Silver Spoon thanked Celestia for the sun. Even though her fur was soaked in sweat, she was trotting through the town quickly, almost bouncing happily. High temperature meant that most of the citizens hid in their houses, cursing the heat.
For some ponies, the view of the empty streets was uncanny; they were so used to the sight of the crowds that the sudden disappearance of them was tugging some primitive string in their hearts – an atavistic fear of being abandoned by the herd.
Silver Spoon had no such fear. Her “herd” had abandoned her many times before. Sometimes she was just ignored, sometimes outright rejected. Sometimes, like a day before, it ended with bruises and cuts.
“Hey, Silver!”
She shuddered and closed her eyes, waiting silently for what fate had in store for her.
“Be sure to come back home before evening. I heard Rainbow Dash telling my sister that there’ll be a storm tonight,” said somepony standing next to her.
Silver Spoon opened her eyes and saw Twist. She scolded herself for not recognising her at first, but, when she started to think about it, it was understandable. Twist had recently made lots of progress in dealing with her lisp and it was now almost unhearable. Silver still couldn’t get used to her voice. The fact that they didn’t talk very often wasn’t helping.
“Thanks,” Silver Spoon said. “I’m going to Diamond’s house. We haven’t had a sleepover for ages.”
“Cool,” Twist replied. Silver Spoon looked at her, unsure if she really meant it. However, one look at Twist’s face convinced her that she was honest.
Actually, Twist was always honest. It was the kind of oblivious, sometimes brutal honesty, which was probably the cause why she wasn’t liked among the foals of Ponyville.
We’re exactly the same, Silver Spoon thought. Except that I have Diamond… and Twist still is better off.
“Is everything okay?” Twist asked, looking at Silver unsurely.
“Of course,” Silver replied, avoiding her gaze.
“You don’t look like,” Twist stated. “What happened to your eye?”
“This?” Silver put her hoof on her forehead. Scootaloo had given her a nasty-looking black eye and a couple of stitches. “I fell down. It’s okay, you don’t need to worry.”
“It looks bad…” Twist said.
Silver Spoon sighed. Why did ponies give her so much attention? First Vinyl Scratch who had dragged her to the hospital, now Twist… She felt she didn’t deserve that. She felt as if Ruby’s blood was on her hooves and everyone could see it… Then why some of the ponies didn’t run away from her?
“Don’t worry about me, really,” Silver Spoon said. She took a couple steps forward, but Twist was following her.
“It’s about Pipsqueak, right?” she asked. “I saw how you were looking at him…”
“Twist… please, leave me alone.” Silver Spoon gave Twist a nasty look. Pipsqueak… Of course, Twist had noticed… Silver Spoon started to wonder if she’d also noticed how Pipsqueak was looking at Diamond Tiara.
“Oh, sorry…” Twist smiled sheepishly, looking on the ground. “I mean… If you want to talk, I’ll always be there for you…”
Yeah, right… Silver Spoon thought. Let’s see how tolerant you are…
“It’s… It’s about Ruby,” she said. “I… I killed her…”
“What?” Twist’s smile faded. She backpedalled, watching Silver Spoon unsurely.
“I mean… Diamond and I… She killed herself because of us…” Silver Spoon muttered. To her surprise, Twist didn’t run away.
“You couldn’t do anything about that,” Twist said, avoiding Silver’s gaze. “It’th wath her mother…”
Do you even believe what you’re saying? Silver Spoon thought. “I… I could’ve stopped that…” She sighed. “I did nothing when Diamond teased her… I teased her too! It’s like I pushed her to the river… I… I could’ve said ‘no’... Just like when she wanted to… to bully you…”
Twist said nothing. Instead, she pulled Silver Spoon into a hug. Silver immediately backed away, startled.
“Oh, sorry…” Twist muttered. “It… it’s not your fault; I really mean it.”
Silver Spoon stood before her in silence.
“Besides… If you don’t like what Diamond is doing, why do you keep hanging out with her?” Twist asked.
And what would I do? Silver Spoon thought. Go to those three blank flanks and beg them to let me become their friend?
“Well, she’s good for me…” she said. “She’d do everything for me. I may not approve everything she’s doing, but… Well, you know.”
Twist nodded.
“I need to go, Twist,” said Silver Spoon. “If I ever need your help, I’ll ask for it.”
She didn’t leave immediately; they stood for a while staring at each other awkwardly. Twist took off her saddlebags and reached to them, producing a small box.
“I made them myself,” she said, giving the box to Silver. “See you, Silver.” Twist trotted down the street, leaving her behind.
Silver Spoon shrugged and went away. However, she couldn’t stop thinking about Twist.
What does she know about friendship? Does she even have friends? She wants to be friends with everypony, but no one takes her seriously…
Suddenly, a memory of her first days in a new school appeared in her mind. The ponies she’d wanted to befriend and how they’d teased her. How she was trying to be nice, even though everything she was given back were slurs and punches.
Does anyone take me seriously?
She was afraid to give herself an answer.
She thought about her mother – the only, except maybe Diamond Tiara, pony she trusted completely. She was surely taking Silver Spoon seriously, even though there’d been a time when Silver Spoon doubted it.
There was also Diamond Tiara, but when Silver thought about her, she shivered. Since they’d first met, they shared every single secret. It was far too easy for Silver to imagine Diamond Tiara spilling the beans about her foalhood in Vanhoover.
She shook these thoughts off. Diamond would never do that to her.
“...and she said that she’ll take me with her and show me how they make the storms…”
Silver Spoon froze. She looked around and saw Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle walking towards her. She gulped and began to trot forward, trying to make herself as small as possible.
Scootaloo saw her anyway. “What’s up, murderer?” she asked. “Still plotting something?”
“Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle hissed. “Stop it!”
Silver Spoon stared at her in disbelief. Sweetie Belle defending her? That was something new. However, her confusion didn’t last long.
“You’ll be the same as her!” Sweetie Belle added.
Silver Spoon didn’t want to listen to them anymore. She ran away from them. She was running all the way to Diamond Tiara’s house.
She stood in front of the gate, panting. She straightened her glasses and mane, and waited for her breath to steady. Then she rang the bell.
The gate opened and Silver saw Randolph, Diamond Tiara’s butler.
“Miss Spoon,” he said. “Miss Tiara awaits you in her room.”
Miss Tiara awaits you? Are they taught to speak like that? Silver Spoon thought. She followed the butler, trotting through the corridors of her friend’s manor. The creaking floor was always giving her chills. It was reminding her of her old house.
Randolph knocked on the door of Diamond Tiara’s room.
“Come in!” Diamond shouted.
“Miss Spoon is here,” said Randolph after he opened the door.
“Great,” Diamond Tiara replied. “Can you bring us something to drink?”
“In a minute, Miss Tiara.” Randolph bowed and disappeared quietly in the dimly-lit corridor.
Silver Spoon couldn’t exactly put her hoof on it, but it seemed to her that Diamond Tiara looked a bit better since they’d last met. Sure, she still was pale and had bags under her eyes, but there was some kind of spark in them that Silver Spoon hadn’t seen before. Her moves were more energetic; her voice was louder and clearer than earlier.
“What took you so long?” Diamond Tiara asked.
“Twist,” Silver Spoon replied. “She thinks something’s wrong with me.”
Diamond Tiara gave her a long, meaningful look. Silver felt that the stitches in her brow ridge started to itch.
“I wonder what gave her that idea…” Diamond Tiara smirked. “You look better than ever…”
“Give me a break,” Silver Spoon sighed and sat on Diamond’s bed.
“Who did that to you?” Diamond Tiara asked, still watching Silver Spoon’s forehead. She noticed that her friend was wearing a spare pair of glasses. It was easy to notice – the spare pair had a tiny dent on the left side of the frame.
Silver Spoon hesitated. She didn’t want to share this with anyone, but, on the other hoof, Diamond Tiara was her friend. They never had any secrets.
“It was Scootaloo,” she replied, shuddering at that memory. “She… she said that Ruby… that it’s our fault.”
Something strange happened to Diamond Tiara; her eyelid twitched and she gritted her teeth.
“Are you okay?” Silver Spoon asked. “Maybe you have magnesium deficiency?”
“I’ll ask Doctor Stable,” Diamond Tiara said. “That blank flank… How did she dare? We need to do something about that…”
“I… I think we…” Silver Spoon shifted her legs, blushing.
“We what?” Diamond Tiara asked. “Since when are you so quiet, Silver?”
“No, just… I think we shouldn’t…” Silver Spoon was avoiding eye contact with her friend, instead focusing on some spot on the wall.
“So she can make you her punching bag?” Diamond snapped. “Do you want this… again?”
Silver Spoon said nothing, still watching the wall. It seemed to her that the spot was in fact a moth that had accidentally wandered to Diamond Tiara’s room at night.
“I can do this alone if you don’t want…” Diamond was now close to Silver Spoon. She practically hissed the last words into her ear.
Then do it alone! Silver wanted to shout. Something, however, stopped her; she looked at Diamond Tiara – the only pony she could call her friend and imagined her life without her. Yet again, she thought about crawling into some cold and dark place to stay there forever.
“Just what I thought…” There was disappointment in Diamond’s voice. “Nevermind, Silver. We’re having a sleepover – we don’t talk about business on such occasions,” she said, mimicking her father.
“Yes,” Silver Spoon replied absent-mindedly. “You’re right…”
“Cheer up, Silver,” Diamond Tiara said, wrapping her hoof around Silver Spoon. “I have a feeling that tonight I’ll be able to finally sleep…”
“Good for you,” Silver Spoon replied. Only when she relaxed a bit, she felt how tense her muscles were before.
“How about you?” Diamond asked. “You know, every time we meet, we only talk about me…” She looked at Silver’s forehead. “You seem stressed…”
“Well, last two weeks were rough…” Silver replied. “Mom helps me a lot, but…”
“Yeah, I’m sorry for leaving you like that…” Diamond Tiara sighed. “I simply can’t focus. Doctor Shift said that I have something called microsleep – I pass out for a few seconds during the day, then I wake up again…”
“Still better than no sleep…” Silver Spoon smiled.
“In fact, it sucks…” Diamond Tiara replied. “It only makes me feel more tired.”
Randolph knocked on the door; he brought them orange juice, cookies and some cake. Silver Spoon took the box of peppermint candies Twist had given her. For a while, they were munching the treats in silence.
“Enough talking about me,” Diamond said finally. “How’s school?”
“I’m happy it’s almost over…” Silver Spoon replied. “I really could use a break…”
“Blank flanks?” Diamond Tiara asked with concern.
“Everypony…” Silver Spoon sighed. “Not to mention that the sun is killing me…”
“Yeah…” Diamond Tiara muttered, looking at the window. The sun was setting, obscured by clouds that were slowly gathered by the pegasi. “Good thing there’s a storm tonight…”
“I heard Scootaloo saying that Rainbow Dash will let her watch the weather team at work,” Silver Spoon said. She looked at the sun; then she trotted to the door and locked it.
“Really? Hmm, maybe she’ll fall from the cloud…” Diamond Tiara smirked. “Wonder if she’d fly? Ten bits that they’d have to scrap her off the ground…”
Silver Spoon shuddered. “Oh no…”
“Oh, come on…” Diamond Tiara shook her head. “She beat you!”
“But she doesn’t deserve to die…” Silver Spoon replied.
“Nopony deserves, yet they do,” Diamond Tiara said philosophically. “How about your mother? She isn’t in the weather team now, is she?”
“No,” Silver Spoon replied. “She was in one in Vanhoover… And she helped the pegasi when they were making that big tornado.”
Diamond Tiara nodded. Silver Spoon looked through the window, watching the first drops of rain falling to the ground. Diamond Tiara sat next to her, pulling her into a hug.
“Are you okay, Silver?” she asked.
“Yes,” Silver Spoon replied. “You know… I’m afraid how it’ll be… when you’ll leave.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Diamond Tiara replied. “They’ll fix me and I’ll be back before vacation ends.”
“I hope so…” Silver Spoon yawned. The first lightning tore the sky. For a moment they could see the garden illuminated by the eerie blue light.
“Really, there’s nothing wrong with me,” Diamond Tiara said. “Nothing…”
She looked at Silver Spoon and saw that her friend was breathing calmly with her eyes closed. Diamond Tiara shook her head, took off Silver’s glasses and put them on the nightstand. Then she unbraided her mane. Silver Spoon muttered something in her sleep, wrapping her hooves around her.
“Oh, come on…” Diamond Tiara muttered. “Let me at least lie down in my bed, sleepyhead…”
“Yeah…” Silver Spoon muttered in a tone suggesting that she was in fact asleep. Diamond Tiara helped her lie down and wrapped her in a blanket, then lay next to her. Silver Spoon pulled her closer, sinking her face in Diamond’s mane.
“Yeah, Silver, I love you too…” Diamond Tiara muttered, rolling her eyes. However, the delicate beating of her friend’s heart against her back was something she wanted to feel forever. Diamond Tiara’s expression softened; she relaxed and put her head on a pillow, trying to fall asleep.
“Goodnight, Silver Spoon…” she whispered. “Sleep well; don’t worry about anything. I’ll always be here for you…”