//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1- The Incident 
// Story: A Silvery Breeze 
// by Wildfire 36 
//------------------------------//


A Silvery Breeze
Chapter 1- The Incident


Cheerilee's class at Ponyville Elementary had known for weeks about the field trip to the Clop Cliff Caves. It was a big deal, seeing as they were the first ponies to get to visit. Maverick Angel, the stallion who accidently discovered the caves during a mining project, set up a contest among all of the schools in Equestria (with Celestia's help, of course) to see who would get to visit first. Whoever wrote the best essay about caves would win the trip for their class, and Apple Bloom Apple won it for her class. Everypony in her class was excited, except for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, who claimed to hate caves. But everypony remembered how they both wrote about bats- just bats. So nopony believed them.
So when the day came, they all piled onto the train. The Cutie Mark Crusaders went into an empty car- and bad luck, the bully duo of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon entered. Diamond Tiara smirked, ready to launch an insult. The Crusaders scowled, ready to change cars. But, surprise, Silver Spoon actually said, "It's okay, Crusaders, You don't have to leave. Diamond, not this time. This is too important."
The Crusaders were dumbstruck. Diamond Tiara just shrugged and looked out a window. Silver Spoon looked out her own window, but it wasn't an outside window. It was between their current train car and the next. Curious, the Crusaders peeked in. Before Silver Spoon said angrily, "Mind your own business!" they caught a glimpse of Spike Sparkle. None of them had seen him yet that day, but it didn't surprise them that he was there. He had become an "honorary student" by Cheerilee following the day he spent with them and was free to come to classes. Also, he had recently obtained in interest in geology- not just gems. Coming to the grand opening of the Clop Cliff Caves was probably a dream come true for him.
Suddenly, Scootaloo grew a large smirk. "Crusaders, come with me!" They walked to the door on the opposite side of the car.

Once in the empty car, Apple Bloom asked, "Okay, Scoots, what's up?"
Scootaloo stated, "I think Silver Spoon has a crush on Spike!" The other two gasped. "Oh, come on, don't tell me you didn't figure it out! It's so obvious! She was staring into the car Spike was in! And did you see her face? She looked so lovestruck, and when she noticed us peeking, she turned as red as Apple Bloom's brother!"
Sweetie Belle replied, "You know, I think you may be right. As we were entering this car, I heard her say, 'Oh, dear Faust, please don't tell me they saw.' Also, remember Spike's first day here? She had some long conversation with him, and at the end, they were both blushing. I bet they're already coltfriend and fillyfriend!"
Then, Apple Bloom spoke. "Wow. I never would have seen that coming. So...what do we do?"
Scootaloo answered, "Simple! We use this secret against Silver Spoon whenever she and Diamond Tiara try to bully us!"
Then, all three of them said something none of them ever expected to say. "Cutie Mark Crusaders Blackmailers, yay!"

About twenty-five minutes after that, they arrived at Clop Cliff. The class witnessed the opening ceremony along with attendees such as the author of the Daring Do novels and even Celestia herself. The whole time, the Crusaders were watching Silver Spoon, who just happened to be sitting between Featherweight and...Spike. Needless to say, they did not pay ANY attention to the ceremony. After the ribbon-cutting, the tour began.

When the tour of the caves was finished, Maverick took the class to the cliff's ledge. "To finish, I just wanted to show you this amazing view! You can see Ponyville, Manehattan, Canterlot, and even the Crystal Empire from here!"
Then, Diamond Tiara went up to Scootaloo, who was standing the closest to the ledge. "Hey, blank flank," Diamond said.
"What?" Scootaloo replied, exasperated with the pink filly.
"I bet you can't jump down the cliff and fly back up."
Scootaloo was surprised. This was a little much, even for Diamond Tiara. "Are you serious?" Scootaloo asked. "I know the other Crusaders and I do risky things, but jumping off a cliff? What's wrong with you?"
That comment got Diamond Tiara mad. "Jump."
"No."
Diamond Tiara shrugged. "Fine then." She then did the unthinkable- she pushed Scootaloo off the cliff!
Everypony gasped when they realized what happened, and without thinking, Silver Spoon took Maverick Angel's rope, told him to hold one end, tied the other end around herself, and bungeed to save Scootaloo. Luckily, she caught her- unluckily, Silver Spoon wasn't listening when Maverick said that he had slippery hooves. The rope slid out of Maverick's hooves, dooming the two school fillies to a gruesome fate. Then, Scootaloo got an idea.
"Just one...chance!" she muttered. She flapped her wings as hard as she could, harder than she had ever flapped in her life. Then, thanks to a miracle (maybe) Scootaloo's wings flapped so hard that she started to fly- while holding Silver Spoon! It was very strenuous, but in a matter of time, Scootaloo managed to get both of them back on the ledge. 
They were met with cheers- and then Sweetie Belle noticed something.
"Scootaloo! Your flank!"
Scootaloo looked at her flank and there was a picture of two white wings, each with a barbell on top of it. Scootaloo commented, "Heh. The one time I do something risky unintentionally." Several ponies congratulated her, including Silver Spoon, who then noticed Diamond Tiara standing outside of the crowd looking grumpy. Silver went over to her.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I think it's just spectacular how that blank flank got her cutie mark." Then Diamond muttered something else, something Silver Spoon wasn't intended to hear. "Why did you have to jump just to save her..."
Cue heck breaking loose.
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" Silver Spoon screamed, instantly gaining the attention of the crowd. "I've stood by you, I've been your friend, I've even participated in bullying alongside you- something I've never been happy about. For quite some time I've been silently regretting my actions, hoping that you would stop being so mean. But this is the last straw! I'm not going to assist somepony who acts unremorseful for almost killing somepony!"
Silver Spoon then walked away to the crowd, leaving Diamond Tiara feeling perplexed, abandoned...and vengeful.