//------------------------------//
// Chapter One-Daddy Died 
// Story: Why won't you love me? 
// by Diamond Sparkle 
//------------------------------//

Diamond Tiara peered out of a top-floor room of the opulent mansion of the Spoon family. In the room with her was the love of her life, Silver Spoon, and Silver's father, the middle aged Coronation Spoon. Her mother, Medicine Spoon, was hiding in another room. On the street below a running battle had broken out between the lance-armed Royal Guard, who were mostly pegasui ,and the black-shelled Changelings. Whilst the Guards had the advantage of armour, weapons, and military training, they were grossly outnumbered. Changelings would disguise themselves as terrified refugees, get close to a fight, transform at the last second and get stuck in. Others disguised themselves as guards to get close, taking the spears of defeated guards as it was the one thing that they could not mimic. Any guard who lost his spear was in danger of being mistaken for a Changeling and attacked by his fellow guards. Here lay a guard, unconscious or maybe dead, there lay the broken body of a Changeling in the same condition. Diamond found herself unable to look away from the raging violence.


"Diamond, get away from the window, it's not safe, you'll attract them to us," Coronation told her. Reluctantly, Diamond did so, but almost no sooner was she out of the window then it shattered as a Changeling smashed the window with his hooves, and came in with four of his friends, the buzzing of their insectoid wings sounding really loud in the room.
For a second he stared at the ponies, and then went straight for Silver Spoon.

Diamond forgot her fear. No way is my gorgeous girlfriend going to end up in a cocoon in some Changeling Hive she thought, and let loose a kick that even Applejack would be proud of. There was a cracking sound and the chitin splintered under her hooves, and the Changeling fell and died in a spout of green blood. There was a flash of green fire for a few seconds, and where the body had been was only a large hole scorched in the carpet that had come all the way from Prance. Coronation came charging up and started bucking at the other Changelings. "Get the buck out of my house, you overgrown love-bugs!" They backed off a little, then fanged him in the back of the neck, picked him up between them and flew out of the window.


"DADDY!" screamed Silver Spoon, and at that moment a blast of pink magic came tearing through the streets. It did no damage to buildings or ponies, but Changelings be they in disguise or not were swept out of Canterlot without mercy, tumbling end over end into the sky. Including the four who were holding Coronation Spoon, who were forced to let him go.
There was a loud crack as he hit the ground and lay there unmoving, with his neck at an angle that no pony's neck should ever be at. Silver Spoon galloped downstairs at once to try and catch him, but he had hit the ground long before she could get there. She looked down at him where he lay with his eyes closed, the only visible wound being from the Changeling fangs. "Daddy, we defeated them, there are no Changelings left in Canterlot. You don't have to play dead any more, you can open your eyes and get up." She prodded him lightly with a hoof, then opened his eyes with her hooves, but they just closed again. "Daddy, get up. Daddy, can you hear me? DADDY??! Get up!" She shook his body with no response, felt for his pulse, his heartbeat, his breathing, and there was nothing.


As it slowly sunk in that her father would never speak or move again, ponies all over Canterlot, Diamond Tiara included, started coming out of their houses, cheering and shouting with joy at the Changelings' defeat. There were cries of "Buck yeah!" "Did we kick ass, or did we kick ass?" "Out of Canterlot, fermented rubbish!" Diamond, a big grin on her face, came and bumped her flank against Silver's in the way they had done so many times before as if nothing was wrong. "Bump, bump, sugar lump rump! Silver, we did it, the threat is over and they won't be trying that again in a hurry. Give me a smile." She tried to make Silver smile by using her hooves to push Silver's mouth into a smile, but Silver pushed her hooves away and said quietly, "Diamond...Daddy died." Just then Medicine Spoon came out of the house and hugged Silver, before the two of them burst into tears. 

Diamond watched the scene for a bit, and then turned and left, heading home, unsure of what to do. It'll be fine if I wait for a few days, then my Silver will come back to me. Tomorrow when the shops reopen I'll spend plenty of bits on her. A new dress, and not just any dress but a genuine Rarity Original. A new necklace of silver, silver for my Silver, but studded with rubies. A teddy bear of course, a big fluffy one. I'll soon have Silver smiling again and then it'll be just like old times.

The next day Diamond joined Silver again, for the funeral. Silver wore a black dress with a black ribbon holding her plait.She doesn't look right Diamond thought. The glossy look has gone from her fur, it's matt. My Silver has lost her gleam. She reached out with a hoof to try and gently rub the glossiness back in, but Silver pushed her hoof away and gave her an angry glare that she normally reserved for the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Her eyes look so tired, she hasn't been sleeping well.  Coronation Spoon lay in front of them in an open coffin, and the pegasui had brought in the clouds and made it drizzle slightly, as was the custom at Earth Pony funerals. Princess Celestia herself turned up and extended her large wing to cover Silver Spoon and her mother for a few seconds, to try and offer some sort of comfort. She was the first to speak about what a wonderful person Coronation was, and then invited  Silver Spoon to come and say a few words. Diamond watched as Silver, her head hanging down, her glasses misted up and her tail between her legs, slowly made her way to the podium.

"My father....he meant so much to me..." Silver managed to say before she burst into tears, unable to say anything else.  All too soon the funeral orations were over and the coffin was closed and lowered into the grave, and Silver watched as the grave diggers began their work, forever sealing her father away from her in the cold earth. 

The Princess mounted her Pegasui-pulled chariot that she used on special occasions and left the scene, as always, there were important matters of state to attend to. The rest of the ponies went back to their homes or to the Spoon mansion for the wake. Diamond went back with them and then went up to Silver and pulled her presents from her saddlebag with her mouth and put them in front of her. "Silver, I'm as sorry as everypony here that your father died. I brought you some gifts to cheer you up. A big fluffy teddy bear. A fine dress that's a Rarity Original, and a necklace to go with it. Smile for me."
Silver stared emptily at the gifts in front of her, and narrowed her eyes, and her grey cheeks reddened a little, her tail flicking from side to side.

"Diamond...my father has recently died. Do you not care about my grief? Do you really think that these baubles  can make me happy again? That you can buy me like I'm an apple on a stall? I would give everything I had if it would bring my father back. Go and spend some time with Alula, I know she likes hanging out with you. I don't think you're being malicious but I need some alone time. Without you." And she turned her back on Diamond Tiara and left the room.