//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8 
// Story: A Silver Summer 
// by Fanboy 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 8

Apple Bloom was right. The marshmallow was cold. And yet, it tasted better than any other Silver Spoon has had before. She chewed happily on the fluffy lump of sweetness while already placing another one in the fire. Like the first, she watched this taking on a nice brown color, not unlike a freshly roasted slice of toast. And like the first time she watched this process she felt happy. But unlike the first time, this wasn’t over the expectation of what was still to come and thankfulness for the opportunity given so unexpectedly to her. This time it was the joy starting to fill in the gaps left behind by the worries and sorrows this evening had lifted from her soul.
The next marshmallow, this time still warm, tasted even better. Her parents had always made sure their family would only get the best food available and had made a big point of letting every guest they ever had for dinner know how ‘exquisite’ everything  was that had been served to them. But as far as it concerned Silver Spoon for now, this little white thing turned brown was the best food she ever tasted in her life.
She couldn’t help but smile and say: “Thank you.”
Looking up at Apple Bloom she saw her new friend was just as happy as Silver Spoon felt.
“For this chance. For wanting to help me. And for listening to me.”
Apple Bloom had already opened her mouth, but Silver Spoon wasn’t finished.
“No, don’t tell me I don’t need to thank you. Maybe you don’t need me saying it, but I do. I want to thank you. And I wanted to let you know I’m really looking forward to see what your friends will say about this.”
“Actually, me too.”
Silver Spoon was surprised at how thoughtful Apple Bloom sounded.
“What, I thought you were so sure they will accept me?”
“Yeah, ma’ friends will. Eventually. But what about your friend?”
“You mean Diamond Tiara?”
She knew the answer before she had even spoken the name. She even had said friend. In the singular. Of course she meant her only friend. Her only other friend. And she had a point.
“I don’t know. I want to say she will accept you as a friend, too. I’m sure deep inside her heart she feels just as lonely as I did. All I can tell you is what you told me. Give her time and let her get to know you. I can’t see why she wouldn’t want you as a friend then.”
“Ah’ sure hope so. Ah’m still so excited that Fluttershy was right and yer really as nice as she said ya’d be. If Diamond Tiara would come around too, it would be awesome.”
Silver Spoon smiled.
“I know I’m not exactly in a position to say this. But let’s not talk about that for now. You’ve just convinced me we shouldn’t worry about these things at this time. Let’s just have a fun evening, okay?”
Now Apple Bloom’s smile was back as well. “Yeah, yer right. Maybe we should move on to another camping tradition.”
“And that would be?” Silver Spoon asked curiously.
Apple Bloom’s mouth widened into a grin. Excitedly, she said: “Storytelling!”
“Nice, I like stories,” Silver Spoon joined Apple Bloom’s excitement. “But, what kind of stories are we talking about?”
Apple Bloom scratched her chin. “Hm, normally scary ones. Or exciting ones. But maybe we should use this to get to know each other a little better. Why don’t we tell stories about ourselves in turn.”
It didn’t take long for Silver Spoon to consider this suggestion. “Okay, but maybe you should go first. From all I heard about and saw from you, your life is way more exciting than mine. And I’m really curious to hear what you were talking about when you said Fluttershy could take on a real dragon.”
For a moment Silver Spoon had the feeling Apple Bloom was going to disagree. There was a hint of disappointed surprise in her amber eyes, like this wasn’t exactly what she had had in mind. Something told Silver Spoon that the red maned filly would have rather wanted to hear a story than tell one.
But before Silver Spoon had a chance to offer just that Apple Bloom said:  “Ah’ guess ya’ mean that story with the cockathingy Ah’ mentioned?”
“Yes, that one,” Silver Spoon nodded. “But if you don’t want to go first, I can do it.”
“No, it’s okay,” Apple Bloom said. “It was ma’ idea, so Ah’ll tell the first story. So, Ah’ told ya’ already, we had a sleepover here before, right? That was the same night this story happened.
“It began right about when we were about to go to sleep. Just as Fluttershy wanted to turn off the lights, we all heard the chickens out in the coop frantic’ly cluckin’. Somethin’ had really drove them to a panic. Of course we all ran down and helped Fluttershy calmin’ them down, not even knowing what had happened. And we never found out.
“Believe me, catching them was quite some work. They were all over the place, scared to death. And when we finally thought we had them all, ma’ friends and Ah’ see some clawprints leadin’ from the chicken coop right into the Everfree Forest. So of course, we followed the trail.”
“What do you mean, ‘of course’?” Silver Spoon interrupted. “Couldn’t you have just told Fluttershy?”
“Ah’ s’pose we could have,” Apple Bloom admitted, “but we thought it couldn’t have gone far.”
To Silver Spoon, any step into that forest was one step too far. But then again, she had witnessed and heard that Apple Bloom had demonstrated an impressive lack of caution and consideration which had led to all kinds of dangerous or at least problematic situations. And considering this unnecessary venture into a woodland full of potentially dangerous critters had already taken place, there was no point in arguing about sense and nonsense. She nodded to let Apple Bloom know she should go on, while Silver Spoon picked up Mr. Snuffles again.
“So, like Ah’ said, we thought the chicken couldn’t have gone far into the forest. But we were mistaken, and before we knew it, we had walked deeper into the woods than we had expected or wanted. Still, it was a warm night and the forest had been so quiet and peaceful, none of us had any doubts we should keep on searching. But then, after a while, we still hadn’t found anything. Instead we were found by Fluttershy.”
Silver Spoon couldn’t hold herself back from commenting: “I guess she was pretty mad, huh?”
But Apple Bloom shook her head: “No, not at all. She was just glad she’d found us.”
Of course. Why would somepony actually be mad at her for doing something really stupid? Again, she had to tell herself that there was no point bringing that up now.
“That was when she told us about the cockathingy. Even though I should mention now that that isn’t its real name, but Ah’ just can’t remember what it’s really called. At first, we weren’t scared. The way Fluttershy described it sounded way too silly. ‘A creature with the head of a chicken and the body of a snake.’ Who‘d ever think somethin’ like that could be scary?”
Silver Spoon knew for sure that she did. Actually, she couldn’t see how somepony wouldn’t.
“But before we could have gone anywhere, we saw the missin’ chicken runnin’ by, right behind Fluttershy. Unfortunately, so did the… monster. It was hidin’ in the bushes, right where this unfortunate chicken was runnin’ to. Like Ah’ said, we weren’t afraid in any way to meet this creature, but when it rose from that bush… Ya’ can’t imagine what it was like. It looked like it was growing right out of the ground, bigger and bigger. Ah’ think it was even taller than ma’ big brother. There it was, spreadin’ its large, scaly wings, starin’ at us with its horrifyin’ red eyes. The next thing we knew it gazed at the chicken and it turned into stone on the spot.”
Silver Spoon was already clutching to her stuffed bunny. Now, she pressed it even harder to her heart. Hadn’t Apple Bloom said she was not going to tell a scary story? And how in the world was she able to sit here, only a few yards away from the very place this monster was roaming. And the silver maned filly could have sworn those trees had moved closer to them in the past few minutes.
“Needless to say, we were scared to death. Ah’ can tell ya’ I had already lost ma’ head, runnin’ away from that thing. That’s when Ah’ heard Flutterhsy callin’, orderin’ us to get behind her. None of us had any mind to disagree with that. And as soon as we had done as she had told us to, she turned around and took on the cockathingy.
“She told it off like Ah’ hadn’t seen it before while she stared it into the ground. Honestly, Ah’ve no idea anymore what she said, but that thing crumbled under her words. In the end it was wimperin’ around and returned the chicken to normal. Then it ran off into the forest, wailing like a little foal. All in all Ah’ think we can feel lucky we made it out of there unharmed. But on the other hoof, as we found out, that thing had turned Twilight into stone earlier.”
“Who?” Silver Spoon interrupted whispering. She didn’t dare to speak any louder in fear of attracting something unwanted from the forest.
“Twilight Sparkle,” Apple Bloom explained. “Ya’ know her, the librarian we met with the class a few month ago. She told us later she got ambushed when she was on her way to see Zecora.” When Silver Spoon was about to ask again who that was, she continued: “The zebra living in the Everfree Forest everypony was so afraid of not so long ago. Turned out she actually is really nice and knows a lot about potions and herbs and such things.”
Silver Spoon wasn’t sure if living in the Everfree was a sign of bravery or stupidity, but that wasn’t at all what she wanted to talk about now. Another matter pressed on her mind: “And when you found that Twilight, what happened then?”
“Not much. We went back to the cottage and finally got some sleep. Even Twilight stayed over. In the morning, Rarity came over to walk me and ma’ friends home.”
The silver maned filly sighed. She had already put aside the topic of missing punishments for stupidity, but something else had come up instead.
“Really, that is all?”
Apple Bloom looked confused. “Yeah, nothin’ else happened that night. Wasn’t that enough for ya’?”
“That’s not what I mean. How in the world were you able to just go to sleep like that? How are you able to camp so close to this forest? If it had been me, I would have run home as fast as I can and locked myself in my room for at least a weak. And I would have left the lights on the whole time.”
“If Ah’d been on my own Ah’ guess Ah’d done that, too. But with ma’ friends there, and especially Fluttershy Ah’ felt quite safe. If Ah’d been at home, Ah’ had Applejack and Big Mac lookin’ after me and there’s no monster in Equestria that they’d let get me. And about the forest, it’s not that bad. I’ve been there a few times and as long as you don’t walk into the darker parts past sunset, there’s nothing to fear.”
“But don’t you ever fear that some of those creatures from those darker parts might enter the town?”
Silver Spoon shivered at her own words.
“No, not really.” Apple Bloom shook her head. “Not as long as we keep Snips and Snails in check.”
Silver Spoon looked at her for a moment, than she bursted into laughter. The memory in itself wasn’t actually that funny. For all the stupid ideas those two have had, bringing that giant bear into town was by far the dumbest. But even if remembering that frightful night when something that looked like a large piece of night-sky that had come to life had been wrecking havoc across town wasn’t in any way a reason to laugh, the way Apple Bloom was able to say those words with a straight face and a dead serious tone was too much for Silver Spoon.
Through the tears in her eyes she could see Apple Bloom’s smiling face. She wasn’t sure if that filly was bemused by her exaggerated reaction or if this was exactly what she had been hoping for. But nonetheless it had helped Silver Spoon to lighten up again.
“Okay, we should keep an eye on them in school,” she agreed, still giggling. “I guess it’s my turn, then. But I have to warn you, my stories won’t be nearly as exciting as yours.”
“Don’t worry, they don’t have to be,” Apple Bloom brushed her worries aside.
“Okay then, is there anything in particular you’d like to hear about?”
“Well…” Apple Bloom started. “A lot of things, but there’s one that I would like to hear more than anything else…”
“How I got my cutie mark?” Silver Spoon cut right to the point.
Apple Bloom, looking flustered, answered: “Yes, but Ah’ don’t want ya’ to think that’s the sole reason Ah’ invited ya’ here, so…”
The grey filly smiled: “Don’t worry, I was kinda expecting this. Just because my grades aren’t as good as yours doesn’t mean I’m stupid, you know?”
The only reaction she got from this was a shade of crimson spreading across Apple Bloom’s face, clearly visible even against the yellow-red flickering of their campfire.
“Don’t worry,” she giggled, “I’ve expected you to ask me way sooner. I guess you were to busy listening to my complaints. But before I tell you this story there is something I’d like to ask you, if it’s okay?”
Apple Bloom nodded, still looking flustered, while saying: “It’s been okay all evening and Ah’ think Ah’ can answer one more question before hearin’ ya’ story.”
“Okay, it’s about your brother and sister. You mentioned them again, like you always do. But whenever you’re talking about what they would or wouldn’t do, it always sounds to me like you’re talking about stuff that should be parent’s business anyway. It’s almost like you don’t-“
Click.
She instantly cursed herself. Hadn’t she claimed to not being stupid just a second ago? It had taken her way too long to make this leap of logic. But now that they were talking about her cutie mark, the final piece of thought fell into place and completed this puzzle. She did know that nopony, except for the princesses maybe, lived forever. How in the world could she have ignored that this was true for parents as well for so long?
Shocked at her own insensibility she stared at Apple Bloom, her mouth still half open. She could already feel the emotional rollercoaster she had been riding the whole evening getting ready to take another dive. Close to a panic, struggling for words she silently prayed for a chance to unsay her last words.
But then Apple Bloom spoke what Silver Spoon was trying to avoid: “It’s like Ah’ don’t have parents?”
Her voice was calm, yet still stricken with a hint of sadness. It was enough to twist Silver Spoon’s guts.
“Ah’ thought everypony knew that…”
They both fell silent. The grey little filly felt helpless, still unsure of what to say. Over the crackles of the fire, the hooting of an owl was carried over from somewhere. It sounded like it was calling her out on her ignorance.
After a moment of eternity, Silver Spoon simply muttered: “I’m sorry, I really didn’t know.”
“No, ya’ don’t have to be sorry,” said Apple Bloom. “It’s not yer fault if ya’ didn’t know.”
“But I should have known. I should have figured that out  a long time ago.”
Apple Bloom shook her head and saying: “Again, don’t worry about that. Ah’ don’t blame ya’. Just forget about it and start yer story. Maybe that’ll distract ya from it.”
Still with faint sadness in her eyes, the red maned filly smiled encouragingly. But Silver Spoon still that didn’t help Silver Spoon.
“About that story, I don’t know if it would be so good to tell right now. You see, my cutie mark is… Well… Now that I know of your parents and all…”
“Huh? What does a spoon have to do with ma’ parents not being here anymore?”
Silver Spoon’s stomach felt like it turned upside down.
“You see, it is not a spoon…”
“Then what is it?”
“Well, um… You really don’t recognize it? Does everypony think this is a spoon?”
She looked at her own flank.
“Yeah. What else should it be? It looks like one. And yer name is Silver Spoon, so it only seemed fitting.”
At first she wanted to protest this way of logic. Then again, many parents seemed to have a strange knack for naming their foals astonishingly matching to their future cutie marks. She could see how a lot of ponies would come to this false conclusion about her cutie mark in that regard. But it didn’t help her solving this matter any better.
“Okay, so it might look like a spoon, but it is something else. Something completely different. And I don’t-“
“Come on, stop beatin’ around the bush and just tell me how ya’ got it, then Ah’ll know what it is, too.”
Silver Spoon could clearly hear how Apple Bloom tried to hide some upwelling annoyance. She sighed: “Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
In a last attempt to prolong the now inevitable, she took an exaggeratedly long sip of the lemonade.
“Before I begin, do you want one of the candy apples?” she asked.
“Yeah, thanks,” nodded Apple Bloom, smiling again.
After she had handed the bag with the promised sweets over to Apple Bloom, she finally began her story:
“You may remember that it happened during the summer vacation after our first year at school. Of course, we – that is my family and me – spent the time at our summer house. Like every year. And ever since I’ve been able to walk, my sister and I were taking tours to the nearby village. She was supposed to look after me, but in the end, she just met with friends she had there and would leave me to do what I wanted to. My parents would still get mad if they ever found out, but why should we have told them? Otherwise I would have had to stay with my sister. This would have meant I wouldn’t have gotten ignored just by her, but by her friends, too, for a change.
“But so I was free to explore the village on my own. It was really small, Ponyville is almost a big city compared to it. Before long, I knew the place in and out.
“I even made some friends there. As far as you can call them friends if you only see them for three weeks a year. At best. But nonetheless, I like spending time with them. They did always admire me for my family’s wealth. Our house near the beach was well known to all of them and they always told me how much they would like to live in that house. Now that I think of it, maybe that’s why I expected it to be the same in school.
“To be honest, back in Fohlengarten I was extremely shy. Sure, the others let me play with them and I did have fun times, but I had never been able to make any real friends. I mean, like friendships that lasted longer than until their parents came in the afternoon and took them back home.
“Anyways, one of the fillies I used to play with had a grandfather. I mean, most of the others had grandfathers too, but this particular one had a job that I found interesting from the very first moment I saw it. He was a silversmith. He made all kind of things out of silver. Necklets, rings and other jewellery. Goblets, plates, forks, knives, and yes, also spoons. Sometimes, ponies would ask him for some decorations for their front gates. He even showed me some picture frames he had made. That was some kind of tradition he had with his wife, he told me. Every year he would make another special picture frame and on their wedding day, they would have their picture taken and place it in that frame.
“In their living room, there was a whole shelf only for those pictures. It was an amazing sight, seeing them being together on all of them. Of course, they looked a little bit older on each new one, but you know what? Their smiles never changed on any of those. They looked just as happy on the last one as on the first one.
“But there was one other thing he made. I’ll never forget how he described it; a sign to the ones dear to you who had to move on to another place. A place from where no letter will reach you and no train ever stops to bring them back. But from where they can see and hear you. They know when you think about them, when you remember them, and when you miss them. But you can’t do that all the time, if you want to live your life. Sooner or later, you’ll need to let the thought of those who won’t come back go from your mind. That’s why ponies put up a ‘monimentum’, to let those who went away know that you still miss them. They let your dear ones know you want to see them again. They ask them to wait for you until it is your time make that last journey towards their new home.
“Back then I didn’t fully understand what he meant, but I made the mistake of asking my sister. She was rather blunt about it. All in all I guess that wasn’t all for the worst, but I think I would have liked to believe in the story the old stallion had told me. But on the other hoof, that story still is nice and I just prefer to think that that is the way it really is.
“However, I spent a lot of time during those few days at his workshop and just watched him forming silver and gems into all those beautiful works of art. And best of all, he even let me try to make some on my own with simple tools. Even though what I was able to produce wasn’t that impressive he said I had ‘a knack for crafting’ and he would let me try out more complicated stuff. To be honest, all that made me able to was producing bigger things that weren’t that impressive. But still, it was fun making them and he’d keep complimenting me how I was even able to use some tools even other grown-ups had trouble with. Apart from meeting my vacation-friends, working in his workshop was the one thing I looked forward to the most each summer.
“But then came our first summer vacation in school. The first thing I did, like the years before, was running up to the shop as soon as I had the chance. But this time it was closed. That had never happened before. I tried to peek inside, there was nopony there. All the tools were at their usual spots and I could see an unfinished piece of work. But the old stallion was nowhere to be seen.
“When I rang the bell, it wasn’t him who opened but a mare I had only seen on some other pictures he had shown to me before. I knew she was his daughter, even though I had never met her in real before. At first she wanted to send me away, saying it wasn’t a good time, but then I heard him inside, asking who was at the door. As soon as he knew I was there he told her to let me inside.
“I had never seen a pony so downcast, the way he could barely sit upright in his rocking chair. He forced himself to smile at me but couldn’t hide that something terrible must have happened to him. And all of his family was there, sitting on the sofa and the chairs, looking the same as him. All of them, except one. His wife wasn’t there.
“Of course I was confused by this scenery. My confusion must have been obvious, because the daughter’s husband asked if it was really a good idea letting me in. But Raising Hammer, that’s the old stallion’s name by the way, said I was like a grandchild for him and he wanted his family around him. Honestly, looking back, it’s really embarrassing how happy I was in a moment like that at what he said. But it didn’t really matter because my happiness only lasted until what he said next. 
“He told me that his wife had gone on a long journey, to a place from where she couldn’t come back from. Since the first time we met we hadn’t talked about this topic again. But I saw in his eyes that he knew immediately that I knew what he meant.
All I could do back then was to walk up to him and hug him. I felt strange at that moment. All I wanted was to cheer him up, comfort him, just help in any way possible. But it made him cry instead. Not just him, I clearly heard everypony else there start sniffing, too. It made me wonder if I had done something wrong, but at the same time, he patted me on the back and thanked me.
“I can’t tell how long that moment lasted, but the next thing was that his daughter brought in some tea. They told each other stories about his wife, happy memories they had of her. He seemed to like remembering her like that, smiling all the way. But the sadness in his eyes still wouldn’t go away. While the others were talking, I kept thinking about what I could do for him, since of course I didn’t really have any bigger memories of his wife than some simple chats or the delicious cookies and juice she had given me from time to time. Then I saw the shelf with their wedding day pictures. And somehow that gave me an idea.
“I sneaked out of the room, nopony noticing me while they were distracted by themselves. I went down and entered the workshop. Luckily, there was a door from his place directly to the workshop which wasn’t locked. I gathered everything I needed and started to work on the first monimentum I ever made. I tried to work in as many details from the picture frames he had made as I could remember. Parts from the oldest came at the bottom of the pole, then I worked upwards, going through the frames in the order as he had made them. And into the top I set a heart shaped ruby he must have had prepared for something else.
“It had taken quite a while until I was done. I heard them calling my name when I got back into the house. With the monimentum in my mouth I went back to the living room. At first I was afraid they would get angry at me, because everypony just sat there in silence, looking disbelievingly at me. But what I cared more about was if Raising Hammer would like what I had done.
“When I walked over to him his eyes grew wider and wider. He took my work into his lap and examined it with growing surprise. Finally he really smiled, not just on his face, but in his heart. I could see that. But not just that, what he said next, I’ll never forget: ‘This is beautiful, I couldn’t have done it any better. No wonder your cutie mark would turn out to look like this.’ And that’s when I realized that I had finally earned the very same.”