//------------------------------// // Mayor Problems // Story: Silver Marriage // by cdcdrr //------------------------------// Mayor Problems "Fired?" Diamond Tiara exclaimed as she sat opposite her employer in shock. "I'm hearing rumours about our disagreements from residents ever since your school reunion and yesterday it was revealed to me you poured hot coffee in the face of one citizen. The latter alone would make your position untenable but I believe you are in breach of contract when confidential information about our private arguments makes word on the street." Mayor Mare revealed as she had a pink slip on her desk with Tiara's name on it. "But nobody cares about things like that! They're just stupid-" Diamond Tiara began to protest. "Rumours?" The mayor finished, giving her a piercing gaze. "This is coming from a filly who peddles in nothing but rumours. We've been in disagreement over this direction before, but now it's suddenly wrong to lend credence to hearsay? Because it is disadvantageous to you? If you want to insist, we can have a review of your practices and conduct as editor of the Ponyville Express to determine if you have overstepped your limits as per contract. But I warn you that there are penalties ahead if you are found to be in the wrong. That is not even going into the charges of assault that could potentially be levelled against you by Berry Pinch, which I will not comment on further than necessary." Mayor Mare seemed to think for a moment before retracting the pink slip. "In fact, you should probably bow out gracefully yourself. Before misconduct proceedings can begin against you. Unemployment payments to the upper rich would not go over well with my poorer and fiscally stringent constituents." Diamond Tiara grumbled as she gave the mayor an evil stare. "How am I going to support myself?" "You married under terms of separate property. Have your wife sustain you for a time." Mayor Mare waved her concern aside. "She doesn't have a job and no assets! I'm the breadwinner in our household." Diamond Tiara protested, but it was in vain. "I was never popular amongst one-pony income families. If you don't want Silver to suffer, you should take this opportunity to resign. You can't do right by her when you're in debt, Diamond Tiara." Using Silver Spoon against her like that angered Diamond even further, but she maintained calm to ask. "Is that about that thing years ago where I revealed you as not naturally grey? Is that it?" "Well, that did play a part in my decision. Honestly Diamond, I never would have hired you if you didn't have the credentials for that job. The Ponyville Express needed a real manager, and you had the education from a Canterlot college. But we were never friends, and seeing you turn my newspaper into another Foal Free Express had me looking for a reason to lay you off for a while now. But it seems now I don't have to anymore, because you're quitting." Mayor Mare leaned back satisfied. "Oh, I will quit my job. But this isn't over yet, mayor. I will see you lose your job before too long. Then we'll see who has the last laugh." Diamond Tiara threatened, but the mayor laughed right to her face. "What, are you running in the upcoming elections? You have no funds for a campaign, and you're too sheltered to relate to this town's constituents. Who in their right mind is going to elect the 1% richest Ponyvilleans? Ponies in this town don't even like you personally, so what makes you think they will want you in a position where you can affect their lives?" Mayor Mare dismissed the idea out of hoof. "You'll just have to wait and see, mayor. My daddy is not going to like this. You can forget about his campaign contributions." Diamond Tiara glared before getting out of the chair she had been seated in and walking to the door. "Oh, I'm so scared." Mayor Mare said mockingly, but didn't say anything else that would make Diamond Tiara stop to argue. Diamond Tiara closed the door more firmly than was normal, drawing a little more attention from the town hall bureaucrats than she wanted. * * * Returning home, Diamond Tiara found Silver Spoon outside with a bucket of water and a rag, cleaning the house. She wasn't expecting a spring cleaning, but the house did seem dirtier than last time she had given it scrutiny. "Why are you washing the windows, Silver?" Tiara looked quizzically at Silver Spoon, who dropped the rag as she noticed her. "Tiara, when I returned from doing the groceries I found that somepony has defaced our walls. They'd chalked derogatory phrases and slurs on the walls and pelted it with spoiled fruit and vegetables. I didn't want anypony seeing this." Silver Spoon explained. Diamond Tiara took a closer look, finding a crude chalk drawing of her and Silver that was highly inappropriate. Silver had also been in the process of removing a sentence of which the remaining parts stated "-lyfoolers get out!". Thinking back to the school reunion two days ago, Diamond Tiara could guess who would have been so juvenile as to harass them this way. Diamod Tiara sighed. This was going to have to wait, but it piled on to the bad things that happened today. "Silver Spoon, can you come inside? I have something important to tell you." I little worried, Silver Spoon put the rag back in the bucket before bringing it back inside. She poured the two of them some tea to go with the news, which she imagined wasn't going to be good. "Please, sit down." Diamond Tiara told her and waited for Silver Spoon to be seated, who looked at her with worry. "I had a meeting with the mayor today and she said I was fired." "Oh no." Silver reached to put her hooves on Diamond's. "Why would she? Why now?" "The coffee incident of two days ago has spread since yesterday and she got word of it. Also that I talked about the newspaper to some ponies there and she said this would be grounds for an investigation. Silver, she is blackmailing me to resign on my own so I won't even receive unemployment benefits because I will be the one to terminate my employment. If I don't, I will likely be fined as well as fired without unemployment benefits plus it's going on my resume for future employers to know." "What are we going to do?" Silver Spoon looked worried as she held Diamond's hoof. "I'm going to write a resignation letter. I don't want to go in debt at this time. You deserve better, and this is my own fault for letting Berry Pinch get to me." Diamond Tiara looked down in shame at the table. Silver Spoon released her and was by her side in a moment, hugging her wife and stroking her shoulder. "Don't blame yourself, Tiara. Remember I promised to remain by your side through poverty and wealth. I don't intend those to be empty words. Everything is going to be fine. You'll get us through this, I trust you will." "I don't know how I deserve to be loved without condition after all I've screwed up. Sometimes I wonder if you would have been better of without me Silver Spoon." Diamond Tiara confessed as she stared at the steaming cup in her hoof. "Don't say that! How can you think I'd be happier?" Silver Spoon objected. "I drove a wedge between your parents and you. I turned you into a little bully in school. I'm an unpopular mare and ponies dislike you by proxy. I'm a pathetic failure whose career just ended. And we're probably going to be poor because I'm not going to be able to make enough bits." Diamond summed up. Silver kissed her forehead and rubbed her gently for comfort. "If I'm attracted to mares, the rift with my parents was inevitable unless I married a stallion and regretted my inauthenticity forever after. You and your father were the only ones to assure me I wasn't an abomination onto them. I'm not so ungrateful as to let your flaws and these problems make me forget about that. I know you might feel scared that you can't do right by me now but you're not one to despair for long. You're Diamond Tiara, you've bounced back from defeat on other occasions and finding a new job shouldn't be impossible." "You're probably right as always Silver. I don't really have any plan at the moment. Just- just let me write that resignation letter and I'll be outside in a moment to help you with cleaning up." Diamond drank some of her tea, burning her mouth, but not letting it show as she had more urgent trouble on her mind. "We'll get through this, you'll think of something. Give it some rest and take your mind of it. We're still on for our dinner tonight at Shamrock Cafe right?" Silver asked. "Sure. I could use a good night with you after today." Diamond agreed wistfully.