//------------------------------// // 01: A chance meeting. // Story: Worth more than silver // by Nova_Wings //------------------------------// The cold, early fall air whipped through Manehattan, the wind cutting through the coat of anypony out in the big city. For some colts and fillies, the cold is a reminder that winter was coming, some are happy, but some knew harder times were coming as well. For one gray filly, the cold weather and approaching winter could mean death. Looking around the little cardboard box she called home Silver Spoon shivered, she wondered how it had come to this, how she had fallen as low as she could. Of course, she knew the answer, but she still didn't want to believe it. She looked at one of the newspapers she was laying on, the article staring back at her was about her old hometown Ponyville. Ponyville celebrated the opening of Princess Twilight Sparkle's new 'Castle of Friendship', the celebration was organized and headed by local party pony Pinkie Pie. Twilight with her marefriend Rainbow Dash and their adopted daughter Scootaloo presided over the festivity yesterday... Scootaloo, Silver Spoon fixated on the name, how many times had she teased that filly back in Ponyville? How many times had she called she names like 'chicken', 'flightless', and so many other names, and now Scootaloo was adopted by a princess and living in a castle, and Silver Spoon? She was shivering in a box in an alley in Manehattan, how ironic life could be. Silver Spoon looked around, it was early evening and lots of ponies were returning home from work and various other activities. Crawling out of her box Silver Spoon decided to try and find something to eat somewhere, she remembered having some success near a few restaurants in the downtown area. Trudging along the streets she tried to avoid the looks from passing ponies, a homeless foal was a sad sight but not uncommon in this area of the city. Sometime later Silver Spoon found herself in a long alleyway that led between several buildings, there were a few restaurants and theaters in this area and at this time of night, there were often fresh scraps she could get to before they got too bad. The door to one opened and a stallion tossed a bag of garbage into a can in the alley, taking the opportunity Silver Spoon jumped up to the edge of the can and opened the bag finding a few scraps that were still warm. Not caring where they had been she ravenously ate at the scraps she found. ~o0o~ The theater was dark with only a few dim table lights scattered around, the stage was lit only a little more than the rest of the room, giving an atmosphere of quiet relaxation. The soft harp music being played by the mint green unicorn on stage only added to the feel of the room, Lyra greatly enjoyed this, twice a month she would come to Manehatten to play here. She brought a lot of ponies to this little dinner theater when she played, she loved playing music, and she loved coming to Manehattan as well, though the bits were nice too. Quiet conversation added an almost soft backdrop to her music, yes she could lose herself in this setting for hours, and often did. It was only when a soft tap on her shoulder that Lyra came out of her music, without even turning to see she knew who it was. Lyra played a few more notes letting them fade into nothingness before she quietly left the stage. There was no thunderous applause, cheers, but it didn't matter, one look out into the crowd and Lyra knew how much they all had enjoyed her music. Lyra gave the gray mare who had gotten her attention a sideways grin, her way of saying 'sorry I went so long', a look Octavia was more than use too. Trotting back stage, levitating the harp with her, Lyra found two mares quietly talking to each other. “See ya finally let Tavi on stage, thought ya might just play all night the way you were goin'.” “Ya, I guess I can get a little absorbed sometimes.” Lyra said rubbing the back of her main. “That putting it mildly.” The second mare added. “Oh, and you never obsess over anything, like the time you spent three day-” “Finish that, and you'll be sleeping on the couch when we get home dear.” Bonbon added with ice in the last word. “Hmmm, seems I remember how well that worked out last time.” Lyra said with a coy smile.” “Alright you two, I'm leavin' before things get personal. I got a set to play anyway, see ya later.” “Bye Vinyl.” “See ya Scratchie.” “Remember Harpstrings, you're the only one who gets away with that.” With that Vinyl left the backstage area heading to the club she would be performing at. Lyra and Bonbon just chuckled at each other as Vinyl left, gathering up their saddle bags they headed out into the hall ready to leave. “You have to be the only performer who I have to pay to stop.” Came a stallion's voice from behind them. Lyra and Bonbon turned to the see theater's owner, Second Act. He was a tall earth pony with silver fur and cobalt mane, his cutie mark was of two laughing theater masks. “What can I say Act, I love what I do maybe a little too much.” Second Act just laughed. “If even half of the musicians in this city had your drive we would be the music capital of Equestria, here's your pay for the weekend,” He said hoofing over a bag of bits. “Now get going before I try and rope you into a full-time gig here.” The three of them shared a few chuckles at their banter, it was a little something they always did. Lyra and Bonbon left the theater out of the side door, it was a little habit of theirs after getting swamped with requests for shows whenever they left out the front entrance. “It's a little later than normal, wanna go back to the hotel, or see if Pie Slice is still open?” Bonbon stroked her chin with her hoof. “I think Slice will be closed by the time we get there, feel like getting some hay burgers at Red Colts?” Lyra grinned almost unnaturally wide. “Hmm, you and me sharing greasy hay burgers, that are in no way healthy? If I didn't know you better I'd say you were flirting with me.” Bonbon just gave a sarcastic, but playful eye roll. “Oh come on you, we can cut through the alleys.” “Bonbon!” Lyra said in mock horror. “Are you trying to lure me into dark alleys to do terrible things to me?” Bonbon just deadpanned. “You're lucky I love you so much.” Lyra just gave Bonbon a peck on the cheek as she started trotting off. The two mares trotted quietly through the back alleys of Manehattan, while dangerous to some, the two of them had made an impression on those ponies that lurked in the shadows, and they wisely left the two be. The two of them were just coming around a corner that ran between another theater and some adjacent restaurants when they heard something, or somepony, rustling around nearby. Lyra whirled around and readied her horn, while Bonbon crouched into a defensive stance. Nothing moved for a moment, then the sound was heard again, now they could tell it was coming from up ahead. Bonbon poked her head around the corner to see what was making the noise, she saw the outline of a foal head first in a garbage can. Bonbon gave a heavy sigh, it wasn't the first time they had seen a pony looking for scraps in an alley, it was the first time they had seen a foal. “It's just a foal Lyra.” Bonbon said in a sad tone. “Don't tell me their...” “Yep.” Bonbon could hear the sigh almost before it left Lyra's mouth. “Think we should take them to the drop off point, or take them with us?” Bonbon mulled it over for a moment. “Take them with us, they look pretty young, it will be easier that way.” “You're right, better than going there.” There was a long pause, Bonbon knew the weight behind that one word. The two walked up to the foal, it was only when they got close enough in the dim light they could see the foal more clearly, they had a gray coat a bit lighter than Octavia's, and their tail was two tone silver rather than black. Bonbon paused, something about this foal seemed familiar somehow, but she wasn't sure what. Lyra took a step closer while Bonbon was distracted. “Hello?” The foal froze, then started thrashing trying to get out, only succeeding in sending the garbage can toppling over. With a crash the foal rolled out of the can, now Lyra could see it was a filly with a main matching her tail. The filly looked at her with a terrified look in her eyes, before Lyra could react the filly ran off, but not before Bonbon got a look at her cutie mark. No, it can't be... “Silver Spoon?” The filly looked back at hearing the name, just long enough to make eye contact with Bonbon before continuing to run. “Lyra stop her!” “What?” Lyra looked back confused, they were hardly in the business of abducting some filly. “Grab her with your magic, NOW!” Lyra reacted on instinct alone at hearing Bonbon's voice, she only used that voice when something was serious. She levitated the filly off the ground high enough that she couldn't run, the two of them walked slowly up to the filly, Bonbon's eyes grew wide when she saw, it was her. ~o0o~ Silver Spoon had survived on the streets for months, she knew not to trust other ponies in the back alleys of the city, so when she heard a voice while trying to find a bit more to eat, she reacted as any pony in her situation would, panic. She thrashed around in her panic, only succeeding in knocking herself and the trash can she was in, to the ground with a crash. Once she rolled out of the can she saw a pair of ponies, not waiting to find out what they wanted to do with her she ran, it didn't matter where just as long as she ran somewhere. “Silver Spoon?” Silver looked back when she heard her name, not many ponies knew her name anymore, and even fewer would recognize her. Even so, she still looked back, looking long enough for the two figures to register as vaguely familiar. Oh sweet Celestia! I’ve seen them somewhere! They must be after me, oh please don't let one of them be a... “Grab her with your magic, NOW!” BUCK! One's a unicorn, maybe if I can just get out of the alley if they lose sight of me... Silver Spoon's thoughts came to a halt as she felt herself being lifted off the ground, she still tried running, what else could she do? Still, she struggled, but it was useless, Silver Spoon just let her body go limp in the magic she was held in, whatever happened next she was powerless to stop it. ~o0o~ Lyra held the filly in her magic, soon she stopped struggling and just went limp in her magic grasp. She looked over to Bonbon with a worried look. “So... now what?” Lyra asked. “Now we see why a filly from Ponyville is dumpster diving for food in Manehattan.” Lyra blinked. “Wait, what?” “I recognized her cutie mark, her name is Silver Spoon and she use to be a very well off pony.” “Silver Spoon, the Silver Spoon from the family of silver traders? How?” “Let’s find out.” Bonbon walked up to Silver Spoon with Lyra right behind her, once she was about a hoof away, she looked the filly over. Her coat was filthy, her main and tail knotted and seemed dirtier than her coat somehow, even her cutie mark was scuffed. Bonbon mentally shivered, how long had she been out here? What had happened to bring her this low? “Silver Spoon?” Bonbon asked quietly. When she didn't respond, Bonbon started to fear the worst. “Hey there,” Lyra said standing next to Bonbon. “We're not going to hurt you, just want to make sure you're ok.” Still, Silver Spoon was silent. Bonbon decided to try one last approach, it was a long shot but if this didn't get a response she might be worse off than they feared. “Silver, I have one of those bonbons from my shop back in Ponyville, the ones you and your parents use to buy me out of all the time.” This time Silver Spoon looked up, eyeing her captors for the first time. She had a far off look in her eyes, the kind both Bonbon and Lyra knew from experience. Quickly Bonbon reached into her saddlebag and pulled the aforementioned treat from within, Silver Spoon looked at it for a moment, then up at Bonbon, after a long moment, it seemed to click for the filly. “B-bonbon?” She asked uncertain. “Yes, you remember me?” “Y-You run the c-candy shop in P-Ponyville.” Lyra decided now would be a good time to let Silver Spoon down, with practiced ease she set the filly back down on the ground. Silver started to back away, she only got a few steps before stopping. Bonbon held out the treat, waiting for her to take it, in one motion Silver snatched the treat and stuffed it in her mouth, rule of the back allies, uneaten food is lost food. While the filly ate Lyra and Bonbon shared a look, having a silent conversation like only they could. Turning their attention back to Silver, Lyra and Bonbon stepped closer once again. “Silver,” Bonbon began in a warm voice. “Would you like to come with us? We're staying not too far from here, you can get a bath and some more food.” Silver looked up, looking each of the ponies over. “Why?” Was her only response. Lyra took the lead here. “We don’t want anything from you, we both knew you back in Ponyville and we just want to make sure you're safe. You can come with us, get some good food, get cleaned up and sleep in a warm bed tonight. We won't force you to come with us, but we would like it if you did.” Bonbon just looked at Lyra, she had almost forgotten that she knew what it was like and that she knew how to talk to ponies like this. “What about after?” Silver asked, clearly not trusting them to just leave her out in the cold the next morning. “We're heading back to Ponyville in the morning,” Bonbon took over. “If you like we would take you with us, it's a lot nicer and safer than staying here. You can stay with us for a bit, or if you don’t want to we know some ponies who would be more than happy to take you in, you don’t have to stay out here in the cold alone.” Lyra glanced around as if looking for something, or somepony. “Um you are alone, right? You don’t have somepony else waiting on you?” Silver hung her head, shaking it slightly. Bonbon hates what she was about to do, but they needed to know. “Silver, where are your parents? They… they didn’t abandon you did they?” Both Lyra and Bonbon had a good idea what had happened, but in the off chance that her parents turned out to be total scum. Silver began to shake, choked sobs could be heard coming from the little filly as she started crying. Bonbon pulled Silver close as she let the filly cry into her coat, her cries were all the two mares needed, her parents were dead, how and why didn’t matter now, maybe they would find out later, but that was neither here nor there. After a few minutes, Silver calmed down, her crying only sniffles now. Wordlessly Lyra lifter silver onto Bonbon’s back with her magic, letting the filly snuggle into her curly mane. Quietly the three of them left the alley, silently all of them hoped they were leaving that part of Silver's life behind as well.