"... I told you, Scootaloo. If you're going to get excited, could you at least try and control your wings? And call me by my full name!!" An irate Diamond Tiara, clearly fed up of laughing uncontrollably, had finally possessed the presence of mind to grab hold of the pegasus's feathers, thus managing to halt the giggles which had left her unable to speak for a whole minute.
At least the tears of laughter in her eyes now were there for another reason, besides being upset.
"Whoops! Sorry, just a little habit of mine, Di. Still, you can't say you didn't enjoy it, right?!" Scootaloo was apologetic, but she was certainly not about to stop calling Tiara by her nickname. It gave the pegasus a feeling of closeness to her new friend, and besides, it rolled off the tongue nicely.
Diamond rolled her eyes in annoyance. "You do realise tickling is a form of pain, right? Just a more pleasant feeling than getting bucked in the head. But, I suppose you and Sweetie Belle can keep calling me Di. If I'm going to be part of your goofy little clique, I may as well get used to it."
"Hurray!!" Both Sweetie and Scoots cheered in unison, and poor old Tiara got her second almighty hug of the day.
The pink filly's futile protests were drowned out by the furry heads covering her mouth, while Apple Bloom just looked on with part sympathy, part bemusement.
For somepony who'd never really shown much affection to others, except her father, Bloom realised the touchy-feely nature of the Crusader's camaraderie must come as a huge culture shock for Diamond.
She was sure that the pink filly would adjust to the level of intimacy shown by everypony in her new circle of friends and family, but it would take time...
Time Apple Bloom was more than willing to spend.
For now though, they had other priorities. The farm filly decided to break things up."Alright, girls. Don't forget what we came out here to do. We have to help Di find Silver Spoon, and..."
"Find Silver Spoon, and what...?" Apple Bloom spun around just in time to see the grey pony in question, approaching their group with a slightly sour expression on her face.
"Oh, Silver! What a coincidence! Me, Scoots, Sweets and Di were about to try and find you! I think Di has something very important to tell..." Blooms initial enthusiasm at seeing their target was quickly snuffed out when she realised the grey filly wasn't even looking at her, let alone listening.
Instead, Silver's focus was centred around her BFF, who was currently submerged underneath the warm embrace of a certain pegasus and unicorn. Neither Crusader had heard Bloom's call to pull back from Diamond, so both were still there, clinging onto a rapidly gesticulating Tiara, who had seen Spoon come over.
The grey filly gave the cuddling trio a haughty look, before crossing her hooves with impatience. "When you three have quite finished..."
Silver's voice was considerably higher pitched than Bloom's initial request to desist, and Sweetie heard it together with Scootaloo.
Seeing that their behaviour could be construed as slightly odd by somepony who hadn't been privy to the events of last night and this morning, they sheepishly leapt off Diamond together, feeling a little embarrassed in the process, especially Scootaloo.
As soon as the pair of hindrances were off her back and front, Tiara kicked into auto-gear. She rushed forward and flung herself at Spoon, her emotions a mixture of relief and anguish.
"O-oh, Silv..." Diamond stammered, between sobs. "T-thank Celestia y-you're here at last. I-it's been awful. M-my mother has been w-worse than ever. I-I thought I could g-get her to see sense, but i-instead she..."
Spoon's mask of apathy soon faded upon hearing that, and her first duty became seeing to her friend's well-being. Scooping up the pink filly in her hooves, she softly whispered in her ear. "It's okay, Di. I'm here. Tell me all about it."
"S-she punished me, Silv. W-worse than ever. S-she said... S-she was going to s-send me away to that a-awful boarding school I told you about. I-I was afraid I'd never s-see you again, after we'd j-just rediscovered our friendship..." Tiara bawled out, seemingly unaware of all the colts and fillies who were beginning to stare at her mini breakdown.
Spoon cradled Diamond with one hoof, while putting her other to her mouth in horror. "What?! Oh Di, that's awful. And all this, just because you shouted at her in public. I knew your mom was hard on you, but I didn't know she was that harsh. So... What are you going to do?"
"Well..." Tiara wiped some of her tears away. " I haven't told you the rest yet. Soon after I was sent to my room in disgrace, I got a visit from Princess Twilight, with three of her closest friends. When they arrived..."
"What?!" Silver was so shocked, she almost dropped her friend on the ground. "You're telling me, a princess, showed up at your front door, that late at night. Di, that is amazing...!!"
"It wasn't exactly a social call, Silv... "Diamond grunted in annoyance. "She'd heard how I'd been mistreated by my mother for years, and had come to investigate. She spoke to both my parents, and before I even knew what was happening, I was being taken away to live somewhere else."
Upon hearing this, Spoon turned almost as white as a sheet "Di... I-I don't k-know what t-to say. I-I'm so sorry. If I'd known t-that this morning, I wouldn't have been s-so..."
Now it was Tiara's turn to comfort her friend, who now had her head bowed and was looking ashamed. "Silv, please don't feel guilty. If you hadn't been there for me to confide in, I'm not even sure I could have made it this far. You've been like a rock for me throughout this whole ordeal, and I don't ever want that to change. So, please don't cry. One of us tearing up is bad enough..."
Despite Diamond's pleading, and as the size of the crowd around them slowly increased, Silver couldn't help but feel rotten at her best friend's plight. Still, as her thoughts turned to what could happen next...
All of a sudden, she had a wonderful notion, which perked her up almost instantaneously.
"Di!! I've just had a brilliant idea!" Spoon had seemingly banished her blues, and was ready to unveil her masterplan. "Why don't you come and stay with me?! You know there's plenty of empty rooms in my mansion, my parents would be thrilled to have you, we can stay up all night together platting each other's manes and trying on dresses..."
If the grey filly had been expecting an effusive response from Tiara, she was about to be majorly disappointed. Upon hearing those words, Diamond's face fell a mile, and she stared down at the ground as if she wanted it to swallow her up.
"T-that sounds great Silv, and I-I wish I could take you up on your o-offer. But, a-actually..." the pink filly stuttered, unable to make eye-to-eye contact. " I already h-have someplace to live for n-now."
Spoon was surprised yet again, for about the third time in five minutes. "W-what?! That was awfully fast. So, where is it then? Do you have any aunts, uncles and grandparents around here you haven't told me about? Or, you're not moving away, are you?!"
"No, no. Nothing like that." Tiara attempted to calm down the panic-stricken grey filly. "I don't have any other relatives inside Ponyville, and I'm not leaving it. Instead, I'll be staying with somepony both of us know very well. It's..."
Unsure how to break the big news, Diamond instinctively moved her head to glance at the farm filly under discussion. For now, her and the rest of the Crusaders were just chilling out nearby, keeping tabs on how things were going.
Upon hearing her name almost mentioned, Apple Bloom's ears perked up, and on seeing Tiara looking over at her, her new roommate thought this was a cue for her to make her way to the conversing duo.
So, that's what she did. Bloom innocently trotted over to the best friends, raised her hoof and said simply "Hi".
Oops.
Silver Spoon stared at the intruder to their conversation with a mixture of incredulity and shock.
Being a smart little filly, Silver Spoon had soon put all the evidence together in her head. The borrowed ribbon. The dirt encrusted pink fur. The over-familiarity which the farm filly and her friends had greeted Di with all morning.
Now it made perfect sense.
"You chose to stay with... Apple Bloom?!" The words left Silver's lips alright, though she still couldn't quite believe them herself.
A downcast Diamond found herself yet again with her eyes trained on the floor, wishing for that non-existent pit to open up, so she could jump in head first. "Well, kinda, yeah. B-but, you don't understand Silv, Applejack was there. She asked me directly if I wanted to live with her. The words just kinda came out..."
But Silver again had chosen to go temporarily deaf. "You preferred... To go live on a dirty farm... Full of smelly animals... Than stay in a mansion.... With your best friend?" The apparent illogicality of Di's apparent decision had so consumed the grey filly, that she wasn't interested in any rational arguments.
"Hey, wait a second!" Apple Bloom couldn't help but butt in. Despite appreciating how hard it must be to hear about her best friend's new living arrangements, nopony insulted her homestead and got away with it. " Sweet Acres ain't dirty! And we wash our critters at least twice a week! What's wrong with Di staying there, anyway? She might learn a few things, that her old hoity-toity lifestyle up till now won't have taught her."
Spoon blinked at Bloom, before rounding on her best friend again. "That's another thing I wanted to mention. Since when have these three earned the right to call you 'Di'? For a whole twelve months, I wanted to give you that nickname, but you always said that you 'weren't ready' or it was 'too common'. I thought the day we took our first trip to Canterlot together was something special, because you let me refer to you as 'Di' without you flinching or chastising me. Now, I find..."
Silver at this juncture pointed at Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, before returning to her rant.
"...That only a few days after you were calling these three 'pathetic little blank flanks' that you couldn't wait to humiliate in class, now they're suddenly on the same level of friendship as me? Who's stood by you, through thick and thin?! Who's tolerated you, when you had nopony else could stand to be in the same room as you?! I thought I meant more to you than that, Di. Obviously I was wrong." Spoon finished with a huff, flicking her mane over her shoulder.
All throughout this fractuous exchange, Tiara had remained speechless and motionless, with her jaw wide open and her legs rooted to the ground. Only her reddened eyes conveyed her true feelings, with a steady stream of tears running down her cheeks to form a pool underneath her hooves, yet she never blinked, despite all the soreness.
Seeing as she was unable to defend herself, Scootaloo felt responsible for defending her new friend. "Silver, you are way out of line! You of all people should know, the hardships she's been through lately. I can't believe you'd put your own selfish pride above the safety of your best friend! Does it really matter where she stays or what we call her, as long as she's kept away from Spoiled?! If you ask me, you owe her a big apology. Think about what you've just said, and I know you'll do the right thing."
Scootaloo's uncompromising words seemed to strike a chord with Silver, and the grey filly stopped her heedless ire for a minute to consider things.
Apple Bloom, usually the peacemaker in these kind of fraught situations, couldn't help but be impressed by Scootaloo, and gave the orange pegasus a warm smile of thanks for her efforts. Who knew she had it in her, the farm filly pondered. She must have been taking inspirational speech lessons from Rainbow Dash...
In the meantime, the small crowd which had began to congregate around the quartet had slowly grown in size with every passing minute, as the drama had increased both in volume and intensity. Now, almost the entire playground equipment area was empty, as each youngster witnessed these old friends battle it out, with their new friends providing a supporting role. It was great fun, and nopony had even had to purchase a ticket.
Only Pipsqueak remained separate from the common herd, still desperately hoping his tiny legs would grow a few inches so he could ascend that pesky climbing frame. He had a bet going with Shady Daze, which he was determined to win, when maybe, as class president, in the absence of Cheerilee (who was currently ocupado after her fourth cup of coffee) he perhaps should have been doing something to stop the little fracas.
Who voted for him again?
Regardless, it looked like the saga was about to reach a happy conclusion. Silver Spoon seemed to have mulled over her sharp words, and had realised she had been a little hasty in her unwarranted condemnation of Di.
After all, what else mattered, other than her BFF's well-being? Her complaints were minor niggles, that she'd blown out of proportion. She still had a few misgivings, but it was time to put on her best conciliatory face, turn to Di, and...
"Yeah, that's right Silver! Because us Cutie Mark Crusaders ALWAYS stick together! And, that includes Di now!" At that exact moment, Sweetie Belle walked up to Tiara, and put a hoof around her neck, to give rather a delayed reaction to Scootaloo's nice speech.
The white unicorn thought she was providing a valuable service by upholding the values of their organisation.
She thought, that by preaching the benefits of solidarity to the cause to Silver Spoon, she could help the situation.
She thought...
She wasn't really thinking, was she?
Upon hearing this little nugget of info, Silver's mouth, which was about to speak words of reconciliation, abruptly snapped shut as quickly as when she'd closed Di's jaw soon after the result of the class election.
Her eyes narrowed.
Her teeth clenched.
"What?" The grey filly asked, softly.
Unaware of the gravity of the situation, Sweetie began to happily respond. "Well, you see, on our way to school today, Di became our newest member, and..." GLOMP!
That last part was the sound of Scootaloo clamping her hoof into the mouth of the chatty unicorn, while smiling nervously as the ever-more frowning Spoon.
For the first time that day, Silver chose to speak to Apple Bloom. "Is what your friend said there accurate?" She inquired, without emotion.
"Well, yes." Bloom answered as confidently as she could, considering how jittery she felt. "But, Silver, why does it matter so much?"
"No reason, really..." Spoon continued talking in that creepy, light tone. "Only that, it makes her the biggest hypocritical liar ever!!"
Those last four words were spit out with such venom, that nearly everypony present took a step back in alarm. Diamond had looked aghast before in her statuesque state. Now, the poor traumatised pink filly looked ready to collapse...
"B-but... S-silv..." She struggled to speak.
"Choosing to live with Apple Bloom on a filthy farm rather than with your so-called best friend is one thing..." Silver icily continued, interrupting her. "As is giving access to your special nickname to ponies you've only befriended for all of five minutes. But joining the club you told me you'd hated for years, that you said you'd rather chop your own mane off than be a part of... I have to ask myself. Are you really Di, my BFF? Did you tell me the truth about anything? Do I even know you at all?!"
Every word cut into Tiara like a thousand needles, leaving in their wake far worse scars than anything her mother had ever scolded her for.
D-did her best friend...
H-her trusted confidante...
T-the one pony she could always turn to...
J-just say....
S-she didn't know her...
A-at all?!
Devastated didn't describe half of how Diamond felt at that moment in time...
And, to make matters worse, yet again, having not learned from her earlier mistake, Sweetie Belle thought she could still help.
The unicorn managed to spit out the hoof of the stunned Scootaloo to inform Silver. "No, no. You've got it all wrong! She isn't a changeling, believe me. I thought that myself earlier on, until I discovered..." GLOMP! Scootaloo managed to force her hoof back inside, before any further nonsense could be uttered.
Spoon glanced witheringly at Sweetie, before turning to walk away. "Well, at least you have plenty of support from your new friends. I certainly don't want to stand in your way. Go and work on a farm, if you like. Let Cranky Doodle Donkey call you Di, for all I care. Run about with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, if that's what you want. Just don't come crying to me the next time you have any problems, made up or otherwise, Diamond. I'd prefer to be in the company of ponies who aren't disloyal, habitual liars. Now, if you'll excuse me..."
And as Silver Spoon waited for the silenced crowd to split in two so she could trot off, many things happened in the next few seconds.
First, Diamond Tiara carried out her earlier threat, of going out like a light, spread-eagle on the ground.
Then, a watching Apple Bloom screamed for help.
Finally, as those gathered made way for a frantic Cheerilee to dash her way over to the unconscious pony...
The same students parted their numbers to allow a solitary grey filly to walk carefully away from the scene...
And, all those present were so wrapped up in the proceedings, they didn't notice...
The small droplets of water on the ground that steadily followed her retreat.