Bloom in a wheelchair forever anyways.

Diamond closed her eyes and pictured still doing nothing but pushing her around from place to place years from now. Apple Bloom was just sitting there placidly, sipping on her ice tea and watching other ponies do all the work around Sweet Apple Acres, while Diamond wheeled her from place to place to keep an eye on everything. Diamond shivered.

Still, at least wheeling her around would be better than carrying her. How much did Apple Bloom weigh? At least Scootaloo seemed to have finished up with the knots.

"Why don't you take a few steps, and we'll just make sure Apple Bloom's securely tied on," Scootaloo said, stepping back to admire her hoofwork.

That sounded like a thrill a minute. Just standing there was difficult enough.

Diamond slowly took a step forward, and then stopped as the weight on her back shifted. It settled into place, and she finished that step, then another and another.

"Can't you move any faster than that?" Apple Bloom complained.

"I could move a lot faster if it wasn't for your big, fat-" Diamond started to say, then was cut off.

"Why don't I just take all your stuff over to the clubhouse now?" Sweetie Belle said. "Scoots, can you get the wheelchair over to Big Mac?"

"On it!" Scootaloo said.

"Wait a minute!" Diamond said, but the two of them had already taken off, leaving her alone with Apple Bloom.

"Just great," Apple Bloom grumped. "You think you're gonna be able to get me back home? I wish I could just walk there…"

"I wish you could just walk there. I'll try to, but with this hoof, it might take a while."

"Your hoof?" Apple Bloom said, sounding perplexed.

Hadn't she noticed it earlier?

"I told you about what happened at school, didn't I?" Diamond said. "I got a rock wedged in it when I was running to the clubhouse."

Whatever Apple Bloom said in response was lost to Diamond, as she saw a black kitten dart out from a nearby side street. Diamond thought it was the same one from before, but didn't get a particularly good look before it was behind her.

She felt it leap straight onto her back, and a furry weight settled behind Apple Bloom. A moment later, she heard a yelp.

"It's got my tail!" Apple Bloom wailed, much to Diamond's amusement. How much harm could one cute little kitten do? It wasn't like Apple Bloom didn't deserve it.

"You had a slobbery, icky dog sitting on your head earlier," Diamond pointed out. "It might have even had fleas. What's wrong with a kitten playing with your tail a little?"

"But that was my dog! Well, ours, that is. She's practically family."

"It's not like I can do anything about either of you being on my back. Let's just get going, okay?"

There was silence for a while as she slowly plodded forward. Then Apple Bloom spoke.

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"For putting up with this. I really didn't want to be stranded back there. And what happened to the wheelchair wasn't really your fault, I suppose."

Diamond wasn't really sure what to make of this. Maybe Scootaloo had tied some of the knots too tight or something?

"Of course it was my fault. Everything's my fault," she said shortly.

"It probably was the ride down that did it," Apple Bloom said. "You know, I'm sure with carrying me back and all that they'd be willing to have you stay for dinner when we get back."

"You want me over for dinner? Why are you suddenly being nice?"

"I'm stuck on your back, I'm tired, and I really want to be home," Apple Bloom said. "I don't really want you over for dinner, but if you're stuck on your own like Scoots, you'll need something to eat."

Diamond wasn't sure she really wanted the stress of coping with all the Apple family, even if it came with a meal. If Apple Bloom was in a better mood, there was something else she'd like to know more about, though, and she was a captive audience.

"I'm pretty sure you really hurt Scootaloo's feelings earlier when you called her, well, you know. Do you really think of her that way?"

Apple Bloom sighed. "I shouldn't have said that. I know how sensitive she is 'bout her wings."

"But you meant it? She's doing all sorts of wing exercises, and seemed to know a lot of it, and she thinks she'll fly someday."

"She doesn't know as much as you think, okay?" Apple Bloom said. "If you really press her on it, there are so many 'if's in there that it's pretty unlikely. She's a good friend, and I try to look out for her. I just don't think it'll happen."

"I don't know…"

"Just ask her about it sometime. It's not like she really needs to fly. Me and Sweetie Belle get by just fine without flying, and she's got that scooter. She's got bigger concerns, anyways, living in that clubhouse."

"It seems like she's got everything under control. Scoots seems to take pretty good care of herself."

"If she was taking good care of herself, she'd let somepony help her an' take her in. She could be living in Sweet Apple Acres like that if she wasn't so stubborn. As it is, I've been doing all I can to help her. Any time Applejack gets in a new almanac, I've even been planning out sleepovers with Sweetie Belle based on the weather schedules."

Diamond hadn't really thought about how being in the clubhouse would be in bad weather.

"Does the roof leak?" she asked, tentatively.

"The clubhouse roof? It used to, before I fixed it. Snow can be a real problem, though. It's not like it's insulated. There are some good blankets in there, but it's not built as well as a house, after all."

Those sleepovers weren't going to extend to her, were they? She'd wind up freezing to death some winter in the cold, and they'd just find her curled up somewhere and everypony'd know.

"But she got by before that," she said, trying to reassure herself.

"She did," Apple Bloom confirmed. "She already had Sweetie Belle helping her by the time I met her, though, and she still is doing a lot better now with both of us helping her out."

With the way this conversation was going, even if talking about Scootaloo had been her idea, she was rather glad as they got close to Sweet Apple Acres. Big Mac was already out front with Scootaloo, the wheelchair was upside-down, and one wheel was off.

A tube had been taken out from in the tire, and for some reason, he had it in a tub of water, and was blowing on the opening. Bubbles came out of the tub. He pulled out the tube, put some gunk on a spot, stuck a patch over that and repeated the process. Diamond might have been more interested if she hadn't felt so tired.

"Well, there y'all are," she heard, and looking to her left, she saw Applejack approaching. "You sure look like you've got yourselves all tangled up there. I'll have you out of that in a jiffy."

Sure enough, Scootaloo's knotwork was no match for Applejack, and pretty soon, she was pulling a rope free. The black kitten watched with interest, having jumped down as Applejack approached.

"Big Mac, could you help me with Apple Bloom for a sec? I'm sure Diamond's tired of carrying her by now."

That was one way of putting it. As Apple Bloom was lifted off her back and onto Applejack's, all decorum aside, Diamond just lay down where she'd been standing. She wasn't even sure how she'd made it that far. The conversation must've kept it off her mind.

The relief was enormous. She'd heard the expression 'a weight off her back' before, but she'd never experienced it literally.

Diamond closed her eyes and relaxed. Paws padded across her back, reminding her of her new feline companion. Whiskers brushed against her face, then a pair of black eyes were directly in front of her.

Diamond reached out one hoof, then avoided a playful swat from the kitten. Rubbing behind the kittens ears, she was rewarded as it started purring, and started walking back and forth in front of her arching its back right in the vicinity of her hoof.

Diamond obligingly started petting it, and the kitten lay down in front of her and rolled on its back.

"Got a new friend, I see?" Diamond looked up to see Applejack standing over her to one side. "That was a mighty fine thing you did, carrying Apple Bloom back. I'm right grateful."

They made me do it didn't seem the right thing to say in this case. "Thanks?"

"You look all tuckered out. Would you like to stay for dinner, and sleep over here tonight? It's the least we could do."

It was tempting. But she still had some things to talk about with Scootaloo that she really couldn't here, and a proper dinner and night of coddling by Granny Smith might wear down her resolve. Not to mention they'd send somepony over to Daddy to tell him where she was, and she doubted she'd get as lucky a second time.

"No," she said, pulling herself up and ignoring the kitten’s look when she stopped petting. "I'd better get home. I don't want to worry anypony."

"Well, if you're sure you're all right," Applejack said doubtfully.

"I'm sure Scootaloo can get me home," Diamond said, looking her direction and hoping she caught it. "Maybe something for the road, though?"

Pretty soon, Scootaloo and her were on the way back, kitten tagging at Diamond's heels, with a bundle of snacks from Sweet Apple Acres along with them.

"You can barely look after yourself," Scootaloo said as they got to the clubhouse. "How do you think you're gonna look after a cat?"

"What a cute kitty!" Sweetie Belle said, emerging from the clubhouse. "I'll bring over some of those cans of cat food that Opal didn't like when I get a chance. Later Scoots, Diamond!"

Sweetie Belle scampered down the ramp and took off.

"It's just a mangy alleycat," Scootaloo grumped as they went inside.

"She is not mangy," Diamond objected, as the kitten followed her in. "I think she's simply dazzling."

Scootaloo unceremoniously picked the kitten up, eliciting a mew from it, held it up, picked up its tail and peered between its legs.

"He, you mean. The kitten's male."

Diamond snatched the kitten from Scootaloo and cradled him in her forelegs. "Well, I think he is simply dazzling, then."

"Whatever. I guess dinner is on Sweet Apple Acres, unless you want ramen noodles."

"Ugh."

"Find me something else I can pick up that cheap and we'll talk."

"I guess." Diamond thought back to some of the things she wanted to discuss, and decided there was no time like the present. "You're still upset at Apple Bloom, aren't you?"

"What?"

"The way you were acting earlier. It seemed to me like you didn't really want to talk to her."

Scootaloo's head dropped a little. "Okay, yeah, I'm still mad at her. I was trying not to be obvious about it, though."

Well, at least she was right about something. "Why not?"

"As much as it might seem like it, this isn't really my clubhouse. It's the Crusaders’ clubhouse, and it's on Sweet Apple Acres and was rebuilt by Apple Bloom, which makes it her clubhouse more than anypony else’s, right?"

"I suppose so."

"So I don't want to go picking a fight with somepony that can throw me out and leave me with no place to go. I'm mad, but I'm not stupid."

That made a lot of sense, actually.

"Apple Bloom thinks you won't be able to fly, though. Will you?"

Scootaloo slumped down. "I don't really know, honestly."

She didn't? She'd seemed so confident before.

"But - all those exercises you're doing and such - you sounded like you knew a lot about it, earlier, and that it was just a matter of time-"

"Diamond, it's not like I really know that much about being a pegasus."

"What?"

"Look, I went to the library one time, and checked out books all the way to my book limit about wings and flying. Half of them were rubbish, weren't even written by pegasi, and said things I knew were wrong. The ones that were by pegasi left out all sorts of things they thought were obvious. The rest of what I know is from my own experience, and things Rainbow Dash lets drop occasionally."

"Wouldn't your parents have told you all about it, though?" Diamond said, a little bewildered.

"My parents? Why would my parents have told me anything?"

Tired of being treated as if she was dumb, Diamond sniped back. "Why wouldn't they? You didn't want to tell me anything about them, remember?"

Scootaloo winced. "I suppose we're gonna be staying together for a while, and I don't exactly think you're in a position to be talking to everypony about it. And you've had my back a bit recently, too. I'll tell you what, shut the door, and I'll tell you about it. Just keep in mind that I really don't like talking about this."

Diamond closed the door. She, Scootaloo, and the kitten lay down in a circle, and Scootaloo began to talk.

Run Runaway

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Diamond got herself comfortable on her cushion. Well, really, she supposed the cushion was Scootaloo's, or maybe even Apple Bloom’s or Sweetie Belle's, but it was the one she'd been sleeping on recently, which made it hers. She doubted anypony else would be coming to claim it soon, and if they did, they'd have to make her get off, and get past her vicious guard kitten.

She curled her tail around the cushion possessively, rubbed the kitten behind the ears, and wondered about what was to come. Scootaloo living here, of all places, still brought up a lot of questions Diamond couldn't answer. Why would anypony leave their home voluntarily? Or had she been forced to leave? Where exactly were her parents?

It wasn't really like anything bad ever really happened to anypony that didn't deserve it, did it? Of, course, she used to think Scootaloo did deserve it. And if bad things could happen to her, she'd imagine they could happen to anypony. But what had happened to Scootaloo couldn't have been that bad, could it?

But she wasn't really that sure, and that wasn't something she was used to.

Alright, where to begin? It's not like I ever talk about this, at all.

Okay, once or twice. Sweetie Belle pretty much forced the whole story outta me, and I ended up having to let Apple Bloom know, too. Both of 'em spend too much time with me, and they'd figure out eventually that I didn't have anywhere to go at night. It's just as well, 'cause the clubhouse is a lot nicer than sleeping alongside the streets or up a tree.

I don't like thinking 'bout it, though, and I've always worried about everything all coming out in the open. I don't want other ponies to know that I'm living here or about my past, and they don't have to. It's none of their business.

All I've gotta do is make my way through school, then pick up a job. Then I could go move in someplace with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom for a bit. Nopony'd think it was weird, even if I didn't stay too long before moving out on my own. No one has to know anything.

And this is actually a really nice town to live in. I know you've always talked about what a tiny, pathetic dump Ponyville is, but it isn't, really. Sure, maybe it's small compared to Manehattan or Canterlot, and it's not all high fashion and big city, but there are plenty worse places to be.

In fact, there's one place I know of that really has it beat. It's a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, and it has nothing. You know the Ponyville General Hospital? It's not exactly the biggest or the best, but it's a full hospital, with doctors and stuff. The place I'm thinking of had none of that.

There was a doctor, and this old herbalist, but that was it. If you were hurt badly enough, you stayed with one of them, and if it was real bad, you'd better take a long trip out to someplace halfway decent.

Of course, I've only been there once or twice myself. There didn't seem to be any other pegasi or unicorns out there either. Don't know why.

Diamond shifted on her cushion, trying to find a comfortable spot. "So, if you've only been there once or twice, what does this place have to do with anything? You are going to get to your parents, right?"

I'll get there. It's not like I can sum up my whole life in ten words or less. Well, maybe 'Universe versus Scootaloo. Universe wins.' but that's leaving out a lot. You should know some of this, at least, to get a good idea of how things were.

So, that village had a bunch of trees nearby. Not like the Everfree Forest or anything. I think the weather could have been controlled there, if anypony bothered, and it wasn't dangerous. Not really. It was more like White Tail Woods, I guess. Stick to the roads and you're good.

If you do stick to the roads, eventually this little dirt path branches off. If you followed it, avoiding the holes and stones and such, you'd get to this old rundown farm, assuming it's still there.

Now, I'm sure you're kinda picturing Sweet Apple Acres or something when I say 'a farm'. Sweet Apple Acres is a paradise in comparison. This place was a major dump.

If you went there, you'd probably notice all the half-filled cans lying everywhere. If you didn't, you sure would when you knocked one over and had stale beer all over your hooves.

Even without that, there was trash and junk just piling up all over the place, 'cause nopony ever picked it up unless it started to really smell bad or was crawling with ants. Old newspapers and paper plates and all sorts of stuff. I'd hate to think what'd happen if anypony ever dropped a match.

There was even this old cart turned upside down on the grass for a long time, so long all the grass under it was dead when it finally got fixed. An axle broke, and Tinder was too cheap to replace it. And I already had way too much to do.

A look of fascinated horror on her face, Diamond's attention went to the first sign that Scootaloo was actually going somewhere with this. "You did?"

Who do you think was stuck doing everything else around the place? Tinder was my dad, if you want to call him that, and he was a pretty lousy one. If you'd believe it, his special talent was finding wood for a fire. Hardly a big thing in the middle of a forest.

He usually wore this dirty old pair of overalls, when he wore anything, and I never was sure whether his fur was that shade of brown normally, or if it was just from not taking any baths most of the time. Those beer cans were his, if you hadn't guessed.

My mother, now, was named Safflower, and she liked taking really long baths. Not that trudging down to the well, pumping water, and bringing it back was fun. It's not like the place had running water.

"So living here isn't anything different from what you were already used to," Diamond commented, and Scootaloo glared at her before continuing.

Safflower was in 'poor health', or so she always said. She complained constantly about having 'the most dreadful headaches' and dizzy spells, and was always trying out the latest junk some quack sold her. She was never up to doing anything that needed to be done.

I never was too sure how much that was really true, of course, or if she was just lazier than Tinder. Could be a bit of both, I guess.

Both of 'em claimed they were from a long long line of noble earth ponies going way back, just like Archer was, and were really proud of their oh-so-pure heritage, at least, they were till I came along. I was a big shock to them.

My mother always claimed Tinder couldn't be bothered to get her to a hospital when I was born. That’s possible, with how lazy he was. Then again, remember that that village didn't have a hospital? And that was still a long ways away from the farm.

Tinder, of course, claimed that his parents didn't need help from some doctor when he was born, and neither did theirs, and that was the end of it. If it was good enough for them, it was good enough for me.

Either way, they were actually pleased to have a daughter, from what I heard, at least for a few minutes. Then they noticed my wings, an argument started, and it never stopped.

You should have heard some of the silly ideas they threw around! Maybe some shifty-looking unicorn that passed through hexed me or switched me with another filly, not that any unicorns weren't shifty-looking to them.

Or then, maybe I was a freak of nature they were cursed with. Or I coulda been punishment to them for not following the ways of their ancestors well enough or something. They weren't exactly that smart.

Tinder sometimes claimed that he wasn't my father. That, at least, I could believe, assuming somepony could stand my mother's moaning and carrying on for long enough. My wings and my brains had to have come from somewhere.

Either way, they considered me a major embarrassment, and I was never allowed to forget it. They didn't want any reminders of me or my wings around. They made me wear dresses. Awful, girly dresses. Long ones, that totally covered my wings so they could pretend they didn't exist.

None of the dresses actually fit that well, and it was real easy to move a wing by mistake, or it would've been, if they hadn't usually kept them tied down. Tight, too. Not only couldn't I move them, half the time they either hurt, or I couldn't feel them at all.

I don't have to move my wings, of course, but you always feel a little off balance walking without 'em, and even if you don't actually need to use them, it's sort of like those casts Apple Bloom's wearing, right?

Safflower said that I used to fly right out of the crib before they started tying my wings down. I didn't used to believe her, till I saw the Cakes. Some of those books I mentioned said that babies can sometimes fly until they get bigger, 'cause of how small they are. Don't remember it if it happened, though.

It didn't used to be as bad. My mother sewed these 'wing-pockets' into the dresses that you'd slip your wings into, then they'd be laced up tight. They still couldn't move much, and I lost feathers sometimes putting them on, but it was better than rope.

The trouble was that I was smart. Or maybe not so much, depending on how you look at it. I figured that if I just ripped the stitches out of the pockets with a seam-ripper, they'd be more comfortable, and I'd have room to move my wings around. They caught me, though, and out came the rope.

I suppose I can't totally blame them. I'd have flown high and far away from that place if I could have. Everypony hated me, and I had to do all the work around there. I hated it there, and I never want to go back. Especially after… well, we'll get to that.

It's not that it was all bad. Sometimes they did kinda forget my wings. My mother would tell me bedtime stories sometimes, and I did learn everything you need to know to run a farm, even if it was so I could do all their work for them. They even did sort of expect me to run the farm one day, I think.

Not that that really was ever going to happen. I was gonna leave the farm eventually, I swear I was. I was sick and tired of being treated like dirt and doing all the chores and the stuff with my wings and everything. I was only going to leave when I was ready to, though. I'd been making some plans.

When I was older, I was gonna take off with as much as I could haul with me and make my way out to the big city, and find a job there. But I was going to wait till I had money and could pass for old enough to get a job without too many questions.

I knew just taking off was a bad idea. Then things happened, and I wasn't left with much of a choice at all.

You see, about once a month, they'd make a trip to the village, especially once the cart was fixed. They rarely ever took me, but they'd go early in the day with some pathetic-looking veggies, fruit, and logs to sell, and they'd come back loaded with supplies. Usually I was stuck with a long list of chores while they were gone.

The last time, though, I actually managed to finish them a bit early. So I found a good hiding place, since I didn't want to be caught 'slacking off', and took a nap. When I woke up, they were talking in the next room. I'm very glad I woke up about then, because their conversation was all about me.

There was all the usual stuff about my 'abnormality', but I'd gotten used to all that. What caught my attention was they'd decided they were gonna cure me. From what they said, they must've talked about it a couple times, but they'd finally decided to do it.

When they were in town, they'd picked up some herbs to mix into my food, to make sure I didn't wake up. I don't even know how they planned to hide the way it would've tasted, but while I was asleep, they were gonna take me outside and put me on a tarp. Then they were going to take a hacksaw to my wings.

They weren't trying to kill me. They'd bought a bunch of bandages, rubbing alcohol and stuff in town. They thought that we'd bond afterwards and be a close family and that I'd live happily ever after with the freakin' maniacs that cut off my featherin' wings!

Between being upset, and maybe just a bit scared, I managed not to give myself away. They weren't ready yet, and it was gonna be a few days. I stayed there till they were out of the area, then tried to act like nothing was wrong.

Then, once it was dark out, I crept around the farm, grabbing a knife and anything else valuable I saw, though there wasn't much, and some food. I folded and tied up a dress to use as a bag, and I headed out as quietly as I could, down the dirt path and to the main road.

Eventually I stopped. I still had that rope around my wings, which would look pretty odd if anypony passed by, and the knots were tied out of my reach, pretty tightly, too. Of course, that was one reason I'd grabbed the knife. Trying to cut the ropes off was really awkward. I slipped and cut myself a few times and got some major rope burns, but I did get it off.

I'd brought some of those bandages, fortunately. I lost some feathers too, but I'd already been missing some that'd been yanked out by… well, never mind. I think you saw some of the marks it left. They never did heal quite right.

From the main road, I decided to take a chance and go away from the village. It had to be going somewhere, after all, and while I wasn't sure where, I didn't think my parents knew either. It was actually kinda scary being out on my own, especially since I was worried about being caught, but I was also the happiest I'd been in a long time. I was free!

I was feeling so good I could fly, and I finally didn't have to worry about my wings being tied down either. Except, as I quickly discovered, I couldn't. I could barely even move them.

You see, the thing is you have to exercise your wing muscles to be able to use them, and I'd never been able to. So I could move them a little, but not much, and that was a strain. But then, I had a lot of other things to worry about just then, so I couldn't just stay there wishing for wings that worked. I camped out a few nights, then eventually got to the next city.

Diamond interrupted, frowning. "But your wings do work! I've seen you buzzing around on your scooter, and there's all those wing exercises!"

They work a lot better now, yeah, but that's part of the point of the exercises.

I couldn't move my wings much by myself, so I sort of moved them back and forth by hoof while trying to move them a whole bunch, and eventually I could move them better. Once they were strong enough to do the wing pushups, they started getting a lot better, though I'm still missing enough feathers not to try flying.

I think they are close to back to normal now. I can't be totally sure, though. I haven't had a doctor look at them.

In fact, a few days ago was actually the first time I've ever been looked at by a doctor, I think, and they were just worried about my being hurt when I hit the ground. They did say they wanted to schedule a checkup, but hopefully they'll forget. They were busy enough that I was able to sneak out, after all.

Being in the city was actually a really big change for me, though. I was used to practically nopony being around, and suddenly everything was crowded and different. It wasn't a bad different. It just took some getting used to.

I was real worried that there'd be a big search going on for me, and that I'd get forced back to the farm and my parents… and that hacksaw. After a while, I calmed down a bit, though. Nopony was really looking for me, or really noticed I existed.

Eventually, some started noticing I didn't have a home or anywhere to go, but it was more of my being part of 'that annoying street riff-raff' or something. There were some real winners out there.

I was able to get by, though it involved doing things I don't really like thinking about. Digging through the trash for half-eaten food, begging for change, swiping anything that wasn't nailed down… I'll tell you, living here is so much easier than back then.

"Ick," Diamond commented, a disgusted look on her face. "Weren't there posters up of you at least, though? 'Have you seen this pegasus, answers to the name of Scootaloo', or something?"

Heh, there weren't, and they wouldn't have said that anyway. Scootaloo isn't exactly my name. It's sort of a nickname, though I've used it long enough that it might as well be. It's not one they would have known, which is one of the benefits of it.

One day when I was living out on the streets on the city, I went into a section of town that I wasn't very familiar with. There were a bunch of street vendors there, and I managed to swipe enough food at once from this stand to last me for a good week.

The trouble was that the vendor spotted me. He chased me for a while, but I eventually lost him. I kinda got lost myself in the process, though. Next thing I knew there were all these angry dark blue ponies closing in.

The thing was this turned out to be somepony else's territory, namely a pretty nasty street gang. If I'd dropped everything, I probably could've gotten away, but even then, they'd have given me a nasty thumping for being in the wrong place uninvited.

Looking down the street, there wasn't anypony around that could help me, but I did see this lone scooter by the sidewalk. It wasn't even locked up or tied to anything, and its owner was nowhere to be found.

I ran over to it, quick as could be, and hopped on. Then I started scooting along fast like my life depended on it, and it just might have. It felt good and I suddenly knew I'd found something I really could do well and loved. I scooted on for miles, way after losing them.

It turned out when I stopped that I'd lost half of my stash 'cause of a hole in the bag, but I had the scooter. There wasn't a name or anything on it. There was no way I'd remember where I'd found it. So I kept it, and pretty soon, it'd earned me my new name.

It wasn't too long before I left, but I still have it. The trouble was that I was getting known, and they were starting to look for 'that homeless pegasus with a scooter making trouble'. I eventually got caught and locked up for a little bit..

They said they were gonna try and find my parents and take me back, though they still didn't know where I came from. I managed to give them the slip when they were taking me someplace, and snuck on board a train. I was tired of the city and figured things had gotten too hot for me there.

"What was your real name, though? What did your parents call you?"

Honestly, what would my real name be? Something my parents gave me when I was born? They hardly ever used it, you know. I was usually 'the feathered freak', or if they decided to act all nice, they might say 'my daughter' or 'my little filly'.

I haven't heard it in forever, it didn't fit me, and I can barely even remember it. I doubt it's even on a birth certificate anywhere. I'd rather just be Scootaloo. It's something I picked out and something I like. As far as I'm concerned, that's my real name.

"I see," said Diamond, who didn't, really. "So, when did you end up in Ponyville?"

Pretty soon after that, in fact. I fell asleep on the train, and when I woke up, it was getting close to Ponyville. It looked like a nice place, and I was getting tired of the big city. I was more than ready for a change of pace, so I hopped off when we pulled in.

I didn't really think staying here was going to be permanent at the time. I figured I'd just lay low for a while. Everypony was so nice here, though. In the big city, I didn't care that much about who I stole things from, but here, I started feeling really guilty about it, and I didn't need to do it as much, either.

I didn't really expect the "Welcome to Ponyville" party for me when I headed to Sugarcube Corner, for example. I was trying to figure out how to snatch a few pastries, and here they were celebrating me coming to town and giving me everything I wanted to eat for free!

I did have to lie a bunch about my parents and got away with it by the skin of my teeth. I ate for the next couple days off of that party, though. Pinkie didn't quite believe me or she suspected something, but she also started giving me food every so often, and I really needed it then.

Figuring out a good place to camp out was tricky, especially since while I thought Rainbow Dash was really awesome once I saw some of her stunts, she'd also have noticed if I was anywhere too obvious.

For a while, I decided I was camping out by a tree or around some bushes near the lake. There was one big problem with that that I didn't realize. Sweetie Belle goes there a lot. She likes taking long walks and singing some of the songs she's working on there while she's alone and writing music.

The first time I saw her, I wasn't sure if she'd spotted me. The second time, she definitely saw me. She walked right up to me and asked why I was sleeping in a bush. I took off quick, and thought I lost her.

The trouble was, she can be really sneaky. Never cross Sweetie Belle or try to hide anything from her. It's not worth the time, and you won't win.

A few nights after my escape, in the middle of the night, I woke up to find a flashlight shining in my face, and Sweetie Belle standing over me demanding some answers. Ever seen an angry Sweetie Belle? You don't want to.

I was groggy and tired, and she was determined to get to the bottom of things. I ended up giving in, and just told her all about it, hoping I could get her not to turn me in.

As it turned out, she was just worried about me. She decided I needed a friend, and she was going to be that friend, and there was nothing I could do to change that.

The next day, she had me clean up a little, then we got dirty again. That didn't make much sense to me at first, but she said she wanted it to look like we'd just gotten dirty now, not like I hadn't been able to clean up for a long time.

So, we both deliberately went out in the muck and got totally muddy with grass sticking out everywhere. Afterwards, we cheerfully tracked mud all over inside the Carousel Boutique, talking as if we'd just been having the time of our lives.

One Rarity-sized freakout later, we were both scrubbed from top to bottom, squeaky clean, and I'd established myself as Sweetie Belle's new 'rambunctious' friend, though the dress modeling wasn't really appreciated.

I started staying for sleepovers as often as I could get away with, and she camped out with me occasionally some nights to keep me company. It seems that her parents assume she's with Rarity any time she isn't at home, and sometimes she was with me instead.

You might think her other friends might have been an issue, but Sweetie Belle didn't seem to have had any before then, at least not close ones. The two of us certainly got close quick, though. She also pointed out that it'd start getting noticed if I didn't go to school, and I had to agree, even if I didn't like it.

The issue there, really, was that I was pretty far behind. Sweetie Belle drilled me mercilessly for a week or two in reading and writing until I could pass as just being a bad student that didn't care much for schoolwork.

"Hold up a minute," Diamond said, holding up one hoof. "You couldn't read or write?!"

I'd been living on a small farm, and I'd never gone to school before Ponyville. I could just read enough to know what the words on labels meant, and could write pretty badly. Sweetie Belle insisted I get to where I was passable, though, and gave me her dictionary and thesaurus.

Later, I spent all that time with all those books on wings and things, and that's when I really started getting better at reading.

We faked a note to Cheerilee about my having been home-schooled and having moved to town recently. She vaguely remembered my party, so I had to claim we'd taken a while to get settled in, but she bought it.

I think she thinks I'm uneducated, and hate learning, of course, when I'm actually a pretty fast learner. I'm just learning a lot of stuff she thinks I already know.

After school, you probably know most of the rest of it. Next we got together with Apple Bloom, I started staying at the farm sometimes, and then the clubhouse came along. It's not a bad life here, really. It beats the alternative. You can see why I keep things to myself, though.

Diamond looked up as Scootaloo ground to a halt. The kitten had long since drifted off beside her, and her mind was still whirling around at what she'd heard. What exactly did you say to any of that? I'm sorry your parents were crazy hillbillies who wanted to cut you down to size?

"So you really think if you explain all this to ponies that they'll take you back to your kooky, knife-happy relatives?" She asked. "Or do you think the rest of us earth ponies really think you're some sort of bug-eyed mutant?"

"It's not that!" Scootaloo protested. "Ponies are nice here, but I have to be careful. Applejack does have this thing about honesty."

"And Sweet Apple Acres is so much like your home, right? She probably secretly thinks you're some sort of feathery freak too?"

"It's nothing like there!" Scootaloo said defensively. "It's not like I see you going door to door with what happened to you. You saw how the Apples are. They'd take you in. You're-"

"-one of them?" Diamond cut in. "You're closer to family for them. They know you better, and you're the one that really knows your way around a farm. I'd just be excess baggage for them."

Scootaloo suddenly looked tired. "Look, let's just drop it for now, 'kay?"

Maybe she should give Scootaloo some slack.

"Alright, but when we're out of this, I'm sicing some high-powered lawyers on your parents, and we'll make sure they never see the light of day again. And you'll get a proper doctor's exam and see about some flying lessons."

Scootaloo laughed weakly. "Sure we will. First, I think you've got a cat to take care of, we've got what's left of the weekend to get through, and then school."

"Oh, joyous day," Diamond said. "Maybe we should just get some sleep. It's been a long day."

"For you and me both," Scootaloo replied, tucked her head into her wing, and they both drifted off to sleep.

Author's Notes:

I wouldn't be too surprised if some of you've forgotten about this one, with the delay in posting. I just couldn't write it for quite a while, even though I knew Scootaloo's story pretty well. Eventually I had to give up the original way I was going to format it and started writing it out the way it is now, and even then, it went through a few rewrites. Earlier this week, I got it to Elric of Melnipony and Luminary, I've done more revisions based on their feedback, and I figure it's about ready to share.

For anyone curious, this is the chapter title song.

[youtube=ikMiQZF-mAY]

In fact, the song Scootaloo claimed to be writing a few chapters back was a direct reference to this one.

This one's bound to be a little controversial, as I finally unfolded Scootaloo's backstory. Hope you all like it regardless.

Touch of Grey

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Mrrow!

Something flicked by Diamond's flank. She cracked one eye open.

The black kitten was circling around her, his tail brushing against her. Rubbing up against her side, he looked up, with a distinct cat look. "It's breakfast time. You are neglecting your duties by not serving me now!" seemed heavily implied.

Diamond groaned and flopped on down from her cushion. Her back felt stiff, and she wasn't sure she'd ever get used to the lack of beds. Did she even have anything here she could feed to a cat?

Scootaloo was lounging around at the desk, drawing doodles on a pad of paper, making Diamond feel perversely cross.

"Shouldn't you be doing wing pushups or something?" she asked irritably, rubbing at the corners of her eyes and trying to will herself awake.

"I finished those ages ago," Scootaloo said casually, even not looking up. "Exactly what time do you think it is, anyway?"

Diamond glanced out the window. It was kind of light out, wasn't it?

"Um, morning time?" she said, weakly.

"Well, it is morning, kinda, if you consider morning to be sometime before noon. You sleep pretty soundly, you know."

Dumb place with no alarm clocks. And shouldn't one of the roosters have woken her up? Wasn't that what they were for, sort of alarm roosters, in a way?

"Well, why didn't you wake me up, then?"

"You looked like you needed sleep, and I figured you wouldn't be used to early mornings," Scootaloo said, then pointed to the kitten, who had resumed his meowing. "Shouldn't you do something about that?"

Like Scootaloo couldn't have?

"If it's that late, why didn't you feed him? Do we even have any food for Dazzle around?"

"It's not like he's my cat," Scootaloo said, abandoning her doodles and getting up. She bent down and looked quizzically at the cat. "Dazzle, huh? Doesn't look much like a Dazzle to me."

"Well, he is mine, and I'll call him what I like. What else would I call him?"

Scootaloo seemed to somehow take this question seriously.

"Being all black like that, he looks kinda spooky. Maybe you should call him that?"

"What, Spooky?"

Scootaloo rubbed her chin, mock-seriously.

"How 'bout Spook? Mister Spook? We could make him our science officer!"

Yes, because a cat was a perfect science officer.

"Isn't Sweetie Belle your science officer?" Diamond asked, finding herself drawn into the absurdity, despite her best inclinations.

"Well, we could always have two science officers. You know, for when things get extra sciency."

Diamond shook her head, not so much in denial as disbelief. Maybe she was best off dropping that line of conversation. "So, cat food…"

"Sweetie Belle left some here that Opal didn't like, didn't she?" Scootaloo looked around the treehouse briefly and shrugged. "It should be around here somewhere."

Of all the useless… Fortunately, the clubhouse wasn't exactly big, and it wasn't like they'd actually been put away or anything. Diamond quickly turned up a stack of cans, and some said things like "Feline Delight" on them, so she was pretty sure they were the right ones.

Of course, opening the cans was an entirely different problem. She turned back to Scootaloo.

"Do we have a can opener?" She really hoped the answer was yes. Why couldn't this have had pull off lids? No wonder Rarity's cat had rejected it.

"Do you know how much easier it is to get ahold of food that's stored away in cans? Of course I do." Scootaloo opened the desk drawer, revealing several tools, pencils, and assorted things, including a can opener, which she grabbed.

Diamond took the can opener. Now how did you work this thing again?

Holding it rather clumsily, she struggled with the can opener, and eventually managed to get the lid cut open after a few tries. Nearly cutting herself fishing the lid out afterwards, she set the can down, and Dazzle ran over. He began scarfing down cat food as if he hadn't eaten for ages, and all things considered, that may very well have been the case.

"Well, that's all taken care of," Scootaloo said, acting for all the world as if she'd fed Dazzle herself. "Now that you're up, I suppose I'd really better get going."

"Where to?" Diamond asked, and a thought crossed her mind. "Are we going crusading? Does Apple Bloom need my help with the wheelchair again?"

Scootaloo shook her head.

"Sweetie Belle stopped by here earlier, while you were still asleep. She's stuck going on a shopping trip most of the day with her parents. Not only that, she went by Sweet Apple Acres first, and Apple Bloom isn't able to go anywhere today. Big Mac decided to take her wheelchair to pieces today, looking for anything else that might be wrong with it."

That actually sounded like a good idea, and Diamond wondered why it hadn't been done before Apple Bloom came home.

"So how is Apple Bloom getting around, then?"

"She isn't, mostly. Bloom's pretty much stuck sitting in a chair, lying in bed, or getting a ride on somepony's back, I think. I'm sure it'll be fixed up by tomorrow, though, and we'll all get together at Sweet Apple Acres before school to pick her up."

And she'd be in charge of pushing it then, naturally. At least she didn't have to worry about it today, which was a relief. She wasn't really sure how much walking that one injured hoof of hers could take.

Reminded of it, she unwrapped the bandages around her hoof and squinted. Did it look better or worse? Her hoof was a little pale, but bandages tended to do that, and it wasn't aching as much as it had been.

Seeing what she was doing, Scootaloo grabbed a bottle of water, a towel, and some more bandages, and passed them over. Diamond cleaned off her hoof as best she could with them and rebandaged it, though it didn't look nearly as neat afterwards and had an extra loop of bandages hanging loosely from it.

"So where are we going, then?" Diamond asked.

"Now that I've finished this and you're up, I still have a few jobs I need to take care of, and to see if the wagon's done. I'd better run."

"All right. Just let me get ready to take off." Diamond glanced around, looking for a comb.

"These are my jobs, actually, and they aren't really expecting anyone else there," Scootaloo said, looking back as she walked toward the door. "I'm sure you've got a few places you'd like to go, or you can just hang out here. I'll catch up with you later, and we'll get dinner."

"What?" Diamond said, looking towards her as Scootaloo walked out. "Fine! I didn't really want to come along anyways!"

She sat down sullenly at the desk, and propped up her head with her forelegs. "Stupid."

She didn't need Scootaloo. She could find other things to do. She had lots of things she normally did with her weekend. Lots and lots and lots of them.

So why couldn't she think of any?

How about going out to the theatre? Watching a movie would be fun. She'd always had fun there in the past. Silvy'd bring over the movie listings, and they'd talk over what was playing, see what was on where, and have a bunch of fun talking about it afterwards and making fun of all the really lame parts.

Except… well, she didn't have Silvy, did she? She didn't know what was playing, and wouldn't have anypony to talk to about it if she did see something.

She could go to Sugarcube Corner, she supposed. She had been working through all the flavors of milkshakes there in order… with Silvy. No, that wouldn't do. Anyways, Pinkie always acted all weird over there now. Well, weirder than usual.

Hadn't she been planning on going to the modern art gallery?

Come to think of it, that'd been Silvy's idea, too. She'd wanted to check out a metalworking exhibit there. Not many ponies actually knew Silvy was good at that stuff. She'd mostly kept it to herself, since even though it was family tradition, it wasn't really one she'd been expected to follow.

Diamond mostly knew about it because they were best friends, or had been, anyways. They always shared everything together… but not any more.

Well, she could do things by herself. Maybe she should just head out now, and decide what to do later.

Right. That was probably the best idea. She didn't need to have plans. She could just go out and do things, all by herself. She didn't need anypony else.

Moving through the clubhouse with new determination, she dusted off her saddlebags and put them on, then grabbed her comb. Well, it was technically Sweetie Belle's comb, but minor details like that weren't going to bother her.

She ran it through her mane a few times, wincing as the comb hit a tangle, and then she went on down the ramp out of the clubhouse. Diamond may not have been totally sure where she was going, but from here, it was mainly towards the town, towards the forest, or towards Sweet Apple Acres anyways.

Still, she ought to pick somewhere to go. Maybe some of her previous ideas weren't that bad, even if she didn't have Silver Spoon there with her. It wasn't what she was used to, but she could still try.

Of course, others might think this was easy. You just had to pick something and do it, right?

Well, they were used to it. She'd never really had to do something as low-class as 'making her own entertainment'. Others would do that for her. Either Silvy would be there with ideas, or she could just tell Grey she was bored, and he'd provide the entertainment, or be the entertainment.

Even if that failed, she'd had a stash of romance novels tucked away in her room she could go through, and some of those funny comics Silver Spoon had lent her that were imported from someplace exotic and translated.

There had always been Cutie Mark Crusader teasing, too, which was hours of entertainment in itself.

Then sometimes Daddy'd come to her bedroom and try to explain to her how business worked. She still remembered some of that, even if the numbers always lost her. Silvy was better at numbers then her anyway, so she'd always kind of figured she'd get her to do that side of things for her, when it was time for her to run things.

Before Mommy had died, she'd had family outings sometimes, too. After Daddy'd remarried, they'd tried to start them up again, but they'd always been awkward things, and she didn't really know or like Spoiled that much anyways.

She supposed Daddy hadn't really known Spoiled that well, either, as he'd been expecting her to come back from the vacation she went on, and hadn't realised she'd taken a bunch of his money with her. Supposedly they were going to try and get back together, but Diamond had her doubts.

Spoiled had seemed to know an awful lot about how the world worked, but some of those things were the kind of things that were all proving to be wrong now, anyways.

The trouble was that her world had always had a certain order to it, everything in its place. Things happened in a certain way, and there never were any surprises, at least, not unpleasant ones. She'd been used to it and had her routine and it had always worked before. Now everything was all jumbled and scattered, and she didn't really know what to do without it.

Of course, she'd long lost track of where she was going here and now, too. Diamond hastily looked around to try and get an idea of where she'd reached while lost in thought.

As it turned out, she was most of the way in town by this point. In fact, she was pretty close to a movie theatre, which had been one of her ideas earlier, hadn't it? She could watch a movie by herself. It's not like she really needed somepony else for that, just eyeballs.

So what was playing? There were plenty of ponies in line, so it must be something good.

She walked over to take a look at the movie listings, but up close, those lines sure looked really long. This was going to take forever to get through. It might even be sold out by the time she got up there. Would standing in line be worth it? She didn't have much money anyways.

Diamond was still trying to make up her mind when three ponies near the back of the line started making a ruckus. Without even stopping to say so much as "excuse me", they were boldly pushing their way through the lines, as if the rest of the crowd didn't matter, making snide comments the whole way.

Really boldly, given their attire, actually. Diamond wasn't sure whether to be appalled or to applaud. They must have been some sort of musicians, given that thing that looked like a cross between a guitar and a piano slung on one of their backs. She wasn't totally sure what type of musicians wore trashy zebra-striped clothes and face paint, though.

One with a yellowish-green mane shoved right past a mare and filly, sending the filly tumbling to the ground.

"Outta my way!" she bellowed, not even slowing or looking behind her as the filly started to cry. "Coming, Roxy?"

One of her companions, this one with a white mane, hurried right past the whole ugly scene to the other's side. "Right with you!"

She glanced back. "Coming, Stormer?"

The blue-maned pegasus she was addressing did pause for a moment, and look over at the filly. Then she seemed to give a little shrug and joined her companions, and they went straight in the theatre, ignoring the protests of everyone behind them.

Diamond blinked. Now what had all that been about?

The excitement was obviously over, but Diamond couldn't help thinking about what she'd seen.

On the one hoof, they clearly saw what they wanted and took it. Diamond could appreciate that. It didn't really matter what happened to anypony you ran over on your way, or it wasn't supposed to.

It didn't really seem the same when somepony else was doing it, though, or doing it for something that wasn't really that important.

One of them had seemed to realise it was wrong, too, but she'd just gone in with the rest of them. She wasn't sure if it was better that they knew it was wrong, or worse that they kept with it.

She probably shouldn't be thinking so much about it. It'd been so much easier when she hadn't had to think about things. She'd had other ponies that did that for her.

But with so much time now, what else was she supposed to do?

Her stomach rumbled. Well, there was always lunch. She hadn't been paying much attention, but she hadn't actually eaten anything yet today. Were there still snacks from yesterday back at the clubhouse?

There'd be apples, anyways. There were always apples. Or she could buy lunch somewhere. But then, she rather suspected she'd be buying dinner, and she really needed to make her money last. She could go to Sugarcube Corner and wheedle some food from Pinkie, but she'd really rather avoid her for the moment.

She shrugged. Well, apples and snacks it'd have to be. Diamond turned around and headed right back to where she'd started, as if the very act of deciding had drained all the energy out of her.

And it had, really. She wasn't really made for not having a schedule or just doing whatever came to mind and making decisions. Even getting up may have been a bad idea. There was a lot to be said for sleeping.

Fortunately, as it turned out, there were a few snacks and things left over in the clubhouse when she got back, or at least a few apples and sandwiches. She gobbled them down in a way that would have reminded anyone watching of Dazzle earlier.

Now to just wait for Scootaloo, get some dinner, a bath, and this day could end. And tomorrow...

Oh, right, tomorrow was school.

"Bother."

Maybe she should go back to sleep right now and not think about it. But there were some things she did have to do. Pulling out a piece of paper, she started writing in her best approximation of daddy's writing.

Dear Miss Cheerilee,
I'm afraid an emergency came up and my daughter had to leave in the middle of the school day, and was unable to attend school for the rest of the week. I'm sure you'll excuse her absence. I was just telling Miss Sharp what a wonderful teacher you've always been in a recent board meeting.
Yours truly, Filthy Rich

That'd probably work, she thought. It had flattery mixed with a veiled threat of sorts. She didn't know much about Miss Sharp, not even her full name, but she knew she was important on the school board and that daddy knew her, which was enough.

It should get her out of the days she already missed, hopefully. She'd written fake notes before without problems, so she knew that she must be close on the handwriting, or that Miss Cheerilee didn't care, which was always possible.

There was another note she had to write, though, which might be harder, because she probably needed to actually be honest on it. Maybe. Not being honest was easier. Maybe she could write it as if she was lying about it?

Nah, a teacher was one thing, but this was Twist she had to deal with. She might talk with a stupid annoying lisp and be terribly irritatingly cheerful, but she was sharp. All ponies with glasses were smart. She thought that was probably a rule somewhere. Maybe there was a conspiracy of glasses-wearing ponies that secretly ran the world or something.

Of course, Silvy wore glasses, too, so she'd already had that advantage in the past, even if she didn't wear them herself. Now she didn't have anypony to think for her.

Twist had been on her side, though, before she blew it, and she needed Twist on her side again, because that was her only way to get back with Silvy. The two of them seemed to be friends now, or at least glasses buddies, and she needed that.

The real question was what she could write to get back on Twist's good side. She needed Twist so she could pass messages to and from Silvy. But she'd yelled a bunch of stuff at her about stealing Silvy from her, which was actually rather silly, thinking about it.

There really wasn't any way Twist could steal her best friend from her. But it had been one lousy day.

Dear Twist,
You do know I didn't really mean all that stuff I said about you, right? I really, really need your help with Silvy!
Diamond

Diamond crumpled up the paper and tossed it in the bin. Pathetic.

Dear Twist,
I shouldn't have yelled at you. I need-

That one hit the edge of the bin and bounced off.

Dear Twist-

Tossed. Why couldn't she do this?

Dear Twist,
I'm sorry. Please forgive me?
Diamond

That was still pretty pathetic, wasn't it?

A voice came from behind her. "Whatcha doing?"

Startled, Diamond tucked the note quickly in her bag and turned to see Scootaloo coming in.

"You're done with all those big important jobs you had to do?" Diamond asked, still a little miffed at being left behind.

"They weren't that important, other than my getting paid for 'em, but that's pretty important to me, at least. Ready to get cleaned up and grab some food?"

Well, she might as well get a proper meal. Diamond sighed.

"Sure. Let's go."

Greywithers ran one hoof along a shelf of the bookcase. It came back covered with dust, just as expected. It was hardly surprising. The mansion was large, and it would attract dust in a quite short period of time. Still, by rights it should be attended to.

Of course, he still was on alert, and should stay ready to be called on. A true gentleman's gentleman would anticipate his master's call and be there at but a moment's notice. And he did know Mr. Rich's habits well, as he ought to from many years of service, and by rights he would have been called a good half an hour ago. But then, Mr. Rich's requests and moods had been rather more difficult to anticipate as of late.

Naturally, dusting the manor shouldn't have fallen under his purview, and wouldn't have, under normal circumstances. He was nothing if not flexible, though, and he did seem to have a spare moment.

Greywithers carefully picked up a feather duster left by one of the maids, and started cleaning the offending shelf, attempting not to sneeze as the dust hit his muzzle.

"Greywithers?"

Without a moment's pause, he was immediately in front of his employer in the study, bookcases left behind.

"Yes, sir?" He said, as best he could manage with a duster in his mouth and a dust-covered muzzle.

Mr. Rich looked at him with a skeptical gaze.

"Grey, what on earth are you doing with that feather duster in your mouth?" Mr. Rich said. "It makes you look ridiculous."

Greywithers lay down the duster with a sigh. "Dusting, sir."

"Dusting?" He tutted. "No, no, that won't do. You are a butler. You buttle. Dusting is the maid's job, not yours. Who is supposed to be taking care of it today?Lilac?"

Mr. Rich paced back and forth. "You never can seem to get good help these days. I should have a talk with her, I really should. What does she think we pay her for?"

Grey coughed. "We don't, sir."

Mr. Rich raised an eyebrow. "Don't we?"

"No, sir. You fired her about a month and a half ago, in fact," Greywithers reminded him, not for the first time.

"Did I?" He said, sounding fascinated by the thought. "Well, then, shouldn't Cinnamon be doing it? It's not like we only have one maid."

"She elected to seek work elsewhere, sir," Grey replied. "She seemed rather upset at the prospect of having to do the work of two ponies, and that you weren't looking for a replacement."

"So we don't have any maids?"

"No, sir." It was going to be one of those nights. Grey could already feel the beginnings of a headache.

"Well, why haven't we? Do I have to do everything around here myself?"

There were a number of responses that ran through Grey's mind to this line of inquiry, but he suppressed them with practiced ease.

"You do have to authorize the expense of hiring more help and approve of the replacements, and hitherto you have not been inclined to do so when we've discussed the matter. If you wish to authorize it, I'll be glad to arrange to hire replacements for all the unfilled positions myself." This would, of course, include rather more than just two maids, but there was no need to bother his employer with the details.

"Yes, capital idea. I'm sure we can go through the details and discuss that at a later time. I would want to approve any new personnel personally, of course."

"Of course." Naturally, said meeting would never happen, or Mr. Rich wouldn't actually find any of the replacements suitable, to judge from his past experience. He could think of several reasons his employer wouldn't want anyone new in the household, naturally.

A minute went by without further comment.

"In any case, you called, sir?" Greywithers ventured.

Nothing.

Looking over at his employer, Grey noticed him staring into space in an odd, abstracted way that he was, unfortunately, all too familiar with lately.

"Sir?"

A few minutes went by before Greywithers was able to get his employer's attention again.

"Yes, what is it, Greywithers?" Mr. Rich finally snapped, irritably, looking back in his direction.

"You called me, sir?"

Mr. Rich looked around, slightly unfocused. "I did, didn't I? Everything taken care of for the day, Grey? Any new business I need to take care of? Diamond settled down in bed?"

And here we go again.

"I'm afraid not, sir."

"Then shouldn't you be getting her to bed, then?"

"I'm afraid I don't know where she is at the moment, sir. Would you like me to go find her and bring her back home?"

Mr. Rich shook his head and seemed to come into better focus. "No, that's right, Diamond's gone now."

"You know my feelings on that, sir."

"And I've made my decision perfectly clear. End of discussion. Was there any other business I needed to attend to?"

Greywithers’ headache was starting to have baby headaches.

"There was a letter from Penn-, ah, from your cousin. She is willing to take her place as heir to the Rich family, but was inquiring as to why she should suddenly be your heir after not hearing from you for years. She seemed, in fact, to be highly interested to know if anything has become of her niece."

"I do believe we can safely ignore that, Greywithers. She'll undoubtedly forget about it given a few weeks."

Grey had to wonder if Mr. Rich even remembered his cousin, at this point.

"I suppose it is possible, sir."

"Now, was there anything else?"

It would be easiest to say there wasn't and escape while he could, but he did have a certain duty.

"You're getting worse, sir."

"Oh?"

"We have talked about this before, sir."

"And I've already told you my feelings. I don't need any help, and certainly not by those quacks that call themselves doctors. Frauds, more like. They'll take your money, but can they do anything for you you can't do yourself? Hardly."

"You do need help. I'm sure we can find a specialist who will have you feeling right as rain."

"I said no, and that is final. They'll take it from me. They'll find a way to take my business from me!"

They may have good reason.

"Surely not, sir."

"Oh, just go away. You're dismissed until morning, Greywithers. And all talk of all of this and of Diamond stays here, understand?"

At this point, discretion was the better part of valor.

"As you wish, sir."

Grey hastily took his leave, and retired to his own quarters, shutting the door firmly behind him and bolting it. He had never needed it in the past, but the worse things got, the more he really could use a nightcap to settle things down. A brown bottle emerged from a cupboard, as did a glass.

What he really felt like more than a drink at this point, though, was to have a bit of a talk, but none of the ponies he wanted to talk to were available. He poured himself a glass and downed the contents.

Opening up a desk drawer, he took out two pictures and propped them up. Neither could stay up while his employer was around, of course. Feeling generous, he poured them both drinks as well.

He turned to one of the pictures, an old sepia one he'd had in his possession for a long time. "Ah, Stinking, who'd have thought we'd come to this? Remember when we met, me not a bit to my name? You took me in and I swore I'd serve you, your heirs, and your family to the end of my days. Never occurred to me I'd ever not be able to do all three of those things. You'd be ashamed."

"And you," he said, turning to the other picture, which depicted a fiery redhead. "You'd belt me around the ears! Seems to me that Filthy has totally forgotten about you, to think ignoring your letter would do any good. Sooner or later, you'll be around to find out what has happened for yourself, I'm sure, and Filthy won't hear the end of it!"

Grey gulped down another glass. "I don't know where Diamond is, I'm afraid, Penny. She wasn't at school, at least she wasn’t when I had an opportunity to check, and she isn't staying at her friend’s, either. I'm sure I will catch up with her eventually, though. If I know her, she'll be coming to me in a couple of days, in fact. I just hope she'll listen to my advice when she does."

Assuming nothing had happened to her. Assuming she was all right. Assuming she'd act the way he thought she would. He poured himself another glass, and lay down restlessly, thoughts refusing to settle down.

Easy Does It

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Bleah, yet another morning waking up in the clubhouse. At least this time Scootaloo had woken her up on time.

Of course, today it was important to get up, since today she was going to have to go to school, and she needed to get ready. Sweetie Belle could show up at any time, and they'd be heading over to Sweet Apple Acres. She had agreed to push Apple Bloom around in that wheelchair of hers, after all.

While pushing Apple Bloom around would usually be the start of a rather good day, it was all way too much exercise this early in the morning. There wasn't much she could do about it, though.

And she had to go to school, too, where everypony wanted to kill her, or at least inflict some measure of bodily harm on her. Of course, that was true of most places and ponies, these days.

Well, okay, maybe Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo didn't want to kill her.

A mental image of Sweetie Belle's horn pointing directly at her throat popped into her mind.

Okay, Scootaloo didn't want to kill her, at least. Probably, anyways. She was more likely to try to embarrass her to death.

Getting up, everything felt all achy and bruisy, making her wince. She felt like she could use a good long soak in a bathtub, preferably with some bath salts and bubbles and things. Or even a shower would help.

No showers for her this morning, though, or breakfast in bed. At least her injured hoof was feeling better, and her throat wasn't feeling quite as bad.

She splashed a little water on her face, since that was likely to be the best she could get right now, and combed her mane, while watching Scootaloo do a whole bunch of wing exercises across the treehouse.

She was persistent, Diamond would give her that.

It still felt weird knowing that Scootaloo mostly couldn't fly because of what her parents did to her. That wasn't what parents were supposed to do! Parents were supposed to… well, she wasn't really sure what they were supposed to do, but that wasn't it.

To be totally honest, parents weren't really something she was that familiar with. She was used to butlers and maids that she could boss around. The total lack of both around here was pretty irritating, and Scootaloo didn't exactly count.

Admittedly, it'd be fun to try to get Scootaloo to fill in and dress up as a maid, though she was sure it wouldn't last more than a minute. Scootaloo didn't really have the attitude right to be a butler, either, though a top hat, tuxedo, and monocle wouldn't look bad on her.

She still wasn't totally sure where she stood with Scootaloo. Everypony usually had their places, and she didn't quite fit. Scootaloo wasn't hired help, and was pretty unlikely to do anything Diamond said, unless it was something she already wanted to do.

Friends was kind of a murky category for her, mostly occupied with Silvy, and it wasn't one she was really ready to deal with at the moment, though she might have to soon.

Then something occurred to her.

How about roommates? They were roommates, sort of, and she'd read things with roommates in them before, even if she'd never had one of her own.

Roommates had possibilities. Maybe that would do for now. Scootaloo could be the wacky comic roommate that she went on adventures with or something.

"Good morning, Scoots!" the cheery voice of somepony that clearly thought mornings were a good thing called out. "Good morning, Diamond!"

Sure enough, Sweetie Belle was standing in the doorway, grinning as if she thought everypony else should be just as happy as her right now, which seemed likely. Diamond would have loved to have just closed the door right in her face right now and gone back to sleep, but she probably ought to get her things and get going.

"Morning, Mr. Flufflepants!" Sweetie Belle continued cheerily.

Dazzle opened one eye from where he was sleeping, yawned, and pretended to go back to sleep. Lazy cat.

"That's Dazzle," Diamond corrected. She pulled her saddlebags onto her back. Grabbing a scarf from them, she carefully wrapped it around her neck, trying to make it where it wouldn't come loose easily. The bruises there were rather noticeable otherwise.

"Dazzle? Did he like the cat food I brought him?"

"He's a cat, and it was cat food. It was fine," Diamond stated, then, for politeness's sake, followed up with "Thank you."

"You're welcome!" Sweetie Belle beamed, seemingly satisfied with her ability as a cat food provider. "Ready, Scoots?"

"Just … a … minute…" Scootaloo finished a wing pushup, spit on her hoof, and ran it through her mane, disgustingly enough. "Ready."

Scootaloo grabbed her own saddlebags, and the three of them headed out. Diamond was pretty sure that on a normal day, she'd still have been lying in bed eating breakfast, if she was even awake. Still, there wasn't much she could do about it.

Come to think of it, maybe she should have grabbed breakfast first, or brought a lunch. She hadn't actually done anything about her missing schoolbooks, either. Today was really going to suck.

Not that that had ever been in question, really.

Still, she could at least have something ready. As Diamond passed one of the countless apple trees, she quickly snagged a few apples and stashed them in her bags. At least that way she'd have something, even if she was getting a bit sick of apples.

Of course, she could buy lunch, but that was a rather common thing to do. It might raise questions, too, since she never bought lunch at school. She either brought it, or somepony brought it to her, usually Grey.

There was always just taking somepony else's lunch, of course, but she was already in enough trouble as it was. No, it'd be apples today. She did need to save money, after all, since she wasn't sure when she could get more.

Come to think of it, her allowance was normally due in a day or two. Grey had given her last week's allowance because Daddy hadn't told him not to. If Daddy still hadn't, he might still give her this week’s, if she asked. He was kinda funny like that sometimes.

She actually knew the perfect time to check. Every week, Daddy always went out for some business thing at the same time. She could just head there and wait after school that day, and stop by after he left.

Grey might not be willing to give her her allowance, but he might, and she wasn't going to count it as gone until she tried. He might be willing to get her her schoolbooks, too. It wasn't like Daddy would have any use for them.

She continued trudging down the path following Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, presumably towards the farm. They were chattering along to each other, not really paying much attention. She supposed this was part of their normal routine. Not the part about picking up Apple Bloom in a wheelchair, of course, but meeting up before school and walking there together.

This wasn't really that unfamiliar, since she normally met up with Silvy before school herself. It was just a different place and different company, even if that company was mostly ignoring her right now.

And this wasn't that long of a walk. She could see Sweet Apple Acres now, in fact.

Diamond had assumed that they were going to need to go over to the farmhouse, knock, and get Apple Bloom, but she was already out in front of it in her wheelchair.

In fact, the whole Apple family seemed to be out there. She wasn't sure them standing out there waiting for her was a good thing, since they had wanted to kill her not that long ago. Maybe they'd changed their minds?

It did seem to her like you could probably hide a body for a long time on Sweet Apple Acres if you really wanted to. Who knew what was in all those barrels, or the compost and fertilizer they used for the farm?

Still, she wasn't being rushed with pitchforks, and Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle didn't seem alarmed, not that they'd really have any reason to be. It was best to assume they were friendly.

Or they were all in on it together, and she'd never be seen again.

She did think Scoots would have a problem with that, though, and Granny Smith could easily have killed her in her sleep the other day. She'd been really nice instead, so it was probably okay. And she did have witnesses.

And, of course, if it wasn't okay, it was already too late, since they could see her now.

"Good morning, girls!" Granny Smith waved at them cheerily.

Big Macintosh pointed his hoof at her, looking rather more puzzled than hostile today. "What's she doing here?"

"She's here to be my servant today!" Apple Bloom piped up surprisingly cheerfully from her wheelchair. "Aren't you?"

Sure she was.

She could blow up and get mad, but that was probably what Apple Bloom wanted. In any case, two could play at that game. Apple Bloom wanted a maid, she'd get a maid.

Diamond walked up to Apple Bloom's chair at an even pace, not letting her irritation show.

"Of course, Miss Apple Bloom, ma'am!" Diamond did an exaggerated half-curtsey by Apple Bloom's feet. "Whatever you wish, ma'am."

"Diamond's just here to push Apple Bloom's wheelchair to and from school," Scootaloo blurted out hastily, seeming flustered.

"Well, that's mighty fine of you. Just today, was it?" Granny Smith asked.

"Until she's out of the wheelchair, actually," Diamond said, dropping the servant act. She really hoped that didn't turn out to be forever.

"I suppose we'll all have to get used to seeing you around here, then, won't we?" Granny Smith stated, eying the rest of the Apples. She was good at it, too. No one could eye other ponies like Granny Smith could.

One thing was clear, looking at the rest of them, too. Even if Applejack ran things normally, whatever Granny Smith said, went. The fact that she seemed to somehow like Diamond was extremely lucky for her.

"Now, suppose you let me see that there bad hoof of yours."

Startled, Diamond unwrapped the bandages from her hoof and held it out to Granny, without even really thinking about it.

"That doesn't look so bad, now," Granny Smith said, looking it over. "Be careful with it, and try not to trod on it too much, but I expect it'll be better by tomorrow."

"Oh? That's good," Diamond said awkwardly. "Now, we really did need to get going, er, school and all?"

"You modern fillies, always rushing around everywhere," Granny Smith said. She pulled out four paper bags, leading Diamond to vaguely wonder why she'd already had one ready for her. "Make sure to take some breakfast with you, at least."

Breakfast! Diamond snatched the paper bags away and dumped them in the wheelchair on Apple Bloom's lap.

"Hey!" Apple Bloom yelped, and tried to glare at Diamond, but clearly needed some lessons on the subject from Granny Smith.

"Now git along, y'all," Granny waved them away. "I'm sure you'll have more time for chit-chat after getting some of that highfalutin learnin' of yours."

Diamond waved awkwardly to them, and grabbed ahold of the wheelchair while the others said their goodbyes. After they had walked down the road a short way, Apple Bloom spoke up again.

"You'll at least go along with the whole servant thing at school, won'tcha?"

This again. "I did say I'd do anything you asked if Scootaloo agreed, but— "

"I know, but listen!" Apple Bloom said. "I've got a plan!"

"You planned to make Diamond your servant?" Scootaloo said, coming closer. "This I gotta hear."

"Look. Y'all said that the ponies at school were treating Diamond real bad 'cause she hurt me, right?"

"They did attack me, but I'm not sure what that has to do— "

"So, here's what we do. We let on that your family's makin' you wait all hoof an' hoof on me till I'm better, and that if they do anything to you, I won't have any help. Then nopony'll bother you, right?"

This did not sound fun. She didn't have much to lose, though, and it might work.

"I don't know. You sure you aren't just doing this because you want me to do a bunch of embarrassing stuff in front of everypony?"

It was what she'd have done, after all.

"Well —" Apple Bloom said slowly. "I might hafta do that a few times, 'cause everypony will expect me to. I'll keep it small, though, and you can act all grudging and sulky and surly about it. It'd be pretty weird if you didn't, actually."

It seemed like she was stuck with this. She sighed.

"You share your textbooks and lunch with me while I help you with them, don't push me too far, and we'll see how it goes, I suppose."

"Apple fritters!" Sweetie Belle said suddenly, startling Diamond.

"Apple fritters?" She repeated, not totally sure what was going on.

"Apple fritters!" Sweetie Belle said again, passing one of the paper bags from Apple Bloom's lap over. Diamond stopped pushing and opened it. Looking inside, sure enough, there was an apple fritter. She shoved it in her mouth and tossed the empty bag aside.

Gulping the fritter down, which did taste absolutely delicious, she started pushing again. "You are going to share your textbooks, right?"

"Um, I guess," Apple Bloom said, sounding a little confused. "What I can do is I'll make you sit next to me, pull it out, and flip pages for me, and you'll be close enough to read it. What's wrong with yours, though?"

"I don't have them," Diamond said, simply. "I think they are still in my room."

They might as well be on the moon.

"Oh. Well, this oughta work. We'll play it by ear."

Given they were pretty much at school, and other ponies were already starting to give them confused looks, they didn't really have time to change plans anyways. It was time for a big dramatic entrance.

"Coming through!" Apple Bloom bellowed, as they approached the schoolhouse. Foals scrambled away as she wheeled the wheelchair towards the schoolhouse… steps?

Right. Great. Probably should've thought this bit out more.

"Okay, you two, get on the other side. We'll have to lift it up, I think," she said.

Oof. This thing was heavy.

Fortunately, there weren't many steps, and with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo helping, she managed to maneuver the wheelchair past them and into the doorway. Anypony that wasn't paying attention before this certainly would be now, though. Shouldn't there have been some other way in?

"Okay. Diamond! That's my desk right there!" Apple Bloom pointed over to it. "Get rid of the chair and just pull me in there. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Diamond mock-snapped to attention, shoved the chair to one side, and pulled the wheelchair in as close as it could get to the desk without risking knocking her leg against it.

"That desk is now yours," Apple Bloom said, pointing at the next desk over. "Shove it next to mine, and stay right next to me, so you're there when I need you. And I will be needing you."

There was already a bag on that desk, but Diamond wasn't going to let that ruin their momentum. She tossed the bag onto another desk, then shoved this one over next to Apple Bloom's.

She sat down, trying not to collapse into it and show how tired she was. She never got this much exercise, and it had been a pretty exhausting week.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo sat down in desks near them, trying to act as if all of this was normal and happened all the time.

Everyone was looking at them and talking to each other. She wasn't sure she was happy about her own role in all this, but there was something to be said for being the center of attention, at least.

As the seats filled up around them, everypony was talking, and she was pretty sure most of it was about them.

Miss Cheerilee watched from the front of the classroom. Once the school bell rang and everypony was in their seats, she cleared her throat.

"Let's settle down everypony, now." She looked the class over, and the talking came to a stop.

"Now, everypony, as I'm sure you are aware, Apple Bloom is out of the hospital now, and is rejoining us a bit early today. Why don't you all give her a warm welcome?"

At that, the other foals gave her a round of applause, both because it seemed to be expected, and possibly because of the spectacle Diamond and Apple Bloom had made coming in.

Miss Cheerilee cut off the applause after a moment.

"Now, since she's still recovering, I'd like everypony to help her out as much as you can, though this does not extend to doing her homework for her, or anything similar." A colt who had started to raise one hoof lowered it. "Apple Bloom, did you want to say a few words?"

Apple Bloom leaned forward. "First off, Miss Cheerilee, we really had a hard time getting over those stairs. It's gonna be really tough if we hafta do that every day."

Miss Cheerilee squeezed her eyes closed for a moment. "Facilities was already notified and should be getting a ramp ready. We weren't expecting you back for a day or two, but I'll have them hurry. Anything else you wanted to say?"

"Right." Apple Bloom looked around the classroom. "First off, I wanted to thank everypony that came and visited me in the hospital. That place was driving me stir-crazy, and your visits helped."

"As you can see," she gestured downwards, "I'm still stuck in this wheelchair, and I will be for at least a couple of months. I am gonna need help, and since Diamond was the one that got me stuck here in the first place, she's gonna be wheeling it around for me and acting as my hooves for everything I need done until I'm all healed up. So you might all want to get used to seeing us together for a while."

"Thank you, Apple Bloom," Miss Cheerilee said. "Before I start, Diamond, can I see you for a moment?"

Oh, right, missing class. She grabbed the note she'd written and signed in Daddy's name, hoping it was enough, and walked up to the front of the class slowly, feeling all eyes on her.

"Um, I've got a note for the days I missed here— " she started.

"Don't worry about it, Diamond. Your butler stopped by while you were out."

Grey had come by? Her heart skipped a beat. Did Miss Cheerilee know?

Oblivious to the look of panic that crossed Diamond's face, she continued. "He let me know you weren't feeling well and wouldn't be in. I've heard what happened, in any case, and I've talked to everypony involved. It won't happen again."

It shouldn't have happened in the first place!

"Um, Miss Cheerilee, where were you at the time?" she ventured.

Cheerilee sighed. "I'm sorry, Diamond. There was supposed to be someone watching outside. I was in the classroom picking out a new editor for the Foal Free Press. It seems we just can't keep anypony in the position."

You shouldn't have taken it away from me, then!, Diamond thought. She was tempted to volunteer to take it back over, but she doubted it would be accepted, and she was pretty sure she couldn't do that on top of everything else even if it was.

At least it didn't sound like Grey had told on her. What had he been doing here?

"Was there anything else?" she asked, hoping there wasn't.

"That should be it," she said, cheerfully. "It's good to see you helping out Apple Bloom like this."

"It wasn't really my decision on that. Daddy was pretty angry."

"It's still a good opportunity for the two of you to spend some time together. Maybe you'll even be friends by the end of this!"

Friends? Diamond thought, as she walked back to her desk. Fat chance of that! Maybe we won't kill each other, at least.

"Now, class, if you'll take out your Algebra book, and turn to page 274 —-"

"Diamond, my book?"

She reached into Apple Bloom's bag, and hunted around for the textbook in question. Flipping to the correct page, she placed it on Apple Bloom's desk, and leaned over so she could see it properly.

This was going to be a long day.

Cubic Zirconia

by arcum42

A Push And A Shove (Revised 10/2/2014)

Finding Her Place

Détente

Morning Is Broken

Water Flowing Underground

Twist & Shout

Another Day In Paradise

Cleanup Time

Breathe

The Mare In the Mirror

Fade To Black

I'm Only Sleeping

One Way or Another

Crosseyed and Painless

Space Oddity

Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes

Run Runaway

Touch of Grey

Easy Does It