Silver Spoon Adopts a Naga

by Halira

Chapter 20: Memories on Stage

Silver was about ready to sink into the floor as the final act of the play was getting ready to begin. She was glad Diamond wasn't here, as Diamond was the only one who could have been more mortified by the performance. It wasn't that it was a poorly performed or inaccurate portrayal of them; if anything, it might have downplayed some of their behavior. It did thankfully, leave out the entire Equestria Games incident, where she and Diamond had mocked Scootaloo for not being able to fly, but it had left in most of the rest. If that had been left in, she would have bolted from the theater out of pure shame. Apologies and forgiveness had been exchanged long ago about these things, but seeing it all played out felt like ripping open an old wound.

"The actresses playing you and Diamond Tiara are excellent, all the actors are, don't you think?" Dinky asked in-between bites of popcorn. "I'm getting flashbacks just watching them."

She gave her friend a cross look. "The foals are mostly adult changelings who're professional actors, and the adult ponies are professionals as well; I would expect them to be good." She then pouted. "I wish they weren't so good, and they let the actual foals play leads instead of just background ponies."

Dinky shrugged. "It is a professional performance, so we should expect professional actors. It is a great enough experience for the kids to be extras in a professional show. They learn about choreography, and a few of them have even gotten a couple of short speaking lines. I think we really should start doing a yearly school play, as you suggested. The students should get a kick out of it, and it teaches them important lessons about teamwork and dedication. Autumn Blaze has an apprentice who will be needing to go off and find work soon; maybe we can try hiring him on as a drama teacher- if the school board allows for it in the budget. What do you think?"

"I think I'm going to die of embarrassment," Silver lamented and sank lower in her seat.

"Oh, don't be like that," Dinky chided. "All your students know you, and they know you care deeply about them. The version of you up there on that stage has been gone longer than any student at our school has been alive, and they probably think of it as just a fictional version. Some of their parents probably remember it, but those parents all know you. Stop worrying."

Silver glanced around the theater to see if anycreature was looking at her, wondering how she could have been such a cruel filly. "It's hard not to worry."

"If this play was about somepony a little older than us, and it had Cheerilee depicted as a bully when she was a foal, would you think less of Cheerilee?" Dinky asked.

She frowned. "Cheerilee said she was shy as a young foal and didn't start coming out of her shell until her later years of school."

Dinky shrugged. "We don't know that. That's just what she told us. If she was a bully as a foal, would you think any less of who she grew to be?"

Silver shook her head emphatically. "No! I know her, and would never think any less of her."

Dinky smiled. "And your students won't think any less of you either."

Silver gave a small smile, but she still wished she could make herself small and less noticeable. She turned and looked at Sisstet. "Are you enjoying the play? The Crusaders are good friends of mine… even if we weren't so great of friends back then."

Sisstet gave her a puzzled look. "Did they really get covered in tree ssap that much?"

She blinked; that wasn't the question she was expecting. "Um, I'm not sure. I know it happened at least once, maybe twice, but the play might be exaggerating that for comedic effect."

"Getting covered in tree ssap is funny?" Sisstet asked.

Silver went wide-eyed and shook her head. "Only in plays, like this one. It isn't funny in real life. Please don't get covered in tree sap to try to get creatures to laugh. It's very uncomfortable and disgusting."

"Oh," Sisstet replied, and Silver wondered if he had been considering it. He then ducked down slightly. "Did you really make fun of them for not having marks?"

That was the question she had been dreading. "Yes, I did. I made fun of other foals for a lot of things. It wasn't really about them having or not having marks, though."

"What wass it about?" Sisstet asked, lifting his head slightly.

She sighed, and her ears sagged. "It was about finding something to make them feel small and less important. Bullies want to feel power over others, and they find whatever way they can. Some bullies do it with physical intimidation, others- like the type I was, try to make others feel embarrassed and ashamed. If it wasn't their lack of marks, then it would have been something else I made fun of them for. I would have found something."

He cringed. "Why would you want to do that? It's mean."

She nodded. "It's mean and wrong; that's why I don't tolerate it among my students. As for why bullies would want to do that… some feel powerless, and bully to feel like they have power over others since they have no power over their own lives. For me, it was about status."

He gave her another confused look. "Statuss? I don't understand."

She shook her head. "I was raised to think that I needed to place myself around other rich ponies to earn their approval. The only other rich foal in town was Diamond Tiara, so I did what she did to earn her approval. The reasons she bullied were different, and you'll see them soon in the play, but I did it because she was my rich peer, and she expected me to. Then one day, I realized that even with me doing what she wanted, she didn't appreciate me or value me, and no matter how much I went along with her, she wouldn't truly care about me. So I abandoned her, at least until she decided she wanted to turn herself around."

"But you made up with her, and sshe stopped being so mean?" Sisstet asked in a hopeful tone.

Silver nodded. "Yes, and I also started to realize around that time that I didn't like how a lot of rich ponies thought and behaved. They are so concerned about being seen as better or having power that I don't think they can really be happy. Don't misunderstand or jump to cast unfair judgments; not all rich ponies are like that, Diamond isn't, and Sweetie Belle and her family aren't, but many are, and you should be wary of those ones. Whenever you meet my very wealthy parents, don't let them convince you that you need to treat others like dirt or fawn for the approval of wealthy creatures, okay?"

He nodded. "Okay."

The lights dimmed, and a spotlight appeared on stage. Autumn Blaze then walked out from behind the curtain and waved to the audience while grinning happily.

"Hello, everycreature! I hope you all are enjoying the show, the concessions, each others' company, the fantastic day, and appreciate that while this play may imitate life, that in watching it, we might appreciate the wondrous and amazing gift our lives are, and that we are all players in the greatest play that there ever was, and the stars! I won't go in too much of a tangent, but I wanted to thank you all for coming out to support our theater and our production, and I know all our actors and hard-working crew appreciate you coming to support them!"

The crowd gave hoofstomps, cheers, and applause. The kirin sat smiling as she waited for the noise to die down.

"Ponyville has a rich history of heroes, and I came up with this play to help celebrate three significant ones and the humble beginnings that they came from. I'd thought about a lot of other ideas too, such as-" She stopped, waved one of her hooves in front of herself, and chuckled. "I promised no tangents! I need to keep focused. Anywho, the Crusaders themselves were unable to attend tonight, since Applebloom is in the process of giving birth. I hope everycreature here sends their best wishes to the new mother, and that her foals have just as amazing adventures as she did when she was a foal. Maybe with a little less misadventure. I mean, tree sap is so hard to get out of fur!"

The crowd gave a chorus of awes, giggles, and cheers.

Autumn Blaze gave a little hop. "Buuuut, I just found out that we do have one of the original ponies that our main cast is playing right here in our audience tonight!"

Oh no. No, no, no, no!

A second spotlight appeared, focused on Silver Spoon, and she froze in abject terror.

"Everycreature give it up for Ponyville Elementary's own Miss Silver Spoon! Woo hoo!" Autumn Blaze said with a cheer.

Silver didn't know what to do; the spotlight was on her, and everycreature was looking at her. She just lifted a hoof and waved feebly.

"Let me give some words of praise for Miss Silver Spoon," Autumn Blaze said as she paced back and forth on the stage with her spotlight following her. "Yes, she isn't depicted in the most flattering light for much of this production, but she's a shining example of how a creature can grow and change. My son is one of her students, and I know he thinks she's great. I know she also does a great job teaching him. I look at his homework sometimes, because I want to be a good and helpful mom who helps her kid with his homework, and I just stare at it all befuddled. I look at it and think, woah, he must know so much more than me about these subjects. I've got a pretty smart kid, because he gets excellent grades. That means he has a good teacher."

Now Silver felt like she was going to blush to death. Could a pony blush to death? She might soon find out.

The kirin stopped and shook her head. "I'm going off on a tangent again. Anyway, I don't want to understate how great all of the teachers Ponyville Elementary are; I see you out there, Principal Dinky Doo, Miss Flower Bed, Miss Tulip Down, and Mister Stone Carver, you're all great too, but felt the need to give a special shout out to the one who we're currently portraying in our play. We've got many students from the school participating in this play, and they're all wonderful kids with wonderful teachers, and I've enjoyed working with all these kids. Everycreature, give one last round of applause for Miss Silver Spoon and all the teachers of Ponyville Elementary, and make sure to give a huge round of applause to these hard-working kids at the show's conclusion!"

There was a massive round of applause, hoofstomps, cheers, and whooping. Silver felt entirely overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the community. It wasn't just her; Dinky was blushing fiercely now as well, and she could imagine Tulip, Flower, and Stone were all feeling the same.

The applause lasted for several deafening seconds before dying down. Autumn Blaze gave the crowd one more enthusiastic wave as she started trotting off stage. "Now time for the final act. On with the show!"

The curtain rose, and one of the actual foals, this one playing Pip, came running on stage. Silver smiled, as she had guessed that was what would be coming.

The act progressed, and the musical number where the Crusaders encouraged students to vote for Pip ended, and Silver braced herself for seeing her confrontation with Diamond.

"Silver Spoon, you didn't vote for me?!"

"No, I didn't!"

"But you're my best friend."

"Am I? Because I tried to help by mentioning your surprise statue, and suddenly, I wasn't allowed to speak. You could have actually won this election if you'd just listened to me. You wanna know how? Sorry, I'm not allowed to speak."

The changelings playing them really did capture their likenesses perfectly, and the one playing Diamond Tiara had a look of such hurt and betrayal that it made Silver Spoon all but relive the moment, only this time without her feeling the anger she had felt that long-ago day. Seeing her best friend, or at least, the foal version of her best friend, looking that anguished, made Silver break down crying.

Twist reached over Sisstet and gently touched her, giving her an understanding smile. Silver gave a small smile of gratitude back.

Sisstet looked up at them in confusion. "What-"

She shook her head, and made a shushing gesture. The play was still going, and they could talk about it later.

The play continued, and she smiled as she watched herself and Diamond Tiara embrace again as friends during another musical number. Soon after, the Crusaders got their marks in spectacular fashion. She wasn't sure they had floated in the air and been all enveloped in a light like that back then, since she hadn't been looking, but she was pretty sure that was just for dramatic effect. A final song was performed, and a curtain call was done for all the performers, with a special second curtain call for the foals that elicited so many camera flashes that she worried the foals might end up blind. She knew she was blinking due to it all.

Sisstet tugged at Silver's fur, and she looked to see what he wanted.

"Why did you cry?"

She gave him a soft smile. "Oh, that. Well, during that particular scene, I was just very upset at how much I had hurt my friend."

He gave Silver another puzzled look. "But you- the filly you- didn't look sad, sshe looked angry."

Silver nodded. "I probably was angry back then. It was so long ago that I can't be completely certain. But I'm not angry now, and that really did look like Diamond and me when we were fillies. It was like reliving the moment, only this time I cared when I saw the look of hurt on her face. I don't know if those were the exact words I said, but it sounded like something I'd have said back then, and it hurt seeing myself be that cruel and hurtful to a dear friend, even if I knew it was a play."

"But you made up, and she desserved it," Sisstet asserted.

She frowned, and Sisstet coiled up slightly. "We did make up, but she didn't deserve to be hurt in such a cruel way. There's never a good reason to be cruel to anycreature, no matter what they've done. I should have made it clear that I did not appreciate how she treated me, but I didn't need to be so mean about it. I'm just now realizing how much the two of us got away with back then, and thinking that if I were in Miss Cheerilee's place, there would have been a lot more detentions."

"Well, to give Cheerilee credit, it was hard to punish you without punishing Diamond. It just wouldn't have been fair," Dinky cut in. "And it was next to impossible to punish Diamond because of you-know-who. She probably could have given you detention for what you said to Diamond in that one scene, but after all that she had put up with from Diamond over the years, she might have just let it go. Nocreature is perfect, not even Cheerilee."

Silver wanted to object to any criticism of their shared mentor's character, but Dinky probably had a point.

"So, where to go for dinner?" Twist asked.

Silver stood up. "I know a place not far from the meat market that serves vegetarian and carnivore meals, and is clean and nice. I stopped by there a few times for a quick snack when going out that way. It's griffon owned and run by one of my students' parents, we can stop by there."

Twist stood up. "Sounds good to me. How about you, Sisstet? Do you want to try some griffin food? I'm fairly positive they eat fish, although they might prepare it differently than you are used to."

Sisstet smiled and nodded vigorously. "Fish ssounds good!"

"Fish it shall be," Silver said with a chuckle. "Let's get going. It is a little bit of a walk to get there, and we don't want to be out too late."

Comments

[Boopy Doopy]

Very nice chapter

[Darksoul85]

Another great chapter

[PonyofEntropy]

Great story!