//------------------------------// // Prologue , School project // Story: The Silver Spoons; A Tragic Silver Spoon Story // by TheOneAJ //------------------------------// A light breeze rolled through the grounds of Ponyville Elementary School. The breeze wouldn’t have normally been a problem for Apple Bloom, if Diamond Tiara, and her faithful sidekick, Silver Spoon, hadn't tripped her on her way to the schoolhouse. “Hey,” she snapped her head towards the pair as papers flew out of her backpack, “what ya need to do that for?” She felt like she didn’t even need to ask. “Opps,” Diamond Tiara held a hoof to her muzzle, “did my stretching cause you to trip, blank flank?” Silver Spoon laughed with her friend. “Oh that’ a good one, Diamond. You always come up with, like, the best material.” Diamond Tiara flipped her hair. “Like, I know.” They then went on to do their signature hoof bump. Meanwhile, Apple Bloom was left to gather her scattered papers before they blew away to the far corners of Equestria. She had just about collected them all when a pair of pink hooves kicked them aside. “You-ah!” Diamond Tiara cried as she face planted into the dirt. “Diamond!” Silver Spoon rushed forward. When she tried to help her up, Diamond Tiara batted her friend’s hoof away as she pushed herself up. “Come on, Silver. Like, this blank flank isn’t even worth the trouble.” The pink filly held up her head and huffed. Silver Spoon looked down on Apple Bloom for a moment, kicked another paper out of the way, and followed her friend into the schoolhouse. “Grr!” Apple Bloom’s eyes narrowed on the two, trying to engulf them in flames with just a stare. She didn't even notice Scootloo and Sweetie Belle walking up to her. “You’re not going to burn them that way,” Sweetie Belle said as she levitated the paper Silver Spoon kicked into the air over to Apple Bloom. “Your short a horn.” Apple Bloom sighed to her friends. “Morning gals.” “Morning, Apple Bloom.” Scootaloo smiled. “Those brat’s giving you a hard time again?” She asked while she cracked her knuckles. Apple waved a hoof at her. “Its fine,” she lied, “nothing they haven’t done before. Besides, we can just rub our better grades from our test into their faces when we get them back.” She grinned, thinking about the test that she had spent a lot of the week studying for while Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara had been on vacation. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at each other, then back at Apple Bloom. “If you say so, Apple Bloom.” They spent the rest of the morning listening to Apple Bloom ramble on about how Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon would look when they got their grades back, and saw hers. ******************* “A D?” Apple Bloom couldn't believe it. She looked back to Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell, who had gotten better grades then her. It wasn’t a much, but they didn’t come as close to getting an F as she had. They each gave her a sheepish grin. “I’m sorry, Apple Bloom,” Cheerilee lowered her head, “but did you or your friends even study at all for this test?” “Of course we did, Ms. Cheerilee," Apple Bloom slammed her hoof on the desk, "whenever we could." They would have studied some more, but they were busy that whole week. A deep sea fishing cutie mark wouldn’t earn itself, as soon as they figured out how to catch a fish in the town lake. They still found time to study though. It wasn’t a lot, but Apple Bloom had put everything she had into studying for her test when she felt like it. Okay, so she had trouble getting into schoolwork, it was a sad fact. She didn’t have any medical reasons why she couldn’t; she just couldn’t get any good grades on her test no mattered how hard she tried. “I don’t suppose we could get some," she twirled her hooves together, "extra credit or something?” Ms. Cheerilee blankly looked at her. “I’m sorry, Apple Bloom,” Ms. Cheerilee moved on, “you know I can’t do that.” Apple Bloom slumped onto her desk. she knew this would happen, but it was still worth a shot. The truth was she hadn’t been doing very well this semester. If she had gotten an F on this test, they she would have been held back a grade for sure. By getting a D, she was spared such a fate for now. However, if she didn’t get an A on the next project or test, then Celestia help her. The only thing that kept her from banging her head into her desk was the fact that Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara would get their grades next. Maybe the universe would be kind to her, and she would hear those two moan as they looked upon their F’s. Her grin turned to a frown when she remembered something; They were Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. The two of the riches fillies in town who always got what they wanted. “Sliver Spoon, Diamond Tiara,” Cheerilee said to the pair, “you both did an excellent job, as always.” Even from a distance, Apple Bloom could clearly make out the bright red A’s and smiley faces on the right-hand corners of their tests. “Thank you, Ms. Cheerilee.” They smiled back at their teacher. “Yes, and,” she leaned in closer to Silver Spoon, “you are getting the time you need?” she tried to sound discreet, but Apple Bloom heard her loud and clear. It wasn’t fair, she thought to herself. Not only did those two get away with everything, but they never got punished for it. In fact, they always seemed to get rewarded for it, at least in her mind. They got all the cool toys first, the best jewelry to show off whenever they felt like it, all the time they needed on homework and tests, and they got the best tutors in town to get the grades, if they didn't buy those too. Apple’s Bloom's only tiny bit of comfort from the idea that, if not for their daddy’s money, they would have worse grades than herself. She was about to forget about it, not care about them, when she overheard Diamond Tiara whisper to Silver Spoon. “I bet they were like, trying to get their cutie marks in failing. That would explain a lot.” Silver Spoon snicker on command. “Good one, Diamond.” Apple Bloom shot around and glared at the pair. “Why you no good rotten…” "Apple Bloom!" Cheerilee placed her hoof down, causing the whole room to shake. “But, Ms. Cheerilee.” Apple Bloom whined. “No buts,” Cheerilee placed the last paper Dinky's desk. “Unless, you would like to miss out on recess?” Apple Bloom's bow fell flat. “No,” she responded through clenched teeth. Diamond Tiara’s and Silver Spoon’s laughter could be heard from the front of the class. “Don’t think I won’t put you two in detention either.” Cheerilee said looked them down. The pair’s eyes widen, as their ears lowered. “Sorry, Ms. Cheerilee.” "Now then," Ms.. Cheerilee made her way to her desk. “Today, we will be staring a group project.” The class soon erupted in a choir of chatter as students started to pick out their partners. “However, for this project, you will not decide who you get paired up with.” The class let out a united moan. “Rather, you will each randomly select your own partner from this machine.” She then placed a bingo dispenser on her desk. “Now, for this project you will be working in groups of two. So to decide who gets paired up with who I've have already put half your names in here, while the other half of you will come up here to pick out your partner.” Twist’s hoof shot into the air. “But, Mith. Cheerilee, what ith the project?” “An excellent question, Twist,” Cheerilee tapped her hooves together. She placed a piece of chalk into her mouth and began to write on the board. “For this project, you will be required to give an oral report on an interesting pony member, from your partner’s family. You will each be required to give information on when they lived, what they did, and most importantly, something interesting about that pony." She wrote all this on the board for a minute before she placed the chalk down. "Now then," she then gave the bingo dispenser a spin. "Let's begin. Diamond Tiara, you’re up first.” The pink pony walked towards the teachers desk. Apple Bloom looked upon her as Diamond Tiara walked up to the desk to receive her bingo ball. All Apple Bloom could do to was pray to Celestia that Diamond Tiara didn’t pick her. She would have taken anypony else, even a colt, to not get paired up with her. Because one thing would be clear if that happened; only one pony would show up to class the following Monday. “Ugh, Snails!” Apple Bloom looked to the heaven, thanking the Princesses. “Diamond Tiara!” Ms. Cheerliee gave her a stern looked. Diamond Tiara stepped back, messaged received. While she felt sorry for Snails, she couldn't stop thanking the universe foe being a little fair. As she watched Diamond Tiara sulk back to her desk to get Silver Spoon’s comfort, she didn’t notice when Sweetie Belle race back to her desk with a bingo ball in hoof. “I got Scootaloo!” She chirped. Apple Bloom was snapped out of her trance. “That’s amazing!” “Yeah,” Scootaloo smiled with a hoof bump to Sweetie Belle, “we’ll get A’s for sure.” “Oh…yeah,” Apple Bloom’s smile faded as it just occurred to her that she wasn’t going to get paired up with either of them. “Apple Bloom,” Cheerilee said, “you’re up.” She nodded, and slowly walked up to the teachers desk. Before she made it to the desk, she caught sight of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon giving her a smug look. She figured that they thought Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo getting paired up was unfair, even though it was pure luck. Hey, it wasn't her fault if fate wasn't always kind. She was happy that Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo got paired up together, but that still left her worried about who she would be paired up with. Perhaps Twist? They hadn’t hung out in a while, and it would be better than somepony she didn’t know too well. While the name on her bingo ball wasn’t the worst possible name to roll out, it was a close second as her eyes widened. Silver Spoon Her mouth opened and closed soundlessly a few times before she was able to articulate any words. “Um, Ms. Cheerilee,” she looked up to her teacher, wide eyed as she clicked her hooves together. “Could I perhaps, go again?” Cheerilee gave her a stern look before she responded. “I’m sorry, Apple Bloom, and for all of you.” She addressed the whole class at the same time. “All decisions are final, and I don’t want to hear anything about trade or swap ups. If I do, all students involved get an F, have I made myself clear?” “Yes, Ms. Cheerilee!” everypony responded. “Alright then," Cheerilee relaxed back into he desk, "Snips, you’re up.” Apple Bloom slumped back to her desk while a million thoughts raced through her mind. Why her, why Silver Spoon? She supposed she should have looked on the bright side, it wasn't Diamond Tiara. Yeah, that didn't help. Scootaloo started at Apple Bloom. “So who’d you get that was so bad?” Apple Bloom responded with a face planted into her desk. She kept her head on her desk, but poked out an eye to peek at Silver Spoon. The gray filly hadn’t realized who she had been paired up with yet, and Apple Bloom intended to keep it that way for as long as possible. As more students were called up to be assigned her, Apple Bloom realized something; this was going to be a long week.