Crowning the Queen
Silver Spoon made her way through the thick of the Everfree Forest as quickly as she could. Every once in a while, she would take out a compass and a piece of paper from her miniature saddlebag.
The paper was old and frayed, and contained a crude, mouth-drawn map. Both were needed and welcome—the last thing she wanted to do was venture too far into the forest at night. But she knew it was a risk she had to take, as she skirted its borders.
So long as she stayed the course, it wouldn't be long before she found what she was after.
It was the middle of the evening, and Diamond Tiara hadn't come home yet.
Silver Spoon was one of the first to find out. Mr. and Mrs. Rich had come to her house, asking her and her parents if any of them had seen Diamond. Once they'd answered in the negative, she found out that they'd also checked with Miss Cheerilee. It was now officially an emergency—one which had to be kept quiet, of course, but which still had to be addressed with all available resources.
"Thanks so much for helping us look for our daughter, everypony," Filthy Rich said to all present outside the Rich estate. "I honestly have no idea where she could have gone. We've checked all of her favorite places—the school, Sugarcube Corner, Silver Spoon's house..."
"Even that little makeshift tent close to your castle she thinks we don't know about," Spoiled Rich said to Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight tilted her head and blinked.
"She... likes to pretend it's her castle," Filthy Rich said. "Can't say her heart isn't in the right place, but she'll grow out of it. Then she'll earn her own, of course."
"Of course. Not to worry, Mr. Rich," Twilight said. "I already have my friends checking every corner of Ponyville, on the ground and in the sky. We'll definitely find Diamond Tiara. Ponyville's small and she knows better than to venture too far beyond it, especially in certain directions, so there aren't a lot of places she could be, right?"
Silver Spoon and the Cutie Mark Crusaders looked at each other pensively. After some time, the four nodded.
"We'll do our own searching, too," Apple Bloom said, raising her hoof. "There are places in and around Ponyville that only really little ponies can get into. Our parents already know we're out here—it's why we're here seeing you instead of at home. Let's all look for her together!"
"Hmmm," Twilight said, hoof to chin. "I don't know..."
"They do have a point," Filthy Rich said. "Diamond and I have... well, let's say she's good at hiding from us when she really wants to. I'll take responsibility." He turned to the four fillies. "Stick together, and stay within the town where everypony can see you. Anywhere even close to the Everfree Forest is off limits. Understand?"
The four nodded, and Spoiled Rich took out a crystal from her purse. "If you find our princess, press on this. It will instantly alert us and lead us to your location."
Silver Spoon took the crystal and put it into her bag. "I understand, Mrs. Rich. And don't worry." She looked up. "You two aside, there aren't a lot of ponies who want to see your daughter safe and sound more than me."
Silver and Spoiled met eyes. For just a moment, the latter's softened.
"I know," Spoiled said. "Best of luck to all of us, then."
"To all of us." Silver walked away from the gathered ponies. "Come on, you three," she said to the Crusaders as she passed them. "We're doing this."
"Do you have any idea where she might have gone?" Scootaloo said as the three fillies followed behind Silver.
"Yeah, do you?" Sweetie Belle echoed. "I mean, I can't think of any time you and she haven't been together. Except for yesterday, of cour—"
"Quiet," Silver said, walking faster.
"Hey! We're helping you and your friend out here!" Apple Bloom said. "Besides, we just learned today that Diamond Tiara might actually not be all that ba—"
"I said, quiet!" Silver said, turning to face them.
The Crusaders clamped up.
Silver craned her head and looked past them. Twilight and the Riches had gone their separate ways, and thus were long out of earshot. "Follow me," she said.
Silver led the three behind the tent of a nearby closed shop stand, out of view of other ponies walking the streets. Once she was sure they were hidden, she looked at the Crusaders. "I already know where she is. At least... I'm ninety-nine percent sure."
"You what—" Sweetie Belle began, before Silver clamped her hoof over Sweetie's muzzle.
"Why do you three have to be so loud about everything?" Silver hissed. "This is exactly why Diamond and I give you so much grief!" After some thought, she removed her hoof and added, "Well, one of the reasons. We started making an itemized list once, at Twilight's suggestion, but we realized had to stop at a hundred or we'd be there forever."
Apple Bloom snorted. "Gee, it's sure nice to see you and Diamond Tiara follow such noble causes."
Silver sighed. "I... appreciate the three of you coming along to help. You didn't have to. Especially after all that grief." She closed her eyes. "So, here's the cover story, in case anyone sees you while I'm gone: I broke away from you, in a fit of being the 'spoiled rich girl' I usually am. So, you three are now scouring Ponyville looking for both Diamond and me."
The Crusaders gaped as the words slowly sank in. "That's... not what's really about to happen, is it?" Scootaloo asked in a soft voice.
Silver huffed. "Not exactly in that way. But it's a story that anypony in this town will buy," she said, just as softly. "And we all know it. So, use it."
The Crusaders stared at her in silence. Finally, Apple Bloom spoke, placing a hoof on Silver Spoon's shoulder. "We'll be safer if we stick together," she said. "You know that, right?"
"I know." Silver Spoon looked into each of the Cutie Mark Crusaders' eyes with determined ones of her own. "But if you stick with me, I'll take you down with me. I'm the only one who can be there when she's found. Because I know how we got to this point."
Silver took the crystal out of her bag, staring at it just as determinedly. "And I'll bring her back. I promise."
She put the crystal back in her bag and ran off, listening for the sounds of multiple sets of hooves following her.
They never came.
The memory faded as Silver rolled up the map, and put it and its compass back in her bag. She knew where she needed to go now. More memories flashed as she ran around thick tree trunks. More reactions, more emotions.
Seeing Diamond distraught after not winning the class president election, initially, had suited Silver just fine, especially after she'd snubbed Silver on the way there. It wasn't the first time she'd been ignored, but it was the first time Diamond hadn't even let her get her idea out there before shooting it down—admittedly, always with a better or more ambitious one whenever that happened.
It was one small part of the understanding between them, but yesterday had been the only time Diamond had ever overstepped it. So, just that once, she'd been fine with seeing Diamond get her "just deserts." Diamond needed it, Diamond deserved it, and Silver didn't need to follow her drama anymore. She'd known Diamond for years, kept all her secrets, stuck beside her anyway, and that was her thanks? Far as she was concerned, things were square, and over, between the two of them.
Or so Silver thought.
Not long after that, Silver saw Diamond and her mother having one of their usual spats. Speaking of drama. Rarely, though, had those spats happened in public, in full view of everypony. That was pretty new. She stayed out of sight because she saw the blank flanks looking on, too—and because after witnessing them the first few times for herself months ago, she knew better than to jump into those storms as they were raging.
Meaning that, consciously or not, she found herself trailing Diamond after that... all the way to Ponyville Bridge.
It occurred to Silver Spoon that she'd never heard Diamond actually sing. On top of that, for all that she'd complained about her family... she'd never heard Diamond talk about herself like that. About her heart. Her dreams.
Silver had never heard Diamond bare herself before. Of course, she would do it when she thought absolutely nopony was looking. Silver considered feeling slighted, but more than anything, else, she felt...
Well, annoyed more than anything else. Darn it. Why did she have to always care so much? What was it about Diamond that she couldn't walk away from?
She'd decided that she would have to force herself to. It looked like Diamond was about to become friends with the blank flanks anyway. Not that Silver cared. After all, Diamond certainly hadn't.
And then, the next day, in front of the whole school. Diamond did the one thing Silver never expected: she stood up to her mother. The same mother who had humiliated and embarrassed Diamond so many times, and caused countless temper tantrums in front of Silver when her bedroom door was closed. In defiance of all of that, Diamond had finally put her hoof down.
Once her mother had walked away, Diamond smiled. Smiled at everyone. Smiled at Silver.
Directly at Silver. With a smile that Silver had seen so many times before.
It was a smile that, of course, fooled everyone.
But Silver knew what it meant.
She'd had to calm Diamond down from that "smile", more than once.
Silver reached the spot marked on the map.
In front of her sat a large tree stump, twice her size, and covered in vines. Of course, it was—she and Diamond hadn't used it in almost a year. She pulled the vines away, revealing a rope handle. She pulled it up, wedging the stump open and revealing a hollow more than big enough for a filly to jump to.
Silver did just that, pulling the stump closed over her, and sliding down a twisting path which always threatened to make her nauseous if the ride down ever lasted five seconds longer than it always did.
But as usual, it was over soon enough. She popped out the other side, into a forest clearing. A short distance front of her was an expansive lake that sparkled majestically under the moonlight.
In front of that lake, sat a large log, and a single small pony sat on that log, with a crown serving as a dead giveaway to that pony's identity.
If Diamond Tiara heard Silver approach, she didn't let on that she did. She stayed where she was the entire time as Silver slowly trotted closer, until Silver was directly behind her—close enough to place her foreleg on Diamond's shoulder.
"Diamond?" Silver said.
Diamond didn't move, continuing to slouch with ears drooped as she sat.
Silver walked around the log, until she was standing in front of Diamond. She studied her friend's expression—it was as exactly as she feared. Even solitude from her parents wasn't helping. She looked completely stricken by pain and fear, her lips slightly parted, her eyes wide and glassy as they stared through Silver Spoon, across the lake, probably clear across to Canterlot.
Silver Spoon stepped forward, squatting on her hind legs. Slowly, she wrapped her forelegs around Diamond Tiara. Diamond didn't resist. Silver gently pulled, until their bodies were close and pressed together.
She felt Diamond shake, pulled back just a bit to let Diamond see her face, and brought her hoof up to Diamond's cheek. "It's okay."
Diamond shivered in Silver's grip.
"It's okay," Silver said again, re-embracing her. "I'm here. It's just us, and no one else. No one will see or hear us until we say so. No one will see you."
Diamond hiccupped. Short, quick sounds escaped her throat. She was still resisting the inevitable, resisting what Silver clearly knew she wanted, but that Silver knew she couldn't avoid for much longer.
Silver Spoon decided to do what needed to be done. To say what needed to be said.
"I'm not angry at you. I never was. I love you, Diamond Tiara. And I forgive you."
A longer sound this time, before Diamond clenched. Silver cuddled Diamond close, leaning in to whisper in her ear:
"Let it out."
And Diamond did.
She opened her mouth with a sorrowful moan, loud enough to echo across the lake, loud in Silver's ears—but Silver didn't care. Even more followed, some high, some mewling, some cut short by a need to breathe. Silver soon felt the onslaught of tears slowly cover her shoulder hair, rivulet by rivulet, as Diamond shook and jerked uncontrollably in Silver's forelegs. Every so often she would hear Diamond try to form words, or try to say Silver's name, only for her to loose a new high-pitched wail, and cry harder.
Silver stroked Diamond's mane. She rocked her, she whispered words of reassurance, letting Diamond know it was okay, encouraging her to keep letting it out until it was all out. In time, her own tears fell, trailing down Diamond's coat. She took off her glasses, sobbing with her friend. The two hugged each other tightly in the moonlight, letting out secret sorrows that they'd both held in for years.
Neither of them knew how long it took for them to finish their lament. It could have been five minutes, or fifty. But eventually, the sobs became less frequent. Their hugs became tighter, became closer, turned to nuzzles against each other's cheeks.
"Thank you, Silver," Diamond whispered, barely avoiding choking on the words. "Thank you so much."
"Of course," Silver said. "I'm just so sorry I left you."
"I don't blame you one bit. You left me when you needed to," Diamond said.
"No," Silver replied, shaking her head. "I left you when we needed each other."
That got a sobbing giggle out of Diamond. "I don't deserve you, Silver. I never did."
"I know." Silver pulled back just a bit, staring at Diamond's puffy eyes with equally puffy ones of her own. "But you're stuck with me."
Before she knew it, Diamond had leant forward, pressing her muzzle to Silver's cheek. A heady warmth pulsed in Silver's heart, leaving her happier than she already had been that she'd taken this chance.
"That makes me so happy to hear," Diamond said, before leaning back in and whispering in Silver's ear. "Best friends forever?"
"Best friends forever," Silver whispered back, now feeling like the entire week had been worth it.
Diamond broke the hug, and sighed, loud and long. "I needed that. Not just you, I mean, just..." Diamond gestured around herself. "This. I needed to get away, but I thought I could do it alone and be fine." She looked to Silver, her eyes sparkling, her cheeks pink. "But I'm never fine without you. All the way back to when we first met, you got me. You understood me. I only wish I took as much time to understand you. But I guess it's not too late to start, is it?"
Silver blushed as she looked at Diamond, fighting an almost uncontrollable light-headedness. "Take your time," she said. "Like I said, I'm not going anywhere."
Diamond giggled. "Good."
Diamond got up from the log and walked over to the lake. Silver followed. The two stared at their reflection, which, much like the lake itself, shimmered from the moonlight above.
Diamond closed her eyes. "Never lose your strength, or your nobility," she said, as if quoting a mantra. She opened her eyes. "One change from the usual, though."
Silver watched the reflection of Diamond Tiara take off her crown, and put it on the reflection of Silver Spoon's head. She gasped, and smiled wide. "I'm the princess tonight?" she asked.
"No," Diamond said, smiling back. "Something more."
The warmth in Silver's heart spread throughout her entire body. She relished it, and the silence, for a long while, before an idea occurred to her. "Want my glasses?"
"No," Diamond said immediately.
Silver laughed. Diamond did as well, soon after, before adding, "But I wish I had a camera crystal here."
"Oh!" Silver ran back to her bag, and procured the crystal, bringing it back.
"Is that one?" Diamond asked.
"No," Silver replied. "But..." She took a deep breath. "It'll let us get to a place that has one."
Diamond sighed. "I guess I have to go home sometime, don't I?"
Silver nodded. "Everyone's looking for you. Including the bla—" She stopped herself. "Uh, ex-blank flanks."
Diamond laughed again. "That'll take a while to get used to. Especially since I owe them, now."
Silver nodded. "You and me both."
"We'll have to talk to them later, I guess," Diamond said.
Silver grinned slyly. "When we feel like it?"
Diamond looked at Silver, matching her grin with a tiny squeal. "You're still the only one who gets me."
The two sidled close, warming each other in the night.
"So, what are you going to do?" Silver asked as the two walked back to Ponyville. "I mean, about your mom?"
Diamond threw up her foreleg, then let it flop back to her side. "I don't know. When I told off my mom? I thought I'd be scared! But instead I was just angry. Angry at all the times... well, you know. But now? Now I'm scared." Her voice slipped to a weakened whisper. "I'm really scared, Silver."
She took out the crystal from Silver's bag and looked at it. "I already know the kind of pony I want to be. But it's not going to be easy. If I survive tonight, I..." She looked up into Silver's eyes. "I could really use a friend while I work towards being that pony."
"What a coincidence," Silver said. "I could really use a friend while I work towards being the pony I want to be, also."
Diamond nodded. "I promise, I will be. Still..." Diamond looked away. "I wish I could tell you I'm going to be the same Diamond you became friends with back then. But... I don't know."
Silver placed a hoof on Diamond's shoulder. "You were Diamond Tiara back then, you've been Diamond Tiara since I've known you, and you'll be her in the future. A diamond is unbreakable, right?"
Diamond smiled. "And this was why I always kept you around." She took a deep breath, then exhaled. Both fillies took hold of the crystal, their hooves clasped together.
"Ready?" Diamond said.
"Always," Silver said.
"One..." Diamond chanted.
"Two..." Silver continued.
They pressed their hooves together, and the crystal with it, and said in unison:
"Three."
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A very good start to the formerly dastardly duo's new relationship, hopefully one built on mutual trust and respect now. Tears were kind of inevitable, but now all the mental debris is out of the way a hopeful future is in sight. Thank you for this lovely read!
P.S LOVE your inspired choice of front cover. If that image doesn't sum up DT's self imposed hubris before her wake up call, I don't know what does now.
Diamonds are hard, but that comes with brittleness. Nothing can scratch a diamond short of another diamond... but all it takes to shatter one is a solid blow from a common hammer. Meanwhile, silver is a relatively soft metal, but also highly malleable. It will bend rather than break, and dents can be beaten back out... at least, until you do it too many times and metal fatigue sets in, a whole bunch of little cracks that you can't notice until they make a big one.
But silver can be recast, and under the right conditions, even diamond can regrow. And a friendship as close as this one is easier to repair than either, given the right time and circumstances.
Beautiful work, Bookish. Thank you for it.
8700119
Quite the heartwarming story, and the way you wrote Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's relationship throughout the story was excellent. Their reunion in the forest was especially poignant, and it's these interpretations that explain why their characters fascinate me so much. Even when they've adopted a new, friendlier way of looking at things, they still show signs of the Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon that became best friends. Excellent work as always, Bookish.
8700119
Did ... did you just use science to teach a beautiful lesson about friendship and character growth?
You are my new favorite person in the history of ever.
...
Part of me wants to know what she meant by that, but I've seen stories go down that dark road before. I don't need to see it again.
This is an interesting character study, and one I can really get behind. It really shows that for all of her faults, Diamond Tiara is just a rich kid putting on airs and trying to prop herself up. But it doesn't take much for Silver Spoon to see the pony behind that mask, and once the mask is forced off, she's there to help Di cope with the fallout. Diamond Tiara is really lucky to have a patient filly like Silver Spoon as a friend, and she was indeed a fool to cast her aside.
Not much else to say here. I just really liked this one.
Wish list for season 8 or 9: MORE DT AND SS! We NEED to see more of them. After CotLM, they just disappeared, except for a brief speaking role in one of the Equestria Girls shorts. That is not the sort of lesson that kids should be learning from reformed bullies. CotLM was good, but we need more closure than that, and more evidence that these two fillies are still relevant in Ponyville.
This though, this was perfection. Even with CotLM long past, it's always a weird feeling when a story makes me truly sympathize with Diamond. Here, it felt perfectly natural and believable from start to finish. Nice to see that Spoiled really took her little lesson to heart as well -- she seems genuinely concerned for her daughter, and is much more respectful when speaking to other ponies. I wonder if we'll ever get any closure for her...
Assorted thoughts:
Board meeting tea party is adorable.
It kills me that the show never did an episode about the two of them specifically, because this line right here could be it.
Knothole, is that you?
also did Diamond take another route because those vines should've been cleared away already otherwise
If you've never read The Silver Standard, then let me take the opportunity to give it my strongest possible recommendation, especially in light of the elements touched on in this story.
This... is a fantastic idea.
I love reading stuff that steps away from the norm. Great work.
8700225
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/sonicsatam/images/9/9b/Satam_Sonic_is_really_happy.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/320?cb=20170805034133
Also, good eye! We'll just say Everfree vines are a hell of a drug.
Thanks for the rec, I just put it on my queue. I'll get around to it... ::looks at wordcount:: ...one of these years, I'm sure.
Oh, this was quite good. SIlver Spoon and DIamond Tiara don't get nearly as much attention from writers they deserve!
Also, seconding the recommendation for The Silver Standard.
8700179
Well, they've been around... just... no dialogue since then.
8700172
I hope she's just exaggerating.
Silver Spoon was the friend Diamond Tiara deserved, but not the one she needed at the time.
“Want my glasses?”
“No.” Diamond said immediately.
Beautiful interpretation of events between parts we never got to really explore in the show. Lovely all around. I do hope they get an episode focus before the generation ends. We need one last post episode with these two. The sooner the better.
Even that little makeshift tent close to your castle she doesn't think we know about -- I suggest "she thinks we don't know about"
So, just that once, she'd been fine with seeing Diamond get her "just desserts." -- just deserts
8701910
Huh, I honestly never knew about the deserts/desserts discrepancy. (that said I had ponder whether to keep it as is due to the young age of the character and the fact that it was in scare quotes. decisions.) Thanks!
8701910
Egh, "just desserts" has basically replaced the original phrase so can't really be considered incorrect anymore.
I like this. It's neat. Thank you.
Silvy at her best.
This was a real treat in all respects. 
i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/270/532/e74.jpg
8702700
That's two hidden references out of four! I wonder if someone will catch the others--one's a little more vague, the other's kinda shameless and I'm shocked no one's grabbed it yet. :3
8702666
8701735
Happy it meets the Adorabully Ambassadors' approval, lol.
My only regret is that I only had one of these stories in me. If we could only get a post-Crusaders episode for these two, I'm sure I'd be off to the races with all sorts of possibilities.
8702735
You're telling me.
I was saying the same thing on Chantal's twitter. Hope to get at least one DT & SS focused ep before the gen 4 series ends at the least. They always had such potential for fun in the series. Shame only the comics ever bothered to explore and have fun with the Filly 5 and others in their circle.
Fantastic. Though now I've got this in my head as I'm writing my own Diamond Tiara-themed story, so I'm going between
and 
as I consider this one, because I know mine won't be anywhere near this good.
In a way, I consider your explorations of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to be amongst the most consistently interesting material you’ve done in this fandom. Because in contrast to, say, Moondancer or Sunset or Starlight, Diamond and Silver really weren’t characters we were meant to sympathize with, nor for that matter was there much sign from the show they ever could be*. Yet even before Diamond finally got a Face Turn of her own, you’ve been willing to look at them with a much more understanding perspective, a knowledge that even they have a story worth the telling, and so it’s been that much more fascinating for me to see what tack you take doing so. And that feels especially true here, in a story that seeks to explore the specific nature of that aforementioned Face Turn and how, at a certain level, it was both more and less of a Turn than it might have seemed.
Right off the bat, I will say that I continue to be impressed and delighted by how well you match your prose to the perspective of the characters you’re working with. Like, just in general it’s neat to see you take a more overtly descriptive approach to a lot of the prose here, with an emphasis on detail and space in particular that feels, if not atypical of your style, certainly distinct from the more evocative stuff you did with, say, the “Best Friends Forever” duology. But more specifically, it’s great because it keys us into Silver’s point of view, to the detail-oriented fashion by which she processes ponies, places, and things. The moment where she first sees Damond’s room especially and uses it not only to size up Diamond’s character but indeed to compare it to her own, both tells us so much about who Silver is and is a keenly compelling little read besides. And it’s a running them of the entire story, too, the way in which Silver’s meticulous attention to detail, the way she analyzes what she sees, allows her to really understand Diamond at a level nopony else, not even the three ponies most responsible for Diamond finally standing up to her mother, does; it’s why she knows just where to go, it’s why she knows just what to say, and most importantly it’s why she knows how much of this she actually can’t do because it is still ultimately Diamond’s life and Diamond’s choices.
Which naturally brings us to Diamond herself, and with her the crux of the whole story.You do a fantastic job of digging deep into who she is and why here, especially because the way the first chapter sets up the second isn’t immediately obvious.And yet it’s all there plain to see; the specifics of the dynamic between Silver and Diamond, the explicit acknowledgement that their bullying is a kind of push-back against their otherwise-rigidly-controlled lives (and as you did with “Tiara Turnabout”, I really do respect your willingness to show us characters we normally sympathize with from the perspective of characters who profoundly do not; this is more prevalent in chapter 2 with Silver’s terse conversation with the CMC, but that moment where she and Diamond dissect how to target Twist, and why they’ve chosen her as their target to begin with, is likewise striking and telling), the fact that they’re both coming from a vantage point of, at once, profound privilege and an emptiness they want fulfilled, and most keenly of all, where Silver finds Diamond…in ways both explicit and a bit more under-the-surface, Chapter 1 lays down everything we need to know to understand Chapter 2.Just at a structural/technical level, it’s really well done; the way the conflict between Diamond and her mother first enters the story, not through any overt action but a few slight slips of the tongue here and there is especially powerful.But moreover, it reveals to us a greater depth to Diamond’s emotional arc as seen in “Crusaders of the Lost Mark” by showing us the path she’d already been walking to get there**. The fact that she’s always been pushing back in this way…the fact that she sees a better future for herself but struggles to figure out how to get there…it works so harmoniously with what the show’s already given us to enrich and deepen our understanding of the character and how she can continue to grow and change.
It’s also kind of impressive how well you blend tones here to get the needed emotional response. Like, the opening Tea Party That Is Actually A Board Meeting is comical; the imagery and structure of it is absurd, and recognizably so, and the overt “Glengarry Glen Ross” reference especially underlines this fact. And yet…with Silver’s own inexperience to act as a counterweight, we are also allowed to recognize it as profoundly heartbreaking, how much this little girl’s view of the world (and the place she’ll need to take in it) is already informed by something so vicious. It’s never cloying or on the nose, and indeed I respect that you don’t treat it as an intrinsic Evil for Diamond, but that aspect feels unmistakably present even so, especially once it starts to inform her and Silver’s conversation on the whole. Likewise, as somber as Diamond’s heartfelt confession to Silver at the lake is, it’s punctuated perfectly by humor that not only reinforces the dynamic between the two of them, but manages the feat of being at once heartwarming for its sincerity and amusing for its Mean Girl tone. Which is perfectly in keeping with that Grand Thesis I keep talking about, how this story at once asks us to recognize how much there was to these two characters already without the need for a Redemption, and then shows how even the stuff we don't necessarily like about them feeds into that very Redemption as well.
Something else I noticed here, incidentally, and it’s a garnish that’s ultimately so incidental to the story as a whole I honestly hesitate to call it “world-building”, but I rather appreciated it all the same: you consistently use magical tech here rather than the more traditional technology the show probably would (all those wonderful, multi-functional crystals), and I honestly really like that. I never especially cared for the show’s choice to consistently bring its Equestria closer and closer to the real world in terms of its technology/the items ponies use in their day-to-day lives, so having an alternative interpretation of the concept here (and one that subtly plays into the themes about Class built in to the narrative; one doubts a “regular” pony has this kind of thing at their disposal) was a fun little bonus.
A bonus on top of a story that really, really works.This exact kind of thorny redemption story, the kind that dares to sympathize with these characters even when they might seem rather unsympathetic is becoming a newfound specialty of yours, I notice, and here especially it manages to expertly walk a wide variety of tightropes deftly and powerfully.
* indeed, in Silver’s case specifically, she didn’t even really get the transition to Sympathetic that Diamond did.
** and double-kudos, for that matter, to better emphasizing Silver’s part in that episode too; it’s another in a long line of fantastically done expansions of off-to-the-side elements from the series.
This is very well written. I always love excellent Silver Spoon characterization!
Very classy, and a nice look at the relationship from Silver Spoon's perspective. The scene you describe is one that no one wants to experience, but that everyone wishes that when it happens, they had that kind of friend to help them get through it. Great job as always.
This was my favourite story of yours that I have read
It's like the characters are nice in their own way, and the standards of others don't really matter to them.