Chapter 7: Spoiled's Reckoning
If the scenes outside the gutted spa building had been one of utter devastation and complete chaos, what awaited Filthy Rich inside was possibly even worse. He could not believe his formerly demure wife was capable of such wanton destruction, which would surely take a huge chunk out of Barnyard Bargains annual profits to repair.
And yes, he was prepared to settle this matter before arbitration without a second thought. The resulting court battle, if he didn't take up that option, would in all likelihood cost his successful company plenty more in terms of bad publicity and prestige. Not to mention, undoubtedly drag up certain long-buried memories from the past that he did not wish to have splashed all over the headlines...
Filthy brusquely shook his head to rid himself of these pessimistic notions. I-It's all going to be okay, no need to panic. We'll get my wife back to the mansion, put her to bed and then Band Aid can come in and restore her to her previous lovable, huggable self... w-well, to who she was before, anyway. I've been wanting Spoiled to change for so long, but this isn't exactly what I had in mind. Maybe, when we were still innocent young foals in Phillydelphia all those years ago, her new personality would've been acceptable. But the wife of a successful tycoon with an international company to run being obsessed with farm-work and thinking that all materialism is bad simply won't do. I just can't win with you Spoiled, can I? It's either one extreme, or another. If only you could find a happy medium somewhere between your old and new selves, it'll be so much easier...
Having left Diamond outside for her own safety while he persevered on, Filthy carefully navigated around the numerous broken items of furniture and leaking pipes until he heard what was apparently a loud screaming match taking place in a nearby room. There were at least six ponies participating in this raucous event, and as he neared the venue and the 'contestants' voices grew ever clearer, it was pretty evident who was in the lead points-wise. He was so proud.
"...I be telling ya'll, this blasted place be the root of all evil! Distractin' ponies that should be pullin' crops at the fields, to make them lazy and laggard the whole day long! They don't be needin' hot towels and some big fella pressin' their backs to feel good, what they want is stayin' outside from when the cock crows to when it slumbers, pickin' all kinds of delicious fruit 'n' veg for the big summer harvest ahead! There's no time to be loafin' around like a loose lemon, we have to get the produce in 'fore the weather turns choppy, so we do! Aye be doing you all a favour, smashin' up this house o' lies! Now ya can actually get some proper work done, as opposed to partakin' in all this senseless lollygagging. Let me go, so aye can go and find me parents and old Mr McGruber to discover just what the hay be goin' on here. There be somethin' very fishy 'bout this place, and somethin' seriously screwy with the mirrors..."
Filthy winced as he recognised the garbled tones of Spoiled Milk being communicated through his 'dearly' beloved, and it didn't exactly sound like she was getting any better. If anything, maybe even worse. Before he could process anything further though, another female voice could be heard in answer to his wife's frenzied pleas, and this new heavy Old Country accent belonged to the beautician Aloe. Because obviously, her partner Lotus Blossom was still waiting anxiously outside for this unseemly incident to come to an end. Process of elimination, and all that.
"P-Please control yourself, Mrs Rich! Why you wish to tear apart our lovely spa, where you have been coming for many happy years? What we do to make you hate us so much, that you'd want to destroy our business? I-If you'd only calm down and tell us, maybe we could..."
"Hey! You not be the one needing an explainin', that be me!" Spoiled Milk continued to rage unabated, as Filthy finally reached the decimated door leading to the room where she'd at last been restrained. "Aye wake up in this strange place with lots o' weird folk I never seen before, and you be wantin' me to explain things?! For all aye be knowin', ya kidnapped me to bring me here and ransom me off to me poor parents. Well, sorry to bust ya chops duckie, but me mama and papa ain't got two bits to rub together, and that be the honest truth. So quit wastin' time that I could be spendin' fillin' the pail, and get this big lug off me lickety-split! I can feel me ribs cracklin' under the galoot's weight, so help me I can!"
Filthy had already kind of guessed what lay inside as he tip-hoofed around the numerous splinters of wood, but that didn't make the sight any less shocking. His usually prim and proper wife being nakedly held spread-eagle on the ground, one pony for each hoof, and Bulk Biceps acting as Equestria's heaviest paperweight as he sat firmly on her midriff. Aloe was trying (and failing) to be a peacemaker for the agitated Spoiled, but something even more unstable was happening around them.
The massaging chamber where they were located was quickly flooding after all, and pretty soon sea-ponies would be the only ones able to maintain a presence in the submerged surroundings. If the intrepid stallion was going to act, he couldn't leave it much longer. Let's see if my daughter's friend is as smart as she looks...
"W-Why hello there, Miss Milk!" Without further ado, Filthy made his play by stepping forward casually, which betrayed the huge amounts of unease cascading through his cranium. "Sorry to keep you waiting, but you dashed off before I had a chance to explain things! Can I take a seat now, so I can tell you what is happening?"
All the squabbling ponies around Spoiled halted their bickering with the prostrate mare to gaze up in astonishment, including Aloe who currently looked as lost as a crying foal separated from their parents during a mega Barnyard Bargains clearance day. Filthy gave the beautician a reassuring wink, before turning to face his somewhat out-of-sorts wife with a look of the utmost sincerity.
"Hey, aye know you!" Spoiled stopped struggling long enough to regard this new arrival with widened eyes. "Ya'll be the one from before, the guy with the schmancy fancy mansion and all them funny pictures on the shelf that kinda looked like me, 'cept they wasn't. Did ya do somethin' to me face to make me look ugly? Where am aye now? Was this your silly plan to cart me off here for money? 'Cos ya'll not see a penny from me family, I tell ya what! Or, if this be some kinda stupid prank..."
"No abduction, no jokes, I promise you. And nothing to worry about whatsoever." Filthy Rich swallowed a big lump in his throat, as he did his best to remain sincere. Part of his professional approach was to never knowingly lie, a vow which'd delivered him a well-deserved reputation for honest trading over the years. So this small deception would be an entirely new experience, but one which he would have to pass with flying colours to succeed.
"H-Huh? Say what?" Spoiled raised a confused right eyebrow, and those desperately pinning her to the floor mercifully felt her relax her muscles a bit. "Why wouldn't aye be worried, for Land's Sake? Here I be, stuck in a messed-up town aye ain't ever seen before, with strangers that wouldn't go knowin' a hard day's grind if it jumped up and bit them on the rump! I miss me parents, I miss me friends, I miss me home..."
"But you are home, Miss Milk." Filthy swore to her blindly, while staring her down. "Let me put it in simple terms: You are right now experiencing a very lucid dream, and as a spirit guide I have taken the form of somepony special to you to lead you out. Take a closer look at me: are you starting to recognise who I am yet?"
Spoiled listened carefully to this alleged 'spirit guide's' words, obviously being intrigued enough to pay attention. She then further went on to scrutinise him closer, whilst her captors looked on powerlessly, at least hoping that whatever plan Filthy had hatched would have a harmonious conclusion.
"Brown fur, black mane. Nah, ya don't be lookin' like anypony aye ever clapped me peepers on..." Filthy's heart sunk for a moment at Spoiled's dismissive reply, before an unexpected follow-up yelp returned him to his senses. "...W-Wait jus' a cotton pickin'... it ain't even possible. Ya'll be much taller than 'im, with more wrinkles, and a stupid tie 'round ya neck that I just know he'd never wear in a month o' Sundays. But aye s'pose, under a bad light, there maybe somethin' 'bout you that be remindin' me of a certain, uh, 'friend' o' mine..."
Finally, we be gettin'... I mean, we're getting somewhere. Filthy internally chastised himself for letting Spoiled Milk's mangling of the local dialect get to him, before he continued on with his cunning masquerade. "All minor differences between myself here and my real-life counterpart can be put down to the constant ripples that exist in the unstable dreamworld. See? Now, I'm ripping up my 'stupid' tie, I'm talking to you in a softer voice and don't tell me you fail to recognise this cutie mark. You always said it looked good on me..."
Spoiled took everything the sweaty stallion said in, even venturing to sneak a peek at the trio of moneybags emblazoned on one side of his flank. A few awkward moments of silence reigned, before a quite unanticipated reaction from the memory-wiped magenta mare surprised everypony in that rapidly overflowing room.
"It is you!!" Having obviously not quite expended all the strength she'd used in reducing the spa house to a crumbling wreck, Spoiled was able to somehow summon one last burst of energy to break free of her restrainers. She had no interest in continuing her earlier rampage however, and instead her target was one unsuspecting millionaire who soon found himself smothered under a sobbing wife.
"O-Oh F-Filthy, or whatever ya'll name is, it be the worst nightmare ever! Like Nightmare Moon or Discord had returned, but of course that ain't true, stone the crows! Aye can even feel and touch things, and aye really thought me nose had turned into a curly parsnip! Aye know aye ain't no oil paintin', but aye is better lookin' than that! There even be a little filly called Crownie sayin' that I was her mama, when I be barely out of school meself! Please, Great And Wonderousful Spirit, show me how to escape this terrorisin' dream, so aye can return to me simple life of slopping out the pigs and working them udders! I not be sure I can take much more of this imaginin', in fact right now I be feeling very... zzzzzz..."
Having at long last faded away after her cataclysmic spree across Ponyville, a very drained Spoiled collapsed against a nonplussed Filthy's side, on this occasion actually dreaming for real.
Suddenly realising he was in a race against the clock before she awoke and the entire room they were in collapsed, Filthy wasted no more time in carefully positioning her onto his back to carry her out. He also began ushering the other dazed residents in there to leave, now that Spoiled was safely contained.
"I am very sorry for your wife's condition, and of course grateful for her years of patronage here..." Aloe remarked as she exited, having figured out by now something was not quite right with the deranged mare. "But I am afraid damaging half of our spa is perfectly reasonable grounds for a lifetime ban. There's also the 'small' matter of clean-up costs..."
"I'll send members of my construction division first thing in the morning, and they can start sizing up the property damage..." Filthy sighed in defeat, very aware that this unfortunate incident would majorly hit what'd been a banner year for his company so far. "...What's even worse is I just threw away my favourite tie. My lucky tie, with which I've never failed to close a deal while wearing. I wouldn't have torn it to shreds up for just anypony, but as much as I love both the old and the new Spoiled, I hope we can return her to some semblance of sanity soon. For all our sakes..."
And the updating of old fics continues, with the first chapter of this story for many months. Whether you're a new or old reader, let me know what you think please. More soon! 
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Funny.....I like her better this way.
9128209
Same here.
Glad to see this story updated again!
Anyway, great chapter!
If even Bulk Biceps couldn't hold down Spoiled, Filthy best hope there's a way to get Spoiled to come to her senses. Though I can only imagine how Spoiled will react when she gets back to normal and hears of all the damage she did in her Spoiled Milk persona.
9128269
Actually he could, the only reason she managed to break free is the end was because him and the other ponies restraining her relaxed their muscles at the same time as Spoiled, allowing her the chance to get away. Fortunately, by this point Filthy had managed to 'talk her down' so all was well. As to what'll happened next, well wait and see.
9128242
Great to be writing it again! Though, hard work to update myself on what I'd written before, months ago now...
I think that should probably be "more", given the context.
9128278
Yep, correct. And now, the edit button has taken care of things. Thank you.
I kind of hope this whole thing ends with Spoiled becoming balanced between her two personas.
Do not let this be the last of Silver Spoon!
Great to see this continuing. At some point they're going to have to tell Spoiled the truth, and it looks like that's really going to hurt her.
9128209
I think sadly she is still just as arrogant, just her biases have changed. Instead of, her old, class above everything, working ponies are scum. It's just inverted, class is scum, working is above everything
I kind of don't want Spoiled to go back to normal.
Wow. I forgot about this story. Nice to see it updated. I think it's time for Filthy to see if a certain Princess of Friendship can (get) help.