“Ya okay?” Babs asked.
Silver Spoon shot up. “Huh?” She then looked down at her ice-cream to see it had already melted into a milky soup.
Switch shrugged. “Maybe she doesn't have a lot to say." he said in a gloomy tone.
Lucky facehooved. “Oh no, Switch, the aliens messing with your mind again?”
She frowned and continued to stare at her empty dish. “Yeah, the aliens did it.”
Silver Spoon's eyes dropped, and she turned to Babs. “Eh, it’s nothing.”
“You mean how you went all sunshine and rainbows when you met your future coltfriend?”
Silver spoon grinned. “Well, aside from… That! I guess I’m still thinking about what happened with Decimal, and why he can’t be here with us.”
Babs snorted. “Wasn’t right if you ask me.”
*****
Halfway through the day, the class had split up. The students like Decimal, who had more difficult learning handicaps, were sent upstairs, while the other half were left to be taught in the regular style down below.
Throughout most of the day, Silver Spoon had done nothing but avoid the topic of Bright Mind—who went upstairs with the other foals—as her friends kept teasing her about him.
“Well, I mean, he’s only two years older than me,” Silver Spoon defended when the subject of age was brought up.
“Though I doubt it will go well if you told your ma.” Babs pointed out.
Silver Spoon choked. “Hey! We haven’t even started to date yet.”
Lucky chuckled. “So you two are going to date?”
“Is everything going well overhear?” their teacher asked.
They all shot up and grinned nervously at Ms. Chalk.
“Yes, mama,” Silver Spoon nodded, “we were just getting to the part about…” She squinted at the paper. “Las Vegas history.”
“Pegasus!” Switch snapped in a whisper. “Las, Pegasus, history.”
A few students chuckled at Silver Spoon’s slip up.
“Oh,” Ms. Chalk said with a raised eyebrow. “If you all have time to talk, maybe some extra homework may be in order?”
Everypony hushed up and went back to their assignments.
With that said, class had returned to normal. Although, for Silver Spoon, her mind continued to buzz with thoughts of her mother. She still had no idea how to even get herself into the one class Bright Mind was going to help teach, let alone if she even considered going into a relationship with him.
Which, for some reason or another, made her think back to Diamond Tiara by chance. Most of all, to the letter Apple Bloom sent a week ago saying she hadn’t gotten a lot better. While Diamond Tiara hadn’t gone back to bullying, but she had gone to started to only go to school and straight home, and rarely said a word to anypony at school.
As much as she wanted to dwell on it, Silver Spoon forced her mind too focused on her work. Which proved to be difficult as the next part was comprised of a lot of lower case B’s and D’s.
“Pss, Babs,” she whispered, “dose the lower case B face to the left, or right?”
Before she could answer, a loud cry pierced the school.
Ms. Chalk looked up to the second floor, sighed, and tried to get the class back to the lesson. However, a half hour later, the howl continued on. A few times, guitar started to play, only to be abruptly stopped by the shouts of what sounded like a series of numbers.
Eventually, Silver Spoon’s aunt, Silver Lining, looking very distressed and beaten, walking into the classroom with the familiar child leash in hoof.
She didn’t say a word, didn’t change an expression, but simply headed upstairs.
A moment later, the howls, while they continued to echo throughout the building, had died down.
A moment later, Silver Linning, with decimal in tow on the leash, walked—to them—a mile from one end of the building, to the exit while most of the class stared.
****
Babs swirled her straw around. “I still don’ think it was right putting him on a leash.”
“Neither do it,” Silver Spoon said between sips, “but he’ll just get himself into trouble. But…”
Her friends looked at her.
“But, what?”
Silver Spoon but her lip. “I… I guess a part of me is just, worried how we would look if we had to carry my cousin around in a leash if we wanted him to hang out with us.” They all stared at her.
“Sorry, I’m a horrible pony aren’t I?”
Babs’es hoof slammed on the table. “I mean, what kind a ponies think it’s a right? Deponizes ponies like that!” Babs eye began to twitched. She then looked at all of her staring friends. “If y’all excuse me. She then stood up and made her way to the bathroom.
Once she was gone, Lucky twirled her straw. “What are you up to?”
Silver Spoon raised an eyebrow. “Huh?”
Switched rolled his eyes, then addressed Silver Spoon. “She’ll do that. Get upset, go to the bathroom, and will be okay. It’s like she takes some magical pill, and comes out feeling much better.” He sipped on his drink.
Silver Spoon stared forward. “You don’t say?”
Switch’s eyes lowered. “I’m sure she just likes to… Hold it in for us, and then gets upset until she goes.”
Lucky patted his shoulder. “Sure it is, buddy.”
Switch grumbled something unintelligible, while Silver Spoon was left to her thoughts.
While Ponyville had never seen someone who would take the stuff that drug guy offered, Silver Spoon was aware of addicts and drugs, but… Could Bab’s have been one?
“Sorry 'bout that.” Babs said returning to the table, sure enough, looking more relaxed. “Now, where were we?”
Silver Spoon nervously looked around. “Well… Um, so what are we going to do today for crusading?”
After giving it some though, and not sure where else to go, they decided to head to central park for a walk, where they hoped to come up with some ideas on the way.
Oh the way, the only thing Silver Spoon could think about was the possibility of Babs being on drugs. As much as she tried to deny it, a few parts of it made sense to her. The only good thing out of it was how it distracted her from thoughts of her mother and cousin.
Silver Spoon rubbed her head.
“Ya okay?” Babs said as Silver spoon realized that they were somewhere in the park.
“Oh, um,” silver Spoon blinked. “Yeah, just a lot on my mind.”
“I’d imagine,” Switch said. “First day of school could have gone better.”
“I sure hope Decimal is okay,” Lucky said as she kicked a pebble. “He seemed like he may have had something on his mind.” She rubbed her chin. “I wonder.”
Switch bit his lips.
Silver Spoon, meanwhile, realized—out of all places—where they were, and where the supposed bag of drugs Babs had obtained where thrown away.
Looking into the shrubbery, Silver Spoon wondered…
Silver Spoon crept to the side. “Excuse me for a moment.”
“Sure,” Babs said as if it was nothing.
With their nod, Silver Spoon trotted off into the clearing.
She hadn’t expected to find anything. After all, it had been a bag full of drugs. How would it still be there?
And what is it going to mean if you find it? Silver Spoon asked herself. It wasn’t like she was—
She stopped when she stepped on something. Looking down, she saw that it was a rather damp bag paper bag. For a moment, Silver Spoon though to just leave it alone. Another part of her, forced her to lift the bag up with her hooves.
Inside, was a rock. Which alone, couldn’t have meant anything. However, it also had words on it. They were too small for her to read, and a shout of where she went forced Silver Spoon to rip the words off the paper bag, and stuff it inside her own bag.
“Sorry,” Silver Spoon sheepishly said as she rejoined the group.
Switch and Lucky simply nodded, while Babs raised an eyebrow. “So what did you find?”
Silver Spoon’s fur began to rise. “Wh… What? I… I just thought I saw a shiny bit in the distance.”
“Oh cool,” Lucky beamed, “did it lead to a buried treasure? Hey, maybe we can get our cutie marks in treasure hunting!”
Silver Spoon quickly nodded. “Yeah, that’s a great idea.” She raised up a hoof. “While I didn’t find a bit, I’m sure there’s more rare coins hidden around this park. What do you say crusaders?”
“Yeah!” Lucky and Switch nodded and rushed off.
Silver Spoon breathed a sigh of relief, until Babs put a hoof up in front of her. When she looked up to Babs, she was given a nasty glare.
“Ya sure you didn’t find anything worth mentioning, did ya?”
Silver Spoon felt a bead a sweet run down her neck. “Um… no, no, of course not. I, mean, I thought I saw a bit, but that was all.” Not wanting to seem weak, she stood up straight and stared down Babs. “Why, what you think I’d find?”
It was Babs turn to shrink. “Oh, um, I wouldn’t say—”
“Hey,” Lucky found out, “I found a bag with a rock in it.” She came out holding the bag in question. “Maybe it’s a space rock. Think we can take it to someone.”
Even from a distance, they could both see where Silver Spoon had ripped the wording off. Before Silver Spoon could say anything, she felt herself get pushed to the ground. When she looked up, she saw Babs huffing as her pupil’s dilated as she stood over her.
“Ya don’t know anything!” Babs stomped her hoof in the ground. “And I suggest ya keep it that way.” She then took off.
“Hey,” Switch said as he exited the groove, “I heard shouting, is everything okay?”
Lucky raised an eyebrow. “What? I just found a bag with a rock on it. Then I showed it to silver and Babs when she attacked Silver?”
Switch sighed and walked over to Silver Spoon. “What happened?”
“I…” she said as Switch helped her up. “Well,” she pulled out a torn off scrap. “What does this say?”
Taking the paper himself, switch read over it, and said, “Rock.”
If it weren't for Bab’s actions, that might have been all. However, in an intense, Silver Spoon had figure it all out. “No, no, no, no, no!” she moaned as she began to pace around. “Oh, why, why, why?”
The two other foals simply stared at her for a long moment, before Lucky asked, “What’s going on.”
“I… I… well, it doesn’t matter. Right now, I need to find Babs. Do you guys know where she lives?”
Lucky nodded. “Yeah, we can show you.”
“Just the address, you two should just head home.” Silver Spoon rubbed her head. “I’m sorry I ruined our day, I’ll explain later.”
“Hey!” Lucky snapped. “She’s our friend too. Longer than she’s been with you.” She narrowed her eyes. As she advanced, Silver Spoon saw her eyes water up. “If something is wrong, we want to be there to help her.”
Silver Spoon sighed. “Alright,” she pushed up her glasses, “I’ll tell you on the way. Though, this is only what I think is going on. So… hope I’m wrong.”
“Nothing is wrong,” Switch snapped.
His reaction caused silver Spoon to jump. “Huh?”
He shook his head. “It’s… Never mind, come on.”
With one last concerned glance, Silver Spoon shook her head and raced off after them.