Understanding
Diamond and Dinky turned off Ponyville's main road and trotted slowly along its length, though even dawdling as they were, the shape of Dinky's house grew ever larger as they made their way along. There was a companionable silence between them, and their journey was accompanied only by the rustling of tree leaves in the wind, and the birds chirping from the branches. Dinky's home sat on a tree-shaded yet wide street, the combination of space and greenery giving it a more peaceful atmosphere than was usual for a road adjoining a town's main road.
The house itself was small, but understandably so - only two ponies had to live there, after all, and many of the homes along this road had been built that way. In earlier decades, the town had more of an earth pony majority, and this street along with many others had been built with more than a little earth pony influence. This was partly because most of Ponyville's income came from farming, a typically earth-pony-dominated occupation, but this had always been the case and had never stifled diversity. According to a local history lesson courtesy of Cheerilee - which Dinky had eagerly contributed to - a particular series of events had caused the earth pony population to rise to levels not seen before or since, and had made a permanent mark on the town through its architecture.
The attraction of living so close to Canterlot had been diminished in those days by a series of wild storms from the Everfree, which had dealt the town a double-blow. Not only had many homes been destroyed, but the newfound doubt as to the town's safety had led many prospective residents - mainly unicorns wanting a rural place to live close to the capital - to choose other towns over battered, monster-plagued Ponyville. With less unicorns making their home in the town, and most new pegasi only arriving to fill the few empty spots on the weather team, the ever-hardy earth ponies had filled the gap in the population.
When the time had come to rebuild the town, it had been earth ponies who had led the efforts, in planning as well as execution. Earth ponies preferred large gardens, to always have a direct connection with nature right outside their door, even in the middle of town: when faced with the need for enough houses to replace those lost, it had been decided to build smaller houses in order to keep the larger gardens they were so fond of.
Dinky had been all too happy to regale Diamond with this tale on their way to the little house, but even she could only keep the conversation going for so long. They'd lapsed into silence a little way from the turn onto Dinky's road, and while it was hardly an uncomfortable one, it did leave Diamond with a lot more time to think than she needed. Her mind skipped between worry for Copperwing, worry about still-hospitalised Gild, and worry about Silver Spoon. As her inner monologue ran steadily faster laps of anxiety around her brain, her ears drooped ground-wards and her mouth curled down at the corners.
The weight of a hoof on her shoulder snapped her out of it. Turning, she saw -- as she knew she would -- Diamond's reassuring face, curled into a gentle smile while her blue eyes beamed silent encouragement into Dinky's amber ones.
"Hey," she said. "Are you alright, Dinky?"
Dinky hastily nodded, perhaps a little too eagerly. "Yeah! I'm fine."
Diamond frowned. "If you're sure..." -- she gave Dinky's shoulder a reassuring squeeze -- "But you know you can talk to me if you need to, right?"
Dinky nodded. "I know."
Diamond nodded back, and released her. As she stepped back, the bigger filly jerked her head in the direction of the house they'd stopped outside, and with a gesture of the hoof, asked:
"That's your house, isn't it?"
"Yep." Dinky grinned. "Looks like we talked most of the way there."
"I guess we did," agreed Diamond, "Except for that long bit of silence at the end there."
"Fair point," Dinky conceded. Taking a few steps towards her home, she then stopped and waved to her friend. "Bye, Di!" Giggling at the accidental rhyme, she repeated the farewell: "Haha -- bye, Di!"
Cracking a smile of her own, Diamond chuckled good-naturedly and replied: "Goodbye, Dinky."
Diamond waved, as Dinky wandered towards the door, then turned and trotted slowly up the street. Just before the point where Dinky's house would have vanished from sight behind her, she glanced back over her shoulder, but her friend was gone. With a shrug, she returned her gaze to the road ahead and turned the corner into town.
*
Dinky waved to Diamond until the door closed, then dropped her hoof to the ground. Her ears perked at the sound of humming from the kitchen, and she turned her back on the door to head on into the house. Pausing at the entrance to the little house's kitchen, she poked her head through the doorway: sure enough, there was her mother, humming a happy tune as she set a fresh tray of muffins down on the sideboard to cool. Dinky trotted into the room and wrapped her mother in a tight hug, nuzzling her mane and breathing in the faint smell of muffins that lingered there.
"Hello to you, too, Dinky." Chuckled Ditzy, fondly returning the embrace.
For a little while, they enjoyed the contact, but eventually broke apart. When they did, Ditzy noticed an uncharacteristic hint of worry in her daughter's eyes. Lifting Dinky's muzzle with the soft touch of her wing, Ditzy looked into her amber eyes and tried to encourage the filly to confide in her.
"Is everything alright, Little Muffin?"
"Yeah." Dinky replied, but without her usual zest. "Everything's OK. Why wouldn't it be?"
"You just looked a little down, is all. Are you sure there's nothing bothering you?"
Dinky looked away. "Nothing worth worrying about."
Lifting her daughter's muzzle again to look her in the eye, Ditzy stood her ground. "If it's worrying you, then it's worth worrying about."
This time, Dinky simply broke eye-contact, a faint blush appearing across her cheeks.
"It's silly," she stalled.
"Not if it's getting you down, it's not." Ditzy lowered herself to her daughter's level, a pleading tone flavouring her voice. "Please, Dinky, I want to help."
Dinky remained stubbornly silent under her mother's caring gaze for a few more seconds, but at last her resolve broke and her worries came flooding out all at once.
"I... I'm just worried about Silver Spoon. For a second I thought I saw her in town earlier, and now I can't stop thinking about what she might do if she comes back."
"Oh, sweetie." Ditzy sighed, and pulled her daughter into a loving embrace. The filly eagerly burrowed into her chest, and Ditzy blanketed her in her wings, stroking her mane with a hoof. "Have you talked to your friends about this?"
"No." Dinky mumbled.
"Why not?"
"I didn't want to worry them. Diamond's already been through so much, it wouldn't be fair to make her think Spoon might come back."
A warmth filled Ditzy's heart on hearing the words and she loosened their embrace to lean down and plant a kiss on her daughter's forehead. "Oh, Dinky. You really are too sweet for your own good sometimes. If you really don't want to talk about this with Diamond, at least promise you'll talk to me about it next time. Please? I love you, Dinky; I don't want you feeling down if there's something I can do to help. Nothing you can say will ever be too silly or to unimportant for me, not if it's bothering you even a little bit. Got it?"
"Yeah..." Dinky sighed into her mother's shoulder, then gave the mare a gentle nuzzle. "I love you, Mum."
"I love you too, Dinky. Now, how about we forget about that horrid filly and have some muffins?"
Dinky's ears perked up and the sparkle returned to her eyes. She disentangled herself from her mother's embrace and made for the muffin tray in a series of short hops. Grabbing one and inserting it whole into her mouth, she mumbled her approval of the plan through an explosion of crumbs.
"Sounds like a plan to me!"
*
Auburn was alone. Diamond and Dinky had left, and Copperwing was asleep in her bed upstairs -- not that she'd want anything to do with her even if she was awake. Not after what she'd done. Even so, Auburn wished her sister was awake, if only to have someone else around to make the house feel less empty. Her mother was still recovering in the hospital and her father... well, Auburn didn't actually know where he was. He was probably in his workshop, but with how quiet the house was, he might as well be on the other side of Equestria.
So here she was, alone in the living room with her thoughts. Usually, this would be okay; quite often, she'd actually prefer it to having company; but today was different. Everything had changed since Copperwing had ended up in the hospital: now, nothing made sense. Auburn liked to pride herself on her ability to work things out, but hours of wasted thought had left her just as confused as she'd started. Why couldn't everything just go back to how it was?
But then, hadn't she learned a long time ago that some things, once broken, would never be the same again, no matter how painstakingly you put the pieces back together? It seemed like her relationship with Copperwing was exactly that sort of thing, since every attempt to make things right had failed to return that easy back-and-forth they'd always had. Or, at least, she thought they'd always been that way. Copperwing's words at the hospital had cast doubt on quite a lot of things Auburn had thought she understood. From what Copperwing had said, their relationship had been broken for a long time before the big fallout at the weekend, but everything had seemed perfect until then.
Of course, it would seem perfect to her -- she hadn't been the one who'd gotten hurt. The pain she'd caused her own sister... How could she ever make that right? How could either of them just brush it under the rug and continue as they were? Her parents seemed to think that with her apology at the hospital, she and Copperwing were going to magically get along again, but they had no idea how badly she'd messed things up. Apologising wasn't going to fix this -- Auburn just wished she knew what would.
If there was something she could do to make it right, she would, but what could she do? Everypony talked about forgiveness like it was easy to give and easy to earn, but nothing Auburn had done made any difference. After the first one at the hospital, all her apologies had done nothing to bridge the gap between them, but how else could she show she was sorry? She didn't understand -- what was it going to take? How long would it be before Copperwing stopped looking at her like a stranger?
Auburn didn't like not understanding. Celestia above, she was supposed to be smart! What was it that she kept missing that everypony else got instinctively? How could she be this wrong? Auburn sat heavily on her haunches, took a deep, shaky breath and sighed. Dejected, she sank her face into her hooves and squeezed her eyes closed to keep the tears inside.
"Auburn?"
She took her hooves off her eyes and opened them, blinking away the unshed tears.
"Dad?"
He was standing in the doorway, smiling softly at her despite the concern in his eyes. Auburn couldn't think what he could want, but he wasn't mad with her, at least. Clambering to her hooves, she shuffled over to him; once she got close, he reached out and laid a gentle hoof on her shoulder.
"I think," he began, making sure to look her in the eyes and still smiling that soft, paternal smile. "You and I have a few things to talk about... right, Wakey?"
She broke eye contact then, becoming suddenly preoccupied with the worn carpet at her hooves, but when she finally mumbled a response, it was in grudging agreement.
"...Yeah."
Her father smiled a little wider and turned to leave. Looking back over his shoulder, he gestured for Auburn to follow.
"Come on, then. We can talk in the workshop."
Auburn nodded her silent assent and trotted after him. She'd always been close to her father... maybe she could make sense of this with his help? She could only follow him and hope.
*
Diamond wandered home frowning. Dinky had obviously had something on her mind, but she hadn't wanted to tell her what it was -- in fact, she'd denied being worried at all. It could be personal, she considered, but even then -- why not just say so? Didn't she trust her?
Maybe how she'd handled the whole Auburn thing had Dinky worried? That would make sense -- if Dinky felt she'd done something wrong, or, again, if she didn't trust Diamond enough not to blow up at the slightest provocation.
But then again, maybe it was the sort of personal thing Diamond might have been able to guess if Dinky'd admitted to having something on her mind? Granted, Diamond had no idea what Dinky might want to keep secret, but if it was anything like the situation with her and Copperwing, she could maybe understand why Dinky would rather deny she was thinking about anything at all. Diamond had repeatedly denied that there was anything between her and her eldest friend, but in truth... well, even she wasn't sure, and being teased for possibly having feelings for the other filly was not helping her figure it out.
She'd always thought Dinky would be the blatant, unabashed type when it came to even remotely liking someone else that way, but maybe not. Auburn, the accepted 'smart one' of their group, had proven uncharacteristically ignorant when it came to understanding her own sister, and after years of being a small-town bully Diamond was finally showing her true colours as a more-or-less decent pony -- all considered, Dinky turning out to be shy about romance wouldn't be that surprising after all.
Especially, Diamond thought, if she was into Auburn. If Dinky had been in a fight with Copperwing -- or anypony Diamond might maybe, possibly, have a crush on -- she'd probably not be her first port of call to talk about her feelings. This seemed to fit, and some of the worry evaporated from her mind. Just because Dinky wasn't telling her what was wrong didn't necessarily mean she didn't trust her, just that it might have been too awkward for her to talk about. Diamond could understand awkward.
As the frown melted away, Diamond continued her journey home with a great deal more peace of mind.
*
Auburn shifted uncomfortably on the stool in her father's workshop. Around her, the little brass sculptures of ponies seemed to be glaring down at her, judgement in every shining face. Her father pulled the wooden door closed and took a seat opposite her; his gaze wasn't judgemental, it was worse -- Brass Twister just looked sad. Auburn flinched from his regretful gaze -- she'd made him like that.
Normally, Twister was the liveliest personality in the house: his ears were always perked up, and would twitch towards any fresh sound in the hopes of fuelling more of his famous dad jokes; his muzzle was almost permanently creased into a smile; and the skin around his joyfully sparkling eyes was crinkled from laughter past. The stallion sitting across from Auburn was another pony entirely: ears flat against his head, his mouth a grim line, his eyes lacking their usual shine. When he spoke, the joking tone she'd come to associate with her father's voice was gone, replaced with a tired, sighing sound. He rested his forehooves on the table and leaned forwards to speak.
"Auburn, I'm going to be frank with you. This... this thing with Copperwing? You bucked up."
She flinched at the word, stung and scared. She'd never heard her father swear, never dreamed he'd swear at her. Twister, however, was unapologetic.
"I'm sorry, Auburn, but that's the truth and I'm not going to sugarcoat it." Pausing, he sighed, then changed tack. "That being said, I know from your sister you already worked that out, and I didn't bring you in here to talk down to you. I brought you here so we could talk honestly to one another, say the things that need saying. Now, reminding you of what a mess you've made of things was one of those things, much as I wish it wasn't, but you're not the only one at fault here. Being honest, Copper's the only one I can't blame for this going so badly."
Auburn blinked. "Only Copperwing? Not even Mum?"
"Yeah, just Copper." He shrugged his wings, a tinge of regret slipping into his posture. "I guess she could have done more to make you understand you were hurting her, but we told her we'd handle it, and we bucked up. Your mother and I should have had a proper talk with you when Copper first got diagnosed, made sure we were all on the same page, but we just assumed you'd get it first time and left it there. We should have been there for her more, stood up for her when you got mean, but we didn't. We bucked up, Auburn. We didn't do enough."
Auburn looked on in concern. "Dad?" she began, intending to comfort her favourite parent, but Twister just carried on as if he hadn't heard her.
"That's why I need us to talk now and be honest with one another. Between the three of us, we've bucked up enough already. It's time we started fixing things. It's time we started being a family again. You want that too, right?"
Auburn tried to reply with some enthusiasm, but the guilt and confusion sapped all the life away before the words left her tongue.
"Yeah, I do... But what can I do to fix this? I mean, I've said sorry and it's not enough. She still hates me."
Twister reached over and squeezed Auburn's shoulder, then leaned down to meet her eyes despite her attempts to avoid his gaze. "Auburn, your sister doesn't hate you, but you hurt her, badly -- things like that, they don't fix so easy. You're going to have to show her that you're sorry by acting like it -- ask her how she's doing, support her, give her space when she needs it. She needs time to trust you again -- use it to become the sister you always should have been. The sister you used to be, all those years ago."
Auburn swallowed, met his eyes, then nodded solemnly. "I'll try."
Twister leaned back, smiling, as his voice returned to something more alike his usual tone.
"That's all I'm asking you to do; all you can do. We've made some mistakes, but we'll get through this rough patch -- just so long as we all try to be better. I'm going to start a sort of... I dunno, regular meeting? for all of us to just sit down and say what's on our minds. No interruptions, no arguments, just talking and listening and then, after somepony's done speaking, we can chip in -- respectfully, mind -- and respond."
Seeing Auburn's frown at the idea of a mandatory problem-airing, he leapt to explain. "It doesn't have to be bad all the time -- if you've found something new you really like, we wanna hear it; if you want to talk about old times, we're all for it; if you want some advice on something, we can all do our part to help. I want us to start talking to each other again: no more unhappy secrets, no more suffering in silence." His point made, he spread his forelegs and smiled sheepishly. "What do you think?"
Auburn returned the smile and nodded eagerly. "Yeah, Dad. I'd like that."
"Then I've just got to sell the concept to your mother and Copper. Speaking of those two -- I'm going to ask your mother to have a talk with Copperwing like I've just had with you. Chances are, she's going to need some more support after that, so please don't get jealous if we spend more time with her in future. She needs us to be there for her, and we need to show her we have her back."
"Okay." Auburn replied, gently lowering herself from the stool and trotting to the door. As her hoof closed on the handle and pulled the door open, her father's voice rang out again in the little room.
"Just try your best, honey, okay? That's all I'm asking."
Auburn looked back and nodded, a smile upon her face, and silently slipped out of the door. She carefully pushed the door closed, then headed up the short staircase to the rest of the house. Her mind wasn't focused on her surroundings, though, but rather on her thoughts. Try her best? She could do that. Maybe, just maybe, she could make this work after all.
*****
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Oh, my god. I finally caught up to the (as of now) ending, and I must say this is a pretty wonderful fanfic you've got going here! It puts an interesting spin of DT and Spoon's relationship; one that I have never, ever seen before. The characters themselves are also really fleshed out and relatable, so I just can't wait for more!
7792674
Thank you very much! I'm hoping to get another chapter out before Christmas.
There is also a matter of Apple-Rich trade. In canon they a old trading partners when in this fic there is a little to none trade between this families.
8031535
Good point.
I only added the AU tag when the CMC got their cutie marks on the show, by which point I'd almost forgotten about the earlier parts of the story where Apple-Rich trade was a major plot point, so I didn't think to add that. If I can come up with a way to add that into the description without making it clunky, I'll do so.
Thanks for reminding me about that!