New Endings, Old Starts

by David Silver

120 - Absurd Monday

"I hear it's great." The coltish Filthy bounced from left to right hooves in eager dances down the road. "The special effects are out of this world!"

"You don't say." Her plans to simply soak in the delights of being young, ruined, Spoiled did her best to put on a brave face. "Could you please tell me what this movie is about?"

"Space!" He thrust a hoof up at the evening sky. "Aliens! Invasions!" Each word was more dramatic and with greater reverb than the one before it. "Explosions. Struggle!" His hooves shook with the building intensity of whatever imagined scene played in his little head. "It'll be great!"

"It sounds... like a lot." She forced that smile, walking along her husband, reduced as he might have been.

Filthy got her a big container of popcorn, and she even got some of that ice cream she had been dreaming of. "Want a drink?"

She smiled at that, some of her tension fleeing. It was... nice, being treated by Filthy. They hadn't gone out in some time. "I would love a drink, but I'm out of hooves to hold things in." She had an arm curled around the two things she already had. "Could you hold this one?"

"Sure!" He hopped up, demanding a drink for his lady-friend. Refreshments in hoof, or balanced precariously on Filthy's excited head, he waved for her to come along to the theatre. "Thanks."

"Thanks?" She was at his side, matching his pace as best she could. "What are you thanking me for?"

"For coming." He darted ahead, the drink sliding down into his waiting drinks as he dive bombed into a seat and slapped it down into the drink holder there on the seat's armrest.

She took up space with less frantic motion beside him, the drink between them. "You're welcome." She tilted the big popcorn tub towards him. "Want some?"

"Yes!" He snatched a hoof-full and got to crunching. "I know this isn't your kind of movie... Next one, you pick."

Spoiled smiled in the darkness. Her Filthy was such a nice pony, especially to her. She felt her eyes sting as she remembered what a lovely little pony he was. "Thank you."

"Don't cry!" He half-wiped and half-swatted her tears away. "It's just a movie."

"Yes, of course." She was being silly! The colt was right. It was just a movie. A little distraction in a small colt's life. She licked her cold ice cream and hummed in delight. Sweet, smooth... It hit all the right notes. "Filthy?"

"Hm?"

She extended the ice cream towards him. "Want a lick?"

He didn't answer, not with words. He just took a big licking chomp, and suffered the freezing price for his tomfoolery. "Good!" he cried despite that, sitting back with a big smile.

Filthy was such a little nutball when he was that young. Spoiled smiled gently, feeling more relaxed by the moment.

Then the movie started with an explosion. She sent popcorn scattering in surprise. "I'll protect you." He put a hoof on her arm and never took it off through the film. She didn't need protection from the movie. It was just pictures and sound, not even real.

But his touch was real. She smiled gently and chewed her popcorn. Coming to the movies hadn't been that awful in the end.

---

Diamond's face was flat, struggling against the scowl that wanted so dearly to appear on it. The Rose Sisters had done their best, and their best wasn't looking very good... It was a gazebo with spotted bits of flowers poking free of it in different random directions. There was no order, pacing, or reason, just random flowers. "Charming..."

Silver curled a hoof to her chin. "I expected more... roses."

Daisy was smiling nervously at her two most prestigious guests. "We thought we'd go for a new angle!"

Roseluck nodded her head in agreement while she adorned her face with an exact same smile. "Posies! Aren't they great?"

Lily's head shot up and down in a bobbing motion. "Oh, yes. A flower none of us are named after. Really avante guard, as they say." She leaned in. "Like it?"

"Mmm..." Diamond waved a hoof slowly over the gazebo. "It's not the posies. This." She tapped at the wood. "This wouldn't be better with roses."

Roseluck inclined her head. "What would make it better then?"

Diamond forced her best smile. She had to be the voice of reason! "It's how the flowers are being... used." Or abused. She avoided saying that, feeling proud of herself. "When a pony comes to a showing of flowers, they want to be--"

"--Bedazzled," cut in Silver Spoon, matching with Diamond's sync. Adult or not, the two were on the same wavelength. "With patterns. This... An excellent... try... but it has no pattern."

Diamond grabbed a flower by the stem and pulled it free, just to shove it a few inches to the left. "There." It was a tiny change, but it hinted at something that could be mistaken for an order, if continued. "I'm actually happy."

Daisy inclined her head. "You're happy? You don't... look happy."

"Oh, no. I'm thrilled!" Diamond's arm went up and down in a motion above the flowers that were spread around. "Since you showed us first--"

"--You can fix it," finished Silver. "Before anypony else sees it. That's why you called us, isn't it? For that discerning eye." She tapped just next to her eye, making her glasses jostle as she tapped them. "I really do want to see it, after you've had a revision."

Diamond fell back to all fours. "Yeah. I've seen better from you three. You just got..." what was the word?... What was the word? "Excited." Not the perfect word, but it'd have to do. "Take a breath. You're already working with new flowers, and they're fine. Nothing wrong with some reliable patterns. It's how you do them that makes them special."

Roseluck's torn face erupted into a fresh smile. "You really like it?!"

"They're great," lied Diamond. The flowers were flowers. "It's up to you to make them really shine." She glanced about the area. "Since you... went with this." She nudged against the gazebo. "Lean into it."

"Precisely." Silver looked it over with a fresh excitement. "Marvelous idea, like, make it a place ponies can recline in, enjoying nature and each other's company. That will be quite popular, I feel certain."

Diamond stepped from hoof to hoof, considering it all the more heavily. "Oh." A thought came to her, from the many sheafs of paper thrust on her. "Don't forget there are other senses."

Lily quirked an ear. "Other senses?"

Diamond put her hooves on either side of a flower's petals. "It looks nice, but it has a smell, too. Make sure ponies seated here can smell that, and it's a good smell. Um, so you have to think about how they all... mix."

Roseluck clopped a forehoof on her head. "Duh! We're on it! C'mon, girls!" They charged off in a great stampede to try revising the gazebo, but that needed additional parts.

Silver laughed richly as the florists fled. "See? And you wanted to skip this? They needed our help. Who else could have guided them?"

"I guess so..." Diamond frowned with a huff. "But I need to talk to somepony. I'm heading home."

"Already?" Silver threw her head. "We could do so much more."

"We've already done so much," assured Diamond with a tense smile. "Thank you."

"Hmmph, I can't force you... Still, tomorrow?"

Diamond raised a brow. Did adults have social engagements as often as foals? "Maybe." She fled before they could promise more.

---

The two arrived home, Spoiled first. "That was... interesting."

Filthy blew a thick raspberrry. "Aw, c'mon. You know you liked the part where that pony turned into jello."

Spoiled smirked at the memory. "That was... interesting." She raised a hoof to poke him in the chest. "Next time, I select the show."

"So there's a next time. Yes!" Filthy pumped a hoof, pleased, and darted into the house that they shared but weren't married yet in.

"Never change." With a sigh, Spoiled trailed after. The door had barely closed when it slapped right open again. "Who?" She turned to see Diamond standing there, much taller than her. "Oh..."

"Yes, Oh." Diamond kicked the door shut behind her with a sharp clap. "Hello, daughter." Oh, how delicious the wince she got from Spoiled. "Have you finished your work?"

"Work? My schoolwork is complete." She hoped? She had swapped long after that should have been done...

"Not that work." Diamond trotted past her. "You are a growing pony of significance. With significance comes responsibility." Spoiled had used the words before, and Diamond got to throw them back. "I expect you to be in your room before I get there."

"I'm still your mother!" Spoiled stomped her hoof, as feeble an attempt that was for intimidation at her size. "You will not talk to me that way."

Diamond turned in place towards Spoiled. "Is that so? You have the button. You can press it at any time if you're tired of being the foal. Until then, I am the mother. You." She leveled a cruel hoof at Spoiled. "--are the daughter. Your room. Now."

Spoiled gnashed her teeth with a simmering growl. "Yes... Mom..." She rolled her eyes and got to trotting to her room in a jog, to be sure she got there first. "Blast her..." She cleared her desk and hopped up onto her seat. "I already know all of this..."

She could hear talking. "How was your day?" asked Diamond in a far kinder tone.

"It was great!" She could hear Filthy bouncing with foalish energy. "We saw a movie, together." His voice dropped to a harsh whisper, "She got scared, but I was there."

"You are such a good little colt." Unseen, Diamond gently patted her father on the head. "What does she give back to you?"

Filthy inclined his head left, then slowly right. "She reminds me when I get dumb. And I like her!" Not there to learn a lesson that day, Filthy darted off with a big, radiant smile.

Diamond let him go, instead walking into the room. "There you are, in the right place." She pulled out a thick wad of papers and slapped it down. "Now, you're getting behind. You know the rules."

"But... I'm tired." Going to the theatre had taken its toll. Going to bed, as she originally planned, felt like a great idea. "Can I do it tomorrow?"

Diamond leaned in over her former mother. "How often would you let me get away with that request, hm?"

Spoiled sank with a suffering sigh. "But I already know this!"

"So it should be easy." Diamond tapped the first page. "Go on. Show me how good you are at this."

Spoiled muttered, but scribbled her answers on the first page with the scratches of her pencil. "Did you even do anything today, mother, or did you just laze around?"

"Since you asked." Diamond looked far too pleased at that. "I oversaw the opening of a rose garden with Silver Spoon."

"You looked at flowers? How... exhausting." Spoiled kept up the pace despite her acidic words.

"It was a mess." Diamond shook her head. "The Flower Sisters are eager, but easily distracted by what's not important. Remember that bit about harmony?"

Spoiled perked an ear at that. "Harmony of the senses? What of it?"

"They had none of it!" Diamond stomped the floor. "So I gave them what for, and pointed them in the right direction. I left them eagerly rearranging things. Perhaps, tomorrow... you can go take a peek and make sure they got it right."

Spoiled looked ready to argue that, but she remembered she'd be an adult then. "Perhaps I should... Dear things, but so easily distracted..." A small smile crossed her face as she worked on the following page. "I'm proud of you."

Diamond flipped her ears back. "What for?"

"Harmony of the senses." Spoiled wagged her pencil in the air in a slow circle. "You hated that topic when you began it, and today you gave a lesson on it."

Diamond's face heated with an angry grunt. "Get back to work!"

"Yes, mom." But Spoiled didn't grumble that time.

Author's Note:

Are we done? I feel like one more chapter is called for, to end this swapping arc. On the other hoof, that might be a fine place to put a pin in it. Both got some needed perspective I think. Thoughts?

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Comments

[Theresa]

Spoiled seems to have the responsibility of making sure the local events look nice before it's too late. And she also learning that maybe a break from lessons once in a while won't hurt. Her daughter is being to see why her mom wants her to know this stuff.

[Prettypony]

Filthy inclined his head left, then slowly right. "She reminds me when I get dumb. And I like her!"

Oh, that just makes me sad.

Actually now it makes me wonder what their marriage is like. Maybe there's a reason they haven't been out in a while.

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

I feel like you are correct in your first assessment that one more chapter is called for to end this arc.

[Twinkie Sprinkle]

"Absurd Monday" is a fun little flip on "Freaky Friday."

It's nice to see the Flower Sisters around, they don't seem to get enough attention, somehow.

Colt Filthy was actually very cute, he sort of reminds me of a more relaxed Button Mash.

I was actually rather pleasantly surprised that both Spoiled and Diamond handled their swapped roles more gracefully than expected, even if there were difficulties. It's easy to expect this kind of swap to be a complete mess.

That being said, I do feel like the arc could do with one more chapter to bring some closure. The two of them seem to handle their roles well, but their relation with each other still feels tense, so maybe that plot thread needs a bit more room to breathe.

[Prettypony]

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I think so too. It should at least cover the "debriefing" that Spoiled and Diamond get at the end of their impromptu psych experiment or whatever the denouement ends up being. Gotta get that resolution in there

[Poparakelis]

I love these little arcs

[David Silver]

11636800
You have been a treat as a reader. I love folks that comment on so many chapters!