//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Whispered Words // by Ponyzilla //------------------------------// Whispered Words - Prologue Ring, ring! The sounds of the bells that hung on the door rang as a grey mare entered the Carousel Boutique. As usual, she had her beautiful silky mane in a lovely braid, wore light blue framed glasses, and her cutie mark was none other than a small but elegant silver spoon. Sweetie Belle, who was in charge of looking after the boutique and taking orders from customers for the week while her sister was gone, was immersed in a magazine she had found earlier in her sister's bed side drawer. She let out a big bear-like yawn as she flipped through the pages at a sluggish pace, not even bothering to skim the content being presented to her. There was no question that the white mare was very tired and quite exhausted just from spending her entire morning sitting at one of the many tables in the boutique- doing nothing productive with her time. Unfortunately for Sweetie Belle, Rarity wasn't the only pony who was out of town. Apple Bloom and Applejack went to Manehatten to visit Babs Seed for a day for some special occasion that Sweetie Belle could not care less about. Rainbow Dash took Scootaloo to see a Wonderbolts show in Canterlot, and Sweetie Belle was surprised to even know where her archnemesis, Diamond Tiara, went. She shuddered at the thought of Diamond Tiara. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were in high school now. Having discovered their special talents, nopony continued to refer to them as, "blank flanks", ever again, much to their relief. However, Diamond Tiara, as well as Silver Spoon, still managed to find ways to make the Crusaders' lives miserable. In return for their endless torment, there were times where Apple Bloom would 'accidentally' buck Diamond Tiara's face, or occasions where Scootaloo would knock her down with her wings, which constantly led the three mares to detention. Needless to say, they had a reputation of being the loudest and most violent ponies in the entire school. Sweetie Belle wasn't a big fan of fights though, but yet, she'd always sit around helplessly while her friends clashed with Diamond Tiara. However, much to Sweetie Belle's surprise, she found that Silver Spoon tended to sit out when things got violent as well. Eventually, Sweetie Belle found that she couldn't bring herself to think of Silver Spoon in an ill mannered way. She figured that Silver Spoon was actually a sweet and condescending mare when she wasn't around Diamond Tiara. One time, when she wasn't with Diamond Tiara, she accidentally knocked Sweetie Belle over during P.E., which caused her to apologize to Sweetie Belle over and over again before insisting on taking her to the nurse's office to check up on her sprained hoof. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had confused looks on written all over their faces when Silver Spoon performed this gesture, but nevertheless, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were quite satisfied with the bully's abnormal behaviour for once. Sweetie Belle yawned. Almost everyone in Ponyville knew that Rarity would be gone for a while, so frankly, they all assumed Sweetie Belle was in charge of making dresses, which made them wary of the shop. However, being as cautious as she was, in reality, Rarity simply put Sweetie Belle in charge of looking after the boutique and placing orders for Rarity to fulfill the week after. Only a handful of ponies were aware of this, and they were the only ones who cared to drop by the shop. Silver Spoon trotted into the store while staring straight ahead at Sweetie Belle, who had yet to notice her. The grey mare rolled her eyes and cleared her throat as loudly as possible. "A-hem!" Sweetie Belle jolted up in her seat, startled at the presence of Silver Spoon. She sat there, blinking mindlessly for a moment before finally processing the situation in her head. She immediately bolted to Silver Spoon's side and placed a hoof on both of their foreheads. "Oh no, Silver Spoon, are you sick?" she asked while taking her temperature. The wealthy pony groaned obnoxiously and backed away from Sweetie Belle, smacking her hoof away. "Oh, it's you," Silver Spoon mumbled impolitely. Sweetie Belle instantly felt her mouth start to frown. She had thought that Silver Spoon would be nicer without Diamond Tiara around. "I thought your eloquent older sister would be here." "Oh, you didn't know? She went to Fillydelphia to pick up some supplies," Sweetie Belle replied, trying her best to ignore the grey mare's rude remark earlier. She ruffled through a desk, looking for an order pad and a pen. "I'm in charge for now, so if you wanna go ahead and place an order, I can--" "No thanks, I'd rather deal with your sister," Silver Spoon interrupted. "But Rarity doesn't get back until next week! Don't you want your order completed sooner than later? It's up to you, I suppose, but it's either place it now, get it in seven days, or place it a week later, and get it fourteen days from today," Sweetie Belle panicked. Silver Spoon thought for a moment. Without saying another word, the grey mare turned around and headed for the door. Sweetie Belle looked all around the store frantically, seeking ways to get Silver Spoon to stay. She was simply unable to let the bully go. After all, she had planned this moment out last week with her other Crusaders. She desperately wanted to befriend the enemy. "You want to WHAT?!" Apple Bloom and Scootaloo shouted simultaneously. Sweetie Belle jumped back in her seat in surprise, almost spilling her beverage on herself. "Geez girls, you make it sound like I'm trying to become best friends with Nightmare Moon or something," Sweetie Belle said calmly while sipping away at the apple juice that Apple Bloom had given her at the start of lunch break. "No," Apple Bloom started, "she's WORSE than Nightmare Moon! Yer tryna befriend the enemy! Yah've gotten soft, Sweetie Belle... We'll miss you." Apple Bloom pretended to wipe away a tear. Scootaloo gagged at Apple Bloom's over dramatic performance. "Ignore her," Scootaloo whispered to Sweetie Belle while pointing at the cowpony. "Hey, ah heard that!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. Scootaloo pretended that she wasn't there. "First, I'd like to know... Just why do you wanna befriend her anyway?" Scootaloo interrogated the white mare. Sweetie Belle shrugged while still drinking from the juice box. It was almost as if she was purposely keeping her mouth on the straw to avoid speaking. Apple Bloom proceeded to snatch it away from her. "Ya don't answer the questions, ya ain't gettin' yer apple juice back!" she said. Sweetie Belle pouted, but gave in. "Fine," she grumbled. "Remember last week, when Diamond Tiara wasn't here, and Silver Spoon knocked me over, apologized and took me to the nurse's office?" The Crusaders nodded, clearly recalling the memory. "Well, I figured that she isn't that bad when Diamond Tiara isn't around, so..." "Hold on, THAT'S yer excuse?! She coulda been foolin' ya or the teachers or somethin'!" "Yeah, but..." "Apple Bloom's right! You can't let the enemy trick you!" "But--" "She's only out ta get some information about us or somethin', you know, to use it against us!" "Yeah! She and Diamond Tiara have always been out to get us ever since we were little fillies!" "Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, listen to me!" Sweetie Belle hollered, her voice towering over her friends'. The two Crusaders complied. Sweetie Belle heaved a loud sigh. "Look, I know you two don't particularly like Silver Spoon--" "She's annoying." "Don't like her one bit." Sweetie Belle glared at her two best friends, and they shut up immediately. "But she just seems to have a different side to her that nopony has seen before." "A mare with two faces? Sweetie Belle, ah really don't see how that's a good thing," Apple Bloom replied. Sweetie Belle took Scootaloo's advice from earlier and ignored her friend. "Point is, I think I just wanna get to know her better," she finished. Scootaloo stared hard at her friend for a moment. "Well, not that I like your idea or anything, but how do you even plan to separate Silver Spoon from Diamond Tiara anyway?" Scootaloo questioned. Sweetie Belle grinned, sending a chill down the orange pegasus pony's spine. "Easy. I overheard Silver Spoon mentioning stopping by at the Carousel Boutique this weekend. Luckily, Rarity isn't home to ruin everything," she said slyly, rubbing her hoofs together. Apple Bloom gaped at her best friend. She leaned over to Scootaloo, and whispered something in her ear. "Wait a minute, did she just imply the two of 'em would be--" "Alone? Yes, yes she did," Scootaloo whispered back. They both looked over at Sweetie Belle, who simply stared back at her friends in confusion. "Sweetie Belle, ah didn't know ya liked--" "Her THAT much," Scootaloo said, finishing Apple Bloom's sentence. Sweetie Belle simply face hoofed herself, and snatched her juice box back from Apple Bloom. "W-wait!" Sweetie Belle called out to Silver Spoon, who was ready to head out the door. She turned around to face Sweetie Belle. "What?" she replied, tapping her hoof on the ground impatiently. Sweetie Belle could feel beads of sweat travelling down the side of her head. "U-um... w-would you like to--" "No," Silver Spoon cut her off. Sweetie Belle's jaw dropped. "But you didn't even hear the rest of my sentence!" Sweetie Belle fought back, dejected. Silver Spoon sighed. "Don't think that I don't know what you're up to. You've been trying to get close to me and Diamond Tiara recently to collect information on us, haven't you? Secrets that you'd later spill to your little crusading friends. Well, it's not going to work, so just stay away! I don't need your hospitality!" Silver Spoon shouted as she quickly ran out the exit, not wanting to hear Sweetie Belle's response. The white mare fell flat on her flank with a grimace on her face. She didn't want to accept it, but her 'great plan' had failed.