The Serenade of Silver Belles

by Your Antagonist

The First Bell Rings- From the Ashes, Something Wonderful Rises

“…and that, my little ponies, is how our town manages to keep its democratic traditions while being ruled under a diarchy! Any questions?” Beaming, Cheerilee whirled around to face the ecstatic faces and raised hooves of her beloved students, but instead was met with the half-conscious yawning of unfocused children who were too busy fighting off sleep to pay her lesson plan any mind.

“I should have known that a quiet class was too good to be true,” the schoolmare mumbled to herself in irritation, but it couldn’t be helped. After all, it was Friday afternoon, which meant that whatever fraction and a half of an attention span her students had between them had already been expended earlier in the week. A glance around the room showed that only Twist and Silver Spoon were paying attention with little difficulty. In stark contrast, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were preoccupied with glaring daggers at Diamond Tiara, who had been peppering the back of Sweetie Belle’s head with spitballs and nasty notes whenever Cheerilee wasn’t looking.

 The rest were simply running on fumes, or in the case of Snips and Snails, not running at all, as the pair fell, snoring and drooling, out of their seats in tandem. Had Cheerilee not known any better, she would have sworn that they planned that little stunt in advance.

“Alright class, that concludes our lessons for the day—” Just as Cheerilee suspected, every eye in the classroom shot wide open, save for Snips and Snails, who had begun to nuzzle against one another. “—so I’ll see you all on Monday. Have a good weekend!”

Not five seconds after Cheerilee dismissed her class, a parade of pastel-colored ponies burst out of the schoolhouse, racing towards their two days of liberation from tyrannical textbooks and lachrymose lectures. When the dust settled, only the still-gently-dozing Snips and Snails remained on the classroom floor, where they would stay until Cheerilee decided to wake them up.

Meanwhile, in the school’s playground, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were enveloped in a heated discussion with Sweetie Belle. However, the subject at hoof was something a little more pressing than deciding how they would try to earn their cutie marks that weekend.

“Sweetie Belle, you can’t keep lettin’ Diamond Tiara walk all over you! You need to stand up for yourself!” Apple Bloom said .

“Apple Bloom, don’t worry about it, it’s not that big of a deal,” Sweetie Belle sighed.

“Not that big of a deal? Not that big of a deal!?” Scootaloo snorted and shook her head. “Sweetie Belle, it’s because of that attitude that Diamond Tiara keeps picking on you, and it’s also why she’ll never stop.”

“Because of what attitude?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“You just lettin’ her do whatever she wants and not doin’ anything about it!” Apple Bloom ran a hoof through Sweetie Belle’s mane. “I mean, just look at this!” Apple Bloom presented her spitwad-covered hoof to Sweetie Belle before looking the unicorn in the eyes. “Sweetie Belle, this needs to stop. You need to say somethin’ to that filly, let her know that you ain’t gonna take it lyin’ down, otherwise it’s just gonna get worse.”

Sweetie Belle averted her gaze to the ground and sighed. She appreciated her friends’ concern on the matter, but she didn’t want to pursue the issue any further. “Seriously you guys, I don’t mind. Let’s just forget about it for now. Why don’t we—”

“Sweetie Belle, we are not going to just let this go! We’re going to find Diamond Tiara and make it clear that she can’t treat you like manure.” Scootaloo was absolutely seething with anger. “When we find that spoiled, stuck up, snot-nosed little brat I’m gonna—”

“Going to what, Blank-flank?” The voice carrying the question was as sour and acidic as the vapors surrounding the Everfree Swamp, and the source was none too pleasant either.

“Diamond Tiara,” Scootaloo growled through grit teeth. “You’ve got a lot of nerve showing your face around us.”

“Why’re you here?” Apple Bloom barked, stepping in front of Sweetie Belle.

“Why the hostility?” Diamond Tiara asked through a mask of feigned shock. “I’m just here to get my history notes from Sweetie Belle’s mane. Isn’t that right, Silver Spoon?”

“Whatever, Diamond Tiara. Can you just hurry up so we can be on our way?” asked Silver Spoon.

“You hear that Blanky-Belle? We’ve got other things to do besides dig my homework from that hydra’s nest you call a mane, so you need to hurry it up. Or better yet, you can keep my notes and give me yours so I can put them together in your mane for you. Who knows, maybe being a spitwad target is your special talent.”

Sweetie Belle did her best to ignore Diamond Tiara’s insults, and instead tried to convince her fellow Crusaders to drop the subject. “Come on girls, let’s just go somewhere else. Maybe we can—”

“No,” Scootaloo said. “We’re going to solve this right here, right now.” The fuming pegasus stomped towards Diamond Tiara, wings flaring as high as her temper.

“Scootaloo, please don’t do this.”

No response, but it didn’t surprise Sweetie Belle. She knew her pleas would be falling on deaf ears the minute Diamond Tiara showed up. She slumped to her haunches, feeling powerless as she watched Apple Bloom follow their hot-blooded friend into the fray. She knew that she didn’t have to worry about her friends since they were so headstrong, but ultimately she knew that whatever they did here would fall back on her if Diamond Tiara ever caught her alone. They were essentially trying to get rid of a parasprite by feeding it, when the simplest solution would have been to starve the problem so it couldn’t escalate any further.

From the other side of the slowly-unfolding debacle, Silver Spoon watched the two-on-one tongue-lashing with superlative disinterest. It was somewhat fun a year ago when they used to tease Apple Bloom, but back then that was all it was: teasing. As time dragged on, Diamond Tiara’s methods had changed from petty name-calling to outright bullying and malicious blackmail. Silver Spoon always held her tongue when it came to her friend’s behavior, but in truth she was quickly growing weary of Diamond Tiara’s constant bullying of the Crusaders. In fact, due to the spoiled filly’s inability to grow up, she was growing weary of Diamond Tiara period, but it wasn’t like she could just make new friends on a whim. All the time she’d spent with Diamond Tiara had done irreparable damage to Silver Spoon’s reputation, and as a result, nopony wanted to associate with Diamond Tiara’s crony.

Silver Spoon took a moment to tune into the war of verbal slander, and immediately regretted her decision. “—is that the best you could come up with? Your brain must be as blank as your flank!” Shouted Diamond Tiara.

“Is that all you can say? Blank flank this! Blank flank that! We’ve heard it before, why don’t you start singing new tune!” Scootaloo retorted.

“Well, you’re the—”

 Silver Spoon sighed, drowning out their bickering. It was sad, but from her experience they were just getting started. Silver Spoon allowed her attention to wander to the melancholy cause of the shouting match. She didn’t know Sweetie Belle very well, or at all for that matter, but she’d often seen the filly around town with either her sister or her friends, and once or twice in her family's silversmithing shop. The only other thing she knew about Sweetie Belle was that the unicorn held the third highest grade point average in the school—after Twist and Silver Spoon, respectively—but lacked a good amount of common sense when it came to simple tasks.

 Save for that one shortcoming, Silver Spoon couldn’t find any other real faults with Sweetie Belle. She was polite, enthusiastic, and easily enchanted, which, while not summarily a good thing, made it easy for her to trust new ponies. Every time Silver Spoon saw Sweetie Belle though, she couldn’t help but remark that the cotton candy-maned filly was always smiling blissfully, which made the sight of Sweetie Belle on the verge of tears that much harder to look at. She couldn’t give herself a concrete reason why, but she just couldn’t stand to see the unicorn looking so miserable any longer. It wasn’t quite pity that drove these thoughts through her mind, but it wasn’t out of respect either. Silver Spoon couldn’t quite put her hoof on the reason why, but she wanted Sweetie Belle to smile, and she wanted to be personally responsible for it.

 Regardless of what had spurred the feeling, it was all the reason she needed to step amidst the foolishness so that she might quell the conflict. “Stop it! All three of you, just stop it!”

The three feuding fillies ceased their bickering, and turned their scowling faces to the source of the interruption.

“Silver Spoon? What is the meaning of this?” said Diamond Tiara.

“The three of you need to stop behaving like a pack of rabid timberwolves. So stop your bickering, now.”

“Why should we listen to you? You’re no better than her!” Scootaloo shouted.

“Yeah, give us one good reason.” said Apple Bloom.

Silver Spoon said nothing. Instead she pointed to Sweetie Belle, who had finally broken down and was sobbing softly. “That seems like a pretty good reason, don’t you think?”

Apple Bloom was the first to react as she turned galloping to comfort Sweetie Belle, but Scootaloo lingered for a moment. She was upset with Diamond Tiara and confused at Silver Spoon’s sudden show of compassion, thus causing her to hesitate.

“Why are you still standing there instead of comforting your friend, blank-flank?” The insult was like arsenic on Silver Spoon’s tongue, but it served its purpose.

Scootaloo glared and grit her teeth at Silver Spoon. She knew that the gray filly was right, but her pride wouldn’t allow her to accept it. Where pride failed however, the sound of Sweetie Belle’s choked sobs succeeded. With one last indignant growl, Scootaloo turned away to follow Apple Bloom’s lead, leaving Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to their own devices.

“That’s right, run away, blank-flanks!” Diamond Tiara called after the Crusaders. “Run away, and take Weepy-Belle with you!”

Silver Spoon rolled her her eyes at Diamond Tiara’s disgusting display.

“Did you see that loser’s face when you called her a blank-flank? I didn’t think red would show up so clearly through orange fur! That was amazing of you! Come on, Silver Spoon! Bump, bump, sugar-lump—” Diamond Tiara ceased the celebratory hoofshake mid-sentence as she caught a glimpse of Silver Spoon pitying her with cold, uncaring eyes. “Silver Spoon?” she asked nervously.

Silver Spoon sighed. This was going to be one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do, but it had to be done. “Diamond Tiara, we need to talk, but not here. Follow me.”

“Talk? About what?”

Silver Spoon didn’t respond. After stealing one last glance at Sweetie Belle, she began trotting off down the old hoof-beaten dirt roads. Diamond Tiara wasn’t far behind with her incessant griping, inquisitions, and belittling of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, all of which Silver Spoon blocked out for the sake of steeling her nerves for what she was about to say. It was going to be a long afternoon for the pair.

Back in the schoolyard, Apple Bloom sat with her forelegs wrapped around a still-quivering Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo, ever the tom-colt, kept a short distance from her friends lest she be drawn into the embrace, but offered a weak smile in the hopes that it would raise Sweetie Belle’s spirit even slightly.

After a few slight sniffles, Sweetie Belle wiped her eyes and looked at her friends. “Why couldn’t you just let it go?” Her voice was shaky, but it held no contempt. Only relative disappointment. “Why couldn’t you both just walk away? You know I hate it when you fight with her.”

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo exchanged guilty expressions before Apple Bloom opened her mouth to speak. “We were only standing up for you Sweetie Belle, we just wanted to help.”

“I know you guys meant well, but you’ve only gone and made things worse.”

“Worse?” asked Scootaloo. “How did we make things worse? If we hadn’t done anything and just left, then Diamond Tiara would have—”

“Gotten bored and found somepony else to pick on,” Sweetie Belle reasoned. “Now she’s just going to be twice as mean to me when you two aren’t around!”

Sweetie Belle looked into her friends’ faces and could see the shame splayed across their features. Her words had hit their mark. “Look, I don’t want to think about it any more. I just want to wash my mane and do some crusading, alright?”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Apple Bloom said stroking her friend’s back.

“Fine, but if we run into Diamond Tiara again, I’m gonna buck her into next week!” said Scootaloo.

“I know you will. Thanks girls.” Sweetie Belle reached out and seized Scootaloo by the neck, dragging the pegasus into vice-like hug.

“Blegh!” Scootaloo pushed away playfully from the embrace. “Come on, Apple Bloom, let’s wait for Sweetie Belle at Sugarcube Corner, I heard Pinkie Pie came up with a whole new type of cake filled with donuts!”

“No way, I don’t believe you,” said Apple Bloom.

“Come on, you’ll see! Last one there is a rotten cockatrice egg!”

“You’re on!”

Sweetie Belle smirked deviously as she watched her friends gallop away giggling. The fact that she had managed to derail the conflict with some feigned sobs was a testament to both her knack for deception and her acting skills, courtesy of Rarity. Regardless of the result, something was bothering her. She knew that her fake crying would have gotten her fellow Crusaders’ attention eventually—most likely after the fact— but if it wasn’t for Silver Spoon’s interjection, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo would still be pointlessly arguing with Diamond Tiara. It was certainly a much appreciated gesture, but the question still remained: why had Silver Spoon done that? She certainly didn’t owe anything to the Crusaders, and even though she didn’t tease them as much as Diamond Tiara did, it wasn’t like they were on friendly terms.

Sweetie Belle scratched her head as she combed her mind for a reason why, but only came off with a hoof full of spitwads as opposed to answers. Sweetie Belle wiped her hoof on the ground and began to make her way back to the school. As soon as she reached the sink, Sweetie Belle turned the water on full blast and threw her head into the cool cleansing stream, allowing it to clear both her mane and her thoughts. Rarity would have to go through her mane for the rest later. For the time being, it felt good to have her hair mostly free of the spitwads.

No longer distracted by her self-grooming, Sweetie Belle’s thoughts drifted back to Silver Spoon. What would have driven the normally-reserved filly to raise her voice to not only Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, but Diamond Tiara as well? In the past, Silver Spoon would stand and backbite the Crusaders right alongside Diamond Tiara, but that was half a year ago. Ever since the incident with Granny Smith on Family Appreciation Day, Silver Spoon hadn’t been quite as abrasive towards anypony.

“Sweetie Belle?”

Maybe Silver Spoon wasn’t as bad as she’d thought.

“Sweetie Belle.”

Perhaps Silver Spoon wanted to put aside their differences and be friends.

“Sweetie Belle!”

Or more realistically, maybe Silver Spoon just wanted to go somewhere and the feuding was eating away at her patience.

“Sweetie Belle!”

Startled from her thoughts, Sweetie Belle whipped around to find her teacher staring at her, concerned. She noted that on the schoolmare’s back, Snips and Snails were sprawled out snoring, yet Cheerilee carried their combined weight effortlessly. “Oh, uh, yes Ms. Cheerilee?”

“Why are you still here? Did your friends leave you alone? And why is your mane soaking wet? Your sister is going to have a conniption when she sees this…”

“I’m fine Ms. Cheerilee, I was just trying wash some sand out of my hair,” she lied. “I’m going to meet up with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo later.”

“Are you sure you’re alright dear? Your eyes are red, like you’ve been crying.”

“Mm-hm. Like I said, I tripped while I was playing and got sand in my eyes and mane.” Normally Sweetie Belle would have no problem confiding in Cheerilee, but she didn’t want any more ponies involved in this personal debacle than necessary.

“Well, in that case, do you think you could do me a favor?”

“Of course Ms. Cheerilee! Anything for you!”

“Well as you can see, I’ve got to take these two sleepyheads home, but it seems as though one of your classmates left their things.” Cheerilee pulled a small saddlebag from her back and handed it to Sweetie Belle. “I was going to drop Snips and Snails off before I went looking for the owner, but since you’re here could you do it for me?”

“Sure, whose is it?”

“Oh, silly me, I didn’t bother to check.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll find the owner.” Sweetie Belle snapped a quick salute, warranting a smile from her teacher. “Who knows, maybe I could even get a detective Cutie Mark out of it!”

“That’s the spirit Sweetie Belle! Well, I’ll leave you to it! See you Monday!”

Sweetie Belle waved after her teacher, turning her attention to the bag once Cheerilee was no longer in sight. “I wonder whose bag this is.” Without a second of hesitation, the curious filly popped the clasp on the baby blue bag and began rifling through its contents in search of some clue to the owner’s identity. She didn’t have to search particularly long or hard before her hoof hit pay-dirt, landing on a plain brown glasses case. She pulled out the case and began scrutinizing it before her eyes fell on a pair of inscribed initials: S.S.

Tossing the container back in the saddlebag before slinging the pack on her back, Sweetie Belle grinned to herself. Perhaps she’d get to make a new friend this afternoon after all.

“Silver Spoon, are we there yet?” Diamond Tiara whined in the same shrill, irritated voice as she had been for the past twenty minutes. “My hooves are killing me, I’m hungry, and I want to see what presents daddy got me from his trip to Manehattan. Besides, now we’re even further away from my house. Why couldn’t we just talk about whatever back at the playground?”

Silver Spoon sighed and stopped to take in her surroundings. The empty section of road she found herself in was quite a rustic cliché, with woodland to one side, a still pond to the other, and nopony else around for miles. It was perfect for what she was about to say. “Well, I think this is far enough,” she sighed, turning around to look her best friend in the eyes. She had come this far and there was no turning back.

“Finally. Well, what did you want to talk about? And be quick about it. Like daddy says: time is money.”
 
“Look, you and I have been friends for years now, and I think it’s time that I tell you what I really think of you lately, Diamond.” Pushing aside any residual doubts or hesitations she might’ve had, Silver Spoon cut right to the chase and Diamond Tiara’s ego. “You’re a spoiled brat, and I’m sick of the way you act like you’re so high and mighty and treat everypony else like dirt just because you have your cutie mark or because your father is the richest stallion in ponyville. It’s unsightly behavior, and quite frankly, you disgust me.”

Diamond Tiara was taken aback by the abrupt defamation that poured forth from her friend’s mouth. She had been expecting some kind of pointless praise, or toadyish flattery regarding her looks, but what Silver Spoon had said took Diamond Tiara completely off-guard. “Wh-what did you just say to me!?”

“You heard what I said.” In a blatant show of disrespect, Silver Spoon coolly turned away from Diamond Tiara, fixing her attention on the sun’s reflection in the pond.

“Nopony talks to me like that!”

“I’m almost positive of that. The truth is wasted on you, after all.”

“Why you little—”

“Why you little what?” Silver Spoon whipped around, glaring ferociously at Diamond Tiara, who had fallen back on her habit of name-calling to deal with what she was hearing. “Are you going to call me a blank-flank? Perhaps a loser? Or better yet, an idiot? But wait, that last one wouldn’t actually fit me now would it? After all, whose tests have you been copying off of to keep your failing grades afloat? Whose notes have you been using to do your homework? They certainly weren’t yours, because yours were always in a straw or stuck in somepony else’s mane. So, what tired, recycled put-down are you going to slap me with to feel better about yourself?”

Diamond Tiara, having been effectively shut-down by Silver Spoon’s verbal assault, went still and silent.

“That’s what I thought. I’ll see you when you’ve grown up, Diamond Tiara.” Silver Spoon turned and began trotting back the way she came. She hoped that something she said to Diamond Tiara would convince her to change her ways, but as it turned out, Silver Spoon wasn’t that lucky.

“How about filly-fooler?”

The words stopped Silver Spoon where she stood. “What?”

“Oh, I’m certain you heard me, filly-fooler.”

Cheeks hot, Silver Spoon turned around to face the presently-smirking bane of her existence. “That’s low, even for you, Diamond Tiara.”

“Oops, did I let that slip?” Diamond Tiara chuckled and clasped a hoof to her mouth as though she’d heard the punchline to an incredibly amusing joke. “I’m so sorry, you know how bad I am at holding other ponies’ secrets, don’t you?”

“Diamond Tiara…” Silver Spoon growled softly.

“Why, I’m so bad at holding secrets that I might just let it out around somepony important, like the editor-in-chief of the Foal Free Press. Wouldn’t that make for quite the headline?”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Perhaps if somepony were to apologize to me, I could be persuaded to hold this secret a little bit longer, but I don’t know, I can feel my tongue growing looser every second.”

Silver Spoon ground her teeth together angrily. She knew it was a mistake to confide her true nature in somepony like Diamond Tiara, and that turning her back on someone with such information was an even bigger folly. However, she had already come this far and backing down now would do little more than dignify Diamond Tiara’s methods and embolden her ego. Like it or not, if Silver Spoon wanted to show Diamond Tiara that she wouldn’t be pushed around by extortion and blackmail, she would have to bite the bullet. “Tell whomever you want. I’m going home.” Silver Spoon resumed her trek back down the road to town, leaving her regrets behind her as she trotted.

Diamond Tiara blinked in disbelief. Nopony had ever said no to her before, not even her own father. “Mark my words, you’ll regret this, Silver Spoon!”

“I already do.” Silver Spoon muttered under her breath as she continued along her way. With each step that carried her further from Diamond Tiara, she felt liberated, as if a weight had been lifted from her back, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of a cold pit growing in her stomach. She’d deal with whatever was causing it when the time came, but for now she was just happy with finally getting that off her chest. Right now, all she wanted to do was go home and unwind with a hot bath and a good book, but it seemed as though fate had other plans for Silver Spoon as a familiar voice cut through the silence.

“Silver Spoon! I’ve got something for you!”

Silver Spoon gave her attention to the source of the voice and found Sweetie Belle galloping towards her at a reckless pace. Silver Spoon took note that Sweetie Belle had an extra, familiar-looking saddlebag on her back and—much to Silver Spoon’s unspoken delight—a charming exuberant smile on her marshmallow white face. Much to both of the fillies’ shock, Sweetie Belle tripped and skidded to halt just before SiIver Spoon’s hooves.

“Are you okay?” Silver Spoon asked, offering Sweetie Belle a helping hoof.

Sweetie Belle took the gesture with a sheepish smile. “Uh-huh, I’ve had worse falls, like that time Scootaloo made us try zip-lining for our cutie marks.”

“Zip-lining?”

“Long story. Oh that’s right, here’s your saddlebag; you left it at the school you know.”

“Oh, I didn’t even realize. Thank you, Sweetie Belle.”

“No problem!”

The two shared a moment of awkward silence as Sweetie Belle continued to grin enthusiastically at Silver Spoon. She didn’t mind the unicorn’s smile in the slightest, but in truth, she had no idea what to say. The longest conversation the two had ever engaged in had taken place only moments ago. It took her by surprise when Sweetie Belle began speaking again. “So… are you busy this afternoon?”

“Well no, but—”

“Great, you can come hang out with me and the others at Sugarcube Corner! Come on!”

“Wait, I—” Silver Spoon’s protests were cut short as Sweetie Belle seized her hoof and began galloping merrily towards the bakery.

It was going to be a long afternoon after all.

Chapter 1 End.