//------------------------------// // Just business // Story: Behind the Crown // by Rocketknightgeek //------------------------------// “Let’s see now, maybe if I start stocking the cheaper..” “YOU GET BACK HERE WITH THAT YOU STUPID BLANK FLANK!” Silver spoon sighed and looked up from her notebook to see what exactly had Diamond in such a temper.....again. “Sorry, but Ah need this to try fer’ ma tiara wearin’ cutie mark, Ah promise Ah’ll give it back when Ah’m done.” Despite the muffling of her distinctly rural accent, it was impressive that Applebloom had got out a sentence that long without pausing for breath, given the pink filly tearing around the schoolyard in hot pursuit of her and the tiara clenched tightly between her teeth. This sort of thing happened far too often for Silver’s taste and she had long since given up on trying to intervene on her friend's behalf.  She instead laid back and gazed up at the rolling clouds through the shimmering leaves of the tree that she and Twist had mutually agreed was best suited to reading under during recess, her mind quickly drifting back to lowering her costs on the small candy tray she’d installed in her stand last weekend. Silver didn’t really get an allowance like her classmates; her father had instead insisted on giving her a small amount of ‘startup capital’ that wasn’t for spending on herself but to instead start a small business with. If she operated it at a profit, she could pay herself a wage.   It naturally wasn’t very much, after all, she was just a little filly and she had to concentrate on schoolwork first.  That image combined with the small town ideals Ponyville was so very fond of led to her starting a lemonade stand.  It had started out small but between her natural business acumen and Tiara’s flair, it was a surprisingly elaborate affair now, almost matching the hoofprint on the town of any one of the larger stunts the crusaders had pulled. Almost... Her thoughts were interrupted as a sweaty  and uncharacteristically unkempt Diamond Tiara staggered up to her gasping for breath with her mane disheveled and a mud-caked tiara hanging from her mouth. “Well Dee,” Silver managed to get out while trying to mask her amusement, “on the plus side, this probably means that they still don’t have a single clue what your mark actually means.” “Yes, a-and I’m sure I’ll take comfort in that the moment… th-the moment the world stops spinning,”  Diamond gasped out before rolling her eyes and flopping face down onto the soft grass in a graceless lump. Unknown to Silver, her last statement had managed to set ears burning from around an uncontrollably curly red mane on the other side of the tree. -------------------- The rest of the day went pleasantly enough as Ms Cheerilee spent the whole period between recess and lunch trying to get the basics of algebra into the heads of her students.  Silver had initially reacted in mute horror along with the rest of the class at the very mention of it.  They’d always heard older foals talking about algebra in hushed voices as though it were some demon math from Tartaurus.   Of course, when she found out that it was just value substitution, something she already had a firm grasp on, she pretty much tuned out the lesson save for taking note of new words and reached down for her notebook so she could go back to her bookkeeping. To her surprise Silver found that at some point during the lesson Twist had leaned over and placed a note on top of her saddlebags.  With all the stealth an earth pony could manage when handling paper, Silver managed to pick it up and unfold it without Ms Cheerilee noticing as she was presently distracted with trying to get Scootaloo to stop banging her head against her desk in frustration. “I’ll never get this stupid math, never, never, never...” Silver smirked at her classmate's ineptitude and read the note. - I heard what you said about Diamond Tiara’s cutie mark under the tree, meet me after class - - PS: I’m a little insulted that you would forget I was there so quickly. - Silver’s eyes went wide and she started to sweat.  How could she have been so careless as to blurt that out?  Her mind only stopped running in circles of worst case scenarios and ridiculous solutions when she suddenly realised something, a sly smile creeping onto her lips. That she could solve both her current problems at once. Silver grabbed her pencil between her teeth and hastily scribbled down her reply. - Meet me at my stand, I have a proposal. - She quickly hoofed the note back to Twist and after a confirming nod they both returned to being completely bored with the easiness of the lesson. Not that it didn’t give them time to think about what to say. ----------------- School had been over for a couple of hours by the time Twist arrived at the stand.  Silver had almost forgotten the meeting by that point as the sweltering heat had bought her a steady stream of customers, along with a completely melted selection of chocolates that had covered everything in her candy rack, this hadn’t stopped her customers from buying out the other treats that now came with a generous coating for no charge. Note to self: Buy a small cooler to keep the chocolate in. Silver noticed Twist just as she was trotting past the umbrella tables where most of the crowd for today had gathered in the shade.  Those had been a good investment for the summer, especially given that she’d gotten them practically for free; the cafe in town square had been planning to throw them out when they were upgrading.  She didn’t even have to pay snails to help her drag them home, although she considered enduring that weird grin he gave her every time she glanced back to check on him payment enough. Twist trotted up to the stand and sat down on one of the cushions placed in front of the counter, where Silver was rubbing the inside of a cup with a washrag.  She briefly wondered why Silver would be doing that to a paper cup but decided not to bring it up. It kind of made it feel like a salt bar scene from an old detective comic. “Um, Thilver thpoon.” “Oh, hey Twist, glad you could make it.” “Thou, about what you thed to Diamond.” Silver glanced nervously about before offering Twist a drink on the house. “Look, I can’t talk about that right now when there’s a crowd,” Silver explained, “but if you wait a couple of hours for it to thin out, I’ll tell you.” “Thanths for the drink but, what thould I do till then?” Twist asked having gulped down the cold liquid, with a whine in her voice that told of her having dropped everything for this meeting. Silver stuck up a hoof and pointed Twist’s eyes toward three familiar fillies who were wheeling what looked like a glider into the center of town.  “Why don’t you go do... that?  At the very least it’ll leave you with a story to tell”. Twist pondered the consequences of following the crusaders into pretty much anything before deciding that it HAD to be better than waiting. If only on the basis that her mind would be off Silver’s secret for a while.  Asking Silver to hold a small bag of peppermint sticks she’d bought along behind the counter for her, Twist galloped off after the notorious trio. -------------------- It was at the first signs of dusk that Twist finally came staggering back to the stand, bearing a huge grin across her face that might have been frozen in position by the coating of tree sap.  Silver was still at the counter but the tables had been put away. The only remaining customer being a morose looking pink coated filly that Twist hadn’t been expecting to see again today. Twist nervously made her way up to the counter, never taking her eyes off the notoriously ill-tempered filly whose big secret had been the entire reason she’d come here in the first place. “Hello Twist,” Diamond Tiara hissed in a cordial but clearly annoyed manner, never taking the side of her head off the table, “It’s good to see that you’ve finally decided to end your streak of being unfashionable.  I hear that conspiracy with former friends is in this year.“  Her eyes rolling around to glare daggers at the grey filly behind the counter. “Don’t mind her, she’s been drinking non-stop since I told her about this an hour ago,” Silver Spoon reassured, “She’s just coming down off the sugar rush.” “Oh, shut it you...” Diamond piped up before realizing that she had nowhere to go with that rant and going back to lethargically boring a hole into the table with her forehead. Twist took her seat and motioned for the bag of peppermint sticks that Silver had hid behind the counter.  Once she had it she popped the zip open and offered them to her two classmates.  Silver gladly took one and Diamond waved them away as her headache told her that having any more sugar was a bad idea. “If you don’t mind me athking Thiver Thpoon,” Twist asked between licks, “what’th thee doing here?  Thurely her thecrets aren't thomething thee’d want you telling me.” Silver sighed, lowered her brow and assumed an intimidating posture before explaining in her best authoritative voice, “The first thing you need to promise before I tell you anything is that, absolutely nothing you hear today leaves this group.”  The seriousness of the statement perfectly clear. Twist gulped and nodded, the sudden iciness in Silver’s voice and the stern look she gave shocking her a little.  She’d always thought of Diamond’s cohort as preening and stuck up, but this was... This was something else. ------------------------ Silver Spoon’s voice and expression quickly came back to normal after a stuttering and shaking Twist finally managed after three amusing minutes to get out a Pinkie Pie Swear, the ramifications of breaking one being well known to the entire town. Then Silver burst out laughing uncontrollably, having to maintain her serious face during all that had just been too much. Twist joined in on the giggling after she allowed herself to exhale and realized that all the tension had been sucked out of the situation all at once. “Foooooreeeeeeeeveeer,” a ghostly voice carried by the wind howled, reducing the laughter to nervous chuckling which quickly petered out. With the formalities out of the way, Silver took several deep breaths to calm herself, leaned her head onto her hooves and started to explain Tiara’s presence at the stand. “Not too many ponies know this but Diamond and I have been going to a therapist once a week for as long as we’ve been in Ponyville.” “Wait?” Twist queried, “but Mithder Rit’th alwath ran barnyard bargainth.  I thought Diamond Tiara wa’th from Ponyville?” “No, we’re originally from Canterlot you walking cavity,” Tiara spat venomously, having rolled her head so she was facing away from the two conspirators, “there’s, like, waaay more than one branch of Daddy’s store you know.” “Anyway,” Silver interrupted, facehoofing as she did so, “getting back to the point.  Diamond’s been told and told that it isn’t healthy to keep pushing everypony away and..” “Bite me you little traitor,” came the dissenting voice from the other end of the table. “..and that she should try to make other friends,” Silver carried on.  “The first step being to let somepony know the truth.” “And you...chothe....me?” Twist asked with a thoroughly puzzled look spreading across her face. “Well, no, not deliberately,” Silver sighed, feeling slightly guilty, “but you overhearing us on the playground made you a pretty obvious choice. Plus, I can see a lot of opportunity in us being friends.” Diamond once again interrupted with a sharp and bitter laugh. With that said, Silver poured them both a tall glass of Lemonade and dragged Twist’s bag of candy toward her. Taking a stick and rolling it around in her cheek, Silver sighed and turned to the first pony from Ponyville that would share in the secret that had made Diamond so volatile. Such a big step and here she was mixing it with business. Maybe that was the only way she could convince herself to do this, even if it was it wasn't like there was a way back now. It was time for the truth to come out.