//------------------------------// // New partnerships // Story: Behind the Crown // by Rocketknightgeek //------------------------------// Silver Spoon took one last sip on her drink to steady herself, Turned back to Twist and began her story. “I first met Diamond back when we were in kindergarten in Canterlot.” “Wait, I thought you were jutht gonna tell me what her cutie mark meanth Thilver.” Twist interrupted. “Well” Silver explained, a small flourish with her hoof sloshing her lemonade around, “Context is important here Twist. If you’re going to find out the truth, you should know the whole truth”. Twist rolled her eyes at this but still resigned herself to it, she shifted about on her cushion to make herself more comfortable. “Anyway” Silver continued, “It was a nice enough place, but not in the same way as Miss Cheerilee's class. Everypony there was from wealth and the unicorns looked down on everypony else because that's what their parents did and what few earth ponies there were tended to enjoy the kind of...” Silver paused for a second to consider the least snobby way she could put it, “Play", she pondered if that was the correct word and decided it would do for now, "that tends to result in a lot of scrapes and bruises.” “Plus muddy Tiaras and blanky blank flanks.” Diamond sneered, not really overly bothered with being diplomatic. “Yes, we get it” Silver sighed, “now stop interrupting me or I'm going to tell her about the bunny ears photo album while I'm at it." Diamond stared at her gray friend in what had to be close to mortal terror for a couple of seconds, then gave up and plopped her head back on the counter, finally attempting a last second dignity save with puffed cheeks and a stuck out tongue. It didn't work. "Wait" Twist piped in, having finally realized what she just heard, "whath thith about a bunny ear'th album?" Eyes darting back and forth between the two fillies who were currently involved in a raspberry blowing contest, before finally conceding that the moment had passed and giving up on that particular nugget. Finally, her patience clearly wearing thin, Silver Spoon continued, "It was only natural that more sophisticated fillies like DeeTee and I would be drawn to each other in that place. I was kinda bookish and preferred to sit quietly, Diamond was just naturally graceful, able to dart in and out of my company without me even noticing." Silver sighed at the nostalgia and looked up at the sky as it gave it's first bleeding yards to the orange of sunset. "Over time we just started talking about anything and everything. I kinda got the feeling that she liked me because she knew she had my undivided attention when we talked." ---------------- Two tiny fillies, one pink with a purple mane and one two shades of gray and wearing a pearl necklace sat in the shade of the great tree that dominated the center of the quad, idly watching some of the older colts playing something that would almost resemble hoofball if the viewer had no idea what the basic rules or code of conduct for hoofball were. On occasion one of the colts would trip and tumble face first into the grass, eliciting a giggle from all the fillies present. "So", the pink filly turned to her friend, "do you like Daring Do?" "Not really", the Gray one replied in a disinterested voice, "one of the servants tried to read it to me once but I didn't really enjoy it, she wasn't really very good at stories that one. Good cook though," she paused for a bit, "I miss her." "Oh" The pink one replied, a little disappointment in her voice that quickly turned into a knowing smile. "you should hear my Daddy tell it, he does all the voices and makes Anitz.. Anotzil.. um.." She paused to try to remember before settling for "the bad guy all shouty and silly, and he makes me cocoa and tucks me in and..." She stopped and looked at her gray friend, who now sported the kind of frowney face that makes Celestia sad just by existing. She quickly determined that she had to somehow make that go away for both their sakes. Then, the perfect solution came to her; "Ooh! ooh! you should totally come over" the pink filly suddenly started shouting excitedly, "Daddy can read to us and we'll sleep in my room and tell each other ghost stories and.." She paused again to look at her friend who was now staring at her in shock. "I'm sorry" the gray filly said, "but I don't even know your name." "Oh" The pink one replied, the confidence returning to her face. "My name is Diamond, Diamond Tiara." "Silver spoon" the gray one squeaked in reply, "and I'll have to ask Daddy if it's okay." She twiddled her necklace with her hooves and looked around nervously. "Of course it'll be okay" Diamond tiara announced with now unstoppable confidence, "stick with me Silvey and you'll go far." ----------------- "Thilvey?" Twist asked in mock disbelief, a small amount of Lemonade running under her chin as she closed her eyes and unsuccessfully tried to stop shaking with the giggles. "Yes, yes," Silver sighed, "that was her little nickname for me when we first became friends." Then she smirked and ran a hoof through her hair, "Of course, she stopped that little habit after my father heard her say it and he took her aside for a 'talk' about the importance of proper titles in the old families." "Talk?" Diamond spat out far louder than she'd intended. "He insisted on having our little 'talk' while having a walking tour of his private collection of pre-Celestian torture devices." "He hath what?" Twist gasped, not really liking the idea of such a thing being in Ponyville. "Yeah" Silver reminisced, a faraway look growing in her eyes, "while they've not really appreciated in value over the years, he always insisted they were the best investment he ever made”, Silver adjusted her glasses before continuing, “ Knowing him, he was probably just using them to gauge your character." Diamond snorted at her friends attempt at humor. "Well then, it's probably a good thing he did it while I was so young, can you imagine if he wanted to test your friends today." "Yeah" Silver piped up, looking as though she were deep in thought, "He'd probably actually end up using them instead of just letting fear speak for itself. Wonder if they've been kept in working order?" Then Silver cocked her head sideways and glanced over Twist's back before waving to the road, "Speak of the devil, Hi Dad." Twist spotted a stallion shrouded in shadow coming up from behind them and suddenly went pale and in a panic dived behind the counter, making sure she was out of sight. She stayed hidden as best she could given her shocking red mane and glanced over at Silver to make sure she hadn't been noticed. That was when she realized that Silver and Diamond were rolling around on the grass laughing like loons. A quick glance at the path presented her with a happily oblivious Mr Waddle, who simply waved to her as he passed. After taking a couple of seconds needed to process what had just happened, she turned around to face the still uproarious Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara. "Ha ha, v-very f-f-funny girl'th" Twist half shouted as she tried to stop herself from shaking, but she couldn't really stop her scowl from turning up into a smirk. 'Honestly', she thought, 'that was a pretty good prank.' "Pfffft" Diamond giggled, her previously sour face all but erased, "You should have seen the look on your face Twist." Then she paused to catch her breath. "Oh Celestia, just too damn funny." "Yeah, sorry, just couldn't resist" Silver managed to get out after she'd almost stopped her convulsions, "we've run that one lots of times on silly colts that tried to hit on us." Then they all stopped and stared when they realized that Twist had managed to take the cushion she'd been sitting on with her over the counter; which had become stuck firmly to her flank with now long dried tree sap. Twist tried to shake it off but only succeeded in tangling up more of her tail in the tacky mess. "Well" Twist muttered with a scowl, "that'th jutht faaan-tathtic." ------------------ It didn't take the three earth pony fillies long to exhaust all the cushion removal strategies available to them, given that those consisted of pulling against Silver, pulling against Diamond and pulling against them both, they only succeeded in discovering that the combination of tree sap and cushion is in fact not a delicious taste treat. The tacky mess's sticking power had even defeated their genius backup plan of dangling twist between two of the umbrella tables by the cushion and giving her a vigorous shake. Defeated, the three of them conceded that the only option was going to be soaking and scrubbing it off before any further brute force approaches risked taking the fur right off Twist's rump. "Well then" Silver finally admitted, "Looks like you're at my place for dinner Twist, unless, of course you want Miss Bonbon to see you in this state." Twist's face twitched in disgust at the very idea of her Aunt getting an eyeful of this. Bonbon had recently started trying to make her own standup act and was constantly on the lookout for new material from her life for it. The only reason that incident where Twist had got part of her mane stuck in the oven door had finally gotten omitted was because absolutely nopony but Bonbon had ever thought it was the slightest bit funny. "Come on then" Silver sighed, "let's get the stand packed up and I'll tell you more of the story on the way." The three fillies lowered their heads and immediately set to work gathering up the impermanent parts of Silver's business. "Tho Thilver" Twist asked as she mouthed the third tray of candies on top of the box of cups and sugar sitting on her back, "what did you mean by opportunity in uth being frienth?" "Oh right" said Silver, herself somehow ludicrously carrying two upside down tables, their respective umbrellas and a box containing her bit tray and glass pitchers, "I was hoping to be able to set up a partnership where I could sell your candy directly. I put in my candy tray to attract more customers and it worked but having to buy it from stores has meant I've never been able to have it operate at anything more than a loss." "Thorry Thilver, but I make my candieth' for aunt Bonbon'th th'tore. I couldn't do that to her." Twist replied apologetically. "It's okay Twist" Silver reassured her with a smile, "I think I just needed an excuse to do this for myself and Diamond, now come on, let's get home so you can get washed up." ------------------------ Diamond was giggling at her again. Silver spoon picked herself up and once again placed her right back foot high up against the tree, then put her forehooves against it and leaned in trying to relax into the stretch. *THUMP!* Why was this so hard? The question repeated itself in Silver Spoon's mind as she looked up from the ground at her new friend effortlessly balancing up on one hoof even without the support of the tree. Diamond did a little twirl as she switched legs and found herself staring down at her currently pouty friend. "How do you DO that?" Silver asked in amazement, "My daddy has been sending me to that stupid Ballet school for ages and, and I can't even do the rail ex..exer..scissors without falling down." "Dunno" Diamond replied as she did another twirl and switch, "I just can, daddy says I'm just nature-ly graceful." "Ooooh, maybe dancing is your special talent" Silver said as she picked herself up off the grass again. "Awww, thanks a LOT Silvey" Diamond pouted, losing her balance in the process and landing with stumble back on four hooves, "now you've cutie-jinxed me, now I can't never have dancing as my talent." "Ohmygosh, I'm so sorry" Silver blurted out, "I didn't know." ------------------------ "Wait a minute" Twist interrupted, "Please tell me THAT ithn't the big thecret, becauth' I've gotta tell you, cutie jinthxes aren't real." Silver just laughed; "Oh my goodness no Twist, although dancing did turn out to be a big part of it, just as reading turned out to be part of mine." Twist Crinkled her brow as though she'd just unlearned something vitally important; "I thought you made thpoonth?" "No, no, don't take it so literally" Silver chuckled, "I got my cutie mark a few months before Diamond when I was named first in line to inherit the family fortune, so I've had to learn a great deal about investing, running businesses and managing bits, that's why I take my little stand so seriously." "She's not even kidding" Diamond piped in, "Give her a chance and she'll talk your ear off about her profit projections for hours. I'm not even going to ask where she's always able to pull those charts and graphs from." Then she muttered to herself "Still don't know how she managed to fall asleep during Daddy's speech." Twist was slightly taken aback by this new information, she, like the majority of her classmates had always thought cutie marks were always very much literal, after all, Celestia controls the sun, Aunt Bonbon makes candy, she makes candy, Miss Cheerilee grows flowers.... Wait, that's not right... ----------------------- The afternoon sun was still high as Silver Spoon sat on the swing seat in the garden of her family's palatial mansion in Central Canterlot. She had been slowly working her way through a huge and stunningly dull tome detailing her family holdings that her father had given her a few weeks ago for her cutecenera. Even if this was her destiny, it still held little of interest for a 6 year old. At least the illustrations in the margins were pretty. Silver's meditation on her book was interrupted by a jubilant voice shouting and galloping up the path to meet her. Diamond Tiara stepped up her pace as her gray BFF came into view; She hadn't expected to see her over the school holidays but an emergency business meeting had forced her father back to Canterlot two days early. Despite her initial reluctance to go out into the countryside, she had so VERY much to talk about as the two of them spent every remaining moment of their break together. Silver didn't really get much of a chance to say hello as she stepped down from the seat to exchange greetings with her unexpected visitor. She barely got as far as smiling and opening her mouth before a crash tackle/hug sent them both rolling down a slight incline before plowing into a small patch of dandelions, scattering seeds everywhere which floated down around them. Silver let out a little sneeze as one found it's way up her nose. Diamond, for her part, was talking up an absolute storm with such a pace that one word blended right into the next and all Silver could make out was incomprehensible gibberish. After a good twenty seconds of this, the gray filly sighed and put her hoof up against her pink friend's mouth to silence her. "Again" the gray filly calmly said, "but slowly." Diamond nodded in understanding, then took a long breath to calm herself. "so" Diamond began, "Daddy was taking me out to meet some farmers and maybe see some pigs or cows, when I saw this poster, and it said something about a beauty contest. My dad said it was called a page-gent but that's silly, posters aren't boys, and anyway, I was bored and asked him if I could enter because no filly's as pretty as me and he said it was okay if I asked mummy and mummy said it was OK and so I entered." "And?" Silver asked, clearly unimpressed by the idea of a small town pageant. "Well" Diamond continued, "I got to wear some of Mummy's make up and there was a big stage that I got to dance on and after all the girls had been up I was the best so I won." Diamond sat there with a huge grin on her face expectantly waiting for Silver to reply. Silver finally caved in to her friend's overabundance of pride and squeaked out a curt "congratulations.. I guess." To Silver's great surprise, Diamond was in no way disappointed by her lack of enthusiasm, almost as if she'd been expecting it. "Oh yeah" Diamond said, a sly smirk forming, "this appeared while I was getting my prize." With that, diamond rolled over and pointed at her flank, and more specifically at the symbol now emblazoned on it, a shining purple crown. It took Silver a few seconds to comprehend what she was seeing, but when she did she abandoned all pretense of her disciplined upbringing and took her turn to tackle the pink filly, leading to them both tumbling and running around each other on the grass, the sound of laughter thick in the air. Finally, their energy spent, they just laid on the grass staring up at the clouds. Of course, being little foals, it only took a minute before Silver felt the need to break the silence. "So", she asked "your special talent is beauty contests and being pretty and graceful." "Looks like it" Diamond replied happily. "You know" Silver sighed, "I found out today that I'm gonna need glasses before I go back to school." Diamond just looked at her friend and gave the only reply one really can to such ironies. A flat "Huh?" ----------------------- Twist was confused. "I donth get it" she finally said after trying to work it out herself, "Why is it thuch' a thecret if thath' all it ith'? Thouldn't you be proud of it inthtead? You're even wearing the prith' on your head, tho how ith thith a big deal?" Seeing Twist's confusion, Diamond stepped in to fill in that blank. "Well Twist" Diamond began, "this tiara isn't a prize or even directly related to my pageantry at all, I had it commissioned when I first moved here because I didn't want anypony getting curious and I thought that if I presented a front, nopony would ask me any questions that I don't want this town asking. Guess it worked until now." "It's true" Silver said, "I even made a bet with her that it wouldn't fool anypony, I lost that bet and that's why I spent a whole week wearing a spoon on my head." "I don't remember that" Twist asked. Silver chuckled; "You wouldn't, everypony else in the class remembers it as the week I spent trying to convince everypony that berets were back in style." "Didn't Sweetie Belle's sister believe you and take to wearing them everywhere?" Diamond laughed. Silver just shook her head in pity for the desperate fashionista. "Anyway" Silver finally started again, "I told you at the start that context was important here, you'll understand when you hear the rest of the.." Silver paused "Oh wait, we're here." Standing before Twist was the biggest house she'd ever seen. Silver informed her that it was her Aunt's house as she greeted the servants to tell them to set two extra places at the table and run a bath for Twist. Diamond trotted off a couple of houses over to ask her father if it was okay for her to spend the evening over at Silver's place again. She didn't fuss a premade speech, she knew her daddy could never refuse her. ----------------------- About an hour later, Bonbon was pacing about in her home, wondering where her niece had gone off to. The opportunity to ruminate on worst case scenarios involving the Everfree forest, the crusaders, insane librarians or a random monster attack however, was cut short by a knock at her door. Expecting to have to lecture Twist on what a curfew means she was slightly taken aback when it opened to reveal Filthy Rich standing there. "Good day to you miss Bonbon" the wealthy stallion began, "My daughter asked me to come by here and ask if it's okay for Twist to stay for dinner at the Silver family Mansion." "Um.." replied Bonbon, "that's......fine Mr Filthy, but why are you here asking and not her?" "Please, call me Mr rich" the stallion sighed, rubbing his temple in frustration that nopony seemed to understand that filthy on it's own was not a brilliant name. "My daughter didn't give me all the particulars, only to say that she got 'crusader'd', and,.. something about tree sap and seats, I think she also specifically told me not to tell Miss Bonbon about......" Filthy rich facehooved at his own ineptitude, while Bonbon suddenly grew the grin of somepony that had just won the Celestial lottery. "Well then" Filthy stammered, "I guess that if it's okay I'll just....be.....going......now.", and with one last cheesy grin he took off galloping, leaving a thoroughly confused mare in his wake. Bonbon, for her part just sat stunned on the floor taking a much needed minute to process this new information. As her smile returned, she knew what she had to do now. "This is totally going in my routine."