Diamond in the Rough
by Crystalchameleon
First published
It's been 5 years, and Diamond Tiara is 18 years old now. She's put her past behind her, and is ready to use her talent to lead the right way. But will her trust for other so called "reformed" villains be her undoing?
Five years ago, The Cutie Mark Crusaders helped Diamond Tiara find her purpose in life. Ever since then she's known that she was meant to be a leader. Now, she's trying to find out how she can help ponies with her talent and passion.
After much searching, she finds The Hollow Shades, a deserted city just Northeast of Foal Mountain. She plans to use her extensive funds to make the city a home to ponies that have no other.
Will her friendships with two of the most legendary villains in Equestrian history destroy her attempts at trying to tame the Hollow Shades? And even if they don't, would her parents take her allowance away if they found out that her heart was already taken by a stallion of whom they would never approve?
Chapter 1
"Diamond Tiara? Diamond Tiara! Come back here right now!" my mother yelled at me.
Currently, I was galloping away from Fieno, one of the nicest restaurants in Ponyville. I just couldn't believe she had done it again! Yesterday, she had invited me to have lunch with her this afternoon, which was okay. I didn't like my mother, but I did my best not to entirely cut her off.
But of course, there was no such thing as a nice lunch alone with your mom when your mom was Spoiled Rich… It turned out, the lunch was an excuse to set me up with yet another rich stallion twice my age.
I was only eighteen for heaven's sake! What part of 'I don't want to get into any serious relationships until I'm happy with my own life,' couldn't she understand? Oh, and was it really too much to ask for her to want me to end up with a stallion that was genuine as well as rich?
"I can't believe you just ran away from the Flim! His brother is married to a member of Princess Twilight's friendship council, and he owns a profitable resort in Los Pegasus! Isn't that a place where rebellious teenponies like you would want to live in? Not to mention I found someone who meets your ridiculous age requirements! He's under thirty!"
I guess she couldn't understand.
"He's 29 mother," I said through gritted teeth.
She was following to my apartment. Well, that was fine. She very well knew that I wouldn't let her in.
"You are just impossible to please!" she yelled.
That was the last straw. I turned around to face her.
"I am impossible to please? I'm trying to make my own money rather than rely on a stallion for everything! If I can do that, I will have accomplished more than you ever have, and you still aren't going to be pleased with me until I marry some stupid stallion who only wants to marry me for my pedigree!"
My mother looked scandalized. She yanked her chin up in the haughty way she usually did, and glared at me disappointedly.
"I didn't want to have to do this Diamond Tiara. I was trying to give you a final chance with Flim, but I'm afraid your father and I have no choice," she said.
I squinted at her, not understanding.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, if you do not have a suitable boyfriend by the end of the month, your father and I are cutting off your allowance," she said, still glaring at me.
"Wait! But-"
"No buts Diamond Tiara! Either you get a boyfriend, or say goodbye to your allowance!"
Then, she trotted off, leaving me at a loss for words.
*******************
As soon as I'd found my senses, I'd galloped to Cozy Glow's house to tell her what my mother had done. Now, we sat in her living room, trying to figure out what to do.
"By golly, the next time I see your mother, she'll be lucky if she gets out alive!"
I widened my eyes.
"Cozy!"
She raised an eyebrow.
"What? I spent the first thirteen years of my life acting nice all the time, then spent a year in Tartarus. You would need to worry if I didn't make rude comments now."
I giggled at my best friend. I guess she had a point, although it was hard to imagine Cozy Glow as a filly manipulating everyone and trying to steal all of Equestria's magic. I mean, she understood ponies and their thought processes to the extent of being slightly creepy, but I had only seen her use her skills to manipulate ponies a few times, and it was only when it was absolutely necessary.
"I just don't know what we'll do! I'm pretty sure I can convince my father to continue my allowance if he actually sees what we're doing, but then we only have a month to finish it," I said.
A few months ago, my parents had taken me on a tour of all of Equestria for my eighteenth birthday. At the time, I hadn't really been sure what I wanted to do with my life. I had known what my talent was, but had no clue how to use it as an adult. Then, I had seen it.
In big cities like Manehatten, Baltimore, and Vanhoover, there were ponies living in the streets with nowhere to go. At that moment, I knew that I had to use my skills-and my allowance-to help them.
That had been when I started looking for a partner, since I knew I'd never be able to do it alone. I'd found Cozy Glow, who couldn't find a job after what she'd done five years ago.
Her cutie mark was a red chess piece not because she was good at playing chess-although she was-but because she was such a good strategist, which was exactly what I needed in a partner.
After a lunch, we'd hit it off, and I knew she would be the one to talk to about how I could help all of those ponies.
Since then, I've done a lot of research on political stuff, and Cozy and I had found a way to make my dream a reality.
If we found an unowned area of land, and built a new city, we could give all of those ponies homes! Then of course, we'd also have to convince some other ponies to move there so that we could start an economy.
It may sound like a lot of work, but I knew we could make it happen.
"I would agree with you, except for one thing," Cozy said with a sparkle in her eye.
I looked at her.
"What's that?" I asked suspiciously.
"I found the perfect place! The city is already built for us, so we could probably finish the renovations by the end of the month! The only problem is… Well…"
"Yes? What is it?"
"Ponies have told me that there's a peculiar stallion stopping everypony from renovating it."
Chapter 2
I looked at her, slightly confused.
"What do you mean, 'There's a peculiar stallion stopping everypony from renovating it,'? Unless he owns the city, he can't do anything against the renovation," I said.
"Well normally that would be true, but I'm not sure you'd want to cross this particular stallion," Cozy said nervously.
Did Cozy really have to be so cryptic?
"Who is it? Gladmane? Prince Blueblood?"
"No... It's Stygian," she said.
The ex Pony of Shadows and now best-selling creepy, dark, depressing novel author Stygian?
"Why would Stygian be preventing us from renovating a city?"
"Haha... I probably should have told you that the city we would be renovating is The Hollow Shades..."
I gasped and widened my eyes in shock.
"The Hollow Shades? You want to renovate The Hollow Shades? Are you mad?"
She looked at me and blinked once.
"Am I supposed to say 'no'?"
I rolled my eyes.
"Really though, I wouldn't be bringing it up as an option if I didn't think it could work! I know ponies say it's 'cursed by the shadows', or whatever the gosh it is, but I went there myself, and I didn't see anything creepy or suspicious. It just looked like any other abandoned city."
"I don't know, Cozy…"
I didn't really think it was cursed either, but would we be able to convince anyone to live there if it was such a popular rumor? Then again, for ponies with nowhere else to go, anywhere was better than nowhere. For the potential business owners, it might be different, but Cozy was really good at convincing ponies to do things they wouldn't normally, and I'd try to make the city a good place to live…
Cozy could clearly tell that I was still unsure.
"Come on Diamond Tiara! Do you have any better ideas of how to convince your parents that this is worth your attention?"
She was right… The Riches were the type of ponies that would never admit they were wrong unless you literally put proof right in front of their faces.
"You know what, let's do it!"
I took a deep breath, and tried to look calm and collected. Oh, who was I kidding? I had never been so excited! I squealed a little, and gave Cozy a hug.
"Thank Golly! For a second there I thought you'd say 'no', and I may have already set up a meeting with potential restaurant, grocery, library, and antique shop owners for about two hours from now, and it would be pretty embarrassing if I couldn't tell them where the city would be…"
She looked at me innocently. I glared at her for a few seconds before we both burst into laughter.