The Serenade of Silver Belles

by Your Antagonist

The Melancholy Musings of an Editor-In-Chief

The Serenade of Silver Belles

Written By: Your Antagonist

The Melancholy Musings of an Editor In Chief

As a remorseful Featherweight stood before the cellar-style doors of Ponyville Elementary’s printing press, the colt could only sum up his feelings in three simple words: this wasn’t right. The words had been rebounding in Featherweight’s mind ever since Diamond Tiara handed him that article, and the pounding in his head had only grown louder as he immortalized the tool of Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon’s pending humiliation in film. As far as he was concerned, Diamond Tiara had her wretched scandal and then some, which meant his reputation was clear out of the firing line. Everything about the moment he’d captured was just too perfect: from the angle and lighting, to the situation and how well it met the cruel filly’s criteria for a reputation-destroying article. Had he not been so ashamed of what he was about to use it for, the colt would have felt a sense of pride in taking such a perfect photograph. Regardless of how he felt, this had to be done, lest his reputation fall alongside their own.

With a defeated sigh, the colt reached into his saddlebags and pulled out a silver key. The key to the school’s printing press wasn’t a terribly large thing, perhaps only an inch or two, give or take a centimeter here and there, and it stood to reason that the small cut of iron only weighed an ounce or three, if even that. Yet at this moment, the key was somehow one of the heaviest things he’d ever held in his life, what with his guilt and cowardice weighing his hoof down as well. Shaky and hesitant, Featherweight slowly inched the key into its resting place in the padlock. Swallowing back any residual trepidation, Featherweight turned the lock, quickly finding himself vexed by the sound of it popping out of its secured position. There was no turning back now.

With a quick swat of his hoof, the lock fell uselessly to the ground, and the doors, no longer restrained by the tiny mass of metal, sprang open, revealing the staircase to the printing press. This wasn’t the first time he’d been in this exact position, but as memory served, the first step was always the hardest, and no matter how many times he did this, it never became any more tolerable. The colt reluctantly set his hoof upon the first step and began the descent into what he’d consider a refuge any other day of the week, but for now it may as well have been his personal purgatory. Being the Editor In Chief for the school paper, Featherweight was all too familiar with being the last to leave after a long day of picking, primping, and perfecting the next issue of the Foal Free Press, but on these occasions, the room seemed somehow emptier and more desolate.

Thinking nothing further of it, Featherweight trotted over to a nearby typewriter and began making himself comfortable as he prepared to become accessory to the ruination of his fellow classmates. No, he couldn’t afford to think of them as classmates right now. If he showed them even the slightest pang of mercy by thinking of them as fellow Equestrians instead of clay pigeons in the sights of the grand old rifle of journalism, he’d lose his nerve and Diamond Tiara would step in and crush anypony in her path indiscriminately. It was nothing personal, he just couldn’t extend them that courtesy. After all, it wasn’t his fault that Silver Spoon had to go and cross somepony as ruthless and diabolical as Diamond Tiara. All Silver Spoon had to do was apologize, and this whole thing could have just blown over. Yet, here he was ready to sentence two fillies to a lifetime of ridicule and humiliation for the sake of a scorned brat’s petty vengeance. Still, Silver Spoon had brought this upon herself and Sweetie Belle, and while it wasn’t right, it was going to happen.

As the colt pulled out the hastily-written and poorly-punctuated article Diamond Tiara had forced upon him, a stray thought managed to catch the pegasus unawares: what would she think of all of this? Not Diamond Tiara, not Silver Spoon, not Sweetie Belle, but her. Surely she of all ponies would frown upon his involvement in all of this, perhaps even go so far as to shun him and by association his as of yet unconfessed affections. The very thought froze Featherweight where he sat. It was a lose/lose situation as far as Featherweight was concerned. Either he could type the article, save his own skin and lose the respect of the one he so adored, or he could refuse Diamond Tiara, end up as the front page story come Friday, and still lose the respect of his beloved in addition to being subjected to merciless humiliation by his classmates for as long as he drew breath in Ponyville.

While the path of greater evil presented far less repercussions and was far more enticing an option than standing up for himself only to be knocked down a peg or four, the thought of her eyes filled with disdain and disappointment was enough to make the colt hesitate and falter for a moment. That mere moment was all the time necessary for a seed of doubt to ingrain itself into his brain and take root. That moment gave birth to an epiphany that the colt wouldn’t have entertained in the slightest if it hadn’t been for the thought of his beloved looking upon him with disgust. Maybe it wasn’t about Featherweight. Maybe it was about standing against Diamond Tiara and standing up for what he believed in, regardless of the backlash. Maybe it was about journalistic integrity and wielding the power of the press for right as opposed to personal gain. Maybe if he had more of a backbone, he’d believe the hope-filled gibberish his brain was spewing forth and just outright tell Diamond Tiara to shove off and find somepony else to do her gruntwork for her. Alas, Featherweight possessed no such backbone, and as colorful and hope-inspiring as those florid thoughts had been, that was all they were: florid thoughts. He’d never act on them, especially not while Diamond Tiara possessed that infernal book. So long as she had the cursed little tome she’d be able to control him with a mere rereading of his intercepted letters of amore, and if Diamond Tiara wanted an article written, then by Celestia she’d get that article written, albeit begrudgingly.

With a heavy sigh, the colt propped the picture of Sweetie Belle kissing Silver Spoon on the cheek against his typewriter, uttered a silent apology, and began to weave this tale together with a rapid fire series of clicks and clacks from the typewriter. He’d feel remorse for his actions later. Right now, he had a front page story to fill, and only an afternoon to do it, after all: the presses would be going hot early tomorrow morning and he couldn’t afford to be caught with his tail between his legs.

The Melancholy Musing of an Editor-In-Chief, End.

Comments

[Avid Reader]

Commence read.

Poor Featherweight. What will the future entail for you?

[Wise2Fox]

Dood he could just post a Arcticle about Diamond Tiaras Black Mailing.

[The Princess Rarity]

Hmmm, more. Pwease.

[Yukito]

1898173

I'd imagine DT would want to check the article first, to make sure it's up to standards. But maybe a hidden message in the article?

[Martian]

A superb interlude of insight and guilt. Love it.

[foxmcloud23]

api.ning.com/files/Z8vhycmp1aMj-79KBt6g-sqdM*6Erm39erwNliNkWf*Ez0n5SieCzjN*fRXLaJF8YBNmD-nGqoDbpiftYsSNh1o8sI2phkkZ/I_Want_More.gif

[Mr.Market]

Whoa! Your take on Diamond Tiara as a malicious control freak is superb! Either she has control over you or she destroys you and Featherweight's thoughts show the middle point in this chapter rather well!

It's turning out to be a very dynamic story! love it!

[Raven Flight]

Poor Featherweight. Doesn't he know that the magic of friendshipping conquers all? Poor, poor Featherweight...

[xbox432]

Down with DTONE! May her tiara melt in the infernal fires of heck!

[Your Antagonist]

1899122 Refresh the page, sweetheart.

[Tech_Priest]

1898214
He could do it like The Governor did:
images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/114612/original.jpg
But with Blackmail instead of, you know, that.

Or, he may end you cracking under pressure. Think about it:

-The paper comes out.
-Cheerlie wants to know why.
-Featherweight tells her some bullshit lie.
-She sees his lie and calls his parents.
-They start to pressure him.
-He cracks and tells them the truth.

It’s very easy to break someone’s will to keep a secret, especially if they don't want to keep it in first place.

[SCP Pinkamena]

1899133 1899237 There, everything is working

[Sunset_Shimmer83]

oh no featherweight, don't do it.

[Cthulhu Likes Ponies]

Awesome cant wait for more.

[Hellouise]

awww i thought for sure he was gay!!!

[Kail]

Ya know I can't hate Featherweight for what he's doing. Sure I don't condone it but he's just a kid. I mean which one of us didn't do something stupid we regret as kids? I can say this though. Ol' Feather's gonna take flack for this later I bet.

[StormHoof32]

1901038 all i have to say to featherweight, is that he got caught up in the wrong crowd. As for Diamond Tiara? Karma's a b**** ain't it?

[Rythmns]

I have a question; was sweetie kissing silver on the cheek covered in any of the chapters , because I don't remember it at all.

[Shock and Awe]

oh featherweight you could of ripped it up and be a stallion

[Aziraphael]

1901974
It's at the very end of chapter 6.

[Rythmns]

1902137 Thanks, I need to read this story again.

[tigrean]

Interesting well we will see the conclusion hopefully sooner than this recent update. I do hope hope DT gets beat up completely both physically and mentally more mentally though that takes longer to heal I guess I shouldn't be so mean but hell she is a B%^&$.

[Princess Cadence]

1899675
Awesome avatar/name combo.

[Frizzy]

He could've burned it and told Diamond Tiara that the film came in contact with light and was ruined.

[fedoraguy2]

I'll bet anyone who is reading this that Featherweight is in love with Cheerilee

[Dementia Ravenmane]

1898874 What has Phil done to deserve such a punishment?

[xbox432]

Dang my phones auto complete. I was trying to say "DT" as in Diamond Tiara.

[Your Antagonist]

1925186You didn't even edit this chapter!

[BronyPonyMan]

BUCK! i need more story!

[Your Antagonist]

1957457 Thank you for noticing the comma. That is probably the only nicety you will receive from this reply.

I'm going to go ahead and tell you the same thing I tell everyone who gives me suggestions: you can tell me what to write when you yourself can spell. In fact, I'm going to contribute to this wonderful statement by adding: knowledge of contractions, and the ability to write without resorting to colloquialisms such as 'kinda'. Unprofessional language only stands to lessen the impact of your argument, since you are claiming that names and labels cannot be used as words with no basis for your logic. That's like saying 'max' can't be a word when it can also be applied as a name. Names are words. They are proper nouns used to identify a specific thing. They are composed of consonants and vowels. They abide by certain phonetic principals that allow them to be uttered in everyday conversation, as well as read properly in prose. In some cases, a name even has a meaning or definition. Point in case: Names are words, ergo my sentence has absolute validity. I'll thank you to leave any of these future findings to the discretion of my six editors. If they saw anything wrong with this part, I'm certain I would've caught an earful from at least one.

Incidentally, if Sweetie were to disagree with Scootaloo every time Scootaloo used ever, free, and forest, then life would be very difficult for these girls everytime Scootaloo wished to apply a certain commonly applied adverb, a synonym for liberation that comes up in the conversations of students more frequently than you'd expect, or a general term for woodland. While I've got you here, learn to distinguish the difference between 'too' and 'to', and also I've never heard of a 'Lavendel Bloom'. What kind of flower is it? Or did you mean 'lavender'. The power of proofreading, hooah?

Loathe,
Your Antagonist

[MerlosTheMad]

1957457

cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/23973189.jpg

[Magical Trevor]

1957765
i.imgur.com/syUFf.png

[articunos bitch]

1908110 I was gonna call that, but you beat me to it. I mean she IS quite a catch, even in a town with ,,,,,,, Vinyl Scratch, Lyra eyc.

[metroid_freak]

1957765
Even in an academic setting such as my university, it is a rare treat to find someone who possesses more literacy skills than an autistic drug-addled monkey gleefully smashing a Speak & Spell with a sledgehammer. I too laugh at those who consider themselves adept when it comes to critiquing works of art when it is quite plain that they do not have a clue as to what they're talking about. Bravo, sir, for cool use of logic in the face of such alarming ignorance.

[dormagio]

Oh spines, why are you so absent?

[joefromshipping]

Did... Did you end that awesome rant with a hooah? You just brought a tear to my eye good sir.

[CutieMarkCrusaders]

shun featherweight! SHUN!

[ServingSpoon]

You know.. I support a friendship and or ship between Diamond and Silver but right now.. I REALLY hope THIS Silver Spoon, KICKS DIAMOND'S ASS!!!

[Spinner of Tales]

Whenever I think about this story's Diamond Tiara...

[Morning Dusk]

As a remorseful Featherweight stood before the cellar-style doors of Ponyville Elementary’s printing press, the colt could only sum up his feelings in three simple words:

I am horny
Wow, dirtiest thing I've written... In a post... On this site.....that I haven't erased... Yet...