//------------------------------//
// The Final Bell Tolls- Real Heroes Don't Wear Capes 
// Story: The Serenade of Silver Belles 
// by Your Antagonist 
//------------------------------//

	


The Serenade of Silver Belles

 

Written By: Your Antagonist

 

Revised by: Cpl. Hooves

 

Edited By: Starwind Dood, Aziraphael, TheWattsMan, and (The Great and Powerful) Plyxe

 

Chapter 13- Real Heroes Don’t Wear Capes

 
Silver Spoon turned her disinterested gaze to a nearby window, silently cursing herself for not having seen that little stunt of Diamond Tiara’s coming. She and Sweetie Belle had been gone for an awfully long time, and Silver Spoon didn’t like it one little bit. For now, she could only sit powerless and speculate what fate had befallen her sweet-hearted unicorn; at least, until lunch finally came around.
 
Still, even with that situation on the back burner, there was an exam she had to prepare for and worrying wasn’t doing her ability to retain the information any favors. In a vain attempt to get her mind back on the lesson at hand, Silver Spoon took in a deep breath, and let it go in one thought-clearing sigh that did little to calm her nerves. It was no use. Try as she might, she just couldn’t shake the thought that Diamond Tiara had devised some heinous torture for her special somepony, and she simply couldn’t settle down until Sweetie Belle returned, not one hair on her mane out of place. A quick glance at the disdainful looks on Apple Bloom and Scootaloo’s faces showed that the two were just as upset about the situation as she was, though considering how Diamond Tiara had gotten them in trouble with Cheerilee, it was safe to say they were just a mite more livid about it.
 
Out of the corner of her eye, Silver Spoon took note of a particular pale-faced pegasus who had been acting even weirder than usual. Since class had begun, Featherweight had been fumbling his hooves nervously, occasionally taking panicked glances at Diamond Tiara’s vacant seat. She recalled Apple Bloom mentioning his unusual behavior earlier, and wondered if it had anything to do with the situation at hoof.
 
At that moment, the door to the classroom swung open, and in trotted the pair of ponies occupying all of Silver Spoon’s thoughts, neither any worse for the wear, save for a subdued glare from Sweetie Belle aimed squarely at her companion.
 
“Well, there you two are,” said Cheerilee. “I was just about to send somepony to check on you.”
 
“Sorry about that, Ms. Cheerilee,” Diamond Tiara said with all of the sincerity of a snake-oil sales-stallion. “We would have been back sooner, but...” she forced a shudder before meeting her teacher with a look that was usually reserved for sailors who had been swallowed by a whale and survived. “Well, let’s just say you don’t want to go in there... it’s kind of a mess...”
 
“What?” Sweetie gasped, absolutely appalled as the majority of the class broke out in uproarious laughter at the mortified unicorn’s expense.
 
Cheerilee grimaced as she contemplated just what horrors awaited her in the outdoor latrine. “Well, I suppose that it can’t be helped. I should check and see if I need to call Mr. Greenhooves in.” The schoolmare turned to her blackboard and sighed. “Another ‘fun’ way for me to spend my precious lunch break,” she mumbled, just softly enough that it went unheard by the pair. Almost immediately after Cheerilee finished her silent lamentations, the school bell sounded, alerting everypony within the classroom that it was time to eat. “It’s lunch time, my little ponies! Be back in the classroom in one hour, but do not leave the school grounds!”
 
A sea of foals trotted out of the room as fast as their legs would carry them, the only holdouts being the Cutie Mark Crusaders, their perpetual nemesis, and the one mare that had the power to keep the warring factions at bay: Ms. Cheerilee. Once the educator had safely secured her lesson plan in her desk, safe from the prying eyes of some of her less than ethical students, she turned to leave and inspect the bathroom, her apprehension at the task growing with every step she took. Before she left the room, she looked at the five fillies, all simply staring at each other, not one of them moving a muscle. She knew something was off, but as long as they weren’t at each other’s throats, it was still a good day. “You girls should get to lunch soon, or time will run out before you know it.” The moment her last hoof left the room, all the tension between the fillies hit the breaking point.
 
Apple Bloom was the first of the three Crusaders to greet their crestfallen comrade, worry plastering the usually easygoing earth pony’s face as she draped a comforting foreleg around her friend’s shoulder. “Hey, Sweetie Belle, she didn’t try anything funny, did she?”
 
Scootaloo stood up on her hind legs and clacked her forehooves together menacingly in Diamond Tiara’s direction. “Just give us the word and we’ll make her sorry for whatever she did to you.”
 
In response to the scrappy pair’s show of aggression, Diamond Tiara smiled and said nothing; a courtesy she expected Sweetie Belle to return to her fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders. Much to the satisfaction of her manipulator, Sweetie Belle shrugged off Apple Bloom’s foreleg, and gently pushed Scootaloo back as she wordlessly trotted past the two to retrieve her own lunch. But much to her disdain, the sudden display of reclusiveness only served to fuel the sympathetic attitudes of her faithful friends.
 
“Hey, what did you push me like that for?” Scootaloo demanded.
 
“What’s wrong, Sweetie Belle?” Apple Bloom asked in her sweetest tone.
 
“Why aren’t you talking to us?” Scootaloo said, her tone growing decidedly more irritated.
 
“We’re your friends. You can tell us what happened.”
 
“Why does she look so smug?” Scootaloo cast her critical glance at the ever arrogant Diamond Tiara.
 
“Sweetie Belle,” Silver Spoon said as she stepped in front of the unicorn and immediately established eye contact. “What did she do?”
 
Sweetie Belle bit her lip as she shied away from the stern amethyst eyes of her special somepony. It was all she could do to stall for time and silence. It was already hard enough for her to ignore her two closest friends in the world, but Silver Spoon was a different matter entirely, and by association, was much more difficult to ignore. As strong as the unicorn’s resolve was, the urge to tell Silver Spoon what transpired in the school basement was even stronger. Out of the corner of her eye, Sweetie Belle selfishly stole a nervous peek at the face she’d come to adore and admire. Much to her relief and dismay, Silver Spoon had finally accepted that Sweetie Belle wasn’t going to say anything and turned her frustration towards the source of the dilemma.
 
“What did you do to her, Diamond?” Silver Spoon growled.
 
“Me?” Diamond Tiara’s play at flabbergastation only served to agitate the most short tempered of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
 
“Yeah, you!” Scootaloo barked.
 
“What makes you think I had something to do with this?” The earth pony fluttered her eyelashes, feigning ignorance.
 
“Who else could have!? She was fine until you went into the bathroom with her!” snapped Scootaloo.
 
“Stop beating around the bush and answer the question, Diamond Tiara,” said Silver Spoon. “What did you do?”
 
Diamond Tiara pouted at the straight-on accusation, but decided to keep up with the charade. After all, she wasn’t lying for her own benefit. “If you must know, while we were out of class, Sweetie Belle and I finally buried the hatchet and became friends, but she was afraid the three of you wouldn’t understand, so she decided to keep it a secret. Why, we’re even going to enjoy a lovely lunch together to celebrate our newfound friendship. No need to hide it any more, I guess.”
 
“Yeah, right,” spat Apple Bloom. “I don’t believe that hogwash, not for one stinkin’ minute.”
 
Diamond Tiara shook her head as she sighed out of pity. It seemed as though Sweetie Belle’s friends were going to force her little game to end far earlier than she’d have liked. Still, she was for the most part a sporting filly, and it was Sweetie Belle’s task after all. “Then why not let her set the record straight herself? Go on Sweetie Belle, tell them what happened. I don’t mind.”
 
Three pairs of eyes filled with disbelief turned to the filly of the hour, who could barely manage to feebly peek back at them from under the cover of her mane. “Well, I...” Sweetie Belle rubbed her foreleg uncomfortably. “I just... I knew the three of you would react like this when you found out, so I figured it would be better if...” Sweetie Belle swallowed hard. This was going to be one of the hardest lies she’d ever forced herself to say. “...if we didn’t see each other until you could learn to accept it.”
 
“What?” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom shouted out in unified disbelief.
 
Sweetie Belle quickly whipped her face away from the three greatest friends she’d ever been privileged to have before pathetically squeaking, “I’m sorry,” just low enough so the three could hear her.
 
“Sweetie Belle...” Silver Spoon stepped forward. “Tell us the truth,” she said.
 
“What’s left to tell?” Diamond Tiara interrupted, stepping between the now fractured factions of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. “It’s just like she said. Now, if you’ll excuse us.” Diamond Tiara bucked her saddlebags on her back on her back. “Me and my new B.F.F. have to meet Featherweight for lunch. Come on, Sweetie Belle.” She ushered with a casual wave of her tail as she slipped out of the classroom door.
 
Sweetie Belle chanced one more glance at the confused, angry expressions upon her friends’ faces before turning to follow her tormentor. As much as it hurt her, it was for the best that they didn’t find out the truth.
 
“I don’t believe this.” Apple Bloom sank to her haunches, her forelegs falling uselessly to her sides as she stared at the vacant space where Sweetie Belle once stood. “How could she just up and abandon us for Diamond Tiara?”
 
“I don’t know, but something stinks about this whole thing. I say we get to the bottom of this,” said Scootaloo.
 
“I agree,” added Silver Spoon. “But it’s going to be difficult since Sweetie Belle isn’t talking to us.”
 
“In that case we should... um...” She wracked her brain, but nothing came. “What should we do?”
 
“We’ve got to find somepony who might know something.”
 
“But who?”
 
“Hmm...” Silver Spoon scratched her chin in thought, when she recalled something from an earlier conversation. “Hey, Apple Bloom, you said Featherweight was acting weird earlier, right?”
 
“Yeah, he was. Everytime somepony went to ask him somethin’, he’d just about jump out of his skin. He was shakin’ and shiverin’ a whole lot too. I’ve never seen anypony so spooked in my life. Wait, do you think he knows somethin’ about what’s goin’ on?”
 
If Silver Spoon had a deerstalker cap handy, it would have been the only thing in Equestria that could complement the self-assured look in her eye, right after an embossed calabash pipe tucked neatly in her mouth. “As a matter of fact, I do.”
 
“Then what are we just sittin’ around here for? Let’s go find him and make him talk.”
 
Silver Spoon nodded in concurrence with her farm-filly counterpart.  
 
“Hey, girls?” Scootaloo called skittishly. “I know this isn’t the best time, since we’ve got to save Sweetie Belle and all, but can we—” The boisterous growling of the pegasus’ tiny stomach spoke volumes where mere words would have sufficed, and simultaneously garnered flat looks from her fellow Crusaders. “What?” Her face flushed beet-red. “It’s not my fault that I didn’t get any breakfast!”
 
“Fine.” Apple Bloom rolled her eyes and dug into her saddlebags for an apple that she immediately tossed to Scootaloo. “I’m a mite peckish myself. ‘Sides, Featherweight’s with Diamond Tiara. We gotta go through her if we want to get to him. We’re gonna need to be at full strength to deal with that mouth of hers.”
 
Silver Spoon looked out of the window at her troubled friend. “We’re going to get you out of this Sweetie Belle... somehow.”
 


	


 
Sweetie Belle leaned her head against the back wall of the schoolhouse and sighed. The lunch period had barely even started and she’d had already lost her will to eat. The cause for her sudden loss of appetite wasn’t the blackened mess of pasta, burnt cheese, and various other ingredients she’d prepared the night before and had the audacity to call a casserole, though admittedly that would have done the job all the same. It wasn’t even the fact that she’d been forced away from her best friends through underhanded deeds by an even more devious pony. No, the cause for Sweetie Belle’s inability to eat was the unicorn’s less-than-stellar and equally disturbing mealtime company.
 
She had imagined that being essentially imprisoned by Diamond Tiara would be some horrible, gruesome experience with a little more hellfire and a dash more brimstone, yet what it actually entailed was far more arduous than any of that. For all the emphasis she placed on her self-proclaimed greatness in addition to her upper-class status, Diamond Tiara had all of the grace and table manners of a feral cow.
 
Even with food in her mouth, the filly somehow managed to talk Sweetie Belle’s ear off with gossips, gripes, and first world problems that the unicorn didn’t care for in the slightest, yet couldn’t bring herself to ignore completely. Not out of respect for the speaker, but to anticipate the enunciation of a select few consonants that would cause food to come flying out of Diamond Tiara’s mouth by chunk and salvo. It didn’t help that whenever she wasn’t speaking, the spoiled filly was steadily plundering desserts from Sweetie Belle’s lunch bag in addition to their party’s third wheel: Featherweight. How Silver Spoon had managed to put up with Diamond Tiara for as many years as she did was beyond Sweetie Belle’s comprehension, but it was certainly a thing to be admired.
 
Featherweight, while significantly less obnoxious than Diamond Tiara, still had little niggling idiosyncrasies that made him only just bearable enough to eat with, but just creepy and awkward enough to keep Sweetie Belle wary of his presence. Every so often, the colt would take a mouthful of his macaroni, and then dart his eyes quickly between Diamond Tiara and Sweetie Belle before stirring his meal around at an uncomfortably slow pace. It didn’t help that whenever he was fidgeting or feasting on the noodles, he would mumble something under his breath then glance at the unicorn with what seemed to be a hopeful look in his eyes.
 
“Um, I, uh, took notes for the parts that you both missed.” Featherweight offered one set of notes to Diamond Tiara who rolled her eyes upon accepting the stack of papers, clearly displeased that she’d been interrupted.
 
“Yeah, thanks I guess.” She tossed the notes to her side, barely missing a mud puddle, before turning back to her unwilling audience. “Now like I was saying I don’t really like it when blah blah blah...”
 
“Thanks, Featherweight,” Sweetie Belle mouthed in a much more grateful fashion than the other recipient.
 
The colt seemed rather flustered at the show of gratitude, his creamy complexion flashing a cherry red for only the briefest of moments. “Hey, Diamond Tiara?” he interrupted again, much to the relief of Sweetie Belle’s ears.
 
“What?” the filly in question responded, her tone thick with irritation.
 
“ I... I think I’m gonna go... inside that is, i-if you don’t mind.”
 
“Be somewhere I can find you if a certain somepony steps out of line.” Diamond Tiara tilted her head towards the unicorn next to her.
 
“Will do, and uh, make sure you both study those notes hard for the exam. I mean really look them over.” Snatching his saddlebags up with an unusual nervous haste, Featherweight back gracelessly pedaled away, all the while grinning awkwardly at Sweetie Belle.
 
“Whatever,” Diamond Tiara sighed, waving him off as though he were nothing more than a bothersome mosquito. With that, Featherweight dashed around the corner, leaving Sweetie Belle solely to Diamond Tiara’s mercy, or lack thereof.
 
The company of the silence that Sweetie Belle had just come to appreciate parted without so much as a farewell as Diamond Tiara jumped right into the thick of whatever abstract ramblings she found fit to loose from her tongue. Out of the corner of Sweetie Belle’s eye, she spotted a few of her classmates playing a game of baseball, when a thought crossed her mind. Thanks to their little deal, Diamond Tiara had prevented her from speaking directly to Silver Spoon, Applebloom and Scootaloo, but she didn’t say anything about their other classmates. Capitalizing on the little loophole she’d found in the agreement, Sweetie Belle rose to her hooves and began trotting forward toward the game space. An act that caused a certain somepony to leap angrily to her hooves.
 
“Hey!” The sudden outburst caused Sweetie Belle to stop where she stood. “Just where do you think you’re going?”
 
“Well, I was bored, and I thought I’d go play baseball with everypony over—”
 
“Did I say you could go play with them?”
 
“Excuse me?” Sweetie Belle faced the source of the objection, and prepared to issue a swift rebuttal. Had she a soap box on hoof, she’d have been standing on it in such an authoritative stance that one would swear Twilight Sparkle herself had instructed this filly on the finer points of exuding pretension. “Our deal was that I stay away from Silver Spoon, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo. You didn’t say anything about anypony else,” she concluded matter-of-factly.
 
Diamond Tiara cocked an eyebrow in amusement at Sweetie Belle’s sudden influx of confidence. She certainly had to give her victim some credit. Sweetie Belle had grown a considerable amount of backbone between Friday and today, but that would only make it that much more satisfying when she sucked the wind right out of the unicorn’s sails. “Oh, I didn’t? Well, that’s too bad, I’m changing the deal.”
 
“What?”
 
“From now on, I’m the only pony you can talk to, got it?”
 
“You can’t do that!”
 
“I just did, so either you deal with it or Silvy pays the price.” Sweetie Belle scowled at Diamond Tiara, whose lips pulled back into a smile that was just greasy with schadenfreude. “Guess you still don’t like it when I talk about her, hm?” The sadistic filly snatched a cookie out of Sweetie Belle’s lunch bag and popped it in her mouth. “Well, that’s too bad.”
 
“Why you...” Sweetie Belle had begun trembling so hard from anger that without realizing it, her forehooves had begun digging into the soil.
 
“‘Why me,’ what?” Diamond Tiara challenged, her face mere inches away from Sweetie Belle’s own. The unicorn’s glower lasted only a moment longer, before she turned away with a huff. There was no point in feeding a parasprite, after all. “That’s what I thought.”
 
Just because Sweetie Belle had to be with Diamond Tiara didn’t mean she had to stoke the brat’s attention-hungry ego. With a deep exhale, the stern irritation melted off of Sweetie Belle’s features as she recalled the notes Featherweight had given her to study for the exam. It would be a bit more dull than her usual lunchtime activities, but she had grades to maintain, and at the moment, anything was better than hearing any more of her captor’s self-indulgent prattle.
 
Sliding her lunch to the side, she set the notes in front of herself, prepared to read. However, just as her eyes fell upon the first line, something made itself immediately apparent: there were no notes on the Crystal Empire or its history. In fact, there was no discernible text on the page at all. Just a sea of hastily drawn pencil scribbles that, oddly enough, fit perfectly within each of the page’s blue college-rule lines. It was the type of thing that would have fooled a less observant teacher into thinking their students were diligently taking down their lesson plan instead of aimlessly daydreaming about frivolous matters or things they’d rather be doing.
 
Sweetie Belle couldn’t help empathizing with the frustration pulling the corners of her mouth into a frown. She wouldn’t have pegged Featherweight as the type to pull a prank, even one as minor as this. But if you hang around somepony for long enough, a few of their bad habits can rub off on you, whether you want them to or not. Hay, Silver Spoon was a living example of how toxic Diamond Tiara’s influence could be. Still, it looked like Diamond Tiara wasn’t going to outright bother her as long as she pretended to have her nose planted in the pages, so in a way, this little trick of Featherweight’s was a silver-lining.
 
In her idle-minded state, Sweetie Belle flipped through the pages in a routine fashion, pretending to focus on the faux-wording as her thoughts drifted to her friends in the classroom. Until her eyes flitted across some deviant text on the page. Penned in red ink, and clear as glass in a freshwater lagoon, the short note definitely stood out from the rest of the pencil-drawn scribblings on the page.
 
‘Everything that’s happening to you right now is all my fault and I’m sure you must hate me right now for making you go through the ordeal that is being around Diamond Tiara.’ It read. ‘But please, just put up with it for now. I swear that I’m going to make this right. I just need you to keep Diamond Tiara busy for the rest of lunch. I’m going to get you out of this.’
 
Sweetie Belle had to work hard to keep herself from succumbing to the rage and surprise Featherweight’s note was invoking. He wasn’t exactly a friend, but the fact she had been betrayed by an acquaintance still wounded her deeply. Either way, it wasn’t important at the moment. Hay, Diamond Tiara was probably blackmailing him into doing her dirty work. And all she needed to do to end Diamond Tiara’s reign of terror was to keep her doing the one thing she couldn’t stop her from doing the entire lunch period.
 
“Hey, Diamond Tiara.” The earth pony looked up from her frisée salad with an eyebrow raised suspiciously.
 
Wiping large bits of her lunch from her muzzle, she answered. “What do you want, Blanky Belle?”
 
Sweetie Belle hesitated for a second, scrambling for something, anything that would keep the pink scourge talking. “Uh, what’s your house like?” The unicorn had to force herself from wincing at the ridiculousness of her question. It may have been odd and poorly-timed, but she could work with it.
 
“Why do you want to know?” Diamond Tiara asked, squinting at Sweetie for any signs of trickery. Her reluctant companion merely smiled through.
 
“I just figured since you live in the better part of town and your dad makes so much money, it must be pretty nice. Much nicer than my sister’s house.”
 
The affluent earth pony smiled bemusedly and raised a hoof to her chest in false modesty. “Well, I don’t like to brag, but...” She was trapped. Sweetie knew that Diamond Tiara couldn’t resist two things: bragging about herself and putting others down. And now, she had a way of doing both at the same time. Sweetie just hoped that the brat wouldn’t stop talking before Featherweight did what he needed to. Her thoughts drifting to her paramour, Sweetie Belle aimed her eyes at Diamond Tiara and zoned out while she pretended to be interested in what she was being told and prayed that everything would work out.
 


	


 
Just outside the classroom door, the other three members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, refreshed and refueled from their meal, were preparing themselves to embark on the search for a snob, a sneak, and a Sweetie Belle. But before they could step off, they needed to come up with a plan of attack. “Alright you two, here’s the deal,” Apple Bloom declared. “Scootaloo and I’ll go see if they’re at the theater, or the playground. Silver Spoon, y’all check for them in the basement, and if they ain’t there, then wait for them in the classroom, got it?”
 
“Got it,” said Silver Spoon.
 
“If we find them, we’ll come back here to get you, and if you find them, just holler and we’ll come runnin’,” said Apple Bloom.
 
Silver Spoon nodded in agreement with Apple Bloom’s instructions.
 
“Come on, let’s go already!” urged the ever impatient Scootaloo. “Every minute we spend standing around is a minute that Sweetie Belle’s in danger of having her blood drained out!”
 
“Uh, Scoots, Diamond Tiara’s evil and all, but I don’t think she’s a vampire.”
 
“Oh, yeah? Then how do you explain Sweetie Belle’s suddenly being ‘best friends’ with Diamond Tiara? It’s got to be vampire mind control!”
 
“I think you read too many comic books.”
 
“No way, you just don’t read enough!” Scootaloo protested.
 
“Can we just get a move on already?” Apple Bloom sighed, motioning for the pegasus to follow her out of the room.
 
Silver Spoon watched the pair trot off, in typical Cutie Mark Crusader fashion, still arguing. She briefly wondered if they’d be able to focus on their search, but quickly shook the thought. She didn’t have time to worry about them right now. What she did have was a weasel of a pegasus to pressure into talking and a good hunch that she was about to find him with no difficulty as she rounded the corner of the school only to find herself face to face with the unlocked door of the school basement.
 
The gray filly cast one last glance at Scootaloo and Apple Bloom to ensure that they were well along their way to the playground; she didn’t want those two around to see what she was about to do. Satisfied with the distance between herself and her friends, Silver Spoon pushed her glasses further up her nose and narrowed her eyes into dispassionate, unpitying slits before descending the staircase. She walked cautiously, making sure to soften each of her hoofsteps so as not to alert her quarry to her presence. She could hear a hushed mumbling that grew clearer and clearer the further down she went.
 
“...I’m going to get you out of this,” she heard Featherweight say to nopony in particular as her hoof made contact with basement floor with a muted thud. “I swear I’ll figure out a way to get you out of this mess that I made, I just need to—”
 
“Just need to what to get who out of what mess, Featherweight?” Silver Spoon suddenly and gracelessly interrupted from the doorway, causing a jolt of panic to rip through the colt before her.
 
“S-Silver Spoon!” he stammered, sliding the papers he’d been perusing to the floor. “What are you doing down here?”
 
“I asked you first, now start talking.” Silver Spoon’s tone was frank and direct as she strode over to the editor’s desk; she didn’t need to mince words here, especially not with this invertebrate among pegasi.
 
“Wh-what are you tal—”
 
Silver Spoon reared up so that she could rest her hooves on the desk. Looking Featherweight dead in the eye, she leaned in until she was so close she could smell the combination of timidity and fear radiating from the colt and growled, “don’t play dumb with me, Featherweight. I know you know something.”
 
With Silver Spoon’s cold, dagger-like gaze boring into his soul, Featherweight couldn’t help but swallow back a rock hard lump of anxiety. Now, Featherweight was afraid of Diamond Tiara, that was a given. That filly was twisted, manipulative, and she seemed to know every embarrassing secret about everypony ever. But Silver Spoon? She absolutely terrified him through sheer presence alone. While Diamond Tiara wielded blackmail and humiliation with the pointed proficiency of a fencer, he knew from experience that Silver Spoon was the expert when it came to whipping somepony’s self-esteem so far into the ground that it would be enslaved by diamond dogs. She didn’t need gimmicks to intimidate; her wit, words, and actions did the job just the same, if not better. Still, in his stunned state, the colt couldn’t stop the verbal signature of his death warrant as he absent-mindedly continued to stall. “About what?”
 
That one set Silver Spoon off like a rocket. With one mighty swipe of her hoof, the filly managed to slap all of the papers and ornaments off of Featherweight’s desk, but she wasn’t done abusing his workspace quite yet. In a flash of concisely orchestrated rage, she slammed her hooves into the barren desk, forcing it to splinter under the raw force of the strike. “You know exactly what I mean! Now start chirping before I make you squawk like the awkward, gap-toothed chicken you are! What’s going on with Diamond Tiara and Sweetie Belle? What did that little witch do? Talk. Now.”
 
“All right! All right! I’ll talk, ju-just calm down!” To Featherweight’s relief, Silver Spoon, satisfied with his sudden compliance, did just that, sealing her rage behind a brittle shell of taciturn patience. Taking a moment to enjoy what he suspected would be the final moments of his incredibly short life, Featherweight slowly retrieved the papers he’d tossed to the floor in his panic.
 
“Well?” Silver Spoon said expectantly.
 
Featherweight glanced at the papers, then Silver Spoon, and the papers again. He knew he was as good as dead if she ever saw the documents he was hiding, but as much as the silver-maned bundle of fury terrified him, she was probably the only filly who could help him right now. And besides, whether she knew it or not, she was already involved. Without another word, the colt placed the paper on the desk and slid it to Silver Spoon in one swift motion.
 
Casting one last uncertain look at Featherweight she craned her neck over the paper in question. “What the...” It was the newest edition of the Foal Free Press. “What are you trying to pull here, Featherweight?”
 
“Open it to the middle.”
 
Silver Spoon flipped through the issue until she reached the page that had been the driving force behind this whole fiasco. The picture of her and Sweetie Belle locked in a passionate embrace caught the enraged filly by surprise. “What in the— what is this?”
 
“J-just give me a chance to explain!”
 
Through grit teeth and reddening vision she managed to say, “You’ve got five seconds.”
 
“Diamond Tiara made me follow you and Sweetie Belle around Friday. She just wanted something to make you look bad, but when Sweetie Belle leaned in and kissed you, I couldn’t pass—”
 
Silver Spoon held up a hoof, indicating that Featherweight’s five seconds were up and all she wanted to hear was silence. “What,” she said clearly and concisely, “does this have to do with Sweetie Belle?”
 
“Diamond Tiara’s using this article to keep Sweetie Belle under her control.” The frightened pegasus twiddled his hooves, more uncomfortable than he’d ever been in his life. “To be exact, she’s using the picture of you two together and threatening to release these papers if she talks to any of the Cutie Mark Crusaders again...”
 
“Then I’m going to destroy them all right now,” Silver Spoon said as she ripped the periodical she was holding in half. She began to trot over to the rest of the newsroom’s stockpile when she was interrupted by her temporary victim.
 
“Wait! Stop! Stop!” Featherweight jumped between Silver Spoon and the newspapers. “It’s not that simple! Destroying these won’t do you any good!”
 
“It won’t? Why not?” The gray earth pony asked as she cocked an eyebrow, curious.
 
“She can make me print more.”
 
“Is that so?”
 
“Unfortunately, yes.” Featherweight hanged his head in shame as he let the filly digest the pitiful situation they had found themselves in.
 
There was an uncomfortable pregnant pause as Silver Spoon took a moment to process what Featherweight had just told her. “So what you’re saying is that as long as you’re around, then no matter how many times I destroy these newspapers, Diamond Tiara can just reprint them?”
 
“Uh, well, yes but I don’t see—”
 
The light in the basement hit Silver Spoon’s glasses in such a way that the only thing Featherweight could see through them were dilated pupils; cold eyes full of malicious intent. “Then I guess you’re in the same boat as the newspapers, aren’t you?”
 
“Wait, what?” Faster than he could blink, Silver Spoon cleared the distance between them, advancing on him like an assassin. Featherweight scrambled away like a frightened fawn until he ultimately backed himself into a corner. Trapped and trembling, he could do naught but watch Silver Spoon barrel down on him like he was nothing more than a mere lamb in the path of tiger. He couldn’t even manage a whimper as she lifted him by the chin with aggression so controlled it could only have been exerted by a professional bully. Featherweight knew that the only thing he could do in this situation was crack like an egg, and that’s exactly what he did. “Hold on! There’s another way! There’s another way! By Celestia, there’s another wa-hay-hay!”
 
Had Silver Spoon not been so caught up in her performance, she’d have heaved a massive sigh of relief. She had no idea what she’d have done next if the threat of physical violence hadn’t gotten him to start talking, but she didn’t want to find out. Satisfied that her bluff had paid off, Silver Spoon eased the pressure she was applying to the paralyzed pegasus’ chin, but only just enough so that he could talk. “T-there’s a way to loosen Diamond Tiara’s grip on me and Sweetie Belle!” he choked out.
 
Silver Spoon allowed him to stew in the fear for a moment longer before releasing him. She was certain that if she held him any longer, fear wouldn’t be the only thing he’d be “stewing” in. “I’m listening,” she said.
 
Hesitantly rising to a stand, Featherweight rubbed his chin, marveling at Silver Spoon’s ferocity. If she had been willing to waste him just for Sweetie Belle’s sake, then she really was the only filly who could help him clean up the mess he’d made. Composing himself, Featherweight stood up as straight as he dared, and met Silver Spoon’s eyes with a determined stare. “As I said, there’s a way for us to beat Diamond Tiara at her own game, but it’s going to take both of us to pull it off. Now, I know you don’t really like me—”

“That’s a quite the understatement.”

“—and I can’t say that I see us being friends anytime in the near future, but I think we can both agree that we hate Diamond Tiara more than anything right now. I think that’s more than enough of a reason to put our differences aside and give her what’s coming to her, don’t you?” Featherweight presented a shaky hoof to his potential ally. “So what do you say?”

Silver Spoon’s lips curled into a cynical smile as she pounded her hoof against Featherweight’s. “I say we put that spoiled little priss in her place. So what’s the plan?”
 


	


 
After spending the last thirty minutes listening to Diamond Tiara ramble on and on about the vast expanse of architectural perfection that was her homestead, Sweetie Belle felt like she would never smile again. That nervous little smirk that had somehow found its way onto her lips when the tale first began melted away without a trace as though someone had drowned the unicorn’s happiness in a vat of sulfuric acid. But the clear-as-day disenchantment with the entitled brat’s story on Sweetie Belle’s face couldn’t stop Diamond Tiara from rambling on in the slightest. Whether the spoiled chatterbox loved the sound of her own voice so much that she couldn’t be bothered to notice, or just didn’t care, was a mystery that not even the goddesses themselves could solve.
 
Yet at that moment, as though she were a vision of valkyrian might summoned by Sweetie Belle’s unspoken agony, Silver Spoon stomped around the corner of the schoolhouse, eyes ablaze with righteous indignation. “So this is where you two have been this whole time,” she said.
 
“Oh look, Sweetie Belle, we’ve got a guest.” She nudged Sweetie Belle, who scowled in response. “Don’t be rude, wave to Silvy and then go back to studying while the big fillies talk, won’t you?”
 
Sweetie Belle glanced meekly at Silver Spoon, but turned away the moment the two made eye contact. As much as she wanted to see her metal-gray muse, she couldn’t allow herself to be tempted into breaking the terms of her agreement. Selfishly stealing one last glance at Silver Spoon, Sweetie Belle buried her nose in the fake notes Featherweight gave her, keeping an ear open for anything interesting from Silver Spoon or her captor.
 
“So, what brings you here, Silvy? Have you finally decided to apologize?”
 
“As if,” Silver Spoon snorted. “I’d go scuba-diving in a hydra’s belly before I’d ever say ‘sorry’ to you of all ponies.”
 
“Tch, well if that’s how you’re going to be, then you can just leave.” Diamond Tiara flopped back down next to Sweetie Belle, throwing a hoof around the reluctant unicorn’s neck. “You’re interrupting our bonding time. Now if you’ll excuse me, I was just telling my new best friend all about—”
 
“She’s not your friend, Diamond,” Silver Spoon interrupted. “So get your greasy hooves off of her!”
 
Diamond Tiara scoffed at Silver Spoon’s pointed remark and reluctantly obliged the metallic filly’s instruction, rising to a stand to meet Silver Spoon’s challenge. “I’m sorry, but who are you to say who is and isn’t my friend? You made it clear that you don’t want anything to do with me, so why don’t you butt out until that nasty attitude of yours changes.”  
 
“So you still want to play this stupid little game...”
 
Diamond Tiara raised an eyebrow at the non sequitur. “Beg your pardon?”
 
“I saw the article.” Silver Spoon had chosen to come right out with it, but Diamond Tiara wasn’t ready to drop her charade so easily.
 
“Article?” Diamond Tiara asked innocently. “What article? I don’t know anything about any—”
        
“Featherweight already told me everything, so why don’t you cut the act already?” Silver Spoon snapped.

The mask of poorly conveyed innocence that concealed Diamond Tiara’s true colors up until this point finally cracked like cheap porcelain, revealing the furrowed brows and scowling fuchsia face that lay beneath. “Why that little winged weasel,” she mumbled under her breath. Once she was done putting Silver Spoon back in her place, she and her little black book were going to have a few words with a certain loose-lipped lackey about where his loyalty and obedience lay.

“I know all about this pathetic little blackmail scheme of yours, Diamond,” Silver Spoon continued.

“Oh do you now?” Diamond Tiara leered. “Then you’re probably aware that Blanky-Belle is doing all of this for you to protect your little secret, hm?” Diamond Tiara nonchalantly blew some dust from her hoof and rubbed it against her chest. “Using your own fear of having your secret revealed against you. It’s a pretty clever plan if I do say so myself, but then what do you expect? I’m a genius.”
 
“I don’t know, it sounds like a pathetic scheme by an even more pathetic pony, if you ask me,” Silver Spoon said as coolly as she could manage.
 
Diamond Tiara could feel her face screwing up out of irritation in response to being called pathetic of all things, but suppressed the urge. Instead, she let loose with a disappointed sigh to cover her dismay. She was still in control of this situation, after all; she just had to make that fact clear to Silver Spoon. “And yet, even despite knowing her situation, here you are trying to undo all of her hard work.” 

Diamond Tiara strode back towards Sweetie Belle and began petting the agitated unicorn like one would a dog that’d just received high praise. For every second of contact Silver Spoon was forced to watch, there was a tooth in Diamond Tiara’s mouth just begging to be knocked out. “I mean, thanks to that nasty little mouth of yours, I am about this close to just voiding my little agreement with Blanky-Belle here.” 

“You can’t do that!” Sweetie Belle protested. “We had a deal, you can’t just go back on that now!”

“Blanky-Belle, Blanky-Belle, Blanky-Belle.” Diamond Tiara shook her head with each utterance of the nickname. “We already had this conversation earlier; I can do whatever I want. Now be quiet and don’t interrupt me again.” The fuschia filly turned her attention back to her ‘friend’-turned-foe. “As I was saying, you’re being awfully inconsiderate with my favorite little blank-flank’s feelings, Silvy. But then, I suppose consideration is last thing you could expect from somepony as unappreciative and ungrateful as you, isn’t it?”
 
“What?” 
 
“Hm?” Diamond Tiara, confident she’d once again gained the upper hoof, smirked in her devilishly playful way. “You mean you never noticed?”
 
“What are you on about now?”

“You know, I honestly hoped that you would’ve learned your lesson after the first few times that I had to set you straight,” Diamond Tiara sighed.

“Set me straight?”

“That’s ♪ri~ght♪.” Diamond Tiara’s tone was exceptionally sing-song. “For some reason, you always had this nasty habit of trying to make friends or join clubs with other ponies who were so... beneath us. I did my best to keep your head level, but you were just so insistent. It’s like I wasn’t enough for you or something.”

“So that’s how it’s always been, huh?” Silver Spoon couldn’t help a sardonic snicker. “I should have guessed that all those years of heartache and loneliness were all my needy, possessive, and insecure ‘best friend’s’ doing from the beginning, but I just kept writing it off as my bad reputation as one of the biggest bullies in this school.” Silver Spoon looked at Diamond Tiara and shook her head sadly. “Imagine my surprise when I finally see you for what you are, and what you tried to make me become: a selfish, arrogant little monster.”

“You’d better learn to watch that mouth of yours, Silver Spoon.”

Silver Spoon ignored the outburst.“You always took my generosity, but never returned it. I gave you my trust and told you my secrets, but you just ended up trying to use them against me. You’re disgusting. All you did was take, take, take, but you just couldn’t let me have anything could you? Even when all I wanted was a couple of friends outside of you! And now that I’ve cast you aside and found somepony that makes me happy, you can’t even let me have that, can you? Well let me tell you something Diamond: you’re not taking Sweetie Belle from me. You can take my dignity, you can expose me for what I am, you might even end up making me cry. But before you can do any of that, I’m going to take something from you.”

“Oh really?” Diamond Tiara replied, her smug smirk returning to her face.

“That’s what I said.” 

“And just what would that be?”

“Glad you asked. I’m going to start by taking my revenge and that cocky little smile from your lips. Then I’m going to take Sweetie Belle and we’re going to go enjoy the rest of our lunch period together.”

“You’re going to take revenge on me?” Diamond Tiara almost cackled maniacally at what she presumed to be an empty, desperate threat. “Don’t make me laugh; you’ve got nothing. No plan, no evidence, no leverage, nothing. You’re smarter than this, Silvy, you should just quit while you’re ahead.”

“You know what? You’re absolutely right, Diamond. I don’t have any of those things. But you know what I do have? Your attention.” 

“My... attention?” Diamond Tiara asked uncertainly.

“Your attention.” Silver Spoon repeated smugly, much to Diamond Tiara’s puzzlement.  “And as long as I have that, then I can keep your attention off of the one who does have the plan to get that evidence and leverage.” Silver Spoon turned her attention away from Diamond Tiara, fixing her eyes on something just past the arrogant aristocrat. Naturally curious, Diamond Tiara followed Silver Spoon’s gaze until she was met with a sight that made her blood run cold: Standing next to her open saddlebags, holding a particular black, leatherbound book in his teeth, was none other than Featherweight. The colt in question turned to find all three fillies staring intently at him, though they were only able to stare for a fraction of a second before he ran off as fast as he could, leaving them to look at the dust trail he left in his wake.

Diamond Tiara could only stare in wide-eyed horror as she watched the beige pegasus run into the schoolhouse. “Tha-tha-that’s my—”

“I don’t know what’s going to happen to you once Ms. Cheerilee gets that book, but judging by the look on your face...” Silver Spoon leaned in close to whisper, “...I’m guessing it won’t be anything good, huh?” Moving forward to fully take in the look of terror plastered on Diamond Tiara’s face, the gray filly couldn’t help but needle her some more. “I’ve got to admit, for somepony who spends as much time you do coming up with all of these crazy, elaborate schemes, you sure are easy to trick.

“You know, I’m not sure why, but I still had some hope for you, Diamond. This whole weekend, I was hoping that you’d take what I’d said on Friday to heart and maybe have enough sense to change your ways, see your faults and grow up a little. But here you are, at the end of your rope, without anyone to stand with you, and you decided to take it out on the only pony who would ever dare to call someone as wretched as you a friend. I can see how pointless it was of me to have even tried to change you.” Silver Spoon looked down on her former friend, not with contempt, but pity. “You’re pathetic. I’ll see you in class, Diamond... hopefully for the last time.” Turning her back on her brow-beaten burden, Silver Spoon stepped over to Sweetie Belle, who’d merely been watching the spectacle in awe up to this point. “Come on, Sweetie Belle, we’re done here.” She offered a hoof up, which the unicorn gladly took. “Let’s go find the others.”

“Right,” Sweetie Belle nodded, trotting off to the schoolhouse at her special somepony’s side.
 
The two had only just made it around the corner when Silver Spoon felt a tugging on her tail. She turned around to find a scarlet-cheeked Sweetie Belle, her tail held firmly in the white filly’s mouth.  “Hey, Silvy?” Sweetie Belle called after spitting out her marefriend’s silvery locks.

“Yes, Sweetie Belle?” Silver Spoon turned to face the filly properly, only to be met with the soft, pleasant tickle of Sweetie Belle’s lips on her nose.

“What was that for?” The earth pony asked, blushing intensely.

“I just wanted to say thanks for what you did. It was horrible letting Scootaloo and Apple Bloom think that I had abandoned them, but I just couldn’t let her expose you. I know how much it would have hurt you if she’d...”

“Hey, I’m the one who should be thanking you.” Silver Spoon affectionately nuzzled the unicorn back. “If you hadn’t played along, who knows what that little witch would have done.”

“I’m just glad that’s over and done with. If I had to spend one more minute listening to  one of Diamond Tiara’s stories, I think my ears would’ve sprouted wings and flown away.”

“Yeesh, I know exactly how you feel,” said a third party.

The pair whipped around to find Featherweight hovering a few feet above them, camera dangling inches from their heads. “Don’t just sneak up on us out of nowhere!”

“Sorry, about that.” Featherweight rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly as he landed in front of the fillies. “It’s kind of a habit.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah... so, have you shown that book to Ms. Cheerilee yet?” asked Silver Spoon.

Featherweight smiled weakly and shook his head. “No, I hid it somewhere she’ll never find it for the time being. I’m going to wait until after school today.”

“Why wait? This is your chance to expose her for the monster she is and crush her once and for all.”

“I could do that, but there’s a few uh... personal items I need to clear out of that thing before I show it to anypony else. Well, that and it’ll be more fun to watch her squirm under the pressure for a change,” the colt admitted.

“Hey, as long as you keep me and Sweetie out of it, I won’t blame you,” said Silver Spoon.

“Thanks. So, Silver Spoon, we’re... cool now right?” Featherweight asked nervously.

“I guess I can forgive you, seeing as she was blackmailing you too,” Sweetie Belle said, ever the kindhearted one.

Silver Spoon, however, was more reluctant. “Mmm, I wouldn’t count on us being friends anytime soon, but today was a pretty good start.” She was taken by surprise when her better half gently nudged her shoulder and gave her a disapproving look. Silver rolled her eyes and turned back to the pegasus. “Okay, a very good start.”

“I guess we’ll work towards it in the future?” Featherweight asked hopefully as he held out a hoof.

“We’ll see about it,” Silver Spoon replied and took his hoof, giving it a firm shake.

Featherweight smiled. “Good enough for me.” 

“Hey, there you three are!” said Scootaloo. “What happened with Diamond Tiara?”

“Well, Silvy took care of that. Let’s just say she won’t be bothering us anymore,” Sweetie Belle said before giving a knowing smile to her special somepony.

“We ain’t got time for the whole story anyhow, y’all gotta come with us now!” said Apple Bloom.

“Oh, yeah, Ms. Cheerilee wanted everypony to come inside early so we could read for the last fifteen minutes of recess. Says we’ll be cutting it short this whole week,” Scootaloo added with just a hint of annoyance.

“Accordin’ to her, it’ll help stimulate our minds for the lesson plans and help us do better on the exam or somethin’ like that. I dunno, I wasn’t really listenin’ to her when she had us haulin’ all them newspaper stacks upstairs.”

Three pairs of ears perked up at that very statement.

“Can you believe she made us pass them all out, too?” Scootaloo asked Apple Bloom. “I guess she’s still pretty mad about that whole Diamond Tiara thing earlier.”

“Wait a minute, what do you mean Ms. Cheerilee had you help pass out newspapers?” Silver Spoon asked, worry creeping into her voice.

“Uh, duh. Exactly what it sounds like,” Scootaloo said offhandedly.

“We just passed out the new editions of the Foal Free Press a few minutes ago,” Apple Bloom explained.

“You what?” Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon cried in unison.

“Oh, no...” Featherweight began rubbing at his temples.

Pushing open the classroom door, Scootaloo rolled her eyes at the overreacting trio. “Geez, what’s with you three? It’s just a newspaper.”

“Scootaloo,” said Sweetie Belle, “you don’t understand, there’s a—”  Before Sweetie Belle could say anything further, a sea full of wide, multicolored eyes crashed over her, washing any trace of her initial thought from her tongue. In that moment, time slowed down for Sweetie Belle, Silver Spoon and Featherweight as a realization dawned on all three of them. 

Luckily, Cheerilee, who also had also been perusing the latest edition of the paper was the first one in the standstill to prompt herself into action as she strode over to the fillies ready to part with soothing words backed by eyes full of warmth and compassion. 

However, before she could dissolve or lessen the tension in the air, somepony ripped it in half with all the precision of a cannon shell. “Hey, uh... Ms. C?” Snails interrupted, “what’s a... ‘lez-bee-uhn?’”

“Please, kill me now,” said an absolutely mortified Silver Spoon.

“Oh my Luna’s stars in heaven.” The frustrated educator couldn’t help but facehoof at the awkward situation she had to diffuse. “Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Featherweight, take your seats, now.”

Apple Bloom looked puzzled. “But Ms. Cheerilee, what’s goin’ on—”

“Take your seats now!” the frantic teacher cried, hastily ushering everypony into the classroom, save for Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon. “Um... girls,” she said in as soothing and reassuring voice as her nerves could muster. “Due to some... ‘recent events,’ I’m going to be changing the class’ lesson plan drastically. There won’t be any exam this week, but I think it would be best if I dismissed you both early while I have a talk with the rest of the class. We should have this whole mess cleared up by tomorrow,” the teacher said. 

“Does anypony else feel kinda funny when they look at this picture?” said a particularly loud colt.

“Make that Wednesday,” Cheerilee groaned. She could almost hear the bees buzzing around the birds already. “Now, I’ll be visiting both of your houses later to speak with you and your parents about this perfectly natural development, but for now you’re both free to go.” The schoolmare hadn’t offered the fillies their freedom for the day, so much as she’d made it clear they would not be, and should not plan on, stepping hoof back in the classroom for the rest of the day. Not that the two were going to protest, especially given the situation awaiting them in the classroom. With scarlet faces and enough embarrassment to last a freshman year of high school, the two trotted down the old dirt road leading into town.



Chapter 13 End