Tear Jerker / Why Am I Crying?

Apple Bloom

Chapter 1

• Miss Cheerilee breaking it to her students that Diamond Tiara had been hit by a carriage and died.

Chapter 2

• Apple Bloom finding out that the pictures of Diamond Tiara and her mother Crystal Eyes, surrounded by candles and wreaths, is actually a memorial.
• Apple Bloom witnessing a drunk Filthy Rich fighting with Big Macintosh when the latter went to comfort him, with the former saying that he was a terrible father who pushed his daughter away because she reminded her too much of his dead wife.
  "Work. That was my balm. That was how I justified it. Always so much work to do, I couldn’t spend time with her. And look what she became! You think I don’t know?! A-and now, this is p-punishment. I know, it has to be...I-I-I couldn’t raise her right, so whatever higher power exists took her. My precious diamond...I f-failed!”
  • Mr. Rich even recounts that before she went into the operating room, Diamond told him she didn't want to die, and that he promised her that she wouldn't and they would go back home. Ouch.
• Apple Bloom finds Diamond Tiara's diary and reads the latest entry in it, which had her excited about getting to spend the holidays with her father during the holidays for the first time since her mother and brother died. She thought it would be a chance for them to reconnect, but, alas, she would not get the chance to.

Chapter 3

• Diamond Tiara's diary:
  • Her worry about why her mother isn't back from the train yet, her father crying and drinking himself away, and a police mare coming and mentioning her.
  We were supposed to go to the zoo today, all of us, but you’re not home. I’m…I’m really scared, Mommy…please come home.
  • Diamond's heartbroken entry from when her mother and unborn brother died and how her father shoved her away in their moment of sorrow.
  Mommy is dead. My brother is dead.
  
  Why? Why are they dead? I want them back. I want my Mommy and my brother back. Mommy was gonna show me how to pose like a real model! We finally came up with a name for my brother, Golden Pockets! We are gonna be best friends forever! I was gonna hold him and love him! I want them back!
  
  I keep telling Daddy to bring them back, to find someway to do it! We have a lot of money so there has to be someway! Maybe he can even pay Princess Celestia to bring them back! But he just tells me to leave him alone and he starts crying. I want to cry with him, but he doesn’t let me even near him. “Too busy” he says, “Making arrangements” he says. I don’t care if he wants to make arrangements, I’m his daughter and I need my Daddy! If he wants to cry, let me cry with him! That’s all I can do at this point is cry and cry and cry and oh Celestia why?!
  
  Mommy! Golden Pockets! Come back! I miss you! I miss you! Don't leave me, Mommy! Mommy! Little brother!
  
  I want you back so much!
  • Diamond jumped into her mother's casket as it was being buried into the earth, saying that she deserved better than to be worm food.
  • Apple Bloom skimming through the entries detailing Diamond and Silver Spoon's horrible experiences at the camp. She had never heard of the horrendous things their bullies did to them, and she got more and more sick as she read each entry.
    • She also mentioned that while she was getting her head dunked in the toilet, her tiara, which the last birthday gift her mother gave her before she died, almost got flushed down!
  • Diamond's rant about how Apple Bloom scolded her for bossing her friends around when in fact they were the ones who started the fight by making fun of Silver Spoon's glasses, and vowing to make her former friend's life miserable for forgetting and backstabbing her. Apple Bloom realized the truth behind what happened that day, and she realized that she made Diamond Tiara a bully.
• Apple Bloom's anger at her family for always weaseling out of telling her how her parents died.
  • It's also mentioned that whenever she tried to ask Big Macintosh, he went out for a few hours and returned with cider on his breath. His parents' deaths probably hit him the hardest.

Chapter 4

• Diamond Tiara's diary:
  • During the events of "Family Appreciation Day", she mentions that she almost joined Apple Bloom in bouncing around in bunny suits when she was asked by her to do so. She expressed her desire to be four years old again and relive the happy memories of her and her former best friend playing, but she ended turning the offer down because she was jealous of Apple Bloom in that, while her parents died, she has support from the rest of her family, in contrast to her father, Filthy Rich, who ignores her.
  • Diamond expressing that the reason she hates Apple Bloom most is that she is a blank flank...because she hates her own cutie mark; she sees it as a sad reminder of her mother's death and the friendship she and Apple Bloom once had.
  • Diamond's recounting of the Gabby Gums incident:
    • Filthy Rich scolded her for what she did, saying that her mother would have been disappointed in her.
    • Mr. & Mrs. Joyous refused to let her anywhere near their foal on account of her being a manipulative liar, making her cry on their doorstep for an hour before telling her to get off their property. Hate Diamond or not for it, but it still hurts.
    • In the end, she admits that she did go too far and that she'd like to change, but she feels that there's no going back for her now and wonders when exactly she can.
  • Diamond comforting a sad Dinky Hooves after her father, a serviceman, was killed while trying to stop Badland bandits from entering Equestria.
• Apple Bloom finally remembering the good times she and Diamond had when they were foals, causing her to break down crying over the fact that she forgot, betrayed and "murdered" her.
• Filthy Rich admits to Apple Bloom that he was "afraid" of his daughter because she reminded him so much of Crystal Eyes, going as far as to equate it with seeing her ghost.
  • Rich crying over the diary entry Apple Bloom shows him, proving that his daughter, who he thought didn't love him for shooing her away all the time, actually still loved him regardless.
• At Granny Smith's insistence, Apple Bloom's family finally tells her how her parents died.

Sweetie Belle

Chapter 2

• It is mentioned that the Crusaders still have bad memories of the Gabby Gums incident.
  Scootaloo: I'm not about to cry over a filly that made me a pariah, especially to Rainbow Dash!

Chapter 4

• Sweetie Belle's reaction to Rarity telling her that Crystal Eyes died while she was pregnant with a foal.
• It is mentioned that Pinkie Pie went to live with her parents for a while because she couldn't stand the sad goings-on in town.
• Mr. & Mrs. Joyous expressing regret over how they treated her over the Gabby Gums incident and wishing that they could have forgiven her before she died, all while their foal is crying.
• The Cake twins happily shouting "Daimon!" at Diamond's corpse. They are too young to understand the situation, and they assume that she's just sleeping.
• The Crusaders' goodbyes to their former nemesis:
  • Apple Bloom apologizing to the deceased Diamond Tiara for abandoning her and placing a picture of them as foals into the casket.
  • Sweetie Belle regretting that they didn't have a better relationship before Diamond died.
  • Scootaloo, while admitting that she can't forgive Diamond for all that she did to them, says that she doesn't hate her anymore, and promises that she will help Silver Spoon recover and to make sure that Diamond's efforts wouldn't be in vain.
• Filthy Rich's eulogy.
  "Diamonds are precious gems. Maybe the most precious of them all. When Crystal Eyes gave birth to my little girl, I thought she was the most priceless thing I ever had. We called her Tiara because she was our princess; our little bundle of joy to love and spoil. I promised myself I would make her the happiest filly in the world. I failed in doing that the moment my wife and our unborn son died. I pushed her away because I couldn’t accept the mare that I loved all my life was dead, along with our baby. I let my daughter suffer the loss of her mother alone, without me to hold her. I will live with that for the rest of my life in shame, and my actions created a rift between us that was never filled. A-a-and yet-t-t she l-lo-loved me-e-e...she s-still loved...AH! (breaks down for a moment before recomposing himself) I...I...I know that my daughter was...not the kindest of ponies. Maybe even cruel to some of you. But please, it wasn’t her fault. It was mine. Don’t hate my daughter. Please, just hate me. Hate a stallion who failed his family. Hate the one who never showed his daughter enough love to change her. Hate me, not my precious daughter. Please...I don’t think...” (starts sobbing again; Big Macintosh helps him off the podium)
• Fluttershy singing "Hush Now, Quiet Now" while the attendees place white flowers in Diamond Tiara's casket to say their final goodbyes.

Scootaloo

Chapter 2

• Silver Spoon getting beaten up by the Daze twins, who say that she should have died along with Diamond Tiara and, in fact, deserved worse.
• While visiting Silver Spoon in the hospital, she tells Scootaloo that what just happened to her was nothing compared to her and Diamond Tiara's experiences at camp, where bullies dunked their heads in the toilets and made them lick the rims, threw the teddy bear her mother gave her into a campfire to roast marshmallows over, and left her tied to a tree in the forest with her glasses broken, made everything the two did seem tame in comparison.
  • And they were bullied all because they were rich, even though they never actually did anything to deserve such treatment, and these experiences causes Diamond Tiara to develop a persecution complex against poor ponies. It just goes to show how often society creates its own monsters.
  • Scootaloo's reaction just sells it.
  Scootaloo: W-What kind of ponies would do that?
• Crimson realizes that his old bully Cheerilee is his daughter's teacher, and Cheerilee finds out that her student's father is her old victim. Even before seeing her again after all these years, Crimson winces at the very mention of her name.

Chapter 3

• Some moments from Cheerilee's story:
  • Her recounting of when she was bullied in middle school for her cutie mark, which her peers saw as a sign that she wanted to be part of the school "system" they hated. Because of it, she couldn't help but hate herself, and she would often punch a tree until her hooves bled and dreamed of torturing her tormentors no matter how graphic it got.
    • What's just as bad is Scootaloo's reaction. Most of the bullying she received was because of her lack of a cutie mark, and she thought that it would all stop once she got hers. The thought that somepony would get bullied for her cutie mark never crossed her mind, and she startsto worry that nothing would change if she got a mark that nopony liked.
  • Things were also bad with Cheerilee's family at home. Her little sister, who she taught to read and write, would often cry when she told her to leave her alone.
  • Remembering the look of disapproval her old elementary teacher Mrs. Wormwood gave her following her suspension from high school. It was there that she started to question who she was.
  • Cheerilee breaking down crying like a baby when she finally realized the monster she had become. She then said that she ran home to her family begging them to forgive her for every horrible thing she did.
• Miss Cheerilee telling Scootaloo that she and her fellow Crusaders would not be going to the same middle school together.
• Silver Spoon trying to commit suicide by getting hit by a carriage out of Survivor's Guilt for Diamond Tiara dying to save her from one.
  "Damn you, Diamond Tiara! That carriage was supposed to hit me!"
• When Scootaloo is comforting Silver Spoon, she starts to cry as well, although she is not sure who she is crying for.
  It was then that Scootaloo felt something dripping down her cheek. She touched it and felt the wet substance and wondered. "Why am I crying? Is it for Diamond Tiara? Silver Spoon? Myself? Or... does it really matter?"

Chapter 4

• In the epilogue, it's revealed that Scootaloo has been told by an expert something that she dreaded hearing: her undeveloped wings mean that she won't fly like a normal Pegasus.