//------------------------------// // Broken Bodies and Broken Hearts // Story: Silver's Decision- The story of a bystander // by Sparkler774 //------------------------------// "Hey guys." said Sweetie Belle, running up to her friends. "Hey." said Apple Bloom and Scootaloo in unison. "I'm really sorry, but I can't walk home with you this week." said Sweetie, looking a little disappointed. "What? Why not?" asked Apple Bloom, confused. "Because some filly our age ordered a dozen custom dresses and Rarity needs me to model. They want the dresses done by Friday, so I have to hurry to the boutique and start, okay?" said Sweetie. "That's cool. We can just do our crusading during lunch and recess instead this week." said Scootaloo, putting on her helmet and hopping aboard her scooter. "See you later, Sweetie Belle." "Bye guys. I'll see you tomorrow." "Okay. Later, Sweetie." said Apple Bloom as she got on the scooter. She and Scootaloo sped off towards Sweet Apple Acres, knocking down several townsfolk along the way. Sweetie Belle giggled a little, then went on her way to the Carousal Boutique. On the way, she passed Sugarcube Corner and wished that he could buy herself a milkshake. That is, until she peeked inside and saw Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon sipping on sodas and gossiping. Diamond looked up from her soda and pointed at Sweetie Belle. "Eeep!" squeaked Sweetie, darting away from the window. She quickly raced away, not wanting a confrontation. "Hey, Sweetie Belle!" Too late. Sweetie turned around tentatively, afraid of the abuse that was sure to come. But to her surprise, Diamond was smiling, and not in a mean way. "We want to talk to you." said Diamond. "Nothing bad. It's just... something private, that's all." Sweetie Belle looked at the two skeptically. Diamond was smiling at her in a perfectly friendly way, but Silver's expression looked a little nervous. Maybe they were just trying to be nice. "Um... okay, I guess..." said Sweetie Belle. "Come on, it's better if we tell you somewhere private." Diamond led Sweetie over to the school's vacant playground, over by the hopscotch area. Once Diamond had made sure that nopony was around, she nodded to Silver, who pushed Sweetie Belle down onto the asphalt. Hard. "Ow!" squealed Sweetie Belle, scraping her hoofs as she fell. Pain shot up her left foreleg and tears filled her eyes. "Hey, what gives?" Diamond's friendly smile had disappeared, replaced by a malicious smirk. Her eyes had transformed into icy blue slits, scanning Sweetie Belle for signs of weakness. There was quite a bit. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" asked Diamond, not waiting for an answer. "A naive little foal who never learns? Please, even I thought you would have more sense than to follow us here, alone. But no, your 'sweet' and 'forgiving' nature made you absolutely blind, didn't it?" Diamond said the words 'sweet' and 'forgiving' as if they were filthy swear words instead of virtues. To appease Diamond, Silver Spoon stared down at the fallen Sweetie Belle with facade of disgust, when really she only felt guilt. She knew that what she and Diamond were doing was wrong, but she was too scared to say anything to Diamond that might anger her. Tears streamed out of Sweetie Belle's glittering green eyes. "W-why are y-you doing this?" she asked, her voice quavering. Diamond sneered. "Geez Squeaky Belle, you're even more clueless than I thought. Don't you get it? This your punishment." "Punishment for what?" said Sweetie, shakily standing back up. "Don't play dumb." DT snarled, leaning in close to Sweetie Belle's face. "You didn't really care about winning that flag-carrying competition. You just hate to see me beat you at something, you stupid, nerdy blank-flank!" she screeched, slapping Sweetie Belle across the face. Sweetie Belle yelped as Diamond's hoof collided with her face, toppling back from the blow. She gazed back up at Diamond's hateful expression, tears now freely streaming down her face. But Diamond wasn't done. Standing over Sweetie Belle's dirty and beaten body, Diamond kicked her as hard as she could, right in the side. Sweetie gasped as the wind was knocked out of her, and tried desperately to crawl away. But Diamond was too fast for her, trotting ahead and stopping in front of her. Shouting insults left and right, Diamond continued to slap, kick, or otherwise beat the tar out of the helpless Sweetie Belle. When Diamond Tiara had finally seemed to have gotten her fill of torment, she squatted down to Sweetie Belle's level and smiled evilly before spitting on her muzzle with relish. Silver Spoon looked away; it hurt to watch this torture. Closing her eyes, she tried to shut out the cruelty before her, but she couldn't. Sweetie Belle's pain and Diamond's heartless persecution were too graphic to ignore. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. "Stop, Diamond, stop! You're out of control!" shouted Silver, pushing Diamond away before she could hurt Sweetie Belle any longer. Diamond turned to Silver, her expression wild and full of hatred. Silver Spoon backed away, afraid of her best friend's reaction to her intervention. "Like, what the heck, Silver Spoon?!" shouted Diamond. "Why in Equestria did you push me away like that?? I was just getting started!" When Silver didn't answer, Diamond just got even more angry. "Answer me!" "Because... because..." started Silver, desperately trying to think of an explanation. "Well?!" "Because... you're overdoing it!" said Silver hurriedly. "Uh... if you hurt her too much, then somepony's bound to notice! We'll like, get in huge trouble or something!" Diamond thought this over for a moment. "Fine, I guess you're right." she said. Silver Spoon gave a breath of relief. "But let me finish." Silver Spoon whirled around, horrified. What was Diamond going to do now? Diamond Tiara picked up the bruised and battered Sweetie Belle, who now had a black eye, a cut lip, and light purple bruises all over her body. Leaning in close to Sweetie's face again, Diamond smiled her terrifying grin, the one that Silver hated. "Rarity sure won't be happy about you being such a hot mess right now, would she?" sneered Diamond. "Especially with my custom dresses needing to be finished by Friday and everything." Diamond started walking towards Silver Spoon, sashaying arrogantly away. "Oh!" said Diamond, stopping for a moment. "And one more thing." Quick as a flash, Diamond Tiara had picked Sweetie Belle up again, her expression cruel and full of hate. "I will be very upset if anypony finds out about our little run-in, mmkay hon?" said Diamond, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "So I wouldn't suggest tattling about anything, if you know what I mean." Sweetie Belle looked scared for a moment, then attempted to put on a brave face. "O-Oh yeah? Or w-what?" Diamond snickered nastily. "Or I might have to spread a few, ah, secrets around the class. Like the embarrassing pictures of you that I've been having Featherweight take all year. Or maybe I should start a little rumor about the Button Mash doodles in your notebook, hmm?" Sweetie's already pale face turned paler. "N-no! I-I promise I won't tell! Just d-don't do anything e-else, okay?" "Fair enough." Diamond dropped Sweetie Belle onto the asphalt, adding another scrape to Sweetie's collection of injuries. "Now go run home with your tail tucked between your legs, like a good little loser, alright hon?" That was enough for Sweetie Belle. Limping a little from her wounds, Sweetie ran away as fast as she could, her cheeks flushed with humiliation. Diamond laughed and pointed at the sight of the beaten and mortified filly, making Silver cringe uncomfortably. "C'mon Silver, let's get out of here. This place reeks of 'essence of blank-flank'." Diamond giggled at her own joke in a malicious way. As they walked home together, Silver stayed silent, not sure of what to say after seeing her best friend hurt somepony so badly. She had never seen Diamond so crazy and out of control before, like a wild animal hungry for blood had overtaken her body. "H-Hey, DT," said Silver, turning to Diamond. "Yeah?" "D-do you think you were a little... I dunno... harsh today? I mean, just pushing a pony down is one thing, giving them a full-on beating like that... it seemed a little... you know... over the top." Diamond's face turned red with anger. "So what?? The stupid loser had it coming to her anyway, you know. What, so you're taking her side now or something???" Silver went pale. "N-n-no! O-of course not, Di! I j-j-just thought t-that m-m-maybe we w-were, y-ya know, j-just a little t-t-too heavy on the b-b-beatings, t-t-that's all!" Sweat trickled down Silver's brow. Please, please don't let Tiara be mad at me... she thought. Diamond scowled. "You know, Silvy, I don't think you were being completely truthful with me before when you told me why you told me to stop beating up Sweetie Belle." Diamond's already narrow eyes turned to slits. "I think you just didn't want me to have fun, hmm?" "N-n-no! N-n-nothing l-like t-that, D-diamond! O-o-of c-course I-I w-w-want y-you t-t-to h-have f-f-fun!" Silver's voice was shaking uncontrollably now; it was all she could do not to wail like a foal. 'I also notice that you didn't help me punish Sweetie Belle like, at all, did you? In fact, I was the only one who did anything." "I-I-I'm s-sorry, D-d-d-diamond! P-please b-believe me!" Silver Spoon burst out crying, throwing herself on Diamond's hoofs and begging for forgiveness. Diamond stared down at her lackey with disgust. Pushing Silver to the side a little with her hoof, she began to back away slightly. When Silver noticed this, a fresh wave of tears exploded within her. I never should have stopped her... thought Silver Spoon regretfully. It wasn't worth it... it just wasn't worth fighting my best friend over! "Get up, Silver Spoon." Silver's head shot up hopefully. Diamond Tiara was staring down at her, looking agitated and bored. "Well, are you going to get up or are you just going to stay here and blubber like a foal?! I can walk home by myself, if you prefer." Silver stood up instantaneously, wiping away the barrage of tears on her face. Diamond gave a strange little smile that made Silver feel a bit nervous, but she ignored that. The joy of her best friend forgiving her was a better feeling than anything else in the world. *** Silver Spoon lay awake in bed that night, smiling up at her ceiling. After they had walked to Silver's house together, Diamond Tiara had told her that she needed to go someplace else for what she said was "an urgent appointment". For a moment Silver Spoon pondered on what that appointment might be, but she dismissed it as unimportant for the moment. But the voice of reason in the back of her mind kept nagging at her about Diamond's interrogation earlier that day. Diamond seemed pretty angry, and Silver knew that she had acted pathetic. But she couldn't help it; the thought of her best and only friend abandoning her was horrible, and she was willing to do anything to preserve their friendship. Be reasonable, Silver Spoon, she thought, turning over in bed. If she doesn't want to be around me for whatever reason, it's probably my fault anyway. If she's starting to get bored with me, then that means that it's up to me to put in the effort now. After all, she told herself, yawning. Diamond and I are best friends, just like we've always been... and always will be. Always.