Chapter 1: Married with Silver
"Hi dearest, did you have a good day at work?" A cheerful voice asked from the kitchen as Diamond Tiara pushed open the door to her Ponyville home.
"Same as usual, sweets. Same as usual." She replied as she walked through the hallway and into the kitchen, stopping to put a hoof around her special somepony and kiss them right on the lips. "How's dinner coming along? We shouldn't be late for the reunion."
"It's already done. I kept it a simple affair as we will no doubt be offered sandwiches and snacks along with the coffee." Silver Spoon answered as she lifted a pot of soup off the cooking place and carried it into their living room's dinner corner.
It had been two years that Silver and Diamond had lived together as a married couple, and despite their inauspicious backgrounds, the compassion they held for each other hadn't changed. Diamond hadn't dared to hope for it, given the shortcomings of her own homestead as a filly.
She remembered the day when her mother left to Manehattan to pursue her own career in the world of fashion. Despite her promise to Diamond Tiara she'd return, the months passed and the date when she was supposed to return went by. Yet more time elapsed in which Diamond's uncertainty grew. Had she done something to upset her mother? Did she knew her daughter teased and bullied fellow school fillies out of fear they would bring up her absent mother to attack her? Was she aware how envious Diamond had become of other foals who were in loving, stable families and decided she didn't want a daughter who was jealous? On the few occasions her father had the time, she would ask these questions and he'd always assure her it wasn't her fault mother wasn't coming back. She was just very busy with her career in Manehatten. And then one day she found a letter with a Manehattan post stamp for her dad in their mansion's doormat. Breaking all confidentiality in a desperate hope it contained good news, she had opened it to read the contents. It was a formally composed letter asking for a divorce.
Tiara was devastated afterwards. At no point in the intervening months her she received correspondence from her mother inquiring after her life. Even the letter she had sent telling her mother of her Cute-ceañera had received no reply, let alone an attendance from her mom. Her father didn't like to talk about her mother, and it was no use asking the servant ponies what she had been like, because Diamond knew they were paid to be appreciative of their betters. She had lived a life of coddling by ponies she suspected deep down only spoke highly of her because they were being paid to do it.
They ate their soup in silence, Silver seemingly noticed her wife was in thought. She carefully cleared her throat to inquire. "Do you think your father will be attending the school reunion?"
Silver Spoon should have known Filthy Rich long enough to know the answer to that. Diamond Tiara really had to think of how to make it plain to her without upsetting her wife. Filthy Rich had never taken time for her. It seemed he had missed as many of her birthdays as he had attended, and Tiara rarely had the chance to show that she cared about his birthday because he'd been absent for most of them. He had excused his missing her cute-ceañera because of work, and simply hired the town party pony to organize it for her. He was always busy earning more money, and sure he would prove it by giving expensive gifts to his little Tiara. She had never had to want or save allowance for a toy, jewellery or dress she wanted. Then why had she always felt ungrateful? Was it too much to ask that her father take her out on a weekend to Canterlot? Or to visit when the circus was in Ponyville? Or even drop her off at school like all the other parents did with their fillies who went to school with her? He had never been there. Not for her cute-ceañera. Not for her graduation. Not even for her wedding day.
Diamond Tiara still remembered how much that stung. The best day in a mare's life, her in an immaculate white dress to accent her purity as she stood beside her bride an in equally resplendent pearly white dress before the mayor. The second most important question of her wedding ceremony "who giveth away this bride?" was uttered. And then the awkward silence as nopony said "I do". She had known it in her heart, and her eyes had confirmed it as she had walked up to the altar, but she couldn't resist peeking a glance at the spot where her father was supposed to sit. She had planned this wedding months ago, and had implored that her daddy cancel his business trip to attend. But he hadn't come. Again. And Diamond Tiara had stood there in shame as Mayor Mare skipped the part where Filthy Rich had been supposed to give away her hoof to Silver Spoon in marriage. Now the whole town of Ponyville could see what had been missing in Diamond Tiara's life.
Just to hammer the point home even further, when Mayor Mare had tried to summon whoever would give away Silver Spoon to her, she was met with more silence. No one of Silver Spoon's family had bothered to attend, and Tiara knew it wasn't for business reasons. Right then, she hated Mayor Mare most of all ponies for not being more observant of her own constituents' personal situations.
"He is as likely to appear as your parents, Silver." She tried in a neutral tone, quietly praying her spouse wouldn't take that half as badly as she had about her father.
Silver's parents had not shown up. They had never come to visit or attend any event Diamond and Silver would attend. Silver's parents were ponies of old money. A lesser noble family with traditions. They had some clear ideas about marriage that went back ages. When nobles and the wealthy would pick their children's match and broker alliances or transactions along with it. While Silver Spoon's parents wouldn't, or at least were no longer allowed, to decide who she was to marry, there still existed a strong expectation that it had to be a rich and prestigious stallion. A mare like Diamond Tiara, who held a high position in business in order to earn those riches, was not acceptable to them. It wasn't even so much that editor of the Ponyville Express was below their kind. It was the unusual gender that had made them feel they had no control over their filly's decision. Nobility, after all, had in the past operated on the idea that an attraction to the same gender was disruptive to their marriage plans because they tended to be laid out at an early age on the assumption a colt and filly were conformant to the norm.
When Silver Spoon had reached puberty and taken her father and mother aside so she could calmly explain to them her she felt about Diamond Tiara, it had upset them greatly. They had told her she needed to suppress these feelings. That Celestia did not love her little ponies who looked for love within the same gender. That she was confused because of the changes her body was going through and she had to realize these feelings would pass. When Silver Spoon refused to change, she had spent a summer camp away from Ponyville so that Diamond Tiara couldn't have a 'bad influence' on her. They had consulted her school teachers, psychologists and a priest of the Temple of the Sun to try and get her 'cured'. Only a minority of ponies in Equestria saw relationships of the same sex as wrong, but Silver's parents had sought out every possible avenue available to them to have their filly not be in love with Diamond Tiara anymore. When Silver remained adamant she would marry, her parents' ultimatum to disown her had come hard, but not hard enough to dissuade Silver.
The two of them had been happy regardless. Even these upsets could not change the fact that this was the happiest day on either's life. It did take some adjustments. Diamond Tiara couldn't yet afford a mansion the size of her father's, and Silver Spoon could be certain she would never own a bit of her family's fortune. Tiara's job as an editor paid well, but the Ponyville Express was not like the major countrywide newspapers or even the local big city papers. They had to live on a budget. A large one, but limited even so. Silver Spoon couldn't do anything to contribute. Her family had intended her to be a lady and homemaker to her future stallion. Her expressed desire to learn a trade had been ignored, even though her grades in school had always been among the best. They didn't mind now, of course. Silver was perfectly content to be a homemaker to a pony she loved, rather than one she couldn't. And Tiara never felt her contribution to their shared life was insufficient. Wealth was not about the effort you give after all, it was about being successful. And to a filly with a symbol of authority on her flank, success came natural.
Silver gave a slight smile from across the table. To Tiara, it hinted that Silver didn't know who needed to be consoled more. She laid a hoof on her spouse's from across the table and spoke. "This is a grade school reunion, Silver. We don't need them, or probably even want them present for all the bad things Miss Cheerilee is going to dredge up about our past."
That at least conjured a genuine smile. "You're right dearest. What was I thinking?"
There were going to be awkward moments between formers students already without there being elder parents to heap more embarrassment on them. Diamond Tiara wasn't blind, she knew her behaviour in the past had been unacceptable. For some of their schoolmates, this was a thing of the past. For others, it was going to be tense facing them again. Especially since in a few cases, Diamond felt quite strongly she was the wounded party.
"Come Silver, we'll be the first to arrive. We will want to appease Miss Cheerilee for our past behaviour and that article I approved a year back. You know, the gossip column entry attacking the Foal Free Press' management practices?" Tiara said as she moved to the door to leave.
"Ah yes. I believe it was about the lack of oversight of their previous editor-in-chief." Silver giggled as the irony was not lost on her.