Waxing On, Waxing Off
Discord lifted a foot and stepped from Sugarcube Corner to his windmill in a single bound. His furniture cheered at his appearance. “Settle down, settle down, it’s only me.”
He kept the objects dancing and cheering for a moment longer, before releasing them from his spell. They either clattered to the floor or settled into place. The fireplace lit itself as his easy chair scooped him up. A radiator and a bathtub played jazz in the corner.
He opened his scrapbook. Images from his time in Ponyville danced by as he flipped through the pages. About halfway through the book, he reached the first of the blank pages. He made a fist with his talon, which glowed with black light. Blue sparks and green embers drifted from between his claws as power built.
He opened his talon, and a moving picture appeared above it. It was a scene from earlier that day, playing out like a movie. Scootaloo jumped from one cloud to the other, her wings flapping frantically. He chuckled, snapped his talon, and froze the picture. He took in gently in his paw to set it on the blank page.
“It’s alright, little memory,” he whispered. “You’re safe. The chaos can’t take you anymore.”
A hoof knocked at the front door. He snapped the book shut. The bathtub hit a bad note. Discord glared at a clock whose hands were spinning rapidly. “Who on earth would visit at this hour?”
Discord teleported to the door and opened it. He glared down at his visitor, one Rainbow Dash. “You’re selling Fillyscout cookies, aren’t you?” he asked.
“It took me all summer, but I managed to put two-and-two together,” Rainbow Dash said. “We need a talk.”
Discord cupped his hands together. “Is this a two-way talk, or are you just going to yell at me?”
“Two way. I expect answers.” Rainbow wiped her eye with a rough motion. “Look, can I just come in?”
Discord shrugged. He stepped aside. “I’d offer you something, but I wasn’t expecting visitors.”
“Yeah, I figured.” Rainbow Dash pulled off her white scarf and let the coat rack take it. She gave the rack a careful glance and a wide berth. “Fluttershy always calls in advance, doesn’t she?”
“More or less.” A bowl rose from the ground with an ominous rumble. Discord picked something out of it and tossed it into his mouth. “Care for a shrimp?”
“Didn’t you just—?” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. She scooped up a shrimp and bit into it. “Been a while since I had griffon food.”
“Likewise.” Discord sat in his easy chair and motioned towards a couch made from clouds. “Give your derriere a rest.”
Rainbow took a seat and dipped her next piece in cocktail sauce. “You knew, didn’t you?”
Discord frowned. “Beg pardon?”
“About Scootaloo’s wings. You knew what the problem was from day one, didn’t you?”
Discord scoffed. “I’ll have you know that prying into a pony’s physical makeup without permission is a violation of personal privacy and is severely frowned upon by the legal system. I didn’t know until you two got back from that first trip to the hospital.”
Rainbow Dash hung her head and leaned on her forelegs. “You know, Discord, if you cut the horseapples this’ll be a lot easier.”
Discord crossed his arms. “Fine. How’d you know I knew?”
“When we found Scootaloo, after she ran away, you said you’d been in contact with the hospital.” Rainbow Dash rubbed a hoof along the cloud cushion. “I didn’t think too much about it at the time, ’cause of the whole ‘me being a big doody-head’ part, but it just hit me. Why were you, Discord, King of Chaos, in contact with hospitals at all? Let alone for a ‘while.’ The answer is that you wouldn’t have, unless you already knew about Scootaloo.”
Rainbow Dash spread her wings. “Unless you’d already figured out the solution.”
Discord bared his snaggletooth. “So what? Are you going to take me in for violating her privacy? Are you going to go tell Celestia on me?”
“I want to know why the heck you did it!” Rainbow Dash hovered in the air. “You could have just sat there, with your silly little jokes and your snarky comments, and done nothing. You could have even just waited to see what we found out before trying to fix it. No. You went out of your way to find out what was wrong, and then went way out of your way to make everything okay.”
Her four legs hung limp beneath her. “You know, I already know why you poked your nose where it didn’t belong. It’s ’cause you’re a jerk-face. But what I want to know is why you did something good with it.”
Discord drummed his fingers. “I could ask the same of you.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re Rainbow Dash. Wonderbolt. Hero of Equestria. Element of Loyalty. Darling of the cinema.” He shrugged. “What are you doing wasting your time with a flightless girl from Ponyville?”
Rainbow Dash grabbed him by the neck. “Excuse me? Who do you think you are talking about her like—?”
“It’s called an example. It has an acceptable amount of hyperbole.” Discord lowered her hooves. “I’m just saying, what reason do either of us have taking interest in Scootaloo?”
“Well, I just… you see…” Rainbow Dash scratched her neck. “I care about her, is all. She’s a good kid.”
“But why?” Discord popped up his footrest. “It’s hard, isn’t it? You really can’t think of a specific reason for loving and caring about this mare who isn’t even related. Don’t feel too bad, you’re not alone. It’s one of the fun little irrationalities in life.”
Rainbow snorted. “Twilight would probably say Scootaloo sets off a bunch of chemical reactions in my brain or something that tell my mind she needs protection.”
“Chemicals schlemicals. Rationality only helps you when life is rational.” Discord rested his cheek on his paw. “Did you really expect me to have a reason?”
“Yeah, even if it was as dumb as ‘her being able to fly will cause chaos!’” Rainbow Dash pouted. “There’s something there. I know it. You’re hiding something.”
Discord opened his scrapbook to a random page. “Maybe I just want to leave a positive impact on the world.”
Rainbow Dash nibbled on a shrimp. “Yeah. An impact like a carriage crash.”
Discord touched a picture of Rainbow Dash’s most recent birthiversary. Cheese Sandwich danced in the background of the frame. “Rainbow Dash, have you ever thought you were going to die?”
Rainbow Dash whipped her head around. Her muzzle scrunched. “Lots of times. Too many times. Probably haven’t seen the last time. Why?”
“Did you suddenly realize you had regrets?” Discord flipped a page and found one of Rarity’s fashion shows. “Did you remember things you hadn’t done? Things you wanted to do? When you were faced with the end, did you resolve that if you got out of it, you would do those things?”
Rainbow Dash brushed her mane back as she eyed Discord. “Yeah. And then I did them. Why?”
Discord let the book flop to the floor. “Because life’s too short to spend worrying about what’s going on inside my head, Rainbow Dash. Go home! Spend some time with your tortoise! See a movie! Take up knitting!”
The coat rack took her by the shoulders and wrapped her scarf around her neck. “Wait, what?”
“So long Dash,” Discord said as he carried her out the door. “It’s been a most pleasant conversation—”
“Stop it!” She scrambled out of his grip and flew high. They floated a few meters away, each scrutinizing the other. “Discord, are you dying?”
Discord ran his talons through his goatee. He inclined his chin. “No.”
He shook his head. “No. I’m not. I will most likely live until well after you and everypony else is dust.”
Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth. “Then what’s happening to you?”
“I’m getting a new lease on life.” Discord bent over and picked up his scrapbook. “I’m gathering a few worthwhile memories and stuffing them away in a very special place.” His ears drooped. “Why do you care?”
Rainbow settled down on the ground. She sat next to Discord and looked him in the eyes as best she could. “Because you did a really great thing for my little sister. That counts for something big in my book.” She lifted a hoof and hesitantly patted his arm. “If you ever need help, I got your back.”
She straightened her scarf and let herself out. Discord sighed. His radiator and bathtub switched to soft blues.
He turned the scrapbook to the first page. The first image he’d ever put in there was also the largest. Its cast was nearly as eclectic as he was. There were the six Element Bearers. The rest of the local Apple Family. The Cakes, long before they’d had their younger two children. The Cutie Mark Crusaders. Zecora and former mayor Merry Mare. Snips and Snails had even managed a last-minute photo-bomb.
It was from that second Summer Sun Celebration, then one where his plunder vines had awakened. A quick, spur-of-the-moment group-shot by a visiting Photo Finish. But also an inspiration.
He touched the picture where it depicted Fluttershy. He clicked his tongue. “Maybe it is time to tell her.”
Love According to Scootaloo
Apple Bloom threw a rock, which clattered against Scootaloo’s second-story window. She threw a second, then a third. She was about to wind up for the fourth when the window slid open.
“Alright, I’m up, I’m up!” Scootaloo yawned wide and looked at the moon’s position. “What the hay do you want at three in the morning?”
Apple Bloom danced on all four hooves. “Ah don’t know what tah do, Scoots!” she hissed. “It’s drivin’ me crazy! Ah can’t sleep a’tall!”
Scootaloo floated down on her lavender wings. She landed in a heap. “Gugh. Whazzat.”
Apple Bloom picked her up. “You’ve got a boyfriend, right?”
Scootaloo blinked rapidly. Her head dipped down until she caught herself. “’S not exactly a secret, Bloom.”
“Yeah, yeah, but how’d it happen? When didjya guys have that magic ‘Let’s get t’gether moment?’” She jumped at a sound that Scootaloo never registered. “Ah’m losin’ mah mind, Scoots. How did yah get his attention?”
Scootaloo snored.
Apple Bloom slapped her cheeks. “Hay, earth pony tah Scoots. Earth pony tah Scoots. Wake up, Scoots.”
“Sorry, sorry.” Scootaloo shook her head. “Um, what was your question?”
“How’d yah get Rumble’s attention?” Apple Bloom said. “How’d you guys get together?”
Scootaloo stared blankly. “I didn’t do anything. We just acted like we always do and we went to a movie and I dunno.” She gave a truly titanic yawn. “Dinner was probably the worst part of it. What’s got you interested all of a sudden?”
Apple Bloom pressed her lips together and scrunched up her nose.
Scootaloo’s eyes brightened. “Oh my gawsh. You have a crush.”
Apple Bloom waved her hooves. “Don’t you go tellin’ nopony.”
“Who is it? Is he nice? Is he handsome?” Scootaloo’s expression turned from a stupid grin to a sour grimace. “Cheese Louise, please tell me it’s not Featherweight.”
“No. What? No! What! No!” Apple Bloom rubbed her temples. “That fool colt practically worships the ground Twilight Sparkle walks on. It’s Spike.”
Scootaloo had a quick chuckle at Featherweight’s expense. The laughter died. “Wait. Spike?”
Apple Bloom tied the end of her tail in knots. “Ahuh.”
“As in, ‘Librarian of Ponyville’ Spike?”
“Yeah.”
“As in, ‘Spike the Dragon’ Spike?”
“Eeyup.”
“Um,” Scootaloo said. She rubbed her foreleg. “You know, Spike’s a nice dude and all, buuut… He’s kinda a dragon.”
Apple Bloom cocked an eyebrow. “Y’ think that ain’t obvious?”
“I mean, he’s a dragon.” Scootaloo spread her wings. “Like, really a dragon. A gem-eating, fire-breathing, gold-hoarding—”
“Yeah,” Apple Bloom breathed. She got a dreamy, far-away look in her eyes.
Scootaloo waved a hoof before her eyes. “Scoots to earth pony, Scoots to earth pony. Come in, earth pony.”
“Touché.” Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Ah dunno. He’s strong, and gentle, and nice, and those eyes just beg tah be stared into. And he has a job. Gotta point that one out.”
Scootaloo’s body pleaded for the warm embrace of her covers. “Yeah, so great. You’ve got a crush on Spike. What’re you gonna do about it?”
“Ah don’t know! That’s why ah came tah you!” Apple Bloom grabbed Scootaloo’s shoulders. “You ’n Rumble ’ve been together fer three months now. What’s yer secret? Ah got the gosh-darn crush, now what they hay am ah supposed to do?”
Scootaloo scratched her ear. “Find out how he feels?”
“Ah can’t just go up and ask him! What if’n it scares him away?” Apple Bloom paced in a circle. “What if we ain’t right for each other? What if we have a messy break up that leaves us both broken an’ sorry? What if he don’t like me in the first place?”
“What if you don’t try to find out and you just live your whole life regretting?”
Apple Bloom winkled her forehead. “Yeah, ah know ah’m just spoutin’ hooey. But come on, this is terrifyin’.”
Scootaloo reached up to wrap her foreleg around Apple Bloom’s shoulders. When she realized she couldn’t reach, she flapped her wings and gained a little altitude. “What you do is calm down, go home, get some rest, and then tomorrow you can figure out a way to spend some time with Spike. Visit the library and say hi. Offer him an apple or something. You guys are good with apples. Just try to be yourself and not ‘Creepy Stalker Apple Bloom’.”
“Ah am not a creepy stalker!”
“Good, so it won’t be an issue.” Scootaloo gave Bloom a shove. “So go home and let your buddy have a good night’s sleep. See you when the sun comes up.”
Scootaloo flew up to her window and crawled back inside. Apple Bloom gaped.
“Hay! Hay, don’t just leave me out here!” she said “Ah don’t know what tah do!”
“Good night, AB.”
“You can’t just go abandon yer friend in her time o’ need!”
“Just be yourself!”
“Ah am mahself!”
“Then be yourself around him!”
A light appeared in a nearby house. Miss Mare poked her head out a window. “Whoever’s out there, shut the heck up! Some ponies are trying to sleep!”
Scootaloo ducked inside her room, while Apple Bloom ducked around a corner. They stayed like that until they heard the former mayor’s window shut.
Scootaloo glared down. “Fine, you want my advice? Just go up to him and kiss him. Bam, smack-dab on the lips. Hold it for a good long time, too, just in case there were any doubts that you meant to do it.” She narrowed her eyes. “Even better. Write an epic, hundred-stanza love ballad about him and sing it. Outside his window. At three-o’-clock at night.”
Apple Bloom’s face fell. Her ears drooped, her mouth curved down in a pronounced frown, and her eyes grew watery.
Scootaloo’s scowl softened. “Apple Bloom…” She held up a couple feathers. “I’ve had exactly two boyfriends. One of them turned out to be a pretty sucky person. I’m not sure it’s me you should be going to for advice.”
“What am ah supposed to do?” Apple Bloom asked. “Applejack’s never been interested in hardly anypony, and ah can’t really go to Big Mac.” She bowed her head. “Ah miss Granny Smith.”
Scootaloo tapped a hoof against her windowsill. “What about Cheerilee? She and Big Mac were making goo-goo eyes at each other for years before they did anything about it.” She coughed into her hoof. “Mostly our fault. Ask her how they got together. It looks like they’ve held up pretty well.”
Apple Bloom bobbed her head. “She is mah sister. In law. Ah guess ah could talk tah her ’bout it.” She turned around. “Thanks, Scoots.”
Scootaloo leaned her cheek on the window pane. “Hay, AB.”
Apple Bloom looked up.
“You’re pretty special, you know. Don’t go forgetting that.” Scootaloo winked. “I think Spike ’ll see it, too.”
Apple Bloom smiled. “Good night, Scoots.”
“Good night, Apple Bloom.”
Encore
Sweetie Belle stood backstage, polishing her glasses obsessively. She’d run through warm-ups again and again. She’d practiced for months. She’d gone over every line of every stanza of every verse. She was ready to perform.
She couldn’t stop her heart from wanting to burst out of her chest. She flashed back to her audition, five years before, that had only ended in tears.
She didn’t have to go on. If she told the director, they would just move on to the next act. Only a few people would be disappointed. She could easily explain her situation to them. She really didn’t have to sing again, much less in public.
She looked at her cutie mark of a swinging, silver bell. She flashed back nine years, to the day she’d promised herself… what, exactly? That she would sing onstage? No, that wasn’t it at all. She just remembered the song, the other ponies around her singing along, and how it felt as though all of their hearts were connected.
She promised herself that she would feel that connection again. She had, that night Scootaloo came to her house and nearly took her ambrosia. The night Scootaloo nearly died. When she sang, she felt her heart and Scootaloo’s connect. She felt that friendship bind them together.
She’d already fulfilled her promise. She didn’t need to sing again. She could just go back to Carousel Boutique and make clothes and—
Rarity walked backstage, wearing a simple, elegant, silvery gown. “Hello, Sweetie Belle.”
Sweetie took a deep breath and raised a regal forehoof. “Lady Rarity.”
Rarity lifted her hoof to match. She smiled and held her forelegs out. “Come here.”
Sweetie ran into her embrace. She rubbed her cheek against her older sister’s. “Rarity! Oh my goodness! I didn’t know you were coming all the way from Canterlot!”
“Of course! I couldn’t miss my sister’s first show in so very, very long.” A tear escaped Rarity’s eye. “I’m so proud of you, Sweetie.”
Sweetie Belle pulled away. She touched the purple flower in her mane. “I don’t know. I don’t know if I can do it.”
Rarity’s smile vanished. She blinked. “No? What’s the matter?”
Sweetie closed her eyes. “It hurts. After I got my cutie mark, I burned myself because my fairy strings failed. When I went for my audition, I failed because I was so stressed it just flopped. Things always get out of my control, and then the things I can control… I mess them up. Always.”
Rarity put a hoof to her lips. “Sweetie, I’m so sorry—”
“How do you do it, Rarity?” Sweetie Belle sighed. “How do you get life so perfect?”
Rarity shook her head. “My life is not perfect, I’m afraid. I still face troubles and my own selfish wants on a daily basis.”
“Yeah, but…” Sweetie adjusted her hemline with a spell. “But you’re living your dream. You’re part of Canterlot high-society. You own a whole chain of boutiques. You even have the ear of a princess.”
Rarity smirked. “Well, it’s not like Twilight was going to use it for anything else.”
Sweetie giggled lightly. She looked at the stage. Lyra Heartstrings was strumming away a haunting melody on her lyre. A shiver ran up Sweetie’s spine. “You’ve got everything you ever wanted.”
Sweetie just barely caught Rarity’s murmured “Not nearly.” She looked up and was about to respond, but Rarity hugged her from behind.
“Life doesn’t end after the dream is met,” Rarity said. “Struggles come just as often now as back when I was a simple seamstress from Ponyville.”
Sweetie Belle’s upper lip drew back. “And yet there you are, on the cover of every magazine from here to Fillydelphia.” She pulled away from Rarity and walked across the room. She peered around the large curtain at the crowds watching the show. It was a good turnout by Ponyville standards, though nothing compared to what larger cities would see.
Rarity gently puckered her lips. “You shouldn’t measure yourself against me like that.”
“No?” Sweetie Belle threw her hooves in the air. “I shouldn’t try to be like the top success story in Equestria? The most famous dress designer in the Allied Kingdoms? I shouldn’t try to reach your pinnacle of perfection because I could never be as good as you?”
“Because if you’re so focused on copying me, you’ll never reach your own potential.” Rarity fought to keep her voice level. “You were meant for so much more than to be another cookie-cutter, dime-a-dozen Rarity.”
Sweetie Belle turned away. She walked to the edge of the stage, where the edge of the sound-proof spell shimmered. Lyra was wrapping up.
“Sweetie,” Rarity said, “why did you agree to sing tonight?”
Sweetie hugged herself. “B-because I thought I could again. Scootaloo never gave up, and she found her dream. But… It hurt so much. It hurt so much to fail. What if I fail again?”
“Then it will hurt again.” Rarity appraised a few costumes halfheartedly. “It will continue to hurt. Every time you fail to meet some mark, it will be painful. It will hurt anew each time, too.”
Sweetie nodded slowly.
“But think,” Rarity said, “how much more will it hurt to not try? If you hold yourself back because you feel pain, that pain will never leave you. It will serve as a constant reminder. It will continually hold you down, telling you what you never accomplished. If you try again, you might fail, and the pain will be new. If you don’t try, the pain will fester.”
She put her hooves on Sweetie’s shoulders. “But can’t you see it? Out there, waiting? That’s your dream. There’s the opportunity to share beauty, to touch hearts, to spread love and friendship. There’s the opportunity to press onward and be everything you’ve ever hoped or dreamed of. There’s the chance to take charge, and be your own mare.” She gave a decisive nod. “When you achieve your dream—not if, when—then you will be able to look back on the hurt and say it was worth it.”
She nuzzled her cheek. “And look who came to support you. Your friends are there, in the second row. Mother and Father in the front.” She winked. “And do I detect a certain somepony off to the left?”
Sweetie Belle picked Button Mash out of the crowd immediately. She cringed. “Rarity…”
“All in good fun, Sweetie dear.” Rarity tittered. She laid a kiss on Sweetie’s forehead. “It’s up to you. If you want my advice, go for it. Take a leap of faith.” She walked towards the stage’s exit. “I’ll be out there. I’ll be waiting for you no matter what decision you make. You’ll always have my support.”
Sweetie Belle stood at the edge of the stage. She applauded alongside the crowd once Lyra had finished her piece. They nodded to each other as the lyrist exited stage right.
“Now the next artist is someone near an’ dear to mah heart,” Lord Mayor Applejack said into her microphone. “She’s got a voice like silver bells, an’ ain’t no mistake. Y’all are in for a real treat. Please welcome Sweetie Belle onto the stage.”
Sweetie trotted out to light applause. She waited before the microphone while Vinyl Scratch adjusted the sound board to the agreed-upon settings. The DJ gave the okay, and Sweetie spoke into the microphone. “This is for my friends, who never gave up.”
She bobbed her head as the music built up. When the opening was over, she added her own voice to the upbeat song. Her first notes were weak and nervous, but as she drew to the chorus, something touched her. Her heart felt light in her chest. She felt a smile creep across her face. Laughter bubbled up from her core and erupted as soaring notes.
“And you’ll know the magic is there!”
The crowd stood and pounded their hooves into the ground, nearly shaking the foundations of the stage. Whistles and cheers could be heard from the far side of Ponyville. Sweetie Belle bit back tears of joy.
Dead End
In a small motel in a small city, somewhere south of Ponyville, Diamond Tiara wept into a pillow. The pillow stank of smoke, as did the rest of the bed, but there wasn’t exactly anywhere else to stay.
Somepony pounded on the other side of the cardboard-thin walls. “Keep it down in there! There’s other people in this place, you know!”
“Go whine to somepony who cares, plothole!” Diamond shouted.
The words that replied were loud and angry. Diamond ignored them, focusing instead on forgetting that she was out of bits. Not near the end, not scraping the bottom. She was broke. Three months of hopping from town to town had drained her, especially since she hadn’t been able to keep a job anywhere.
Her door handle rattled. Diamond Tiara nearly leaped off her bed as the hairs on her back stood up. Her mind ran through emergency plan after emergency plan. She had a small knife stashed in her saddlebags. She was an earth pony, so maybe she could overpower an attacking pegasus or unicorn. Unlikely, especially if the unicorn knew long-range spells. The window was sealed shut, but she could break it with the busted radio on the nightstand.
The lock clicked. Instead of the feared angry fellow patron, or worse, the open door revealed Silver Spoon.
Diamond Tiara slumped to the bedspread. “Oh my Creator, I thought you were gonna kill me.”
Silver Spoon ran up to Diamond and hugged her neck. “I was so worried about you, Tiara! You just left without telling anypony! Do you have any idea how long I’ve been looking for you?”
Diamond Tiara sniffled. “You were looking for me?”
“Of course. I couldn’t let my best friend leave like that.” Silver nuzzled the top of Diamond’s head. “You’ve very, very important. Don’t you know that? Now come back with me to Ponyville, things are—”
“I can’t go back.” Diamond pushed her way. “I’ve made too much of a mess. Everypony hates me.”
Silver Spoon shook her head. “Oh, Diamond. They hate the real you.” She tightened the straps on her silver-trimmed saddlebags. “The Diamond Tiara that’s coming back will be penitent, humble, and kind.”
Diamond Tiara sneered. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s like I told you, back before this whole thing started.” Silver Spoon looked at Diamond over the rim of her glasses. “You can’t just show the world what you think of it. Ponies don’t like that. They want everything to be nice and tidy. Friendly and compliant.”
Diamond Tiara walked past Silver. She poured herself a cup of lukewarm water from the bathroom faucet. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I have a hard time doing that.”
“Well, it’s not your fault they don’t realize how special you are.” Silver Spoon removed her pearl necklace—which probably cost more than the entire motel—and slid it into her saddlebags. “It’s your father’s fault you lashed out like that. He’s the one who was going to force you to be a clerk.”
Diamond sighed. She looked at her reflection. Rumpled mane. Ragged coat. Baggy eyes. “I should have taken the job.”
Silver Spoon gave her a double take. “What?”
“Don’t you see? I screwed everything up.” Diamond downed her water. It tasted like dirt. “It wasn’t worth leaving Ponyville. Daddy would have taken me back, just like Scootaloo said. If I would have just swallowed my pride…” She smacked the countertop. “I wouldn’t be here.”
Silver Spoon reached into her bags. She pulled out a black choker. A gold chain hung from the front, at the end of which was a blue gem. She fastened it around her neck.
“I can’t go back. I can’t face Daddy after I hurt him like that.” Diamond Tiara moved to the bed and flopped down. “Best now to just try to start a new life. Maybe I’ll do better this time around.”
“Ahh-ah-ah, ahh-ah. Ahh-ah-ah, ahh-ah.”
The notes came from Silver Spoon’s mouth. The gray earth pony shut her eyes and swayed to the music.
Diamond Tiara wrinkled her nose. “Um. Is now really the time to sing?”
“Ahh-ah-ah, ahh-ah.” Silver Spoon opened her eyes. They flashed green. “Ahh-ah-ah, ahh-ah.”
Diamond Tiara shook her head. Her eyes grew unfocused. “Whoa. What the haaay…”
Silver Spoon placed her hoof under Diamond’s chin and lifted it up. She sang softly, yet clearly.
“We know that life can be so bitter
We know ponies can be so cruel”
“Silver, what are you—?”
“But I know how to live in splendor
It will be me that makes the rules”
Silver Spoon led Diamond Tiara out of the room by her hoof. The gemstone on her necklace glowed bright blue, spreading a faint haze of smoke around the dirty carpet.
“Why just live with hurt and pain
When you were born a fighter?
Take a stand and make your claim
We’ll solve the riddle and the cipher”
Diamond Tiara shook her head. Her mind was in a fog. Her eyelids hung low. “Don’ wanna.”
Silver Spoon pushed her along through the hallways. Ponies watched from their doorways, awakened by the noise. One look at Silver’s necklace sent most of the scurrying for safer pastures.
Outside, a carriage waited. It was black, with sharp edges and spiraling corners. Menacing carvings of grotesques, bats, chimeras, hydras, and all manner of other monsters shared space on the intricately decorated side panels.
“Your day’s coming, don’t forego it
You can pass the coming test
You’ll struggle through another hurt
And then become the very best!”
The two of them boarded the nightmarish carriage in the deepest night: the Witching Hour. The stallion at the reigns snorted, his head covered with a dark mask. He whinnied and raced off, away from the seedy motel in the small town, his cargo secure.
Diamond Tiara opened her eyes. The sun shone through the curtains, lighting the room with a hazy red glow. It was the apartment she and Silver Spoon shared.
She smiled. She was so glad to be back in Ponyville. Sure, it would be a struggle to pay Silver Spoon back her half of the rent, but it was a small price to pay for getting away from her father. She crawled out of bed and went to the vanity. She brushed her mane, glad to finally smell like something besides smoke.
If only she wasn’t trapped in Silver Spoon’s living nightmare.
She blinked at her reflection. Where had that thought come from? Silver Spoon had been nothing but her friend from the moment they’d reunited. She was totally cool.
She thought back to the nightmare she’d had that night. A black carriage with monsters all over it. Some mare with a magic necklace. Something about singing?
She had the same dream every night, but she couldn’t remember much.
“Diamond, are you up yet?” Silver Spoon called from the next room. “You’re gonna miss the morning radio show.”
The last tendrils of the dream vanished as Diamond combed her coat. “I’ll be right out! Leave some coffee for me.”
She scrutinized her profile in the mirror. She was a little skinnier after three months of barely scraping by, but that would go away with proper nutrition. Her mane was perfect, her coat was a glamorous shade of pink, and her eyes were hollow with horror.
She shook her head and took a closer look. No, her eyes were the same vibrant blue as ever. “Maybe I’m just tired.”
She jumped when Silver Spoon poked her head into the bedroom. “Come on, Diamond. Time’s wasting.”
Diamond held a hoof over her beating heart. She shook her head and smiled. “Sorry. Got a little distracted… by myself!”
They giggled together before sharing a hoofbump. Diamond headed for the sitting room.
Silver Spoon wiped the predatory smirk off of her mouth before following.