23 - A Night on the Town
Silver Spoon returned well before dusk. She rushed up to Diamond and began explaining the day to her. "I ran into this priest. She was kind of old, but super smart and nice too. She explained everything." She pointed at herself. "I'm a war priest, doesn't that, like, sound dangerous?"
Diamond nodded in agreement. "Why'd you come back with the book? I thought you went all the way over there to bring it back?"
Silver held the book close. "She gave it to me. Did I mention she's super nice? She said I could be anything I wanted to be!"
Diamond chuckled a little at that. "And what do you want to be, Silver Spoon?"
Silver paused, then sat in place. It was a simple question, but a fine one. "I... I want to be a better friend."
Diamond pointed at herself. "You're already my best friend, Silver."
Silver flushed brightly. She didn't remember Diamond ever actually coming out and saying that. She soon found herself being hugged by Diamond Tiara and quickly returned the gesture. For a moment, she felt good, just really good. "I love you too." Not in any romantic way, but as a sister.
The two fillies smiled at one another with a new sense of satisfaction in their relationship. Pinkie suddenly popped up between them and hugged both. "Oooo! Me too! I love giving hugs!"
Diamond burst into laughter and shoved Pinkie away. "You've got to work harder if you want to be half the friend Silver Spoon is." She drew herself up, looking proud. "Silver Spoon is a war priest of the god of friendship. That makes her as official as you get as friends go."
Pinkie gasped dramatically. "No way?! That is pretty impressive." She tapped at her chin. "So, I was thinking... We really should teach those meanies a lesson, but not you two." She pointed at the fillies. "So you tell Auntie Pinkie all about them, and I'll go take care of business. You two have enough bits to just hang out around here, right?"
Silver Spoon waved a hoof. "You can't go back all the way to the griffon lands for that!"
Gneech poked out of the kitchen area of their suite. "Huh, who is going back to griffon land?"
Diamond snorted softly. "I appreciate the sentiment, but who cares? We've already left them. I didn't mind the idea of kicking their shins on our way out, but going back?"
Pinkie shook her head. "You were right. They're going to be super mean to other griffons. They haven't learned their lesson at all."
Silver tilted her head. "I'm not so sure about that. They tried to play dirty, and Diamond Tiara collapsed the whole thing rather than give in to them. If they didn't learn something from that, they're pretty dumb."
Diamond nodded at Silver Spoon. "Exactly. I didn't leave them with nothing to remember me by." She pointed at Pinkie. "Why don't you put that energy into finding out how to get help here faster? In the meanwhile, I plan to go to a show." She moved for the exit and Silver was quick to join her.
Gneech hurried up. "Is Gneech invited?"
Diamond considered a moment. "You'll have to play up being a servant. "Kobolds aren't on good terms here, like with griffons, but less violent. Come on."
Pinkie noticed everyone was leaving but her, and that didn't sit right with her. She quickly joined the group and batted her lashes. "I can be a servant too if you need."
Diamond burst into laughter with sharp amusement. One of the former Elements of Harmony, her servant? "Sure thing, Pinkie. You can carry my parasol." She hadn't planned to bring it at first, but with the excuse available, she gave Pinkie the heavy thing to carry along. Pinkie handled it well enough, and soon had it tucked into wherever she hid things.
They headed out for the play. It was as lively as promised, with much more gore and explicit bits than either of the fillies were used to, though neither complained. Pinkie tried to shield their arguably-innocent eyes, but they weren't having any of that. Afterwards they went to a rather large party that many of the play attendees gathered at to share drinks and opinions in equal quantity.
Silver opted out of the drinks, and instead sat with one of her books, reading curiously as Diamond Tiara lived the life that her money earned her.
Diamond soon had Gneech involved in a drinking contest, and laughed with everyone else when he finally had too much and passed out. Pinkie, on the other hoof, stayed in the contest, until it was her and a local gem pony. The gem pony clopped a hoof on the ground. "I've never lost a drinking contest before."
Pinkie smiled brightly. "There's a first time for everything, but don't feel bad, we're here to have fun, right?"
The pony snorted with amusement and drunkenness before they swigged down another throat-burning dose of vodka. Diamond let out a loud whoop, cheering both of them on with clopping hooves and a big grin. She was far from alone in the large circle that had formed to watch the two drink off determinedly.
Silver sipped from the nicely-flavored drink at her side. It was mostly alcohol free, good enough to make the Everglow ponies not hesitate to give it to a filly as young as she was. She was captivated by the chapter she was reading about knowing the quality of a friendship, and what made one good or bad, and how to encourage them to become better. Some of its writings were a bit irritating. They described the behavior of Diamond Tiara as less than ideal, but Diamond had, in the end, always come through for her. "She's a good pony," she grumbled to herself, voice almost entirely drowned out with a wild series of cheers.
She looked up just in time to see the gem pony collapse to the ground. Pinkie had won their drinking contest, and the crowd was wildly cheering for her. The vigorous shaking of the sickened pony didn't turn out well, and Pinkie quickly lost much of what she drank, to more cheers and noises of disgust, but there wasn't any entirely sober faces in the crowd, and hard feelings seemed to be short in supply.
Diamond crashed down beside Silver Spoon. "Hey Silver. Why are you bottling yourself up here?" She pulled out a golden pendant, letting it hang and glitter in the light. "Tonight's paid for itself, and it's been a blast. Everypony's having a good time." Silver hadn't put down her book, which annoyed Diamond Tiara. "Put that down a moment." She reached out and pushed the book down out of Silver's view. "There's a time for reading, and a time for fun. This is fun time. Don't be a nerd."
Silver folded her book shut and tucked it away before adjusting her glasses. "Did you like the show?"
Diamond nodded. "It was alright. I liked the part where the star threw herself off a cliff to save her lover." She clopped her forehooves together. "The gods sure are more nosey than they are in Equestria."
Silver tilted her head curiously. "We have gods?"
Diamond Tiara shrugged. "What do you call Celestia and Luna? They're as close as we have."
Silver didn't look satisfied with the idea. "Luminace is a real god, and she trusts me."
Diamond perked an ear. "Yeah? You're her priest or whatever now, right?" She sagged against Silver Spoon, perhaps a bit more drunk than she should be. "How'd that turn out?"
Silver supported Diamond Tiara and got her up. She stood with Diamond on her back and made her way to Pinkie Pie. "Hey, Pinkie! I think everypony's too tired to keep up the party."
Pinkie looked up and nodded a little. "Yeah, I guess even I'm a little beat. I'll get Gneech." She staggered her way over to the fallen kobold and gathered him up, and they made their way home to the Drowsy Mare.
On the way, Pinkie looked at Silver curiously. "Did you grow up a little when I wasn't looking?"
Silver looked down at herself as she walked. "I'm not any bigger."
Pinkie waved a hoof. "Not... Not bigger, just, you know, more mature. Your parents will be sooooo proud of you." She staggered, almost dropping Gneech before she caught herself. "That was one heck of a party!"
They arrived home without being assaulted or collapsing under their shared weight and inebriation. Silver tucked Diamond into her bed and pulled up the blanket snugly. "We can talk tomorrow, alright? Like, for now, you should sleep." Diamond made some noises of complaint, but Silver's gentle insistence won out eventually, and Diamond fell asleep with loud snoring to commemorate the event.
Pinkie had tucked Gneech into his smaller bed, then collapsed beside him, too dizzy and tired to get much anywhere else.
Silver moved to the balcony and looked up at the night sky a moment before she settled on her haunches and pressed her forehooves together. She let her thoughts come in a gentle prayer she whispered. "Thank you for this chance. I will go home soon, I think but I'll be sure to, like, tell other ponies about you, and we'll make the world a better place, alright? I bet Princess Twilight Sparkle would be excited!"
Silver got no reply, but felt she had done right. With a final nod to the night sky, she returned inside and soon joined the others in sleep. It had been a busy day, and she predicted several of them would have a huge headache the day after that she'd have to help them through.
Being a good friend was not easy work, but she couldn't imagine trading it in for anything else.
Unseen by any of the residents, a letter was quietly pushed under the door for them to find the next day.
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6236907 Actually, monopolies are impossible to achieve in a truly free market. The only way to prevent competition without assistance from the law or violence is to keep your prices super low, which means that you are actually competing with everyone that might consider entering the same business.
6237264 The way it worked in the real world was vertical monopolies and collusion. If you get everyone who owns the raw materials and all the intermediate steps on your side, no one can break into the market until they invent an alternative or find a new deposit and then build the whole sequence of refineries needed to turn that into the final product -- that's a huge barrier and effectively enforced a monopoly until the government broke it up.
Before that there were guilds. There are always going to be people working together to make rules for a market, and you don't need to break the law or use violence to enforce those rules. Social pressure (in the form of threats of being blacklisted from the 'legitimate' part of the marketplace if you go against the guilds or deal with anyone who does) is enough to shut down competition barring extraordinary circumstances.
This bit of dialogue wraps up the griffon mob arc better. I'm glad you put that in there because it felt like it was left hanging before.
Ponies aren't on good terms with kobolds
arguably-innocent eyes
I love that mental picture
In a world with no Russia, who named it "vodka"?
You didn't mention before that Pinkie was shaking or sickened, what exactly happened here?
extra space
I think the "like" would fit better between "I'll be sure to" and "tell other ponies"
Check for explosive runes!
6237321
That only works if you pay those people well enough to keep them from getting poached, which cuts into your ill-gotten gains pretty severely.
That is a case of having the law on your side, helping you keep a monopoly.
6237331 Typos ejected from Viljatown.
It makes sense that a party pony would have a ludicrous alcohol tolerance. It's part of the package, just not one Pinkie makes much use of most of the time.
Also, Silver faces some unpleasant insights into Diamond Tiara. It remains to be seen whether she'll accept them as she continues to serve the nerd goddess.
wow things are really moving along I am thinking Silver Spoon is going to go home with a hole new out look on life but what is it going to tack to change Diamond Terra?
this is chapter #2 from DS that rocks to day he is on a role.
Harts Fire
6241309 You're leaving out the basic fact that Everglow ponies are just born with one, so they are pretty used to seeking the hidden meaning, with little to no hint as to what it might mean. Their advice should make perfect sense with this in mind. They have not sent her away forever, and she may yet return to them to talk more. Time will tell.
I feel like this should be "kobolds aren't on good terms here, like with griffons, but less violent."
Capitalize "Elements of Harmony."
Also, I'd add the word "former" in there.
Some of its "writings" were a bit irritating.
6244509 Typos thrown out of the party.
6237264
Leaving aside the No True Scotsman fallacy ("you can't have a monopoly in a truly free market"), this simply isn't true. You can absolutely prevent competition - without violence or assistance from the law - without having to keep your prices low. For one thing, if you control any of the necessary methods between "considering entering" the market and actually selling the product, then you can absolutely stifle any potential competitors. That is, if you have total control of the supply, of the distribution venue, of the shipping, etc., then you can squeeze competition out.
For that matter, massive income inequality can also squeeze out potential competitors for ventures that require a very large degree of investment capital. If you think that the railway is too expensive, and want to build another railway, your average person isn't going to be able to start laying down tracks, building locomotives, and erecting stations if they're poor.
Of course, that's not the most salient point. The most salient point is that you're not in competition with "everyone that might consider" entering the same market, and so are under no particular pressure to keep your prices low. Heck, even if there were to be competition, there's nothing to suggest that that will keep prices low, since the "competition" itself could very well be rigged - that's why "price fixing" is a thing, but that's beside the point. A monopoly is only concerned with those who actually try to enter the market to compete against them, and in many (if not most) cases, it's pretty easy for them to squeeze out competition.
The "truly free market" that keeps prices low because monopolies are competing with phantoms that might enter the market to challenge them is a fantasy that has no bearing, not only on the real world, but any internally-consistent fantasy world that has a market economy.
6237351
No, it doesn't. Leaving aside the presumption that "poaching" will be a serious concern (which is highly dubious, since that would only work if you took large swaths of a company's employees at the same time, requiring massive investment capital...and that doesn't deal with issues of infrastructure, raw materials, distribution, advertizing, etc.), paying people enough money to retain them is virtually never enough to make any kind of noticeable dents in any organization that's big enough to corner a given market.
Not necessarily. While guilds are usually thought of as being government-sanctioned, you can have self-organized collectives as well, which can levy various non-violent penalties, in terms of social and even economic (e.g. "if you're not with us, then our allied guilds won't sell you their wares") punishment on anyone who plies a guild trade as a free enterprise.
6244543 Okay, so this chapter was interesting, in that it seemed to be showcasing the group having some downtime, but kept hinting at what was to come. Even better was that it did this through the lens of Silver Spoon learning about her new religion, which helped to keep things in context with the last chapter. This hinted at a sort of "new eyes" approach to the group, which helped to set things up for what happens next.
That said, this was largely confined to Diamond and Silver, which is understandable given that they're the stars of this fic. That said, I found myself frowning over Pinkie's role in the story, small though it was. In fact, this is really a nitpick on my point, but I frowned at the idea of Pinkie winning a drinking contest, something I don't think should have happened. Why? Because as much as it's implied that "cider" has alcohol in it, there's never been any evidence that Pinkie is a big drinker. Yes, she's competitive when it comes to any sort of social celebration, and she can win a turkey call competition hooves down, but in actually holding her liquor? I just can't see it. She should have gotten drunk off her plot, made drunken revelry, and then passed out....giving her a win here just feels like she's being favored by the story beyond what she deserves; it would have been far better to focus on drunk-Pinkie partying.
More interesting was Pinkie's idea about going back to Cuachan and teaching that murderous griffon (or griffons) that ran the textile industry a thing about friendship. I felt torn on that front...I want the narrative to go there, albeit only because that would bring Dark Streak back, but at the same time I can't realistically see Pinkie pursuing that course of action. Even leaving aside her responsibility to look after the fillies, Pinkie isn't so obsessed with laughter, parties, and friendship that she'd go that far out of her way to try and fix things, hence why she didn't try to get through to Gilda until after she just happened to run into her in Griffonstone. Moreover, I still think that Pinkie understands that some people just aren't worth the effort. Heck, Pinkie didn't even get behind the idea to reform Discord, and he never tried out-and-out-murder. Hence, it's probably best to let that idea lie.
Also - and this is entirely my own baggage talking - but I sighed with mild disappointment that Silver's "I love you" was entirely platonic. I needn't rehash my thought that Silver had a bit of a thing for Diamond (which never seemed like a popular idea to begin with), but, well...it was nice to imagine, not just for salacious reasons, but because that sort of romantic drama is too adorable.
Moving on from that, it was interesting that Silver's new religion was basically painting a sign that Diamond Tiara is a bad friend. This is true, per se, but at the same time there's something to be said for the fact that friendship is defined personally, rather than objectively. That is, if Silver is happy with her relationship with Diamond Tiara, and is fully aware of the dynamics involved between the two of them, then it can be rather awkward that Luminace's doctrine is saying otherwise. Of course, I doubt that - for all its Lawful Good-ness - Luminace's religion is very dogmatic with regards to what friendship "should" be like. Rather, I suspect that it's simply offering ideals that one should strive for, without proselytizing (overly much). It's just that Diamond Tiara significantly differs from those ideals.
As it stands, Diamond has actually been very kind to Silver this last chapter. Even her being pushy for Silver to put the book down and party was fairly gentle, and came from a good place. So I can completely see why Silver took umbrage to even the indirect indictment of Diamond as her friend.
With all of that said, it looks like a new adventure starts now...