The scent of lilacs greeted Silver’s nose again as she awoke, but this time instead of being carried on someone’s back she was snug inside a sleeping bag. She rubbed at her bleary eyes, taking a moment to realize her glasses were gone. In a panic, she struggled to get out of the sleeping bag and looked around the room. Everything around her currently looked like a bunch of fuzzy blobs without the aid of her glasses. She squinted as she walked around, eventually finding them sitting on a table that wasn’t too far from where she’d been sleeping. As she put her glasses on and finally got a clear view of her surroundings, she found herself still mystified as to where she was. The room was a bit of a mess with pens, pencils, paper, rolls of cloth and several blank mannequins scattered all over.
Silver’s train of thought was derailed by the sound of one of the sweetest singing voices she’d ever heard coming from the next room over. Much as she didn’t want to wander a strange house alone, her curiosity over the singer got the better of her. She followed the sweet singing and found its source rather quickly: a white unicorn mare with a lavish pink and lavender mane and tail. The mare bore a cutie mark of a spotlight shining on a heart-shaped musical note and was singing scales and arpeggios in a voice that Silver recognized as readily as she did her signature look.
“Sweetie Belle?” Silver said, calling to her. Silver’s voice still sounded beleaguered from the prior day’s ordeal.
Sweetie Belle broke off her vocal warm-up to turn quickly walk over to her guest.
“Silver, are you alright?” she asked. “Sis and I were really worried about you.”
“I’ve had better days,” Silver admitted. “Far better days. How’d I end up here, though?”
“Last night I was on my way home when I heard someone crying. I found you passed out in a mud puddle not far away from the boutique, so I ran back here, borrowed Rarity’s umbrella, and brought you inside. I tried to clean you up a bit, but…well you’re still kind of a mess.”
Silver looked herself over and, sure enough, blotches of mud still stained and matted her body. Given the state of the rest of herself, she didn’t dare look in a mirror. She was fairly certain her mane was in terrible condition as well.
“Feel free to take a bath here this morning.” Sweetie told her with a smile. “I’m all done getting ready for the day anyway.”
“I really should probably get home,” Silver said. “My father’s got to be beside himself.”
Sweetie Belle shook her head at her. “Oh don’t worry. After I got you inside, Rarity headed over to your house to let your dad know you were here. She only got back this morning, but your dad did agree that you spending the night here was for the best given how bad the storm got last night.”
“Oh. That’s…good, I guess.” Silver’s tone was despondent once again. As if there wasn’t enough talk going around now about the relationship between her father and Rarity, now she’d spent the night at Rarity’s home. Granted the circumstances were beyond Silver’s control, she was sure it would be spun to make it sound like a sleepover instead.
“So… how about that bath now?” Sweetie Belle asked again, a cheesy grin now plastered on her face.
Silver could tell there was little chance she could talk her way out of the offer, and the simple truth was that a bath sounded like a good idea anyway. Minutes later, she found herself soaking in a nice, warm tub with bubbles up to her neck. It was quite comforting, at least physically. Her mind, however, was still plagued with how quickly and easily her life had fallen apart the previous day. No amount of pampering was going to soothe her mind any time soon.
“I found some extra towels in sis’ linen closet,” Sweetie Belle said as she walked in with a fluffy towel across her back. Using a little magic, she levitated it over to a nearby towel rack and then took a seat next to the tub. “Take your time, though. You looked like you were in need of some relaxation.”
“Not that I’m not grateful, Sweetie Belle, but…why are you doing this?” Silver asked, straining her eyes to see the unicorn mare. She’d removed her glasses prior to getting in the tub so she could wash and rinse her face and mane properly.
“What do you mean?”
“Why’re you being so nice to me? I haven’t exactly been that nice to you or your friends in the past. I would’ve expected you to just leave me out in the rain last night, not take me in and give me a bubble bath.”
“That stuff happened years ago,” Sweetie Belle said as she scooted a little closer to the tub. “Once the girls and I got our cutie marks, I seem to remember you became a lot less antagonistic towards us. Heck, my opinion of you went up a lot when you were the first one to applaud Apple Bloom’s Granny Smith in class after her story about the founding of Ponyville and that was still before we got our cutie marks.”
“Diamond Tiara was on me about that for a week straight,” Silver said, shaking her head at the memory. “But the things I said and did to you girls…that wasn’t all that long ago. You can’t tell me you’ve totally forgiven all of that already.”
“I dunno if I’d say ‘forgiven’, but it just doesn’t matter anymore; at least to me. Besides, even if I were the type of pony to hold a grudge I don’t think I could’ve just left someone out in the rain like that last night.”
“That’s almost impossibly generous of you.”
Sweetie Belle shrugged at her. “My sister’s influence, what can I say? And while we’re on the topic, just what happened yesterday?”
“I…I just had a bit of a bad day,” Silver said hesitantly, trying to evade replaying the events that were still all too fresh in her memory.
Sweetie narrowed her eyes at her. “Silver, I’m not a dodo like Scoot. A bit of a bad day for you would be having to settle for butter on your scone because you ran out of clotted cream.”
“You really have no idea how easily that can ruin your day.”
“Don’t get off topic. You had more than just a bit of a bad day yesterday. Please tell me what happened.”
Once again, Silver could tell there wasn’t much chance she could get out of her current predicament. Given how nice Sweetie Belle was being to her, the least she could do was level with her about things. She retold the events from Diamond Tiara’s party in full detail, ending with her vague memory of being carried inside Carousel Boutique by Sweetie.
“I can’t believe Diamond would treat you, of all ponies, like that,” Sweetie said, completely aghast at Silver’s story. “You two were inseparable back when we were fillies.”
“Don’t remind me, please,” Silver said dejectedly. “I wish I could just blame Opulence and Fortuity for turning her against me, but part of this is my fault too I think. I could’ve been a better influence on Diamond. I keep thinking maybe I could’ve gotten her to mellow out a bit more, but I was always too afraid of changing the status quo between us. I thought trying to change her might make her mad and cause her to not want to be friends anymore. Ironically, not trying to change her had just that effect.”
“I really don’t think it’s fair to try and blame yourself for what happened, Silver,” Sweetie Belle said as she moved a bit closer to the tub. “You’re the victim here. I also don’t think it’s unreasonable to put some blame on Opulence and Fortuity. I’ve never met them myself, but I know Rarity’s had to deal with them before as customers. I always know when they’ve been around because they put sis in a ridiculously foul mood. If they have that kind of effect on my sister of all ponies, I can’t imagine what they’re capable of around those whose good graces they want to get or stay in.”
Silver sank lower into the tub until her head was all but lost in the bubbles. “Trust me, I can do more than imagine at this point.”
Sweetie grumbled in a bit of frustration. Clearly a change of approach was in order here. “Then we need to get your mind off of this whole mess so you can move on,” she pronounced.
“That’s easier said than done, especially since you’ve got a ton of friends to help you out when you’re down. Diamond was about the only pony I considered my friend, and we did a marvelous job alienating ourselves from those we considered to be ‘rabble’.”
“But now you’re not with Diamond anymore. Maybe this is your chance to make amends with others and make some new friends.”
Silver sat up a little and turned to look at Sweetie again, who looked rather eager and excited at the idea she’d just come up with. Silver had to admit that now that she was apart from Diamond it gave her an excellent chance to mend fences with at least some ponies. Her pondering of the possibility was interrupted by the loud and insistent growl of her stomach. She blushed and sank back down in the tub at the embarrassing sound.
“Lemme guess,” Sweetie Belle said while trying to hide the smirk on her face. “You didn’t get to eat much of anything last night, did you?”
“Parties aren’t for eating at,” Silver said plainly. “It’s just plain rude to go to one with the intent of stuffing your face.”
“Yeah, we need to work on your concept of what a party is for while we’re at it. But all of these things are done better with some breakfast in you. Finish up your bath and we’ll head out for a bite.”
“There isn’t anything around here we could have instead?”
“Ehehe…well, there is but I’m not exactly what you’d call an expert in the kitchen.”
“You can’t be that bad. I don’t need that much of a breakfast, and no one could mess up just some toast.”
“You’ve never seen my toast. Just trust me; we’re better off going out to eat.”
Silver didn’t know how ready she was to venture back out into Ponyville just yet, but her increasing hunger was getting the better of her. She nodded to Sweetie Belle who left the bathroom, and then finished up her bath in short order. It wasn’t long after that she stood before a mirror checking herself over after setting her mane and tail properly. It was only then that she realized she was still missing her pearls. She quickly rushed to Sweetie Belle, who she almost bowled over with the suddenness of her reappearance.
“You didn’t happen to see a small bowl full of pearls near where I collapsed last night, did you?” she asked Sweetie Belle, a sense of urgency to her voice.
“Oh yeah, I did,” Sweetie Belle told her with a nod. “Rarity apparently came back here early this morning before either of us was up and took it with her when she left. She left a note saying she was going to stop by the jeweler’s to ask them about re-stringing them for you. Also that she had something to talk to us about later today, but I have no idea what that's all about.”
“Oh thank Celestia,” Silver said, sighing in relief. “I know you’ve done a lot for me already, Sweetie Belle, but I can’t tell you what that means to me. Though it also makes me feel even worse for everything I did and said to you back when we were fillies.”
“Silver, it’s like I said before,” Sweetie said, putting a forehoof on Silver’s shoulder. “That stuff just doesn’t matter that much to me anymore. It’s clear to me you’re not the same pony who antagonized me back then, and I’m willing to give you a chance to redeem yourself.”
Silver nodded to her, a look of resolution on her face now. “I’ll do my best to earn your friendship, Sweetie Belle. I promise.”
Sweetie Belle beamed a smile at her and then led the way out of Carousel Boutique, locking the door behind them after they left. It promised to be a full day ahead of them, and she only hoped her other friends would be receptive to Silver’s change of heart.