Discord's Very First Faithful Student

by Pokonic

Friends To Be Fooled

Silver Spoon, in general, thought there were two major events in her life that defined her.

The first event was a choice; to not move in with her father to Fillydelphia when her parent's decided to live in separate cities. Spoons and Supplies was a modest kitchen-appliance manufacturing company for many years until Wooden Spoon, her great-aunt, made a deal with a pony who had the unfortunate name of Stinking Rich. This allowed them to be the prime manufacturers for kitchen and tableware products for the then-upcoming Barnyard Bargans chain of market stores. However, this meant that business was mostly in the cities, and the Spoon family was both rather small and controlled the business entirely, with not a single manager for the business not bearing the Spoon name. As such, her father decided to oversee the main operations plant personally while her mother decided to stay in Ponyville.

It wasn't like they had no love for each other, Silver Spoon knew better then that just from how they acted. After all, her father visited often and with good cheer, and her mother was busy herself with managing sales and operations from the comfort of her own home. Perhaps it would be more practical for the two to move to one place or the other, but they both were quite independent and knew better then to step on each other's hooves.

But, perhaps she should have went with her father three years ago. Fillydelphia was a large city, and there were plenty of ponies worth knowing. Ponyville was the same, but Silver Spoon just didn't like the small-town feel. It wasn't just because of the horrible death forest in a half-hour's travel from the town (even though that was a part of it). It was just that, really, Ponyville didn't seem to know if it was really a small town or a free-range insane asylum. The ponies here were either boring or utterly dedicated to be as crazy as possible, and to make things worse there were only a few hoofull's of fillies her age in town.

Fillydelphia might have been large and noisy and industrial and filled with ponies that probably didn't expect to find themselves smelting steel for the rest of their lives doing that exact thing and almost nothing else, but it was consistent in it's dourness. And it had a upscale area with parks, so she actually didn't need to go in the nasty areas if she didn't want to.

But, she decided to stay with her mother, a choice that her father respected and her mother appreciated.

That led to her currant situation in life; friends only with Diamond Tiara, granddaughter of Stinking Rich, enemies of almost every other pony her age by association.

But that she could live with, for the moment.

Because, really, the second big event that changed her life was assisting Diamond Tiara in getting her Cutie Mark.

That wasn't to put down getting her own cutie mark (it involved a tour of a kitchen for the homeless in Manehatten and helping a rather scrawny foal reach for a paper plate); but the series of events that got the pink filly her cutie mark were rather strange, to put it one way.

They were in Canterlot because her Mr. Rich needed to go see some important pony or another, and Diamond invited her with them. Eventually, the two of them found themselves in a fancy clothing store that carry line's either bearing the names of famous models or were worn by famous models, and Diamond Tiara happened to have a small thing called Daddies Money and a wish for something nice.

The problem is, a few minutes in their little exploration of the store, a manager ponies stopped them and politely asked them to leave, and for Tiara to put her namesake back where she found it.

Now, this had several inherent problems in it, and more only came to Silver's mind as she looked back on it, two years after it happened. Firstly, Diamond Tiara was wearing the, well, diamond tiara she got for her sixth birthday when she walked in the store. Secondly, they were not actually doing anything wrong; this wasn't hyperbole. They knew to behave because they were not young ruffians and this wasn't the first fancy store that the two had been in by far.

But, that was just a detail, because the manager decided to remark that she had a servant's cutie mark.

This made both her and Diamond offended.

Then the manager said that Diamond's tiara needed to be back where it needed to belong.

So the manager, actually smirking, plucked it off her head in her magical grip, teal light lifting the expensive object just slightly out of reach of the two fillies.

Silver Spoon remembered being angry for a few moments before hearing some of the most commanding things she had ever heard come from Diamond's mouth, directed at the manager pony of course. She didn't hear the entire rant the pink filly threw at the manager pony, because she was too distracted by the bit's of light forming on Diamond's flanks.

But, after Diamond was finished, the manager pony, now looking at Diamond with something between fear and embarrassment, gave her back her tiara and trotted off to elsewhere in the store. It took a few minutes after the two walked out of the store and a few moments for Tiara to calm down till Silver Spoon could call direction to the mark that formed just minutes before.

Diamond Tiara thought her special talent was being able to wear tiaras elegantly. Everypony else seemed to think that too.

Silver Spoon didn't think that was true at all.

A tiara was a bit like a crown, after all.

---

Silver Spoon was in her room when she heard the doorbell ring.

Slowly, achingly, she pulled back the warm, soft sheets on her bed, grabbed her glasses of the small table that sat to her right, blinked a few times, stumbled down to the, made her way across her room in the pitch darkness, and went down the hall.

Her house wasn't especially large, but Silver liked to think it was a nice one. Everything that should have shined did so and everything that had to be soft was soft. What wasn't an antique was probably bought in the last few years or so; shiny family pictures were next to paintings of decent value and what wasn't marble tile was plush beige carpeting. It was a comfortable house.

By the time Silver Spoon made her way to the living room, a modest affair with three couch's and a television for her father's movie collection, the doorbell had rung twice more and her ears were starting to hurt a little.

Silver Spoon didn't know who or what to expect when she undid the lock on the door. Salesponies, perhaps.

It wasn't Diamond Tiara, anyway.

Silver blinked at the filly standing at her doorway. It had been two days since she had last seen her, and she looked worse for it. Her hair was slightly disheveled and her namesake wasn't sitting on her head properly. She wasn't frowning, but her mouth was pulled at an angle, like she had something foul on her mind but she didn't want to say it.

"Uh, wanna come in?" Silver said slowly, a little dazed from both waking up and seeing a pony she didn't expect to see for a while.

Diamond just nodded lightly and made her way over to one of the couches, not saying another word.

This, to Silver, was rather distressing.

"What's the matter, Diamond?"

"Am I a bad pony, Spoon?"

Diamond's reply was quick, almost unthinking. Silver walked over to where the other filly was sitting, frowning as she sat down next to her.

"Did somepony say something to you? Don't listen to them." Silver replied, trying to sound encouraging, "You are not a bad pony."

For a few moments, Silver Spoon thought she saw a far more familiar look pass over Diamonds face, one of agreement with her words. But it must have been a trick of the light.

"Nopony said anything to me." Diamond said, voice sounding a little odd, like she was knowingly telling a lie. "It's just that...Silver, am I a mean pony?"

Silver Spoon wasn't especially ready to lie to her only friend so early in the day. Well, it wasn't like she was ready to lie to her at any point in the day, but she wasn't prepared to do something like that without real mental preparation.

"Diamond, you have been a bit... well, you have been bossy." she says slowly, trying not to sound like she was being a critic even though she was; "Remember last year, with the Foal Free Press?"

The pink filly broke out into a weak smile, a honest one. "Yeah, that was fun."

Silver Spoon couldn't help but frown. "Tiara, you didn't talk to me for the entire time you were the head of that paper."

Diamond Tiara's expression didn't change, but her voice held a hint of surprise.

"Silver, that's impossible. I had to have-"

"You didn't." the grey filly said, voice firmer then she intended, "And you didn't say a word about it when you stopped being in charge of it. You were so focused with bossing ponies around you didn't even notice I wasn't even around."

Silver Spoon stopped talking, because her brain only caught up with what she was saying after the fact.

She repressed the urge to put a hoof over her mouth.

Diamond Tiara, to her mild surprise and dismay, didn't have any strong external reaction to what she said. Silver Spoon knew, if there was any word she would use to describe how Tiara acted, it was physical. She wasn't good at hiding her emotions.

Either the pink filly had some sort of epiphany within the last few days, or she knew this already.

Silver Spoon didn't believe that either could have occurred in the last few days, so she thought harder about what could have happened.

"Somepony did talk to you." Silver said lowly. "Who? Was it somepony your dad hired?"

Diamond Tiara was silent for a few moments.

"You know that house on the edge of town, with that one pegasus?"

Silver Spoon blinked.

"I don't have anything planned, so yeah, of course. Your dad hired one of the Elements of Harmony to talk to you?"

Diamond Tiara hung her head low slightly.

"Kind of."

Silver Spoon knew better then to press the topic, and decided to comfort the filly.

"You are not a bad pony, Diamond. You just have a strong personality. Most ponies don't have strong personalities."

"Silver, why are you even my friend?"

If Silver Spoon had something in her mouth at this point, she would have spit it out.

"Diamond, what's the matter with you? I am your best friend."

"I know, but I don't get it. Nopony else has ever wanted to be my friend. I don't get it. Why you? I don't deserve you as a friend. I see you look at the Cutie Mark Crusaders sometimes. I know that you want to talk to them without me around."

Silver Spoon couldn't help but stare at the filly sitting next to her.

"Tiara, you are my friend because you are smart and you know me."

It was true, really. They understood each other well enough that they didn't really feel the need to go out and find other friends. Or, at the very least, that was Silver's rationalization of her situation.

"Silver Spoon, you are the best friend anypony could ask for. You should know that."

Abruptly, Diamond Tiara stepped off the couch and headed for the door, leaving Silver Spoon alone and surprised.

"Thanks, Tiara. I'm sorry for what happened in the park."

Diamond, by then, had already opened the door to leave, but paused for just a few seconds to look at Silver Spoon sadly.

"Don't mention it, Spoon. That was my fault."

Silver Spoon couldn't think of anything else she could say before she saw the pink filly walk out of her house and shut the door.

Sitting on that couch, Silver Spoon could only feel a sense of impeding dread.

---

Diamond Tiara was five minutes away from Silver Spoon's house before her facade cracked.

"What was the point of that? That was stupid." the little filly hissed as she adjusted her namepiece on her head, voice down an octave.

Discord scurried down the tree closest to her, in the form of a squirrel. It was a little disconcerting to Diamond, but her rage and general confusion outweighed her instinctive fear of mutated-looking squirrels with horns and mad eyes.

"You'r friend trusts you, but you put almost no care into how you act around her. Consider this a new beginning."

Diamond glared at the disguised draconequus, stomping a leg for emphasis. "That doesn't make sense. Silver Spoon just think's I'm weak now. That was embarrassing."

Discord rolled his shoulders, expression unchanging. "Hardly. You saw her reaction to what I told you to say."

Diamond paused, wincing internally. "Silver Spoon never talked to me like that before. That's your fault."

"What, giving you criticism?" Discord replied uncaringly, "I never actually said anything to your friend there. If you heard something you didn't agree with, I had nothing to do with it."

Diamond Tiara turned away from the rodent on the tree, huffing. "Whatever. Now, are you going to help me with that project or not?"

"Of course, after we visit Fluttershy." Discord replied.

"Ew, really? The pony who lives with all those animals?" Diamond says, sticking her tongue out in disgust, "Can't we just visit the dump or something?":

Diamond Tiara looked at the squirrel, who suddenly had a expression of rage that simply didn't look right on a furry mammal.

"Have you figured out nothing?" Discord hissed back, causing Tiara to take a step back by shear reflex, "You are a alienating presence to your only friend, yet you continue to act like a utter fool! If you want to be successful, you must learn to give back, or at least pretend."

"Pretend to be what?" Diamond half-yelled back, realizing that, right now, she looked like a crazy filly who was yelling at a oddly attentive arboreal rodent.

"Affable. To be good natured, friendly, and easy to talk to." Discord said in return, sounding high-pitched and mocking, like a parrot. "If you continue to act like a brat, ponies will treat you as one. If you act like a nice filly, ponies will treat you as one. Do it all the time, and ponies will not think you are a bad pony."

"I am not a bad pony." Diamond replied back, if weaker then she wanted to.

Discord looked at the filly, and shrugged once more, little bony shoulders bulging under his brown hide. "You are not. Yet, anyway. Keep acting like you do, and I'll visit you in Canterlot's Castle's courtyard in decade or so."

Diamond just stared at Discord until he popped out of existence, and stood at the base of the tree for a few moments before she started to walk back to her house.

She has had enough of being taught for one day.

Comments

[keaton-furman-prower]

DIscord, the teacher of morality?!

Interesting

[Pokonic]

3662562
static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Diamond+Tiara+IDKLOL.+Just+noticed+this+little...+reference+To+all_0d7de5_3143861.jpg

[Seether00]

Kinda the pot calling the kettle black there, Discord.

[alarajrogers]

3662562

He's not really teaching morality. He's teaching enlightened self-interest and manipulation skills.

I like this version of Discord, actually. Fundamentally he hasn't changed, but Fluttershy taught him a new bag of tricks to use. That doesn't mean he doesn't consider her a friend; but he seems to be quite aware that if you act like a friend toward someone, they are not likely to perceive you as evil regardless if you are, which is an interesting lesson to have taken home from being "reformed by friendship."

[Lag Incarnate]

This sounds like the kind of Discord that's trying to turn someone to chaos so he'll have a friend to rule with. Oh wait, did I mess something up?

[Hand Wave]

3662692
He's a self-aware pot now.