Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara have always been good friends, but Diamond never really cared much about Silver Spoon. But when Silver Spoon gets fed up with their unbalanced relationship, who will befriend her?
Silver Spoon always wanted to be the best possible friend to Diamond Tiara. She genuinely cared about Diamond Tiara, she comforted her when she was hurt, she protected he if Applebloom's older siblings tried to hurt her, and wasn't afraid to even take a hit from Big Macintosh. But she also had her morals, which were higher than Diamond's and Diamond only dragged her down to the level of being a bully. But after Silver Spoon clapped for Granny Smith, Diamond decided she needed to find some "cooler" friends to hang out with. How will Silver Spoon cope with this betrayal and loss? Or can she?
Running, always running. Her hooves coming down heavy on the ground below her, making loud banging sounds with every trot. She was always running from somepony, no it was something. She always realized that halfway through the chase. She was being hunted, inside of a giant, elaborate mansion, its walls laden with gold and its floor a sparkling checkerboard pattern of deep, dark blue and milky-white marble, and there were portraits on the walls. Living paintings of scenes; one could actually jump into one and interact with the characters, that is if you were not being chased. The frames of the pictures varied from oak wood, to bronze, to rose wood, to gold, to spruce wood, and even platinum. There were always a few that caught her eye as she galloped past. One of a rabbit, a bear, and a robin sitting around a mushroom table enjoying tea, all of them wearing fancy coats, hats, and monocles. Another of a walrus wearing a red top hat playing catch with a squirrel in a green coat and black tie and using a small, yellow-and-purple striped, rubber ball. There were many others too. Too many to see, even if one was not running for their life.
The ceilings were made of crystallized glass and you could see the stars in the sky, but they were broken and fractured by the estranged pattern cutting through the glass.
That was the hallway, but then she would come to the courtyard, the green grass crisp and crunchy that grew off of the purple pebble path, where the statues would all laugh and party in their formal, high-class way, paying no mind to her as she ran past, only to laugh and mock her when they saw the chaser.
There were always thin layers of clouds over the courtyard so you could see the stars, but they were faded and dull, well, that is if you had time between being chased and partying to take the time to look up at the sky. These clouds were black, more black than normal storm clouds, or anything for that matter. If you wanted to get the color of these clouds you would have to take something more black than blackness itself, so dark and void of light that it is almost not visible.
Next, after entering through a big blue doorway that resembled the mouth of an ox, she would come to the hall of mirrors. They were like carnival mirrors so they distorted her figure horribly as the young mare bolted past. Her own reflections seemed to sneer, jeer, and snipe at her as she fled from "It" as she had come to call her pursuer. The floor and ceiling were not mirrors, but they still reflected her own disdainful image back at her face off of a dark and reflective surface.
When she emerged from the mirrored hallways through a golden archway, she would come into an open, dome-shaped room similar to the first hallway with the floor design and golden walls. The dome ceiling, was painted with a dark blue sky, holding gold and silver stars, planets, and constellations, in great detail. The architectural structure of the ceiling was supported by seven large and rusted iron pillars, which were so hot it was surprising they hadn't caught fire, or melted. She knew if she got too close to these support beams they would collapse, along with the rest of the elaborate and expansive mansion, on top of her.
Finally she would make her way out the tall front doors of the mansion, with faces carved on them into the purple wood of the doors and on the green metal door frame. There were clouds producing lightning and thunder.These clouds were even darker than the ones over the courtyard, and the lightning seemed to be like a negative light, making the sky darker with each flash. Not only were these clouds dark, but they reeked of poisonous fumes and hazardous gasses with the rank of rot and decay. As the tempest around her grew more violent, she herself stormed down the purple, pebble, pathway, towards her ever eluding freedom.
But the Hunter always knew of a shortcut and managed to cut her off as she neared the end of the purple, pebble, pathway. It was a dark cloudy figure of purple toxic fumes and gasses, bright glowing orange eyes like flames that reached out for fuel to burn, and claws dripping with deadly venom. Just as the hunter would reveal its face, she would wake up in a cold sweat, screaming as her parents came into her room to comfort her.
Silver Spoon had this nightmare at least once a week, that is after the incident.
Day by day, Silver Spoon would get up in the dim, early, morning, and go downstairs to pour her cereal. She would get her spoon out of the cupboard with the words "Dubium Fides". Silver Spoon didn't know what it meant, but her parents must have if they put it on their cupboard. Silver Spoon then proceeded to get a bowl, and the cereal box. She would pour out the cereal into its porcelain grave, and when each bit of wheat and or oats hit the bottom of the bowl, it made a sound like that of bones shattering. She would then sit, and eat her breakfast.
Day by day, Silver Spoon went down the dirt path towards the school house, that path, worn by the many hoof prints of ponies before and after her, walking either to school, to work, to errands, or even to home in the never ending journey of civilization. She would look around and see the flowers, or the animals, or occasionally another pony, upon rarer occasions other students. She liked walking alone, not that she had anypony to talk to anymore.
Day by day, she would remember the incident that had happened that one dark day a couple months ago. She and Diamond Tiara had always been best of friends, or so she thought. Silver Spoon genuinely cared about Diamond Tiara, always there by her side to comfort her when she was downtrodden, like at the end of her Cutesinera after the Cutie Mark Crusaders had upstaged her.
Day by day, Silver Spoon sacrificed her own moral values of being kind to others, to make Diamond Tiara happy and "proud" to be her friend. She hated herself for being such a bully, she hated it so much. She would rip herself apart on the inside to try and make up for the damage she had done to others.
Day by day, after that one day, when Silver Spoon dozed off while Diamond Tiara's Father, Filthy Rich, was giving his presentation on Ponyville Economy, one she had heard over a million times before, then clapped for Granny Smith's amazing history story, Diamond Tiara had been searching under the radar for "cooler" friends
Day by day, Silver Spoon had to live with the fact that Diamond Tiara thought of her as disposable, weak, useless, and lame. Though Silver Spoon had sacrificed almost everything, no she DID sacrifice everything for Diamond Tiara. She went against her morals, she ruined every possibility of making other friends by following along with Diamond Tiara's nasty attitude, she deprived herself of sleep and apatite with her nightmares and depression, her parents seemed to trust her less and less, among other unsolvable problems.
Day by day Silver Spoon would make her walk to school and sit in her desk, ignoring the stares of the other students and blocking out their whispered conversations.
Day by day she would endure the silent taunting from Diamond Tiara and her new "friends" from across the room.
Day by day she would zone out during Cheerilee's never ending and dull lessons.
Day by day she would fail assignment after assignment.
She sat in class all day, paying no attention to the lessons. Her mind wandered to other things, like her Nightmare, and her loneliness, and words.
The words Diamond Tiara had first said to them when they started their friendship, those of promise and dreams, of happiness and joy, of teamwork and self sacrifice, of the never ending bond between them.
The words Diamond Tiara had said and pressured Silver Spoon to repeat. Those mean, hurtful words that stung and tasted bitter in her mouth. All she wanted to do was to never had said them.
The words Diamond Tiara had said that Silver Spoon didn't repeat, before the incident.
The words Diamond Tiara had said to Silver Spoon that broke her heart and crushed her morale.
The words that Silver Spoon struggled to find that she could say to apologize to everypony she had hurt. Were there words that could mend what she had done? Could she ever apologize enough to Applebloom for what she had done? Were there words? Could she apologize to Babs Seed for what she made her do? Could she ever make up for the cruelness she had imposed on Scootaloo? Could she ever say sorry enough to Rumble, Featherweight, Twist, Snips, Snails, and...her?
"Silver Spoon" Miss Cheerilee's sing-song voice rang in the air like the song of a siren. "Can you answer the question?"
Silver Spoon hardly gave the teacher a second look before returning to her thoughts. Silver Spoon felt no need to answer the question, she knew the answer, there are no words.
One day, Silver Spoon's routine took a trip out of the rut, when in came a young orange unicorn pony colt with an orange mane and tail. His Cutie Mark was a white shield with a red sword pointed downward in the center. He had an accent that sounded like it was from Trottingham, but not exactly.
After Cheerily opened class with the Equestrian Pledge she called him up to the front of the room, "Now class, this is Lad Lantern, he's a special guest from a far off place, farther than Equestria. This little colt comes from, The Triple Crown. Do you care to explain?"
"Thank you Ma'am. The Tripple Crown is a Nation across the Eastern Sea. It consists of three smaller countries known as the English Crown, French Crown, and Spanish Crown. If you've ever wondered who sets the Sun and Moon for you, it is the Spanish King who raises the Sun for us, sets it for you, and the French Queen who does the same with the Moon. The English Crown, my nationality, is in charge of protection of the Nation, though I do admit those French ponies are very elite fighters, the hoof soldier being more powerful than a battalion of Griffonia's finest. We've recently formed an alliance with Equestria and I being a Knight in training have come as a representative of peace." the whole time he gave his speech, he was very proper with good posture and great communication skills. "Any questions?"
"I have a question." a pink hoof shot up into the air two seats to the left of Silver Spoon.
"Yes Ma'am, your name would be?" replied Lantern.
"I'm Diamond Tiara." she said with a coy smile, her eyelids half closed as she stared intently at this new arrival.
"A pleasure to be at your service m'lady." he then bowed his head to her.
"Such a gentlecolt...anyways, my question is, aren't you a little young to be training as a knight?" Diamond Tiara said with a smile that involved biting her lower lip.
"I was called to serve once my Cutie Mark appeared." he explained, "You see, in the Triple Crown, a Cutie Mark is earned by one who has discovered their field, such as theater or music, but once they discover their specialty within the field, the second half of their cutie mark appears. Now if somepony is a jack-of-all-trades so to speak, the second part of their cutie mark is a pocket knife, to show the multi-usefulness of their talent. Now very rarely, a cutie mark will appear as just a pocket knife, meaning that the pony is an over all jack-of-all-trades. I recently have met a Pony of such position, her name was Maria, but that's beside the point. Now are there any other questions?"
"Ooh ooh. Pick me, pick me!" Applebloom was all but standing on her desk trying her hardest to be picked.
"Yes Ma'am?"
"Hi, I'm Apllebloom, I don't have mah cutie mark yet, but ah was wonderin' if you had any advice?"
Diamond Tiara let out a snicker. "Well m'lady, all I can say is that life brings you to your fate at whatever rate it so wishes, so don't try to push it, or it might push back the event." he gave a sincere smile to the small yellow earth pony and continued, "any other questions?"
Nopony put up their hooves to ask a question so he sat down in his seat behind Silver Spoon. Throughout the day Silver Spoon didn't think anything of this new colt or anything about him. When they went to lunch break, Silver Spoon sat in her regular spot under a tree in the corner of the playground. All the other school ponies gathered around Lantern asking him lots of questions as he answered them between bites of his French Baguette slathered in peanut butter. She didn't really pay attention, but he seemed to look in her direction quite often.
Diamond Tiara continued flirting with him, but he seemed completely unaroused by her incessant pursuits.
After school let out, Silver Spoon was walking with her head down as she normally did, but bumped into a wall of pink. Diamond Tiara stood in her way like guard at Celestia's castle. "Where do you think you're going Spooner?" Diamond Tiara sneered the new nickname with a hint of annoyance.
Silver Spoon said nothing.
"You are really pathetic, you know that? Thinking that Lantern would be interested in the likes of you, don't deny it, I saw the way you kept looking at him during lunch, with your googly eyes. You are pathetic, useless, scum of Equestria. Why don't you just go home and hang yourself or something loser?" Diamond Tiara would've continued if it hadn't been for a loud shout from up the road.
"Oi! Who do you think you are, talking to her like that?" up trotted Lantern cool, calm, collected, and very angry. "I took you for a lady Mademoiselle, but I was obviously mistaken."
"Well, aren't you a prince in shining armor then, and I thought you were cute. Hmph!" she turned around with her muzzle pointed to the sky and walked away.
"Are you alright m'lady?" asked Lantern and helped Silver Spoon pick up some books she had dropped when she first bumped into Diamond Tiara.
"Yeah...I'm fine."
"Here let me." Lantern took the books from Silver Spoon and carried them for her.
"No you don't have to do that." Silver Spoon muttered.
"But 'tis my duty, m'lady." he responded, "How far away is your lodging?"
"About a mile and a half..."
"But the town is hardly a square mile, unless of course you prefer to take the long way."
"I do...actually." she said blushing.
"Well then let's shake things up a bit and go through town, shall we?" he reached out his hoof for her to take. She slowly wrapped her hoof around his and they were off.
