Slice of Velvet and Pear

by David Silver

23 - Tea and Biscuits

"See, no adventure." Velvet smiled brilliantly at her earth pony BFF. "I can take us out without adventure. Just us, some tea, and some tasty cookies." She lifted a cookie in her magic, hovering it towards Pear's snout. "You haven't tried one yet, so scrumptious."

"Ah, no..." She accepted the cookie, holding it just barely in her lips. "The cookie smells great. The tea too... It's... the setting that bothers me." She looked off to the side where their platform's edge was, a deep fall just beyond it. "How can anypony relax?"

"It's meditative," cried Velvet. "So long as we stay in balance, there isn't any problem." She waved between herself and Pear. "And we are super in balance. We're practically the definition of it."

Pear chewed at the cookie slowly. "Next time, I pick the destination."

Velvet's ears pricked, eyes shining. "You have a spot in mind? Sign me right up! Just us or is Night coming too? Tell me that in advance. You know he loves his schedules."

Pear laughed at the thought. "He surely does."

"You know him so well." Velvet sipped from her floating teacup. "Mmm. They only serve this up here; say only in the proper setting does the flavor come out fully."

"Is that so?" Pear set a hoof on her cup, her other joining it, cradling it as she brought it, shaking a little, towards her snout to take a sip. "Hm..."

"Is that a good hm?" Velvet was batting her lashes with a silly grin.

"It is." Pear took a second sip, savoring the flavor. Her shaking ebbing gently. "Relaxing... I just have to not think about the rest of it."

---

"Spike!" Diamond peeked around the corner of her own house. "I know you're here." She pushed a small table aside, but no Spike there. "Stop hiding." She marched across the hall to peek into a closet. No Spike there. "You don't have to be a baby about this."

She crossed her arms with a huff. "It's not a big deal. Ponies do it all the time."

She quirked an ear. "Ah ha..." She prowled quietly into the kitchen, setting her hooves down ever so carefully to not sound against the tiles as she crept up towards a cabinet. She could hear faint shuffling in it, then a thump. She pounced at it with a cry, throwing it open to reveal a terrified Spike. "There you are!"

Spike squeaked in dismay, but it turned into a strained laugh. "Ha ha... yep, found me... You're good at this."

Diamond rolled her eyes. "Nice try. Now why are you hiding in the first place? Exchanging bracelets isn't even that big of a deal."

Spike emerged from the cabinet, no longer safely hidden. "Uh... when a stallion and a mare give each other jewels..."

Diamond burst into laughter. "Is that what you're thinking?" She thumped Spike in the center of the chest. "You can give, or get, jewels for a lot of reasons. If this were a wedding thing, you'd know it. Friendship bracelets is a whole other thing." She raised one hoof into view, unadorned with anything. "You are my boyfriend, last I checked, and I'm your girlfriend, so matching bracelets isn't strange."

Spike swallowed thickly, playing with the tip of his tail between nervous fingers. "Really? Um..." Also... "We are?! I mean... I thought I was..."

Diamond leaned in hard enough to crash her nose against his. "You made a proper request to my parents, they accepted. We're a thing, Spike. Until they, or I, call it off. Well, I guess you could too, but I doubt you would." She turned away, starting to march off. "Now c'mon! I want us to both pick the style we go with. It'll be more special."

Spike began to darken, hurrying after what was, officially, his girlfriend. "What, um, styles are there?"

"Now that's a better question!" Diamond's annoyance melted into a bright smile. "You're going to love this." She threw an arm over Spike, drawing him towards the ground even as she kept on going forward. "And we'll pick one that works for both of us, to show the world we're serious."

"Wow." He hadn't even known they were super serious. Clearly, they were. He was learning! "Alright." He reached for his pocket, only to feet her other hoof in the way. With the way she was positioned, she was practically hugging him. He laughed nervously on realizing.

"Do not reach for your coins," she sternly commanded. "This is my idea."

But Spike didn't just accept that. "If this is about us, together." He waggled a few fingers between himself and Diamond. "Then I have to help, so it comes from both of us."

"Hm." She released him and they walked side by side for a quiet moment, strolling through town. "Hm. You might have a point there, Spike." A rare admission from Diamond. "Let me see what you're putting in then, so I know what our budget is?"

Spike fished out his collection of bits in a bag, which Diamond was quick to snatch up. She weighed it with a jingling, her head bobbing up and down, ears dancing as she listened to the coins clattering against one another. "Huh, alright..." She gave the bag back. "All in?"

"All in!" However unsure he had been, he wouldn't go halfway on his own idea. "Let's get something great."

"That's the spirit." She gently brushed against him from the side.

They walked into the jewelry store where an older mare stood waiting. She smiled on seeing them. "Welcome!"

"Hey, Clarity Cut." Diamond nodded at the jeweler as if she had met them many times. "This is Spike, my boyfriend. We want to get a bracelet to show that off."

"Ooo." She clapped with a smile. "Young love, how delightful." She curled a hoof towards her chin, a thought clearly in her head, but not coming out of her lips. "What style were you thinking, or do you want to browse?"

"Browse." Diamond led the way to the showcase of dozens of different kinds of bracelets. "Now, this is an earth pony thing. At least, we started it. Pegasi don't like dangling bits while they're flying around." She moved her arms in pantomime of a superman-like flight. "Unicorns got a horn to put rings on." She pointed up at her head and lack of a horn. "You even have fingers. Could put a ring on those." She peered at his digits as if they had done something wrong a moment.

"But an earth pony," continued Spike. "Gets a bracelet."

"Exactly!" Diamond sat before the case, considering the collection. "Now, these days, all kinds of ponies enjoy a good bracelet. Any pony can wear a bracelet, and look good. They're easy to put on and take off, and tend to be more flexible in size too, so there's a lot of advantages really."

"Huh." Spike didn't expect to learn so much! "That's kind of cool. Even a dragon can wear a bracelet." He extended an arm, imagining the future bracelet on it. "A universal jewelry. Alright, so which one are we considering?" He went in for a better look. "I like that one." Pointing at a particular one. "It has the purple of your fur and those blue streaks like your eyes."

"Aw!" Diamond clapped her hooves together with a bright and cheerful giggle. "Spike! You dog!" She had no idea how true she might be at a later time. "You're making me blush." Her eyes darted over the case. "Got anything that looks like Spike?"

Clarity perked up, detecting that question was aimed at her. She examined Spike intently a moment. "Hm. One moment." And off into the back she went.

Spike laughed a little. "We're gonna wear each other? That's kinda cool."

"Very appropriate." Diamond nodded slowly. "You have a Diamond Tiara bracelet, and I'll have a Spike bracelet, so everypony knows exactly what's up." She puffed up her mane with a hoof, adjusting her tiara along the way. "Proper accessories are silent statements to the world."

"Huh." Spike considered the bracelet he had picked out. "It really is kinda nice." Ah ha! "But not as nice as the pony it takes after."

"Spike!" She pawed at him, laughing. "You are on fire today. Not literally, no fires!" Not that Spike was about to set anything on fire. "Smooth though."

"Here we are." There was Clarity Cut, a bracelet dangling from her right front hoof for just a moment longer before she set it on the display case. "How's that?"

Purple stones made up most of it, with green in two shades forming the underbelly and little bumps along the outside of the bracelet. "Just like him," she advised, inclining her head at Spike.

Diamond considered it gravely. "Hm. I'm trying it on." It wasn't a request. She was. Clarity didn't even try to stop her as she reached for it and soon had it drawn up over her left front leg, allowing her to wave that arm about, examining how it looked from different angles. "Hm... What do you think, Spike?" She thrust that hoof towards him.

Spike held up both hands as if to block the view of most of Diamond, just the bracelet. "Hm."

Diamond cocked a brow at that. "What are you doing, Spike?"

"Trying to get a good look at that without being distracted by the pony wearing it."

Diamond swatted him one across the top of the head. "Stop that! Nice and all, but we need the whole picture." She drew her hoof back, her entire self back even as she turned left and right. "I need to know how it works with me." She fanned herself lightly with her left hoof, wagging the bracelet in the process. "It doesn't matter much if one of us is shining if we don't shine together, Spike."

Spike noticed movement out of the corner of his eyes. Clarity was offering the other bracelet towards him. He got it on quickly and hurried up to Diamond, thrusting his arm next to hers. "Huh." The two, together for the first time, was weighed in his eyes. "I like how the purples are... how they work together."

Diamond raised her free hoof with a happy sigh. "It is kinda nice." Her eyes lifted to Clarity. "Alright, we'll take them. No objections?"

Spike shook his head quickly. "Nope!" He lifted his new bracelet back into view with its Diamond-like colors. "I never had one of these before... It's... It's nice."

"Are you crying?" Diamond pawed at spike, but it was a gentle motion, not a swat. "You baby." But she hugged him despite her words, firmly smooshing him. "You know we have to show them off now, right? They're a lousy statement if they don't get said."

"I, uh..." He curled his arm back into his view. "I thought you said they were silent."

"They are silent." Diamond nodded in agreement. "But we are not." She set her bracelet next to Spike's, arm to arm. "So let's show off a little. You are proud, aren't you? Of this, of me, of us?"

Spike took a step back. "Of course I am!" He raised his hands wardingly. "I'm just not, you know, used to... this?" And he suddenly had a Diamond on him, one arm around him. "I'm not complaining. It's just... new?"

"I get it." She squeezed him closer. "You really are a little kid sometimes. It's alright, your girl will set you straight, just follow my lead." She pushed him back, falling to all fours herself. "You are looking good, by the way. The bracelet totally works for you."

Spike colored brightly. "T-thanks! Yours too." Even if he had already said that. he thought? Had he? "It's really nice."

Diamond casually paid for both bracelets. A fact that Spike had forgotten all about. "Thanks for the help, Clarity. You are the best jewel in here."

Clarity laughed gently at the praise. "I hope you both enjoy them, Diamond. Do come back soon."

Author's Note:

Spike and Diamond are quite the couple, I say. Such innocent souls.

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Comments

[Venerable Ro]

Diamond's moving ahead full steam, Spike's a chill dude, but there's such a thing as too much chillness. Hope he's thought this out.

But in the meantime, those were some good lines.

[Greenhorn]

This Diamond seemed much more likable than the cannon. Is this because she hasn't wasted time bullying others? Either way, I like this development.

[Reese]

"with green in two shares forming the underbelly and little"
"with green in two shades forming the underbelly and little"?

"but it was a gently motion, not a swat"
"but it was a gentle motion, not a swat"?

[David Silver]

11145278
Fix!

[redandready45]

Diamond/Spike? Not the pairing I expected, but it works pretty well.