Twilight wasn’t going to be able to stop Silver Spoon even if she wanted to. Luckily Zecora’s little cure did its job most of the way. It was good enough that Silver Spoon could fight again if she had to. Twilight and Silver Spoon got on the next train to the Crystal Empire. The entire trip there had been awkward and uncomfortable. For Twilight, it was because of being around Silver Spoon and actually having time to think while she was awake. What was she supposed to have said? She fired Silver Spoon for causing trouble even though she wasn’t trying to. Now here she was helping the gray mare go catch Diamond Tiara.
The trip was awkward for Silver Spoon just because she was around Twilight after everything that happened during the week. What could she have said? She could always make small talk or apologize but that may have just made things even more awkward.
Once they reached the empire, Twilight was met with smiles and waves while Silver Spoon was met with mixed reactions. It was sad that it was these reactions that allowed Twilight to feel comfortable actually talking to Silver Spoon. “Ignore them Silver, they don’t have any idea who you really are.” Twilight put her hoof around Silver Spoon and smiled. “Come on, we have a fugitive to catch.”
Silver smiled and ran off with Twilight right behind her. Once they reached the castle, Cadance and Shining expected only to meet up with Twilight. To see Silver Spoon there with her was a shock only for the reason that anypony other than Twilight and possibly her friends weren’t expected. “Twilight, Diamond Tiara went through the mirror.”
“That’s why we’re here, right Silver Spoon?” Silver nodded. “Let’s get going.” Twilight and Silver Spoon ran to the room with the mirror and ran into the mirror without hesitation. On the other side was Sunset waiting for them. “Hello Sunset, do you have Diamond Tiara?”
“Sorry Twilight, we couldn’t do anything with her goons around but we do know where she’s at.” Sunset looked over and down to Silver Spoon who was on the ground and smiled and waved. She looked back up at Twilight. “Twilight, she is in the basement of the high school.”
“The school has a basement?”
“Yep, it’s used for storage and so it’s a little crowded down there but it’s a good place for someone to hang low for a while. I should know; that’s where I slept for all my years of high school.” Sunset chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of her head.
“Wait, you slept in the basement? You don’t still live there do you?” Twilight asked when she felt a tug on her skirt. Twilight looked down and smiled sheepishly. “Sorry Silver Spoon, I’ll help you up.” Twilight reached out and grabbed onto Silver Spoons hand and pulled her up.
Sunset grabbed onto Silver Spoons other hand and helped out. “No, I’m married now actually. I learned the magic of friendship, so on and so on and all that jazz. Flash never met the you in this world and got back with me now that I wasn’t treating everyone terrible. Long story short, we fell in love and married. I am Sunset Sentry now by the way. When a woman marries a man in this world; the lady’s last name changes to that of her husbands. Anyway, we can catch up more later; you know, maybe. Right now lets go get Diamond Tiara.” Twilight and Sunset worked together quickly to teach Silver Spoon how to walk before they went after Diamond. Sunset however didn’t help so that Silver Spoon could come with.
“So Sunset, what’s the plan?” Twilight still didn’t know a whole lot about this world and Sunset lived here most her life. Who better to ask than her former rival?
“First off, Silver Spoon stays here. Without the knowledge on how the human anatomy works, she won’t be of much use. Kind of how you were when you first got here.” Twilight gave Sunset a “you had to bring that up?” stare. “Oh don’t be so sensitive Twilight, I didn’t have a handle on it either when I first arrived all those years ago, it’s just fact.” Sunset turned to face the school with a disgruntled expression. Truth was, she had missed her month date and she couldn’t be sure if what she was doing was ok or not. She couldn’t put too much thought into it before Twilight snapped her from her thoughts. “Right, this way Twilight.”
Twilight followed Sunset into the school with only one thought in mind. “Sunset seems upset about something or at the very least distracted. Maybe I should talk to her.” The school was completely empty which would have been freaky had it been dark. She remembered her first time here at night. Had Spike not been there, she would have been freaked out. Schools were seriously scary at night. “So Sunset, how long have you and Flash been married for. Congratulations by the way.”
“Long enough, five years.” Had Twilight known what Sunset had been hinting at, she would have sent her home right then and there. Sunset walked up to the basement door and stopped. “Here we are, be quiet.” Twilight nodded and followed close behind but wasn’t going to allow her friend to come with. “Ok Twilight, here’s my, Twilight?” Sunset asked feeling a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“You don’t have to come you know, I’ll take it from here. She is my problem after all and thanks Sunset.” Sunset looked away sadly and Twilight could see that she had hurt her friends’ feelings. “Why don’t you stay here and keep watch, make sure that no one comes in.” Sunset handed Twilight a walkie talkie. “What’s this?” Sunset shook her head and showed Twilight how to use the foreign object. “Got it.” Twilight turned and shut the door behind her leaving Sunset to keep watch.
Twilight made her way down the stairs and found boxes upon boxes all stacked up on top of each other at the bottom of the stairs. Twilight could hear voices but they were inaudible. The further she went into the basement the clearer the voices became. She raised her walkie talkie and spoke into it. “Sunset, are you there?” She heard Sunset say something but it was quickly cut off by static. Twilight was about to return when Sunset called in saying that she was fine. She let out a relieved sigh and continued down the steps forgetting why she had called in the first place. Finally she was within sight of Diamond Tiara and a whole group of people. “This staircase is really long; I guess that’s a good thing.” Twilight thought as she peaked between two towers of boxes and down at Diamond Tiara.
“Ok people, Twilight will be here any minute now with friends most likely.” Diamond Tiara smiled and raised her head to look at the wall of boxes that blocked the staircase as if she knew that Twilight was there and she did. Twilight wasn’t exactly good at being sneaky. “I want you to shoot them all.” She stood up off the chair she had been sitting on and continued to stare. “Come on Twilight, I know you’re here.” Diamond pointed up at the staircase exactly where Twilight was at. Two people went up the stairs. “Come on down.” Twilight could be heard struggling against the two people who had grabbed her and tied her up. One of which was this worlds Shining Armor. Twilight was brought down the stairs to face Diamond. “Well done, I can’t believe you actually tied up your own sister.” Shining turned away sadly as he had helped to drag Twilight into the room. He wasn’t proud of himself but what could he do? “Did you really think that you could come in here and take me down?” Diamond Tiara asked.
“I can try right, if I die, I die trying to stop you.” Twilight smiled as she stared into the eyes of the biggest criminal in Equestria if not both worlds.
“You are a fool.” Diamond whistled and a gun was brought over to her. She looked at it for a bit before she aimed it at Twilights head. “Any last words Princess?”
“She may not but I do!” Coming from the stairs was the voice of Sunset. She revealed herself while holding onto a hostage. “Let her go or I shoot who ever this is beneath the mask.”
Diamond looked at Sunset and shrugged.“Oh Sunset, you are a true fool. Go ahead and shoot, I will still have my victory.” She looked back at where Twilight was supposed to be but found her missing. She looked up and growled. Shining Armor and the other person who was still hiding beneath a mask were standing in front of Twilight who was now free. “Fine, first you two will die and then Twilight will die. On second thought, you won’t Shining, I’m going to make sure that you watch as your other world sister dies slowly and painfully.” Diamond Tiara raised her gun when the sounds of police sirens could be heard. The gun was kicked from Diamond Tiara’s hand. Diamond pushed past the group of people before her and tried to make a run for it but Twilight pulled her to the ground by her legs.
“You’re coming back to our world to live your life in high security prison.” Diamond Tiara pushed Twilight off but it was too late, cops had run down the stairs and handcuffed Diamond Tiara before handing the keys to Twilight. Luckily Diamond didn’t have near as much power here as she did in Equestria. “Thank you, I’ll take care of her from here.” Twilight and Shining Armor walked Diamond up the stairs and past Sunset who had retreated after seeing that Twilight had been freed. Her attempt had failed but she wasn’t about to just leave. In a final escape attempt, Diamond stuck her foot out as they walked past Sunset and tripped her. Sunset hit the stairs and slid a little face first. Diamonds attempt to get Twilight and Shining to let go of her failed. She had truly thought that the two or at least Twilight would have let go but no. Diamond grumbled at her failed attempt.
Twilight and Shining made their way to the portal and were just about to throw Diamond through after releasing her from the cuffs but this worlds Diamond Tiara stopped them. She stepped up to her equestrian self and punched her hard. “That’s for making me look bad.” Diamond backed away and watched as her pony self was thrown through the portal followed by Silver Spoon who walked through.
Twilight turned to Sunset who had followed and smiled. Her smile only lasted but a second as she noticed Sunset had been hurt. “Are you alright?”
Sunset had been holding onto her stomach the entire way back to the portal and she wasn’t looking too good. “I uh, I don’t think so Twilight. When you got here, I was pretty sure that I was pregnant but uh.” Sunset let out a sad sigh. “I’m afraid that the fall I took may have caused a problem.”
Twilight was shocked and angry, how could Sunset not tell her? This wasn’t the time to be angry though, Sunset was hurting, she didn’t need a lecture right now and frankly she didn’t have the time. “I’m so sorry Sunset, and I would be angry with you right now for putting yourself at risk but it’s really not the time. I have a criminal to take care of back home so all I can say is good luck and goodbye.” Twilight gave her friend a hug and turned to walk through the portal but had one last thing that needed to be said. “I’m going to return sometime and I will expect to see some kids running around.” Twilight winked and then hoped through leaving Sunset chuckling. The only thing that bugged her was that she didn’t see her friends anywhere or maybe, nah. She would probably never know.
On the other side, both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were in cuffs with guards and the other princesses around. “I’m glad that you could return safely Twilight, I will now have them sent to the highest security prison in Equestria.” Celestia’s guards grabbed onto both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon but Twilight stopped them.
“Take Diamond Tiara, leave Silver Spoon.” The guards nodded and dragged Diamond away. Silver Spoon shrunk down beneath Twilight. “Don’t be frightened by me Silver Spoon.” Twilight smiled and turned to Celestia. “Tell me something Celestia, I need guards and a captain do I not?”
“Yes, Twilight I will get the best that I can afford to give you. You must understand that I can’t give you my best guards but second best are not to be mocked.” Celestia smiled and gave Twilight a hug.
“Of course not and I will accept your guards but I have a Captain in mind.” Twilight returned the hug but broke it rather quickly.
“Oh, who is it Twilight?” Celestia couldn’t say that she was surprised by this, Twilight was always on the ball.
Twilight turned to Silver Spoon and had her released from her bonds and then turned to Celestia. “I want Silver Spoon as my captain.”
Everypony in the room gasped in shock including Silver Spoon but for Celestia, the shock didn’t stick for as long as some of the others who still had jaws hanging. She couldn’t say that she was happy about that. “Twilight, I can understand giving her a shorter sentence in prison or even having her do community service without jail time but this is an insult Twilight. After all she has done and without having any experience, you want to not only place her above my guards in rank but make her their captain? Regardless of what she has done as of recently, she did help Diamond Tiara and is therefore a criminal. I will not allow such an insult to come upon my guards.”
“That would be fair normally but may I remind you Celestia that not only were some of your guards serving Diamond Tiara regardless the reason, they were also cowards to avoid telling you of what was going on. I get it, they didn’t want to risk their families but that didn’t stop a certain mare I know.” Twilight raised her voice but it was still calm. “Silver Spoon had more guts then your so called best guards. Silver Spoon not only found the courage to step away from Diamond Tiara but she also fought her to the point of being hospitalized even if it was a short period of time incapacitated. That is much more than I can say for your best guards who coward at Diamonds hoof and do I even need to repeat the fact that they served her? Do I need to also point out that Silver Spoon had much more reason not to tell anypony because she was friends with Diamond Tiara. Oh and I can’t forget that Silver Spoon had the courage to do this knowing that her parents would lose money and possibly end up losing their jobs because Diamond Tiara was giving bits to them. Those bits of which her family is no longer receiving. I don’t know about you Celestia but experienced or not, she deserves far more then any of your guards. Whether you agree with me or not, she will be my Captain and if I have to, I will find some other way to find guards for myself. Have I made my point Celestia?”
Celestia was stunned to say the least, Twilight had never spoken to her like that before. It killed her too, to know that Twilight was correct. “It appears that perhaps I haven’t looked into Silver Spoons history enough.” Celestia feeling a bit guilty now turned to Silver Spoon and apologized. “I am sorry about my earlier comments Silver Spoon, I suppose that I have misjudged you.” She turned back to Twilight and smiled. “I will still give you my second best guards Twilight but remember this, there will be ponies that won’t like this decision. Even I can’t say that I like it regardless of apology.”
“I realize that but they will have to deal with it as will you.”
“Hold on a minute, do I even have a choice in this!?” Silver Spoon shouted. Everypony turned and looked at her. “I don’t know what I want right now. I appreciate the offer but this is a lot to take in. May I think about it?” Twilight nodded and waited patiently. “Ok so the pros are what? I get money to help my parents, I get to stand by Princess Twilight and protect her and my new friends. Um, nopony would have the guts to hurt me? That works right? The cons, there will be those that still don’t like me. Uh, is that really it for a cons list?”After a few minutes of going through the pros and cons to this decision, Silver Spoon found more pros than cons by a rather large margin. When she focused back on everypony, they were all staring at her and waiting. “After careful consideration, I would be honored to be your Captian Princess Twilight.”
“Then lets go home and tell our friends the good news.”
Once Twilight told her friends, they were confused and a bit angry but after some explanation, they agreed but Rainbow Dash promised to keep an eye on Silver Spoon. Once Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo heard the news, they were ecstatic and as for Silver spoon’s parents, they couldn’t have been happier.
As ponies found out, some were angry, some were suspicious, and some could only say “meh” to the news. Still, the reactions all went over Silver Spoons head knowing that she had friends by her side that would never hurt her. In fact, she wanted to write a little in the journal that the bearers of the elements of harmony decided to keep.
Dear Journal,
I have learned that friends can come from the most surprising places even when you don’t think you deserve friends. If you let them in, they will truly stand by you and do all they can to help even if it means risking their lives to do so. Once you realize that you have a friend like this, you should never be afraid especially since your friend has friends and no matter what happens, a friend will always be there to help. Thanks to Sweetie Belle, I gained a whole group of true friends and I know that I never have to be afraid again.
With that done, she closed the book and ran off to be with Sweetie and friends, after all, she needed the chance to be with the first true friends that she ever had and they were glad to have her.