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Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara: The Reason For The Feud

by Never2muchpinkie

Chapter 11: Epilogue 2: The new me, the old me.

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The next day Apple Bloom woke up feeling happy. Despite a few hiccups, their first day of having Diamond Tiara as a friend had gone well. She was sure it was just a matter of time. Once she began seeing how much better things were when she was kind and polite instead of mean and nasty other ponies would be drawn to her more positive attitude, and then she’d want to leave her old personality behind for good.

She felt proud of herself for what she had accomplished. She hadn’t done it alone. If it hadn’t been for Applejack telling her the truth about their parents she didn’t think she would have ever thought of forgiving Diamond Tiara for all her bullying. Now that she had extended a hoof of friendship to her former rival she could see the changes beginning in her classmate. Diamond was still a little stubborn… a little scared of what was going on. As she had thought before it all came down to time.

During class the four of them went about their usual business. There weren’t any problems until after class. The four of them were in Ponyville park when they heard it.

“Um… what are you doing with THEM?” asked Silver Spoon dismissively.

Everyone went tense.

“I thought you said you wanted to talk with her about everything,” said Sweetie Belle quietly.

“Well, I never got the chance,” replied Diamond Tiara. To Silver Spoon she said, “I’m hanging out with them for a change. What’s the big deal?”

Silver Spoon began laughing. “Heh. Well, THEY’RE certainly not a big deal. You could do better, but I guess you need to hang around with the riff-raff to show how much better you are than them.”

Scootaloo was watching Diamond Tiara carefully, a cold look on her face. Now was the time to see if she really meant what she said.

“That’s not why we’re hanging out,” Diamond Tiara said in a small voice. “It’s… it’s because we’re… friends.” The last word was barely heard.

“F…fr-iends? WHY in Equestria would you want to be friends with the rotten apple, the squeaky voiced marshmallow, and the flightless wonder? Why don’t you ditch these losers and let’s go take a ride on my dad’s new boat?”

Scootaloo’s expression went unchanged. She actually had to suppress a smile. This was the perfect time to see if Diamond Tiara was going to stick to what she had learned or go back to her old ways. Who would she side with?

Apple Bloom could see Diamond Tiara looking between Silver Spoon and the three of them, looking torn. She hoped Diamond Tiara was going to make the right choice. Although… Diamond Tiara had partially brought it on herself for not speaking to Silver Spoon about things beforehand. Silver Spoon had no idea of the changes her friend had been going through so why would she be acting any differently?

“WELL?” said Silver Spoon when Diamond Tiara didn’t move.

Diamond Tiara kept looking between them, her eyes racing back and forth. She let out an annoyed grunt because of her indecision. She let out a huff and turned her back on the three crusaders and walked towards Silver Spoon.

Scootaloo smirked knowingly, thinking how she knew it wouldn’t last. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked hurt.

Silver Spoon laughed condescendingly. “You made the right choice.”

Diamond Tiara pushed Silver Spoon hard. “That’s enough from you! I’m not going to let you mock my friends like that! Scootaloo is very sensitive about her faulty wings.”

Both Scootaloo’s and Silver Spoon’s mouths were hanging open, and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle let out a small cheer.

“Look, Silver Spoon. I’ve been going through a lot of changes recently. I’ve come to realize that who I was before was just not working out. I did wrong by you. I only used you to inflate my own sense of self-importance and I was a terrible friend to you. I don’t want to do the stuff we used to do anymore. These three are my friends now and that’s the way it’s going to stay!

“If you’re willing to change yourself and apologize then I’ll gladly become friends with you for real. But right now you’re just a bully and a jerk. So… this is goodbye for now.” She turned around from the speechless Silver Spoon and back towards the other three. “I’m a Cutie Mark Crusader now… and these three are my friends!”

As she walked towards them the three of them all hugged her. Even Scootaloo did it without any further reservation. It had come much sooner than she had expected, but Diamond Tiara had proved her loyalty right there… so she was willing to forgive and forget their past.

Silver Spoon just sputtered incoherently, betrayal clear on her face. “H-hey! S-so you’re just gonna abandon me? Is that it? What do they have that I don’t?”

Diamond Tiara turned around. “I don’t mind being your friend. I WANT to be friends with you. But we became friends for the wrong reason in the first place, and I can’t be around you if you’re going to treat them this way. When you’ve adjusted your attitude and stopped being a stuck up snob like I used to be we can be friends again. I’m sorry, Silver Spoon, but this is the way it has to be.”

She turned back around and began walking away, the other three close behind her as Silver Spoon stood speechless.

Once they had left her far behind Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo all heaped praise onto Diamond Tiara for sticking to her guns and not abandoning them.

For Diamond Tiara she felt happy at their compliments, but at the same time she also felt bad for Silver Spoon. She was starting to experience some new feelings inside, but Silver Spoon was still her same old self. She wondered whether she could do anything for her friend. The two of them had never really talked that much about their families. She wasn’t sure if Silver Spoon was just like her and had to deal with parental neglect most of her life, so she just clung onto a position of power in being friends with an heiress.

As they were walking along a voice called out to the group. “Hey there, Di!”

Diamond Tiara turned, and she saw a familiar face she hadn’t seen in a while. “Aunt Thunder Claw!” Her aunt was an earth pony like her, with a gray mane, red eyes, and a greenish coat. “What brings you around here? It’s been two years already. I thought you said you weren’t coming back to Ponyville last time because of that fight you had with my dad.”

“Ah, you know,” she replied. “Things change. I thought it would be nice to catch up. But it looks like you’re busy now. Should I come back later?”

Diamond Tiara looked at the other three. “Go on, Diamond Tiara,” said Scootaloo. “The Crusaders will always be around in Ponyville. Go spend time with your family and we can start again tomorrow.”

“Thanks, you guys.” With that she walked next to her aunt and the two of them began walking.

It was quiet for a time, the two of them side by side but not saying anything. Diamond Tiara kept looking around at the scenery, then back at her aunt. The two of them had been pretty close when she’d come to visit, which was hardly often enough. Thunder Claw had been a mare of strength. She always got what she wanted, was rich like her dad, and tended to look down on others she didn’t feel were as important to her.

But her visits had become less and less as the years went by, until one day her and her dad had gotten into an explosive fight. She had forgotten the exact details of the argument, but all she remembered was that her aunt had sworn she’d never step hoof in Ponyville ever again.

“So… are you still mad at my dad?” Diamond Tiara asked in a small voice.

“Hardly. There’s no reason for anger anymore. We all get mad and say things we don’t mean, don’t we? I trust you’re still milking your dad for all he’s worth, huh? I’ve always admired that in you. You understand your place in the world and take advantage of it. You’re just like me in that sense.”

Diamond Tiara’s face scrunched up a bit. After a few seconds she let out the breath she was holding and said, “No. I don’t want to do that anymore.”

Thunder Claw stopped, looking down at her niece questioningly. “Oh?”

Diamond Tiara stopped too. “Look… that’s the way I was in the past. Or, at least it’s the way I want it to be now. I used to feel that way. But because of Apple Bloom, the yellow earth pony, I began to see things in a new light. I started seeing exactly what I was doing it all for. I was really looking for love since my parents were ignoring me. I became a bully to get attention and to feel powerful. But while it felt satisfying for a while I was still so scared on the inside of being liked. I just wouldn’t admit it to myself.”

“Hmph. I see.” With a bit of a condescending look she began walking forward again, Diamond Tiara following along. “So what changed?”

For the next fifteen minutes Diamond Tiara spoke about the bits of her upbringing that had influenced her, and how Apple Bloom had come to her rescue, offering her friendship.

“Interesting. So now you’re a goody four-horseshoes like the rest?”

“N-no! It’s not like that.” She had always got along with her aunt in the past because they shared similar mindsets. Like with Silver Spoon their interactions made her uncomfortable now because of how different her thinking was becoming. She didn’t want to be a snob anymore. Was that really how she had been treating everyone else?

“Kid, soon you’re gonna learn that those supposed lessons you learned aren’t worth a thing.”

Diamond Tiara heard a bitterness in her aunt’s voice. “What do you mean?”

“Heh! If I explained it to you now it also wouldn’t mean a thing. It’s something that has to be experienced. You were smart before, to see the world as an enemy. Now you’re being suckered and believing it’s the best thing for you. But whatever. You enjoy your friendship while it lasts. Soon enough you’ll see how naïve you’re being.”

A questioning look came to Diamond Tiara’s face. “You really haven’t forgiven my dad, have you? Is that what you’re talking about?”

“That is beside the point. All I can tell you as I’ve lived throughout the years is that friendship is a joke. It’s just a bandage to cover up the weakness of not knowing how to rely on yourself. If you can’t do it alone it means you’re failing in some area.”

“But no one pony is good at EVERYTHING! That’s why all of us have different cutie marks.”

Thunder Claw shook her head amusingly. “Obviously. I’m not saying one pony should be able to do everything in the world. I’m saying that relying on others for something you should be able to do yourself is the ultimate form of weakness. Instead of trying to climb the ladder to success you take a shortcut of having your friends be a foot-stool. And in the end did you actually learn anything yourself or did you just have them do most of the work FOR you?”

Their talk was really starting to get depressing. She didn’t want to start doubting the choices she had made. She enjoyed her new friends. “Look… can we just change the subject?”

“Heh. Sure. But I’m sure you wouldn’t be so uncomfortable with the conversation if your “friends” were nearby to support you. It just goes to show how reliant you’re already becoming on them. I wonder what happened to your sense of pride and strength. Did you give it away to fit in? And then you threw away another friend to boot to stay with your new buddies. How do you think Silver Spoon feels about being friendless now?”

That question felt like a stab in the heart. Those… feelings. So uncomfortable. In a nasty voice she said, “Would you just shut up already! You don’t know me as well as you think you do!”

That brought a smirk to Thunder Claw’s face. “Now, you see? You went from weak to strong when pushed. It seems the real you is still alive and well, buried under the layers of useless “friendship.” How delightful!”

A cold feeling went through Diamond Tiara at her aunt’s words. She had reverted back to her snobby self when the feelings became too much to bear. She tried to formulate a reply, to deny it, but her aunt was right. Every time things started getting too hard she would go back to what was comfortable.

Silver Spoon was nearby, laughing to herself as she watched her traitor of a friend being verbally crushed into the ground. She had at first wanted to see what it was the four of them were up to. She found it hard to believe what Diamond Tiara had been saying. It just didn’t fit that she would change so drastically in such a short span of time.

She had met Thunder Claw one time and found her to be an admirable woman, the kind of mare she wanted to be when she grew up. This was great! Her old friend would be back in no time once Thunder Claw talked some sense back into her. And what filled her with even more joy was hearing her trash Diamond Tiara for throwing her away, her only true friend. How could she choose those three blank flank losers over HER, after all they had been through together?

Silver Spoon was about to go out from behind the tree she was hiding behind to gloat when all of a sudden five ponies came out of nowhere in all different directions towards them. Each of them was wearing a bodysuit and mask.

Diamond Tiara barely had time to process the lasso heading over her before it tightened around her legs, knocking her to the ground. “Hey!” she cried out.

A similar lasso got Thunder Claw.

The two of them were tied up and a mask was placed over her head so she couldn’t see. The next thing she knew she was being picked up and whoever had her began running.

“We’ve got her,” Said a stallion. “Take her to the spot and bring the other one with us.”

Silver Spoon was in a state of shock. Her friend had just been foalnapped! So had her aunt. The area had been deserted before, so maybe that was why they had chosen to attack then.

She saw an envelope sitting on the ground that the ponies had left behind. Going over to pick it up she opened it and saw exactly what she expected: it was a ransom demand, with a demand that Filthy Rich go there alone with an exorbitant amount of bits for his daughters safe return. She had to get to Diamond Tiara’s house!

Next Chapter: Epilogue 3: Truce Estimated time remaining: 31 Minutes
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