//------------------------------// // Dark Side of the Moondancer // Story: Silver Marriage // by cdcdrr //------------------------------// Chapter 20: Dark Side of the Moondancer Silver Spoon stood at the residence known to belong to Bon Bon with her suitcase hesitantly before knocking with her hoof. The owner opened the door for her not long after. "Uhm, hi. I was wondering if your offer for a place to sleep was still open." She explained meekly as anxiety showed from her expression. "Of course it is. Why? What happened?" Bon Bon asked with concern. "Do you know about that new store in town Diamond Tiara was going to open? Well it suffered the same fate as our house, and DT decided it was more important to our future that she guards it. I don't want to be stuck in a place that gets attacked anymore, but I don't feel safe back home without Diamond Tiara. I just don't want to have to deal with all the hate we've been getting around Ponyville lately, and you don't seem to have been a victim like me." Bon Bon smiled at Silver Spoon. "You're welcome to stay with us as long as you need. I can guarantee nopony will bother you while with us." It wasn't hard to trust her promise. Bon Bon was generally avoided for being rather gruff and quick to upset, but also one of the most prolific shopkeepers around Ponyville. While her spouse was rather quirky and not somepony who had any enemies. "Twist, darling?" Bon Bon called back at the unseen pony "Silver Spoon is going to be staying with us for some time. Please take her bag up to the guestroom and show her around." "It's okay, I can carry-" Silver tried to say, but the arrival of her old classmate interrupted her. "Hi Silver. Never expected you to come for a sleepover at my house." Twist joked as she lifted the suitcase with her mouth, causing her infamous lisp to return. "Howf zz twicks wiff youf an Diamoth Fiaraw?" "I'd rather not say." Silver Spoon hung her head, but Twist seemed to ignore it and led her inside and up the stairs to one of the rooms where she set down the luggage case. "This used to be my room you know. That was until I was old enough to understand the noises coming from mom's bedroom." Twist noted with just a slightly teasing yet suggestive look. The room was indeed between the master bedroom and what Silver assumed Twist's room. Normally, living with one's parents in your mid twenties was regarded as embarrassing, and the none-to-subtle warning about the thin walls a reason to seek one's own apartment. Silver Spoon however would have given anything at this time to have had parents who would let her stay with them. After a short tour of the upper floor and directions to the bathroom and other places around the house she would need to be aware of, Silver found herself downstairs again, in the living room. "I assume that after what happened you may want to talk to us about things?" Bon Bon offered a listening ear as she sat opposite on the couch from Silver Spoon, who had awkwardly taken a seat in a chair. Twist had said she'd return that afternoon, as it was her turn to see to her family's candy store by the market square. Silver Spoon, Bon Bon and Lyra were all alone in the living room now. It seemed appropriate for some heart-to-heart talk after they had been so hospitable to Silver Spoon. Still, she was wary. "I- I don't even known what to feel myself right now. I just need time to think. Just having a place to do so safely is enough." Silver denied, hoping she hadn't offended her host. "It's fine. You're young, you're different from your peers and facing a lot of hostility for it. But you are not alone, Silver. Know that we understand what you're going through right now and we will help." Bon Bon explained gently and calm. "I suppose I never really got to talk to other fillyfoolers. Certainly not older mares. It just seems so... like impossible an older generation would be into the same things." Silver stumbled to find a way to explain her incredulity, despite the well known fact around town Bon Bon and Lyra were lovers and not ashamed to show it. "Lyra went through the same thing as a filly. You already know how I didn't discover my true feelings until my marriage with my ex-husband was falling to pieces. And we've been faced with rejection, hostility and fear as you are now." Bon Bon revealed. "Who do you know who would shun someone your age?" Silver Spoon asked, covering her mouth apologetically "I'm sorry, I mean from your generation. I just don't understand the gap and why attitudes would have been the same." "Well Lyra's friend from Canterlot had it happen. She keeps in touch with her friends from Canterlot, unlike our local Princess of Friendship." Bon Bon seemed to grumble at the title. "She had been harbouring a crush on Princess Twilight in fact, and had it thrown in her face by Twilight's homophobia." "Now that's not fair, Bon Bon." Lyra joined the conversation to defend her old classmate. "Twilight was never the romantic type, but she was always into colts. I've never known her to like mares as anything but friends. And to have a friend like Moondancer whom you let down so much reveal she didn't quite see their friendship as platonic must have scared her a bit. From what I heard from everypony, Twilight was a bit freaked and wanted to make it clear she was not looking for a relationship. She may have broken Moondancer's heart, but she never actually expressed disdain or hatred of fillyfoolers. Just a few teensy bitsy assumptions about Moondancer's motives." "How do you know the Princess so well? I didn't think she had a lot of friends outside the ones she shares adventures with." Silver wanted to know. "Well, I went to school with Twilight. It's true she didn't really consider us friends for a long time, we just sort of were her classmates with whom she did all the things friends do. But outside of school we just weren't as important to her as studying. It's kind of why I feel so bad for Moondancer, having seen it all lead up to her ultimate rejection and knowing that fits with what I know about Twilight." Lyra explained before delving deeper into her history with the other ponies of her youth. "Moondancer always kinda stuck to Twilight like glue. Partnering up with her on projects, doing homework assignments, following her whenever Twilight would let her. She emulated her down to getting the same manecut and having the same interests as her. As we got older she was always organizing fun activities and parties in the hopes of getting Twilight to attend. But Twilight always had some excuse to not come, usually it was books. The rest of our little group was getting a little curious why Moondancer was so interested in having so many parties and having Twilight attend." Lyra interrupted to grab hold of a picture from on one of the living room shelves which she showed to Silver Spoon. Silver took it in her hooves and could see it was a class photo. It was from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, dated only a few years before Nightmare Moon's return. She could recognise a much younger Twilight when she was still a unicorn. There was also a very young Lyra in the picture. Nearest to them two cream mares, one with a pair of glasses and a similar manecut to Twilight. The other she recognized as Twinkleshine. She'd been a teacher at the Bright Light Seminary in Canterlot. Silver once had a long talk with her about why ponies believe homosexuals are wrong, how they are brought up to be disgusted by them, and had been able to bond somewhat over the similar households they had both been raised in. After Silver Spoon had gathered the courage to speak up to her parents after what Twinkleshine taught her, she was removed from there, her parents accusing her teacher of having tried to molest her to recruit her into fillyfoolerdom. It was one of several ponies her parents had cut off from her in their desperate attempt to 'cure' her condition. Silver could see two other fillies in the picture who were close to Twilight. Although she thought the blue unicorn seemed familiar, the yellow one didn't stand out in her memory. "Now, you have to understand Canterlot unicorns aren't always progressive. All the ancient arranged marriage stuff and purebred pride among the illustrious noble houses left a whole lot of snooty elitism. And our school was like a breeding ground for old ways of thinking despite the princess herself never expressing the same ideas. Me, Twilight, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine were all from fortunate families with blue blood, so it must have been intimidating for somepony to feel attraction to classmates of the same sex while knowing there was a high probability they'd be hostile if you ever revealed that. Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine had already made off hoof comments about fillyfoolers in a disparaging manner. So when we pushed Moondancer to tell us what was really going on, it must have been terrifying for her, but she came out. She told us the reason she was obsessed with Twilight was because she had feelings for her. I don't think I'll ever forget the looks on everypony's faces. You could totally cut the tension with a flaming sword. And I didn't want to see Moondancer get all the negative attention, so then I blurted out I had been a fillyfooler the whole time to." "I can only imagine how you did that." Bon Bon interjected. "Like I've told you, Bonnie. Perky and oblivious to all the oppressive atmosphere, as always." Lyra closed her eyes and smiled, giving Silver some idea of what mask she had put on to cover for all the unease. "But whatever happened, I wanted Moondancer to know she still hadn't lost me as a friend. Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine were surprisingly okay with that reveal being dropped on them. They said it was a real change in perspective knowing two of their friends were different. Minuette didn't seem to have a problem, though her blabbermouth got me outed to the whole class. That wasn't fun." The dejected look from Lyra was such a contrast, Silver guessed it was way less fun than she let on. "Moondancer seemed to instantly regret telling her secret, but we all swore a pact of secrecy on it. Come to think of it, I should have made Minuette swear to me as well. It kinda led to me swearing at her, though she was really sorry afterward. Anyway, we were all supportive of Moondancer and convinced her that if she cared so much about Twilight, she should stop beating around the bush with all these activities and just tell Twilight how she felt about her. She said she couldn't do it alone and wanted our help, and we'd do anything for a friend. So she planned one more party. It took us a lot of pushing to make sure she didn't get cold hooves, assuring her that her orientation was nothing to feel insecure about. We went to a lot of trouble to get Twilight to attend this time after all the times she had excused herself. And then she left for Ponyville." "Was that the day before the Summer Sun Celebration?" Silver could still remember that from when she was a filly. It was quite a fateful event as it would turn out. "That was probably the only good reason she'd had since ever, and she never even bothered to give it until over a year after. Typical Twilight." Lyra shook her head in disapproval. "Moondancer was already gone when I arrived at the party, and I was moving to Ponyville myself not long after. I kept in touch with my remaining friends, but they said Moondancer just kind of stopped caring about us. It wasn't until the princess came back to them to repair their broken bonds that Moondancer was able to move past the feeling of being stood up. The old gang made sure to better keep in touch with her from then on, and Moondancer finally worked up the courage to tell Twilight how she felt, alone. So none of our friends were witness to how it went exactly, but it left Moondancer rejected and Twilight avoiding her." Lyra finished her story and held out the cookie tin on the coffee table to Silver Spoon. "Lemon spritz?" Silver Spoon reluctantly took one of the offered baked goods. She found it really helped with the mood. "Bon Bon bakes the best cookies, don't you think?" Lyra inquired much more cheerfully than her story warranted. "I wonder how you can remain so happy through such a gloomy story." Silver almost muttered. "And I wonder why you remain so dour after one of Bonnie's treats. Come on Silvy. Sure, Moondancer is going to feel a bit of heartbreak for some time. But we all have to deal with rejection. I know she has good friends who can help her through her sadness. Just like how you and Diamond will get through your rough patch of bullying alright. It's like how Bon Bon gets through everything. When life gives you lemons, make lemon spritz! Or nade. Or how about spritzonade?" Bon Bon just put a hoof around Lyra, reeling in her enthusiasm with a tender look.