Silver Spoon started her morning walk to the schoolhouse by filling her lungs with a deep draught of fresh country air and then releasing it with a contented sigh followed by a grin. She recalled her most recent trip to Manehattan with Diamond Tiara and Filthy Rich and while she enjoyed that town’s unique metropolitan flair, it was an industrious city with scores of factories that had tall and ominous chimney stacks that constantly pumped billows of nasty black smoke into the sky, tarnishing the air quality considerably.
Keep the city that never sleeps, she thought. I’ll take my sleepy little Ponyville any day of the week.
She felt odd walking straight to school from her home rather than picking up Diamond Tiara at her house and then walking to school together – but that would be what she would have to do this morning if she wanted to be punctual. Last night, Diamond Tiara told her that she would be unable to walk to school with her at their usual time because she would be too busy looking for something important that she had stashed away somewhere and had misplaced. Diamond Tiara didn’t say what the item was. Silver Spoon hoped that it was a surprise gift for her. She then proceeded to lose herself in a delightful daydream about her gift being an engagement ring followed by a proposal and she smiled as she accelerated to a frisky trot.
After passing a pair of oak trees on either side of the road, Silver Spoon’s ears rotated as they picked up the sound of hoofsteps behind her. Ponyville’s high rent district didn’t have many families with foals which, without Diamond Tiara to talk to, made for a bland and irritatingly silent commute until reaching the center of town where foal traffic was more arterial. Slowing to a walk, she looked over her shoulder and saw The Cutie Mark Crusaders walking up the path in the same direction. They were outfitted with their saddlebags just as she was and were presumably heading to the schoolhouse but they were traveling through an area of Ponyville that was completely out of their way in relation to where they lived. Slowly but surely, they caught up to Silver Spoon and then matched her pace, walking on either side of her as well as behind her. She had no reason to be afraid of the goody-two-horseshoes Crusaders but she certainly preferred having Diamond Tiara by her side when they were around.
Were they waiting for me behind those trees? she wondered. What the Tartaros do they want? I’m just going to ignore them.
Facing forward once again, she kept her eyes straight ahead, focused on the task of walking, and said nothing. The road on which they trod was a public thoroughfare. As long as they weren’t impeding her forward motion, she had no need to address them.
“Hey, Scootaloo,” said Apple Bloom who was on Silver Spoon’s left, “have you ever read any o’ Aeclop’s fables?”
“Aren’t those the stories with the talking animals?” asked Scootaloo who was on Silver Spoon’s left. “And a moral at the end?”
“That’s them.”
“Yeah, I read a book of those once.”
“D’you remember the one called The Scorpion an’ the Frog?”
Silver Spoon was familiar with Aeclop and that particular fable. She was also familiar with the flow of a casual conversation – and the stiff way that Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were speaking to one another led her to believe that this dialogue of theirs was rehearsed and intended for her ears.
“I’m not sure,” said Scootaloo. “Refresh my memory. How does it go?”
“A scorpion asks a frog if he’d let ‘im ride on his back across a river and bring him ta the other side. The frog wouldn’t do it, sayin’ that the scorpion would sting ‘im durin’ the ride and he’d die. The scorpion said ‘if ah stung ya while ah was on yer back, ah’d sink an’ drown with ya, wouldn’t ah?’ The frog saw the scorpion’s logic an’ he let ‘im ride on his back. Well, the frog swims about halfway across the river and wouldn’tcha know it, the scorpion up an’ stings the frog fer no good reason. ‘What’d ya do that for?” asked the frog. ‘Now we’ll both drown!’. The scorpion says, ‘Ah know... but ah’m a scorpion... an’ it’s just in mah nature ta sting.’”
“What a cool story. A little morbid but still cool. I think I can see the moral to be learned from it but just in case I got it wrong, why don’t you tell us what it is?”
“The moral o’ the story is that some ponies’re just evil by nature an’ there ain’t no point in expectin’ them ta go against their nature.”
Silver Spoon closed her eyes and turned her nose up.
“Hmph! I don’t care if you blank flanks think I’m evil,” she said. “And I’m not asking you to carry me across any rivers so as long as you keep your distance, none of us have to worry about drowning. Come to think of it, maybe swimming is your special talent. Why don’t all three of you take a long walk off a short pier and find out?”
“You’ve got us all wrong, Silver Spoon,” said Sweetie Belle, who was walking behind her. “We don’t think you’re the scorpion. We think you’re the frog.”
Silver Spoon’s eyes reopened. She raised an eyebrow at Sweetie Belle’s correction.
“The frog?” asked Silver Spoon, turning her head to look at Sweetie Belle.
“Guess who the scorpion is,” said Scootaloo.
Silver Spoon didn’t have to guess. She turned her head to face Scootaloo and smirked wickedly as she devised a clever comeback.
“No idea,” said Silver Spoon, “but I think I know who the chicken is.”
Scootaloo frowned. She ran a few paces ahead, stopped in front of Silver Spoon, and shoved her nose into the gray filly’s face, bringing everypony to a halt.
“STOP CALLING ME A CHICKEN!” yelled Scootaloo angrily, looking straight into the bully’s eyes.
“MAKE ME!” dared Silver Spoon as she sneered and pushed Scootaloo back.
The fillies stared each other down for a good five seconds until Scootaloo backed away from Silver Spoon, her face the picture of coolness.
“Why should I?" asked Scootaloo. "So you can tell on me and get me into trouble? No thank you. You’re so not worth it.”
Silver Spoon smirked and chuckled nasally.
“This is exactly why Diamond Tiara and I pick on you three,” she said. “When it comes to fighting back, you just don’t have the guts.”
“Twist had guts,” said Sweetie Belle.
Silver Spoon’s eyes grew wide. She should have been prepared to hear Twist’s name used against her. She wasn’t. Her ears drooped and she hung her head as the visuals of her encounter with Twist played out in her head once again. She staggered off the road and lay on the grass. She turned her head away from the Cutie Mark Crusaders and rested it on her crossed forelegs.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked down at their humbled classmate.
“Well, ah got what ah came here for,” said Apple Bloom.
“Me, too,” said Scootaloo. “Let’s go, Apple Bloom. Are you sure you can handle her by yourself, Sweetie Belle?”
“I’m sure,” said Sweetie Belle. “I’ll catch up with you guys later.”
“Race ya!” said Scootaloo to Apple Bloom as she took off galloping.
“That’s a nice head start ya gave yerself,” declared Apple Bloom with a determined smirk. “Too bad it won’t help ya win!” She galloped after Scootaloo and in moments, both fillies had disappeared from sight.
Sweetie Belle walked over to where Silver Spoon was and lay on the grass in front of her.
“How do you feel about what you did to Twist?” asked Sweetie Belle.
“What do you care?” asked Silver Spoon, choosing not to bother lifting her head to look at Sweetie Belle. “Nopony else wants to hear about how I feel about it so why should you?”
“Try me.”
Silver Spoon lifted her head. The highlights in her tear-glossed eyes jiggled back and forth as she looked into Sweetie Belle’s face. She saw sincerity and compassion in the unicorn’s green eyes, two commodities that had become increasingly harder for her to come by.
“You’d... really want to... listen to what I have to say?”
“Sure. But make it fast. I hate being late for class.”
Silver Spoon wrinkled her nose.
“If this is some kind of trick...” she said.
“It’s not. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo aren’t interested in hearing what you have to say. Me? Well, let’s just say that I’ve caused my share of accidents so I know how it goes. Just tell me how you honestly feel. I promise to take you seriously.”
Silver Spoon had reservations about opening up about her feelings with anypony other than Diamond Tiara; her parents were largely responsible for those reservations. However, Diamond Tiara had grown tired of listening to Silver Spoon rehash the same old story about how guilty she felt about Twist and she made it clear to her that she didn’t want to hear any more of her bellyaching. It had reached the point where even Silver Spoon believed that it was nothing more than bellyaching. Keeping her feelings to herself turned out to be highly unsatisfying and now that Silver Spoon was being offered a chance to speak her mind, it was as though a ray of sunshine was being shed on her darkened heart. And her heart yearned for the warmth of that sun badly enough to place her trust in an old enemy. With quivering lips and watery eyes, she swallowed her pride and decided to take one last plunge into the waters of trust.
“I feel awful about what happened,” she whimpered. “I can’t get it out of my head, no matter how hard I try. It’s like a scar that I can see every time that I look at myself in the mirror. The sound of her crying... The screech of the train’s brakes... Like, every time I’m reminded of the accident, I get so depressed. I didn’t want to help Diamond Tiara drop the bag on her. I mean, yeah, sure, I’ve done worse than cover somepony with garbage but it was different this time. She was only there because she thought Rumble was in love with her. I had a chance to stop it from happening and I didn’t take it. I’m so mad at myself for that and I don’t know what to do about it.”
“So you regret it?”
“Yes, I regret it! I’m sick with regret. I’ve never regretted anything so much in my entire life. We never meant to get Twist killed... but nopony seems to care about our side.”
“That’s because your parents hired a sleazy lawyer that no ten ponies in central Ponyville would have been able to afford and you got away with mischief for the millionth time.”
“Our parents didn’t want us to go to jail any more than we did. Any parent would do whatever it took to protect their foals.”
“I understand that – but you and Diamond Tiara almost never have to face the music for the stuff you pull and even when somepony died from your mean pranks, you still didn’t get punished. It’s left some of us not-rich ponies feeling like there isn’t any justice around here. That’s why you’re having a tough time finding sympathy in this town... and that’s why we staged that walkout.”
Silver Spoon rested her chin on her forelegs, pouted, and closed her eyes.
“But,” added Sweetie Belle, “after the walkout, I suspected that you had something that Diamond Tiara doesn’t – a conscience. And today, I’ve confirmed that you do. It’s not a squeaky clean, award winning conscience but it is there so I can at least respect that about you. And it’s because you have one that I decided to talk to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo about helping me give you this warning.”
“What warning?”
Sweetie Belle leaned in and looked deep into Silver Spoon’s eyes. Silver Spoon cast her eyes downward, feeling unworthy of having her soul peered into by somepony without a black mark on theirs.
“We think you’re the frog, Silver Spoon,” said Sweetie Belle, “but you don’t have to share its fate.” She slowly poked Silver Spoon in the chest with her right forehoof, once for each of her next three words. “Ditch. The. Scorpion – now. Or one day, you’ll get stung... and I don’t want to see anypony drown, not even a bully like you. If you ditch her, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom might be willing to change their opinion of you. And then maybe, just maybe, we’d be willing to think about considering the possibility of talking about... becoming friends.”
Silver Spoon’s heart felt a flicker of warmth. Somepony was showing her something that could pass for forgiveness.
“Thank you,” said Silver Spoon softly as she looked up at Sweetie Belle with a sheepish grin. “I know I can be mean... but I’m not so mean that I can’t see when somepony is trying to do something nice for me... so from one non-friend to another, thank you for listening to me. I appreciate it. And thank you for offering me your friendship – especially since I haven’t done anything to deserve it.” She raised her glasses and rubbed her eyes dry before setting them back on her snout. “But I can’t accept it. Your asking price is way too high. There is no Silver Spoon without Diamond Tiara. I know you don’t like her but you guys don’t know her the way I do – and you probably never will since she doesn’t like you guys, either. She’s special. I’m only special when we’re together. Without my best friend, I’m nothing at all; not even a slimy frog. Ditching her would be going against my nature. So I’m okay with being with a scorpion. And if she does sting me, well, at least we’ll drown together.”
“Geez, if you love her so much, why don’t you marry her?” teased Sweetie Belle, giggling a bit.
Silver Spoon grinned. She was no good at lying to an authority figure when confronted with a direct yes or no question but with a blank flank her own age who she wanted to tease, she could put on a performance – one that would amuse her as well as keep her orientation a secret.
“Because I’ve got my heart set on Button Mash,” she said as she rose from the ground and trotted off to school with her nose held high, leaving Sweetie Belle alone on the grass. A look of horror overtook Sweetie Belle’s face as she processed Silver Spoon’s words.
“What did you say?” squeaked Sweetie Belle as she scrambled to her hooves.
“He’s just so cute that I think I’ll steal a kiss from him when I get in.”
Sweetie Belle ran after Silver Spoon and maintained a trot to keep up with her.
“Y-You can’t do that!” stammered Sweetie Belle. “He’s my coltfriend!”
“Not for long.”
“Y-You stay away from him!” Sweetie Belle ran ahead of Silver Spoon and jumped across her path back and forth repeatedly to grab her attention. “Do you hear me?”
“Nope, I don’t hear a word you’re saying.”
“Then how did you know I was asking you a question?”
“I’m kiss-ing But-ton, I’m kiss-ing But-ton, ahhhh-ahhhh-ahhhh-ahhhh...”
“That’s not funny, Silver Spoon!”
“I used to wonder what a Prench kiss could be...”
“Quit it!”
“I think I’ll even buy him that new Pony Sleighstation as a token of my affection.”
“Don’t you dare!”
The time on the clock which hung on the Ponyville schoolhouse wall was 7:54 AM and everypony but Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon and Sweetie Belle were seated at their desks. The only desks that were derelict due to their previous occupants no longer attending school were Rumble’s and Twist’s. A wreath with a photo of Twist hanging in the center was placed upright in the seat of Twist’s old desk. Everypony who entered the classroom gave their condolences to Cheerilee and said that the wreath was beautiful.
Cheerilee fidgeted in her seat and watched the front door, hoping that Sweetie Belle would be the only pony to walk through it before class started.
Sweetie Belle ran through the door and skidded to a halt. She had run ahead to beat Silver Spoon to class. She huffed and puffed to catch her breath as she looked for Button Mash. The colt was seated at his desk playing his Joy Boy when she found him, she ran to his desk, held his head in her forehooves and planted a kiss on his lips.
“Wooooooooooooooo!” howled the class approvingly.
“All right, class, that’s enough,” said Cheerilee with a calm smile. “Sweetie Belle, do you think that perhaps you and Button can indulge your burning passion for one another before entering the classroom from now on?”
The class laughed at Cheerilee’s question.
“Yes, Miss Cheerilee,” said Sweetie Belle.
“Thank you,” said Cheerilee. “Now please be seated. Class is nearly ready to begin.”
“Yes, Miss Cheerilee.”
Before heading for her desk, Sweetie Belle placed her snout near Button’s right ear.
“If you let any filly but me kiss you,” she whispered, “it’s game over between us – with no continues. Got it?”
“Uh... got it,” said Button as he watched Sweetie Belle hustle over to her seat. He turned to his left and saw Snips, who was seated next to him, smiling ear to ear.
“Dude,” whispered Snips as he held his right forehoof out to Button for a hoofbump. “You... are... the stallion!” Button grinned and hoofbumped Snips while Snails, Featherweight and Truffle Shuffle gave him congratulatory punches in the back. He was unsure of why Sweetie Belle found it necessary to kiss him in class but he welcomed the outpouring of respect from his fellow colts that her display of affection had earned him.
Silver Spoon was the next to enter the schoolhouse. She had to pass Button’s desk in order to get to her own and Sweetie Belle watched the gray filly like a hawk from the moment she arrived. As Silver Spoon came closer Button, Sweetie Belle saw her lean close to Button’s head and pucker her lips. Button looked at Silver Spoon blankly and blinked, unaware of what she had in store for him.
Sweat poured down Sweetie Belle’s knitted brow and she started chewing on her saddlebag strap nervously as Silver Spoon slowly bridged the gap between them, getting too close for Sweetie Belle’s comfort.
Silver Spoon then used those puckered lips – to blow on Button’s beanie propeller.
Sweetie Belle breathed a sigh of relief and plopped back in her chair.
Silver Spoon looked back at Sweetie Belle and stuck her tongue out at her as she removed her saddlebags and took her seat.
Cheerilee looked at the clock again. It read 7:58 AM. She left her desk and walked to the door to see if the second of her two least favorite students was on her way. Off in the distance, she saw a trail of dust being kicked up by somepony who was running very fast toward the schoolhouse. She stepped away from the door and somepony leapt through it before skidding to a dramatic halt and coming to a full stop between the first row of her student’s desks and her own desk.
Cheerilee recognized the runner as Diamond Tiara’s butler, Randolph. His tongue hung out of his open mouth as he gasped for breath. On his back sat his employer’s daughter, Diamond Tiara. Randolph’s aged limbs quivered as he lay down to allow her to climb off.
“Well done, Randolph,” said Diamond Tiara with a smile as she stepped off her butler’s back. “You’ve managed to bring me here with time to spare. Looks like that hardware store receipt I found in your pocket for a copy of the key to my dad’s cider cabinet will go ‘missing’ for yet another day.”
“I-I have... no idea what you’re talking about, Mistress,” said Randolph as he looked out into the class and smiled nervously.
“Of course you don’t,” she said as she patted him on the head condescendingly.
“Will there be anything else, Mistress?”
“Yes.” Diamond Tiara removed her saddlebags and took her seat as she issued new instructions to Randolph. “I’d like a big plate of pink frosted oatmeal cookies waiting for me at the day spa for my hooficure. I always feel a little snacky when I’m being pampered for several hours at a time.”
“Yes, Mistress. The moist and chewy kind, correct?”
“That’s right!” Diamond Tiara smiled. “You’re learning! I like that.” She turned her head to look at her hoof and then did a double take as she caught sight of Randolph. Her smile disappeared and was replaced by a scowl. “Why are you still here? GO!” She pointed to the front door with her left foreleg.
Randolph jumped at the sound of Diamond Tiara’s yelling and quickly scurried out of the schoolhouse.
The clock struck eight.
“Welcome back, children,” said Cheerilee. “I’m happy to see... most of you again. Now, I know we’re running behind but instead of tackling our usual subjects right off the bat, we’re going to have an open discussion today. Your classmate Twist was lost to a terrible accident and some of you might be feeling sad or confused so we’re going to use this time we have to focus on those feelings as well as talk about what we’ll remember most about her. I’ll go around the room and you may each have an opportunity to speak your mind. Apple Bloom, do you have any thoughts or memories of Twist that you’d like to share with the class?”
“Uh... yeah,” said Apple Bloom, casting her eyes downward at the surface of her desk. “She was a really good pony.” The pace at which Apple Bloom spoke was calculated and analytical and she paused between sentences longer than usual. “She was pretty happy most o’ the time... an’ she was always sharin’ somethin’ with me. News, candy, jokes, gossip; if she had it, she shared it. She liked bein’ with me... an ah liked bein’ with her. We didn’t even really need ta be doin’ anythin’ all that special. It’s like she was just happy bein’ in mah company.”
Diamond Tiara yawned without covering her mouth.
“Ah wish ah could tell her... that ah didn’t mean ta get so wrapped up in mahself an’ mah new friends that ah wound up ignorin’ her the way ah did,” continued Apple Bloom. “She just let it roll off her back and let me do mah own thing. She never got in mah face an’ asked me why ah wasn’t hangin’ out with her anymore. She coulda. We hadn’t ended our friendship, as far as ah knew. We just sort o’ drifted apart. No. It was more like ah drifted away from her. She had every right ta ask me about it. Anypony else woulda... but she never did. An’ a part o’ me was hopin’ that she wouldn’t.”
Cheerilee nodded slowly as she gave Apple Bloom her undivided attention.
“Ah guess ah wanted a clean break from her an’ leavin’ her be was workin’ just fine,” continued Apple Bloom. “Ah found friends that ah had more in common with an’... ah guess there’s no point in denyin’ it... ah ditched her. It’s a terrible thing ta do ta somepony ya called a friend once. Ah’m ashamed o’ mahself fer that. Ah never even congratulated her when she got her own cutie mark. Ah couldn’t at the time. Ah was jealous. Celestia, do ah hate that part o’ mahself. A-Ah don’t even know if ah made her sad by ignorin’ her an’ she was just holdin’ it in so that she wouldn’t be guiltin’ me into ditchin’ mah new friends an’ hangin’ out with her again. An’ if that was what she was really doin’...”
Apple Bloom’s eyes glistened with tears as her voice rose in pitch.
“...then... she was a better friend ta me than ah was ta her... even after ah wrote her off.” Apple Bloom sniffled and blew her nose into a facial tissue as quietly as possible. “Ah’m sorry, Miss Cheerilee. Ah didn’t mean ta ramble.”
Silver Spoon fidgeted in her seat, finding it difficult to get comfortable as she listened to Apple Bloom’s tale. She removed her glasses and deliberately left them off her snout so as to blur the faces of anypony that might be giving her disdainful looks.
“I understand, Apple Bloom,” said Cheerilee. “Regret can be a terrible thing... but you were kind to her once and I know that she appreciated any time that you gave her. Thank you for sharing. Scootaloo? Did you have any thoughts about Twist that you wanted to share?”
Scootaloo’s ears perked up.
“Oh, uh, me?” said Scootaloo.
“Miss Cheerilee?” said Diamond Tiara. “You skipped me.”
“Scootaloo,” said Cheerilee. “We’re waiting on you.”
“Miss Cheerilee?” called Diamond Tiara, raising her hoof. “I believe I was next.”
“Uhhh, I think somepony’s trying to get your attention, Miss Cheerilee,” said Scootaloo.
“She can wait her turn like everypony else,” declared Cheerilee.
“You said you were going around the room,” noted Diamond Tiara. “If you started with Apple Bloom and then went to Scootaloo, that means that you skipped over me! Silver Spoon is the first student in this row. Did you start from the middle with Apple Bloom or did you start from the left and skip over Silver Spoon?”
Cheerilee closed her eyes and cleared her throat.
“Class,” she said, “why don’t I give you a break so that I may share with you what I’ll remember most about Twist?”
Diamond Tiara frowned.
“Copout,” she muttered under her breath.
“As you know, students putting apples on a teacher’s desk is a tradition that goes way back,” began Cheerilee as she paced back and forth in front of her desk. “I do love a good apple. Some of my old friends like Mayor Mare would joke around with me, saying that I got into teaching for the free apples. Twist was quite good at making candy and when she got her cutie mark, her candy output went off the charts. She brought dozens of candies with her to give to all of you, do you remember that?”
Most of the class either nodded or muttered a yes.
“So,” she continued, “to be a little different, Twist started putting peppermint sticks on my desk instead of apples. What she didn’t know was that I was allergic to peppermint. I’ve been allergic to it all my life. It’s not a fatal allergy, thank Celestia. It just inflames the lining of my mouth and I’ve come to associate the smell of it with that uncomfortable feeling. Anyway, I meant to tell her of my peppermint allergy but she was so proud of discovering her special talent and seemed so happy to give the sticks to me that I didn’t have the heart to turn them down. I thanked her for each one she gave me. And so every school day for about a month, I could count on seeing one of Twist’s peppermint sticks sitting on my desk beside the apples that the rest of you had so generously given me. After a while, I had so many of the peppermint sticks that they started to clutter my top desk drawer and the scent was not very pleasant.”
Cheerilee walked behind her desk and pulled open its large side drawer. She removed what appeared to be a tall cylindrical tin of Hearth’s Warming Eve cookies.
“My solution was to collect them in this decorative cookie tin that I brought from home,” she continued. “It used to contain storebought Hearth’s Warming Eve cookies but when the cookies were all gone, the tin was too pretty to just throw out so I kept it in case I might need to put something special inside it some day. Plus the lid fits so snugly that it keeps the peppermint smell locked away. Then one day, the peppermint sticks stopped showing up and as it turned out, it was because Twist had started bringing me apples again. I asked her about why she had gone back to giving me apples. As it turned out, when I asked her to fetch some tape for me from my drawer as I was putting up some holiday decorations, she found the tin with all the peppermint sticks inside. I’ll never forget what she said to me. She said ‘I want to give you something that makes you happy to receive, not just what makes me happy to give.’ That is a very special lesson in giving to learn. And she learned it on her own.”
Miss Cheerilee removed the lid from the cookie tin. The smell of peppermint wasn’t nearly as bad as she remembered it.
“In the spirit of Twist’s giving nature, I want each of you to have one of these,” she said. Cheerilee walked to the back of the classroom to distribute the peppermint sticks to her students. Each student took a stick from Cheerilee's mouth as she presented it to them. “You may eat them or you may hold on to them as a memento. Whichever you choose is fine with me. Either way, I’m sure Twist would have been honored by you accepting them.”
When Cheerilee had finished giving out candy sticks to the students in the back and center rows, Diamond Tiara opened her mouth to prepare to take one. After giving one to Scootaloo, the pony seated behind Diamond Tiara, Cheerilee deliberately walked past Diamond Tiara to give one to Apple Bloom.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” complained Diamond Tiara. “Again? What happened to ‘each of you gets one’?”
Cheerilee ignored Diamond Tiara’s question.
Apple Bloom grinned as Cheerilee gently bit down on a candy stick, slid it out of the tin, and gave it to Apple Bloom.
“Thank you, Miss Cheerilee,” said Apple Bloom as she gently bit down on the candy stick and took it from Cheerilee.
“You’re welcome, Apple Bloom,” said Cheerilee softly.
As Cheerilee’s back was turned, Apple Bloom stuck her tongue out at Diamond Tiara.
Cheerilee passed by Silver Spoon’s desk just as she did to Diamond Tiara, opting not to give her a stick. Silver Spoon sank in her desk, accepting the fact that her teacher slighted her. She hardly needed a memento as she was in no danger of forgetting Twist any time soon.
“You skipped over Silver Spoon, too, I see,” said Diamond Tiara. “You know what? I’m over it. Keep your peppermint sticks. I can buy a whole bag of the things for one bit at my daddy’s store. It’s so like you to prize things of little value, isn’t it, Miss Cheerilee?” Diamond Tiara brought her right forehoof to her mouth and fake-coughed while blurting out Twist’s name in between coughs.
Cheerilee frowned. She marched to Diamond Tiara, set the tin on top of the pink filly’s desk and looked her straight in the eye.
“Twist was a precious student of mine, Diamond Tiara...” said Cheerilee. She turned her head to the left. “...and Silver Spoon.”
Silver Spoon had turtled in her seat as far as she could. She emitted a soft whine in response to having her name called.
“She was of great value to me; more valuable than...” Cheerilee held her tongue and decided to say something more professional than her original thought. “...she was more valuable than I can ever express... and she’s no longer with us because you and your friend thought it would be funny to be mean to her. I’m not surprised that you don’t want to show me any respect but, for Celestia’s sake, please have some respect for the dead.”
“Ex-kee-yooze me?” asked Diamond Tiara. “No-no-no-no.”
Diamond Tiara rose from her seat and walked over to Cheerilee’s desk.
“Where do you think you’re going?” asked Cheerilee. “I haven’t given you permission to leave your desk.”
Diamond Tiara helped herself to an apple from Cheerilee’s desk and she took a bite. Sauntering back to her own desk, Diamond Tiara chewed on her mouthful of apple as she continued her thought, her voice muffled from her pilfered snack.
“Mmm,” she mumbled. “Oh, that’s good. Anyway – Your precious student is no longer with us because she wasn’t watching where she was going.” She swallowed and shrugged. “It could have happened to anypony! And where is it written that we have to respect the dead?” She took another bite of her apple and chewed, speaking once again with her mouth full. “I didn’t respect Twist when she was alive and now I’m supposed to respect her because she’s dead? That’s not only stupid, it’s pointless! It’s not like she can hear me. Everypony is acting as though we planned her death. For the millionth time, we didn’t set out to kill Twist! Who in their right mind would ever go through the hassle of murdering a nopony like her? The girl’s special talent was making candy, for crying out loud! I’m pretty sure Equestria will survive without her.”
There was a blur, a clatter of small hooves and a slam of the front door hitting the wall after being swung open. Cheerilee looked over her class and saw that Truffle Shuffle’s seat was now empty. She surmised that he was so upset over his former Hearts and Hooves Day sweetheart Twist being badmouthed that he couldn’t stay in the schoolhouse to listen to another word.
Cheerilee’s ears drooped. Her heart went out to the little colt as she walked to the front door to closed.
“Though I suppose she at least had a talent... which is more than I can say for some ponies I know,” continued Diamond Tiara with her mouth full. “Mmph, hey, Silver Spoon, put your glasses on and check this out.”
Silver Spoon did as she was instructed.
“Apple Bloom’s getting her cutie mark,” said Diamond Tiara. Leaning toward Apple Bloom’s desk, she spat out the chewed up apple mush against Apple Bloom’s left flank.
“Hey!” yelled Apple Bloom.
Silver Spoon quickly hid her face. Despite her friend’s diatribe, the apple mush assault on Apple Bloom managed to make her snicker. She didn’t see the apple mush come in contact with Apple Bloom’s left flank because she was seated to her right but she got what happened.
Cheerilee’s ears perked up. She turned around and walked back to the front of the room.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Would you look at that?” said Diamond Tiara. “It’s even apple related.” She smiled at Apple Bloom. “You’re welcome.”
“Ya ruttin’ biyutch!” growled a furious Apple Bloom. She scrambled out of her seat and ran toward Diamond Tiara to teach her some long overdue manners. Diamond Tiara was one step ahead of Apple Bloom and had already left her seat by the time Apple Bloom was on her hooves. She smiled wickedly as she ran around her desk, keeping it between herself and Apple Bloom.
“APPLE BLOOM, STOP IT THIS INSTANT!” shouted Cheerilee as she stood on her hind legs and caught Apple Bloom with her forelegs. As much as Apple Bloom wanted to show her disgusting classmate what her revolting act had earned her, she did as Cheerilee asked and stopped chasing her. Apple Bloom’s chest expanded and contracted as she caught her breath.
“Apple Bloom said dirty words to me, Miss Cheerilee,” said Diamond Tiara as air raced in and out of her open mouthed smile. “And she tried to attack me. She must be punished.”
Cheerilee raised an eyebrow.
“I do not need you to tell me how to do my job, Diamond Tiara,” said Cheerilee, “so I would appreciate it if you would clean up this mess and return to your seat while I handle this.” Diamond Tiara trotted off to the supply closet to fetch the whisk broom and dustpan. “Apple Bloom, I’m very sorry to do this to you but you did swear in the classroom... and you know the punishment for that.”
Apple Bloom’s lower lip quivered.
“But she spat on me!” whimpered Apple Bloom, driven to tears over the injustice of Cheerilee’s decision.
“I didn’t actually witness it with my own eyes but the evidence would suggest that you’re telling the truth. However, that does not give you the right to attack your classmate in retaliation. Diamond Tiara, please apologize to Apple Bloom for provoking her.”
“So sorry, Apple Bloom,” said Diamond Tiara with the whisk broom between her teeth, feigning remorse as she swept up the globs of masticated apple. “I guess spitting apples at ponies who have no talent is just my way of coping with the loss of such a precious classmate.”
Apple Bloom walked to the back of the classroom and sat in the Stool of Shame which was set up in the corner. She opened the box of jumbo sized Band-Neighed brand bandages underneath the stool and pulled one out. It had the words FOUL MOUTH written on top of it. There were other bandages inside the box for different vocal offenses, such as CHATTY CATHY and BACK TALKER but she pulled the right one on the first try. Peeling the adhesive backing away from the plastic strips, she pressed the bandage against her mouth right side up and snorted angrily as she sat on the stool, frowning and seething. She had never been so humiliated in her life and she vowed to settle the score with her vile nemesis.
“Now where was I?” Diamond Tiara asked herself as she disposed of the mess in the trash can and returned the whisk broom and dustpan to the supply closet. “Oh, yes. Judge Harshly didn’t believe that we killed anypony – and if he didn’t, why should we give a mule what any of you believe?”
Cheerilee didn’t care for Diamond Tiara’s continued usage of the word ‘mule’ in her class to mean something bad or undesirable.
“Mind your tongue, young lady,” said Cheerilee.
“Mind yours, old lady!” shot back Diamond Tiara. “Or would you still be...? Yeah... I guess technically you’re still a lady.”
Cheerilee flinched as Diamond Tiara’s eyes locked on to hers.
And Cheerilee felt a shiver go up her spine.
Could she know? she wondered. No, that’s not possible. How could she know?
“I... won’t tolerate any back talk from you or anypony, Diamond Tiara.”
“It's not back talk. It was your idea to set aside this time for us to talk about how this tragedy has affected us. Well, I belong to this class, too... and I’ve got some things I want to say. You're silencing me because you don’t share my views! Well, just because you don't agree with me doesn’t mean I don’t get to express my views. You’ve said it yourself in the past. You told us that this is a place of learning for free thinkers and that we have the right to speak our minds freely.”
“That applies only if you can conduct yourself respectfully. I’ll allow you some time to speak but if you step out of line, I will revoke your right to speak freely.”
“Huh! If they can be taken away, they aren’t rights... but I’ll try.” Diamond Tiara cleared her throat. “What happened to Twist was an ac-ci-dent... and accidents happen! Just ask Scootaloo’s parents.”
Scootaloo was already gnawing on her pencil when Diamond Tiara started spewing her bile earlier. After hearing that remark, she bit clean through it. She spat out particles of wood, paint and graphite, materials that didn’t leave nearly as bad of a taste in her mouth as sitting there and doing nothing as Diamond Tiara took a cheap shot at her.
“Diamond Tiara!” grunted Cheerilee.
“What?” asked Diamond Tiara. “I didn’t say anything bad! Whatever you take away from my statement is completely outside of my control.”
“Settle down,” whispered Silver Spoon out of the corner of her mouth. She thought Diamond Tiara’s zinger was a good one but it should have been fired off in private or on the playground, not in front of everypony. There were rules of engagement for bullying and Diamond Tiara was breaking them all with no fear of getting written up for her gross misconduct in class.
“And has it occurred to anypony here that Silver Spoon and I could have been the ones hit by that train instead?” asked Diamond Tiara as she turned around in her desk and looked at her classmates. “We were cautious and Twist wasn’t. Them’s the breaks, kid! I absolutely refuse to take every dirty look from everypony for the crime of being cautious! I know what you all thought of Silver Spoon and me before all of this happened and there’s no way that all of you would be sitting around talking about how much you missed us if we were the ones who got hit by that train. I'd bet that half of you would probably be planning a party to celebrate our deaths. And another thing: everypony’s been soooo busy throwing sympathy around left and right for poor little Twist... but where’s your sympathy for me, hm?”
Everypony in class looked at one another, completely clueless as to why Diamond Tiara felt that she was deserving of any sympathy. Diamond Tiara’s pupils narrowed with disbelief as she scanned the class for anypony who knew what she was talking about. She found none. Angered by their lack of intelligence, she threw her hooves up in disgust as she pointed out the obvious. She furrowed her brow and gestured with her hoof to draw attention to her head.
“I... have a bump... on my head!” stated Diamond Tiara. “It’s been like forever and it still hasn’t gone down all the way. It really hurts, too.” Her pupils expanded and she pouted.
Cheerilee sighed and hung her head.
“I’ve failed you, Diamond Tiara,” she said.
Diamond Tiara’s jaw dropped.
“What?” she spat. “You can’t do that! The semester’s not even over yet! My daddy will sue the school board for this!”
Cheerilee shook her head slowly as tears ran down her face.
“I didn’t mean your grades. I meant that, as a teacher, I’ve failed to reach you; to inspire you by setting an example for you to follow. I’ve spent years honing my craft, studying ways to help even the most troubled students and I’ve always succeeded... until now. I don’t know what happened to you two in your personal lives that turned you into such heartless, unfeeling, remorseless... miscreants... but I see now that the scars run too deep for me to get you to treat others with respect, be they dead or alive. It was my job to reach you. It's my failure.”
Silver Spoon winced at Cheerilee’s weepy words and she wanted to reassure her teacher that her hard work had not gone unnoticed but nopony was paying attention to her right now and she wanted to remain as invisible for as long as equinely possible.
“Oh, brava, Miss Cheerilee,” said Diamond Tiara as she clapped her forehooves together a few times. “You can’t fool me. You’re trying to diffuse my anger by accepting blame. Well, not only is that not going to work but now I’m even angrier than I was before! I have a right to my anger and the right to express it! But I’m done with this stupid topic so let’s forget about it, okay? Now if we’re done reminiscing about fillies who are better off dead, could we please get on with our first subject of the day? I’ve got a hooficure appointment after class and I don’t want to be late for it because somepony was too busy handing out sticks of striped manure to perform her meaningless job properly!”
With a wide swing of her left foreleg, Diamond Tiara callously swatted the tin of peppermint sticks across the room. Cheerilee’s jaw dropped as she watched her tin sail across the room, strike a wall and then roll underneath a broken desk that was set in the far corner of the classroom. Considering the amount of force that Diamond Tiara used when she hit it, there was little doubt in anypony’s mind that every stick inside – the sticks that were given to Cheerilee with love – was now cracked.
Cheerilee looked back at Diamond Tiara, stunned beyond words. If such things could be verified visually, Cheerilee was unsure if there was a soul behind those deceptively beautiful blue eyes.
“What is wrong with you, Diamond Tiara?” asked Sweetie Belle.
“Yeah, those were hers, you meanie pants!” said Dinky.
“You had no right to break her stuff!” said Button.
“So not cool,” said Scootaloo.
Diamond Tiara ignored her classmates.
“Hel-lo-oh!” said Diamond Tiara, waving her hoof back and forth in front of Cheerilee’s face. “Is anypony home? How do you expect me to ace my tests if you can’t even begin a simple lesson?"
Diamond Tiara smiled wickedly at the mare she had bent but not broken.
Not yet.
She ran her tongue over her lips as she prepared to deliver the finishing blow to Cheerilee.
“If you’re not going to start a lesson,” she posed, “why don’t you go down to the tavern to cry into a mug of hard cider with your friend Berry Punch and whine about how no stallion will marry you because you can’t have any foals of your own?”
Cheerilee gasped, as did everypony else in the classroom.
Oh, manure, thought Cheerilee as she dropped to her plot and sat on the floor. She does know. She covered her mouth with her forehooves and whimpered.
Silver Spoon gasped, unsure of how her friend could have learned such a secret about their teacher– or how she could reveal it.
Apple Bloom looked at Cheerilee. The mare’s horrified face indicated that Diamond Tiara was telling the truth. She turned around and saw that Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were equally shocked as well as in tears. Was this why Miss Cheerilee didn’t have a very special somepony? A tear ran down Apple Bloom’s cheek as she glared at Diamond Tiara, ashamed of herself for the terrible thoughts that danced through her head; thoughts of teaching her classmate a lesson in respecting the privacy of others – one hoof to the head at a time.
“That’s right, everypony,” said Diamond Tiara as she turned her head to face the class, her features beaming with arrogant pride. “Miss Cheerilee is biologically incapable of having babies. When she was about our age, she had a bilateral oophorectomy. That means that she had both of her ovaries surgically removed.”
Cheerilee’s trembling lips moved but no sound came out.
“H-H-How did you...?” was all she could get out.
“You know, it really is apalling just how lax Ponyville Hospital security is,” said Diamond Tiara as she inspected her own hoof for imperfections. “I mean, just because a filly’s wealthy father is on the hospital’s board of directors shouldn’t mean that his beautiful daughter can be allowed to romp and play in the medical records room and rummage through the file cabinets unsupervised... but apparently, it does.”
Diamond Tiara reached into her saddlebag beside her seat and produced a file folder that she threw into the air, causing it to spin and open which sent the documents within flying all over the classroom.
“There’s my proof if anypony’s stupid enough to doubt my word,” she added. “Rumor has it that you and Apple Bloom’s doll-rutting dimwit of a brother Big Macintosh were supposedly an item once upon a time. Ha ha ha ha! What a joke! Surely a family-oriented stallion like him would want a mare who’d help him expand his family tree, not prune it. Big Mac’s a farmer and any good farmer knows not to plant his seed in an unfertile... plot of land! Hee hee hee hee hee! Oh! Oh! I’ve got another one! No wonder you became a teacher, Miss Cheerilee; a classroom’s the only place you can have... periods! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
Cheerilee let out a ragged whimper as tears fell from her face. She closed her eyes, trembled and sobbed. She wanted to believe that Diamond Tiara was just a child who didn’t fully comprehend the magnitude of her words but she knew that this was not true. The nonstop insults were cutting deep and Cheerilee’s spirit was being whittled away.
Just run away, Cheerilee, don’t let her get to you. You can claim that you’re not feeling well. Just walk away and deal with this tomorrow... and the day after that... and the day after that...
Apple Bloom defiantly ripped the Band-Neighed off of her mouth.
“Diamond Tiara!” she growled loudly enough to be heard from the back of the room, “if ya don’t shut the hoof up right now, ah swear ah’ll-”
“You swear you’ll what, Apple Goon?” asked Diamond Tiara, turning in her seat to address her. “You’ll sing me a song about friendship in that ignorant, backwoods, hillbilly accent of yours? You don’t scare me. Your family’s lack of genetic diversity? Now that’s scary! Oh!” Diamond Tiara faced forward again and addressed Cheerilee. “Hey! You know what you should do, Miss Cheerilee? You should go talk to some of the newborns at the Ponyville Hospital’s nursery and ask them if they want to rent out that old womb you’re not using! Ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
Cheerilee bawled. Is this what her years of selflessness and dedication to the honored profession of teaching had earned her? Ridicule at the hooves of a monster?
Run away. Get out of here. Go home. Get drunk. Pass out. Do whatever you have to do but don’t snap. Don’t snap. Don’t snap. Don’t snap. Don’t snap. Don’t snap. Don’t snap. Don’t snap. Don’t snap.
“Diamond, please stop,” beseeched Silver Spoon. “Can’t you see you’re making her cry?”
“Why, so I am,” said Diamond Tiara. “Let me see if I can do anything about that. Awwww, cheer up, Mister Cheerilee, sir. Look at the bright side. You can sleep with all the stallions in town and not get knocked up. Or at least the stallions who can afford your... prices.”
Cheerilee stopped crying.
Cheerilee was truly blessed with a generous amount of patience. One had to be patient with children if they were going to enter a career as a teacher. Her students from years past were always very well behaved and a large percentage of them were happy to have her around. Many ponies believed that she’d never lose her patience with a student.
But nopony, not even Cheerilee, ever thought that one of her students would imply that she was a prostitute.
And in front of her class.
Cheerilee listened for the little voice in her head that told her not to snap.
It was absent.
And she was glad of it.
Cheerilee walked briskly to Diamond Tiara’s desk. She stopped beside her and snorted at her angrily.
“What do you think you’re doing?” asked Diamond Tiara as she looked at Cheerilee from head to hoof and back again, frowning with an open mouth.
“Something that somepony should have done a long time ago,” replied Cheerilee.
With a backhoof swing of her left foreleg, Cheerilee swatted the tiara off of her student’s head, sending the jeweled accessory flying into a wall and then clattering to the floor.
“Hey!” yelled Diamond Tiara.
Cheerilee reached forward and held Diamond Tiara’s forelock fast between her clenched teeth.
“Ow!” cried Diamond Tiara. “OWWW!! MY BUMP! AAAAAAAHAHOWWWW!!”
Cheerilee pulled Diamond Tiara out of her seat by her forelock and dragged her over to the teacher’s desk. She lifted Diamond Tiara off the ground and slammed her down on the desk on her belly with her hind legs dangling over the desk’s front edge. She then pinned her student to the desk by placing her hoof on her back.
Diamond Tiara grunted and tried to escape but Cheerilee outweighed her three times over. Physics was simply not on her side.
“LET ME GO!!” she yelled. “GET OFF OF ME!!”
Cheerilee lifted her hoof long enough to place Diamond Tiara’s tail under that same hoof and then pin her to the desk, thus exposing the filly’s plot to the class. Diamond Tiara’s pupils narrowed as she saw Cheerilee pick up her wooden chalkboard pointer with her free hoof.
She knew what was about to happen next.
“Oh, no...” whimpered Diamond Tiara. “Please, Miss Cheerilee... Don’t! PLEASE!!!”
Ignoring her student’s request, Cheerilee began whipping Diamond Tiara’s buttocks without mercy. Diamond screamed out in pain, flailing her hind legs wildly with each strike as she struggled in vain to save herself.
At first, the class thought they would be elated to see Diamond Tiara receive her just deserts.
They were mistaken.
“HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME THAT WAY, YOU INCORRIGIBLE LITTLE MONSTER?!” screamed Cheerilee as she continued her unrelenting assault on her student. “JUST BECAUSE YOU WERE BORN INTO A LIFE OF PRIVILEGE DOES NOT GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO TREAT EVERYPONY ELSE LIKE MANURE!”
They had never heard their teacher scream in anger before – nor had they ever seen her spank a foal. Everypony in class flinched with each sharp crack of the thin wooden rod landing across Diamond Tiara’s rump. Even those who were upset with Diamond Tiara – and there were more than a few of them – now found it difficult not to sympathize with a fellow foal being abused by an adult.
The sound was sickening.
The whooshing sound of the pointer whistling through the air like a golf club followed by the smacking sound it created upon striking Diamond Tiara’s buttocks.
Over and over.
Each time her classmates thought the next strike would be the last one, they were wrong.
Again and again.
Ten seconds had gone by.
Then twenty.
Then thirty.
All with Diamond Tiara’s maniacal screaming in the background.
Her bottom began to turn a deeper shade of pink.
Then a constellation of dark pink welts appeared across it.
Then red bloody slashes appeared across it.
Drops of crimson flecked the surface of the desks in the front row and the pointer itself was now stained with blood.
Diamond Tiara’s screams gave way to bawling as she gave up the fight to free herself and began to urinate. This did not escape the notice of her classmates but they made every effort to stifle their gut reaction.
Apple Bloom’s conscience was a whirlwind of inner turmoil. She was incensed with Diamond Tiara over how she spat on her flank as well as how she spilled a sensitive secret like Cheerilee’s sterility but witnessing how viciously Cheerilee was laying into Diamond Tiara had drawn something from Apple Bloom that she never thought she’d feel toward her enemy – sympathy.
Scootaloo began to cry, hating herself for feeling compassion for a filly as rotten as Diamond Tiara.
Sweetie Belle covered her eyes and cowered in fear.
No amount of bad behavior or revealed secrets could ever warrant abuse to this degree.
No teacher had the right to cause a student physical injury over words.
Silver Spoon was just as stunned as the rest of class but she snapped out of her stupor, realizing that she had an obligation to rescue her beloved friend from this beating. She cursed herself for not stepping in sooner. She hopped out of her desk and ran to the front of the classroom.
“Miss Cheerilee!” cried Silver Spoon, “Please stop-EEK!”
Cheerilee stopped Silver Spoon’s advance with a single backhoof swat across the face with the chalkboard pointer. Silver Spoon squealed as the pointer connected with her cheek and knocked her glasses off of her face. She sank to the floor and bawled as she held the area. It felt like a giant wasp had stung her face. She took her hoof away from her face and looked at it. She found what looked like a bloodstain on it but she didn’t know if it was Diamond Tiara’s or her own. As bad as it smarted, she couldn’t imagine just how much worse Diamond Tiara was smarting having taken Celestia knows how many hits on the rear end from that pointer.
“SILVER SPOON, I SWEAR TO CELESTIA THAT YOU WILL BE NEXT ON THIS DESK UNLESS YOU GET BACK TO YOUR SEAT RIGHT NOW!” screamed Cheerilee.
The threat frightened Silver Spoon so much that she ran out of the schoolhouse crying.
Cheerilee’s chest rose and fell rapidly with each breath she took. She was exhausted after whipping Diamond Tiara. She looked at the pink filly and found that she was still lying on the desk, weeping, trembling and utterly powerless – a far cry from the pompous, egotistical bully that first set hoof in her classroom this morning. She looked at Diamond Tiara's rump and saw that it was a bloody mess. It looked like she had slid down a park slide laced with barbed wire. Cheerilee was too far gone psychologically to feel any remorse for her actions against her pint sized jailer but she did have the wherewithall to know that it wasn’t enough to simply punish Diamond Tiara physically. She needed to be made to understand why she had been subjected to this torture so that it would never happen again.
Cheerilee reached out and grabbed Diamond Tiara by the mane with her teeth, turning her around and posing her to sit upright to face the class. Diamond Tiara cried even louder as the area of her body that had been whipped open multiple times was now supporting her weight. She covered her eyes with her forehooves and wept, her jaw hanging open with her trembling lower lip curled up inside her mouth. The only time her crying ceased was when she would cough or sniffle and swallow the post-nasal drip that accumulated in her throat.
“How does fear feel, Diamond Tiara?” asked Cheerilee. “How does pain feel? How does humiliation feel?” Diamond Tiara was too busy crying to answer the question. “Not so good, right? Well, guess what? It feels just as bad to everypony else... so if you wouldn’t want those things visited upon you, DON’T VISIT THEM UPON OTHERS! Celestia knows I’ve tried to impart this lesson to you countless times and it took doing THIS to you in order to get it across! Celestia only knows if you’ll actually retain it.”
Silver Spoon’s terror stricken heart was pounding like a kettle drum as she galloped into town. As if she wasn’t frightened enough by Cheerilee and the thought of Diamond Tiara being beaten further, she had left her glasses behind. Ponies all looked like blobs to her. Fortunately, some adult sized blobs entered her field of vision and she ran over to them.
“Help me!” she cried.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” asked one of the stallion blobs.
“My friend is in trouble!”
“Hey, wait a minute,” said a second stallion blob. “I know this kid. I read about her in the Ponyville Express. She’s one of those snot-nosed rich bitches who got that Twist kid killed and got off scot free.”
“Hey, yeah, you’re right,” said a third stallion blob.
“And now she needs help from a bunch of poor ponies like us?” said the first.
“I need an adult!" she cried. "My friend is being beaten by an adult! Her life could be in danger! Please help her!”
“Huh! Why don’t you ask your lawyer for help?”
“Please! This is an emergency!”
“What’s wrong with your eyes, kid?”
“I lost my glasses and I can't see so well without them! Now please come with me!”
“So you can’t see so good without ‘em, eh?”
“Come on! Every second we waste- EEK!” Silver Spoon felt something rub against her plot and she spun around. “Don’t touch me there, you jerk!” She felt something touch her plot again. "EEEEK!”
A round of raucous laughter rose from the stallions as they surrounded Silver Spoon and took turns touching her plot, no matter which direction she faced.
“STOP THAAAAT!” she screamed. “SOMEPONY HELP MEEE!!”
She cried for her beloved’s life as she walked backward away from the stallion blobs who were harassing her. They quickly and inexplicably ran off when a new blob suddenly appeared.
“Are you all right, Silver Spoon?” said a mare’s voice. “Did those young stallions hurt you?”
“You know me? Who are you?”
“Can’t you - Oh, I see your glasses are missing. It’s me, dear; Mayor Mare.”
Silver Spoon’s heart jumped for joy as tears of happiness flowed down her face.
“Ms. Mayor! Thank Celestia! Please help Diamond Tiara! Cheerilee’s beating her to death in the schoolhouse!”
“So you found out about my surgery,” said Cheerilee to Diamond Tiara. “Congratulations! I’m a little sensitive about it but I think you might have already guessed that. I’ll tell you one thing, though." Cheerilee stood right in front of Diamond Tiara and stuck her nose in her face. "If I was pregnant with a little girl and I knew that she’d grow up to be even half of the cold, heartless bitch that you are, I’D RIP OUT MY OWN UTERUS IN THE FIRST TRIMESTER!!"
Cheerilee inhaled. Her throat hurt but she didn't care. She wasn't finished lecturing yet. This was for educational purposes.
"YOU’RE TOO YOUNG AND IGNORANT TO UNDERSTAND HOW PAINFUL IT IS TO WANT TO START A FAMILY OF YOUR OWN WHEN YOUR BODY WON’T COOPERATE!! DO YOU FIND MY INFERTILITY FUNNY?? YOU THINK YOU’VE GOT EVERYTHING FIGURED OUT BECAUSE YOU’LL NEVER HAVE TO WORK A DAY IN YOUR LIFE?! YOU THINK YOU’RE SO SMART?! YOU... KNOW... NOTHING ABOUT THE REAL WORLD – OR WORKING AT SOMETHING YOU LOVE! YOU HAVEN’T GOT AN OUNCE OF RESPECT FOR ANYPONY! YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT ANYPONY BUT YOURSELF!! YOU’RE A WASTE OF EQUINE LIFE! HOW IN CELESTIA’S NAME IS IT FAIR THAT A SELFISH, STUPID LITTLE MANURE STAIN OF A PONY LIKE YOU IS ALLOWED TO LIVE AND BREATHE DOING WHATEVER SHE DAMNED WELL PLEASES WHEN MY UNBORN CHILD DOESN’T EVEN GET THE COURTESY OF A FIGHTING CHANCE?? THE CLOSEST THING I HAD TO A FOAL OF MY OWN WAS... Twist."
Cheerilee gazed up at the ceiling and wondered what Twist would think of her if she could see her now. She didn’t even care that her other students were practically wetting themselves in their seats.
“Twist... was my little angel. She was the light of my life. A teacher is supposed to care about all of their students equally and it’s not right to pick a favorite – but I couldn’t help myself; Twist was special. My love of teaching was nothing compared to her love of learning, her love for... the possibilities that life had to offer. Her appreciation for the way I taught made coming to work each day a joy in and of itself. She loved me and I loved her more than I had a right to. If anything had happened to her parents, I would have leaped at the chance to take her in and raise her as my own daughter. And... Celestia help me, but... in my darkest moments... I even wished that such a thing would happen. I’m...”
Cheerilee took a moment to wipe her nose.
“I’m a teacher,” she continued. “I want to protect all of my students... my surrogate children... but I let the bad apples in the bunch take her from me because I was a coward. I didn’t do enough to discourage bullying. I was going to have the privilege of guiding Twist into adulthood. She would have invited me to her wedding. I would have been a nanny to her children. She would have welcomed me into her home to live with her family in my golden years... and you put an end to that dream. You extinguished the one light in my life. There was only one filly like her in the whole world... pure... innocent... and now she’s gone. Her last breath was spent crying tears that you caused.”
Cheerilee paused again. She pursed her lips together tightly and frowned as she slowly shook her head back and forth.
“It’s just not fair,” she concluded in a soft voice. “I want her back.” Her gaze left the ceiling and returned it to Diamond Tiara. “Trade places with her, Diamond Tiara. Bring Twist back to me and you stay in her grave. Okay?”
Diamond Tiara slowly lowered her trembling forehooves away from her face. She blinked, uncertain of how to answer her mad teacher’s request.
“TRADE PLACEEEEES!!!” screamed Cheerilee as she swung the pointer and struck her desk. Diamond Tiara flinched at the sound, as did everypony else in the classroom. She cringed and held her forehooves up to block a potential attack, too paralyzed by fear to run off. “I WANT HER BAAAAACK!!!!”
Diamond Tiara saw Cheerilee advance upon her and she screamed but it was cut short as Cheerilee slammed the length of the pointer across her throat and pushed down on it with her hooves on either end, pinning her to the desk and cutting off her air supply. All Diamond Tiara could get out was an otherworldly hiss and she couldn’t draw in enough air to produce another one. She tried to push up on the pointer with her forehooves but Cheerilee had leverage in abundance so it did nothing. She kicked at Cheerilee with her hind legs but that only seemed to increase the pressure on her throat.
The class was more panicked than before, uncertain of what to do. Should they step in and risk getting hit with the pointer like Silver Spoon?
“Miss Cheerilee, please stop!” shouted Peachy Pie. “You’re gonna kill her!”
“Very good, Peachy Pie!” said Cheerilee in her cheerful, upbeat voice. “I am, in fact, about to kill her. Does anypony know the name of the lawyer that defended Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon? I think I might need to hire him since he’s so good at getting murderers off. I’d ask Diamond Tiara for his name but she can’t answer me right now... CAN YOU? Oh, wait, never mind, I forgot that you can’t answer that, either. Ha ha ha.”
“MISS CHEERILEE!”
Cheerilee heard the voice of an adult. Removing the pointer from Diamond Tiara’s throat and turning around, she found Mayor Mare standing in the doorway with Silver Spoon behind her. Diamond Tiara inhaled deeply and coughed as she rolled off the desk and ran into the supply closet, shutting the door behind her.
Apart from the muffled coughing coming from behind the closet door, the room was silent.
The look on Mayor Mare’s face was one of immense sorrow.
And regret.
So much regret.
When they were youngsters, Mayor Mare was a bully who was the first pony to discover firsthoof how teasing Cheerilee until she reached her breaking point was a bad idea. The straw that broke the pony’s back was the day that she called Cheerilee a whore. The fight had been brutal. Cheerilee received a particularly serious injury when they rolled down a hill as they fought and Cheerilee landed abdomen first on a metal pipe that was part of a school sprinkler system.
Both of Cheerilee’s ovaries had ruptured past the point of repair and had to be removed, condemning her to a lifetime of hormonal replacement drugs with no shortage of negative side effects.
With tears streaming from her eyes, Mayor Mare walked up to Cheerilee and slowly removed the bloody pointer from her hoof, maintaining eye contact with her all the while. When it was in her possession, she let the pointer fall. It clattered loudly against the hardwood floor and the room was silent once more.
As a member of the Ponyville school board, Mayor Mare had a duty to say what needed to be said but the words didn’t come out. She didn’t want to say them. They were like razor blades sitting at the bottom of her lungs that would cut her windpipe on the way out.
She didn’t have to say them, as far as Cheerilee was concerned. She could see it on Mayor Mare’s face, plain as day.
Her career as a teacher – the career that she loved almost as much as she loved Twist – was now over.
Furthermore, she would never be allowed to work with or near children ever again.
And justifiably so.
Mayor Mare gently wrapped her forelegs behind Cheerilee’s neck and hugged her. She understood the pain and suffering that Cheerilee felt due to the loss of her favorite student but she could not condone the shape that her rage took.
“I’m so sorry, whispered Mayor Mare as the tears that ran down her face dripped from her jaw. “As the mayor... it’s my duty to... You have to... Please forgive me. I wish there was some other way. It’s... I’ll take you home.”
Cheerilee’s face slowly contorted into a twisted mass of wrinkles as her mouth widened and she bawled in deep, sustained, guttural sobs that sounded more like slow coughs. She mourned the loss of her livelihood, her friendships with her students – and her most treasured student who brought more to her life than apples and peppermint sticks. Whatever comfort there was to be had from Mayor Mare’s embrace did little to soothe her injured soul. Her forfeited purpose.
Mayor Mare lowered her head and walked between Cheerilee’s forelegs and hind legs and slowly lifted her until she her friend was lying across her back.
Cheerilee took one last look at her schoolhouse and its students. The foals stared at her with traumatized eyes Since words could not convey her regret properly, she made no attempt to apologize to them.
Her ears rotated as they heard Diamond Tiara coughing in the supply closet. She glared at the door angrily.
“Why did you have to pick on Twist?” gargled Cheerilee in a dry, rattling monstrous voice. “She never would have bothered you.” Her nose wrinkled as she sneered. “If she’d lived to be a hundred, she never would have bothered you! I hope you burn in Tartaros, Diamond Tiara!” Cheerilee closed her eyes and bawled once more.
“Class... you’re dismissed,” said Mayor Mare.
Some of the more sensitive students were crying – mostly the fillies but a few of the colts were in tears, too. They knew that this would be the last time their beloved teacher Miss Cheerilee would ever be permitted to pass through the schoolhouse doors.
Silver Spoon hopped down the steps and backed away several paces to give the mayor and her mad cargo a wide berth as they left the schoolhouse.
“Are you all right, Silver Spoon?” asked Mayor Mare.
“I’m shaken, Miss Mayor,” answered Silver Spoon, “but I think I’ll be okay.”
“Good.”
The students began to exit the schoolhouse in single file. Some went home while others hovered close by the steps and rubbernecked.
“What about her?” asked Silver Spoon. “Will she be okay?”
Mayor Mare sniffled.
“I don’t know,” she said softly. “I’m going to take Miss Cheerilee home now. I'll have a messenger deliver a notice to your doors about a substitute teacher and when classes will be back in session.” She gestured with a head tilt toward the schoolhouse. “Could you... see to it that Diamond Tiara receives medical attention and then makes it home safely?”
“Yes, Ms. Mayor.”
“Thank you. When you’re ready to leave, please lock the schoolhouse door on your way out.
“Okay, Ms. Mayor. Thank you again.”
A lonesome gust of wind danced across Apple Bloom’s bow and red mane as she shed some tears. She had her forelegs wrapped snugly about the back of both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle’s necks. They were weeping profusely and couldn’t bear to see their teacher get hauled away like a bag of garbage.
Silver Spoon ran inside the now abandoned schoolhouse. She found her glasses on the floor and put them on. Miraculously, they were in one piece and she breathed a sigh of relief over being granted the ability to see again. She ran to the supply closet door and knocked on it three times.
“Di?” she asked. “Di, it’s me. Miss Cheerilee’s gone so please open the door.”
“Get my tiara,” commanded a muffled voice that was presumably Diamond Tiara’s.
Silver Spoon shook her head as she questioned her friend’s priorities. She ran over to the spot where she remembered seeing the tiara land when Cheerilee knocked it off. She found it and picked it up. Celestia must have been offering two-for-ones on this day because the tiara, like her glasses, showed no sign of damage. She picked it up in her mouth and returned to the door.
“I’ve got it,” she said.
There was a moment of silence.
Diamond Tiara opened the door and Silver Spoon winced as she beheld her wounded first love within.
Tears of rage, fear, pain and embarassment flowed steadily down Diamond Tiara’s tomato red face which had been seized by a frightening scowl. Her sky blue eyes were tucked away behind a tensed pair of brow muscles and cheek muscles. She shivered as though she had just been rescued from falling through the ice of a frozen lake. Her lips had spread open as far as possible, showing off her teeth which were gnashed together. She was seated with her tail underneath her to protect her injured plot from the millions of germs that resided in the closet’s dusty old floor. There was blood on her throat, her hooves, her hind legs and her tail.
And she smelled of urine.
Silver Spoon stepped into the closet slowly and carefully, nervous about whether or not Diamond would lash out at her for not coming to her rescue before Cheerilee had done any serious damage. Taking the tiara out of her mouth with her forehooves, Silver Spoon stood on her hind legs and placed it on Diamond Tiara’s quivering head, making sure not to touch the area where the bump resided. Once it was on straight and the tort combs dug into Diamond Tiara’s mane securely, Silver Spoon stepped back and gave her friend some space.
“Thanks,” grumbled Diamond Tiara, coughing once as she looked straight ahead, making no eye contact with Silver Spoon. “Nopony... takes advantage of me... and gets away with it.” She hissed as she inhaled through her clenched teeth to refill her lungs with each pause in her speech. “Not a foal... not an adult... not a teacher... nopony. That mare... left this schoolhouse... thinking... that she just cost herself... her career... but what she really did... was sign her own rutting death warrant.”
“Diamond, sh-h-h-h,” coaxed Silver Spoon as she brushed a stray hair away from her beloved’s face. “It’s okay.”
Diamond Tiara looked up at Silver Spoon and her face contorted as though she had just been insulted. Her eyes opened wide as her pupils narrowed to the size of tiddlywinks.
“‘Okay’?” she asked as her eye twitched. The left corner of her mouth curled upward to form a half-smile. “‘Okay’?” She stood on all fours as her chest expanded from taking in a deep breath.
“THAT RUTTING LUNATIC HORSEWHIPPED ME UNTIL I PEED MYSELF IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE RUTTING CLASS, SILVER SPOON!!” she screamed as she resisted the urge to weep. “WHEN WORD OF THIS GETS AROUND, EVERYPONY’S GONNA CALL ME DIAMOND PEE-ARA UNTIL THE DAY I DIE!! WHAT THE RUT STRIKES YOU AS ‘OKAY’ ABOUT THAT, EXACTLY? HUH? IS THERE SOME NEW DEFINITION OF THE WORD ‘OKAY’ THAT CAME OUT THAT NOPONY TOLD ME ABOUT?”
“I only meant-”
“NO! THIS IS NOT RUTTING OKAY! THIS WON’T BE ‘OKAY’ UNTIL MY DADDY OWNS THIS RUTTING SCHOOL AND THAT BITCH IS LAID OUT IN A FREEZER AT THE MORGUE WITH A RUTTING TAG ON HER HOOF!! I DON’T CARE IF IT TAKES ME THE REST OF MY LIFE AND EVERY CENT OF MY INHERITANCE TO DO IT; I AM GONNA KILL HER AND CELESTIA HELP ANYPONY WHO TRIES TO GET IN MY WAY! THAT CRAZY FOAL-ABUSING BITCH IS RUTTING DEAD AND SHE DOESN’T EVEN RUTTING KNOW IT!!! MY OWN FATHER DOESN’T SPANK ME! WHO THE RUT DOES SHE THINK SHE IS?! I’M DIAMOND TIARAAAA!!”
Tears began to form in Silver Spoon’s eyes as her heart hurt to see her beloved in such a state.
As Diamond Tiara’s voice trailed off, her anger fled her face, leaving an expression of sadness behind.
“I’m... Diamond Tiara...” she squeaked.
Diamond Tiara closed her eyes and broke down crying as Silver Spoon strode up to her and wrapped a loving foreleg around the back of her neck. Silver Spoon’s throat burned as she wept with her friend.
“...I was so scared...” bawled Diamond Tiara.
“Me, too,” cried Silver Spoon. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t stop her from hurting you.”
“She was so rutting strong. You did the right thing getting Mayor Mare’s help. Thank you.” Diamond Tiara cleared her throat, sniffled and swallowed her postnasal drip. She released Silver Spoon, took a step backward and turned around. “Tell me how bad it looks back there.”
Silver Spoon winced as she saw Diamond Tiara's backside.
“Oh, Diamond... the hairs of your tail are stuck to your wounds. Caked in with the dried blood.”
“Damn it. Okay, well, then... p-pull them out.”
“But that’ll hurt.”
“Well, duh! I know it’ll hurt but they don’t belong in there so they’ll have to come out sooner or later. Just... do it slowly.”
“All right... Here I go.”
Silver Spoon grimaced as she slid her left forehoof underneath Diamond Tiara’s tail and slowly moved it upward, pulling the hairs out from the crusty and semi-crusty dried blood atop her cuts.
“Ow,” said Diamond Tiara. “Ow-ow-ow-owowowow OWWWW!! STOP!!” Silver Spoon quickly released Diamond Tiara’s tail. “Stop-stop-stop-stop-ow-ow-ow... ow... rut.”
“I’m sorry. I did it as gently as I could.”
“It’s all right. I’m not angry with you. Celestia, Luna and Cadance, that hurts so rutting much. Okay, take another look. How bad is it?”
“Well, some of them are light... but some of them look like they might need to be stitched closed. ”
“Rut. Well, I’m going to get the final number of stitches I need... and I’ll make sure to shove that number of chalkboard pointers up Miss Cheerilee’s plothole.” She did a double take as she noticed the mark on Silver’s face.
“Did she hit you in the face with that pointer?” asked Diamond Tiara.
“Yeah. Just once. I might need some stitches myself.”
Diamond Tiara frowned.
“That rutting bitch, hitting my friend. She’ll pay for this with her life. You’ll see.”
“Let’s get you hosed off behind the schoolhouse so we can go see Nurse Redheart at Ponyville hospital.”
“Okay.”
“And while you’re getting treated, I’ll run over to Carousel Boutique and see if Rarity has any foal-sized dresses to cover up your injuries.”
“All right.” Diamond Tiara took a step forward and winced. “Ow...” She stopped walking.
“What is it?”
“My cuts – they make walking hurt.”
Silver Spoon lay on the floor and looked up at Diamond Tiara.
“All aboard the Diamond Spoon Express.”
Diamond Tiara grinned. She didn’t even have to ask her friend for her help.
“Thanks.” She stepped gingerly over Silver Spoon and lay across her back. When she was still, Silver Spoon lifted her off the ground and carried her toward the front door. “You know that my pee is probably on your coat now, right?”
“So is your blood... but I don’t care about that. The hose will wash it off. It’s not like you peed directly on me.”
Diamond Tiara smirked.
“Give me fifty bits... and I will.”
Silver Spoon stopped walking and sputtered with laughter. Diamond Tiara laughed as well.
“Don’t make me laugh when I’m carrying you!” said Silver Spoon, punctuating her demand with a hoof stomp. “Do you want me to fall down the stairs and drop you?”
“Oh, rut, that would hurt so damned much. I’ll be quiet then.”
Silver Spoon successfully navigated the stairs with her friend on her back and she began the trip behind the schoolhouse to get to the garden hose.
“Forty,” stated Silver Spoon.
“Fifty,” shot back Diamond Tiara.
“Forty-five and that’s my final offer.”
“Fifty. This is high quality pee I’m selling here. Fresh from the source!”
Both fillies giggled.
“Hey, Silver?”
“Yeah?”
Diamond Tiara hesitated.
“Do you think I deserved what Cheerilee did to me?”
Silver Spoon stopped walking.
“Oh, no, Di...” said Silver Spoon sympathetically as she turned her head to look Diamond Tiara in the eye. “I would never think such a thing; not in a million years. No foal deserves what she did to you... but...”
“But?”
Silver Spoon hesitated.
“But... I think Cheerilee deserved what you did to her even less.”
She continued walking to the hose in silence.
Diamond Tiara matched her friend’s silence.