Diamond Tiara disliked ponies. There were one or two that she could tolerate, but for the most part she found others to be beneath her. Of course, that didn't mean she avoided them outright. Rather, she took the opportunity to educate them.

On that particular day, during the recess period at Ponyville Elementary, she was educating a quivering mess of tears formerly known as Twist. Diamond Tiara smirked evilly as she came up with yet another brilliant and cutting remark.

"And your lisp is, like, dumb!"

Twist cried even harder. Truly, Diamond Tiara was a master of her craft.

All of this was watched from afar by three seething fillies. The Cutie Mark Crusaders glared across the schoolyard, as much infuriated by their own inability to do anything as by the situation itself.

"Why are we way over here watching!?" Scootaloo ground her hooves into the grass.

"Because," Apple Bloom sighed. "If we go over there and get tangled up in it, you know that Diamond Tiara is gonna come out on top. She always does."

"I feel like crying just looking at her," Sweetie Belle added.

"Well I'm sick of it!" Scootaloo pouted.

"Oh yeah?" Apple Bloom turned her glare on the pegasus. "And just what do y'all propose we do about it?"

"I dunno... insult her back?"

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "You think she'll care about that? She's a sociopath."

"Oh yeah..."

Sweetie Belle raised a hoof. "We could try being nice!"

The other two slowly rotated their heads to stare at Sweetie Belle with matching expressions of horror.

Sweetie Belle shrunk back, but pressed onward. "I mean... it's the only thing we haven't already tried. Maybe she just needs some friendly ponies to show her that being mean isn't the answer to everything. Maybe her dad never loved her."

"Pshh," Scootaloo waved a forehoof. "My dad never loved me, and I turned out fine."

There was a moment of strained silence before Apple Bloom spoke up. "She's got a point, Scoots. It couldn't hurt to give something new a shot."

Scootaloo sighed and hopped on her scooter. "Alright, fine, we'll try the nice way, but only this one time!"

By the time the Crusaders came to their decision, Twist had already scampered away to cry in a corner somewhere. Diamond Tiara was scanning for new targets, and grinned wickedly when she saw her oldest marks approaching.

"Well well," Diamond sneered, "if it isn't the blank flank crusaders." She giggled at her own joke before continuing, "What brings the dummy, the hillbilly, and the flightless bird over to this side of the playground, hm?"

"I am not a hillbilly!" Sweetie Belle shouted indignantly.

Apple Bloom resisted the urge to facehoof, and instead offered the best smile she could muster up. "Look, Diamond Tiara, we just wanted to try and... patch things up between all us. Maybe we got off on the wrong hoof way back when, but there's no reason we have to be enemies forever. I think you could use some new friends, and... and if you're willing, we could be those friends. Whadd'ya say?"

Diamond Tiara stared, wide-eyed. The Crusaders offered up encouraging smiles. Finally, after several moments of tense silence, Diamond Tiara began to laugh.

The girls' spirits sank. They were all too familiar with that evil, condescending sound.

"Friends? With a bunch of losers like you? Puh-lease, I'd rather die!" She wiped a tear from her eye and immediately shifted back into a malicious glare. When she spoke, it was in a low and dangerous tone. "You three are the worst ponies in this school, and probably all of Equestria. I will never be your friend, and I will never leave you alone. I am above you, better than you in every way, and nothing will ever change that. Got it?"

"Yeah, screw this," Scootaloo muttered. In one smooth motion she picked up her scooter in two hooves, wound back, and swung it with enough force to make the local baseball coach shed a tear.

"Scooterface!"

"Wha—" Pow!

Diamond Tiara was sent spinning, one tooth flying in a brilliant arc to land somewhere in the bushes. Diamond collapsed onto the grass in a groaning tangle of twitching limbs. A small puddle of drool and blood was forming next to her mouth, and her eyes fluttered on the edge of consciousness.

"Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle gasped. "We are gonna be in so much trouble."

Scootaloo grinned, examining her bent, cracked scooter with pride.

"Worth it."