Chapter 15: You Did WHAT?!
Sweetie took Sunset’s words to heart, and on Monday she was going to put them to use. There were a few problems to that plan, however. Getting Snips and Snails to back off and leave Diamond Tiara would be relatively easy, just wave around some false information in front of their faces or threaten them with disciplinary action from the teachers. Unfortunately, it would be little more than a hollow victory, seeing as Diamond’s tendrils could easily coil around someone else.
Getting rid of them would achieve nothing. Sweetie thought of all the people Diamond could call upon to draw the NLAC out of hiding. None of them could truly abandon Diamond Tiara even if they wanted to. Most of the time, she had some form of dirt on them. And all other avenues of attacking her support base would draw more attention than necessary.
The game needed to get started soon, as the school’s paper already printed the opinion piece about the club. Diamond never mentioned the name, probably because she didn’t know it, but she wrote is as if the club was involved in some extremely shady business and it was a scandal in the making.
Simply put: the situation wasn’t looking too good. Yet, what got Sweetie thinking was the writing credit: Diamond Tiara. Diamond was the paper’s editor, not lead writer. Why would she get credited for an article that she clearly hadn’t written herself?
Sunset’s words finally came to fruition. This was all a part of Diamond’s power grab. She wanted to be the heroic reporter that brought all of the secrets and lies to the surface. She wanted to be the hero CHS needed when magic wasn’t involved.
If she wanted to, she could easily manipulate the magic six to do her bidding. And if that was true, then attacking her support base was going to be a lot easier. Sweetie resolved to start working her way towards the CHS Newspaper’s writing staff.
And to do that, she’d have to go back to the beginning. Back to when Diamond first took over as editor, dictator, and chief. That meant she had to go to the library for research. The moment her double free period came, Sweetie made her way to the library. She was certain that she’d find her angle of approach, her way to get the biggest monkey in the school off her back.
Imagine her shock and horror when she spotted Silver Spoon sitting at a computer in the packed library. Sweetie couldn’t believe her terrible luck! Worse yet, the only available computer that wasn’t offline or being used by another student, happened to be next to Silver. That meant Sweetie’s hands were now significantly tied. While Silver looked absorbed in whatever she was doing, there was still the chance that she might notice Sweetie.
However, Sweetie did have a way out: do homework until her first free period was over. Taking a deep breath, Sweetie walked over and took a seat next to Silver Spoon. Silver noticed Sweetie’s arrival and shifted over, “What are you doing here?”
“I’ve got homework to do, and this was the only open spot,” Sweetie answered.
“Oh,” Silver nodded, “Okay. Just be quiet about it.”
“No promises,” Sweetie grinned.
Silver rolled her eyes, “Are you certain that you’re here to do homework, and not something related to that mysterious club of yours?”
Sweetie glanced over at Silver, “Don’t worry, Silver. I’m not that stupid.”
Silver sighed, “Fine, be that way.”
With that, Sweetie went to work on her homework from social studies class. She thought that would be the end of the conversation. However, fate had other ideas. After a moment of silence between them, Silver glanced over at Sweetie, “What… homework you working on?”
“Professor Time Turner’s class,” Sweetie answered, “Got to fill out the questionnaire regarding the high middle ages.”
Silver nodded, “Oh I-I don’t have him this year.”
“Who do you have?” Sweetie asked, only slightly interested.
“Miss Auditore,” Silver muttered.
“Oh, is she any good?” Sweetie asked.
Silver nodded, “She’s not… too bad.”
Sweetie nodded and got back to her work. Silence took over the duo again as both continued on what they were originally doing. Silver put some headphones on, but kept one ear open. Ironically, the ear open was the one facing Sweetie Belle; as if she was going to keep an ear out if Sweetie asked something.
To say Sweetie was unsure of the situation was an understatement. Of course, thanks to Rarity, Sweetie was aware that it was considered uncouth to completely ignore someone whom she had engaged in conversation with. For a high society type like Silver Spoon, being completely silent while someone was sitting next to her was rude as well.
And not the type that was normal to bullies, this was something that might reflect negatively upon her social standing… or something like that. Either way, Sweetie found herself in an interesting position.
On the one hand, she was at risk for tipping her cards to Diamond Tiara. Yet, on the other hand she had the chance of a life time. Here was the chance she needed to take a shot at Diamond’s support base. Now, she was just going to have to find her way in. Recklessly charging ahead would only result in more problems and a loss of an opportunity. Sweetie was going to have to tread carefully, much like how she did back at the lake at the start of Spring Break.
She leaned over to get a good look at what Silver was doing on the computer, but it was the music bleeding out of the headphone that caught her attention first. The music was heavy, with hard hitting deep drum beats and a symphonic guitar playing. But what took Sweetie by surprise, was she heard a string section playing. It took her a moment, but she placed the genre.
“Is that… symphonic metal?” Sweetie asked.
Silver jumped and scowled at Sweetie, “Excuse me?!”
“Hey, calm down. I don’t have a problem with it or anything,” Sweetie said honestly, “I just never thought you’d be a symphonic metal fan.”
That seemed to take Silver back a bit, as if she wasn’t sure what to do. “Well… it’s… it combines two of my favorite genres.”
Sweetie’s eyes widened, “You’re a metal head?”
Silver bit her lower lip, “Ermm… I’m not that intense. But I do enjoy the unique combination of genres. What’s it to you?”
“I think it’s pretty cool.” Sweetie said.
“Really, you think it’s cool? But it’s so… average.” Silver muttered, “I don’t know how you can stand it.”
“What’s wrong with being average?” Sweetie asked.
Silver looked at Sweetie Belle, but not with eyes of anger or malcontent, “Wouldn’t you like to… you know, stand out sometimes?”
“Well sure, who wouldn’t?”
“And if you had the chance to gain everything you ever wanted, would you?”
Sweetie pondered for a moment, “Only if I could have my friends and family with me or at least someone to share all of it with.”
Silver shook her head, “Well, it doesn’t work like that in the real world!”
Sweetie raised an eyebrow, “I don’t really know what it’s like being born with privileged parents, but I do know what it’s like to have people to share things with.”
“One does not simply share power.” Silver admonished.
Sweetie scoffed but kept her comment to herself. But she could feel Silver slowly starting to lower her walls. Maybe she could try to pry something else out of the wealthy girl. At she was seeing a side of Silver Spoon that people rarely got to experience.
“What kind of music do you like to listen to?” Silver asked.
“I prefer show tunes,” Sweetie answered.
“Do you have a particular favorite?”
“Fiddler on the Roof,” Sweetie answered, “Rarity took me to a performance of it on Broadway once.”
“I remember that show,” Silver shifted, “I believe I saw it in Las Pegasus one time. I actually liked its humor.”
“Tavye’s Dream is actually my favorite piece. Although, I must admit, Apple Bloom has gotten me hooked on country.” Sweetie chuckled.
“Seriously?” Silver giggled, “I can imagine the three of you dressing up in those ridiculous cowboy boots, hats…”
“Plaid shirts and ripped jeans, the whole nine yards.” Sweetie finished, “You really should go square dancing sometime. It’s actually pretty fun!”
“Oh, I don’t think I could ever—” Silver murmured.
“Too average?” Sweetie asked to which Silver nodded. Sweetie bit her lower lip as she pondered her next words.
A group of students a grade higher than Silver and Sweetie walked by, all from different walks of life, chatting away like good friends. Sweetie recognized two of them from last Friday’s party. She watched them leave with a slight smile on her face.
The same could not be said of Silver Spoon, who looked upon them with grief and little bit of envy. She sighed, “The general populace of the school has gotten much closer recently hasn’t it?”
No thanks to my club, Sweetie thought to herself, “Yeah, it’s really nice to see people hanging out and being friends, no matter who they are or where they’re from.”
“But they’re all so….ordinary.” Silver said, almost as if the word ‘ordinary’ was a sin.
“Not to them,” Sweetie answered, “That’s what it’s like to have genuine friends.”
Silver paused, “Really? Is it ….fun?”
Sweetie was about to answer when a booming scream tore through the library. “SILVER SPOON,” Diamond Tiara shrieked as she stormed over and grabbed Silver’s arm, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HANGING OUT WITH THAT TWERP?!”
“Oh, I’m sorry Diamond, I was just—” Silver tried to answer.
But Diamond was having none of it as she pulled Silver up from the computer and dragged her out, “What did I tell you? Those people will only lead you nowhere!”
“Is everything alright, Miss Tiara?” the librarian asked.
“Everything’s fine,” Diamond answered dragging Silver with her, “Silver’s just late to class that’s all.”
And with that, Silver Spoon was gone. Sweetie was left there, in a state of shock. She couldn’t believe what just happened. Dumbfounded, she booted down Silver’s computer and went back to her homework. She now had the opportunity to fulfill her original task, but now she didn’t want to.