//------------------------------//
// Silver Spoon's Story (Part 1) 
// Story: Manes, Pains & Trains 
// by lunabrony 
//------------------------------//

	The young silver mare was usually quiet, save for the times when she was agreeing with something that Diamond Tiara had already said. She hadn't always been like that of course, there had been a time not all that long ago when she was a blank flank herself. Silver Spoon had been picked on, of course, as all fillies and colts were at that time in their lives, and it wasn't a time she was particularly keen on experiencing again. She had gotten her cutie mark, the teasing had stopped, and she'd grown up just a little bit, at least until she'd met Diamond Tiara. Diamond had already had her cutie mark, and seemed insistent on labeling those without one as weak and unprepared. Not wanting to appear weak herself, and without any other friends to discourage her from such, Silver Spoon had quickly joined forces with the wealthy filly. A decision she'd been increasingly regretting as of late, but had not spoken these thoughts as Diamond Tiara did not like her henchpony speaking for herself.
Silver had finally put an end to that, and spoken her dissatisfaction. Diamond took it better than expected, and although there would surely be a confrontation later, for now, Diamond remained quiet.
"You guys wait here for just a moment, I'll get my suitcase and we can play with some of my stuff." The Crusaders looked thrilled, Diamond just rolled her eyes. Silver made her way around to the back of the train, which housed cargo. Her suitcase was easy enough to find, it had her initials monogrammed in it in silver. She opened it up, and a moment later six children rushed into the cargo hold, having heard a loud scream come from the cargo compartment. Silver Spoon sat with an opened suitcase in front of her, a suitcase which appeared to be empty. Silver looked horrified. "Of all the worst possible things that could happen, this is the WORST-"
"Just get on with it! What happened?" Diamond Tiara interrupted.
"My spoons are gone!"	
Scootaloo blinked. "Your... spoons?"
"Yes! I collect spoons! Mostly antiques from my family's pawn shop."
"Your family owns a pawn shop?" Diamond asked in disgust.
"Yes, and I've told you that at least four times, if you'd ever show any interest in my life," Silver snapped.
"Well I'm sorry if I'm too busy to associate myself with old junk," Diamond countered.
"It doesn't matter! We have to find out who did this!" Silver insisted
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Snips and Snails were waving their hooves in the air.
"We know who can find your spoons, Silver!"
"Yeah, we totally know the greatest pony ever!"
Silver Spoon facehooved. "You two DO realize that Trixie isn't on this train, right? Isn't she in the middle of a performing tour in Germaney?"
"Oh..." Snips looked bummed for a moment. "But maybe she could-"
"Enough with Trixie! Trixie isn't helping us!" Silver said again. Both colts wilted.
Apple Bloom spoke up. "Don't worry, Silver! We'll help you get yer treasure back!"
"Yeah, totally!"
"We will?" Scootaloo complained, until Sweetie Belle kicked her. "I mean, yeah, we will!"
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS DETECTIVES! YAY!"
Diamond Tiara stared at them. "What was that about?"
Sweetie Belle grinned sheepishly. "It's just sort of a thing we do."
"Whatever." Diamond tossed her mane out of her eyes. "I'm going back up front, let me know when you guys are done messing around. I have matters of actual importance to attend to." With that, she left for the passenger cars.
"Okay, first we have to look for clues!" Scootaloo announced.
"Right!" Apple Bloom agreed. And then she stood perfectly still, staring directly ahead. "Will ya help us find Silver Spoons missing treasure?" She paused. "Y'will? Great!"
Sweetie and Scootaloo just stared at her. "What in the hay are you doing?"
"Oh, I saw Pinkie Pie do this lots of times! She said she asks questions to th'people on the other side of the screen and they tell 'er where stuff is."
"What people?"
"What screen?"
Apple Bloom frowned, and shrugged. "Ah dunno. She said she listens real hard, and they tell 'er."
The small group of children fell silent, for all of about five seconds. They listened really hard, but no mysterious voices told them where anything was.
"I'm bored." Scootaloo announced.
"Me too." Sweetie agreed.
"Me three!" Silver complained.
"Me... um... what comes after three?" Snips asked.	
"Five?" Snails offered.
Silver Spoon just shook her head. "This isn't helping! First look around, maybe check for hoofprints?"
"That's not gonna work," Sweetie said. "We've all been running around and messing up the crime scene."
"Alright, we split up!" Scootaloo announced. "Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, we had experience as journalists, so you two go and inaugurate passengers, find out if they saw anything suspicious!"
"I think you mean interrogate," Sweetie said, and Scootaloo glared at her. Sweetie shrank back a bit.
"Sorry..."
Apple Bloom was a bit more enthusiastic. "Don't worry Scootaloo, we're on it!" The two fillies darted in the direction that Diamond Tiara had gone some time earlier.
"What should we do?" Snips asked.
Silver Spoon thought for a moment. "Scootaloo and I will check out the cargo compartment, and see if we can find anything out of the ordinary. You two see if you can get a hold of Trixie. We may need her."
The young colts eyes widened as if they'd just won the lottery, and Snails started bouncing with excitement. The two bolted out into the main train cars.
"Do we seriously need Trixie?" Scootaloo asked.
"No, but we don't need them messing things up, either." Silver Spoon said. "That'll keep them busy and make them feel important."
"Isn't that exactly what Diamond Tiara does to you?" Scoots asked.
Silver looked as if she'd been struck. "We'll deal with that later," she said finally. "Just help me look."
The two fillies began to search the compartment, carefully checking around various pieces of luggage. Some had to be moved, but all were placed back where they had been found.
"Find anything?" Silver asked, after about half an hour.
"Not a thing." Scootaloo's wings buzzed impatiently, but as usual, didn't get her off the ground.
"Maybe there's nothing to be found here," Silver sighed.
"Maybe. Let's check in with the others," Scootaloo said, and moved towards the door, kicking at a small pebble on the ground. "Cutie Mark Crusaders... hah. More like Cutie Mark CruFailures." 
Silver looked at Scootaloo with genuine sympathy. "Don't be so hard on yourself. You'll get them eventually. And just think of all the cool things you've done together with your friends in the meantime."
"But I don't want it eventually, I want it now!" Scootaloo complained, edging towards the door. "I'm tired of- hey, what's that?"
"What's what?" Silver asked, taking a closer look at what Scootaloo was peering at.
Long strands of bright pink fur were caught on the door hinge, it was impossible to tell if they came from somepony's coat or from a mane.
"A clue! A clue!" Scootaloo was bouncing.
"I see it! And it looks like we have our first two suspects!" Silver Spoon announced.
"You don't mean..."
"We'll have to question Diamond Tiara. This is just the sort of thing she'd do, but we need more evidence before we can accuse her of anything." Silver frowned, although the theory made too much sense to ignore.
"And the other suspect?"
"Pinkie Pie."	
"What!?" Scootaloo looked confused. "First of all, she'd never do something like that, secondly, she's not even ON this train."
"I've seen that pony pop out of a cloud, a chimney, a mailbox, and a locked cabinet. Just because she's not on the train doesn't mean she wasn't here. Don't bother trying to figure it out, your head will just hurt."
Scootaloo just sighed. "Well, I guess it's worth a shot. Come on, we have invigorating to do!"
"I think you mean investigating," Silver corrected.
"I'm surrounded by dictionaries..." Scootaloo muttered, and the two fillies raced off, deeper into the train.