When you think of love, what does it mean to you? Is it an emotion, to describe great affection for someone? An expression of great interest for something? Is it an experience, to be felt by sentient beings? Perhaps it is all of these. And if it is, does that mean it is possible to feel them all at once? If it is love, is it limited to age or maturity? To understand that, you must first ask yourself: What is love?
“Okay, class, pay attention! Today we’ll be learning about emotions.”
“Miss Cheerilee; aren’t those the things that make ponies cry?”
“Sort of. That’s a particular emotion called sadness, although overwhelming happiness or joy can make ponies cry as well.”
Silver Spoon drew circles on her desk with her hoof next to Diamond Tiara, who sat – a blank expression plastered on her face – staring at the chalkboard. Silver Spoon was only half-listening to the lesson, favoring her daydreaming to the class discussion. She spared a glance at Diamond, who looked back and rolled her eyes. Silver Spoon stifled a giggle, understanding Diamond’s frustration being stuck in class.
“Miss Cheerilee, what is love? I mean, I kind of know what it means, like what you do for someone you love, but what does it specifically mean?”
The question made Silver’s ears perk up. She had heard the word before, a long time ago when her parents used to say it to each other. She still didn’t know what it meant, but she knew it was special somehow.
“Well, Sweetie Belle, love is what we describe when we care deeply about someone or something. Your parents, for example, love each other very much...”
Silver Spoon glanced at Diamond Tiara again and stifled another giggle as her friend imitated gagging. The rest of the lesson drowned out in the background, having lost Silver’s interest to her daydreaming.
At lunch break the two were outside, eating on the fence of the playground, away from the rest of the ponies who would bother them. They normally sat in silence. Due to Silver Spoon’s introverted nature, there wasn’t much worth talking about for her. Neither of them minded. Silver Spoon just liked being her friend.
“Hey, Silver… Were you listening to the lesson just now?"
Silver shook her head.
“Well, I was just thinking and a lot of the stuff that Miss Cheerilee said about ponies in love... well... It kinda sounds like us."
“What do you mean?” Silver asked, surprised that Diamond was actually interested in one of Miss Cheerilee’s lessons.
“I guess you wouldn’t know since you weren’t paying attention... Nevermind. Forget I said anything.”
“No, tell me.”
“No, it’s silly.”
“Diamond, just tell me.” Silver enforced.
Diamond sighed. “Okay, okay... She was talking about how when ponies are in love with each other, they really care about each other. They do things for one another and just like being in each other’s company. She even said that they do stuff like kissing and hugging and ‘special sleepovers’, though I have no idea what that last one is. Probably something stupid.”
Silver raised her brow behind her glasses. “And you think this is us?”
“Well of course not. We don't kiss or any of that stuff.” Diamond’s cheeks turned a shade of light purple as she blushed.
“So you're saying you... love me?” Silver teased.
“J-just forget it!” Diamond exclaimed, her blush turning to a deeper hue of violet and spreading to the rest of her face.
Silver Spoon giggled as Diamond jumped back up on the fence and sat with her. Silver turned her head and looked to the distance, the sun's light peeking at her between the leaves of the autumn trees. Although Silver preferred winter to fall, she still loved the passionate colors of the trees during this season. She took a relaxing breath and felt the cool breeze on her face, welcoming it with flourished cheeks. An odd warmth roused her as she felt something against her leg. She looked over to see Diamond Tiara holding hooves with her, while blushing profusely.
“Diamond, what are you–”
“S-shut up. I’m just trying something out.”
Before it could get any more awkward, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Silver hopped off the fence and adjusted her glasses, while Diamond Tiara almost galloped to get into the classroom. Giving one last look at the burning treeline, Silver lifted up the hoof that Diamond held and stared at it quizzically. It wasn't any different from before, just the same old hoof. Except, somehow it was special now. For a reason unknown to Silver, that hoof seemed warmer. Not the kind of warm that one gets from holding hooves, but warm on the inside. Feeling the cold breeze again, she brought the hoof to her cheek, immediately feeling the extra warmth from Diamond’s hooves enter her face. She smiled and embraced it further, closing her eyes and remembering how Diamond looked when she blushed. She hadn't seen that look in a long time.
A voice, stern yet caring, pierced through her bliss. “Silver Spoon?”
“Coming, Miss Cheerilee!”
~~~
Silver Spoon emerged from the doorway to the school with Diamond Tiara lagging behind. They hadn't spoken much for the rest of the day, not that they spoke much anyway during class, and every time Silver looked at Diamond, they both blushed and turned away smiling. Now they were on their way home, walking together, since Silver’s house was only a short minute away from Diamond’s.
Reaching Diamond’s house, they said their goodbyes – though it was Friday and the two would most likely be meeting up later – and Silver turned to continue walking to her house. As she approached her house on the end of the street, she heard yelling, thus dissipating whatever happy thoughts and faint smiles that still lingered. Silver never liked to intervene, conflicts and arguments were something she tried to stay away from. However, in this house, conflict was always looking for her, and often times found her.
Silver entered the doorway and the shouting intensified, driving its way into her flattened ears. Quickly shutting the door, she galloped upstairs in the hopes that the shouting would not follow her. After two flights of stairs she finally reached her bedroom, a large space that made up the entire third floor, and shut the door behind her. She laid on the bed and tried to drown out the shouting, but it was to no avail. Even two stories above them, she could still hear them arguing.
Tears forced their way onto her face. Nearly every week they did this, for almost three months. She had tried at first, talking to both of them about it individually. She didn’t understand what they were fighting about thought. By what she had heard, one of them was caught doing something with another pony, but it wasn’t clear which since both of them told her that it was the other. Were they only allowed to be with one pony at a time? Or was it what they were doing with that other pony that was wrong? Silver had no way to know.
The shouting stopped and Silver heard hoofsteps on the stairs. She rose from the bed and sat on her haunches facing the door, expecting the worst to come bursting through it anytime now.
The hoofsteps got louder and louder until they eventually stopped. Silver waited awhile, then there was a knock at the door. Silver resisted the urge to drop her jaw in surprise. They never knocked. Ever. She got up and walked slowly to the door.
“Who is it?”
A gruff voice replied, clearly weary from the shouting earlier. “It’s me. Can I come in?” her father said.
Reaching with her head, she turned the knob in her teeth and pulled the door open. He entered the room, giving it a once-over and shutting the door behind him. “Princess, we need to talk.”
‘Princess’ was her father’s name for her. She didn’t like it much, having no desire to be a princess, but she liked it when he called her that. Although now, by the trouble in his voice, it did anything but soothe her.
He took a nearby chair while she hopped back on the bed and sat down. “You already know, I’m sure, that your mother and I are having difficulties in our marriage. I know you don’t fully understand why, and you won’t till you’re older… But what I’ve done, and what she’s done, cannot be undone.” He paused and took a deep breath before turning his gaze from the floor, back to Silver Spoon.
“The things we’ve said to each other haven't been very nice, and I… we can’t take them back. Whatever love we had for each other has died, finished off by those things we said.” He chuckled. “It’s funny how words have that much power. They can express something as complex as love and just as easily do the opposite, taking away love and replacing it with hate and sadness.” Another pause, longer this time, Silver took the opportunity to speak.
“Dad, are you two splitting up?”
“It seems that way, Princess. But that’s not really even the worst of it.”
“What could be worse than that?!” she burst, tears flowing down her cheeks.
“Your mother…” He sighed and ran a hoof through his mane, letting out a nervous chuckle with the slightest hint of a crack in his voice. “Your mother doesn't want to take care of you. She’s going to Manehattan, and she doesn't want to take you there.”
“Well you can just take care of me by yourself, can't you?!”
“... No.”