Diamond Tiara hobbled down the cobblestone walkway of her front yard, groaning and clenching her stomach with one forehoof. Her father had had to carry her this far on his back, but after they reached their home Diamond Tiara insisted on walking the rest of the way herself.

As they reached the front door, Diamond waited for her father to open it so that she could rush into their house and up the stairs the stairs towards her room. “Hold on!” Filthy Rich called out as his daughter ran upstairs.

“I just need to lie down,” Diamond replied in a weak voice as she stopped momentarily.

“Yes, of course, but I would also like you to take some medicine, too,” Filthy Rich said, making Diamond’s groans even louder. “Um, on second thought, you go upstairs and climb into bed, and I’ll bring you up some medicine and some warm milk in just a minute, okay?”

Diamond Tiara nodded. “‘Kay,” she replied in almost a whisper. As her father left towards the kitchen, Diamond Tiara continued her walk towards her bedroom, her pace picking up and her hobbles becoming less and less the more she walked. “I can’t believe it,” Diamond muttered to herself.

As she reached her bedroom door, Diamond Tiara opened it and made straight for her bed, ignoring the dolls that were still laid out on her floor from that morning’s games, and not even bothering to check that her mane was still neat in her little vanity mirror. Instead, she simply threw off her tiara – quite literally – and grabbed her little black sleeping mask which had the words ‘Best Filly’ embroidered in pink on the front.

Filthy Rich came into the room a few minutes later, carrying a tray with some hot milk and a cup of medicine, the latter of which made Diamond cringe. “Here you go,” Filthy Rich said as he set the glass of milk down. He opened up the cup of medicine and poured some of it into the lid. “Now just drink this up and you’ll be right as rain in no time.”

Diamond Tiara was beginning to question the finer points of her grand plan to escape dinner with Apple Bloom, but it was too late to back out now. She had started the act, and she was going to carry it through no matter-

“Blech!” Diamond gagged after she swallowed the medicine. “Why do they make stuff that’s good for you taste so bad?”

“I know it’s not nice,” Filthy Rich said as he poured more medicine into the lid, this time filling it only halfway. “But it certainly beats staying up all night with stomach pains and possibly throwing up all over you nice, expensive new bed, right?”

Taking the lid from her father and whining, Diamond Tiara slowly drank the last portion of the medicine poured out for her, and then immediately reached for her glass of milk. She downed the entire drink in one go, and sighed as she felt the unpleasant taste, for the most part, gone.

“Is there anything else you need?” Filthy Rich asked as he collected the glass and the medicine onto his tray.

“Just wanna sleep,” Diamond said, rubbing her eye and falling onto her back. She saw her father nod and lean down to kiss her gently on the head.

“Sleep well, my little Princess.”

Diamond Tiara waited until the door to her room was closed, and the sounds of her father’s hoofsteps disappeared. “… Ugh. Next time I’ll just pretend I sprained my ankle,” Diamond said in a groggy tone as she pulled her sleeping mask off and threw it aside. “I can’t believe daddy would sell me out like that to that blank flank! This is an outrage!

“Well I’m not going to stand for it! I’m going to give him a piece of my mind! I’m going to… Yeah right. He didn’t listen earlier, why would he listen now?” Diamond jumped out of her bed and paced back and forth in her room as she tried to formulate a plan. “I could try running away, like Snails did when his parents didn’t approve of that weird hobby of his. But where would I go? I don’t like running, so I wouldn’t get far.”

A light bulb shined in Diamond Tiara’s mind. “The train! I could catch a train and go wherever I wanted!” Diamond’s face fell as she recalled certain movies she had watched set in big cities. “But where would I go from there? I’d be all alone. What if somepony tried to kidnap or hurt me?

“… A bodyguard. But who? Silver Spoon is my friend. I can’t put her in that kind of trouble. And I doubt I could ask her anyway, with all that security at her house.” Diamond Tiara sighed as she realised that there was nopony she could ask to be her escort… “No, wait… There is one pony strong enough to defend me, but…” Diamond Tiara shuddered at the thought of asking Apple Bloom of all ponies to tag along with her as she ran away. “But then marrying her is even worse… I guess I’ve got no choice. I’ll have to… ask Apple Bloom to run away with me…”

Apple Bloom’s ears perked up as she heard the sound a train approaching and she turned her head to see that a train was indeed pulling into the station. “Guess that’s our ride,” Apple Bloom muttered as she got to her hooves. She glanced over in Diamond Tiara’s direction, only to find that the other filly was dozing off on her side of the bench.

At first, Apple Bloom had considered simply taking her ticket and boarding without Diamond Tiara, leaving her and all of her bags here at the station. Then she remembered that she needed Diamond Tiara along because she had all the money… in that little bag she kept strapped to her side…

Glancing around to make sure that nopony was watching, Apple Bloom slowly moved towards Diamond Tiara and reached for her saddlebag, stopping for a moment to consider her actions. ‘It’s not really Diamond Tiara’s money. Ah’d be stealin’ money from Mr. Rich… But Mr. Rich has so much money anyway, ah’m sure he won’t miss a few bits.’

As the first strap came undone, Diamond’s eyes fluttered open, and Apple Bloom hastily took a step back. “… What are you doing?” Diamond asked in a threatening tone.

“Nothin’,” Apple Bloom replied in a nonchalant manner. “Oh, train’s here by the way.”

Diamond Tiara turned to face the train, then back to Apple Bloom, and then down to the bag at her side. One of the straps was undone. “… Oh, I see,” she said, glaring at Apple Bloom. “You were trying to take my money and leave me, weren’t you?”

“Ah don’t know what ya mean,” Apple Bloom said, turning her head away.

Diamond Tiara fastened her bag shut and rose to her hooves. She approached Apple Bloom and pushed a hoof into her chest. “Now you listen here. I’m bringing you along to watch my back, and in return I’m giving you the money you need to run away from home. You leave me behind, and I’ll tell your family exactly where you went. Got that?”

Apple Bloom pushed Diamond’s hoof away and returned the other filly’s glare. “Ya wouldn’t, ‘cause then ya’d have ta marry me.”

“If I have to suffer, I’ll make sure you do, too.”

If anypony was watching the scene between the two at that time, they could have sworn that flames had erupted around them. Neither filly seemed to have any intention of boarding the train; instead, they simply stared each other down on the platform, daring each other to make the first move. That is, until the train conductor’s yell reached their ears.

“Final call! Anypony boarding the train to Manehatten, present your tickets and board now!”

Diamond Tiara huffed and turned her head away. “Just stay away from me while we’re on the train.”

“Don’t have ta ask me twice,” Apple Bloom said as she picked up all of the bags behind her and followed Diamond Tiara towards the train. She stopped at the conductor, and Apple Bloom had to wonder what lame trick she was going to pull this time.

“Miss? Are you parents not here with you?” the conductor asked Diamond Tiara, leaning down to talk with her at eyelevel.

“They’re on the train,” Diamond said. “My… cousin, wanted to get one last picture of the train before we left.”

“I see,” the conductor said. He was about to interrogate them further, but the whistle from the train behind him told him that it was time for the train to depart. “Well, make sure you ask a train attendant if you get lost finding you parents, okay?”

“I will,” Diamond said with a smile, running past the conductor and into the train. Apple Bloom walked after her, boarding just moments before the train began to leave. “Well, that was easier than I thought.”

“It’s gonna be an overnight trip,” Apple Bloom said. As she turned to look outside the train’s window, she realised that she was leaving everything she knew behind. Her friends, her school, her family… “Ah don’t feel too good.”

“You don’t look it, either,” Diamond remarked, followed by a loud yawn. ‘Argh. I shouldn’t have drank milk earlier,’ she thought as she rubbed her tired eyes. “I’m going to find an empty cabin and book it for the night. Come on.”

Apple Bloom shook her head, refusing to follow Diamond Tiara. “Ah’m not tired at all. If y’all wanna sleep, go ahead an’ do it on yer own.” Apple Bloom dumped Diamond’s bags onto the floor and turned to walk away.

“You idiot!” Diamond shouted as she quickly gathered her bags together. “Watch what you’re doing! Some of this stuff is more valuable than your life!” ‘Not that that’s very hard.’

“Like ah care,” Apple Bloom replied coolly as looked up at the train’s map. “Like ya said, ah’m gonna stay away from ya until we get there. Bad enough ah have ta deal with ya until we reach Babs’ place, ah’d rather not have ta put up with ya on the way there, too.”

Diamond Tiara gritted her teeth together and growled as she watched Apple Bloom walk away. “Fine! I’d rather you not know where I’m sleeping anyway! You’d probably try to sneak in there later when you get tired!”

“Like ah’d wanna sleep anywhere near you!” Apple Bloom shouted back. “Jus’ go, before ah lose ma patience.”

“What was that?” Diamond growled, but had to stop to yawn again. “Darn it, I’ll let that slide for now,” she grumbled as she picked up her bags, grunting under the pressure of the heavy load. Turning away, Diamond Tiara moved through the train in one direction, whilst Apple Bloom behind her turned and moved in the other direction.

“Ah can’t believe Applejack wanted me ta marry that filly.” Apple Bloom stopped for a moment as she remembered that family that she was leaving behind. “Applejack… Big Macintosh… Granny Smith…”

Granny Smith rocked back-and-forth in her chair, humming a tune to herself that she couldn’t quite remember the name or origin of, and watching as her grandchildren stared each other down in what was possibly the most intense game of trivial pursuit to date. Granny Smith had of course already won, so now it was down to the two siblings, and it was a close game at that.

Granny Smith’s attention was drawn to the clock above the fireplace. It was getting late. “Ah ain’t heard from half-pint fer some time now,” she said, turning to Applejack.

“… Ah’m sure Apple Bloom’s okay,” Applejack said, not taking her eyes off of the board. “The news was jus’ a shock for her, that’s all.”

“Ya didn’t tell her the full story, did ya?” Granny Smith asked. “That we need this in order ta keep from goin’ broke.”

“… She don’t need ta know that kinda stuff,” Applejack said. “She don’t need ta know the financial trouble we’re in, or that her marriage is practically a sell-out. She jus’ needs ta know that this’ll strengthen our bonds as a family an’ be happy that we got the perfect mate for her.”

“Ye’re still treatin’ her ‘sif she were a lil’ filly,” Big Macintosh said. “Ye’re pamperin’ her is what ye’re doin’.”

“An’ y’all remember what happened the last time ya did that?” Granny Smith asked. “Who was it again? Ze… Zelda what’sherface?”

“Zecora?” Applejack asked, and then sighed. “Ah get what ye’re sayin’, but if she thought that the farm’s future was in her hooves, who knows how she’d react? She might stay quiet an’ go along with it for our sakes, or she might try somethin’ drastic ta get the money another way.”

“Wouldn’t put it past that filly,” Big Macintosh said, wondering how such a cute, innocent little filly could cause such mayhem each and every week. “But she don’t exactly seem ta like Diamond Tiara that much.”

“Ah’m sure it’ll pass,” Applejack said. “Our families are good friends, there’s no reason the two of ‘em can’t get along. ‘Sides, Apple Bloom’s only a lil’ filly. She can’t really know what hate is at that young an age.”

“Ah wouldn’t be too sure,” Granny Smith said. “Back when ah was that age, there was this one colt up in Canterlot ah jus’ couldn’t stand. Ah’ll never forget the name of the first colt ah had ever truly wanted ta kick with all mah might: Grandpa Lou. It only lasted a week, but it was the most miserable, most detestable week of my entire life, and as we finally parted ways, ah was the happiest filly in the world. The thought of never seein’ that face of his again made me so happy ah was smiling for weeks.”

“… Even so,” Applejack said, “Ah’m certain the two of them will grow ta love each other over time. Their supposed ‘hate’ can’t last forever, after all.”

“True hate never goes away,” Granny Smith said with a sigh.

The three sat in silence for a bit, only the sounds of the ticking clock and the cackling fireplace filling the room. “… Maybe… Maybe ah should stop treatin’ Apple Bloom like a lil’ filly,” Applejack said. “Maybe ah should tell Apple Bloom the full truth. Yes, this marriage would bring our families closer together, but we also need it ta solve our money problem. An’ she deserves to know that… right?”

Granny Smith smiled. “It would be unfair ta leave her outta the loop like that.”

Applejack nodded and stood up. “Ah’m gonna go see if Apple Bloom’s awake, an’ if she is, ah’m gonna tell her the truth.”

“Ya want me ta come along?” Big Macintosh asked. Applejack shook her head.

“Ah’d prefer if it were jus’ a sister-sister talk,” Applejack said before heading up the stairs and making her way towards Apple Bloom’s room. She knocked on the door gently and called out to her sister. “Apple Bloom?” she asked, but there was no response. She knocked again, a little louder this time. “Apple Bloom, it’s me. Ah jus’ wanna clear some things up about this marriage arrangement.” Still no response.

Applejack reached for the doorknob and twisted it. The door opened slowly, and Applejack gasped as she peered into the room, only to find that it was vacant. ‘Maybe she’s in the bathroom?’ she wondered as she walked inside, deciding the wait for Apple Bloom to return in her room. However, something caught her eyes as she entered. It was a piece of paper on Apple Bloom’s desk. “What’s this?”

Dear family,

I tried to tell you earlier, but you wouldn’t listen. You tried to push Diamond and me together, but I’ve already told you, I hate her. You told me that it was just a phase, but that can’t be true. You told me that I didn’t know what I was talking about, but I do. There’s no way that I could hate somepony this much and for it not to be real. I hate Diamond Tiara so much that I want to puke when I think about marrying her. And she has more than proven her hate for me.

It is for this reason that I am running away. Please do not look for me, not unless you are finally willing to accept the hate that we both share towards each other.

Please know that I will always love you, for you are my family, and this will always be the place that I consider home. But I cannot live here, knowing that Diamond and I will be forever together because you are unwilling to accept our hatred for each other.

Once I’ve found someplace to stay I will send a letter to let you know how I am doing.

Goodbye, Applejack, Big Macintosh, Granny Smith, and Winona,

Apple Bloom.

Applejack stared at the letter as she finished reading it, her breathing heavy and her hooves shaking. “No… It can’t be…” A bang at the window startled Applejack and made her turn around. It turned out to merely be a tree branch banging against the glass, but it was enough to snap her out of her shock. With haste, Applejack ran out of the room to break the bad news to her brother and Granny Smith.

Apple Bloom downed her glass of apple juice in one drink and groaned as she felt her headache growing worse and worse the more she thought about her family back in Ponyville. She asked for a refill from the pony at the bar. Thankfully drinks for children were free in the foal’s car.

Apple Bloom opened her saddlebag and pulled out the framed picture of herself and the entire Apple family standing outside the newly-rebuilt barn, taken during the last Apple family reunion. It was her second-favourite photo, her favourite being the one that was buried beneath that in her bag.

A simple family photograph of the four taken one Hearth’s Warming Eve, all smiling together as they worked on decorating their Hearth’s Warming tree. Big Macintosh had Applejack standing on his back, and in Applejack’s hooves was a tiny Apple Boom, placing the star on top of the tree.

A tear fell from Apple Bloom’s eye and landed on the counter. She quickly wiped it away and put the photos back into her bag as her new glass of apple juice was placed before her. She downed that one quickly too, ignoring the tingly feeling that passed through her body as she did so. ‘It’ll be alright… It’s for the best, if Diamond and ah wanna make sure we never wind up together fer the rest of our lives.’

Author's Notes:

A shorter chapter to sort of (hopefully) clear some things up from last chapter, mostly why AJ would be so willing to marry off her sister without asking her about it first. I know in fanfic that sometimes OOC is unavoidable, but I feel that any OOC, however minor, still needs to be within reason, and hopefully I've provided sufficent reasoning here.

If not, well then I guess you'll just have to think of this as AJ's one flaw besides 'she works too hard' ^_^;; If it helps, just think of Apple Family Reunion and how she completely ignored everypony's feelings for the greater good of her family ;)