GBOYHVerse: Tarnished Diamonds

Chapter 4

Alone in the Crowd

By Godzillawolf

Diamond Tiara's eyes darted around the room in panic. Who else was she friends with? She found she could hardly list any of her classmates names. Well, except Featherweight, but who wanted to be partner with somepony that never said anything? Besides, Diamond Tiara still held a grudge on him for taking her proper place as editor of the Foal Free Press...and then just throwing it away so he could go back to his old job! Who got power and then just GAVE it away? She wasn't too much of a fan of Shady either for 'giving' her the printing press job. It took weeks to get all that ink out of her mane!

Diamond raised her hoof. “Miss Cheerilee? Do we have to work in groups of five?”

Cheerilee shook her head. “Yes, I'm sorry, Diamond. The amount of work for this project necessitates a large group.”

“Can I just have some of my servants be my partners?”

“No, Diamond, that would be unfair to three of your classmates who don't have hired help.”

The pink filly grumbled. 'It's not my fault they're too poor to have them!'

“Perhaps you, Silver, and the Crusaders could work together? This would be an excellent chance for you to get to know each other better,” Cheerilee suggested. The teacher might not have always caught Diamond's bullying, but she noticed enough hostility between the two groups to notice when it'd strangely become less frequent as of late.

The two groups of ponies looked at one another with expressions of pure horror at that thought.

“Regardless, my little ponies, please find your groups and begin thinking of what event you want to do your project on. You'll be expected to have one by next class.”

“Don't worry, Applebloom,” Scootaloo reassured, trying to give off a confident air. “We've got an entire classroom we can partner with, what are the odds of...”

Chairs scooted, hooves stepped, and little bodies darted across the room to others...leaving both the Crusaders and the two bullies staring at one another while the rest of the class set in neat little groups of five.

The two groups of archenemies simply stared at each other for about a minute before their situation fully sank in.

“...Us ending up stuck with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon...”

Diamond Tiara had a sudden urge to try and strangle the universe...but also a pang of...something. What was it? She wasn't used to feeling it. 'Nopony...wants to be with me and Silver?' she thought, looking around and noting nopony had even approached her. 'I don't get it, why is no pony paying attention to me?!'

Both sets of fillies instantly began dashing around the room trying to find replacement partners so fast they knocked their desks over.

“Twist!” Applebloom called, galloping up to the red maned Earth Pony filly. The youngest Apple sibling felt a pang of guilt that she didn't spend more time with Twist. She'd been so busy crusading since. . . well forming the club. She still dropped by to chat a little and get some peppermint sticks, but they didn't hang out nearly as much as they used to. It seemed like a perfect idea. They didn't have to work with at least Diamond or Silver, and she could spend time with ALL her friends! Win win!

“Hi Applebloom!” the candy making pony replied, giving a wide smile.

Applebloom gave a friendly smile, her fellow Crusaders joining her. “Are yah taken? We're two ponies short...and it's been a long time since we got tah do anythin' together, so what do yah say?”

Twist gave a sad frown. “Uh...thorry Applebloom. Buth we kinda already have five ponies...Truffle and three of his friends.”

Applebloom's expression sank before she gave a forced smile. She knew Twist had a crush on Truffle, she couldn't blame her old friend. “Yer sure? Ah mean you could work with us and they could work with Diamond and Silver. Ah mean...Diamond's, uh, a great leader, Ah bet she'd be good for yer group and Silver uh, whatever she does."

"Uh...Applebloom...I don't think that'th a good idea…" Twist admitted, rubbing her head. "I mean...latht time she wath leader, she blackmailed you…"

"...Oh yeah…"

"Thorry, Applebloom. Buth that wouldn't be fair to Truffle's friends, would it?"

"Yeah, Ah guess...okay Twist...That's great...have fun.”

“Okay...Thorry again Applebloom. Maybe nexth thime?”

“...Yeah, that'd be fun.”

Diamond Tiara's first reaction was to resolve this situation the quickest and easiest way she possibly could; by finding somepony who, in her opinion, would be most likely to listen to her brilliant ideas, which in this case, the most recent addition to the class roster, Pipsqueak. Conveniently, the resident 'Pirate Captain' was currently sitting with a blank flank filly who was differing shades of pink with green eyes and a purple unicorn filly with a yellow mane. Perfect.

She noticed the Crusaders rush to talk to some filly with a red mane, but she didn't bother paying close attention, she had her own problems to worry about.

“Hello, Pipsqueak? Or do you mind if I call you Pip?” Diamond asked as she trotted up to the young colt.

“Hello Diamond Tiara!” Pip replied in that odd accent of his. Diamond honestly didn't know (or care) what kind it was. He could be from Neighpan for all she cared. What mattered was he was the new foal in class and thus the least knowledgeable of her. “I don't mind.”

The pink Earth Pony gave a reassuring smile. “Pip, correct me if I'm wrong but I think this is the first big project you've done at school here since you moved here from...”

“Trottingham.”

“Trottingham. Is that right?”

“Yes it is, I'm kind of excited!” the pony replied cheerfully.

'Why is it everypony seems to actually enjoy school projects?' Diamond questioned mentally. She normally just did what she needed to keep her daddy happy so she could go back to having the servants caring for her every whim. The rest of the class seemed to have no issue with Cheerilee's projects except for the initial groaning all foals made at being made aware of impending homework.

“Well, me and Silver were thinking it might be nice if we offer you and your friends to be our partners,” Diamond stated, Silver joining her in giving a false kindly grin.

To the pink filly's surprise, Dinky and Ruby Pinch both seemed more upset than pleased with her offer, while Pip seemed a bit sad.

“I'm sorry Diamond Tiara, but I'm afraid we already have five ponies. Maybe another time?” Pip offered.

Diamond Tiara raised an eyebrow. She peaked over Pip and his friends' shoulders to see two more ponies. One was an Earth Pony filly who's color palette was varying shades of orange named Noi (she only remembered it because of how odd a name it was for a pony), and a light blue unicorn with a purple mane named Tootsie Flutes. The two gave an awkward, forced wave, as if simultaneously trying to be polite but just wishing the moment would be over with.

Diamond gave an annoyed growl. “Fine. Whatever. Your loss.”

The moment Diamond Tiara had left the group of five, the Crusaders zoomed up. “Uh, Pip, we're kinda in a tough spot...uh...mind if we partner with you?”

Pip blinked in confusion. “Sorry...I just had to turn down Diamond Tiara too, we're all filled up.”

The disappointed trio moved on. “How did Pipsqueak get a full group before us?” Sweetie Belle questioned. “He's the new kid!”

“Maybe because he has an accent?” Scootaloo proposed with a shrug.

“Hey Ah have an accent too!...Ah think...”

Diamond Tiara gave a quick thought, who else-who else?! Her eyes fell on Button Mash. That lazy pony kept his face buried in a game so often he'd probably be HAPPY to have somepony else take the strenuous activity of thinking off his hooves.

“Hello Button Mash.”

“Oh, hello,” the colt replied, having been talking something over with a dark purple filly with a blue mane, her Cutie Mark a green apple core.

“I was wondering, since you're so into video games, if you'd like to be in our group, whenever we finish for the night, you could play on my expensive new game console. Top of the line, I just got it.”

“You mean the new one from Neightendo? Already got it.”

Diamond's jaw dropped. “How?! It's so expensive! My daddy even thought it was pricy and we're rich!”

“My dad's a game developer, so I get free games all the time! I'm going to be a professional game tester when I grow up!” Button said proudly with a wide grin.

“Fine, whatever,” Diamond replied, giving a snarl at that plan sinking so quickly. Alright, time for Plan B. “Can you still be my partner? I'll do all the thinking, and you just play video games until I need you. Win, win.”

The purple filly stepped in. “Sorry Diamond, but we're actually workin' with Lickety Split, First Base, and Lemon Daze.”

The pink filly gave a growl. “And who are you?”

“Apple Bytes.”

“...You're related to Applebloom, aren't you?”

“Eeyup.”

“...Figures....Ugh, but what are you going to do anyway? Play video games? I'm rich and I can get you whatever you'd need for a project! Plus buy any video game you wanted for a year!”

“Actually, my dad is gonna help us make a video game as our visual thing!” Button replied, seeming excited about it.

"And First Base's brother's in the guard so he's gonna see if he can check out some books from the Royal Archives for our project," Apple Bytes explained, giving a smirk.

“That's allowed?!”

Button put a hoof to his chin. He then raised a hoof. “Miss Cheerilee! Can my dad help my group make a video game for our visual?!”

“So long as you do as much yourself as you possibly can, Button Mash,” Cheerilee replied, currently helping other students with questions.

“Okay!”

Diamond growled. “Well I have servants! They can help do the same thing!”

“Yeah...but dad's coming all the way from his shop in Canterlot to help me, I sent him a letter yesterday about it and he said yes! Miss Derpy is really fast.”

Diamond prepared to open her mouth to say some choice to the Blank Flank that dared defy her...but stopped. “...Wait...letter? You didn't actually TALK to him?”

“Yeah, Canterlot is pretty far away and he needs to open the shop really early, so he normally stays there most of the time…"

"...You don't get to see him much?"

"...No...”

“...Fine...”

Silver Spoon and Apple Byte both blinked when Diamond didn't push any further and simply trotted off on her own.

Silver followed after her friend. “Diamond? Are you okay?”

“Daddy, is momma gonna be at my party?”

“...No, I'm sorry Diamond, she isn't well just yet...Maybe next time...”

"Okay...will you be there daddy?

“...I just didn't feel like he was worth the time, let's try to find somepony else.”

“You're full too cousin?” Applebloom asked with disappointment.

Apple Byte frowned. “Yeah, sorry Applebloom.”

“...Okay...”

“Sorry...Oh, can yah tell Applejack we'll be at the next reunion?”

“Yeah, Ah can.”

Diamond wracked her brain. Who could she ask? Her eyes and mind finally fell on a red maned foal. Twist, of course Twist. Twist always came to all of Diamond Tiara's parties. Why hadn't she thought of it in the first place?

The little pink filly trotted up to the red maned foal with her typical level of smugness, but made sure to dial it down a bit. She had to put on a good face after all. Silver Spoon followed close behind without question. “Hello Twist.”

“Oh, hey Diamond!” the cheerful filly replied. A pudgy blue Earth Pony colt sat next to her.

Diamond gave a smile. “We were just wondering if you and...”

“Truffle Shuffle...” the pudgy (Diamond would call him fat) colt replied. “Uh...we worked on the paper together, remember? I was the one who carried your papers?”

“Oh yeah, yeah, I remember,” the pink filly said, concealing a small growl at THAT memory. Not directed at Truffle. On the contrary, Diamond felt nothing except apathy for the colt. He'd never really done anything of note she could recall, just sat in the background. If anything she wondered why he wasn't thanking her for finally giving him some exercise hauling the papers around.

No, her anger was directed at three other fillies in the room. 'Gabby Gums' as they went by back then. She let them continue having the most popular column in the paper, stopped them from posting stupid little articles no pony would give a flying feather about, and let them bask in the limelight, and how do they repay her? By throwing it all away and getting her booted from HER position!

'Ungrateful Blank Flan-ugh...I mean ungrateful brats...' Diamond thought, feeling her stomach go loopy again.

“...Anyway, we were wondering if you and Truffle would like to be in our group,” Diamond offered. “After all, you've come to all my parties, we hang out...sometimes. No pony else in class is close enough to us for us to consider.”

To Diamond's surprise, the result wasn't Twist giving the pink filly her gratitude and thanks, it was an awkward silence.

“Uh...thorry Diamond Tiara. Our group ith already good to go...” Twist replied, Diamond suddenly finding the filly's preference for alliteration more annoying.

“What?!” Diamond asked. “Who?!”

Truffle pointed behind him to three other foals behind the two. One was Alula. Another was a familiar cream colored pegasus with a brown mane and tail, and feather cutie mark. Finally, next to him was Shady Daze, a light blue Earth Pony with a dark blue mane and tail. Diamond gave a small growl under her breath, two ponies who she decidedly had a grudge on in the same place at the same time. The idea THEY were the reason that Twist wouldn't be bailing her out of working with the Crusaders was salt in a wound.

“Why them?!”

“Well, they're Truffle's friends tho we're doing ith thogether...” Twist explained. Diamond couldn't help noticing a certain apprehension in the foal's voice. Or maybe that was just her lisp.

Diamond Tiara decided to try a different route. She gave a shrug. “Alright, I mean if you don't want to work with the richest pony in class who's daddy can buy us whatever we might want or need, then that's no skin off my muzzle,” she replied in a somewhat pitying tone, as if it was Twist who was missing out and not her.

"...Okay…" Twist said, sounding somewhat tempted, but Diamond could tell there was something she wasn't been told. And Diamond hated it when she was locked out of the loop. She was the one who decided who got locked out of her group, not the other way around! "Good luck Diamond Tiara. Hope you can find thomepony."

Perhaps it was the weeks of pent up frustrations all come to a head. Maybe it was being rejected the entire day by everypony. Maybe it was the impending threat of ending up with those three. But Diamond Tiara felt like a volcano that was on the verge of erupting.

And memories of mocking Twist before she earned her Cutie Mark came surging back to her mind.

Her eyes fell on Cheerilee, who was presently talking to Button and Apple Byte about something. A devilish grin formed on the filly's face.

"So this is the thanks I get for letting you come to all of my parties? Typical," Diamond replied, rolling her eyes as if Twist made a habit of doing something like this.

The red headed filly blinked. "Huh?"

Diamond Tiara looked Twist in the eye. "Well remember a certain filly? Yellow coat, red mane and tail, no Cutie Mark? No? Of course you don't, you've been too busy sucking up to me. Not that I blame you."

Silver Spoon blinked. Diamond was bullying somepony not named Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, or Scootaloo? The silver filly took off her glasses and rubbed them, then put them back on. She simply shrugged and assumed her smug, high and mighty expression alongside Diamond.

Twist looked down. "Well...I…"

"I mean it's not like the day before you earned your Cutie Mark you were her best friend and then the next was just fine attending a party without her held by the pony who bullied you both not the day before, right?" Diamond asked, then gave an oops gesture. "Oh wait…"

Silver didn't miss a beat and copied Diamond's movements. "You did!" she said in stereo with her partner in crime.

Twist's ears pinned back. "I...I...I justh wanted to go to the party…"

"Of course you did," the pink bully said, giving a smile. "It was my party after all. I don't blame you. I'm just saying you have a history of being a flip flop. I'm actually surprised you didn't leap into my good graces when I offered, I mean you left one friend high and dry, what's four more?"

"Yeah, Flip Flop," Silver Spoon chimed in in the same mocking tone the Crusaders had come to hate.

Twist looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"Hey, leave her alone," Truffle intervened. "She didn't do anything to you."

"Oh like you really know her. She's probably only with you because she doesn't look so bad standing next to somepony with your...unique body structure…" Diamond added in, causing the pudgy colt's ears to pin back.

"Hey! Don't blame them," Shady Daze joined in next, coming between the two while Alula simply set looking conflicted. "It's not their fault they don't trust you after you blackmailed the last ponies who tried to work with you!"

Diamond Tiara's face became one of utter fury. "Oh, so now I'm untrustworthy? I seem to remember somepony had to run the printing press and never said one word to Miss Cheerilee, Blank Flank."

"Oh, Diamond, didn't you tell him to run the pictures?" Silver Spoon 'questioned.'

"Yeah, I think I did. And I don't remember him saying one word to stop me."

The colt's ears pinned down. "I...I didn't think it was my place…"

Diamond chuckled. "You know Twist, I think you've got a good group here. I just think all of you should consider investing in eyes in the back of your heads."

And with that Diamond Tiara left the three now hurting ponies, Silver next to her. The bullies having done their thing...However...

"Silver Spoon?"

"Yeah, Diamond Tiara?"

"...We just made three ponies feel bad, right?" asked the spoiled pink filly.

"Yeah, I think Twist was crying…" Diamond didn't notice it, but Silver's smile seemed particularly fake saying that.

"...Then why don't I feel any better?"

If anything, Diamond felt...worse. Her stomach wasn't doing backflips, instead she felt kind of . . . hollow. Oh, she'd enjoyed it...but in that 'empty' short of way. Kind of like after you gorged yourself on lots of sugar and then had a crash. Like the 'high' was there, but didn't stay for very long.

The silver pony gave a blink. "I...You don't feel better?"

Diamond Tiara was at a loss for words herself. Since when had making somepony else feel bad NOT make her feel better? Making the Crusaders bad had always made her feel better before!

Diamond put a hoof to her stomach at that thought.

The pink filly promptly pushed those stupid emotions to the back of her mind and looked around the room. "...So, nopony wanted to be with us?"

Silver Spoon nodded. "Looks like it…"

"I don't get it! Who wouldn't want to be with us?! We're us!" Diamond stated in disbelief.

Diamond thought about what Shady Daze had told her. Did nopony really want to be her partner because of that silly little act of blackmailing the Crusaders to do something against their will?

"Ugh…" Diamond groaned, for some reason putting it in her mind like that suddenly made her feel sick. For a moment, she even felt scared but couldn't understand why.

"Are you okay, Diamond?" Silver Spoon asked, coming up next to her best friend, looking genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine…"

Diamond quickly reminded herself that the Crusaders were the ones who were trying to throw away the fame. She was trying to be nice to them that time, right?

The pink pony looked up just in time to see the Crusaders standing alone, staring back.

The two groups of fillies looked around in a blind panic, trying to find somepony they hadn't asked. Unfortunately for them all, there was no pony.

After that, the archenemies spent about five minutes staring at one another as if the sight before them was a dream...or rather a nightmare.

"Girls?" asked Miss Cheerilee, trotting over. "Is something wrong?"

"We don't want to work with them!" both sets of fillies asked at the same exact time.

The Crusaders and their bullies looked at each other with confused blinks at the jinx.

Cheerilee wished she could have said it was her plan all along, but she wasn't Princess Celestia. That didn't mean she wouldn't leap on the opportunity to try and get these five to bury the hatchet while the iron was hot. She may not have always caught Diamond's bullying, but she did know that the two didn't get along at one. "Well, it looks like you're the only ones left, my little ponies. And you need five ponies. Remember, this is a big project."

For a brief moment, Diamond Tiara considered the possibility of just refusing to do the project out of spite. Spite soon met the one thing Diamond Tiara loathed more than the Cutie Mark Crusaders: the thought of disappointing her parents...And it also occurred to her that Silver would get an F as well.

Meanwhile, Applebloom considered similar thoughts. As well as the red flank she'd probably get if she even considered it. Not to mention the idea of her family being disappointed in her. She was still trying to get them to trust her enough to stay home by herself when they went out! And she just couldn't do that to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle either.

"I'm sure you'll make a wonderful team," Cheerilee suggested. "You're all capable of accomplishing so much. Imagine what you can do together."

Cheerilee blinked, watching the two groups continuing to stare awkwardly at one another.

Diamond's stomach was in knots just looking at the Crusaders. So many insults running through her mind that she knew she couldn't say...not unless she wanted to become...to become like her.

"Um...Miss Cheerilee?"

The foals and their teacher turned to see Alula raising her hoof. "Um...I could switch with somepony and work with Diamond…"

"Alula?!" asked Twist in shock.

"Well...is it fair to Applebloom and her friends to have to work with her?" Alula whispered. Twist lowered her head and pinned her ears in response.

Cheerilee gave a thoughtful look. "...Hmm...well, technically groups aren't solidified yet. So do any of you want to switch places with Alula?"

The Crusaders looked to one another like the idea of one of them swapping out was like cutting off their own leg.

To Diamond's surprise, Silver Spoon didn't just instantly lift a hoof to get the buck out of there.

Diamond Tiara's mind entertained the idea of trying to swap out with Alula herself. She began to raise a hoof to bring up that exact thing...and then saw Silver's face become...hurt when the Earth Pony noticed her hoof move.

"Y-Yes, Diamond…" the silver mare stuttered, trembling next to her 'friend' in terror.
Diamond turned to her with a menacing glare. "That didn't sound like you're having fun."

"S-sorry…"

"You'd better try again, this time with spirit. Or would you rather I rethink my company's deal with your daddy's business?"

Silver's eyes shrank to pinpricks. "No! It was fun! Look at how wide I'm smiling!" she said, forcing the widest smile she could manage.

"That's better...and don't call me Diamond, call me Miss Tiara, got it?"

"Y-Yes D-Diamond-I mean Miss Tiara!"

Diamond suddenly looked at her own hoof in pure horror for a brief second before she lowered it and quickly regained her composure as quickly as equinely possible, much to Silver Spoon's relief. No pony noticed Diamond still seemed to tremble a little bit. "No thanks, we're good…"

The Crusader's looked at one another in confusion.

"Uh...am I dreaming or did Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon just not trip over each other to leave the other one stuck with us?" Scootaloo whispered to her friends.

Applebloom bit her foreleg and gave a yelp. "Nope, ain't dreamin'."

"Did somecreature accidentally let Discord out again?" Sweetie Belle replied with a little panic in her voice.

Alula looked hurt when no pony took her offer. "Okay...just thought I'd offer…"

"Alright, my little ponies," Miss Cheerilee announced. "Please get together with your groups and spend the rest of class discussing your projects. They will be due in a few weeks."

The two groups of fillies looked at each other.

"...This is going to be a long project…" Diamond Tiara admitted aloud.

"Tah quote mah brother, eeyup," Applebloom replied.