Bearers at Ease

by leonidas701

Last Straw

Silver Spoon shifted restlessly in her chair, waiting for the school bell to ring and signal the start of the weekend. The grey filly’s gaze darted around the room, trying to find new points of interest among the surroundings that she had long since committed to memory. She actively kept her gaze away from the white, circular clock in order to avoid falling into despair at how much time there really was left. She attempted to listen to Cheerilee, but the schoolteacher was merely recapping the topics she had taught that day in a voice suggesting that she couldn’t wait for the weekend to start either.

After sweeping the entire room, Silver Spoon’s eyes fell upon something that was, in fact, new to the class. Rather, someone. A couple of desks to the side and three desks in front of her, there sat Guile. More interestingly than him though, at least at that moment, was his hoodie. The big, black, everpresent jacket that he insisted on wearing. The uniform bulkiness and color of the jacket made the colt appear to be a single black mass from Silver Spoon’s perspective. She was able to amuse herself for a few minutes by attempting to see shapes in the mass, treating it like a goth cloud.

It’s a volcano, she thought. No, wait, it’s an arrow. Yeah, there’s the point and there are the- Guile shifted in his seat. Never mind. It’s a… shark? A sailboat? Silver Spoon was extremely bored.

Finally, salvation came in the form of a sharp ringing from the schoolbell. Ugh, finally! Silver Spoon stood up from the desk and shook her sleepy legs awake. She hung back as the class thundered around her, hooves pounding the ground as every foal tried to leave at once, causing a massive jam at the doorway. Silver Spoon looked two desks over at her best friend Diamond Tiara, one of the two other ponies who realized that a few seconds wait was worth not getting crushed, standing by her own desk. The two of them mutually smirked at the stupidity of their classmates. Silver Spoon tried to include Guile in the smirk but he was still sitting down.

After the traffic jam resolved itself, and Guile finally stood up, the three teenagers left the classroom together.

“Oh, wait up a second,” Guile said, turning away from the schoolhouse entrance. “I’ve gotta go to the bathroom. I’ll catch up with you two.” He headed down the hall.

“Okay,” Silver Spoon said, “We’ll be right outside.”

“Great!” Guile called back.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon exited the building, going out onto the grey road.

“That was soooo boring!” Diamond Tiara said.

“Ugh, I know.” Silver Spoon rolled her eyes as she recalled the day. “When are we ever going to need to know how to manually find the root of a number? And that picture of Ms. Cheerilee’s old haircut, blech. I am going to be seeing that thing in my nightmares.”

Diamond Tiara snickered at that. “Hey,” she said as she spotted a certain pair of fillies on the road in front of them. “Look at that.”

“Applebloom and Twist? What about them?”

Diamond Tiara smirked. “Wanna go have some fun with them?”

“Hmm.” Silver Spoon looked at the schoolhouse for a second. “Sure. What’s the plan?”

“Follow my lead.” Diamond Tiara started confidently walking up the road, Silver Spoon close behind. When Diamond Tiara got close enough for Applebloom to hear her, she started speaking.

“I don't know why we had to sit through a lecture about getting a cutie mark. I mean, waiting for your cutie mark is sooo last week,” she said. She turned around to face Applebloom and Twist. She pointed at Silver Spoon. “You got yours.”

Silver Spoon wiggled her hips a little to show off her mark.

“I just got mine.” Diamond Tiara walked in front of Twist to make sure she could see it. “We all have them already.” Diamond Tiara gasped loudly. “I mean,” she turned to face Twist again, “almost all of us have them already.” Twist’s eyes narrowed. Diamond Tiara kept speaking. “Don't worry, you two,” she said, her voice dripping with false reassurance.“You're still totally invited to my cute-ceañera this weekend.”

“It’s going to be amazing!” Silver Spoon chimed in. The two of them began circling the blank flanked fillies like sharks.

“It’s a party celebrating me and my fantastic cutie mark, how could it not be?” Diamond Tiara said. Her and Silver Spoon went to the side of the road and did their best-friends dance.

“Bump, bump, sugar lump, rump,” they sang, erupting into giggles afterwards.

“Give me a break,” Applebloom said, as she and Twist walked away from the pair.

“See you later,” Silver Spoon called. “Blank flanks!” she said with Diamond Tiara.

The fillies erupted into giggles again, but in between the laughs Silver Spoon noticed that Applebloom’s head was drooping as she walked away. The sight seemed so wrong on the usually proud filly that it made Silver Spoon feel bad for giggling.

“What was that all about?” Guile asked, the sudden voice making the fillies jump into the air, completely blowing the bad feeling out of Silver Spoon’s head.

After the fillies hit the ground, they turned around to face him, light red blushes on their cheeks. “How much of that did you see?” Silver Spoon asked, praying it wasn’t much.

“Not much,” Guile said. “I only just got here.”

Silver Spoon sighed discreetly. She had no idea what she would have done if he had seen her shaking her butt in front of the blank flanks, but she was pretty sure “die of embarrassment” was somewhere on that list.

“Nothing much,” Diamond Tiara said. “We were just having a little fun with Applebloom and Twist.” Now that the last member of her group had arrived, Diamond Tiara started heading down the road, expecting the others to follow, which they did. “Ugh, I can’t believe Cheerilee saved all that boring stuff for Friday. It’s like she thinks we don’t have anything better to think about.”

“Yeah,” Silver Spoon said, rolling her eyes. “What do you think, Guile?” Not hearing an answer, she turned to face the colt, looking up slightly to see his face. He appeared deep in thought as he looked at the two fillies. “Guile?”

“What do your cutie marks mean?” he asked.

“What? Why?” Silver Spoon asked, slightly nervous.

“I’m just curious.”

“My cutie mark means that I’m good at getting ponies to do what I want,” Diamond Tiara said loudly. “I got it when my daddy took me to a jewelery shop. I saw this,” she pointed at her tiara, “and I just knew I had to have it, but daddy said it was overpriced. So,” she bragged, “I went up the seller and said, ‘Mister’,” she turned her eyes watery and started shaking her voice, taking the tiara off her head and holding it out in cupped hooves, “‘I really want this little crown, but my daddy can’t pay for it. Could you please let it cost a little less? Pwease?’ and he marked it down by twenty percent! Daddy was so happy.” Diamond Tiara put her tiara back on her head with a proud smile.

“Huh. Interesting.” Guile looked over to Silver Spoon. “What about you?”

“Oh, uh,” Silver Spoon stalled for time, looking at her hooves as she walked. She had really hoped that hearing Diamond Tiara’s story would make him forget about her. “Mine means that I’m good at finding things. My parents were going to buy a new set of silverware and I found the same set for cheaper.” Silver Spoon sweated a little bit under Guile’s lingering gaze. Then Diamond Tiara got his attention.

“What about you?” she asked. “What’s your cutie mark about?”

“Huh?” Guile turned his head towards the pink filly as the question reached his brain. “Oh. I don’t have one.”

Diamond Tiara stopped out of shock. “What?” she asked. The other two foals stopped as well. Guile turned to face her.

“Yeah.” Guile turned so that each filly could see one side of his body and took off his hoodie. “See for yourselves.”

Silver Spoon looked over his body, seeing it for the very first time. Her eyes lingered on his lean muscles and toned stomach, before gliding further along to his flank. It was equally shapely, a fact that did not go unnoticed, or unappreciated, but undecorated. The same mottled, tarnished color covered it as the rest of his body, uninterrupted.

“Wow,” Diamond Tiara said. “You’re a blank flank.”

“Yep.”

“Huh,” Diamond Tiara smirked and looked up at Guile’s eyes. “No wonder you’ve been covering it up with that ratty old thing.”

Silver Spoon was looking so intently at his flank that she noticed a slight tightening of his muscles. Confused, she glanced up at his face and saw that his teeth were clenched and eyes were narrowed. Taken aback at his obvious anger, Silver Spoon felt a smaller version of the same feeling she felt when she saw Applebloom’s head fall. She tried to figure out how she felt about it, but Guile broke her train of thought again.

“I don’t wear this hoodie to cover up anything,” Guile said in a casual tone, forcing his muscles to relax as he turned to look at Diamond Tiara. “I wear it because I like the way it looks.”

“What?” Diamond Tiara was baffled. “How? It’s all like, torn up. It looks like a cat used it as a scratching post!”

“I like the tears!” Guile protested. “They give it character! This is a hoodie that has survived the harshest of snow and most pounding of rain!” He brandished it at Diamond Tiara. “It saw my first concert, and my first convention!” He pulled it back on.

“But it looks terrible!”

Silver Spoon nodded her agreement. Granted, Guile could have been wearing the finest robe in Equestria at the moment and Silver Spoon would have still hated it now that she saw what it was hiding.

“Says the thirteen year old wearing a plastic tiara.” Guile looked at Diamond Tiara skeptically.

“That’s different!” Diamond Tiara pointed at the tiara. “This is cool!”

“How?”

“Because I’m wearing it,” Diamond Tiara said with an air of finality.

In the face of such an unimpeachable argument, Guile couldn’t disagree. “You’re right, you’re right.”

Diamond Tiara tossed her hair in triumph as she started walking again, only to stop in her tracks when Guile kept talking.

“I mean, with that comparison, anything would look cool,” he said.

Diamond Tiara spun around, her eyes bugging and mouth hanging open.

Silver Spoon covered her mouth but only succeeded in stifling her laugh.

Diamond Tiara faux-glared at Silver Spoon. “Traitor,” she joked.

“Sorry, sorry,” Silver Spoon said between laughs.

Guile pressed his hoof to his forehead and shook his head, smiling the whole time. “I’ve gotta get home, I have work to do,” he said.

“Later, blank flank!” The two mares yelled after him.

“Come on,” Diamond Tiara said to Silver Spoon. “We’ve got our own work to do.” She turned around and started heading to her house, knowing that Silver Spoon was right behind her.

-----Later, in Diamond Tiara’s Bedroom-----

“Maybe we should only have a quarter of the cupcakes be vanilla?” Diamond Tiara asked. “I mean, everypony loves chocolate, but only a few ponies like vanilla cake. What do you think?” She looked up from the paper she was writing on and faced the filly laying on the floor next to her.

“Sounds good,” Silver Spoon said. The two fillies were laying on the wooden floor of Diamond Tiara’s bedroom, their back legs bent at the knee and resting against the side of her bed, as they finished up the preparations for Diamond Tiara’s cute-ceañera. They had been working on the last item of the menu, cupcakes, and deciding how much of which type there should be.

Diamond Tiara read the numbers back, “So, eighty total, with forty chocolate with chocolate cream, twenty red velvet with vanilla cream, and twenty vanilla with chocolate cream. Perfect!” The magenta teenager grabbed the paper off the floor and stood up. She went over to her desk and began pushing stuffed animals and school materials to the side in order to make room for it. While she was watching Diamond Tiara bunch up papers and shove toy animals, Silver Spoon’s eyes caught sight of the digital clock on the desk.

“Wow, we got through that fast!” Silver Spoon said.

Diamond Tiara smiled proudly. “Yeah. While Cheerilee was talking, I was able to put the whole thing together in my head,” she said.

“Wow.”

“Yeah, well, not all of us were able to spend the last half-hour of class staring at colts,” Diamond Tiara teased as she finally put the paper down on the desk.

“W- what?” Silver Spoon asked.

“Oh come on, I saw you checking out Guile.”

“I was not checking out Guile!” Silver Spoon said as she sat up.

“Oh? Then why were you looking straight at him?” Diamond Tiara sat down on her bed.

Silver Spoon scooted away from the bed a bit and turned around to face Diamond Tiara as she explained herself. “I was-” The grey filly stopped when realized how stupid she would sound if she said she was cloud watching using Guile’s hoodie. “Look, just, never mind what I was doing!”

“And you were upset when he told us yesterday that he was busy on Sunday,”

“I didn’t want him to miss the party!” Silver Spoon protested.

“Okay, what about when he took off that piece of swiss cheese he calls a jacket? You couldn’t take your eyes off of him.”

Diamond Tiara had her there, so Silver Spoon scrambled for something to say. “I was just so surprised that he didn’t have a cutie mark yet,” she lied.

Diamond Tiara bought it. “Yeah, like, I couldn’t believe it either,” she said as she leaned back on her bed. “I mean, he sure doesn’t act like a blank flank.”

After Silver Spoon’s internal sigh of relief, she remembered why they were talking about blank flanks originally. Just like that, the image of Applebloom’s head hanging as she walked away came back into her mind, bringing the bad feeling with it.

Diamond Tiara noticed the shadow that passed over her friend’s face. “What’s up?”

“...Huh?” Silver Spoon looked up at her friend again. “Oh, nothing.”

“Great!” Diamond Tiara jumped off of her bed. “Well, we’ve got some free time. Wanna watch a movie? I’ll have the servants make popcorn,” she offered, already pushing the button on her wall that would patch her voice into the kitchen.

“Yeah, sure,” Silver Spoon said. While her friend started making the preparations, Silver Spoon thought. From Diamond Tiara ordering the popcorn to leading her down to the massive home entertainment studio in her house, Silver Spoon thought.

We were just teasing her. I mean, she had to know that. Guile knew that. He was more annoyed that we insulted that hoodie. Besides, Silver Spoon rationalized, if she’s still upset after Diamond Tiara invited her to the party, it’s her fault. She shouldn’t take things so seriously.

Diamond Tiara nudged Silver Spoon, getting her attention.

When Silver Spoon turned to look at her, Diamond Tiara asked, “So, what do you wanna watch?”

“Oh, uh, uh, you pick.” Silver Spoon went back to staring into space with a shadow in her expression.

“Okay.” Diamond Tiara smiled as she picked the film.

Silver Spoon smiled back, pushing her thoughts into the background as she tried to relax. She didn’t do a very good job of it, as Diamond Tiara saw her distress as the film started.

“Hey, don’t worry, the party’s gonna be amazing!” she said, misinterpreting what Silver Spoon was worried about. Still, Silver Spoon smiled, nodded, and leaned back to enjoy the movie. Nothing to do now but wait until Sunday.

-----At the Cute-Ceañera-----

This is a disaster, Silver Spoon thought as she exited SugarCube Corner, following Diamond Tiara. She had never seen her best friend like this. Diamond Tiara’s mouth was locked, the strain on her jaw obvious even from the back. Her every step pounded the ground like she was trying to snap her own ankles. Her breaths came out in forceful shudders, the air being blasted out of her nose like carbon-dioxide had killed her parents. She tried to keep her face away from Silver Spoon’s concerned eyes, but she had still managed to catch a few glimpses before they left and see a gathering of tears resting on Diamond Tiara’s squinted eyelids.

Silver Spoon closed the door to the bakery, shutting out the sounds of foals playing and laughing. She followed Diamond Tiara, feeling sick and worthless as she saw her friend trying to not to break down in front of her, desperately in need of her help, and she couldn’t think of anything to say. After a couple blocks, the sound of Diamond Tiara’s angry breathing as she choked back sobs became too much for her. She had to say something.

“Diamond,” Silver Spoon said as she reached out to tap her friend on the shoulder, only to yank the foreleg back like a cobra had just popped out when Diamond Tiara spun around.

“What?!” Diamond Tiara said, a level of venom in her voice that Silver Spoon had never heard before.

Silver Spoon stopped dead in her tracks, all thoughts of speaking left her head as she saw Diamond Tiara’s face. The fur on her face was clumped together and matted down from her tears. Her eyes were red, and puffy, and angry. Her teeth were clenched in a scowl.

Silver Spoon stared at her with worry and the worst kind of pain, the pain of being useless when a friend’s in need, but all Diamond Tiara could see in her face was pity and fear. She spun back around, so Silver Spoon could only see her back,

“I- I- I-” Diamond Tiara tried to force out without sobbing, “ju- just g- go away.”

Silver Spoon tried talking again. “Di-”

Diamond Tiara turned around again. “Leave me alone!” she screamed at her best friend. When she saw the way Silver Spoon recoiled from her, she looked at the ground, disgusted with herself and the world. She turned away again. “P- please,” she said as she walked away.

Silver Spoon tried to reach out for her again, but she had gone out of reach and the grey filly felt that her legs had turned to lead. Try as she might, she couldn’t go to her friend. She just stood there, one foreleg reaching out, until Diamond Tiara turned a corner and vanished from view. Silver Spoon finally put her leg down. She turned around, and went in the opposite direction, her tears fogging up her glasses.

The party had started out so well too. SugarCube Corner had managed to complete all of the order exactly on time, most of the guests arrived at around the same time so there was no awkward standing around in the big empty cafe, and everypony seemed to be enjoying themselves. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were going through the room, Diamond Tiara periodically getting complimented on her party and getting a larger look of satisfaction with each one.

Then she caught sight of Applebloom. Looking back, Silver Spoon wished she had resisted Diamond Tiara a little more when she said that they should go talk to the yellow earth pony. But it was her party, and Silver Spoon wasn’t going to keep her friend from talking to someone else.

It was nice at first. Applebloom had told them that she had a new cutie mark, and Silver Spoon felt happy for her, really, she had heard about her spending Saturday trying to figure it out, and she could tell Diamond Tiara was impressed. But she refused to show it to them. Neither of the fillies pressed the issue, and Applebloom walked away. Then the pink scrap of fabric fell down.

Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara called her out on her lie, and everything went downhill from there. First those Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, then Applebloom’s big sister, then the Princess’s student, slowly the party’s attention was taken away from Diamond Tiara. Try as she might, Diamond Tiara couldn’t get the crowd’s attention back onto her. She was being ignored at her own party, the party she had spent so long putting together. Not just ignored, vilified. It was too much for her, and she couldn’t take it anymore. Silver Spoon tried to cheer her up, but to no avail. She left. With Silver Spoon close behind her, Diamond Tiara was forced to leave her own party out of embarrassment, even pushing away her best friend.

Silver Spoon walked through the streets, replaying the events over and over in her head, trying to think of what she could have done to avoid the situation.

I could’ve stopped Applebloom from talking about her cutie mark. I could’ve kept her away from Diamond Tiara. I could’ve seen through her not wanting to show us her brand-new cutie mark. I should’ve seen through it! How didn’t I?! Applebloom would’ve been shouting it from the rooftops if she had found her cutie mark, the big deal she made about… Silver Spoon sighed as she realized something. She didn’t make a big deal about it. I should’ve kept Diamond Tiara from teasing her about it. I shouldn’t have made fun of her about it.

The epiphany didn’t do anything to make Silver Spoon feel better. And now, because I didn’t, Diamond Tiara’s crying her eyes out. What do I do? Silver Spoon walked a while more, repeating the question to herself over and over again, each repetition making the feeling of emptiness spread further throughout her body. Finally, she stopped as a memory came up. Way back at the start of the school year, Cheerilee showed the class a video on bullying.

I have to apologize to Applebloom tomorrow. Once I do that, she’ll have to apologize to Diamond Tiara, right? Silver Spoon thought. That’s what happened in the video. It has to work! Why else would they teach it to us?

With a clear plan in her head, Silver Spoon turned back towards her house, crafting the perfect apology in her head. Hey, Applebloom- no, that sounds too fake. Applebloom, I was hoping to talk to you about- no, that makes it sound like I’m embarrassed to apologize to her. Dear, Applebloom- ugh, I’m going to be saying it to her, not writing her a letter.

Silver Spoon made it home, into the shower, and into bed, all the while thinking about her plan to apologize. When it was polished to her satisfaction she closed her eyes and went to sleep, eager, for once in her life, for the next day of school.

-----The Next Day of School-----

Silver Spoon’s refusal to fall asleep until she had composed the perfect apology had bitten her in the ass. She was only barely able to get to the schoolhouse before class started, leaving her only a couple minutes to apologize before the class started. She rushed to the door, stopping just before opening it to make sure she didn’t look sweaty and overeager. Once she had calmed herself down to the point that it looked like she had just calmly walked into the building, she stepped into the room.

She glanced at Diamond Tiara’s seat and found it empty, only strengthening her resolve. She looked at Applebloom’s seat and found that she was already seated with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo standing next to her. The trio was talking about something.

Reciting her perfect apology one more time in her head, Silver Spoon confidently walked over to the trio. As soon as they caught view of the bespectacled filly, the conversation stopped.

“What do you want?” Applebloom asked, her eyes narrowed.

Silver Spoon felt a little intimidated, what with all three fillies staring at her with a cross look. “I just wanted to-”

“What, call us all blank flanks again?” Scootaloo interrupted.

“Yeah, we’ve heard that already,” Sweetie Belle said.

Silver Spoon was taken aback. “N- no, I-”

“Besides, it’s not like you’ve got one that’s all that great,” Scootaloo said. “A spoon? What are you, really good at eating breakfast?”

“It- It’s not-” Silver Spoon stammered out. “I just wanted to talk to Applebl-”

“Look, whatever you have to say to me, I’d really rather not hear it! It can’t be that important, or Diamond Tiara would be the one saying it,” Applebloom said, her voice low and acidic.

“I- I-” All the rehearsing Silver Spoon had done went out the window in the presence of three pairs of cold eyes. She stood there, stammering, as the looks on their faces went from angry to amused at her discomfort.

“Attention!” Cheerilee called. “It’s time for class to begin! Please, everypony go to your seats.”

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo went to their chairs and Silver Spoon slid into hers. Fortunately everypony was focused on Cheerilee so no one noticed that Silver spoon’s head was buried in her forelegs.

“I just wanted to tell you,” she mumbled, to quietly for even herself to hear it, “I’m sorry.”

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading, and sorry for my delay in posting up a new chapter of this. I was distracted when I started a new story over on FF.net. It’s called “A New Challenger” and it’s a Sly Cooper story about a new agent being put onto Sly’s trail. If you like my writing style, I encourage you to check it out, I had a lot of fun writing it.

Next chapter, Tron’s first day of teaching Twilight.

Comments

[SageBrony07]

Wow. I actually feel sorry for everypony. Good luck with the next chapter. I can't wait to read it.