//------------------------------// // Chapter 2. Decimal // Story: A Silver Life // by TheOneAJ //------------------------------// “Silver Spoon,” she felt her mother rub her side as her eyes drifted open. “Wake up, we’re there.” With a groan, she forced herself awake. She hadn’t wanted to wake up, but a new day was calling. Sure enough, once she placed her glasses onto her face, she could see the city of Manehattan rolling into view. Silver Spoon moved up to the window. The city gleamed as it always did, the tall buildings scraped the sky as the smell of pizza and carrot dogs could be smelt from across the bridge. Although the thing that stood out the most to her as they crossed the Brooklyn bridge onto the island was the Statue of Liberty. The large green mare, that stood tall as she always did with her torch and book in hand. One day she would have to remember what was written on that book—something important she was sure—but for now, she had to worry about meeting her aunt. ***** They passed through the Brooklyn Bridge, and into the heart of the city into the station, a half-an hour ahead of schedule. It was a busy afternoon in Grand Central Station. The clock in the center of the station read 11:13. The smell of station food and the calls of vendors trying to sell their wares meet Silver Spoon before she even stepped off the train. Once she got off the train, she was meet with the familiar traffic of ponies in a rush; bumping, pushing, and shoving her out of the way. She wasn’t in Ponyville anymore. “Spoon, sweetie,” her mother called out, “don’t go too far, okay?” “Silver Platter,” a white earth pony with golden mane and a silver coin cutie mark, walked up to the them. “It’s so good to see you again.” She placed a hoof around her sister. “Silver Lining,” her mother said as she returned the hug. “It’s so good to be off of that train.” Silver Lining broke the hug. “Yes, welcome to Manehattan. Please allow my servants to take your bags.” A team of pegasi and earth ponies descended onto their suitcases. “Oh,and, Silver Spoon,” her aunt embraced her, “look at you, you have grown.” She brought her in with one hoof. “I must say, I love the new cutie mark as well.” “Oh um,” Silver Spoon swung her tail over her rear, “it’s nothing. Also, I’ve been trying to keep a low-key about it. If you know what I mean.” Silver Lining chuckled. “Of course, dear. Still, you should always look on the bright side of things you know. There is always some good in everything.” She swung her hoof forward. Silver Spoon grinned nervously at her aunt. She knew that her aunt could be a happy-go-lucky mare, maybe not to the point of Pinkie Pie, but it could still make you feel uneasy if you experienced too much of it. However, something seemed off about her aunt’s positivity; she didn’t feel positive. Silver Spoon couldn’t put a hoof on it, but it almost felt like her aunt was forcing on the smiles. “Um, where’s Decimal?”She asked as she looked around that station. when she looked up at the adult mares, their glance towards one another and back to her brought chills to her stomach. “Oh, don’t you worry about him, dear.” Her aunt patted her on the head. “You’ll meet him later tonight, and he’ll be on his best behavior.” “Oh,” Silver Platter batted her eyelashes, “that’s wonderful.” “Yes it it.” The adults went on to ignore Silver Spoon. “‘I’m telling you, he has made vast improvements. Why, we could probably be out of special Ed by next semester.” “Special Ed, what? Hey,” Silver Spoon said as she tapped their legs, “is there something I should know about him?” she certainly hadn’t known there would be anything wrong with him. He seemed like a normal baby when she and Diamond Tiara foalsat him as a baby. Had something bad happened to him between now and then? It seemed like Silver Lining was just as confused as she was when she looked back at her mother. “Wait, didn’t you tell her?” “I... did? Didn’t I?” Silver Spoon shook her head “No, mother, you haven't'. So what is going on with my cousin that I don’t know about?” Before anypony could answer, the station bells tolled five. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you, honey, but let’s get moving. I’ll explain in the cab.” “Alright,” Silver Spoon sighed as she followed her mother, eager for some answers. ***** "Well,” Silver Platter said as she flipped on the lights to their condo, “here it is, home sweet home.” Silver Spoon whistled as servant ponies moved past them. It looked more like a large hotel room more than anything else. The walls where crisp and clean, the furniture wasn’t wrinkled, a fresh vase of flowers had been placed in the center of the room, and not a speck of dust could be seen. In fact, Silver Spoon almost felt a ping of guilt in her chest that all of their boxes would have to spoil such a pristine room. “What do you think, Spoon?” Silver Spoon straightened her glasses. “Oh, it’s great, its great.” She said as she looked out her window and beheld; a perfect view of central park. Not ponyville, not Silver Manor, but it was a home. Silver Platter clapped her hooves together, “Oh, I haven’t shown you your room yet.” “Okay,” Silver Spoon said slowly, not that she was that surprised that her mother was sounding so excited about it. It had probably been stuffed with new toys and dresses to impress her. Sure enough, as they walked into her new room, a pile of new toys had been laid around her bed as her few belongings from Ponyville were still being brought in. She hadn’t brought much, having anticipated her mother doing this, just some things that mattered the most to her. “Oh,” Silver Platter made her way to the window as Silver Spoon’s bucking book was brought into the room. “Take a look at the view.” The light blinded Silver Spoon for a moment, but when she put her hoof down, her mouth followed. She raced over to the window. “Wow,” was all she could say. Out looking her new balcony, was one of the most gorgeous views of the city. First it started with the changing color of leaves of Central Park, which stretched out to a Bridleway theatre. Beyond that, stretched the vast oceans and the Statue of Liberty. Silver Platter raised her chest. “What do you think?” “I...“ she pinched herself, not willing to fall for any selling out tricks that easily. If her mother thought that some new toys and a nice view would make up for putting her in the middle of a divorce, she had another thing coming. Although that didn’t mean she had to hate the view just for it. “It is a nice view, mother.” “I’m glad you think so,” she hooked a leg around her. Silver Spoon wanted to pull away, but chose just to lean into her today. She would let her mother have this day, but from here on out, she wouldn’t give in too quickly to her mother’s candy. “Yes, mother, and I’m sure I will enjoy the city life.” “Oh I am so glad to hear that,” Silver Platter stared out into the city, “because I have this friend who has a daughter—” Silver Spoon never learned about her mother’s new ‘friend.’ For at that moment, a loud crash and scream could be heard from a room on their floor. Silver Spoon’s neck turned to the direction of the sound. “What was that?” Her question was followed by a series of animal howls she had never heard before. Silver Platter sighed and leaned towards her daughter. “I’m, sorry. I didn’t think it would be this bad.” "Bad?” The realization hit Silver Spoon harder than Apple Bloom on the first day of their family history project. “Oh.” The screams must have belonged to her cousin, Decimal. The cab ride over to the condo certainly hadn’t been a pleasant one. Even the sight of the city-which she had seen plenty of times anyways-hadn’t lightened up the mood once her mother and aunt had explained everything. Apparently, her cousin was diagnosed with a new developmental disorder called, autism. A rather new disease, at least one that had been diagnosed, had somehow avoided her attention all those years ago. Whether it had to do with her own problems, or nopony wanting to talk about it, this was the first time she had heard of her cousin’s condition. She felt an urge to look more into it later, but according to the adults, autism was a form of mental retardation that wasn’t really full retardation. In which, the pony affected by it still had some motor and brain functions, but not much. Her mother, away from her aunt, had described it as a clock that only had a few working parts to it, as opposed to none. Before she could ponder more on it, there was a knock on their door. “Be right back,” her mother unhooked from the hug and headed out the room. Curious, Silver Spoon leaned against the door. “Is everything alright?” she heard her mother ask. “Of course,” she heard her aunt say in a weary voice, “Decimal is just having a fit about wearing a dinner outfit to your welcome meal. Anyway, I just stopped by to ask if you wouldn’t mind if we bumped up dinner to an hour? I know it’s early, but I’m about to put him on some new medication and I can’t be sure how long they will be effective. So, if you wouldn’t mind?” “Not at all, sister, we’ll be ready in less than half an hour.” “Thank, sis, this is going to go perfectly, don’t you worry.” “I’m sure they will.” By the time they had finished, silver Spoon began to have her doubts about her and Decimal becoming the best of friend. Not that she wouldn’t try, but it didn’t sound like it was going to be easy anymore. She backed off from the door as she heard her mother’s hoofsteps approach. “Well,” Silver Platter said as she entered her room, “our dinner plans with your aunt have been bumped up, so you better get ready. I know you’ll be on your best behavior, as always.” she turned to walk away. When Silver Spoons next words froze her in place. “Mom, is everything alright?” Her mother paused and kept her back towards her when she spoke. “Just be ready. I know that boy has matured since he was first diagnosed, but don’t be surprised by anything. Your aunt has put a lot of time into him, so the least we can do is act like he’s a regular colt even when he isn’t. do you understand?” Silver Spoon blinked. “Yes, mother.” She promised. Although truth be told, she wasn’t sure what to make of any of this. ***** “All set?” Silver Platter said as she rang the doorbell to Silver Lining’s condo. “Yes, Mother.” Silver Spoon adjusted her dress frills. “I’m actually quite excited to see my cousin again.” “I’m sure you are.” She said with a wide smile. “That is very nice of you. I’m sure you and Decimal will become the best of friends.” “I’m sure of it too.” Silver Spoon grinned, ready for more or less everything. After living in a town where something came out of the everfree forest every other weekend, how bad could one autistic cousin be? The door opened to reveal her aunt bouncing with enthusiasm. “Ah, sister, Silver Spoon, so glad you could come.” She stepped out of the way and held her hoof out to her home. “Come in, the first course is about to be served.” They made their way into the condo. Nothing much stood out from their own, except for the photos on the wall and other various household objects in various places here and there. One of which was an action figure of Decimals (she assumed) that she almost stepped on. The dining room had already been set up to serve only four ponies tonight, and the salad course had already been set on the table. Silver Spoon looked around the empty dining room.“Where’s Decimal?” “He’s not...” Silver Lining glanced towards one of the plates. “Hold on a minute.” She walked off without any change in attitude. Silver Spoon thought nothing of it, until she looked upon the salad. She had seen many fancy salads before, and had expected her aunt to go full out for their first meal in the city. Which was why she was confused at how plain the meal looked. There was lettuce and, just lettuce. When her mother wasn’t watching, she shifted through her meal to confirm it. Sure enough, there were no other ingredients; no croutons, no salad dressing, tomatoes, nothing but plain lettuce leaves. “Come on now.” Her attention was drawn away from her plain dinner by her aunt’s voice. “Don’t you want to meet your aunt and cousin?” Her answer was met with a loud moan that sounded more animal than pony, followed by a young colt mentioning a movie. “Yes, I’ll get you all the Star... what are they? Never mind, you can have all the toys you want if you behave tonight, okay?” There was a pause, another moan, followed by her aunt saying, “Alright, let’s go meet your family.” Silver Spoon glanced at her mother, who weakly smiled back, then looked down at her salad. “Sorry about that,” her aunt walked into the hallway with a young colt dressed up in an overly priced suit. Her cousin, Decimal, was a light yellow, nearly brown, earth pony with a silver mane. To Silver Spoon, he didn’t look anything at all in the way she would have thought somepony who was special, she forced herself not to think retarded, would be. He seemed a little thin for his age, but that was all that stood out about him. If she were to judge just on appearance, she would have considered him perfectly normal. His mother, with a flick of her tail, pushed him towards her. “Decimal, you remember your cousin, Silver Spoon?” The colt remained expressionless while his head looked down at the floor. “Say hello.” Silver Lining gave him another swipe of her tail. “Decimal.” She said through her teeth. “Hello.” He could have said, ‘Fuck you,’ for all she knew. He kept his head down, voice above a whisper, and it caused her aunt to frown. Silver Spoon acted fast and pretended that she had heard him. “Hello, cousin, it’s so nice to see you again.” She extended her hoof Decimal remained silent, Silver Lining glared. “Your cousin complimented you. What do you say?” “Okay,” he said, never meeting Silver Spoon’s eyes. “Alright,” Silver Lining said in a rushed tone as she ushered him to his seat. “We’ve meet and introduced, so let’s eat!” Silver Spoon didn’t complain. She poked a leaf, and tried to make the best of her plain meal. She would have liked some dressing, or at least some carrots, but chose to keep her mouth shut about it as the parents went into some conversation about the divorce. She tuned it out to focus on her cousin. "So, Decimal,” she grinned at him, “how have you been?” He continued to stare blankly at his salad. “I mean, I know you wouldn’t remember me, but I once foalsat for you when you were a baby. When was that, five, six years ago?” He went from awkward silence to nibbling on a piece of lettuce. “Okay,” Silver Spoon stabbed a piece of lettuce. “Is there anything you want to chat about?” When he didn’t respond, she reached out a hoof to poke him to make sure that he had heard her. She retracted her hoof when her aunt coughed loudly. “Hey, Silver Spoon, um, why don’t you tell us how your schooling is going?” “Oh, it’s going great.” Silver Spoon nodded as she placed her hoof down. “In fact,” she said as she eyed her mother, “I was thinking about becoming a teacher.” Her mother raised an eyebrow at her. Which was fine with her, she even enjoyed it a bit. All the while, she kept an eye on her cousin. He had moved on towards his drink, a cup of grape juice. Silver Spoon noticed she had the same drink. Feeling thirsty, she took a sip,and almost spat it out. It wasn’t awful, quite the contrary, it tasted bland. It had no flavor, good or bad, and she couldn’t help but gag. “Sorry.” She said as she tried to hide up her gag reflex by placing a hoof over her mouth. “Oh,” Silver Lining said, “I must have given you some of my son’s grape juice by mistake.” She waved to a servant. “Oh, no,” Silver Spoon waved it off. More prepared for it, she took another sip of her juice. “It’s perfectly fine.” She said through a long breath. Her response seemed to bring ease to her aunt. “Well, let me offer you another drink anyways.” “Auntie, it’s fine.” She held her cup away from the advancing servant. “It’s no problem, dear, I can get you anything you want.” “No really, I’ll drink it.” Her mother narrowed her eyes on her. “Silver Spoon.” “Mom, I’m…” without realizing it, her drink flew out of her hooves and spilled all over her cousin’s shirt. Before she could apologize, the colt screamed. Not a normal scream one could expect under the circumstance, but a terrifying scream that didn’t sound like it belonged in this world. “Gahh,” he screamed in the unnatural voice as he jumped up from his seat and ripped his shirt off in a nearly perfect tear right down the middle. Her aunt jumped up from her own seat. “Decimal!” “I’m so sorry,” Silver Spoon shot up, napkin in hand and ready to help. “Here let me just—” “No!” Her aunt shouted as Silver Spoon pressed her napkin to his coat. The moment she did, something stirred inside of her cousin. At first, he froze up, the next, he screamed that unholy sound again, and then he swatted her in the face. “Decimal,” Silver Lining said over her son's screams, “what did I tell you about hitting other ponies?” Unharmed physically from his attack, Silver Spoon tried to say something, but was too stunned by her cousin’s actions. In his distress, Decimal threw himself onto the floor, covered his hooves to his ears, rocked back and forth, and began to moan. His mother, on the other hoof, was taking it even worse. “No, no, no!” She threw herself down, trying to pull him up as tears rolled down her eyes. “Those damn therapist, why don’t they fucking do something? Ah!” She screamed as Decimal spat and threw her off. If it wasn’t for the horror of the situation, Silver Spoon would have been damned impressed for her cousin’s strengths. As it was, she was too mesmerized by what was going on to do anything but stare. “Madam, are you alright?” a butler said as he raced past Silver Spoon. When he tried to help her up, Silver Lining batted him away. “Um, yes,” she said as her face began to twitch. “Um, see to it that my son,” he began to run around the table screaming his head off, “is put to bed.” She glanced at her sister and niece. “Oh well,” she waved a hoof in the air as mascara ran down her face, “I guess Jr. here isn’t in the mood tonight.” She caught him as he came around, and used all her strength to keep him still until another set of hooves came around to keep him down. "No, no!” He cried out as he banged his head against the table. “I hate you!” “Haha, how silly, son?” Silver Lining said as her mussels bulged out from holding him down. “Auntie,” Silver Spoon advanced. “Is there anything—” “That will be all for tonight,” she placed her head onto her son’s, only to have him bite at her. She did a rather fine job of acting like she wasn’t in any pain. Silver Platter advanced forward. “Sister...“ “JUST LEAVE!” Her voice rocked the house, even Decimal stopped whining for a moment. Silver Spoon and Platter continued to stare at them, dumbfounded by the evening’s turn of events. “Aunt Lining,” Silver Spoon broke the silence shortly after Decimal began to pick up the moaning. “If there is anything I can do to help, you can always call on me, if you want.” Her aunt turned her head away. “It will be fine, James will show you out, now.” She and the butler picked Decimal up, and carried the struggling foal away, “goodnight.” ***** Even though she was being shown out, Silver Spoon was far from calling it a night. For one thing it wasn’t even 6 O'clock yet, for another, her mind was trying to wrap itself around her cousin. What had happened since she last saw him? Was it something somepony said? Something somepony did? What was it? How did he go from such a normal looking and behaving colt to, that. As they exited the condo, her mother seemed to read her mind. “I wish I had a clear answer for you, Darling. This whole damn thing has been having quite the emotional effect on your aunt.” “But… but he,” she struggled to say as she thought back to him saying that he hated his own mother. even she wouldn’t have sunk that low. “How can anypony act that way?” Her mother wrapped a hoof around her. “I don’t know, darling, I really don’t know. But,” her mother removed her hoof from her back, “there is nothing we can do about it. Your aunt has tried everything in her power.” She turned her back on Silver spoon. “Just don’t worry about it, okay?” “But...” Her mother put her hoof down. “Silver Spoon, I don’t want you to try anything because I don’t want to set you, or my sister, up for disappointment.” She sighed. “She has dozens of therapists and specialists on hoof. She’ll find a way to break through to him, I promise.” Silver Spoon raised a hoof, but her mother’s gaze told her otherwise. Enough had happened today, she didn’t need a full on fight with her mother added to the list. “Alright, mother.” Her mother scratched her ankle. “Right then, let’s go home. And don’t think I won’t talk about your little 'stunt' with the teaching thing later.” Silver Spoon nodded, expecting as much, but not finding any satisfaction in any way about how the night had turned out, but with a new spark swelling up inside of her. She didn’t know how, but she was going to find a way to help her cousin. Her mother hadn’t forced her to say please, and she was going to take full advantage of it. How she would do that was a good question, but that didn’t matter at the moment. She would do it, one way or another. For now, she had an important letter to write when she got home. ***** Silver Spoon sat on her new bed, with a freshly sharpened pencil and a blank piece of paper in front of her. After her first day in the city and all that had happened in a rather short time, she found herself lost for words. That wasn’t true, she just didn’t know how best to write them. She thought about putting off her first letter to Diamond Tiara until morning, but decided to at least get a rough draft done before she went to bed. If anything, this letter was intended to be more for herself rather than for Diamond Tiara. Between what her sister had told her, her aunt and autistic cousin, she felt sure that if she didn’t write any of this down that she would be getting another dream with Princess Luna (not that she didn’t mind the coconut ice-cream river part). Still, after an hour of just lying on her bed thinking about what she was going to say, she forced herself to write something. She aligned her pencil in her teeth, brought it down to the paper, and wrote; Diamond Tiara, So far, it has been a very eventful day. We just got all our boxes into our new apartment. You should come over to visit sometime soon. Is your father going to bring you on another business trip? Anyways, the view from our condo is pretty nice, you can see central Park from the window; you would love it. Also, remember my cousin, Decimal? I’m not sure if you do, we were young. Anyway, long story short, without meaning to sound rude, there’s something wrong with him. The parents want to call him, retarded, but I don’t know. He seems to have more qualities that points him in the direction of something called, autism. I’ll explain more llate when you reply. She put emphasis when she wrote down, reply. Long story short, I don’t believe he’s retarded, and I’m going to help him. If that wasn’t enough, my mom is still against me becoming a teacher because of my dyslexia, can you believe it? I mean, I sure could use some more ponies saying I can do it. She sighed, wondering if Diamond Tiara would reply to this letter. It wasn’t unlikely. There certainly wasn’t any point in thinking that she wouldn’t until the mail came. If it came to it, she would wait a year for a reply from her few Ponyville friends. She continued. I wish I knew why you acted so cold towards me. Talk to me Diamond. I know that our friendship was set up by our parents, but I don’t want to lose you like your sister did with mine. As always, Your friend, Silver Spoon. Maybe she would come up with more in the morning, but that would do for now. She placed the letter to the side, pulled up her blanket, and looked up at her new pink ceiling. She groaned and flipped over. She’d get used to the all-too familiar color soon enough, or she would just paint over it. Either way, she was determined to find a way.