Slice of Velvet and Pear

by David Silver

56 - Foal Free Press - Part Two

The next day, at school, Diamond Tiara was speaking animatedly at the others. School was, itself, already done. The newspaper was an entirely separate project. A foal could have gone home, but many were still there, eager to take part. "I want stories with bite!" Diamond clopped a hoof down, giving her staff a look. "Now that I'm in charge, the Foal Free Press is going in new directions, straight up!"

Foals clapped and stomped in building excitement. Apple Bloom waved excitedly. "We'll find a great story!" The other crusaders cheered in solidarity and they charged off on their quest.

Diamond let them go, looking instead to Spike. "You're looking ready. What do you have?" She leaned a bit, trying to peek behind him. "I saw you sneaking something in."

Spike coughed into a fist as he tried to stand as tall as he could. "I present!" He twirled in place, ending with his header in his hands. "Spike's Comic Corner! Learn of new series worth your attention, discussion of classics, and all the information you need to--"

Diamond's head tilted more and more as Spike went on. He trailed off. "Don't... like it?"

She curled a hoof to her chin. "Well... I'll be honest, Spike. I don't know what I feel right now." She advanced on the header, poking it firmly. "First, good try, but we have artists on staff. Let them handle this. If you want to submit a photo, sure."

"O-oh." Spike leaned around to look at the header. "I thought it came out pretty good..."

"It's fine." Diamond leaned in with a smirk. "But it could be better. Besides, you'll be working on writing, right? Newspapers are group projects. Don't try to do everything yourself. You could do everything 'alright', or you can let other ponies do it great, and focus on your part."

Spike lowered the header, sliding along the ground as it fell. "Oh, yeah... that makes sense... Um, like the idea though?"

Diamond murmured softly to heself. "Past the weather... page 3? Yeah... we can fit it in." She reached out, swatting the header the rest of the way down. "Get to writing, Spike. I need it done and in my hooves if you want a chance to be in tomorrow's paper."

"Right! Yeah! Okay." He hurried to one of the typewriters and the rapid click-clack made it clear he was on the case, even if he wasn't 100% sure where he'd end up. Be he knew he was on the way.

---

Twilight made her way along the road, having long escaped the hold of Ponyville, not that it was a stifling place to be. Still, compared to the orchard... She took a deep breath of the wood and apples that teased at her senses. "It's good to get out once in a while..."

Ahead of her, she could see the comfy looking abode of the Apple family. Little but happy memories resided there. Thinking of that, making that challenge, made something else come up. She could remember the day the news came, that they'd lost one of their own. Well, when Twilight had learned of it and done her best to console Applejack.

She shook her head. "Hardly the day to be going over that..." She was there to enjoy some home cooking! Twilight went up to the door and rapped lightly with her hoof on it. "Anypony home?"

The door swung open, Big Mac behind it. "Howdy." He waved inside as he stepped out of the way. "C'mon in! Right nice to see ya 'round."

"A pleasure to be here." Twilight stepped in, closing the door behind herself with her glowing horn. "Did you get bigger?"

Big Mac colored faintly. "Granny likes ta say ah'm a growin' pony, but ah'm fairly sure ah'm all done wit' that." He offered a hoof and they shared a gentle hug of family affection. "They're waitin' fer ya over here." He ushered her into the dining room where food had already been set out and the fragrant aromas of other delicious dishes were emanating from the kitchen. "Here she is."

"Twilight," gladly called out Pear Butter, smiling from her seat next to Granny Smith. "There's the filly ah was hopin' to see today."

A soft chuckle bubbled up from Granny's throat as she let out a quiet laugh. "She ain't hard t' find, you know. Just mosey past her little tree and she'll be inside more days than not, ah reckon."

Pear swatted at Granny. "Stop that! Come on, pull up a seat." She waved to one of the empty chairs there, each wide enough to house a pony on their haunches without difficulty. "You gotta tell us what all you've been up to. Spike didn't come with you?"

"Well, we can start with that." She stepped up and settled onto her newly claimed chair. "He's working as a writer for his school paper. He came home and got right back to it. It was... Nice to see, actually. He's really trying his best." She put a hoof on her chest with a growing smile. "And bothering me once in a while to check his phrasing. It's work, but work I'm finding I enjoy, especially for him."

"Aw." Pear Butter reached across for a roll and passed it right along towards Twilight. "Precious thing! What's he writin' 'bout? Some kinda dragon thing or somethin' else?"

Twilight took the roll with her magic, floating it the rest of the way towards her snout for a nibble. "Mmm..." Fresh butter and a touch of honey... There wasn't fresh like farm fresh... "Comics, actually. He's a big fan of them and he wants to share his love with the world. It's adorable."

Pear Butter shook her head slowly. "Never got into those mahself. Still, that sounds like a lovely thing to be doing. He's really so taken he didn't want to stop by?"

"It's not that he didn't want to stop by. More that he was so focused." She brought down both hooves in front of herself. "He didn't notice me leaving, or my saying I was going. I didn't want to interrupt him. He was in the zone, as they say."

Granny waved that off. "Bring 'em by next time. Not like he'll be busy all the time. Now, ah ain't no expert when it comes to dragon... but is he growin' alright?"

Twilight recoiled an inch. "Oh, actually... I'm not either. Nopony is, truth be told... He's in good spirits, and seems happy, so that's all I could really say. His scales are bright and he's moving with spirit. What else could we be looking for?"

Pear Butter twisted her neck, turning to face the kitchen. "How's it goin' in there, Miss Chef?"

"Jus' fine," came Applejack's voice with a little merry whistle to come with it. "Jus' puttin on the final touches right... now." She emerged with a tray held between her hooves. "Hope yer all ready for somethin' tasty!"

Pear Butter winked at Twilight with a snicker. "She's like this every time we give her a moment in that kitchen."

Granny rubbed her hooves together. "But what comes out makes it worth it. Never figured AJ would turn into such a fine cook, but it makes me proud tah see! Now if she'd just let us get our turns in."

"Right right." Applejack set her tray in the center. "Now let this cool down. It's the dessert anywho. So let's get started on the main course and it'll be ready when we're ready fer it!" She hopped up into a seat next to Twilight. "Glad you could make it!"

"Glad to be here." Twilight chomped the remainder of the biscuit. There was plenty more food waiting to be sampled.

---

Spike slapped down a collection of paper's on Diamond's desk. "There."

Diamond cocked a brow. "There?" She reached for the papers, leafing through them with a hoof. "Longer than I thought it'd be... We're going to have to cut this down if you want to fit in the paper." She pulled it closer, looking a bit closer at the actual content. "New releases... Keep an eye on... Old faves..." She let the papers fall with a light thump to the desk, looking at Spike flatly.

"Like... it?" He really wasn't sure which it was, the way she was staring at him like that. "Did I get something off?"

"It's... a lot." She tapped at the papers. "I was planning to fit this on the bottom half of page 3, but you gave me at least 5 or 6 pages worth all on its own."

Spike wilted, fins drooping. "So... You can't use it?"

"Oh, I didn't say that." She gathered the papers. "What I am saying is that you just did a whole week of writing in a day. Cut that out. Next week, you write me that half a page. You make it good, then. Then! You stop." She clopped the desk to emphasize the stopping bit. "Ugh, now I have to edit this." She smirked as she leaned back in her chair. "That is my job. I swear, Spike, making me earn my keep. How dare you." She didn't sound actually offended at all.

Spike dared a hopeful smile. "So... I did good?"

"I didn't say that either," cut in Diamond with a frown. "I have to edit it. Expect me to find mistakes. Expect me to find things I don't like. I'll use what I can for the next issue, but expect a lot back, with plenty of marks all over it. Read them, all of them, and work it into the next article. You with me?"

Spike considered with a rumble. "And that's... why I should only do one article at a time."

"Exactly!" Diamond clopped her hooves together in one firm meeting. "Make a schedule. New comic mondays! Old Classic Wednesdays! So on and so on." she rolled a hoof as she went over the days. "Gives the readers something to look forward to, and makes my job easier knowing where your articles need to appear."

"Diamond!" The crusaders burst in, wielding a photo and huge grins. "We gotta story!"

Diamond nodded to them, but her eyes were on Spike. "I have to go. Editor-in-Chief, that mean I'm busy. I'll have the edit back to you as soon as I can, promise."

Spike backed a step. "You got it. Um..." He glanced at the crusaders and back to Diamond. "Um... don't take this the wrong way, but you... look kinda good, being all boss mare and all."

Diamond went dark in her cheeks as giggles fought within her, part of her trying to hold them back. "Spike! You're awful!" She waved him closer to pounce him, hugging him tightly a moment. "Incorrigible! Keep it up." She smooched his cheek, spreading the disease of blushing as she returned to her seat. "Now, let me see that photo." Her attention was entirely on the crusaders, waving them forward.

Spike took his chance to depart, a silly smile on his face. "Yes..." He pumped a fist, out of the office. Even if his work hadn't been edited yet, he felt like he had done the job. Some of his words would be in the next paper! "Yes!"

Featherweight offered a hoof for slapping in a high five, even if one of them only had one, and the other had four. "You look really happy." He snapped a picture of Spike looking joyful. "What happened?"

"I just turned in a whole week of articles." Spike puffed himself up, pride only swelling. "Um, which I shouldn't do all at once, I know now... But, uh, still did it! And she took it!" He grinned at featherweight. "How's it going with you?"

"I took a picture!" he announced, so proud. "And the crusaders liked it so much they ran off with it." He pointed to the office. "They're talking to Diamond about it right now. I hope she likes it too!"

"Awesome!" A good enough reason for them to meet, hoof to hand, both unified in victory.

Author's Note:

I'm liking how this is shaping. What think ye of Spike, Comic Article Writer? Note, not much of this really directly interrupts the canon flow of things. Also Apple food, yum.

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Comments

[TheGJ90]

Spike's presence is encouraging Diamond Tiara to use tact...

I may have been worried over nothing, but we'll see what she does about that photo.

[Booster Spice]

Spikes first write up might be slicable into a months supply if edited and reordered correctly. Used to do a little single folded sheet 4 page newsletter for the local church. the trick with that was the text decorations that let you let the contents vary in amount while still always fitting the space available. I managed to hit the demo softwares 10K limit once and had to ajust things to get it to fit.

Finally realised whats been othering me about Equestrian Dragons and Spike, how he only Moulted once going to Dragonlands and interacting with other dragons.

Hedgehogs.

Hedgehogs have paracites, lice, that stimulate their skin under their spines, keeping them healthy, but they are not symbiotes as such? What if Spike was stunted and healthy because he just didnt pick up dragon paracitic symbiotes until he went to the dragon lands?

[Tangent]

Spike is also causing Diamond to consider what her job actually entails. Between that, and the fact that she has more actual self-confidence and less ego-driven animosity between herself and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, I'm looking forward to an iteration of the Foal Free Press that doesn't immediately turn towards yellow journalism in her hooves.

This is a Dimond Tiara that doesn't need to tear others down to lift herself up, and it's been quite refreshing so far. She's finding out that it's okay to be ambitious and to have lofty goals in life, and that she doesn't need to torment others to improve her own status. For example, she gave Spike constructive criticism explaining why she couldn't use his article as he had written it, advised him on how to submit future articles, and informed him that she would be holding him to the same standards as everypony else because that's her job. And she presented it in such a way that Spike was able to understand why she was taking these actions and come out feeling good about it even knowing that he had to work on his methods.

I hope she manages to keep this sort of behavior up.

[David Silver]

11612185
Thank you. You brought things to light I didn't even notice as I was writing it. (This happens at times)

[Victor07]

Sometimes I stop reading for weeks and forget this story exists, but moments like this between Diamond and Spike always bring me back.