//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Facets and Flaws // by Scarlett //------------------------------// My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and all its characters are property of Hasbro and Lauren Faust. Only the story and original characters are the property of the author. This is a not-for-profit fan based work of fiction WARNING: This story will contain adult themes including homosexuality, gender dysphoria, and other mature topics. I will be avoiding explicit sex, I’m trying for a PG-13 rating. Facets and Flaws By: Scarlett Prologue Humming softly, Diamond Tiara prepped the tray of tea and cookies herself- unwrapping the package of shortbread rounds, and pouring the hot water from the kettle into two mugs; the tea bags released a lemony scent that caused Diamond to shiver, all the stress of the day was released from the top of the pony’s purple and white mane and down through her pink hooves into the very ground beneath. She loved a good tea. She sighed as she finished her task, and leaned against the counter, 'Cooking is like, totally so easy,' she thought to herself, allowing a smug grin to cross her face, never mind the fact that her butler Randall had been the one to pull the cookies from the pantry, light the stove, and boil the water for the tea, and that no real cooking was involved at all. Normally Diamond would not have done even these simple tasks herself, that is what lesser ponies like her butler were for, but today was special, and the pony waiting upstairs for the second mug of tea was special indeed. Silver Spoon had been Diamond Tiara’s best friend for years— was truthfully her only friend, though she would never admit that to anypony. It wasn’t supposed to be that way; she was rich, beautiful, she always dressed in the finest fashions (lately nothing but Rarity Originals). All of the other fillies should have looked up to her, should have wanted to be her. It wasn’t fair. She was supposed to rule the school. Instead, she and Silver Spoon had found themselves to be near outcasts in that horrible excuse for a school here in Ponyville. Both of their families were more than rich enough to send them to fine private academies in Canterlot, or Manehattan, places that ponies from the finest families should have gone. Instead Diamond was left pondering and dreaming on what life would have been, should have been, in those centers of culture. Parents just don’t understand; she had been given some excuse about building character or something— which was totally lame, and Silver’s family felt she should be kept close to home, so instead of living a life of glamour among the elite, they had been stuck with all the dweebs and blank flanks in this backwater town. Finally, just yesterday, they had graduated from that rinky-dink little red schoolhouse, paving the way for this fall. In just a few months they would be going to “South Canterlot High School!” The last was shouted aloud with a squee, as she thought about the new opportunities to meet all the right friends, and become the queen of her new school, she would look down upon her kingdom and all would be right with the world, her best friend at her right hoof, as always, and as the two richest, classiest earth fillies in all of Ponyville, she and Silver would show those Canterlot unicorns a thing or two about style. Her outburst had earned a stifled chuckle from her butler who to that point had been blending into the background like he was supposed to. She gave him a look of pure malice, her imaginations interrupted, and in that glare the butler saw his forgotten place, and perhaps caught a glimpse of the cliffs of insanity, and cast his eyes quickly downward. His young mistress reined in her anger, and gave her command, pointing to the tray with her muzzle, “Carry this upstairs, I will take it from you at the door.” “Yes, Little Miss,” the butler replied, earning another glare- this one not as harsh. Apparently that form of address was no longer acceptable, he thought to himself with an internal chuckle. Quickly regaining his composure he crossed the tiled kitchen floor, taking care to step softly, and took the tray from the impressive white granite counter top, heading up the luxurious stairwell. Its rails were made from the finest cherry wood, and mosaic tiles were inlaid on each and every step. His thoughts were not on the beauty of the home at that moment, though at other times he would just wander and find the little details that no one else noticed, like the dovetails joining the baseboards, but today he had no thoughts for his secret passion, he was distracted by memories. Holding in a sigh, he fondly recalled the days when he had been a friend and confidant to the young filly; she had grown colder as the years had passed. He could barely remember the last time he’d seen her truly smile— except when the young Miss Spoon had been around— was it? Yes, just before the Cuteceñera a few years before. She had been so happy getting everything ready for that day. . . . . .They had reached the door, and he ceased his meandering, reminding himself his lot was but to serve. The butler bowed low and held the tray until the Young Miss took it from him. “Will that be all Miss Tiara?” he asked. “You are dismissed,” came the curt reply, and the butler left quickly allowing himself to rub at his rickety joints. As he left, his existence was immediately forgotten by the young filly, he was just a butler after all, more a part of the house than a pony. She stood in front of the door, balancing the tray of snacks upon her back, and paused, for some reason feeling a bit on edge; She took a deep breath to calm herself, it was just the start of a great summer with her friend Silver. She should be excited, and yet, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Diamond bit her pink lips gently, took one last deep breath and walked through the door. As she saw what awaited her on the other side, she dropped the tray with a clatter, cookies and tea spilling all over the fine white carpet of her bedroom. The blinding pink and white furniture was all in order, posters of princesses and pop stars still lined the walls, only one thing was out of place- that book lay on the coffee table, the book Silver was never meant to see. Diamond’s heart grew tight in her chest, her greatest fear was right in front of her— Silver knew. The notebook on the coffee table seemed innocent enough at a glance, most of it full of the doodles and poems of a bored school filly, but hidden in the back of it— well that was different. Filled with drawings like the one that lay open on the table, those pages held Diamond’s most secret thoughts, all of them drawings of Silver. In this one Silver’s rump thrust itself towards the viewer, her head turned back towards her rear with a look of longing on her face, the filly’s silvery braid was mussed and coming undone, her glasses askew, her tail was barely covering the junction between her thighs. This two dimensional Silver was not completely naked, as most ponies were. No, that was the most horrible part of it all- Diamond, the dirty filly that she was, had drawn her best friend in all the world clad only in socks, yes, SOCKS. She stood quietly, filled with dread, not wanting to look up, fearing the judgement that would appear in Silver Spoon's eyes. As her pink cheeks darkened to an embarrassed red, she could feel the heat rising there before it began spreading into her neck, and soon deep into other places, terrible wonderful places, as she fully recognized that her innermost thoughts had just been revealed to the pony she loved more than anything. Risking everything, she began to raise her eyes, past blue framed lenses to meet the soft lavender eyes of the real Silver in front of her— but only for a moment— as quickly as hope had formed in her own light blue eyes, it was crushed, only fear and disgust met her in the returning gaze; she lowered her head and began to sob, everything she had known was about to be gone. Silver Spoon fled the room, her mind spinning, tears forming in the corners of her eyes and dripping down her cheeks, she didn’t understand, she felt sick to her stomach. She never looked back at the filly who had been her best friend, who had betrayed her with her disgusting desires. She couldn’t deny what she had discovered, no amount of wishing would make this all go away. Everything she knew seemed false, for the thing that couldn’t have been true was true; Diamond Tiara was a filly-fooler. Left alone with her embarrassment and shame Diamond Tiara sat next to the coffee table, tracing the drawing with one hoof while her tears began to fall. After a time she looked over to the bookshelf where the offending book had been, where she had left it in the open, the deepest secrets of her heart available to any curious eyes. How could she have been such a foal? With a scream she stood and knocked the bookshelf to the floor, then grabbing the notebook she tore it in half, her path of destruction went on for a full minute claiming the lives of quills and decorative china— eventually she was spent, and with a final anguished cry she collapsed onto her bed, shaking with the grief of the broken-hearted. She curled up against the wall with a plush toy, the one that special pony had given her, the one who had just fled from the one who loved her, and she clutched it tightly to her chest until she ran out of tears. “I love you,” she finally said aloud, confessing everything in a breathy whisper— but there was nopony left to hear.