//------------------------------// // Apple Loose Tongues // Story: Silver Marriage // by cdcdrr //------------------------------// Apple Loose Tongues The market was crowded with ponies as Silver made her way past the stands of produce and goods. There was a lot of noise from vendors, but one particular voice caught her ear. One that wasn't selling, but giving away. "Read about the lies in your Hearth's Warming Eve story: lurid conspiracies at the unicorns' courts. Princess Platinum; defender of the institution of the family, or an opportunistic flip-flop? Scientific study discovers correlation between stunted psychological development in foals and same gender parents!" Apple Bloom was shouting at passer-by's whilst holding out some kind of magazine. "Do you want to read how the Equestrian magical family is under att- oh hello Silver, I didn't know it was you. I guess you don't want to read it then, seeing as how you can't have a family." "What's that supposed to me?" Silver Spoon regretted not making a detour and instead daring to pass the yellow pony already. "Just that Diamond Tiara can't give you foals. Or that your mom and dad hate what you are. And Diamond's family is likewise dysfunctional." Apple Bloom rubbed it in her face. "Lay off. What are you doing distributing these things here?" Silver looked down at the bag next to Apple Bloom. "The Apple Front's bi-weekly digest. I'm giving away free copies to the citizens of Ponyville in anticipation of this year's election. 'Cause I'm gonna be mayor in a few months." Apple Bloom boasted haughtily with a hoof to her chest. "You are like the last mare in Ponyville who could run this village. A country bumpkin for mayor? I think I'd rather vote for a mule than for you." Silver thought she could hear something balk a way back, but she was too busy taunting the mare in front of her. "Surely you can see that Mayor Mare has had her best days, like so many others. I'm up to my second bag now, if you want to know." She gently kicked the bag of digests with her hoof to indicate what she meant. "The time has come for a fresh start, and as the leading member of the Apple Front in Ponyville, I will run on our ticket on a simple set of promises: end all tax deduction schemes benefiting the wealthy, subsidize growth of our agriculture sector, and support facilities for obstetrics, fertility treatment and delivery. I will return Ponyville to its roots." It was true Mayor Mare was due for a replacement. Twenty years of her government had been more than enough, and she was exhibiting signs of clinging to that office. "You sound like a politician alright. Empty promises a-plenty." Silver giggled in a way she knew Apple Bloom always found annoying. "It's a shame you want to deny your heritage. Good and honest farm labour would have done you good. At least take one home to read, it might still help you see the error in your ways." Apple Bloom gave Silver one of the magazines, and she took it with some uncertainty. Maybe it was her position as spokesmare of a political group tempering her, but Apple Bloom seemed surprisingly restrained in the face of mockery. Looking through the digest as she walked, she was startled as she nearly bumped into two other ponies crossing her path. "Watch where you're going." Said a voice Silver instantly recognized as Bon Bon's. "Wait, Silver? Why are you reading Apple Bloom's trash? Aren't you the opposite of what she's advocating?" Silver Spoon put the magazine down to look Bon Bon and Lyra in the eyes. "She just pushed it on to me, Diamond and I don't care for politics." "Well, do me a favour and vote for Mayor this year. I dread to think what she would do to this town if elected." Bon Bon recommended, but was chastised by her better half. "Bonny, they're called secret ballots. That's because they're supposed to remain secret." Lyra reminded in a chipper voice as if she was stating a groundbreaking truth. "You know I don't like that mare, Lyra." Bon Bon defended herself. "Excuse me, what exactly don't you like about Apple Bloom? I mean, beside the obvious." Silver Spoon interjected, detecting some bitterness in Bon Bon's expression. "Oh, well she's a fair-weather friend until you get your cutie mark. Does that answer your question?" Bon Bon seemed a little testy. "You'll have to forgive Grouchy Marks, it's just that she had several conversations with miss Cheerilee and little Twist about how it's bad for fillies to have no friends in school." Bon Bon seemed to glare at the rather forthcoming Lyra, but Silver Spoon had already guessed what this was about. "Apple Bloom was my daughter's only friend until she started that Cutie Mark Club. She said that being around a nerdy filly who already had her cutie mark reflected badly on her blankness." Bon Bon revealed now that the horse had bolted from the stable. "You know how much an inferiority complex hurts a child at that age?" Silver felt rather self conscious. She wondered if the things she'd said to Twist back in school had contributed to that. "I'm sorry to hear about that. I never thought that teasing could hurt." Bon Bon's expression seemed to milden a bit. "I know you and Diamond Tiara only ever pretended to be her friend to get some of my candy." "That is no-" Silver tried to protest, but Bon Bon raised her hoof to silence her. "It's okay, I'm not an idiot. I gave free candy to foals who'd play with Twist to make sure she'd have some friends. She had all the trait of an unpopular filly. Big glasses, braces, lisp, ginger mane, pale coat. I wouldn't want her any other way. I appreciate that you would tolerate and not pick on her like some fillies would." "Aww, you got her all sappy. See? Under all that moody exterior, she's just a big softy at heart." Lyra threw her hooves around Bon Bon, eliciting a smile from her. "Silver, I saw what somepony did to your house. Are you alright, dear? Is it bothering you?" Bon Bon became serious once more, but remained sympathetic. "No. No, just some punk who thinks they're like such a big pony, defacing a building when nopony's looking." Silver Spoon lied. She was honestly terrified that certain pony would take it one step further than just the outside of her home. "If you need a safe place to sleep, we have a guest room." Bon Bon offered. "There's only room for one pony. Unless she and Diamond sleep on top of one another. Right, Bonny?" Lyra messed up Bon Bon's mane with her hoof, still leaning on her wife's back. "Lyra!" The town confectioner blushed self consciously about the private details being shared in the public square. "I'll think I should leave you two lovebird be. Thanks for the offer." Silver Spoon cantered off before Lyra resorted to more public display of affection, as she seemed to do often. "Hi Silver Spoon." Said one of the next pair of ponies even before Silver could move away from the last. At this rate, she'd never get any groceries done. "Hello Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo." She greeted the duo. "You're not here with Apple Bloom?" "Nah, we seem to be drifting apart lately." Scootaloo admitted. "Some of the things she says about unicorns and pegasi has me worried. Sweetie and I were just collecting some stuff for her sister." "You know, I've been meaning to ask you since our reunion. You talked to me about how you sometimes felt..." Sweetie Belle gestured nervously with her hoof. "Unhappy about life. Me and Scootaloo once got help with our problems. I know this sounds strange, but have you ever had dreams about Princess Luna?" Silver Spoon stared at them wide eyed. How would they have known? Her heart beat in her chest as she wondered if she should tell them about this in the open. "I... have. I remember one vivid dream I had one night when I'd been particularly sad and spent an hour staring into my bathroom mirror. That night I was approached by a figure in my dream that looked just like the princess, and she said she'd show me what it would do to other ponies if I wasn't around anymore." "Go on." Sweetie Belle encouraged as Silver stopped. "I saw my parents weeping in our living room, lamenting that I had been born a fillyfooler, that I hadn't deserved the pain, that they had pushed too hard trying to better me, admitting they should have listened to all that said it wasn't 'curable' and I am what I am. Luna told me... the dream pony told me they loved me. They were misguided, but they'd miss me terribly if I took such an irreversible step. And that I shouldn't put them through that. It showed me how Diamond Tiara would grow up lonely and unhappy, and said I made a greater difference than I realized. That she would feel just as miserably without a father, or a mother, not even a friend. It even showed me you two. All three of you, the crusaders. And the rest of the class when Cheerilee had to give them the news I was never coming back to school. It... I never thought any of you would care. I thought you all hated me, a rich bully." Silver felt her glasses being lifted from her snout by magic as Sweetie Belle floated over a handkerchief to wipe away the tears she was crying. "That's... quite a bit darker than what Luna showed me. What did you do the next day?" Scootaloo asked. "The next day? I told myself it was just a nightmare, said my prayers to Celestia to preserve me from suffering and got ready for school. I didn't want to think about it. It kept nagging at me, but it was just too painful to think about." Silver Spoon recalled. "Scootaloo and I had similar dreams wherein Princess Luna showed us our errors and what would be the consequences. I think she watches over fillies' dreams to help those who are in trouble to offer them comfort and guidance." Sweetie Belle told her. "That seems far fetched. Even at the time, I knew it was just a bad dream. We don't know if Princess Luna is a dreamwalker or if she even cares about our issues." Silver refused to believe what Sweetie was saying. "I'm telling you, it's true." "Silver may have a point." Scootaloo interrupted. "It's probably true that Luna can't actually enter our dreams. I mean, come on, that's private. Our dreams probably come from a deep seated desire of wanting somepony to care and reassure us things will be alright. These dreams encourage us to look for such a pony outside our dreams, as you did with Diamond Tiara." Before Silver could reply, she heard a commotion coming from behind her, and saw ponies drawn to some kind of spectacle going on by one of the market stands. She was it was Apple Bloom, and two of the guard ponies who were marching right towards her. "Miss Apple Bloom, we want you to come with us to the guard station. You are under suspicion of defacing the residence of Mrs. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon as part of a deliberate hate crime." Said the bigger stallion, Sergeant Hot Grill. "That's preposterous! I haven't been anywhere near Diamond Tiara's home. You can't prove I was there!" Apple Bloom objected. "The Mayor has received several complaints and in light of your outspoken homophobia, we find you the likely suspect. Please come quietly, or we shall be forced to place you under arrest, then charge you with resisting arrest!" The sergeant threatened. "I have rights! I am innocent! The Mayor cannot just silence me and have me framed for just anything that happened to somepony." Apple Bloom protested loudly, after which the two ponies began to stallionhandle the yellow mare and lock her forelegs in a set of hoofcuffs, pushing her ahead towards the guard station, Apple Bloom shouting about injustice and abuse of power the whole way. "You show her!" Bon Bon shouted after the guardsponies, being the only pony in the crowd who seemed to be rooting for the guards. "Bonny!" Lyra exclaimed, obviously shocked at what she had just witnessed. All around her, Silver Spoon saw ponies arguing and whispering. The words 'disgraceful', 'Mayor' and 'rights' spoken by multiple ponies everywhere.