> Silver Marriage
>  by cdcdrr
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Married with Silver
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 1: Married with Silver




"Hi dearest, did you have a good day at work?" A cheerful voice asked from the kitchen as Diamond Tiara pushed open the door to her Ponyville home.

"Same as usual, sweets. Same as usual." She replied as she walked through the hallway and into the kitchen, stopping to put a hoof around her special somepony and kiss them right on the lips. "How's dinner coming along? We shouldn't be late for the reunion."

"It's already done. I kept it a simple affair as we will no doubt be offered sandwiches and snacks along with the coffee." Silver Spoon answered as she lifted a pot of soup off the cooking place and carried it into their living room's dinner corner.

It had been two years that Silver and Diamond had lived together as a married couple, and despite their inauspicious backgrounds, the compassion they held for each other hadn't changed. Diamond hadn't dared to hope for it, given the shortcomings of her own homestead as a filly.

She remembered the day when her mother left to Manehattan to pursue her own career in the world of fashion. Despite her promise to Diamond Tiara she'd return, the months passed and the date when she was supposed to return went by. Yet more time elapsed in which Diamond's uncertainty grew. Had she done something to upset her mother? Did she knew her daughter teased and bullied fellow school fillies out of fear they would bring up her absent mother to attack her? Was she aware how envious Diamond had become of other foals who were in loving, stable families and decided she didn't want a daughter who was jealous? On the few occasions her father had the time, she would ask these questions and he'd always assure her it wasn't her fault mother wasn't coming back. She was just very busy with her career in Manehatten. And then one day she found a letter with a Manehattan post stamp for her dad in their mansion's doormat. Breaking all confidentiality in a desperate hope it contained good news, she had opened it to read the contents. It was a formally composed letter asking for a divorce.

Tiara was devastated afterwards. At no point in the intervening months her she received correspondence from her mother inquiring after her life. Even the letter she had sent telling her mother of her Cute-ceañera had received no reply, let alone an attendance from her mom. Her father didn't like to talk about her mother, and it was no use asking the servant ponies what she had been like, because Diamond knew they were paid to be appreciative of their betters. She had lived a life of coddling by ponies she suspected deep down only spoke highly of her because they were being paid to do it. 

They ate their soup in silence, Silver seemingly noticed her wife was in thought. She carefully cleared her throat to inquire. "Do you think your father will be attending the school reunion?"

Silver Spoon should have known Filthy Rich long enough to know the answer to that. Diamond Tiara really had to think of how to make it plain to her without upsetting her wife. Filthy Rich had never taken time for her. It seemed he had missed as many of her birthdays as he had attended, and Tiara rarely had the chance to show that she cared about his birthday because he'd been absent for most of them. He had excused his missing her cute-ceañera because of work, and simply hired the town party pony to organize it for her. He was always busy earning more money, and sure he would prove it by giving expensive gifts to his little Tiara. She had never had to want or save allowance for a toy, jewellery or dress she wanted. Then why had she always felt ungrateful? Was it too much to ask that her father take her out on a weekend to Canterlot? Or to visit when the circus was in Ponyville? Or even drop her off at school like all the other parents did with their fillies who went to school with her? He had never been there. Not for her cute-ceañera. Not for her graduation. Not even for her wedding day.

Diamond Tiara still remembered how much that stung. The best day in a mare's life, her in an immaculate white dress to accent her purity as she stood beside her bride an in equally resplendent pearly white dress before the mayor. The second most important question of her wedding ceremony "who giveth away this bride?" was uttered. And then the awkward silence as nopony said "I do". She had known it in her heart, and her eyes had confirmed it as she had walked up to the altar, but she couldn't resist peeking a glance at the spot where her father was supposed to sit. She had planned this wedding months ago, and had implored that her daddy cancel his business trip to attend. But he hadn't come. Again. And Diamond Tiara had stood there in shame as Mayor Mare skipped the part where Filthy Rich had been supposed to give away her hoof to Silver Spoon in marriage. Now the whole town of Ponyville could see what had been missing in Diamond Tiara's life.

Just to hammer the point home even further, when Mayor Mare had tried to summon whoever would give away Silver Spoon to her, she was met with more silence. No one of Silver Spoon's family had bothered to attend, and Tiara knew it wasn't for business reasons. Right then, she hated Mayor Mare most of all ponies for not being more observant of her own constituents' personal situations.

"He is as likely to appear as your parents, Silver." She tried in a neutral tone, quietly praying her spouse wouldn't take that half as badly as she had about her father.

Silver's parents had not shown up. They had never come to visit or attend any event Diamond and Silver would attend. Silver's parents were ponies of old money. A lesser noble family with traditions. They had some clear ideas about marriage that went back ages. When nobles and the wealthy would pick their children's match and broker alliances or transactions along with it. While Silver Spoon's parents wouldn't, or at least were no longer allowed, to decide who she was to marry, there still existed a strong expectation that it had to be a rich and prestigious stallion. A mare like Diamond Tiara, who held a high position in business in order to earn those riches, was not acceptable to them. It wasn't even so much that editor of the Ponyville Express was below their kind. It was the unusual gender that had made them feel they had no control over their filly's decision. Nobility, after all, had in the past operated on the idea that an attraction to the same gender was disruptive to their marriage plans because they tended to be laid out at an early age on the assumption a colt and filly were conformant to the norm. 

When Silver Spoon had reached puberty and taken her father and mother aside so she could calmly explain to them her she felt about Diamond Tiara, it had upset them greatly. They had told her she needed to suppress these feelings. That Celestia did not love her little ponies who looked for love within the same gender. That she was confused because of the changes her body was going through and she had to realize these feelings would pass. When Silver Spoon refused to change, she had spent a summer camp away from Ponyville so that Diamond Tiara couldn't have a 'bad influence' on her. They had consulted her school teachers, psychologists and a priest of the Temple of the Sun to try and get her 'cured'. Only a minority of ponies in Equestria saw relationships of the same sex as wrong, but Silver's parents had sought out every possible avenue available to them to have their filly not be in love with Diamond Tiara anymore. When Silver remained adamant she would marry, her parents' ultimatum to disown her had come hard, but not hard enough to dissuade Silver. 

The two of them had been happy regardless. Even these upsets could not change the fact that this was the happiest day on either's life. It did take some adjustments. Diamond Tiara couldn't yet afford a mansion the size of her father's, and Silver Spoon could be certain she would never own a bit of her family's fortune. Tiara's job as an editor paid well, but the Ponyville Express was not like the major countrywide newspapers or even the local big city papers. They had to live on a budget. A large one, but limited even so. Silver Spoon couldn't do anything to contribute. Her family had intended her to be a lady and homemaker to her future stallion. Her expressed desire to learn a trade had been ignored, even though her grades in school had always been among the best. They didn't mind now, of course. Silver was perfectly content to be a homemaker to a pony she loved, rather than one she couldn't. And Tiara never felt her contribution to their shared life was insufficient. Wealth was not about the effort you give after all, it was about being successful. And to a filly with a symbol of authority on her flank, success came natural.

Silver gave a slight smile from across the table. To Tiara, it hinted that Silver didn't know who needed to be consoled more. She laid a hoof on her spouse's from across the table and spoke. "This is a grade school reunion, Silver. We don't need them, or probably even want them present for all the bad things Miss Cheerilee is going to dredge up about our past."

That at least conjured a genuine smile. "You're right dearest. What was I thinking?" 

There were going to be awkward moments between formers students already without there being elder parents to heap more embarrassment on them. Diamond Tiara wasn't blind, she knew her behaviour in the past had been unacceptable. For some of their schoolmates, this was a thing of the past. For others, it was going to be tense facing them again. Especially since in a few cases, Diamond felt quite strongly she was the wounded party.

"Come Silver, we'll be the first to arrive. We will want to appease Miss Cheerilee for our past behaviour and that article I approved a year back. You know, the gossip column entry attacking the Foal Free Press' management practices?" Tiara said as she moved to the door to leave.

"Ah yes. I believe it was about the lack of oversight of their previous editor-in-chief." Silver giggled as the irony was not lost on her.

> Twists and Turns
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Chapter 2: Twists and Turns




The schoolhouse on the edge of Ponyville stood as it always had for as long as Tiara could remember it. It was only inside that her sense of familiarity was challenged. She didn't remember the classroom being this small. She reasoned that of course, as a filly, the world seemed larger, but she had grown since then. There were minor changes. The stools and desks had been replaced. Some of the old posters and decoration had been replaced and others retained. Some new teaching materials had been introduced to the school.

At the desk at the head of the class sat Miss Cheerilee, older now than when Tiara had been in her class. She reacted to the two mares who had entered her school with her familiar welcoming smile.

"Well hello Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara. It appears you are the first to arrive. Am I correct when I say I heard you two got married? Congratulations!" Her smile appeared genuine. 

Tiara had been somewhat concerned Miss Cheerilee would have felt the school's bullies were meant for each other, and act just a bit sarcastic. But as she should have known, she wasn't the kind of pony to be cynical.

"You heard right. And you should. We only like made a big announcement for the ceremony." Silver Spoon bragged.

"I'm sure you'll get to know if any other pony from your class found Mr or Mrs Right. But I'm suspecting you'll be one of the few. You are both just in your twenties after all." She switched to a more serious tone. "Just between us, Diamond Tiara, I couldn't help but read an article in the Ponyville Express a year ago criticizing the editor of the Foal Free Press. You do understand that it's bad taste to single out competing media that way?"

"Hey now, I'm the editor, not writer. I only approve what comes to my desk." Tiara held up her hooves defensively.

"I think that is the problem here. Some ponies need more supervision." Cheerilee winked, letting Diamond Tiara know she was in on the joke.

"Yes, some ponies could use more supervision." She shot back with a wink of her own.

"In all seriousness, I was surprised to see you resort to gossip again when the last attempt fared so poorly. But it seems to be working out better for you this time." 

"Well, I have learned a lot about nuance and subtlety in the intervening years. And I do believe it was me who saved the Ponyville Express from decline by making the switchover." Diamond Tiara brushed her hoof against her chest, displaying an arrogant pout. "This town can accommodate only so many readers, we're not making money as in Canterlot or Manehattan. So I give the ponies what they want, and I remembered they wanted juicy gossip. I convinced the mayor we needed to open up the ads to Canterlot businesses. She was reluctant to see competition from outside of Ponyville move in and take the ads of local business just because they had more money, but I convinced that was exactly what we needed for the Ponyville Express."

"Yes, I did notice how the Express dropped Carousel Boutique and Sugarcube Corner in favour of the Canterlot Theatre or the Deux Maregots. I suspect the local advertising budgets are not competitive." Cheerilee rolled her eyes, which went unnoticed by Tiara.

"Indeed. The Ponyville Express was Mayor Mare's parade horse, but it's a drain on the budget. Personally, I wish she would go through with privatizing us. Having a local newspaper is fine and everything, but it's wastefully inefficient and costs us in tax bits." Diamond Tiara rambled on about the inner workings of the paper.

"Oh hi Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon. I see I'm not the first." A familiar voice said, causing the three mares to turn around and pay attention.

A cream furred mare with ginger red mane, accompanied by a light green unicorn had just entered. Tiara was slightly relieved to see another pony she could get along with had chosen to attend, so she had an easier time avoiding the ones that didn't.

"Welcome Peppermint Twist. I see your mother accepted the invitation to come along. Hello Lyra, how's my ex-student's other parent?" Cheerilee welcomed her new arrivals.

"You know Bon Bon, all work and no play. I've had to take our filly to school back then and some things never change." Lyra Heartstrings smiled infectiously.

Despite once having all the features of an unpopular dork, Tiara had let Twist get off easy at the time they were in school. The freckled, bespectacled, brace-faced ginger just seemed like low-hanging fruit compared to the fillies all of Ponyville would groan at when they tried another of their antics, the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Besides, Twist's mother owned the candy shop, so there was good incentive to suck up to her. 

"So what have you been up to? Any future plans?" Tiara decided to chat up her old classmate. It wasn't like there were many others she could do that with yet.

"Oh, I mostly help mom out in the shop. Sometimes I have to do all the baking and selling all by my self. Mom gets overworked rather easily. It doesn't leave me any time to get out an socialize." Twist admitted with some regret.

"That's a shame. Maturity has done you good, Twist. Why, I would almost forget myself if Spoony wasn't around to keep me in line." Diamond Tiara complimented.

Twist gave a shy laugh. "I'm not into mares, Diamond Tiara. My parents are."

"Which makes me wonder, if it's not a personal question, how is it that I remember when Lyra moved into Ponyville after you and us already met in school?" Silver Spoon noted.

"That is rather personal indeed, Silver." Twist shuffled a leg and stared down.

Lyra gave her a nudge. "Come on, it's alright. We both know Bon Bon doesn't hold a grudge over what happened, you can tell 'em."

"Okay, well, you know Lyra's my stepmother." She looked back at said unicorn, but found her engaged in a conversation with Cheerilee. "Before that, mother was married to a stallion. His name was Pony Joe, he owns a shop in Canterlot."

"I've been there on trips with daddy, he makes some good glaze sprinkle donuts." Tiara interrupted, before letting Twist continue.

"Well, it didn't last. Dad apparently became exasperated with mom's fuzziness and she thought he was a bit of a slob. They thought that their talents for baking treats, cream colour body and desire to set up a business in town meant they had a lot in common. They rushed into things, and when mom began to realize she didn't feel that way for stallions, that was the end of that. She got the business in the settlement, and won the parentage suit when they found out she was pregnant with me at the time. I do wonder sometimes how I may have affected their separation. Like if it was just the hormones that made mom irritable, or if I could have brought them back together if they had found out sooner, or if them staying married for my sake would have made them bitter and unhappy." Twist stopped when the was caught off guard by a hug from Diamond Tiara.

"Hey, I understand. I grew up alone with daddy as well, remember? You shouldn't blame yourself, it's somepony else's fault if they abandon you." Tiara shared what Filthy Rich had told her one day when she talked with him about mom.

"Thanks, you're probably right. It's not a big deal since I got Lyra now. Sure, Bon Bon tried to raise me herself for some years, but when Lyra moved here they just hit it off, you know? She was great with kids, and mom struggled to keep up with business and family, so she was alright with her watching over me. Lyra's always been more fun loving and light-hearted so she balances mom's seriousness. I'm happy she saw that as well and I got to keep her as my mom."

Diamond Tiara found herself interrupted by Silver Spoon, who poked her shoulder with a hoof before pointing at the door. "It seems the Cutie Mark Crusader club just came in."

> Scooter Tricks
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 3: Apples and Oranges




Diamond Tiara had been hoping to put off her reunion with the Cutie Mark Crusaders until it was a little more crowded so she could avoid them if things didn't go well, but they had chosen to come here early, and as a group. At least there weren't just the three of them. Apparently Babs Seed was in town and had joined her cousin Apple Bloom for this reunion. And Scootaloo had shacked up with Rumble if their being together was an indication. They fanned out to speak with the ponies present. Scootaloo, unfortunately, had hung back. Her seperation and the awkward silence from Diamond Tiara now seemed conspire to have the two of them mingle as their respective partners had already done.

Diamond took the first step forward and spent a moment of silence thinking of a way to engage Scootaloo in conversation. "So, what's up?"

"Nothing that should concern you." Scootaloo gave her the cold shoulder.

"We're both adults here. There's no reason for us to be snippy over trivial grade school bickering anymore." Diamond tried smoothing things over, but got the opposite reply.

"Oh really? I spent several years being mocked for not having a cutie mark, then being unable to fly as a pegasus. Don't try to downplay what you've done to me as 'trivial bickering' because you have no idea how many ponies you've hurt, Diamond Tiara." Scootaloo called her out.

Diamond brushed her leg nervously and stared at the ground. "I was an immature filly back then and we both have done things we regret from that time. Can we start over with a clean sheet? I was just curious how you're doing."

Scootaloo gave a curt 'ptfeh' but continued to speak to her anyway. "If you want to know, I work part time delivery jobs and am living with Rumble now."

"So I take it you and Rumble are a thing now?" Tiara scraped her hoof along the floor and looked around awkwardly.

"Sort of. I joined up with him to start our own pegasus stunt team. We're looking for our big break." Scootaloo answered, equally avoidant of Diamond Tiara.

"Oh, so you finally managed to learn how to fly?" She tried not to sound derisive, but Tiara continued to avoid eye contact all the same.

"No, I just concentrate on doing tricks on my scooter." Scootaloo replied defensively. "We managed to combine his flying with my land speed. We have this wicked routine of his zigzagging right before me as I drive at high speed, we're trying to increase the tightness of his turns to make every pass a close one."

"Sounds rather dangerous. What's wrong with holding a more ordinary job instead of risking one another?" 

"Hah, ordinary? I'm not cut out for that sort of thing. Ever since Rainbow Dash made it into the Wonderbolts, I've known I can make my dream of following in her hoofsteps a reality. No flightlessness is stopping me from doing that!" Scootaloo proclaimed as she placed her hoof to her chest.

"And how do you plan on doing that without flight? The thing about the Wonderbolts is that they are known for their aerobatics, something that makes functional wings essential." Tiara was now genuinely intrigued, her brain milling over how this might be of interest to the Ponyville Express.

"We got just the plan. Rumble and I are entering the next Young Flyers competition in Cloudsdale. They don't have a floor in the Cloudsdale Colosseum but they'll reshape the area for parcour and track according to the contestants' need. The risk of a dazzling, deadly drop combined with Rumble's stunt would make my scooter tricks a thing they'll be talking about for years to come!" The orange filly threw up her hooves enthusiastically.

"Sounds rather dangerous. And you're technically not a flyer still, are you?" Diamond Tiara scrunched up her face, a bit wary of bursting Scootaloo's bubble and hurting her feelings. She couldn't help but notice the contrast between now and their time in school.

"Hey, Rarity entered into the Young Flyers competition years ago and she was just a unicorn! Besides, it's not like anypony ever got hurt from falling down below the clouds. There are plenty of fast ponies ready to catch a failing stuntmare. Not that I'll be one of those!" Scootaloo bragged with unfettered pride.

"Sooo, you're living with Rumble now? Are you and him... you know?" Diamond nudged Scootaloo a number of times suggestively.

"We're not dating if that's what you mean." Scootaloo denied with a bit of exasperation. "We decided early on this was only a professional relationship and we're just friends. Besides, I didn't really feel like getting involved with him at the time."

"That sounds like regret. He does look rather handsome, don't you think?" She pointed him out in the crowd, which had grown a bit from the new arrivals, as she leaned in conspiratorially.

"No surprise. His brother Thunderlane was never seen without two mares on each shoulder." Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Our little team might not be very famous, but that doesn't stop mares from giving him attention. And him flirting back." She turned on Diamond Tiara and thrust her hoof into her chest threateningly. "And don't get any ideas about being another groupie. Just because we're talking won't mean I won't still kick your flank."

Diamond Tiara reared up defensively and threw up her forehooves. "Hey, no need to be so jealous. I'm already married, besides."

"Oh yeah? I don't see your stallion here." Scootaloo narrowed her eyelids.

"Mare. I'm married to Silver Spoon." She corrected Scootaloo.

"Oh, sorry. I should have realized as much." Scootaloo gave a nervous chuckle. "I just don't believe that two ponies who are friends in school should immediately be assumed to be lovers as adults." 

"So anyway. Do you think you need any tips on how to get his attention? Stallions are very thick about mares who try to show their interest in them. You should probably forget about dropping subtle hints and be direct." Diamond began instructing her.

"No kidding. For Hearts & Hooves day I got him a wing preening kit and he asked me if I really thought he smelled bad." Scootaloo rolled her eyes.

Diamond Tiara giggled. "Yeah, that's not gonna work. You shouldn't come on too strong, but don't be ambiguous either. Just come right out and ask him on a date. Maybe you can time it to coincide with some important anniversary. But don't be shy, the worst that could happen is that he'll say he's not interested in you. It won't be the end of the world."

"I don't really talk about this much with my friends. Thanks Diamond Tiara, I guess I'll just have to be more confident." Scootaloo stood just a little straighter at her words of encouragement.

"I know I can't speak for your friends, but I'd still bet they'll support you in your tries to woo him. They know you better than me, so they can help you arrange the perfect date. Doesn't Sweetie Belle's sister have something nice to pick up for you and your colt at her boutique?" Diamond suggested.

"Hey yeah! Thanks Diamond Tiara, you're alright I guess." Scootaloo responded much more positively than when the reacquainted minutes ago.

She shrugged. "It's easy to know ponies when you're the popular filly. And besides, you owe me an interview for the Ponyville Express when you make it in the Young Flyers competition."

"You think we have a real shot? Man, it'd be great to be on the front of the sports section. We really want to break out into the Cloudsdale scene. It's where all the big sports pegasi make their mark."

"When you do, I'll be sure to put your advertisement in the Ponyville Express free. Sure, it doesn't belong in a village newspaper, but I'm sure I can talk the mayor into recognizing the boost to our town's popularity of having three nationwide sport stars and justify the publicity coming from the town's cultural subsidies budget." Diamond gushed as if she was Photo Finish promising to make a star out somepony.

"I'm holding you to it. I think I'll go see what the others are up to. See you later." Scootaloo departed.

Diamond Tiara pumped her foreleg in triumph. She hadn't come here expecting much, but keeping an eye out for schmoozing with ponies had paid off for her once more. With a bit of luck, there'd be more nuggets to pursue among her former classmates. 

> Rumbling Hearts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 4: Rumbling Hearts




"So what's the deal with you and Scootaloo? I saw you walk in together." Silver Spoon asked Rumble as she glanced at the orange pegasus chatting with her mare.

"Oh, we're roommates. So we though we'd come here together. Well, actually Scootaloo was already agreeing to meet with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle and I came along because we live together." Rumble uncomfortably rubbed his withers with a hoof. 

"Ooh, somepony has a crush on Scootaloo." Silver leaned in like she was a school filly again, embarrassing somepony for harbouring romantic feelings.

"It's not like that! I mean, at first I thought she was really into me. But then she told me she was purely friends with me because we both were the most athletic ponies in our class. So I kind of gave up. But I just can't help myself." Rumble was blushing, and indeliberately backing away from the centre of the classroom.

Silver Spoon stopped hounding him to straighten her glasses and compose herself. "Go on. You know you could like share your feelings back when we were in school and I never betrayed your trust."

"Well..." He checked their vicinity, and found they had separated from the crowd by now. "It's awkward, living with a girl. One you want to date. There's just going to be moments where I or she walk in on something when I really want to give her the space she needs. I want to respect her privacy, and her decision to just be friends. But I also want to try again and see if she's changed her mind. But I tell myself that if Scoot ever felt that way, she'd come out and say it. I kind of want to be more like my brother, a confident stallion. So I act all interested in other mares. I don't know, maybe I'm hoping Scoots will get jealous and pursue a relationship. Stupid plan, huh?"

Silver Spoon laid a hoof on his shoulder in sympathy. "Rumble, when a mare says she isn't interested, it's not healthy to nurture a crush. You're a fine gentlecolt for not forcing your affections on her. But maybe you have to put the idea out of your mind if Scootaloo says she just sees you as a friend. It doesn't sound healthy to crop this up and might lead to something you'll regret."

"You're probably right Silver, thanks for helping a big dumb stallion like me." He took Silver Spoon in a short hug. "I miss the old days when I could come over and we'd talk. You know... if you and Diamond Tiara... I could have seen myself marrying you instead of Scootaloo." He cleared his throat and awkwardly began moving away from her to blend into the crowd, leaving Silver Spoon to stare at him.

"What was that all about?" I voice from behind Silver Spoon suddenly asked.

She turned around to see Sweetie Belle had come from around the corner to the bathrooms. Silver Spoon had never even noticed she'd gone there.

"Sweetie Belle!? How much of that did you hear?"  She asked urgently. Maybe there was still a point in denying.

"Only the last part from Rumble. So is it true that you and him were friends?" Sweetie Belle seemed a bit regretful even as she pried about Rumble.

"You know it isn't polite to eavesdrop." Silver stated sternly even as Sweetie Belle's pout wore on her nerves. "Fine, if you heard that much, I'll set you straight just to kill the rumours. But none of this gets out, you hear?" Sweetie Belle nodded vigorously, after which Silver Spoon decided to elaborate. "You're right, me and Rumble were like friends back in school. He'd sneak over to my house sometimes after school and we'd just stay in my room and talk. No girly tea parties, no playing with my dolls, just talk about ourselves."

"Only talking? Gee, that sounds kinda boring." Sweetie Belle opined as she rolled her eyes.

"It didn't have to happen often. I still spent most of my time with Diamond Tiara. I think Rumble just wanted somepony who he could share his problems with. We didn't tell anypony about this. I believed Diamond would be jealous or try to impose herself on our time together. And Rumble sometimes worried how his older brother would react if he told him he spent time with a filly. It's silly to think we both needed to hide it, but we also didn't really see why anypony needed to know either." Silver tugged at her necklace uncomfortably. "My parents did know, of course. We broke off contact when I opened up to them, and they wanted to pair us to 'cure' me."

"Your parents didn't like how you were in love with Diamond Tiara?" Sweetie Belle could have imagined ponies disapproving for other reasons. 

"They tried everything to make me be what they wanted me to be like. They thought using Rumble would make me like stallions, so I pushed him away to spare him from being manipulated as well. And then they got it into their heads that maybe Rumble had been a bad influence. That he had been too girly, that I had softened him into a coltcudler, that he had infected my mind with mare love. It was all the worse I could no longer tell him about how mean they were being. I spent a lot of days crying to myself over what they would do to me. Some days, I was just in a really dark place. Like what if my parents were right and I was truly mentally ill? They'd warn me that fillyfoolers were moody, suicidal mares whose soul knows they are wrong even when their minds rebel. I... I contemplated it. I'd stand in front of the mirror and search the shelves for a painless, swift escape from existence, then I'd be reminded of their words on how I was supposed to have these thoughts, confirming them. Then I'd throw myself on my bed and pray for Celestia to help me. Or I'd run downstairs and plead with them to fix me because I didn't want to die. I believed it. I was foolish. If it wasn't for Diamond Tiara and her dad, I still might have believed it." Silver blinked away several tears, looking up at Sweetie Belle's aghast face.

"Gosh, I never imagined what it must have been like for you. I only ever saw you and Diamond Tiara bully me and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Is that why you did it?" The unicorn asked.

"I shouldn't excuse how I behaved with that. My parents would tell me fillyfoolers are bullies who won't stop at making others like them until they are considered normal. To look back at my school period and remember their words churns my stomach. I did so much to confirm their biases, I could kick myself. But even when we got older and I became more assertive that they were wrong, they kept trying to convince me otherwise. I spoke to doctors who told me there was nothing wrong with me and the vast majority of ponies out there didn't believe I was an ill pony. So my parents looked for a doctor that wouldn't tell me I was fine. They sent me to a seminary in Canterlot of the Sun Temple, and I was again told Celestia didn't hate me for the way I am. So they pulled me out of that to make me attend a camp up in the woods of the Unicorn Range where other parents would sent their fillies that had a crush or relationship with other fillies. I know that some of them believed what we were taught there, and that they were convinced once more there was something wrong with them. But I got out by simply complying and pretending to be cured so I could spend the rest of my years until adulthood in freedom at least. After that, I was allowed to make my own choices and I chose for Diamond Tiara. She would be there for me and I would be happy again." 

"How did your parents react knowing you lied about being cured?" Sweetie Belle dared ask.

"I had lied to myself! I didn't have to lie to counsellors or my parents if they had not put me in a position where I had to betray either them or myself!" Silver Spoon caught her outburst, looked around self consciously, but found the class hadn't taken notice. "They were angry because I announced my marriage to Diamond Tiara out of the blue. They scolded me for lying to them, for being so conniving as to wait until they couldn't force me to participate in more therapy, for having spent many a night begging them to be cured only to turn around at adulthood and throw my orientation back in their face. They cut me off and we haven't spoken since. They go out of their way to avoid me now, and I don't mind for as long as they won't accept it. There are things I regret about our marriage. Like not having had a formal education and being stuck as a housewife when I wanted to learn about smithing. Our ancestors were Canterlot silversmiths, but I got my cutie mark at a tea party with Diamond Tiara. Can you believe that? I hide my dissatisfaction for her sake. But the truth is, our marriage itself I do not regret. Perhaps the way I got my cutie mark was prophetic, but regardless I am happy with her. I held on to my love for her when I was in that camp and it saved me from losing my mind in there. I am eternally grateful to her, even if she wasn't there or could understand how much it meant to me."

"I believe I understand, even if I never had to go through that." Sweetie Belle comforted her, levitated a tissue from the box on the teacher's desk to wipe Silver Spoon's face clean. "I never really imagined Diamond Tiara could mean so much to anypony. I guess I'm glad I was wrong to think the worst of her."

"Thank you. You're not too bad for a blank flank yourself." Silver Spoon sniffed.

"Former blank flank." Sweetie glanced back at the heart on her flank. "And don't worry, our Gabby Gums days are over. This is confidential even if the Ponyville Express ain't."

> Spoiled Apples
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter Five: Spoiled Apples




Wandering around the schoolhouse looking for other familiar faces, Silver Spoon's ears caught a familiar voice. Turning her head, she saw Apple Bloom standing not far from her, out in the corner and surrounded by two orange mares. Scootaloo and her cousin Babs. At first she thought it better to avoid the three, until she could make out what they were talking about.

"An article in the Ponyville Express? Whoop de do, that sure makes up for everything." Apple Bloom spoke in a monotonous voice.

Not wanting to be seen listening to them, she turned her back to them to blend in with Snips and Snails, who were being otherwise useless as ever. Silver's eyes were poor, but she had always had deceptively good hearing in contrast. Her old bad habit of eavesdropping in school hadn't been lost to her either.

"Come on Apple Bloom. You're an adult. You got to have something better to do than remain fixated on your school days." Scootaloo argued. "I think you're letting this whole 'classism' thing judge her without giving any thought to how she's changed."

"Yeah, well, she was rotten back when I was a child and she's a spoiled, opportunistic snob now. It's why I stopped reading the papers and subscribed to that digest. You have to admit she's always been an over privileged filly who wants her way. Why shouldn't I hate her?" Apple Bloom continued.

"I don't think you hate her at all. I think you have a crush and are trying to deny by acting all bitter." Babs Seed jabbed with an amused smirk on her face.

"Ew, gross! On Diamond Tiara? You know I'm not into girls and especially not some wannabe Canterlot snob! Her and that stupid Silver Spoon. Like they've not done enough harm as a couple of dandy stuck-up elitists, now they're throwing their orientation into Ponyville's face on the Express' headlines as if we're to think it's normal? Two mares can't have a foal!"

Silver Spoon bit her lip in a attempt to refrain from wheeling around and unleashing some of her pent-up insecurities and anger at Apple Bloom. For as much as the two didn't like each other, Silver Spoon had at least expected Apple Bloom was better than her parents and ponies who had condemned her love of a mare. 

"It was the announcements, not headlines. Apple Bloom, I think you're taking this political thing way too serious. I don't see a problem with her marrying Silver Spoon. Celestia mandated the validity of equal marriage centuries ago. Who is your crazy uncle to say she's wrong?" Scootaloo defended Diamond Tiara, a thing Silver Spoon had not expected to hear coming from a Cutie Mark Crusader.

"Uncle Golden Apple tells it like it is! He's just saying what everypony else is thinking. Princess Celestia can be nice, but she sure keeps around a number of stupid ponies to run Equestria into the ground." Apple Bloom argued, and Silver Spoon swore she could her the rolling of Scootaloo's eyes.

"Your crop went bad and now it's the end of Equestria. All beware the filly foolers and their inability to have children. Harbingers of hunger, plague, death and civil war. You're just going to have to work off some debt for a loan, Apple Bloom. This isn't the end of the world." 

"Easy for a pony without her own farm to say. We worked day and night last year to get that crop. And because of those pegasi we didn't have the right weather to grow it. But who gets the bill? Not the weather team in Cloudsdale. Let the earth ponies just take out a loan." Apple Bloom ranted in exasperation.

"Excuse me!?" Silver Spoon could not stop herself from turning her head at Scootaloo's outburst, who glared at Apple Bloom with her wings flared in a hostile manner.

"I meant the pegasi on the weather patrol, not you. This is because of that minister in the cabinet appointed an incompetent pony the manager of all the weather in Equestria. Gosh Scoots, you can't even fly. I'm not blaming you." Apple Bloom corrected herself. But insufficiently.

"I think you'd better stay quiet. Just- just... I'm gonna go outside." Scootaloo announced, sounding like she was straining to stay polite.

"Aw geez, can you give us a minute, Babs?" Apple Bloom asked as she began to leave after Scootaloo.

Silver Spoon actually felt bad for having heard any of that. She knew spying on ponies wasn't right, but she actually felt worse for what the two Cutie Mark Crusaders had become. She wanted to get out of there and find the reassuring presence of Diamond Tiara.

"Oh hey Silver Spoon. Didn't think I'd see you that close to Apple Bloom." Instead, she was now in the unsettling presence of Babs Seed.

"Eh, oh! Hi Babs." Silver smiled exaggeratedly, giving a shy wave of her hoof.

"Were you just here eavesdropping?" Babs questioned as she looked at Silver quizzically.

"Why? What was I supposed to hear?" Silver began to sweat at the questioning.

"Still a brat, like you were a filly." Babs tilted her head disapprovingly, indicating the jig was up.

"She was badmouthing Diamond Tiara. Is it odd I want to hear what ponies are saying about us behind our backs?" Silver defended her actions, even as she self consciously rubbed her forehoof.

"You two kinda deserve it for setting me up to be a bully like you were. Ah, but who am I to talk? It was my choice to listen to you bozos and then turn on you with the threat to tell your parents. I'm sorry to hear they weren't as cool about it as me and Diamond Tiara." She extended a conciliatory hoof.

"It's okay, it doesn't bother me anymore." Silver continued to stare at the ground, not noticing Babs wished to shake hooves.

"Well, that's good to hear. Though if you heard about Apple Bloom's opinion on Diamond Tiara, I guess you've heard what she thinks about it to." Babs broached the subject of Apple Bloom's recent complaints.

"Actually, no. It's not good. You didn't actually tell my mom that I entrusted you to keep my feelings for Diamond Tiara a secret but you threatened to just before you left. Did you tell Apple Bloom? Or the other Cutie Mark Crusaders?" Silver Spoon wanted to know, now that she could finally confront Babs about the matter.

"Silver, I swear I didn't tell no one. Okay? I'm sorry if Bloom's giving you horse apples about it being wrong but I never broke my promise to be your secret keeper." Babs insisted.

"That was a double negative, but I'll believe you. Why then is Apple Bloom talking about me and Diamond Tiara?" 

"The newspaper, like she said? You know, Apple Bloom's been kinda rough these days. She's on these political crusades ever since she heard her uncle Golden Apple is a populist party leader." Babs explained.

"Diamond and I aren't really into all this politics." Silver Spoon explained.

"Well, this uncle Golden Apple isn't really close family. Haven't seen him at family reunions, and you know how mad the Apples get about those. He's a stallion representing farmers' interests, but he's got a sharp tongue. I've heard Applejack warn Apple Bloom about him. He stirs up discontent and blames other ponies for earth ponies' grievances and wants them to return to the land, tend to the fields and animals like he says we're meant to. He doesn't like snobby Canterlot elites and the earth ponies who imitate them, like you. No offence. Nobility is a 'unicorn thing'. I bet you've heard of the drought?" Babs stared at Silver in wait of her answer.

"No. No I haven't. That's farm business and I'm not really into that." Silver Spoon admitted. Golden Apple probably wouldn't like to hear that very much.

"There was a poor harvest last year. Not here in Ponyville, but around Equestria. Maybe you did notice food prices go up?" Silver remembered Diamond Tiara complain about that and nodded. "Well, it's driven farms out of business and the Manehattan Times fears an economic downturn if this year's harvest doesn't improve. It's got ponies all worked up and the fact you don't is enough reason for Apple Bloom and these populists, this 'Apple Front' to blame you. If I were you, I'd keep my comments about the matter to myself. The Apple Front's biweekly digest called the Tribune is feeding Bloom this propaganda, and she's falling for it. I wanted to be here to act the grown up to steer her mind back on track, but I wonder if it's really my place to tell her what to believe. The Apple Front's already doing it, Applejack's staying quiet about it to Apple Bloom but I know she doesn't like their whole 'blame unicorns' or 'blame pegasi' shtick."

"They're a racist group? Why would Apple Bloom listen to such drivel? Her friends are a unicorn and a pegasus!" Silver Spoon exclaimed.

"They're not actually very overt, it's just these undertones that Apple Bloom fails to notice, but which Scoots does. That's why there's such tension between these two. Apple Bloom's an apologist and Scootaloo is a little uppity even though she's right. They're also not big on ponies loving the same gender. Segregation and Family are their watchwords, so they think that because ponies of the same gender can't breed, their families don't actually count. Poor Apple Bloom's got the wool pulled over her eyes."

"Uhm, well thanks for telling me Babs. I'll make sure to avoid Apple Bloom then. You know, maybe if you're in town longer we can get back together like back when we were fillies? With Diamond Tiara? No bullying this time, just do the fun stuff we used to do as kids?" Silver Spoon offered.

"I'll have to shake off Apple Bloom, but yeah, I'm in town for a while. Your special somepony does still owe me an apology. And a frappe." Babs eyes glinted with bemused greed for dairy delights.

> Berried Deep
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 6: Berried Deep




Diamond Tiara had poured herself a coffee from the food and drinks table and turned around to find Silver again when she bumped into somepony else who she'd given a hard time once.

"Dinky! My gosh, I'm sorry." Diamond apologized as she put the cup down and grabbed some tissue to wipe some of the spilled coffee off the mare she'd hit.

"Oh no worry, I wasn't looking. It wasn't your fault." Dinky brushed the incident off.

"Did I burn you? I don't think it was very hot." Diamond finished and threw the wipes into the trash can.

"Why do you care? I didn't believe you'd consider anypony but yourself." Dinky tilted her head questioningly, but there was no accusation in her voice. "The Diamond Tiara I know would just blame me for spilling her drink."

The brutally honest fact stung Diamond's conscience despite her manners right now. "Well, I'm not the Diamond Tiara you once knew anymore. Goodness Dinky, that was how many years back?"

"Fifteen years I think? Less?" Dinky helped herself to some coffee herself. "A lot happened between then and I haven't kept track of a lot of it."

The optimism she showed felt a uncomfortable to Diamond Tiara, who knew the elephant in the room. "You... you've always paid no attention to us- to me and Silver Spoon teasing you. You know, calling you a loner and making fun of your mom. But I just want to say I'm sorry even if you never let it bother you."

"That's okay, mommy always said not to listen to bullies. So I just ignore you and Silver." Dinky picked up her coffee with her magic and cantered off smiling.

The intimation that her attitude held in the present made Diamond Tiara question whether Dinky was really just an airhead with too much innocence in her bearing, or if she was capable of stealthily snubbing ponies. It didn't seem undeserved either way that Dinky was just slightly negative towards her. She and Silver Spoon had made the unicorn filly cry many times, picking on her because of her family. When she struggled in school, they'd told her it was because her mother was dumb to. When Dinky was all alone, they said nopony would want to hang around her mother either. When she didn't get a single card for Hearts and Hooves Day, they reminded her she didn't have a dad because her mother was a bimbo tramp. But no matter how low and how far she and Silver went, nothing stuck permanently. All it took was for Dinky to run crying to her mother, and she'd be given a hug, a smile, and the advice not to listen to 'those mean fillies'. And it had always been infuriatingly effective at cheering Dinky right up. Perhaps she realized that Dinky had something that Diamond never had, and that was a loving mother. She blinked away a tear, not wanting to break down in the middle of her reunion.

Diamond Tiara was refilling her coffee cup when she heard another of her past victims call her out. This time, she felt no regret.

"Oh hey, it's Diamond Tiara. Cheating on your wife with a blonde hot flank?" Sneered the voice of Berry Pinch.

"What do you care if Dinky and I have a chat?" Diamond replied through clenched teeth.

"I couldn't help but overhear the burn she gave you after you tried to physically do the same to her. Bravo Tiara, for the attempt. But you should have used the tea, it's still boiling hot." Berry Pinch leaned against the refreshment table, standing in Diamond Tiara's way.

"Too bad there's no alcohol for you, Berry." Diamond exchanged fire.

She could see Berry's expressing worsen from sarcasm to hate. "I'm just surprised you bothered to show your face her at all. Seeing as how everypony in this school hates you. Nobody here ever really liked unless they wanted access to your pool or toys. I think even Miss Cheerilee only put up with you because it was her job. Even your daddy didn't want to be around you so he hired servants to do it."

Diamond turned her head abruptly to glare at Berry Pinch, but she kept herself under control. It was unbecoming of a mare with class to sink to the level of Berry Pinch. Still, she wanted to get away from this mare who knew exactly what nerves to touch. She began walking to one of the school children's' desks to put down her coffee, only to be followed.

"Didn't you get married to Silver Spoon? The only filly shallow enough to stick with you? I read that you had a wedding, but word is that none of your parents showed up. I bet they didn't want to show their face around their two little fillyfoolers, am I right?" Berry Pinch kept pushing, enough so for Diamond to lose her cool and push back.

"I read your mom's liquor store went bankrupt, again. Between the both of you, I'm not even fazed." It was a fact Berry Punch couldn't run a business, although that had more to do with her alcoholism than her drinking the whole inventory. 

Diamond Tiara got some satisfaction from the flash of anger across Berry's face. "You shut up about my mom, brat. At least she was there for me, unlike yours!"

"Yeah, to apologize for the neglect and drunken mistreatment." Diamond Tiara continued to rub in the childhood trauma.

As much as Diamond Tiara had come to regret her bullying, she couldn't bring herself to regret it in Berry Pinch's case. She actually felt more sorry for her mother, whose alcoholism was a serious problem. It often seemed that not a week went by without Berry Punch embarrassing herself in public by lolling around drunk late at night after binge drinking, or coming on too strongly to some pony in a bar and being brought into the guard station for harassment. There were days when Berry Pinch would be late for school because of her mother's antics, but these episodes at least served to make her more self reliant at a young age.

Diamond Tiara's bullying on the other hand had done nothing for her demeanour. She and Silver Spoon had loved to remind everypony of Berry Punch's humiliating antics and neglect for her daughter. They had hurt her just as with Dinky, putting the idea in her mind that she was the reason Berry Punch drank. That her mother was ashamed of her daughter and she had made her miserable. This became even harsher upon learning that on a few occasions, Berry Punch had actually blurted out such words of disappointment. It was the alcohol talking, certainly, but Berry Pinch's life had taken a very depressing turn since meeting Diamond Tiara. All of that, however, was no excuse for how she had learned to cope with it; try and be the bigger bully herself. Berry's disregard for other ponies had gone to lengths that even Diamond Tiara was afraid of. While Berry's grievances lay with her and Silver Spoon, she had begun taking it out on Dinky and other ponies to. It had helped to teach Diamond Tiara that bullying wasn't so much fun when you're the target. But whereas she had realized her mistakes, it now seemed Berry was set in hers. She suppressed the voice that told her she was responsible for it, assuring herself that Berry Pinch was an adult now and entirely responsible for her own behaviour.

Trying to take her own mind off of Berry Pinch, she raised the cup of coffee to find stimulation in the content instead of her mean-spirited arguing with Berry Pinch.

"Actually, maybe you get along with Dinky so well because of your mothers. Yours is gone, as is hers." Berry's smug expression at that last barb was the last straw for Diamond Tiara. She may not have ever been nice to Derpy, but such a sick comment made her indignant nonetheless.

Diamond Tiara's coffee splashed into Berry's face before she could wipe that grin off her mug. She was silent for a full five seconds, before making her way into the bathroom without another word. Diamond Tiara feared the mare more when she was silent than when she was throwing out insults, but she believed it worth the risk of drawing Berry's ire. For Dinky's sake she would. Whilst she could handle ponies talking about her mom mostly because she had left too early for Diamond Tiara to feel any attachment, Dinky's life was defined by the care given to her by Derpy. And when Diamond had to print in the obituaries that Derpy Hooves had passed on as a result of the drastically shortened life expectancy of ponies with her condition, it had still hurt her despite how often she'd mocked the grey pegasus for it. To hear Berry Pinch talk about her in such a way offended her worse than anything else she could have said to her.

Not wanting to stay for the drama that was almost sure to follow, Diamond nervously looked for Silver, finding her standing between Babs Seed and the duo of Snips and Snails. 

"Come on Silver, we're leaving. I don't want to be around any longer." She told her spouse without hiding her discomfort from her.

> Diamond in the Rough
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Diamond in the Rough




Diamond Tiara was almost out the door when she almost bumped against an entering pony. She reared instinctively to stop herself before seeing who it was.

"Oh, it's you." Said a sullen, moody Apple Bloom.

"Would you mind stepping aside?" Diamond asked when Apple Bloom stood her ground a little longer than she cared for.

"Why of course your grace. I will get right on that. It's not like we can expect the likes of you to stand back for me." Apple Bloom mimicked a poor Canterlot aristocrat accent. 

"Don't mock me Apple Bloom, I'm not in the mood." Diamond Tiara told her, as the mare before her made no move to get out of her path.

"And what I pity that is. But just maybe the world doesn't revolve around you. Maybe your mood is worth horse apples to the ponies around you. And maybe it would suit you if you were the one to take a step back and let other ponies pass. 'Cause I can tell nopony in Ponyville actually cares about you." Apple Bloom told her off.

Diamond Tiara stamped her hoof in irritation. What had gotten into that mare lately?

"Apple Bloom, we didn't we just get done with this? I thought we weren't going to talk about this again today." Scootaloo interjected as she moved into Diamond Tiara's field of view.

"We aren't talking about her." Apple Bloom indicated herself and Scootalo. "I'm talking to her directly now. So let's talk, Diamond Tiara. We haven't had a proper conversation since... well, before you got your cutie mark. Let's talk about how petty fillies can be about those things, choosing not to associate themselves with those without one because they feel them beneath themselves. How cutie marks give you the privilege to host a big cute-ceañera and feel like a royal. How it makes you feel so special when there is nothing unique about it, because it's the skill you used to acquire it that determines your worth to society. Do you see what I'm getting at here, Diamond?"

Diamond Tiara grumbled. Like she didn't know about cutie marks. She got hers way before Apple Bloom. "Not really. Are you going to move?"

"Not yet. What I'm getting at is that you treat your cutie mark as something that makes you better than other ponies. Just as you do with money and breeding. You believe you have to put no effort into what you do because you are already superior. You lack virtue and work ethic. You boss others around for your newspaper without lifting a hoof to operate a press or seek out ponies who can give you a story. And yet you say you're entitled to a higher salary for not breaking a sweat?"

"I've worked for every bit I earn! Maybe you don't understand what work goes into editing a paper for publishing, with how you just kick at a tree and collect apples all day. But management is mentally exhausting and it has cost me a fortune to get the education it demands. I deserve my position and the bits it gets me. What does a farmer know about editing?" Diamond Tiara scoffed, forgetting her urgency to leave.

"I'm sure a dandy rich pony like you think that. You want to be a Canterlot snob and hobnob with nobility. They don't do anything but sit on a pile of money none of them lifted a hoof to earn as well. They get the best of everything without justifying their existence or continued presence in our society. Like spoiled little fillies is what they are. Sounds familiar?" Apple Bloom smirked knowingly.

"Yes, it does." Diamond rolled her eyes. "I was a spoiled brat with an overworked father. At least I admit it. You won't admit you have a chip on your shoulder and resent me for having any success when you feel I shouldn't have as much because of my past transgressions against you. But now it seems you feel entitled to my bits and my lifestyle because bucking apples isn't going to get you the high life. Maybe it's you who should have gotten an education, Apple Bloom, and I would just keep asking daddy for a handout. Because perhaps instead of tearing other ponies down and bringing us to your level, you could have lifted yourself up to be my equal." 

"Hah, a wannabe Canterlot snob earth pony fillyfooler? I'm already above you, you just wait. You're gonna grow old spinning rumours in that rag I wipe myself with, never knowing the joys of family, friendship and the fruit of your own labour. You and Silver won't conceive without getting a stallion involved, so you'll never have foals. That's why marrying another mare is such a dumb move. I heard Silver's parents won't even talk to her anymore. She's destroyed her own family bonds."

"S-shut up!" Silver Spoon shouted back, fighting back tears as her personal issues were revealed to any listening in.

Apple Bloom didn't shut up, in fact. "I have more family, and my parents are dead! And you, Diamond Tiara. Your daddy couldn't even be bothered to make an appearance at your own cute-ceañera. Mine wasn't half as lavish and I had my family work hard just to make that day special to me and my friends. Your mother had left you behind and you never even did get a postcard from her did you?"

"How do you-" Diamond Tiara began to ask.

"Babs told me. She told me all about how pitiful your life is. In fact, I know more about your mom than even you ever did!" Apple Bloom baited her, holding out information that Diamond Tiara knew she'd never share just to torment her.

"You do? Please Apple Bloom. If you care even half as much about family as you claim, you wouldn't deny me a chance at reunion." Diamond Tiara begged, but guarded her expectations with the thought Apple Bloom was just pulling her leg.

"I ain't telling." Apple Bloom tittered childishly.

"She lives in Manehattan, works there as a fashion designer. When I heard yours is living in the same city, I took notice when I bumped into your mother. I can mail you the address after I look it up back at home." Babs Seed revealed, who had heard the commotion by the door and moved in from behind the two mares, startling both.

"Cuz..." Apple Bloom frowned at having her nugget of information snatched away and handed to Diamond Tiara. The purple mare was wondering what sort of favours she had hoped to hold out for.

"Diamond Tiara!" That sounded like Miss Cheerilee, and her angry tone was sadly familiar to her. Her schoolteacher approached the entrance as she drew the attention of everyone who listened to what was about to transpire. "I heard you poured steaming hot coffee in Berry Pinch's face. What in Celestia's name were you thinking?"

Berry Pinch appeared behind Cheerilee, covering her eye with a washcloth in one hoof and groaning. But the corners of her mouth turned into a smirk when nopony else was looking, angering Diamond Tiara.

"Is that snitch trying to turn you against me again? That coffee wasn't even warm anymore." Diamond Tiara pointed an accusing hoof at Berry, who pressed the cloth even tighter to her face and moaned.

"She was- she mocked Derpy's death when Dinky's back was turned so I tried to stand up-" Berry hissed in mock pain. "I told her she was crossing the line, then she started about my mom, and finished it up when she threw her cup at me."

Diamond Tiara's mouth fell open in dumbfounded astonishment at the audacity of Berry Pinch's claim. She wanted to contest the allegation, but could already tell it was useless. Cheerilee's experience as a schoolteacher made a 'he said she said' argument pointless. Diamond Tiara had failed to convince her teacher of her innocence many times before, even when she truly was. It seemed even adulthood could not spare her the brunt of Cheerilee's sense of justice.

"So you admit it was you who threw that coffee. Diamond Tiara, I thought you had changed! Apparently a successful career and loving wife haven't been enough to rid you of your tendency to insult and harass those around you. I believe you should leave." She sternly warned Diamond Tiara, who was fuming at Berry Pinch now.

Various ponies around her showed different emotions. Scootaloo seemed almost disappointed to hear this. From Berry came a smug, satisfied grin that spoke of torments yet to come. Apple Bloom scoffed haughtily, trying to avert her eyes. Babs seemed to pity her. Dinky, however, seemed hurt and looked mad. Diamond could not blame her for that but knew it was directed at the wrong pony.

Silver Spoon grabbed her hoof and began pulling her along. "Come sugar lump, let's go home." 

She sounded worried, and Diamond Tiara broke her stare and realized that what reflected poorly on her would reflect poorly on Silver. She didn't want to draw her into this as well, so she began to follow. All the way home they didn't speak about this latest incident.


* * *


Diamond Tiara put down her novel as Silver Spoon entered their bedroom. After they had gotten home, they decided it was best to take a bath each, brush their teeth and retire early and forget about what had happened tonight. But instead of laying down with her, Silver stood inside the room. "That thing with Berry Pinch, it's not like you really did that, right sugar lump?"

"Are you kidding? Of course not. Well, I did throw my coffee at her. But it was cool and wouldn't have burned her. She also made up that part about Derpy, those were her own words." Diamond Tiara get out of bed and approached her wife. "I'm sorry you had to see all that. Now everypony is going to think I'm the bad girl here and they're going to judge you for it. We're always just going to be the bullies of this town and I shouldn't have made it worse. Dinky is probably not going to think any better of me, and I let down Miss Cheerilee. Somehow, I felt such pride when she showed her admiration of me and now she believes I haven't changed for the better."

But Silver Spoon draped her foreleg around Diamond Tiara for a hug. "We have each other, who cares what other ponies think of us? It's about us. I know you're better than everypony believes, and that's all that matters." She kissed Diamond's cheek and the two of them remained embraced for some time, comforted by love and trust. "You have a busy day ahead of you, Diamond. Just don't think about it and let's go to bed."

Moving under the covers of their shared queen size bed, Silver removed her glasses as Diamond put on her mask, the turned off the nightstand lamp. Silver put a hoof around her as she slid up against her. Quiet settled around the house as the occupants slept peacefully in ignorance of what challenges waited tomorrow.

> Mayor Problems
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Mayor Problems




"Fired?" Diamond Tiara exclaimed as she sat opposite her employer in shock.

"I'm hearing rumours about our disagreements from residents ever since your school reunion and yesterday it was revealed to me you poured hot coffee in the face of one citizen. The latter alone would make your position untenable but I believe you are in breach of contract when confidential information about our private arguments makes word on the street." Mayor Mare revealed as she had a pink slip on her desk with Tiara's name on it.

"But nobody cares about things like that! They're just stupid-" Diamond Tiara began to protest.

"Rumours?" The mayor finished, giving her a piercing gaze. "This is coming from a filly who peddles in nothing but rumours. We've been in disagreement over this direction before, but now it's suddenly wrong to lend credence to hearsay? Because it is disadvantageous to you? If you want to insist, we can have a review of your practices and conduct as editor of the Ponyville Express to determine if you have overstepped your limits as per contract. But I warn you that there are penalties ahead if you are found to be in the wrong. That is not even going into the charges of assault that could potentially be levelled against you by Berry Pinch, which I will not comment on further than necessary." Mayor Mare seemed to think for a moment before retracting the pink slip. "In fact, you should probably bow out gracefully yourself. Before misconduct proceedings can begin against you. Unemployment payments to the upper rich would not go over well with my poorer and fiscally stringent constituents."

Diamond Tiara grumbled as she gave the mayor an evil stare. "How am I going to support myself?"

"You married under terms of separate property. Have your wife sustain you for a time." Mayor Mare waved her concern aside.

"She doesn't have a job and no assets! I'm the breadwinner in our household." Diamond Tiara protested, but it was in vain.

"I was never popular amongst one-pony income families. If you don't want Silver to suffer, you should take this opportunity to resign. You can't do right by her when you're in debt, Diamond Tiara."

Using Silver Spoon against her like that angered Diamond even further, but she maintained calm to ask. "Is that about that thing years ago where I revealed you as not naturally grey? Is that it?"

"Well, that did play a part in my decision. Honestly Diamond, I never would have hired you if you didn't have the credentials for that job. The Ponyville Express needed a real manager, and you had the education from a Canterlot college. But we were never friends, and seeing you turn my newspaper into another Foal Free Express had me looking for a reason to lay you off for a while now. But it seems now I don't have to anymore, because you're quitting." Mayor Mare leaned back satisfied.

"Oh, I will quit my job. But this isn't over yet, mayor. I will see you lose your job before too long. Then we'll see who has the last laugh." Diamond Tiara threatened, but the mayor laughed right to her face.

"What, are you running in the upcoming elections? You have no funds for a campaign, and you're too sheltered to relate to this town's constituents. Who in their right mind is going to elect the 1% richest Ponyvilleans? Ponies in this town don't even like you personally, so what makes you think they will want you in a position where you can affect their lives?" Mayor Mare dismissed the idea out of hoof.

"You'll just have to wait and see, mayor. My daddy is not going to like this. You can forget about his campaign contributions." Diamond Tiara glared before getting out of the chair she had been seated in and walking to the door.

"Oh, I'm so scared." Mayor Mare said mockingly, but didn't say anything else that would make Diamond Tiara stop to argue.

Diamond Tiara closed the door more firmly than was normal, drawing a little more attention from the town hall bureaucrats than she wanted.


* * *


Returning home, Diamond Tiara found Silver Spoon outside with a bucket of water and a rag, cleaning the house. She wasn't expecting a spring cleaning, but the house did seem dirtier than last time she had given it scrutiny.

"Why are you washing the windows, Silver?" Tiara looked quizzically at Silver Spoon, who dropped the rag as she noticed her.

"Tiara, when I returned from doing the groceries I found that somepony has defaced our walls. They'd chalked derogatory phrases and slurs on the walls and pelted it with spoiled fruit and vegetables. I didn't want anypony seeing this." Silver Spoon explained.

Diamond Tiara took a closer look, finding a crude chalk drawing of her and Silver that was highly inappropriate. Silver had also been in the process of removing a sentence of which the remaining parts stated "-lyfoolers get out!". Thinking back to the school reunion two days ago, Diamond Tiara could guess who would have been so juvenile as to harass them this way.

Diamod Tiara sighed. This was going to have to wait, but it piled on to the bad things that happened today. "Silver Spoon, can you come inside? I have something important to tell you."

I little worried, Silver Spoon put the rag back in the bucket before bringing it back inside. She poured the two of them some tea to go with the news, which she imagined wasn't going to be good. 

"Please, sit down." Diamond Tiara told her and waited for Silver Spoon to be seated, who looked at her with worry. "I had a meeting with the mayor today and she said I was fired."

"Oh no." Silver reached to put her hooves on Diamond's. "Why would she? Why now?"

"The coffee incident of two days ago has spread since yesterday and she got word of it. Also that I talked about the newspaper to some ponies there and she said this would be grounds for an investigation. Silver, she is blackmailing me to resign on my own so I won't even receive unemployment benefits because I will be the one to terminate my employment. If I don't, I will likely be fined as well as fired without unemployment benefits plus it's going on my resume for future employers to know."

"What are we going to do?" Silver Spoon looked worried as she held Diamond's hoof.

"I'm going to write a resignation letter. I don't want to go in debt at this time. You deserve better, and this is my own fault for letting Berry Pinch get to me." Diamond Tiara looked down in shame at the table.

Silver Spoon released her and was by her side in a moment, hugging her wife and stroking her shoulder. "Don't blame yourself, Tiara. Remember I promised to remain by your side through poverty and wealth. I don't intend those to be empty words. Everything is going to be fine. You'll get us through this, I trust you will."

"I don't know how I deserve to be loved without condition after all I've screwed up. Sometimes I wonder if you would have been better of without me Silver Spoon." Diamond Tiara confessed as she stared at the steaming cup in her hoof.

"Don't say that! How can you think I'd be happier?" Silver Spoon objected.

"I drove a wedge between your parents and you. I turned you into a little bully in school. I'm an unpopular mare and ponies dislike you by proxy. I'm a pathetic failure whose career just ended. And we're probably going to be poor because I'm not going to be able to make enough bits." Diamond summed up.

Silver kissed her forehead and rubbed her gently for comfort. "If I'm attracted to mares, the rift with my parents was inevitable unless I married a stallion and regretted my inauthenticity forever after. You and your father were the only ones to assure me I wasn't an abomination onto them. I'm not so ungrateful as to let your flaws and these problems make me forget about that. I know you might feel scared that you can't do right by me now but you're not one to despair for long. You're Diamond Tiara, you've bounced back from defeat on other occasions and finding a new job shouldn't be impossible."

"You're probably right as always Silver. I don't really have any plan at the moment. Just- just let me write that resignation letter and I'll be outside in a moment to help you with cleaning up." Diamond drank some of her tea, burning her mouth, but not letting it show as she had more urgent trouble on her mind.

"We'll get through this, you'll think of something. Give it some rest and take your mind of it. We're still on for our dinner tonight at Shamrock Cafe right?" Silver asked.

"Sure. I could use a good night with you after today." Diamond agreed wistfully. 

> Rarity Opportunity
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter Nine: Rarity Opportunity




It had been nearly a week since Diamond Tiara was persuaded to resign from the Ponyville Express. She had spent the free time looking for a job that suited her education and expense, but found to her disappointment that Ponyville had little need for managers, and the nearest place where vacancies in a leadership position existed was Canterlot, which would have required her to move out. That wasn't something she could afford. She was beginning to worry that she and Silver Spoon would run out of money at this rate, and she was not looking forward to asking her father for money. But despite everything, she and Silver had kept up their normal life and tried to banish their concerns by pretending everything was still going well. A habit that on second thought probably caused them to spend more bits than they could afford to right now. Not wanting to let good purchases go to waste, she was picking up one right now.

The bell above the entry door rang as Diamond Tiara stepped inside the store.

"Welcome darling, I take it you are here to pick up the dress you ordered?" Rarity asked as she afforded Diamond Tiara a quick glance while she kept her attention on the dress she was currently working on.

"That's why I'm here. Have you got it?" Diamond looked around, but couldn't see it in the store front.

"Oh yes darling. Have you got a minute? It's in the back. I would get it for you, but I absolutely must finish this order. The client could be here any moment and it's a Canterlot celebrity. I can hardly let them see my unfinished product. Do make yourself comfortable dear." Rarity squinted and extended her tongue from the corner of her mouth as she worked on stitching the dress on the ponequin. 

Diamond Tiara did so without complaint. Her father had been a regular customer of Rarity's for all the dresses he had purchased for her. Despite the tension with her younger sister, Rarity had remained professional throughout and Diamond had stayed a regular customer. She generally loathed cheap items, but the town's fashionista managed to deliver stylish work for a low price. Most amazingly was when she insisted to make her and Silver's wedding dresses for free. If they hadn't planned to invite Rarity for being a suitable guest before, they had to after hearing that. 

"How's the missus, darling? Life treating you both fair?" Rarity struck up a conversation as she worked and Diamond sat on a stool.

"Oh, just peachy. Which makes me wonder, when will you finally seal yourself to somepony? You're too pretty to end up an old spinster." Diamond had always known the mare to be looking, but never finding her special somepony.

"Thank you for the compliment darling, but I just haven't found the right stallion yet." Rarity waved her concern aside.

"Or mare, perhaps." Diamond Tiara guessed.

She saw Rarity tense up, blush, and bring a hoof to her cheek. "Oh, well I just never imagined myself as being- my fantasies had always been of a handsome prince or dapper gentlecolt. What would my Canterlot friends think if they saw me holding hooves with another mare?"

"Maybe we just travel in different circles, but last time I lived in Canterlot it was accepted that I flirted with girls." 

"Attitudes... change sometimes, darling." There was a sharp intake of breath from Rarity. "Haven't you heard? Fancy Pants broke up with Fleur de Lis, and all of a sudden he isn't the pony everypony should know anymore. They now follow this new mare, a baroness I believe. They say she is the new rising star in elite circles, and an elected member of parliament. She has some... clear opinions on how a lady must conduct herself. On how we unicorns must live."

"And how is that?" Diamond Tiara frowned.

"It's... it's-" Rarity seemed a little agitated at the question. "Look, she is the type to not think highly of an earth pony poseur or one whose barn door swings differently. So I am not going to walk through Canterlot with my marefriend, assuming that I had one, while the winds of group opinion are against us. I will not subject my best friend to such ridicule."

"Best friend, ha? Somepony I know? An earth pony perhaps? Who knows more about barn doors than either of us?" Rarity hissed as she seemed to have pricked her foreleg with the needle right after hearing Diamond Tiara tease her.

"Let us not speculate on anypony's 'barn door'. And like I said, it is pointless to do so. I know what I am and I know I want a stallion." Rarity determined as she repaired the last stitch.

"A pity, really. You are a desirable mare. Take it from me. Had I not been so much younger than you and had Silver Spoon not required my affection, I could have seen myself pursuing a relationship with you."

Rarity gave a nervous laugh. "You flatter me. I take it I should be honoured to know I am irresistible with the fair sex to. But let's change the subject. I have noticed that on the recent issues of the Ponyville Express you are no longer named as the chief editor, but Featherweight. Is something the matter?"

Diamond Tiara's mood darkened at having that brought up. "I left the paper over... creative differences."

"Left? Does that make you unemployed? Of all the things that could happen that is the worst possible thing!" Rarity looked at Diamond Tiara with wide eyes.

"I am not looking for pity. Honestly, I've been wanting to leave for a while. I am glad to be free to look for a better job." Diamond Tiara lied. 

"But the Ponyville Express was so much more enjoyable under your tenure. What will I read when they go back to those Namby Pamby stories?" Rarity brought a hoof to her forehead, seemingly ready to faint.

"Namby Pamby wasn't that bad." More lies.

"Well, my enjoyment of the news aside, I simply can't ask you to pay such a hefty price for the dress I made you while you and Silver are in transition." Rarity left the finished dress on the ponequin to find her ledger.

"No, it's fine. I can pay you. You don't have to treat us like we're poor." Diamond insisted, but her protest fell on deaf ears.

"Nonsense darling. Your financial stability comes before my bottom line. I know you are a mare who pays her debts." Rarity closed the ledger after making a short edit somewhere inside. "I don't wish to undercut the work I've done on your dress, but gems are so out of season. Sequins is the next trend. I have to refocus on that to make up for my wasteful stock."

Diamond Tiara wanted to feel gypped that she had bought a dress that Rarity now said was behind the curve, but something she said peaked her interest. "Gem encrusted clothing out of style? But that is what you do."

"Indeed darling, and now I have a whole stockpile of gems I can't use because I have to find me something that sparkles like glitter. Oh dear, and the new trend will probably not pass until fall is upon us and I will have to find inspiration for practical, warm winter clothing. I just can't have all these gems sitting in my inventory!" Rarity dropped on her couch as though she had been utterly ruined.

"I was thinking about a project in which a supply of gems would be greatly beneficial. If you don't need them, maybe I can take them off your hooves?" Diamond Tiara proposed. She was expecting there would be a price, since no pony would be so generous as to give her postponement of payment for goods rendered as well as a bucket of gems.

"Yes, take them! Take them all. Better they go towards helping a mare in need of them than take up my valuable space just as I have to store quantities of new fabric and material." Okay, so perhaps one pony would be so generous after all. Diamond Tiara just wished Rarity didn't treat her situation as dire. Even though she did feel it was somewhat difficult.

"Perfect. If you would give me the dress, we can arrange what time I'll come to pick them up." Diamond Tiara requested.

"Don't be silly, darling. I will have them deliver right to you. I'm sure a fine young dragon like Spikey-wikey is up to carrying such a big load in exchange for a few gems to keep for himself." Rarity offered, which suited Diamond just fine. She went back into the workshop to retrieve her client's dress, all the while Diamond Tiara rubbed her hooves with a satisfied smile.


* * *


On her return home Diamond Tiara was met with the now familiar sight of Silver Spoon out front of the house, cleaning fruit and vegetable remains off the walls and window.

"Not again." Diamond Tiara groaned, announcing her return to her spouse. "That's the third time this week. I could have sworn the facade was still clean when I left."

"It seems our tormentor is becoming increasingly bold." Silver Spoon assumed. "I'm telling you, you have to get over yourself and tell the mayor."

"I've tried. That's what took up half of my time gone." Diamond grumbled. "I didn't want to rely on any favours from her so soon after having been blackmailed. But when I told her about what has been happening and asked her to intervene, all she had to say for herself was that Ponyville doesn't have a police force and she couldn't spare the horsepower to guard one house if it did. Essentially, our troublemaker wouldn't show up if the house was watched, so they'll never catch them in the act, and we'd take up their resources until she'd stop trying."

"Please tell me you did not make a scene at town hall." Silver Spoon implored.

"Alright, I won't tell you." At Silver Spoon's exasperated sigh, Diamond Tiara elaborated anyway. "I told her it was Berry Pinch doing it, and she said I had no proof she did it and we can't just drag ponies out of their homes on mere accusations. Did she just develop a respect for basic civil rights because it inconveniences me?"

"Do we even know it is Berry Pinch? Couldn't it have been Apple Bloom? You know she has a reason to hate us. Plus Berry Pinch never struck as like this bigoted." Silver tried to argue.

"It isn't Apple Bloom, her sister would not condone this. Especially if she lied and went behind AJ's back to do this. But you know Berry Pinch is petty. She doesn't need a reason to scribble hurtful epithets other than that she hates somepony."

"What are we going to do? I'm beginning to feel unsafe in our own home. We can't have one of us constantly on a stakeout for vandalism attempts, and this is costing us a lot of time and money to clean up every time."

"There there." Diamond Tiara comforted Silver as she placed her forelegs around her head and pressed her close to her chest. "We'll figure out something. In the meantime, I will be doing some research and see about getting a loan. I think I have some inspiration to deal with our more pressing concern about money."

"I hope you're right, Tiara." Silver pulled free. "I'm beginning to lose sleep over all this."

"This'll work out. And when it does, I can start doing something about ponies who wronged us." Diamond guaranteed.

Silver Spoon was still a little concerned about what would happen to the ponies who crossed her wife. But she had a house to clean, and she pushed her concerns aside with the hope her mare was going to solve all their problems.

> Banking Crash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Banking Crash




It was a new day, but Diamond Tiara didn't feel like getting up. One of the bright sides of unemployment was that you didn't have a schedule to keep or clock to wake you. And if there was one thing she normally enjoyed doing on the weekends, it was staying in bed with Silver and cuddle up. Her scent, the touch of her fur, her soft breaths all seemed so much nicer in the morning before Diamond opened her eyes. Despite having the word 'Spoon' in her name, it was Diamond who liked to embrace her grey mare protectively.

The sound of shattering glass and crashing rudely interrupted this morning bliss, startling Diamond. In a moment, she could feel Silver's hooves prodding her chest urgently. "Tiara, wake up! Someone's in the house, it's a burglar!"

Wrestling with the blankets and struggling to get her sleep mask off her eyes, Diamond stumbled out of bed as Silver searched for her glasses by hoof. The pair slowly moved into the living room, hearts pounding.

"Is somepony in here?" Diamond called out as she surveyed the room.

No pony to be seen, but one of the windows had been shattered. A vase had falled to the ground and broken as well, and the end table it had stood on overturned. There was an ugly dent in the wall and on the floor lay a stone that had been wrapped in paper. Somepony had sent a message.

Diamond Tiara unwrapped the paper from the rock and saw it was the front page of the Ponyville Express. Wondering how this was tied to somepony throwing in her windows, she studied the headlines. The most notable was "Drunk Mare Arrested Trespassing On Mayor's Terrain" and below was a picture of two guards escorting the arrestee to their station. The face of the mare was obscured by the two stallions, but her cutie mark unmistakably identified her. 

"Berry Pinch." Grumbled Diamond Tiara as she looked out the window for said pony, but she saw nothing.

"I-is she the one who broke in?" Asked Silver Spoon as she drew closer, having stayed behind Diamond.

"More like broke our window." Diamond Tiara turned the newspaper over to Silver Spoon. "She must blame me for the Ponyville Express running an embarrassing article about her mother. Somepony must have failed to inform her that I don't work at the newspaper anymore. Is it my fault there has been a slow newsday and her mother is constantly breaking the peace?"

"The tresspasser was discovered de-" Silver Spoon cut herself off from reading aloud more of the article at what seemed to be too much information at this time of the day. "I suppose the mayor's flowerbed is now ruined. Oh my, this is pretty embarrassing for a daughter to read. She defenestrated Mrs. Mare and caused minor injury. As she was being escorted off the grounds, she blubbered ineligibly about 'the mayor has ruined me'. What do you suppose that was about?" She asked her wife.

"Possibly her shop getting closed for defaulting on loans?" Diamond Tiara guessed. "Berry Punch inherited the place from her folks. The town is putting it and her stock up for sale. She must believe Mayor Mare is doing it out of spite, which honestly isn't hard to believe. The way Berry Punch disturbs the peace in town has been a thorn in her side."

"I don't see why Berry Pinch should take that out on us. Her mom is like such a fool, not like we can change that."

"This isn't how I wanted to start my day." Diamond Tiara dropped the page and looked at the mess. "Just... just make some breakfast and clean this up while I'm gone. I guess I'll go see the glassworker."


* * *


Breakfast had passed tensely. Silver had been uncomfortable, and Diamond wasn't the supportive wife she had to be for her. Today was an important day if she wanted to get their family back on track, and she couldn't let Berry Pinch distract her. She had focused herself on her research before her important meeting, and now was the hour of judgement as Diamond Tiara sat in an office opposite a pegasus clerk.

"Mrs. Tiara, the amount you are asking gives me quite a shock." The light yellow and purple maned clerk admitted.

"Alula - may I still call you that? I have done the necessary research and I have no doubt the market here in Ponyville is parched. Karat's shop was highly profitable, but his retirement has forced Ponyvilleans to travel to Canterlot for their jewellery." Diamond explained.

"It's not that, Mrs. And no, you can't call me that. We're a savings and loans company. We deal in mortgages and customer loans. Only 20% of our loans can be of a commercial nature. The loan you ask for is of such proportions, we will almost hit that limit. Further, as a borrower you would have an unprecedented vote. Your venture might become successful, but we could still come into trouble with the national bank." Alula explained.

"I see. This is the only bank in Ponyville. If you won't loan me my starting capital, I will have to travel to Canterlot for investment." Diamond seemed resigned, but was surprised when Alula placed a hoof on hers.

"I didn't say you will be turned down. I am trying to make you aware of the risk you represent to us, and to make you appreciate the work I'll have to do on your behalf." 

"What exactly are you talking about." Diamond enquired, wondering where this was going.

"You already have a mortgage for your town house with us, right? Well, we can't extend you another. But your wife has no outstanding loans with us. We will put it under her name and convince the realtor the building you seek to use was rezoned. He is a member of Ponyville Savings & Loan who has the best interests of the bank at heart. That will make a significant part of the loan into a more appropriate mortgage, posing less of a risk to the bank's status." Alula explained the steps to be taken.

"Silver doesn't have a bit to her name. She can't be qualified for such a big loan!" Diamond protested.

"Trust me, Mrs. Spoon's credit rating with us is good as long as yours remains good." Alula reassured her.

"This sounds very shady." Diamond Tiara voiced her concerns. "Our assets are separate. If Silver gets in trouble for this, I will not be able to cover for her before this blows up. How will she not notice when tax services send her a blue envelop?"

Alula seemed to ignore her as she picked up the Ponyville Express on her desk with her free hoof. "You know what's funny, Diamond? I haven't seen your name as the editor-in-chief of the papers for over a week now. Must be a nasty bug going 'round town. I sure hope this won't impede your work much longer. You employment status means everything to us. It's always a terrible shame when a mortgage falls through, and ponies are evicted. The bank does not like selling real estate."

The implicit threat was not lost on Diamond Tiara. Either she risked Silver Spoon by putting her name on some underhoofed deal, or she would soon feel the crunch as her financial status became known to the bank with Alula's insight. 

"Diamond," Alula placed her other hoof on hers now. "We of Ponyville Savings & Loan want to see our customers' dreams fulfilled. Whether that's the house they dreamed of, or starting up a young business. Let us help you realize those."

"That's... awfully... considerate of your Ms. Alula." Diamond Tiara replied with uncertainty.

"Please, call me Alula." Her hoof began to stroke Diamond's foreleg as she leaned forward, looking her in the eyes. "Diamond, I've always admired you from afar. The one year on Hearts and Hooves day, it was Silver who encouraged me to give you the card I had made. And yet here we are. You married Silver instead, and I am the envious bachelorette. I hope you are appreciating the work I'm putting in for you, Diamond. Would you want to treat me to coffee during my afternoon break so we can finalize our arrangement?"

The way she looked at her, Diamond believed this was about more than coffee. She wondered how Silver Spoon would feel about this.

"Alula, I really don't know about any of this. You are putting yourself forward and assuming way too much." She tried to pull her hoof free, but Alula had a deceptively strong grip.

"Diamond, you are doing this for your and Silver Spoon's future together. I cannot help you if you will not let me. You can try convincing another pony here and retell your business plan after it seemingly failed to work out with me. Or you can show your appreciation for all the obstacles I am willing to clear for you. So please, meet me at the cafe by lunchtime. Or should I insist on you calling me Ms. Alula again?"

Diamond Tiara faced a life changing dilemma she had not anticipated coming here, and had to give the right answer quickly. But which was right in this situation? What should she choose?

> Apple Loose Tongues
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Apple Loose Tongues




The market was crowded with ponies as Silver made her way past the stands of produce and goods. There was a lot of noise from vendors, but one particular voice caught her ear. One that wasn't selling, but giving away.

"Read about the lies in your Hearth's Warming Eve story: lurid conspiracies at the unicorns' courts. Princess Platinum; defender of the institution of the family, or an opportunistic flip-flop? Scientific study discovers correlation between stunted psychological development in foals and same gender parents!" Apple Bloom was shouting at passer-by's whilst holding out some kind of magazine. "Do you want to read how the Equestrian magical family is under att- oh hello Silver, I didn't know it was you. I guess you don't want to read it then, seeing as how you can't have a family."

"What's that supposed to me?" Silver Spoon regretted not making a detour and instead daring to pass the yellow pony already. 

"Just that Diamond Tiara can't give you foals. Or that your mom and dad hate what you are. And Diamond's family is likewise dysfunctional." Apple Bloom rubbed it in her face.

"Lay off. What are you doing distributing these things here?" Silver looked down at the bag next to Apple Bloom.

"The Apple Front's bi-weekly digest. I'm giving away free copies to the citizens of Ponyville in anticipation of this year's election. 'Cause I'm gonna be mayor in a few months." Apple Bloom boasted haughtily with a hoof to her chest.

"You are like the last mare in Ponyville who could run this village. A country bumpkin for mayor? I think I'd rather vote for a mule than for you." Silver thought she could hear something balk a way back, but she was too busy taunting the mare in front of her.

"Surely you can see that Mayor Mare has had her best days, like so many others. I'm up to my second bag now, if you want to know." She gently kicked the bag of digests with her hoof to indicate what she meant. "The time has come for a fresh start, and as the leading member of the Apple Front in Ponyville, I will run on our ticket on a simple set of promises: end all tax deduction schemes benefiting the wealthy, subsidize growth of our agriculture sector, and support facilities for obstetrics, fertility treatment and delivery. I will return Ponyville to its roots."

It was true Mayor Mare was due for a replacement. Twenty years of her government had been more than enough, and she was exhibiting signs of clinging to that office. 

"You sound like a politician alright. Empty promises a-plenty." Silver giggled in a way she knew Apple Bloom always found annoying.

"It's a shame you want to deny your heritage. Good and honest farm labour would have done you good. At least take one home to read, it might still help you see the error in your ways." Apple Bloom gave Silver one of the magazines, and she took it with some uncertainty. 

Maybe it was her position as spokesmare of a political group tempering her, but Apple Bloom seemed surprisingly restrained in the face of mockery. Looking through the digest as she walked, she was startled as she nearly bumped into two other ponies crossing her path.

"Watch where you're going." Said a voice Silver instantly recognized as Bon Bon's. "Wait, Silver? Why are you reading Apple Bloom's trash? Aren't you the opposite of what she's advocating?"

Silver Spoon put the magazine down to look Bon Bon and Lyra in the eyes. "She just pushed it on to me, Diamond and I don't care for politics."

"Well, do me a favour and vote for Mayor this year. I dread to think what she would do to this town if elected." Bon Bon recommended, but was chastised by her better half.

"Bonny, they're called secret ballots. That's because they're supposed to remain secret." Lyra reminded in a chipper voice as if she was stating a groundbreaking truth.

"You know I don't like that mare, Lyra." Bon Bon defended herself.

"Excuse me, what exactly don't you like about Apple Bloom? I mean, beside the obvious." Silver Spoon interjected, detecting some bitterness in Bon Bon's expression.

"Oh, well she's a fair-weather friend until you get your cutie mark. Does that answer your question?" Bon Bon seemed a little testy.

"You'll have to forgive Grouchy Marks, it's just that she had several conversations with miss Cheerilee and little Twist about how it's bad for fillies to have no friends in school." Bon Bon seemed to glare at the rather forthcoming Lyra, but Silver Spoon had already guessed what this was about.

"Apple Bloom was my daughter's only friend until she started that Cutie Mark Club. She said that being around a nerdy filly who already had her cutie mark reflected badly on her blankness." Bon Bon revealed now that the horse had bolted from the stable. "You know how much an inferiority complex hurts a child at that age?"

Silver felt rather self conscious. She wondered if the things she'd said to Twist back in school had contributed to that. "I'm sorry to hear about that. I never thought that teasing could hurt."

Bon Bon's expression seemed to milden a bit. "I know you and Diamond Tiara only ever pretended to be her friend to get some of my candy."

"That is no-" Silver tried to protest, but Bon Bon raised her hoof to silence her.

"It's okay, I'm not an idiot. I gave free candy to foals who'd play with Twist to make sure she'd have some friends. She had all the trait of an unpopular filly. Big glasses, braces, lisp, ginger mane, pale coat. I wouldn't want her any other way. I appreciate that you would tolerate and not pick on her like some fillies would."

"Aww, you got her all sappy. See? Under all that moody exterior, she's just a big softy at heart." Lyra threw her hooves around Bon Bon, eliciting a smile from her.

"Silver, I saw what somepony did to your house. Are you alright, dear? Is it bothering you?" Bon Bon became serious once more, but remained sympathetic.

"No. No, just some punk who thinks they're like such a big pony, defacing a building when nopony's looking." Silver Spoon lied. She was honestly terrified that certain pony would take it one step further than just the outside of her home.

"If you need a safe place to sleep, we have a guest room." Bon Bon offered.

"There's only room for one pony. Unless she and Diamond sleep on top of one another. Right, Bonny?" Lyra messed up Bon Bon's mane with her hoof, still leaning on her wife's back.

"Lyra!" The town confectioner blushed self consciously about the private details being shared in the public square.

"I'll think I should leave you two lovebird be. Thanks for the offer." Silver Spoon cantered off before Lyra resorted to more public display of affection, as she seemed to do often.

"Hi Silver Spoon." Said one of the next pair of ponies even before Silver could move away from the last. At this rate, she'd never get any groceries done.

"Hello Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo." She greeted the duo. "You're not here with Apple Bloom?"

"Nah, we seem to be drifting apart lately." Scootaloo admitted. "Some of the things she says about unicorns and pegasi has me worried. Sweetie and I were just collecting some stuff for her sister."

"You know, I've been meaning to ask you since our reunion. You talked to me about how you sometimes felt..." Sweetie Belle gestured nervously with her hoof. "Unhappy about life. Me and Scootaloo once got help with our problems. I know this sounds strange, but have you ever had dreams about Princess Luna?"

Silver Spoon stared at them wide eyed. How would they have known? Her heart beat in her chest as she wondered if she should tell them about this in the open. "I... have. I remember one vivid dream I had one night when I'd been particularly sad and spent an hour staring into my bathroom mirror. That night I was approached by a figure in my dream that looked just like the princess, and she said she'd show me what it would do to other ponies if I wasn't around anymore."

"Go on." Sweetie Belle encouraged as Silver stopped.

"I saw my parents weeping in our living room, lamenting that I had been born a fillyfooler, that I hadn't deserved the pain, that they had pushed too hard trying to better me, admitting they should have listened to all that said it wasn't 'curable' and I am what I am. Luna told me... the dream pony told me they loved me. They were misguided, but they'd miss me terribly if I took such an irreversible step. And that I shouldn't put them through that. It showed me how Diamond Tiara would grow up lonely and unhappy, and said I made a greater difference than I realized. That she would feel just as miserably without a father, or a mother, not even a friend. It even showed me you two. All three of you, the crusaders. And the rest of the class when Cheerilee had to give them the news I was never coming back to school. It... I never thought any of you would care. I thought you all hated me, a rich bully." Silver felt her glasses being lifted from her snout by magic as Sweetie Belle floated over a handkerchief to wipe away the tears she was crying. 

"That's... quite a bit darker than what Luna showed me. What did you do the next day?" Scootaloo asked.

"The next day? I told myself it was just a nightmare, said my prayers to Celestia to preserve me from suffering and got ready for school. I didn't want to think about it. It kept nagging at me, but it was just too painful to think about." Silver Spoon recalled.

"Scootaloo and I had similar dreams wherein Princess Luna showed us our errors and what would be the consequences. I think she watches over fillies' dreams to help those who are in trouble to offer them comfort and guidance." Sweetie Belle told her.

"That seems far fetched. Even at the time, I knew it was just a bad dream. We don't know if Princess Luna is a dreamwalker or if she even cares about our issues." Silver refused to believe what Sweetie was saying.

"I'm telling you, it's true."

"Silver may have a point." Scootaloo interrupted. "It's probably true that Luna can't actually enter our dreams. I mean, come on, that's private. Our dreams probably come from a deep seated desire of wanting somepony to care and reassure us things will be alright. These dreams encourage us to look for such a pony outside our dreams, as you did with Diamond Tiara."

Before Silver could reply, she heard a commotion coming from behind her, and saw ponies drawn to some kind of spectacle going on by one of the market stands. She was it was Apple Bloom, and two of the guard ponies who were marching right towards her.

"Miss Apple Bloom, we want you to come with us to the guard station. You are under suspicion of defacing the residence of Mrs. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon as part of a deliberate hate crime." Said the bigger stallion, Sergeant Hot Grill.

"That's preposterous! I haven't been anywhere near Diamond Tiara's home. You can't prove I was there!" Apple Bloom objected.

"The Mayor has received several complaints and in light of your outspoken homophobia, we find you the likely suspect. Please come quietly, or we shall be forced to place you under arrest, then charge you with resisting arrest!" The sergeant threatened.

"I have rights! I am innocent! The Mayor cannot just silence me and have me framed for just anything that happened to somepony." Apple Bloom protested loudly, after which the two ponies began to stallionhandle the yellow mare and lock her forelegs in a set of hoofcuffs, pushing her ahead towards the guard station, Apple Bloom shouting about injustice and abuse of power the whole way.

"You show her!" Bon Bon shouted after the guardsponies, being the only pony in the crowd who seemed to be rooting for the guards.

"Bonny!" Lyra exclaimed, obviously shocked at what she had just witnessed.

All around her, Silver Spoon saw ponies arguing and whispering. The words 'disgraceful', 'Mayor' and 'rights' spoken by multiple ponies everywhere.

> Organized Chaos
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 12: Organized Chaos




The day had not gone as Diamond Tiara had wished. Obtaining a loan had proved more difficult than thought and she had to pay for window repair after somepony threw a stone through it. Even with the money to start up her venture, Diamond didn't feel like a winner. As she thought her day couldn't get any worse, something proved her wrong.

"If it isn't Diamond Tiara. Why the loooong face?" Discord, the resident embodiment of chaos asked as he appeared before her, jaw stretched out to be at least two heads long.

"Why do you come to me of all the ponies in Ponyville on this day? You normally don't reveal yourself, why not torment anypony else?" Diamond Tiara complained as she kept walking, ignoring all the antics that seemed to follow this draconequus. 

"Yes yes yes, I know I am not the most friendly face around and you all would rather see me go. It's just that my omniscient ear heard what happened to your house and I was wondering if you needed a good friend to share your worries." 

"Then you know it was Berry Pinch who threw that stone." Diamond paused, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

"Oh, I do. But I'm afraid you will have to look further if you wanted a credible witness. Judges do not like me very much." Discord sighed and raised his paw to his forehead dramatically. "Whatever must I do before ponies will ever trust me again? Must I forego mathematician's answers to any questioning and cease all body transformation jokes at every subpoena? Dreadfully boring if you ask me."

"Even if I trusted you to give evidence, I am not about to bring in the resident trickster before the mayor as my witness. She's not inclined to even hear what I have to say anymore. It'd take somepony credible and of known integrity to advocate bringing up Berry on charges of vandalism and intimidation." 

"Well aren't you a suspicious and judgemental little pony." Discord crossed his arms before looking away, offended.

"You just admitted you were not the pony I'm looking for the testify against Berry." Diamond rebuffed. "However, if you want to help, I can think of something that would greatly cheer me up and would be right up your alley."

"Certainly I would help cheer you up. Isn't that what friends are for?" Discord leaned in with his claw wrapped around Diamond's withers, a conspiring tone in his voice.


* * *


Diamond Tiara stood outside the home of Berry Pinch, near the centre of Ponyville, waiting for its occupant to return. Adopting an admiring pose, she waited until the mare had entered her field of view before breaking it and waving. "Oh hi Berry. I couldn't help but notice what a splendid house you live in."

Berry turned towards the pink pony with a glare. "What are you doing here? Don't you have something better to do? Like look after your own house?"

"Oh, I'm just admiring Ponyville's architecture. That place must have cost you a good amount of bits. I hope you're insured. We wouldn't want anything to happen to it." She gave Berry a knowing look and a sugary sweet smile.

"Whatever you're up to, I'm warning you to stay away from my place. You lay one hoof on my house and I'm calling the guard." She prodded Diamond Tiara in the chest with her hoof several times before turning to enter her home.

Diamond suppressed her giggling until after Berry Pinch opened the front door. And was immediately confronted by a vision from a surrealist nightmare. Windows on the inside looked tilted at strange angles, furniture was angular and distorted, the stairs led into the wall, the floor, walls and ceilings slanted. And instead of soothing colours, everything was loud and garish.

"Wha- how? Who... Why!?" Berry Pinch uttered in disbelief, checking the door number to make sure this wasn't Derpy's house, which wasn't anywhere near hers. After that, she turned on Diamond Tiara, confusion replaced by anger. "This is your work! I don't know how, but it's your work!"

"What, me? How could I have renovated your house within maybe a few hours? I don't think half of these changes could be done in days." Diamond rubbed a hoof against her chest, feigning ignorance.

"Discord!" Shouted a voice from down the street. Diamond know that voice, and she expected the pony to ruin her little scheme in front of Berry.

The draconequus popped his head out from behind a tree that was far too thin to conceal his body, yet somehow managed.

"I know you've been using your magic around Ponyville. What did you do?" Twilight Sparkle trotted towards them, her expression one of anger.

Berry Pinch looked at Discord, then glared at Diamond Tiara again.

"Me? Oh, I was just pulling an innocent prank. Innocent as a colt's smile." He reached behind him to pull a golden halo from behind his back and place it over his head, giving Twilight the sweetest smile.

Twilight was unimpressed. "And just like a smiling colt, it's to cover up your shenanigans. I can tell when there's an extraordinary residue of chaos magic and I'm getting warmer by the second." She stopped to look inside Berry Pinch's house, appraising it before turning her scolding look back on Discord. "I hope you have a way to fix this."

"Oh yes yes yes, I wouldn't do anything irreversible. I installed a lever in the basement that will undo all my magic and return her house to its original state. I just don't remember where I put the stairs to her basements. You see, I'm going through somewhat of an impossible objects phase and thought it nice to make every door or stair lead to a random room. Though I may have accidentally put some parts in the neighbours' houses to. Well, it shouldn't take too long to find. I mean, this isn't even my best labyrinth."

"I'm reporting this to Fluttershy. If this hasn't been fixed tonight, I'll be writing a strongly worded letter to Princess Celestia about this!" Twilight began to walk off to the edge of Ponyville.

Discord floated after her, the last of his conversation fading with distance. "Don't be such a tattletale, Twilight. I'm sure that by tonight she'll have found it. I can even help her if she doesn't!"

Berry Pinch, now understanding what had happened, pointed a threatening hoof at Diamond Tiara. "This isn't over. Not by far!" She slammed the door shut as the entered her house, leaving Diamond Tiara with mixed feelings of joy and dread.


* * *


"Silver, I'm home!" Diamond Tiara announced as she entered. The broken window had been boarded up for safety, and Silver Spoon was reading at the dinner table, a stack of books beside her.

"Oh, hi sugar lump." Silver Spoon placed the magazine she was reading inside one of the opened books before closing it rather conspicuously.

"What are you reading?" Diamond asked as she approached and opened the book again.

"Oh, it's just something Apple Bloom shoved in my hooves today about her political stuff. I was just doing some fact checking." She said dismissively.

"And...?" Diamond Tiara pressed. She was rather suspicious of anything Apple Bloom would shove in their directions. Magazine, or loaded apple cart.

Silver Spoon sighed as she leafed through the political digest. "There's this historical article regarding Equestrian rulers and single gender couples that shook me up. Did you know Queen Platinum decreed all 'unnatural acts' punishable by burning at the stake?"

"Why? She is supposed to have been the monarch who founded and united the fledgling Equestrian kingdom! Why was this never mentioned in Hearth's Warming Eve tales?" Diamond was aghast by the claim their ancient queen would pass such a law.

"It's not suitable for foals. It's also beyond the scope of the story. It seems this was censored along with other heinous things ponies did to each other to protect our fragile little filly minds so we'd live in harmony and wouldn't be inspired to repeat such tragic events." Silver hypothesized. 

"They're lies! It has to be lies. You said Apple Bloom gave it to you. She's trying to scare you." Diamond Tiara insisted, but Silver shook her head.

"I didn't want to believe it, so I rented some books from Princess Twilight's library to double check the sources the Apple Front cited. Aside from minor embellishments, they have a point. After Clover the Clever admitted her feelings for her queen, Platinum panicked. Thinking that because Clover had been her teacher and mentor since foalhood, she must have lusted for her at an early age. Her decree may have served as a warning to her friend to never try and flirt with her. Clover was gradually given assignments and positions that distanced her from the royal court until she joined a convent and made a vow of celibacy. Poems and diary entries that have been preserved reveal she still had feelings for her queen, and had several relationships with the sisters of her order."

"What kind of horrible pony would want to make others aware of this? What sort of politics is Apple Bloom into?" Diamond asked, grabbing the digest to see this article about Queen Platinum.

"The Apple Front draw attention to this because it works in both directions. It either reinforces their message that unicorn nobles are all horrible ponies, or it tarnishes the spotless reputation of Equestria's unicorn queen with those who only remember what a good queen she was." Silver Spoon explained the logic behind the article.

"It's all lies! Falsehoods printed to stir up hatred." Diamond Tiara objected, but Silver Spoon sadly grimaced.

"The books from Princess Twilight's library are approved by the Canterlot Royal Archives. They wouldn't print something like this unless it was the truth. We just never looked into it." Silver leafed through the "Founding of Equestria: volume 2" until she arrived at a specific page. "I could talk about what the pegasus city states generally did to their weakest offspring, their intricate customs in determining dominance within couples, maiming of unicorn heirs to disqualify them from inheriting, or the true origin of windigos. But Clover the Clever got off easy compared to Private Pansy. Being Commander Hurricane's paramour, she owed all her immunity to persecution to her mistress' political power. As much as she resented Hurricane, the old Lex Pegasi meant the pegasi cities could still bribe, pressure and manipulate their court system to ignore Queen Platinum's decree. Before Commander Hurricane passed away she was said to have warned Pansy 'you are nothing without me'. Hurricane's rival and posse awaited Private Pansy on the steps of the palace to make their move as soon as their leader and Marshall of Equestria had passed away. They..." Silver Spoon's leg shook as she traced the lines in the book. "They cut Pansy's wing tendons, hanged her from the nearest tree, and prevented anypony from bringing her body down as a message to Hurricane's followers that her time had passed and a new pegasus would lead them."

Diamond Tiara trembled with fear. Silver's account left her speechless.

"To her credit, Queen Platinum was outraged to hear about this. As long as she lived, the ringleader did not attain the coveted position of Marshall as Commander Hurricane once had. Even if she had to appoint weaker candidates. By the time Cloudburst was appointed the title by Platinum's successor, she was old enough that she had to look over her shoulder constantly to not befall a similar fate as Pansy."

"Celestia! That is awful. Do they neglect to teach us this for the sake of national unity? Because it's too awkward to acknowledge these crimes?" 

Silver Spoon nodded. "Equestrians want to think of their heroes as wise and infallible ponies. Remember King Bon Vivant's parliamentary reforms? We are taught he woke up one morning and declared he had become liberal overnight. Because we want to believe his reform came from his wisdom. He was actually blackmailed by his lover stallion, who had exploited his orientation to achieve the goals of his circle of political activists. If the king would not instate a parliament to draft the new constitution, they would publish salacious details of his affair and criminal relationships." Silver looked at Diamond Tiara long and hard. "Are we... is there something wrong with us, Tiara? Maybe the Apple Front has a point if this is our history."

"Don't say that!" Diamond Tiara put her leg around Silver's head and pressed it against her chest. "Don't ever think such thoughts! What ponies did centuries ago does not reflect on us now. Those dumb books don't draw any special attention to all the regular mares and stallions that did evil deeds."

"But Apple Bloom-" 

"Is getting a buck to the face!" Diamond Tiara broke her off before Silver could express her worries. "She's making you confused. Wait till I get my hooves on that dirt-grovelling little-" 

Silver Spoon stopped her before Diamond could depart. "You won't find her anywhere but the guard station. The mayor had her arrested for what happened to our house. Did you somehow manage to convince her of that?"

"I didn't, Silver, I swear I was at the bank. You saw the guard arrest Apple Bloom? Distributing these digests?"

"Yes, they picked her up in the market. She said she wanted to challenge the mayor in the upcoming election. A lot of ponies were muttering about that." Silver Spoon testified.

"Oh Celestia." Diamond Tiara brought a hoof to her face. "Now everypony will want to know what she was arrested for, and she's going to hand out these magazines to every pony. Now every pony is going to read all of this tripe about racist classical age ponies and fillyfoolers."

"What do we do now?" Silver Spoon sounded worried about the prospect of more ponies learning the same truths.

"We don't worry about it." Diamond Tiara drew her into another hug. "We did nothing wrong. No mayor of Ponyville can deny us safety under those conditions, lest we bring down a higher authority on them. My meeting at the bank went well, I promise I'm going to take care of us."

"I'm scared, Diamond." 

"Don't be. Nopony's going to hurt us. I'll make sure we'll be safe and secure." Diamond gently held Silver in her hooves to calm her for as long as she needed her to be there.

> Hail for the Princess
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 13: Hail for the Princess




Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's breakfast was interupted by another crash from the living room, eliciting a deep sigh from the latter.

"I bet you it is this morning's Ponyville Express." Diamond wagered as she got out of her chair to confirm her suspicion.

True enough, another stone had been tossed through their new window, wrapped up in paper. Seperating the rock from paper, she could see it was indeed a page from the newspaper.

"I win." She declared with nary a hint of triumph in her voice.

"What is it this time?" Silver Spoon asked fearfully. 

This was already the third window shattered by a rock. The second had come with the page containing the Apple Front's stance on single gender couples Silver had read about. It had seemed to Diamond Tiara that Berry Punch had received the same digest.

"Let's see. Berry Punch has been officially charged for the disturbance at the mayor's estate a week ago. The prosecutor is demanding compulsory rehabilitation in a closed clinic to overcome her alcoholism and that she be fined for damages to the mayor's estate." Diamond neatly folded up the page. "I expect there'll be another newspaper delivery before this trial is over. At least this is more evidence that Berry Pinch is involved."

"You're still not considering Apple Bloom as a suspect? After she was framed by the mayor?" Silver argued.

"Framed for Berry Pinch's deeds, yes. But she's already got a restraining order against us. Funny how swift justice is when it coincidentally banishes your political campaigning to a small corner of Ponyville Market." Diamond Tiara noted.

"A corner that didn't see a lot of traffic from ponies until Apple Bloom established herself there with her soapbox." Silver noted glumly. "I see more ponies listening and taking stuff from her every day I go shopping. It's starting to scare me."

"Well, put those thoughts aside. We're supposed to see the surprise I prepared for you today, so don't let this get you down. I think I'm done with breakfast. You'll clean the table, I'm going to do something about this latest act of vandalism." Diamond declared as she put the newspaper page down.

"Please don't do anything stupid." Silver Spoon begged, knowing it was futile when the authorities were less effective than the resident spirit of chaos.

"I won't. If the mayor's not going to do something about this persistent intimidation, I'll appeal to a higher authority. Just don't touch the crime scene." Diamond demanded before opening the door to leave.

"Please don't take long! I feel vulnerable... while I'm alone in here." Silver Spoon trailed off as she realized Diamond Tiara was out of earshot.


* * *


Diamond's knocking was promptly answered by the pony whose help she hoped to enlist.

"Oh, hello Diamond Tiara." Twilight greeted her. "I hope you're staying out of trouble. Last time I saw you, Discord had rearranged some pony's home. It took them quite a while to fix that. You wouldn't happen to have had anything to do with that?" She frowned and Diamond.

"That's actually why I'm here, your highness. Berry Pinch and I have gone back and forth bothering one another, but for weeks now it's turned into outright bullying. Silver Spoon is starting to feel unsafe in our own home, and we keep having to repair the damage she causes." Diamond Tiara explained.

"If that is why you had Discord do what he did, you should have gone to the mayor. She handles disturbances of this sort." Twilight reprimanded her, but Diamond knew better.

"I know that, your highness. The mayor isn't doing anything. I tell her it must be Berry Pinch, she tells me I have no proof despite some of the evidence leading back to her. It's because she dislikes me personally. She's petty and selfish, and doesn't care about the ponies that aren't going to vote for her." Diamond complained, keeping her seething rage bottled.

"Please, call me Twilight." The librarian insisted. "And the mayor doesn't seem like such a heartless pony. I doubt she'd be unwilling to help."

"You are a princess, of course she's putting on her best smile for you even as she scowls at me for pestering her with my problems. You haven't ever had her for a boss, have you?" 

"Well, no. But what do your expect me to do?" Twilight asked, sincerely wondering where Diamond was going. 

"You must have some kind of authority to exert over her to make her take me serious. I don't expect you to call the royal guard to arrest Berry, just ask her to look into it more seriously and see for yourself how Mayor Mare reacts." 

"I have a better idea. Why don't I look into this myself? I've read plenty of mystery novels, I know a few good methods to obtain proof that will get the mayor to take you serious." Twilight offered, beaming brightly and confidently.

"Novels don't make you into an investigator, Twilight." Diamond sceptically told her. "But if you think it'll help my case, I'm not going to turn you down. At this point, any help you give is needed."

"Great. Wait while I get some things ready. Spike can watch the library by himself for today." Twilight ducked her head back inside and could be heard heading up the stairs.

When she returned, she was levitating a bag next to her and wearing a cap on her head.

"A deerstalker? Really? Have you been reading Sureclop Pones?" Diamond Tiara could not resist smacking a hoof against her forehead, even within royal company.

"I was actually re-reading my collection of A.K. Yearli- oh, nevermind." Twilight caught the rhetorical nature of Diamond question in time to avoid embarrassing herself further.

The trip back to the crime scene took only a few minutes, allowing Diamond Tiara to go into detail why Berry Pinch was so angry with her. Twilight gave the usual advice of how to treat a bully, but Diamond wasn't having it. It was too late to be the better pony. Even if Diamond Tiara had created this monster herself. Maybe exactly because of that.

Investigating the outside of the house, Twilight didn't take long in finding something Silver Spoon had failed notice on her last cleanup. 

"Aha! A smashed, rotten apple!" Twilight proclaimed triumphantly.

"Yes, Berry had a habit of throwing those at our house." Diamond Tiara explained, rather unimpressed. 

"You don't understand the significance, so allow me to extrapolate my dear Diamond." Twilight floated the rather smelly apple up to her face, causing Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara to gag and scramble backward.

"These type of apples are grown here in Ponyville at Sweet Apple Acres. No vendor in town sells these imported. We can already conclude the culprit is either a local, or an out-of-town pony who comes her specifically to harass you two. Which seems too elaborate."

"So it was Apple Bloom after all?" Silver Spoon insisted on casting the hoof of suspicion at their former classmate.

"Unlikely, for one good reason. How would a pony from Ponyville acquire apples in this state of decay? The Apples sell their produce fresh, so it would take a fair amount of time for it to spoil so badly. As funny as it is to throw these at underwhelming artists or politicians, nopony keeps a supply of spoiled foodstuff ready for the off chance they need to voice their disapproval in a non-verbal way. We thus have to conclude that whoever is doing this to your house works with fermented apples in some way." Twilight deduced proudly.

"The Apples sell cider annually. That's made with fermented apples, right?" Silver Spoon tried to argue, only to be shot down.

"Not so. You see, a chronic complaint about Apple Cider Season is that there is never enough of the stuff. The only time there was, it had been made by the Flim Flam brothers, and that was too long ago for this apple to remain intact." Twilight took a second look at the side of the apple that had left a large splotch on the window before correcting. "Well, mostly intact. The point is, this couldn't have been Apple Bloom because her family converts every unsold apple into cider before it spoils. But who else would keep apples in bulk for fermentation?"

"The Apples?" Silver Spoon tried again. She was becoming worried that naming Berry Pinch as the suspect was just making things worse.

"Berry Pinch." Diamond Tiara pointed out the obvious.

"Almost. It's her mother. Aside from wines, she produces the only other locally made cider. And her brewery just went bankrupt, leaving her with a large stock of unused apples unsuitable for sale. That would mean, however, she will not care if somepony took from her stock of old apples. And Berry Pinch would indeed be the pony with the easiest access to them next to her mother."

"That's... quite impressive." Diamond Tiara admitted. This was going better than complaining to the mayor.

"Elementary, dear Diamond." Twilight patted her on the head in a manner she found absolutely patronizing, but refrained from blowing up at the princess.

"So you can nab her now? This is proof." Diamond pointed at the apple, wrinkling her nose at the thought of delivering it to Mayor Mare personally. And the reaction she was most likely to get for depositing it on her desk.

"This is a clue, not concrete proof. I'll have to pursue this lead. But I don't want to keep you two up. I'll do the rest of the investigation while you go about your daily business. Just one more thing." Twilight moved to stand behind the two mares. "Lift your hind legs."

"Uhmmm..." Silver looked back in confusion.

"Your highness, I did not know that you were thus inclined." Diamond shot her a flirty look. "Are you trying to seduce me?"

"I just need to know your shoe sizes and patterns so I can distinguish them from other tracks I may find in the vicinity. It would be easier to got this done right now."

"Very well." Diamond complied, just a tad disappointed. She admonished herself for misbehaving in front of her wife.

A short moment thereafter, Twilight got to work, and Diamond felt it was time to show Silver Spoon the surprise. She left her yard, for the first time not fearing the state the place would be in upon her return.

> A Pony's Metal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


A Pony's Metal




"How much longer?" Asked a blindfolded Silver Spoon.

"Ssh, I'm almost done. There, you can take it off now." Diamond Tiara instructed, and Silver followed.

After she removed the blindfold, Silver Spoon could see there were inside and empty shop. A large number of display cases stood scattered throughout the place, and there was a counter with a register. The walls had been padded with a dark purple and lined with cherry wood panels. The floor carpeted in lavender colours. There were a few mirrors on the walls and headless display busts. A few ornate wall lamps and glass chandelier provided bright lighting. The place looked like a jewellery store, only minus all the jewels. 

"You had this build? This is your business?" Silver couldn't help but admit she was impressed. Aside from the place looking quite neat, as a filly she had wondered what it would be like to own a whole store of jewellery. There was just one thing missing, and that was the same thing she imagined she'd sample for herself if given the run of such a place as a filly. "But where is the merchandise?"

"Oh Silver, you think I forgot about that part? I have only shown you half of my surprise." She began to trot towards the backroom of the store and beckoned Silver to follow her.

Passing through the door from the storefront, she found herself inside a fully furnished workshop. There were bins with various metals, metalworking tools, precision tools, workbenches, and even a smelter. Diamond Tiara rested her forehooves on a large metal bin containing gems.

"What do you think? This idea wouldn't have worked out without a little help from Rarity." Diamond ran her hoof through the gems, enjoying the sound as the clattered about.

"You're going to make them all by yourself? But who will tend the register? Did you hire help?" Silver Spoon asked as she looked about the place.

"Oh, I won't need an employee, I'll do that myself. But you are going to help me make the goods put up for sale." Diamond gave a shrewd smile.

"But- but I don't know anything about how any of this works! I mean, what tools to use. How I'm going to turn these ingots into a setting. How to securely fasted the gems." Silver Spoon protested.

"Sweetie, your name is Silver Spoon. Your cutie mark is a richly decorated silver utensil. Your family were known for their silver smithing ability. You were born to do this. It's your destiny." Diamond insisted and laid her hooves on her shoulder in encouragement.

"Diamond, that doesn't all mean I'm born to be a craftspony. I got that cutie mark for having a silly tea party with you! I'm a pathetic mare who never made it to college, and you believe I can just pick this up by trying?" Silver Spoon remained incredulous.

"Don't say such things! You are my wife and you're an amazingly gifted and intelligent pony who underplays her own abilities. Don't let your insecurity deny you this opportunity to prove you're not just some spoiled filly with rich parents. If you would just try your hoof at jewel crafting, you would find this is your true destiny. All I ask is that you make at least one thing, and see for yourself how good you are. If it's not good enough for sale, I'll give you my promise I will hire someone else who does have faith in her ability."

Silver Spoon bit her lip as she looked about the workshop, the sense of being overwhelmed about what to do already taking hold. Then she looked back at Diamond Tiara, and found there to be no doubt about her own words in her eyes. Relenting, she gave a sigh.

"Just one. But after that, you won't have to rely on my unskilled self. You can order them from a real factory." She disentangled herself from Diamond's grasp to begin collecting tools and material.

Diamond looked on with a bit of sadness. It was disheartening to see what years of doubt, parental abuse and a lack of education had done to the once proud, smug filly of her youth. But Diamond Tiara was confident she'd get that old Silver Spoon back as soon as she discovered she was right.

Silver set to work, deciding that her first project would be on a silver torc. It was a round piece of metal with a hole for the neck and a few token gems set on the front, so how hard could it be? But all through the morning, her conviction that she shouldn't even be trying  grew. Was it normal for the smelter to take as long as it did to melt down silver, or was she just inefficient? Curling the silver to fit around a pony's neck was hard as Silver struggled to maintain both symmetry and shape. Had she picked the right tools, or was her intuition on what kind of tongs, hammer and welder to pick just arbitrary? Setting the gems, she wondered how many mistakes a true professional would have remarked on and scolded her for being an expensive waste of time, material and labour. Even when she finished, the end result looked like nothing she would want to wear. The choice of gems seemed just garish, the torc looked like it was bend wrong on one end, and too flat on the other side, while she worried the inside was too jagged and would cut the neck of the wearer. Maybe she could fix this, maybe with sandpaper and applying more force with pincers and hammer. But Diamond Tiara re-entered the workshop after having been out front for some time.

"And, how is the work coming along, Silver? It looks like you're finished." She said as she drew nearer to inspect the final product.

"It looks just awful. Every pony will laugh at you if this is what you're selling here." Silver told her ruefully. Her wife was going to be so disappointed after talking her up all through the morning.

"Silver, you did an excellent job with that. More than anypony could expect for a first attempt. If you are going to improve with every finished piece, I want to see how you will be in a month from now!" Diamond Tiara complimented her and rubbed her withers affectionately with a hoof.

"No, it's all bent wrong and the gems just seem so...cheap." Silver inspected her work further, hoping not to find any more flaws for Diamond Tiara to spot so she could lie even harder.

"Tssk, flaws only a pony with a keen eye for quality like you will notice. I saw you work on that thing, and every step just seemed to come so naturally. Like you didn't need any help from me. It's a good thing to, because I haven't done any better than crafts at Ms Cheerilee's school."

"You're just saying that because you don't want me to feel bad. There's no way a customer would buy this." Silver insisted as she pushed the torc into Diamond's hooves.

"Well, why don't we ask one then?" Diamond smiled and took Silver's hoof. "I have a pony in the store who knows about fashionable neckwear. Let's ask her."

"Wait, you're actually-" Silver stopped her sentence as she was dragged into the storefront, where she saw Rarity waiting by the counter.

"A wonderful afternoon Silver darling. I noticed your wife was in the new store by the market street and I just had to see if her business was finally open. She was gracious enough to let me inside, despite not being ready for an official opening yet." Rarity told her, the let her eyes fall on the torc Diamond now carried. "Is that a piece of your new line? Wherever did you order this?"

"Silver Spoon made it just now." Diamond Tiara stated before Silver could say anything to avoid embarrassment.

"I know it doesn't look like much. It's my first work on jewellery. I don't think Diamond will rely on my work in the future." Silver Spoon tried to cover herself from any further embarrassment.

"All if this wouldn't have gone as well if it weren't for your help, Rarity. I think I owe you something for helping with our financial situation." Diamond Tiara thanked their first customer.

"It's quite alright, dear. I help ponies because it's only right to share what we have with those who need it. You don't owe me anything, darling." Rarity denied.

Diamond Tiara wouldn't accept that for an answer. "I would like you to have Silver's first finished product as a gift. You deserve something for your trouble, and it feels appropriate that you who made this possible should be the first to get something from our starting line of jewellery."

Rarity gasped, in a somewhat typical dramatic sense. "It's too much! The amethysts on silver, the tangible blood, sweat and tears, the hours that must have gone into making it look right." Silver ducked her head, certain that this indicated Rarity was insulted. "It's magnificent! You have a bright career ahead of you, Silver darling. I will treasure this gift like my finest pieces. If you will keep up such excellent work, I hope to see our mutual business flourish! Why, Ponyville may just become the new scene of high society fashion."

Despite herself, Silver Spoon felt herself perk up at those words. Secretly, she wondered if Diamond Tiara had just talked Rarity into being easy on her, and hand out compliments merely to help her self esteem. It was certainly in Rarity's nature to be encouraging of struggling ponies who had yet to hone their skills. Even with those doubts, she did feel she wanted to give jewel crafting another try, if only to see if other ponies would react the same way and this really wasn't just a fluke.

"Thanks Rarity. I hope your friends will think the same." Silver smiled gratefully in return.

"They have to! I will show this piece of work to them immediately, and let them know where they can get theirs once your business opens for good. Have a nice day, girls!" Rarity cantered out the door with a jovial spring in her step.

Silver watched her leave. She had to admit, there was something about working on jewellery that beat cleaning their house and reading the same dull books all day when Diamond Tiara wasn't home. And even if Rarity and Diamond were being too kind, she now felt like proving herself worth their praise. Even if it took a lot of work to do that, she wasn't quite done working at her wife's store just yet.

> Berried In Legal Terms
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 15: Berried In Legal Terms




The day had passed by, and it was mid-afternoon by the time Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon returned home. To spare herself embarrassment, Silver had insisted her wife would try her hoof at creating some of her own jewellery. Then at least she wouldn't have to feel it was just her fumbling amateurishly. And although she tried to praise Diamond as the obviously superior artisan, she had turned the compliment right back around by claiming she was merely competent, and not a natural talent like Silver herself. Despite the impasse, Silver Spoon felt good about herself. Even if her work wasn't worth selling, surely Diamond Tiara could handle herself better?

Arriving home, Diamond saw Princess Twilight was outside, pacing about. She seemed nervous. Approaching, she greeted her resident alicorn ruler.

"Afternoon, your highness. Have you been waiting long?" She asked, drawing her attention.

"Oh, yes in fact. But that's not important. And you don't have to call me highness." Twilight reminded.

"You seem a bit disappointed. Did the investigation not go well?" Diamond Tiara opened the door to allow Princess Twilight in, but she apparently decided to remain out in the front yard.

"That's not the issue. I did gather more clues. I identified hoofsteps from a pony that was clearly not either of you two, and they matched one of two sets around Berry Pinch's home. I checked with Applejack to confirm my theory about the source of the rotten apples, and she confirmed she sold in bulk to Berry Punch. The last batch would indeed have been overripe by now. The stone thrown through your window had no marks of having been picked up by mouth or hoof like non-unicorn ponies would do, which suggests a unicorn threw it. Which is Berry Pinch's race. There was the newspaper page about Berry's mother's latest... legal problems from the Ponyville Express you were once the editor-in-chief to, Diamond Tiara. So I gathered up the more recent stories about Berry Punch from the Express. I hoped that, taking it all together, Mrs. Mare would take a closer look at your vandalism trouble and realize it's unlikely that it was Apple Bloom." Twilight retold.

"So what went wrong?" Diamond asked, expecting the mayor had just stonewalled her efforts.

"She concluded that it had to be Berry Punch instead of her daughter. She argued it was the more direct explanation for where the apple came from, the motive that you headed the newspaper that printed embarrassing stories about her, and that the hoofprints in the dirt at both houses could be hers because she has probable reason to visit her daughter's house. I'm sorry Diamond Tiara, but she just wasn't hearing any argument to the contrary." Twilight looked defeated, seeming to regret casting suspicion on Berry Punch.

"I could have told you that." Diamond Tiara scoffed, but tried her hardest to mind her manners. "I appreciate your help, Princess. You've done us a service someone of your standing didn't have to do. Mayor Mare is just fixated on ponies who bother her like me and Berry Punch, and won't see the bigger picture."

"I thought she was better than this. I'm disappointed with the mayor. All smiles in public, but deliberately obtuse about some ponies she privately doesn't like." Twilight sighed, her head hung low. "I should be heading home. Spike is no doubt worried why I've been out so long. If he's not been reading his comic books instead of ordering books that is."

"I was going to offer you tea but I understand you'll want to go home." Diamond Tiara said. "I'm going to see the guard to try and get Berry Punch off the hook. She doesn't deserve to be framed for this, and I'd wager it'll only make things worse with Berry Pinch if she's arrested for her shenanigans. Good evening, Princess." She waved a polite goodbye.

"Good night girls." Twilight wished back, not even bothering to tell them to forego the formal title.

"You're going to see the guards right now?" Silver asked, seemingly worried.

"Yes, I want to avoid Berry Punch being misblamed before it has a chance to escalate." She took notice of her wife's worry, and paused. "If Berry Pinch hears about this, she'll be going to the guard station instead of our house for more revenge. You shouldn't worry. And if I run into her there, I can handle her."

"I hope so. Take care, sugar lump." Silver wished as she retreated back into their home.

* * *

The Ponyville guard station was a fairly unremarkable building for a police force. That it didn't have many ponies to staff it may have been the reason it wasn't a dedicated structure like they had in Canterlot or Manehatten. Entering, Diamond Tiara saw the it was too late to prevent anypony from dragging in Berry Punch, who was seated before the desk of the station's incompetent sergeant, Hot Grill.

"I want you to confess!" The sergeant demanded, seemingly in the middle of his infamous interrogations. "I want to know what you were doing at that house!"

"I don't know." Berry Punch sobbed, a confused mess of a pony.

Sergeant Hot Grill was the perfect Bad Cop for an interrogation. It was just too bad this town didn't have a Good Cop to balance him out, and that often led to a miscarriage of justice. Diamond felt her stomach churn at what he was doing to Berry in her name, but didn't have the courage to interrupt him. Not many ponies in town would have.

"You don't know? Are you implying that your horseshoes and all that detritus made their way over to Mrs. Diamond's house under their own power, deviously tracked prints all over the area, the proceeded to toss itself at the walls and windows until there was refuse and rotten apples all over the yard?" Grill hypothesized with only a slight hint of sarcasm.

"...Yes?" Berry Punch must have endured this for a while if this seemed like an acceptable answer to her.

"We got our evidence from Princess Twilight herself, who dutifully investigated, sacrificing her valuable time. She found hoofprints matching those outside your house, and an abundance of spoiled apples just like the ones in your storage shed. Are you saying the Princess is a liar?" Hot Grill roared at the mare, who shrunk back into her seat.

"N-no!" 

"Then you admit those are yours!?" He continued, leaning in closer until Berry Punch couldn't back away any more.

"I don't- Maybe it- I have no idea." She wailed desperately.

"Aww, you have no idea. Maybe the judge will have an idea when we present him with these clues. Maybe he'll tell you about the crime you committed that you'll be punished for." He mockingly lectured her.

"Alright, I did it! I did it, okay? What else do you want to hear from me? How much more are you going to pin on me before the Mayor's satisfied?" Berry Punch begged and sniffled.

"So you admit. You admit to vandalism as a hate crime against Mrs. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon? You're willing to make a statement to my deputy confirming your guilt? As part of some plea bargain?" Hot Grill seemed satisfied with himself, and a lot less aggressive now.

"Yes, yes! Whatever. Just stop harassing me. I'm sorry the mayor hates me and I can't do anything right! I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Berry wept, seemingly broken.

Diamond shuddered to think how long she'd endured this. Not just today, but every time Hot Grill had brought her in for anything she may or may not have done. She had to tell Hot Grill she wasn't going to press the issue. She forgot all about Berry Pinch, who she had know was truly responsible, just to save her own conscience. 

Berry Punch was taken to the back of the station by a deputy while Diamond Tiara approached the desk of Hot Grill.

"Ah, welcome missus. You may have seen we already have the culprit in custody. She confessed to the crime after throughout questioning." He greeted her, rather satisfied with himself.

"You were shouting at her." Diamond Tiara pointed out, with disapproval in her voice.

"Just exploiting her psyche. Criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot. Coffee?." He held up his own cup, revealing a dark black broth Diamond knew would suffocate her taste buds for days. 

"I've come here for Berry Punch's release, not for coffee." She spoke insistently. 

"I think she's already here for that." He nodded towards the entrance.

Diamond Tiara turned back to see Berry Pinch enter, a purse tied around her neck. No doubt she's come to pay her mother's bail. Her eyes met Diamond Tiara's, and she felt extremely awkward after the way Hot Grill had treated her mother. Berry Pinch marched on, to speak to another mare at the station who led her away into the back.

"Anyway, she's confessed, so this case is open-and-shut. You can rest assured this won't happen to you again." Hot Grill drew back her attention, leaning back with satisfaction.

"This isn't done, you have the wrong mare. Berry Pinch was the one who did this. Your boss is deliberately misinterpreting Princess Twilight's evidence to match her vendetta against Berry Punch." Diamond Tiara explained, but found her words didn't affect him.

"We'd have to do a closer identification of the hoofprints to find a match with Berry Pinch. But why should we, when her mother just confessed she did it?" He asked.

"Because she is an emotional wreck who will confess to anything if you verbally abuse her enough. Meanwhile the real culprit is paying her bail." Diamond pointed towards the back, where the two Berries had disappeared. 

"Take it up with the judge, I've done all I am strictly required to do. This case is shut." 

"This case is a miscarriage of justice! Are you willing to make a fool out of our judiciary just because you are lazy?" Diamond Tiara was getting aggravated at his insufferable stubbornness.

"I don't get what the big deal is. The law exists to be a deterrent against crime. The way I see it, we're making an example of a troublemaker here. Why should we care if it's the mother or the daughter if all we need is for one to serve as a warning for what will happen if you disturb the peace?" Hot Grill kept refusing, proving once more why family relations should never be the reason for an appointment to a certain job.

"I am withdrawing my complaint. I absolve Berry Punch of all the charges." Diamond played her trump card. Better that she'd let Berry Pinch get away with this than allow this travesty to happen in her name.

"You can't do that. This is a public order case. She'll be tried against the Equestrian justice system, and not against you." The sergeant denied, and Diamond Tiara didn't have the legal expertise to debate him on the finer points of the law. Not that she believed it would have been very hard.

"This is mistake. You are going to let her daughter walk free." Diamond Tiara wondered just why Mayor Mare wasn't interested in getting to Berry Punch by bringing trouble to her daughter. Maybe she had standards, family values. "You might just make it worse by making her angry."

"If this harassment was really her fault, she'll have to stop it. Berry Punch is already on thin ice so shortly after assaulting the mayor. If we have to haul in her mother for repeat offences while out on bail, she can kiss her bits goodbye." Hot Grill argued.

Diamond Tiara was miffed he was making this about money, but she had to admit there was a point behind his reasoning that Berry Pinch would put her mom in more trouble if she did something Berry Punch was already suspected off while on bail. If she cared as much about her mother that she'd want to vandalize her home as revenge, Berry Pinch be smarter than to provoke the incompetent, lazy sergeant into locking her mother behind bars in anticipation of the trial.

As Hot Grill got up to start filing away things from his desk, Berry Pinch and her mother re-entered the room and headed out the station, the daughter having draped her foreleg around a sobbing, distraught Berry Punch. As they moved past her, Berry Pinch stopped and leaned in close to Diamond Tiara.

"This isn't over, not by long. I will hurt you, worse than you have my mother for getting her involved in this. And I will make you pray to Celestia that I'll end my torment of you." Berry Pinch threatened as she whispered into Diamond's ear before she put her leg back around her mother to steady her as they walked out the station.

Diamond Tiara stood in place, long after they had left. She dreaded that Berry Pinch would fulfil that promise, and worried if she had gotten Silver Spoon in more danger by trying to get Twilight's help against the bullying.

> Fabricated Stories
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 16: Fabricated Stories




Diamond Tiara returned home sullenly, and found Silver Spoon at the dinner table, head held in her hooves. She looked as though she had been worrying since she left.

"I'm home, Silver." She announced, causing her wife to look up from the table.

"Please tell me you have some good news." She begged, making Diamond grimace in regret.

"Have you spent the whole time pondering about how things could have gone wrong? Anyway, no, I have no good news. Berry Punch shattered under the strain of her squabble with the mayor and confessed to all the damage that has been done to our house. But she's just desperate to placate Mayor Mare and not in her right mind. Berry Pinch bailed her out as I was there. And she was peeved." Diamond explained, causing Silver Spoon's head to droop again.

Wanting to reassure wife, Diamond moved over to Silver and put her leg around her head, pulling her into a hug.

"Come on, sweetheart. It's not so bad. I can't help it that the authorities hold grudges I'm no part of. I feel bad for Berry Punch, but other than my concern for her daughter's reactions, this doesn't concern us." She held Silver for a moment before she disengaged, a more determined look on her face.

"I forgot, we have mail from Babs Seed." She informed Diamond, and stood up to retrieve a letter from an end table which she showed to Diamond Tiara.

The letter told her Babs had returned to Manehatten by now, and she hadn't forgotten to look up the address of Diamond Tiara's mother. It was actually her work address, but it was the most direct lead publicly available. Further telling the two of them she hoped they could spend more time together in Manehatten again when the two of them came to visit Diamond's mom. Diamond Tiara smiled faintly, for the first time in weeks she felt happy for herself, and not just that she was doing her duty as a wife and breadwinner. This was something for herself.

"Silver, how would you feel if we took a sudden weekend vacation to Manehattan?" She smiled as she folded the letter.

"You mean to see your mother?" Silver guessed. "Make no mistake, I'm glad for you, but how sudden is sudden?"

"I mean right now. We pack up and take the next train to Manehattan." 

"Isn't that abrupt? What about money? Can we afford that? What about the house? We can't just leave it unguarded so soon after Berry Pinch's mother was framed." Silver objected, but Diamond lay her hooves on her shoulders to reassure her.

"Berry Pinch isn't going to do squat if she doesn't want to draw more attention to herself after her mother was freed on bail. And I still have enough money from the loan I took to last us long enough even through a weekend hotel stay in the city. I need this Silver. It's been so long since I've seen my mom, I can barely remember anything about her. This is my chance to rediscover my family, and I want you there with me."

Silver wilted under Diamond's pleas. "Oh sugar lump, you know I'd always stand by you. Of course I'll go. To be honest, I want to put this mess here in Ponyville out of my mind and forget about it, if only for one weekend."


* * *


After packing for the weekend and catching the evening train to Manehattan, the duo arrived the same night. Booking a hotel in midtown was easy as well, as the upscale locations were rarely book full. Indulging in the luxury of their accommodation and getting a night's rest unlike what they'd gotten at home the last weeks, the two of them set out for the address in the Garment District of the city, the designing studio where Diamond's mother worked.

"You made the sleeves too long. When I said I wanted them less poofy I didn't mean lengthen them. I don't even know what I pay you for." A pink earth pony with mare than a passing resemblance to Diamond Tiara admonished an assistant mare.

"Ahum, pardon us." Diamond called out, making the mare turn around to face them, and Diamond's mouth fell open at the recognition of her mother. It had been many years ago, but she remembered. Her mother had barely changed at all.

"Yes? Do I know you? I don't believe I had an appointment for Saturday." The mare replied irritably.

"Don't you recognise me? I'm your daughter, Diamond Tiara. I came here from Ponyville because a friend told me you work here now." She pleaded, hoping for a spark of recognition.

And the mare did, and her expression immediately changed from sour to sweet.

"Di! Is it really you? I can't believe after all these years you've finally come." The boss mare ran up and put a hoof around Diamond, embracing her for a good long while. "Who's your friend?" She asked as she let go and noticed Silver Spoon.

"Mom, this is my wife, Silver Spoon." Diamond pointed at her, before pointing her other at her mother. "Silver, this is my mother. Suri Polomare."

"How are you?" Silver asked as she shook Suri's hoof.

"Peachy, child. So nice to see my daughter got hitched to such a well groomed mare. I remember the Silvers, I'm surprised you two hit it off so well. I couldn't really see eye to eye with them. Oh, but where are my manners." Suri turned her head to her beleaguered assistant. "Coco, is that coffee done yet? I told you to make some fifteen minutes ago."

"Yes, Suri. I'll go get it." The cream furred mare ducked her head and slinked off.

"She needs a stern hoof or that mare would never get anything right. If I wasn't so generous to keep her around, Coco would be lost." Suri explained as she began to lead the two mares out of the studio room and into the adjacent break room next to the kitchen where Coco was fidgeting with the cups.

"I get you, finding good help is so hard." Diamond agreed. "That's why I'm glad I quit working at the Ponyville Express to open up my own jewellery store with Silver just a short while ago." She boasted, hoping to impress her mother.

"Congratulations! Wow, I'm not at all amazed a filly who is my offspring would succeed in the world of high fashion. You have to send me samples." Suri praised as the three of them sat down to talk.

"I already gave one to my benefactor Rarity, without whom I wouldn't have had the inspiration. You remember Rarity from Ponyville, right mother?" Diamond inquired. Being fellow townsponies it was no surprise the two fashionistas had known each other since Diamond Tiara was a filly.

"Oh, I remember Rarity." Suri's tone dropped some of it joviality. "Last time we met, she had changed. For the worst I'd say."

"Why, what happened?" Silver wanted to know. Rarity was always known for her generous spirit around Ponyville. She couldn't imagine her having a rivalry with somepony.

"It was quite awful actually. I had worked for months if not years on a new fabric. So light, so shimmering, it was going to make me the victor of the Manehattan fashion week competition for sure." Suri accepted a mug of coffee from Coco, who seemed to cringe for some reason.

"But then shortly before the competition, that impostor, that... Rarity stole the pattern! I had worked so long on it, and I didn't think to keep any of my notes I made during the creation process. The secret towards creating my new special fabric and a whole bolt of cloth were just stolen from my designing workshop. Coco Pommel here had betrayed me and helped Rarity get her hooves on it so she could win the competition, and in exchange for getting Rarity's job making the costumes for a Bridleway musical." 

Coco Pommel hung her head, putting down Diamond and Silver's coffee while averting her eyes from Suri.

"I wasn't able to make new fabric for my dresses, and Rarity patented it soon after to make Equestria think it was her invention." Suri explained, clearly hurt at this injustice.

"That does not sound like Rarity at all. The Rarity I know wouldn't steal or claim credit for somepony else's work." Diamond Tiara responded, incredulous. She just couldn't see the resident embodiment of selflessness stoop so low.

"Deary, if there is one thing you should learn about Manehattan, it is that it's everypony for herself out here. The fashion industry can be a ruthless business. I'm sure that in Ponyville, Rarity can afford to be all smiles and trustworthy, with discounts for friends and regulars. But she's come further than your little village and she wouldn't have if she played nice and naive out here, beyond Ponyville." Suri reasoned and took a sip of her coffee. "What are you sitting in here for? Can't you see this is a family reunion? You have dress sleeves to restore." Suri snarled at Coco Pommel, sitting at the table with her hooves in her lap.

"..Sorry Suri." Coco whispered as she slowly got up and trotted out the door to take the rack of designer clothes back into the work atelier. 

"You'll have to excuse me, Di. It's just that it's been years and everytime I'm reminded of how Coco cheated me with that little strumpet, I can't help get upset, even though I don't try to make a big deal out of it." Suri apologized.

"No, I can understand." Diamond looked deep into her mug. 

She had always looked up to Rarity, and now that pedestal she'd placed her on was broken. But her mother wouldn't have lied, would she? Diamond knew there was truth to her words, she knew all about the ruthless business life, and it was tiring sometimes. It was honestly not a surprise that even Rarity could remain unsoiled by such cynical practices.

"Why would you allow Coco to work for you even after ruining your work?" Silver asked, clearly finding that hard to believe.

"Oh, I guess I just am too good for her. She was so eager to work as my apprentice and make her way up the career ladder. Even though she clearly doesn't have the talent I have. I was pretty upset that she stole from me, just to get her short sighted job for the Hinney of the Hills musical show. Of course, after she completed all those new outfits, they just paid her, gave her some thanks, and sent her on her way. With nowhere to go. She had no contacts, no prospects, no reputation, is it any wonder Rarity get her a dead end stint doing the dirty work for a job she promised in exchange for some tickets? Tssk, someponies saddle up poor ponies like Coco with work they should be doing themselves." Suri shook her head in disbelief. "So she came back, tail tucked between her legs to ask if she could have her old job back. And being the gracious fool that I am, I agreed. Sure, I'm hard on the girl sometimes. But in the end, where would she be without me? Even if she didn't quite deserve a second chance."

"That's really kind. I don't know if I could forgive a pony who broke my trust." Silver Spoon said.

Diamond stared into her mug again, before taking a drink.

"It's so nice of you to say that. Will you and Di be in Manehattan for long?" Suri asked.

"Just this weekend, but I hope that from now on, we can get to spend more time visiting, right 'Di'?" Silver inquired, nudging her wife.

"Oh, sure. It's great to finally have a parent we can actually talk to. Mother, can we see some of your designs?" Diamond Tiara asked as she got to her feet.

"I probably shouldn't be unveiling my newest creations, but I have some other line I can show you. You would love to strut them around Ponyville, I'm sure of it." Suri gleamed as she began to lead the two mares into the studio area.

> Seed of Doubt
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 17: Seed of Doubt




Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had to cut their time with Suri Polomare short for dinner with Babs. It was, after all, thanks to their friend that Diamond had been able to reconnect with her mother. The chosen establishment was a little typical for a city pony, picking a table at Hinny's. As much as Diamond enjoyed going to Ponyville's hayburger establishment, and no matter how Princess Twilight made it seem okay to pig out on fast food, as an adult she just felt she had grown out of these burger joints. Still, she could not deny herself the guilty pleasure of a ketchup-soaked hayburger with a pile of fries.

"So what's she like? Your mom." Babs asked as she put down her own platter and squeezed herself onto the bench. "I like to know my efforts weren't a waste of time."

"She was very warm after I introduced myself, and I'm happy that she's a big name in the Manehattan fashion industry. It's just..." Diamond let the words hang, not really knowing if she could segueway into what was bothering her.

"Well, spit it out. You can trust your friend, DT." Babs encouraged.

Placing her head in her hooves, Diamond Tiara admitted what was bothering her. "It's just that she levelled some accusations at Rarity. Things that seem so unlike her. I don't know if I should be calling her a liar, or if the quaint village outlook made me blind to Rarity's faults. She was something of a role model to me once. Classy, more sophisticated than the ponies around us, a mare that pulled herself up by the shoe nails to become a fashion designer." Her thoughts went to her teens, after she realized that having a princess live in their midst was novel and all, but that there were better ponies to emulate. And ironically it was the sister of a filly she despised.

"Maybe you need to hear the other side of the story before making that judgement." Babs replied after an uncomfortable silence.

"I agree, Rarity ought to be allowed to defend herself against Suri's account, sugar lump." Silver Spoon interjected. "Not that I'm calling your mom a liar. But there must be some truth to it that makes them both right and Suri just misunderstands Rarity."

"I don't really want to ask Rarity." Diamond Tiara shook her head. "What if it's true? And she gets mad that I bring it up? I don't want to think of Rarity as a thief and a plagiarist, but I've seen some of the fabric matching my mother's description. How do I just ignore something that bothers me?"

"You can try seperating what your mom said about Rarity from how you view her." Babs encouraged her. "Whatever it is between them, you don't have to be part of it. They live in different parts of the country, so they're not gonna get into a fight where you're put on the spot and forced to choose. You have the luxury of staying neutral."

"I... suppose that's true. I don't really want to be involved in this anyway." Diamond Tiara conceded. "I just gained a mother, I don't want to lose her again. And Rarity's been too kind to us. I can't just throw this in her face and be ungrateful."

"Aunt Applejack always said there was nothing more important than friends but family. I didn't want to get caught up in the spats you two had with my cousin after I found out what a hellion I'd become. Have I been unfair since our first summer together?" 

"No, no you haven't." Diamond bowed her head in shame. "Honestly, it's kind of a surprise you wanted to have anything to do with us after you and Apple Bloom made up. I think a lesser pony would have stuck with her and began to hate on us."

"Hey, somepony had to keep you two in line. And the time you spent with me the next years you didn't go looking for trouble with Apple Bloom, because I refused. See how you can stick with your friends and love your family at the same time?" Babs demonstrated to them both.

"You kept our secret of how I loved Diamond even though you threatened to tell it if we bothered Apple Bloom. For a long time I didn't know whether to be grateful or be afraid." Silver Spoon admitted. "But while I was stuck at conversion camp you were the only friend I was allowed to write letters to and even though they wouldn't let me write or read any letters that would give me 'wrong ideas', the ones that got through to me really helped my spirits in there. Just being able to rant about small issues that didn't hit any of their counsellors' buzzwords let me know at least somepony cared."

"Actually, I feel pretty bad about threatening to tell your parents about the gay thing." Babs twirled her hoof awkwardly. "I was blackmailing you two to stay out of Apple Bloom's mane. I feel that was really low and I can't apologize enough. But I'm glad our correspondence helped you through your darkest time, Sylvie. To tell you the truth it was Aunt AJ who told me to stop mentioning orientation and DT after I complained to her all my letters kept bouncing. She was pretty appalled at what you had to go through because you were different, but told me to avoid the subject for the sake of being able to help you in other ways."

"Maybe I should thank her sometime. I never knew she cared. We were awful to her sister." Silver Spoon drowned some of her sorrows with milkshake to cope with the brooding atmosphere.

"Not as awful as what you had to go through. I honestly didn't do anything another pony wouldn't. Sorry I revealed your secret to Aunt AJ. I wouldn't have if I wasn't sure she'd be cool with it." Babs apologized, but Diamond Tiara waved her concern aside.

"Applejack probably already knew a while before. She can tell when you're hiding the truth." 

"So," Silver Spoon began, changing the topic to something less loaded. "How's your job as a stylist treating you?"

"I prefer the term barber, it sounds less girly." Babs grimaced.

"What's wrong with that? Unless..." Silver began to wonder, but Babs cut her off.

"Look, I'm just a butch mare who likes stallions, okay? I get enough comments about having a scissors cutie mark from ponies I don't like, don't you two start as well."

"I'm sorry, it's just that you're a tomboy and you know, were really insecure as a teenager and liked to talk about hunky stallions more than any of us." Diamond backtracked, trying to defuse the conversation.

"You're gay, you two never liked hunky stallions. You're the ones who pretended. Just 'cuz I'm a tomboy doesn't mean anything, that's offensive."

"Looks like somepony's stuck in the closet." Silver Spoon sing-sang.

"Why don't you let us help you discover for yourself? I've always wanted to get a third mare involved with Silver and me." Diamond Tiara teased.

"You'll regret that, DT!" Babs dove across the table and grabbed Diamond in a headlock before proceeding to grind her hoof across her cranium. "Say I'm no dyke. I'm telling you to cry uncle."

"Alright, alright, you're straight. Please, no noogies!" Diamond pleaded.

"And don't you forget it! You don't want to get swirlies in this joint, trust me."

Silver Spoon immediately stopped eating from the chocolate swirl in front of her and pushed it away. "So why the tough girl act? I mean, if it's not the hormones, then why?"

"Do I have to have some sort of reason to be myself?" Babs looked her in the eyes, but seemed to wilt under the curious stares of Diamond and Silver. "Fine, I guess foalhood caused it. I used to be a target for bullies when I didn't have a cutie mark. That's why I so easily turned into one for Apple Bloom when you two started teasing me about it as well. I tried to ask my big sister for help after I learned my lesson, but when I got my cutie mark I found out it wasn't about that or being 'immature' at all. It's just an easy way to pick at a pony's vulnerability. And things weren't going so well at home. My mom and dad were usually away, and when they were home they'd often fight. They honestly were glad to put me in somepony else's care when they got the chance so we didn't all have to be together as a family. Which is why I got to spend so much time in Ponyville. My sis and me just had to learn to take care of ourselves. And because I became rather mature for my age that way, I spent a lot of time on the streets when my parents were home and I didn't want to stick around for their arguments. And when you spend so much time out on the streets of Manehattan dealing with bullying and peer pressure, you have to be pretty bad to avoid becoming a bad mare."

"That doesn't make any sense." Silver Spoon said.

"You know, bad. Cool, rad, hip, groovy." Babs summed up.

"I get it, so you just kept up the pretence for protection." Diamond Tiara interrupted.

"Pretty much I guess. I think after a while it just started to become a part of me. I think I'm losing my edge though, I'm talking to you two like it's not bad for my image."

"Hey, we are both plenty stylish! We have class no pony in Manehattan ever did." Diamond responded, indignant.

"Maybe they're saving it all to blow you off your hooves. But I'm joshing. I think having an actual job, my own place and a social life means I don't want to risk that to go make stupid mistakes and be a nobody. You just sort of make peace with where you started from, you know? My big sis has already moved on, now it's my turn. My parents are still not getting along, but if they were sticking together for our sake, we're not standing in the way of their happiness. I'm guessing you two know how things change as you start your own life, make your own choices?"

"I suppose I do." Diamond Tiara admitted. "I didn't have a lot of contact with my dad, and now it's even less. But I don't actually feel worse because I have a wife, a business now, a home. Before I just wanted him to notice me because he was supposed to, I needed validation. Now, I don't need his approval. It would just make me happy if we could talk more, as equals. Not as a co-dependant filly."

"At least you and Rich are on speaking terms." Silver Spoon said glumly. "My parents wanted grandchildren and won't talk to me because that's the one thing Diamond Tiara won't give me."

"Hey now, you don't need your parents, Silvie. That's what I'm trying to say. We all wish we had the perfect Equestrian magical family. But we didn't get one, so we just make do. You have DT. And even if you can't have children, what's the use in crying? Your parents had you and they didn't appreciate their blessings!" Babs tried cheering up Silver Spoon.

"I guess you have a point. I shouldn't waste my tears over what can't be. Their loss if they don't look past some supposed grandchildren I'm not giving them." Silver Spoon put on brave words, only for her slumped look to get more depressed.

Diamond put her leg around her as a gesture of comfort, not oblivious to the lie. She made a mental note she'd ask her mother the next day she'd visit her home for something special to cheer Silver up.

> Sellout
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 18: Sellout


Diamond Tiara was at her mother's penthouse in the Midtown area of Manehattan, catching up on years of separation. Silver had decided against coming, knowing Diamond would probably want this to be an intimate family bonding moment, and decided to spend time with Babs. Diamond expected she was probably being dragged along to some extreme sports event, which she knew neither Silver or herself understood. She was perfectly content to miss all that rowdy stuff to have coffee with her mother.

"Mom, why did you walk out on us? I know you said it was about fashion, but you must not have loved dad much. He never seemed sad you divorced him." Of course there were different reasons for couples to separate, but the lack of emotional attachment from Filthy Rich always puzzled Diamond.

Suri sighed as she put away her coffee. "I knew this was coming. Di, your father was always more interested in doing business. I felt like I didn't even exist to him. Oh he probably acknowledged that I was the mother of his little princess, but he was reluctant to spend time with me even before you were born. I had always dreamed of starting a career in Manehattan, and I hoped I could get him to go along and we could all live in the city. But he just brushed that idea off, he was too attached to his family roots in Ponyville even though I could never have succeeded in a small village. So when I got an offer from a modelling agent who needed a skilled hoof to do extra needle work and repairs, I immediately took my chance. We quarrelled over me going to Manehattan, and about you. He felt you needed stability, friends, a familiar setting and a dependable schoolteacher more than you'd need me. I think after that night, I just realized for the first time why he had married me at all, and why he never showed he loved me anymore."

"And why is that?" Diamond asked, glued to the edge of her seat.

"He just wanted a heir to his family business. And... after two miscarriages he just gave up on me. The first time, I was able to restore my trust in our love when I became pregnant with you, Di. But then when we were going to give you a little brother or sister, the doctors informed me there had been an accident and I would never have another foal. That's when your father stopped caring about me and buried himself in more work." Suri told, genuinely affected by the memories it dredged up.

Diamond could believe that. Her father's response to any adversity was to work harder. It was rare for him to discipline her for her bad behaviour in school instead of sealing himself away in his study and hammering away at investing, stocks, business plans and more. Diamond could remember only one example where he had made her spend time with Apple Bloom during zap apple season, and even that time he'd pushed his responsibility on Applejack and Granny Smith instead of taking the time himself. 

"What about me? Why didn't you try to take me with you? At least write me or come see me at my most important moments growing up?" 

"I...just..." Suri stared at her hooves, seemingly looking for an answer as well. "Taking you away from him never seemed like a smart option. He'd fight every inch to keep you. He was not going to let me win a custody battle lying down. And because I'm the one who walked out first, and he had all the money, he would have won eventually by stalling the whole process. Equestrian law sides with the mother in these cases, but lawyer fees are expensive. Whatever you may think of his neglectful parenting skills, don't ever doubt that you are important to your father and that he'd use his entire fortune to ensure your future."

"But what about just visiting? Were you really on such bad terms you didn't want to come to my Cute-ceañera, or birthdays, or graduation?" Diamond pressed. Her stomach twisted in a way that made her wonder if she actually wanted an answer at all.

"I was just very busy with my career. I was going to write, but every time I planned to I just didn't get around to it." Suri explained in a way that just didn't sit right with Diamond Tiara.

She was still avoiding the question. Just like she had been avoiding her daughter for years. Her parents had both been neglectful career builders in their own way who never showed her any love. She wanted to get up and leave. She wished she could hide her face from her mother. She tried to keep her tears inside, but she was simply frozen in place and she felt them streaming down her cheeks.

"Do you want me to make up for it? I might have a nice evening dress here that would make a nice gift." Suri suggested, but that failed to placate Diamond Tiara.

"Why does everypony think giving me things will make up for ignoring me?" She sighed as she put her coffee away, feeling as though she should just leave.

"Hold on, it's nearly Hearts and Hooves day isn't it? Don't you want something lovely to wear for your special somepony? Or give it as a gift to Silver? Or have you already bought something else for her?" Diamond admitted she didn't have the money for a proper gift. "I have a beautiful little piece. It's black, I think it's exactly Sil's size."

It was better than trying to buy her own loyalty, Diamond Tiara thought. That Suri was showing some investment in their marriage was a slightly more noble thing than what she was used to. Perhaps there was hope for reconciling with her mother after all.


* * *


Their weekend in Manehattan had gone by too fast. The time that Diamond and Silver had spent with Babs and Suri went by too quickly. But it had been a good distraction from their problems in Ponyville. Good enough that only halfway back on the train did they remember why they had wanted to leave anyway. They dreaded to see what state their lives would be in now that they made it back, but upon arriving home that evening, the two ponies found their house had remained mercifully clean for once. It seemed their 'anonymous' provocateur had decided not to bring more trouble on both their sides as predicted. This at least allowed the couple to sleep soundly at home for once. What they found out the next day would ensure such things weren't happening again for some time.

"What in Celestia's name?" Uttered Silver Spoon as she and her partner arrived at the jewellery store for work the next morning.

"You have to be kidding me. This has to be a nightmare. Please let me wake up in our Manehattan hotel room." Diamond Tiara brought a hoof to her face.

The as-of-yet unopened store Diamond had set up as their breadwinning business had most of its windows smashed and its door lay on the ground by the entrance. 

"The shop... it's been broken into." Silver stated the obvious.

Making their way inside, they found some of the display cases shattered and the walls carved with some crude implements. Thankfully no spoiled fruit or other detritus was left on the walls or the floor, but by Diamond's estimates the damage would be costly in terms of revenue lost due to closure while the shop went into repair. And Diamond knew she was almost out of bits. Her calculations had not taken into account this setback.

"The inventory. Please let the inventory be spared." Diamond nearly panicked as she tried to open the door into the workshop, fearing some truly catastrophic consequences if the perpetrator had stolen the crafted jewellery she and Silver had manage to prepare previously.

To her relief, she found the door to the workshop locked, as she had left it. Opening the room and taking stock, there was some small comfort from the fact that none of the machinery or finished products had been stolen or damaged. But there wasn't much else about this situation to cheer her up.

"You do have some money leftover still, do you, sugar lump?" Silver asked nervously.

"No, I don't." Diamond sighed in defeat. "I didn't even have the time to take out any insurance on the place before this happened. I'm afraid to say it, but I-I think we're well and truly bankrupt."

"No! No, that can't be. There must still be a way to salvage all this! I had just discovered I liked working here before this happened. It can't end like this! There must be something we can do." Silver Spoon denied what she had just heard.

"The bank already lent a fortune." Diamond's muscles tensed as she awkwardly considered the trouble she had gotten herself and Silver into. If she had only kept her stupid mouth shut to Berry Pinch... "I... I really don't want to crawl to them begging for more money. But I'm afraid I have no other choice. Whatever it takes to keep us afloat."

"Yes, whatever it takes." Silver repeated, sounding bereft of mirth. "How do we make sure something like this won't happened a second time even if you get the damage fixed?"

"We'll have to push back the opening, get some labour to do all the redecorating. That won't be cheap, but if we just rely on local services this'll take far too long. Every day we aren't in business, we'll be bleeding more money. I don't know, maybe they have some work exchange ponies in Cloudsdale or Canterlot we can bring in. As for prevention, there's not that much I can think of. This happened right in town square. This is supposed to be the busiest part of Ponyville, and yet you can smash in storefront windows without anypony taking notice. I guess they came at night then. Not many ponies actually live in the shops lining the square. So if we're supposed to stop this, we'll have to be among the first."

"You mean move into the store? Sleep here through the night to catch the culprit?" Silver started to shake.

"You bet, and if I ever do catch them..." She decided not to scare Silver further with the details of what she'd plan on doing. "There's an upstairs floors. It's by far not as spacious as our house, but it can accommodate a bedroom, kitchen and toilet. We can camp out there. At least until we have something better to prevent further vandalism attempts."

But Silver started to back away, still trembling. "Diamond Tiara... I can't. I don't want to go on like this. I'm scared. It was bad enough that this happened to us at home, but now you want us to move into our store in hopes we'll get attacked?"

"Silver, I want to prevent that. Maybe if Berry Pinch notices we've taken up residence she won't try to get at us here. We've got to stand up for ourselves and protect what must stay ours. We can't let others drive us out of town in fear. It isn't right!"

"No. No, I promised to stay with you through everything on our wedding but this..." Silver Spoon faltered as she looked around the store. "I just can't feel safe anymore around you. I'm sorry, Diamond."

"What are you saying?" Diamond questioned, with a lump in her throat.

"Lyra and Bon Bon offered me a place over at their residence. I-I'm going to take them up on it. I don't like this. I just want to feel safe again." 

"Dearest, we're married. I can't go on without you." Diamond Tiara protested.

"And I can't go on looking over my shoulder and having to feel threatened. I'm sorry, sugar lump." Silver said amidst tears. "I still love you, and I want to work here and rebuild our dreams. But I can't live here. I just- I just need to be somewhere where I can have my mind at rest. I'll go pack up a few things and see if Bon Bon's offer is still open. Stay in this place if you're determined to guard it, but you have to do so without me. Goodbye, sugar lump." Silver croaked at the last words regretfully before turning away and leaving the building.



> Genesis Terminator
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 19: Genesis Terminator




Diamond stood at the doorstep of her father's mansion for a long time, working up the courage to knock. When she finally did, she was greeted by one of the staff.

"Welcome missus Tiara. I take it you are here to see your father?" The butler inquired.

"I am, I need to speak to him." She confirmed and was let in.

Filthy Rich arrived in the living room a minute after Diamond had taken a seat on the couch.

"I hadn't expected you angel. This isn't really a good time." Rich protested weakly, but Diamond wasn't having it this time.

"Wrong, this is exactly the time. We need to talk about your divorce to mom, and what led up to it." She demanded forcefully.

"So you've been talking to Suri?" Rich guessed, not bothering to wait for Diamond to confirm this. "It figures you would one day. So I guess we'll have to talk this out now."

Diamond could tell he wasn't happy this was happening now. Although he probably wasn't happy about it ever. "Yes, let's talk. Did you push us both away just because mom couldn't have another foal like you wanted?"

"It's not like that. Is that actually what Suri told you happened?" Rich was pacing before he stopped to lay out the truth of the matter. "I pushed her away because she aborted the foal she was carrying and knowingly took the risk she'd never bear foals again. Suri went behind my back to do it, broke the law doing it, and expected me to not report her crime."

"What? Mom never mentioned anything about terminating her third pregnancy." Diamond declared.

"Maybe she's ashamed to let you know. Maybe she is psychologically scarred by the ordeal and convinced herself it was a miscarriage. Maybe she is just a manipulative mule who doesn't want to look bad in front of her daughter." That was just too far for Diamond Tiara. There was no need for epithets. 

"Dad! There is no need for that. I doubt you were free of blame yourself in the whole ordeal." She accused her father. Despite her years of adoration of him, she now wanted him to own up.

"Maybe that's true. We did have a fight over 'it' over the course of weeks with her screaming how she was never anything more than a brood mare to me. She told me she had attempted to get through many times before the incident. Maybe she was lying about that, maybe I was too obtuse to see it or maybe she was right I was more concerned with my work. Maybe we stallions do have trouble picking up subtle hints that mares give or notice. Regardless of how it happened, we never really went back to loving each other as we should have. I kept quiet about the whole thing for her and was frankly relieved when she finally announced by letter she wanted a divorce." Rich retold the times that followed the breakdown.

"And you never told me this for as long as I lived here." Diamond finalized the story with a sense of bitterness.

"You were just so young and wouldn't have understood what this was about then. I didn't want to confuse you. Give you the impression your mother's example was to be followed. You two are much alike after all." There was enough silence following that for Filthy Rich to think it was okay to switch topics. "But since you're here now anyway, I've been somewhat concerned by developments since we last met. Has it been months? Anyway, I noticed the Ponyville Express no longer carries your name as Chief Editor."

"Yes dad, me and the mayor had a falling out." Diamond Tiara admitted, feeling like she had been brought in by miss Cheerilee to explain something mean that she had done.

"You were fired? Honey, your job is your future. How are you supposed to be the future CEO of Barnyard Bargains if you haven't completed your rise through the world of business and finance?" Somehow, his concern about family legacies still made Diamond feel ashamed of disappointing her dad.

"I resigned from my position of free will to pursue a better business venture. Silver Spoon and me are opening a jewellery store." Diamond explained with exasperation in her voice.

"I hadn't noticed. Then again, I'm hardly the target demographic for jewellery. A shame though to see you leave the Ponyville Express. I had thought the public trading had been a sign you had finally gotten your wish." Rich commented off-hoof.

"Wait a minute, what?" 

"Oh, didn't you hear? Well, since you're not the Chief Editor I guess not. The Ponyville Express made it onto the Canterlot stock exchange. I already bought a substantial share thinking I was supporting my daughter's good ideas. A shame it was apparently not helping you." Filthy Rich revealed as he approached the stock ticker machine he always kept in the living room.

Diamond was on her hooves and watching the reel of tape it had spun last. Sure enough, her father was right. The gears in Diamond's head started turning like the clockwork of the machine as she considered how she could use this turn of events to her benefit. The mayor thought she was being smart stealing her ideas and thinking it wouldn't come back to hurt her. But she had studied to be a public servant, and not a businesspony like Diamond Tiara.

"Perhaps you should keep buying those, dad. After all, it was the business plan for the Ponyville Express that drove me to resign. With this new development, I may see my vision come true after all. With your help of course." She laid a hoof on his foreleg, the way she'd always done when trying to convince her dad to get her a certain present. And this present was definitely one she wanted badly.


* * *


Her business with her father and the bank concluded, Diamond Tiara had travelled deep within the Everfree Forest. Alula had been surprised to see her back so soon, but it didn't take all of her business savvy to convince the banker of her plan for the Ponyville Express. After all, Ponyville Savings & Loan was itself a big shareholder of the newspaper now, and buying stock on loan for herself was perfectly acceptable to the bank's own interest parties as long as Diamond Tiara was going to be their steadfast ally.

But that was not why she'd come out here. This was personal, not business. She knocked on the door of the hut built inside a large dead tree.

"I'm surprised to see you wander into Everfree, Diamond Tiara, why have you come to me?" Zecora answered after she opened the door.

"I need to ask a number of questions of you. They are a bit... of questionable morals. But I assure you it does not relate to anything I am considering!" Diamond forewarned the zebra alchemist.

"You may want to come inside. There are more than just guards who would have your hide." Zecora invited her in and motioned for Diamond to sit on a pillow by a coffee table.

Something about all the decoration, furniture and potions felt eerie to her, but Diamond Tiara complied as Zecora did the same.

"Illegal services I will not provide, those things I cannot abide. Tell me what you wish to find, perhaps I can dissuade your mind." Zecora asked.

"I need to know about abortions, and you live far enough away from ponies and know enough of strange things that I feel like you are the one to ask." Diamond got to the point.

"This is about your mother Suri Polomare. That you'd confront me is nothing less than fair." Zecora looked grim, even though Diamond Tiara did not understand why.

"How do you know? I haven't even said I wanted to know about my mom- unless... you!" Diamond Tiara's accusing tone put Zecora on edge and she raised her hooves in defence.

"I would ask that you hear me out, before tattling something out loud. Your mother once came to me, it's true, seeking from me a forbidden brew. But other things that mix could do, so its real purpose was not something I knew." Zecora explained, proceeding once Diamond remained still. "Infertility was also what could result, and on this your mother's argument was built. Had I known she was with foal, I never would have helped her reach her goal. Birth control was what she claimed her motive, no more foals her womb would give. A justified plan to keep her family small, with no legal trouble for me at all. Had I known I was betrayed, outside my house she would have stayed. Your sibling's death became my fault, and ponykind came to fear my gestalt."

"So... that is why Ponyville shunned you? You gave my mother a potion and everpony hated you for being duped?" That made a lot more sense to Diamond Tiara than some foalish superstition about strangers. Even though it was unfair if Zecora hadn't known at the time she had aborted a baby.

"Aborting children is against the law, a child killer was all they saw. No safe procedure is known to medicine to remove an unborn equine. It's the field of hedge mages and witches, so harmful side effects come from these fixes. I would not inflict such folly in vain, I personally know your mother's pain." Zecora elaborated on the subject.

"What do you mean?" Diamond was puzzled. Zecora was never married, or been pregnant. But then, maybe that was for a reason.

"To the son of my elder's tribe I was to be wed, and share with every night the bed. Not to be husbanded in servitude, I devised a plan quite shrewd. My worth as a bride was measured in fertility, instead of my skills in alchemy. I concocted the potion to make my womb barren, never would intercourse I be sharing. The elder woman was not amused that her son's hoof in marriage I had refused. For my ruse I was reviled, and by my tribe was exiled. I made Equestria my new home, took up residence by my lonesome. Had I understood its laws at the time, I never would have repeated my crime." Zecora looked remorseful and solemn at the recollection of her past, but Diamond Tiara did not feel she had anything to be ashamed of.

"I don't blame you, miss Zecora. My mom made her decisions and you made yours. I'm not mad about what could have been." To be honest, she wondered if her parents had wanted a sibling for her so they could justify their own neglect while giving their children another to play with. As if a brother or sister was a substitute for a parent.

"Your forgiveness is a load of my mind. Should you ever need something legal, you know who to find."

> Dark Side of the Moondancer
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 20: Dark Side of the Moondancer




Silver Spoon stood at the residence known to belong to Bon Bon with her suitcase hesitantly before knocking with her hoof. The owner opened the door for her not long after.

"Uhm, hi. I was wondering if your offer for a place to sleep was still open." She explained meekly as anxiety showed from her expression.

"Of course it is. Why? What happened?" Bon Bon asked with concern.

"Do you know about that new store in town Diamond Tiara was going to open? Well it suffered the same fate as our house, and DT decided it was more important to our future that she guards it. I don't want to be stuck in a place that gets attacked anymore, but I don't feel safe back home without Diamond Tiara. I just don't want to have to deal with all the hate we've been getting around Ponyville lately, and you don't seem to have been a victim like me."

Bon Bon smiled at Silver Spoon. "You're welcome to stay with us as long as you need. I can guarantee nopony will bother you while with us."

It wasn't hard to trust her promise. Bon Bon was generally avoided for being rather gruff and quick to upset, but also one of the most prolific shopkeepers around Ponyville. While her spouse was rather quirky and not somepony who had any enemies.

"Twist, darling?" Bon Bon called back at the unseen pony "Silver Spoon is going to be staying with us for some time. Please take her bag up to the guestroom and show her around."

"It's okay, I can carry-" Silver tried to say, but the arrival of her old classmate interrupted her.

"Hi Silver. Never expected you to come for a sleepover at my house." Twist joked as she lifted the suitcase with her mouth, causing her infamous lisp to return. "Howf zz twicks wiff youf an Diamoth Fiaraw?"

"I'd rather not say." Silver Spoon hung her head, but Twist seemed to ignore it and led her inside and up the stairs to one of the rooms where she set down the luggage case.

"This used to be my room you know. That was until I was old enough to understand the noises coming from mom's bedroom." Twist noted with just a slightly teasing yet suggestive look.

The room was indeed between the master bedroom and what Silver assumed Twist's room. Normally, living with one's parents in your mid twenties was regarded as embarrassing, and the none-to-subtle warning about the thin walls a reason to seek one's own apartment. Silver Spoon however would have given anything at this time to have had parents who would let her stay with them.

After a short tour of the upper floor and directions to the bathroom and other places around the house she would need to be aware of, Silver found herself downstairs again, in the living room.

"I assume that after what happened you may want to talk to us about things?" Bon Bon offered a listening ear as she sat opposite on the couch from Silver Spoon, who had awkwardly taken a seat in a chair.

Twist had said she'd return that afternoon, as it was her turn to see to her family's candy store by the market square. Silver Spoon, Bon Bon and Lyra were all alone in the living room now. It seemed appropriate for some heart-to-heart talk after they had been so hospitable to Silver Spoon. Still, she was wary.

"I- I don't even known what to feel myself right now. I just need time to think. Just having a place to do so safely is enough." Silver denied, hoping she hadn't offended her host.

"It's fine. You're young, you're different from your peers and facing a lot of hostility for it. But you are not alone, Silver. Know that we understand what you're going through right now and we will help." Bon Bon explained gently and calm.

"I suppose I never really got to talk to other fillyfoolers. Certainly not older mares. It just seems so... like impossible an older generation would be into the same things." Silver stumbled to find a way to explain her incredulity, despite the well known fact around town Bon Bon and Lyra were lovers and not ashamed to show it.

"Lyra went through the same thing as a filly. You already know how I didn't discover my true feelings until my marriage with my ex-husband was falling to pieces. And we've been faced with rejection, hostility and fear as you are now." Bon Bon revealed.

"Who do you know who would shun someone your age?" Silver Spoon asked, covering her mouth apologetically "I'm sorry, I mean from your generation. I just don't understand the gap and why attitudes would have been the same."

"Well Lyra's friend from Canterlot had it happen. She keeps in touch with her friends from Canterlot, unlike our local Princess of Friendship." Bon Bon seemed to grumble at the title. "She had been harbouring a crush on Princess Twilight in fact, and had it thrown in her face by Twilight's homophobia."

"Now that's not fair, Bon Bon." Lyra joined the conversation to defend her old classmate. "Twilight was never the romantic type, but she was always into colts. I've never known her to like mares as anything but friends. And to have a friend like Moondancer whom you let down so much reveal she didn't quite see their friendship as platonic must have scared her a bit. From what I heard from everypony, Twilight was a bit freaked and wanted to make it clear she was not looking for a relationship. She may have broken Moondancer's heart, but she never actually expressed disdain or hatred of fillyfoolers. Just a few teensy bitsy assumptions about Moondancer's motives."

"How do you know the Princess so well? I didn't think she had a lot of friends outside the ones she shares adventures with." Silver wanted to know.

"Well, I went to school with Twilight. It's true she didn't really consider us friends for a long time, we just sort of were her classmates with whom she did all the things friends do. But outside of school we just weren't as important to her as studying. It's kind of why I feel so bad for Moondancer, having seen it all lead up to her ultimate rejection and knowing that fits with what I know about Twilight." Lyra explained before delving deeper into her history with the other ponies of her youth. "Moondancer always kinda stuck to Twilight like glue. Partnering up with her on projects, doing homework assignments, following her whenever Twilight would let her. She emulated her down to getting the same manecut and having the same interests as her. As we got older she was always organizing fun activities and parties in the hopes of getting Twilight to attend. But Twilight always had some excuse to not come, usually it was books. The rest of our little group was getting a little curious why Moondancer was so interested in having so many parties and having Twilight attend."

Lyra interrupted to grab hold of a picture from on one of the living room shelves which she showed to Silver Spoon. Silver took it in her hooves and could see it was a class photo. It was from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, dated only a few years before Nightmare Moon's return. She could recognise a much younger Twilight when she was still a unicorn. There was also a very young Lyra in the picture. Nearest to them two cream mares, one with a pair of glasses and a similar manecut to Twilight. The other she recognized as Twinkleshine. She'd been a teacher at the Bright Light Seminary in Canterlot. Silver once had a long talk with her about why ponies believe homosexuals are wrong, how they are brought up to be disgusted by them, and had been able to bond somewhat over the similar households they had both been raised in. After Silver Spoon had gathered the courage to speak up to her parents after what Twinkleshine taught her, she was removed from there, her parents accusing her teacher of having tried to molest her to recruit her into fillyfoolerdom. It was one of several ponies her parents had cut off from her in their desperate attempt to 'cure' her condition.

Silver could see two other fillies in the picture who were close to Twilight. Although she thought the blue unicorn seemed familiar, the yellow one didn't stand out in her memory.

"Now, you have to understand Canterlot unicorns aren't always progressive. All the ancient arranged marriage stuff and purebred pride among the illustrious noble houses left a whole lot of snooty elitism. And our school was like a breeding ground for old ways of thinking despite the princess herself never expressing the same ideas. Me, Twilight, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine were all from fortunate families with blue blood, so it must have been intimidating for somepony to feel attraction to classmates of the same sex while knowing there was a high probability they'd be hostile if you ever revealed that. Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine had already made off hoof comments about fillyfoolers in a disparaging manner. So when we pushed Moondancer to tell us what was really going on, it must have been terrifying for her, but she came out. She told us the reason she was obsessed with Twilight was because she had feelings for her. I don't think I'll ever forget the looks on everypony's faces. You could totally cut the tension with a flaming sword. And I didn't want to see Moondancer get all the negative attention, so then I blurted out I had been a fillyfooler the whole time to."

"I can only imagine how you did that." Bon Bon interjected.

"Like I've told you, Bonnie. Perky and oblivious to all the oppressive atmosphere, as always." Lyra closed her eyes and smiled, giving Silver some idea of what mask she had put on to cover for all the unease. "But whatever happened, I wanted Moondancer to know she still hadn't lost me as a friend. Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine were surprisingly okay with that reveal being dropped on them. They said it was a real change in perspective knowing two of their friends were different. Minuette didn't seem to have a problem, though her blabbermouth got me outed to the whole class. That wasn't fun." The dejected look from Lyra was such a contrast, Silver guessed it was way less fun than she let on. "Moondancer seemed to instantly regret telling her secret, but we all swore a pact of secrecy on it. Come to think of it, I should have made Minuette swear to me as well. It kinda led to me swearing at her, though she was really sorry afterward. Anyway, we were all supportive of Moondancer and convinced her that if she cared so much about Twilight, she should stop beating around the bush with all these activities and just tell Twilight how she felt about her. She said she couldn't do it alone and wanted our help, and we'd do anything for a friend. So she planned one more party. It took us a lot of pushing to make sure she didn't get cold hooves, assuring her that her orientation was nothing to feel insecure about. We went to a lot of trouble to get Twilight to attend this time after all the times she had excused herself. And then she left for Ponyville."

"Was that the day before the Summer Sun Celebration?" Silver could still remember that from when she was a filly. It was quite a fateful event as it would turn out.

"That was probably the only good reason she'd had since ever, and she never even bothered to give it until over a year after. Typical Twilight." Lyra shook her head in disapproval. "Moondancer was already gone when I arrived at the party, and I was moving to Ponyville myself not long after. I kept in touch with my remaining friends, but they said Moondancer just kind of stopped caring about us. It wasn't until the princess came back to them to repair their broken bonds that Moondancer was able to move past the feeling of being stood up. The old gang made sure to better keep in touch with her from then on, and Moondancer finally worked up the courage to tell Twilight how she felt, alone. So none of our friends were witness to how it went exactly, but it left Moondancer rejected and Twilight avoiding her." Lyra finished her story and held out the cookie tin on the coffee table to Silver Spoon. "Lemon spritz?"

Silver Spoon reluctantly took one of the offered baked goods. She found it really helped with the mood.

"Bon Bon bakes the best cookies, don't you think?" Lyra inquired much more cheerfully than her story warranted.

"I wonder how you can remain so happy through such a gloomy story." Silver almost muttered.

"And I wonder why you remain so dour after one of Bonnie's treats. Come on Silvy. Sure, Moondancer is going to feel a bit of heartbreak for some time. But we all have to deal with rejection. I know she has good friends who can help her through her sadness. Just like how you and Diamond will get through your rough patch of bullying alright. It's like how Bon Bon gets through everything. When life gives you lemons, make lemon spritz! Or nade. Or how about spritzonade?"

Bon Bon just put a hoof around Lyra, reeling in her enthusiasm with a tender look.

> Special Somephoney
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 21: Special Somephoney




"Happy Hearts and Hooves Day, Silver Spoon!" Said Diamond as she shoved a gift box in her wife's hooves.

"Thanks sugarlump, you to." Silver said as she proceeded to remove the wrapping. Beneath it was a familiar box she'd seen displayed at the Ponyville spa several times, giving her an inkling what Diamond had bought her. "Mint Fresh perfume! How did you know that is my favourite?"

"Because you, like, put it on all the time." Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes, be reciprocated the hug Silver gave her. 

The couple's business life had improved greatly over the past weeks. The opening of their jewellery store before Hearts and Hooves Day was not purely accidental. Diamond had a keen eye for that sort of thing, and as she expected all the money that ponies would otherwise spend up in Canterlot rolled into their cash register. Enough that she was pursuing a new venture already. She had pooled her resources with her dad and some other ponies and was now just a few percentages away from becoming the majority shareholder of the Ponyville Express. She'd been playing it subtle, letting her daddy buy up at least twice as much as her because he was not going to arouse the same suspicion from the mayor. But as soon as they'd acquired the majority combined, she'd have her dad transfer them all to her name, and the Ponyville Express would be hers once more! Only now she could lay back and allow Featherweight to run things as Editor in Chief, while she would be the owner instead of Ponyville's local authorities. 

But her private life had not been so fortuitous. Her separation with Silver Spoon was felt deeply, even if their love and marriage endured. Not being able to go to bed with her spouse by her side left a hole in Diamond Tiara's life though. And though she was glad her Silver could feel at ease staying with Bon Bon and Lyra, it just wasn't the same anymore. She'd wandered by their home yesterday night for the first time in weeks, and been taken aback at how neglected and dilapidated it looked to her. There were weeds growing in the small front yard, and the building facade just didn't look as vibrant and homely as when they'd lived together. With such a shocking symbolic deterioration, Diamond was glad their Hearts and Hooves Day would be together still.

"Here, I should probably not give these because they'll go straight to your rump, but Bon Bon insisted and I know you would hate me if I withheld these from you." Silver Spoon told Diamond as she shoved a box of Hearts and Hooves chocolates in her hooves.

"Ooh, does it have those pralines in them? I always loved Bon Bon's Hearts and Hooves candies." Diamond opened the cover quickly to check which flavours were inside.

"Don't I know it. I remember our last Hearts and Hooves as fillies, and how we shared these same chocolates." Silver Spoon reminisced with a sultry voice and half-lidded eyes as she withdrew one of the chocolates she knew Diamond liked so much.

"Those were good days. Everything was so much less... complicated." Diamond reciprocated by feeding Silver a hazelnut candy. Silver liked those the way Diamond liked praline. 

"Happy Hearts and Hooves, Diamond." Silver Spoon wished.

"I know we can't leave the store today, but I was hoping after business hours we could have a nice dinner." Hearts and Hooves Day was when jewellery stores practically had to be open, so Diamond Tiara was bracing herself for a flood of customers. But that didn't mean she didn't want to take time for herself and Silver Spoon to enjoy this special day of celebrated romance.

"Did you get reservations? You know what it's like on days like these." Silver Spoon attended her.

"Not yet. Don't worry, we have plenty of bits nowadays even if they fumble their prices. But I guess I should see to making reservations for two then now before everypony's booked their tables." Diamond planned out.

"I'll handle sales while you're gone doing that. I'm starting to like get good at showing confidence at that." Silver Spoon offered.

"Yeah, you're gonna sell all our top of the line wares by the time I get back. See you in a bit." Diamond gave Silver a kiss before walking out the store.

* * *

The local eatery establishment wasn't far, but Diamond didn't get far before being sidetracked on her way. The town square was not crowded, so it was easy to notice the glum form of Scootaloo crossing its length.

"Happy Hearts and Hooves Day." Diamond Tiara wished her as if she was oblivious to her former classmate's sullen mood.

"Oh, it's you." Scootaloo replied, not slowing down even as Diamond Tiara tried to catch up.

"What's the matter with you? Somepony left horse apples in your coffee this morning?" She wondered, just a little annoyed Scootaloo was being stubborn.

"Maybe that would have cleared the bad taste in my mouth." Scootaloo muttered in return.

"Don't be like that, this is the part where you tell me your problems and I give you some advise and we come out as better friends." Diamond explained how she was expecting this to go, but found herself hitting a brick wall.

"We were never friends, Diamond Tiara. Just because we're not bringing the past back up doesn't mean I like you. I'm still waiting for that article in the Ponyville Express by the way." Scootaloo reminded her, which caught Diamond of guard, who hadn't been quite that serious about it.

"Eh, I've been rather distracted from the Ponyville Express lately and it completely slipped my mind. Remind me, when is the Young Flyers competition? I might be able to cover that." Diamond suggested. She'd be back at the helm of the Ponyville Express soon enough for-

"That was weeks ago." Scootaloo dissuaded her curtly.

"Oh. Now I see why you don't want to talk." 

"It's not about that. It's that today- nevermind. It's not your business." Scootaloo tried to drop the issue, but Diamond wouldn't let it go.

"Wait, is this about Hearts and Hooves Day? Didn't you say you were trying to get Rumble to notice you?" She recalled.

"Yeah, and I was going to tell him later today until he said he's off to Cloudsdale to see this filly he met at the Young Flyer competition." Scootaloo's wings flared up in anger. "I waited too long. I should have known he'd be fighting off the mares on Hearts and Hooves day like his brother."

"He doesn't really do that nowadays. Back when I was a filly, maybe." Diamond shuddered as she thought about Thunderlane. "Not that he's such a great role model for his brother."

"Why? What do you have against Thunderlane?" Scootaloo wanted to know.

"It's just, before he was going from cloud to cloud if you catch my drift." Diamond reminded her.

"Your puns are not very funny, Diamond Tiara." Scootaloo rained on her joviality like the symbolic rain cloud over her head.

Diamond made no apology "Now he's shacked up with those floozies."

"You mean Cloudchaser and Flitter? What do you have against them?" 

"You know what. Their relation. It's unnatural." Diamond grimaced in disgust.

"Ehm, you are married to Silver Spoon." Scootaloo reminded her.

"I'm not talking about that. I mean that they're sisters. Twins, even." Diamond threw up her forelegs in dramatic fashion. "And they don't hide it either." Diamond Tiara considered herself to be fairly progressive, but she drew the line at some point. "And Thunderlane wants to get into a threesome with that?"

"Hey, it's not your business if two pegasi want to be intimate even if they're related. Flitter and Cloudchaser get way too much flak from ponies like you!" Scootaloo defended the twins. "In fact, ponies like you, Apple Bloom and Mayor Mare should mind your own business instead of always politicizing the issue."

"I'm not politicizing. I'm not even a politician." Diamond Tiara denied, but Scootaloo didn't flinch.

"I've read a Ponyville Express article that was none too subtle in its implied target. Don't tell me you don't politicize anything when everything that gets printed in the paper goes past your desk!" Scootaloo accused her, not knowing the current situation at the newspaper.

"Has something come up in my ab- nevermind that. Scoot, maybe it slipped my memory but I don't recall rubber stamping any attack on Flitter or Cloudchaser. Even though Celestia knows I think what they do is disgusting."

"Why? It's not like they're having inbred foals together. I don't see what the big deal is with loving a sister then."

"I think it sets a bad example for couples who can have a foal in spite of family bonds." Diamond explained her position. "It's also why you shouldn't think to lightly of being promiscuous, or cheat on- on your special somepony. It's just moral standards, you know?"

"Huh. Cheating. Is that what you think Thunderlane does by dating both? They're both right there with him. He's not hiding the fact they're all perfectly fine being in one open relationship."

"Then why doesn't he marry one? Start a family? Give at least some semblance of living up to the Equestrian Magical Family?" Diamond wanted to know.

"He's not marrying one over the other unless they'll legalize bigamy. And because I don't see that happen because ponies like you think they're scum, I'm guessing Thunderlane will stay a bachelor for them." Scootaloo turned up her nose at Diamond Tiara.

"Don't be like that. Can't we agree to disagree? I'm not being grossly unfair here compared to what someponies say."

"Yeah, well 'someponies' can take a ten feet walk off a five foot cloud. I may be just a bit angry at Rumble right now, but I'm not gonna stand here listen to you slagging off his brother. We're pegasi, and maybe we don't do things the way earth ponies want them. But we're not listening to what they have to say about us. Not you or Apple Bloom for that matter."

"Alright, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Sheesh, don't make this a racial issue." Diamond calmed her down. "Apple Bloom must be really getting under your feathers with that. I was trying to help out with Rumble. Can we talk about that instead of getting worked up over this?"

"Right. Well, I don't think there's much to say anyway. He got a letter that he's been accepted into the Wonderbolt Academy. Now he's going to fulfil his dream, and I'm still stuck on the ground without him to help me. I guess I need Rumble more than he needs me." Scootaloo ducked her head. "What would a guy like him see in a pegasus who can't even fly anyway? You were right back during the flag carrier audition, I'll never be a true pegasus without flying."

"Ugh, why are you taking that seriously? I was an immature, jealous filly holding up shallow expectations that are quite frankly untrue." Diamond didn't expect herself to say that out loud without so much shame. Even if she had admitted to herself it was wrong, admitting as much publicly had always been awkward.

"Even a broken clock is right twice a day." Scootaloo muttered dismissively.

Diamond opened her mouth to try and tell her she was wrong, and maybe dig into her for taking a mile of wrongfulness when she was only willing to admit to an inch. But she was stopped by a different kind of drama running the length of the public square, making a scene and evoking her pity.

> Hearts and Hoofbreakers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 22: Hearts & Hoofbreakers




Diamond Tiara entered to the sounds of sobbing and wailing, making it easy to retrace the steps of the pony who had went inside the building before her. She stopped herself for a moment to think if this wasn't trespassing, and if it was really any of her business to involve herself in the misery of another pony who clearly came here for privacy. But she remembered this individual meant something to her once, and if there was something she could do to alleviate their grief, she'd feel bad for turning back.

Clearing her throat, Diamond spoke up as she found her query. "Hey, are you alright? I saw you running past in tears and was worried."

The pony turned her tear-struck eyes towards her, unable to get the words out at first because her breath came irregular. "Applejack doesn't love me-e-e-eee!" Rarity stammered before burying her head in the pillow of her couch.

Diamond was at once reassured this was one of Rarity's overtly dramatic moments and worried because this was the first romantic mishap her teenage idol suffered that was based on more than just a crush.

"Why would you think that? You two have been friends since before I can remember." She tried to gently coax Rarity into telling what happened.

"I-I-I-I t-t-trie...ed- I tried- to- tried to-" Diamond stopped her by raising a hoof to stop her before going to fetch a glass of water because it would be too hard to understand anything through all the hyperventilating. After drinking some, a calming hoof on her shoulder and a few minutes to allow Rarity to calm her breathing, she tried again. "I tried- telling Applejack- about my feelings- for her. And she- and she rejected me!"

While Rarity dove back into the pillows on her drama couch, Diamond Tiara thought it better not to mention she should be used to rejection. "Well why do you think she doesn't love you even so?"

"She said- said that her barn door just doesn't swing that way. I was so sure Hearts and Hooves day was going to be the right time to reveal my deepest desires to her. I had even booked a table for us tonight. I told her of the reservation and if she wouldn't at least indulge me for dinner. She said it was better that we did not do so today. She must think I'm hideous! An abomination unto Celestia! A mare bereft of tact and slave to her lurid nature!" Rarity supposed while she lifted the cover from the heart-shaped box of chocolate she'd dumped next to her couch and stuffed two of the candies in her mouth.

"That's not true. I've talked to Applejack back when Silver was struggling with herself and she never judged us. You are imagining things are worse than they seem." Diamond tried talking some sense into her as she grabbed some discarded cloth and tried to clean Rarity's tear streaked eyes and get the running mascara out of her fur.

"You don't know what's changed around Sweet Apple Acres since then. How Apple Bloom sets the mood nowadays in accordance with her convictions." Rarity rambled on as she offered Diamond one of the chocolates.

Although tempted, Diamond declined it. Her flank was already large enough as it was. She was interested in the bit about Apple Bloom however.

"What did Apple Bloom do? I thought you asked Applejack?"

"After so cruelly breaking my heart, her sister was by Applejack's side in an instant. Apparently having overhead my confession. She warned of how they don't like fillyfoolers around the farm and I should go back to pining for stallions. It was awful! What if she shouts it from her soapbox to the entire town? What if word reaches Canterlot the designer Rarity asked a mare to be her date on Hearts and Hooves Day? Nopony would want to buy dresses again from a disreputable fillyfooler. My career would be ruined!" Rarity screamed her distress while Diamond pondered.

It seemed rather odd Apple Bloom would dare say that to one of her friends' older sister, and her older sister's friend. But then, where sisters were concerned, siblings were incredibly protective. Diamond Tiara had never been blessed with a sibling, but read enough romance novels to know it was true. Knowing Rarity's drama queen tendencies, she imagined Rarity hadn't stuck around to hear of any reprimand given to Apple Bloom by Applejack. 

"I must cover my tracks! Erase all evidence this conversation ever took place! The reservations for dinner, I need them cancelled!" Rarity began frantically pacing in panic mode.

"Actually, me and Silver were going to eat out tonight to celebrate Hearts and Hooves. We could take that table from you." Diamond proposed. It'd save her going there, which by now was getting interrupted constantly.

"Oh yes! And you can do something else for me." She levitated a book from one of the salon tables into Diamond's face for her to take. "I cannot be seen returning this to the library, but someone might see this when they come in here and presume something."

Diamond read the book title as 'Dating A Mare: A Fillyfooler's Handbook'. She was well past the stage of needing a book to tell her the birds and the bees, but Rarity was right to think it wasn't horribly out of place for her to carry it.

"Eh, sure. Anything for a friend. Take... care of yourself." Diamond awkwardly averted her eyes from Rarity, binge eating chocolate candies as tears continued to streak down her face.


* * *


Knocking thrice on the door of the Ponyville library, Diamond was only half surprised to see Princess Twilight open the door. It figured she didn't have a pony on Hearts and Hooves day. 

"I'm here to return a book, your Highness." Diamond declared as she showed the item in question.

"Ah yes, Rarity checked this one out a few days ago I remember." Twilight said, while Diamond cringed at how loud her declaration had been. If only she'd read the title out loud, all of Ponyville would have known about Rarity's bi-curious escapades. "Dating A Mare: A Fillyfooler's Handbook." Twilight finished, to Diamond's chagrin.

After facehoofing herself, she followed Princess Twilight into the library where she proceeded to check the book back in and leave it on the pile to be returned to the shelves.

"So how did things go? Who's the lucky mare that stole Rarity's heart?" Twilight Sparkle inquired curiously as she did her job as a librarian.

"If she didn't tell you that herself, I'm not going to either. Honestly, I have a feeling you'll find out soon enough." Diamond Tiara denied before changing the topic. "And what about you? Has somepony asked you out for Hearts and Hooves, Princess?"

She saw Twilight cringe and answer suspiciously. "N-no. No stallion has asked me out. And you don't have to call me Princess."

"No stallions? Then what about mares?" Diamond prodded. If she found out Twilight was secretly in the closet, she was sure she would burst out laughing.

"Twilight was invited to have a dinner with her friend Moondancer in Canterlot a couple of weeks back in a way too romantic setting and had to tell her off." Answered Spike, who had come in to dust the shelves without their noticing.

Twilight cringed more visibly this time and spun around, almost reflexively tossing an almanac at Spike's face. "Spike! I told you not to mention this to anypony!"

"Oh, oops." Spike appollogized before beating a hasty retreat.

"So, I take it this didn't end well." Diamond Tiara assumed after an awkward silence had reigned.

"No, not at all. I am not a pony who's prone to romantic lovey-dovey things - well, except maybe the occasional boy crush - but I know well enough I like stallions, not mares. So when Moondancer started to get really suggestive, I was getting panicked." Twilight admitted.

"You could have taken it as a compliment. I'm not one for colts, but I wouldn't pass up their compliments of how beautiful I look." Diamond Tiara reasoned.

"I was not looking for affirmation of my body image. And the way she communicated her interest in me was just way beyond my comfort zone." Twilight turned to face Diamond Tiara. "I mean, I don't hate fillyfoolers. Really, I don't. But Moondancer has issues. I don't know if I should feel guilty for not having been there for her as a friend, but I think she was better off as a shut-in who wanted nothing to do with me."

"Why don't you add 'some of my best friends are fillyfoolers' to that, Princess?" Diamond proposed, more than a little irked her former role model was sounding just slightly intolerant.

"As a matter of fact, some of them are. But that's not the point. She was acting really inappropriate. It made me uncomfortable, and I may have said things that I regret and were really hurtful. But you had to have been there, it was like she had a compulsion!" Twilight tried frantically to justify herself, though she had lost Diamond's sympathy.

"Right, 'compulsion'. 'Inappropriate'. 'Issues'. Those are the kind of words I've heard from Silver Spoon regarding her 'treatment'. They told her she was better as a repressed shut-in, and to stop making ponies 'uncomfortable with her disorder'." Diamond Tiara uttered as she turned to leave the library. "Happy Hearts and Hooves day, your Highness."


* * *


In a foul mood despite having gained table reservations for herself and Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara returned to her shop to inform Silver Spoon, only to find an even better reason to be irked upon arrival. Upon entering the store, Diamond was greeted with a rather unwelcome sight.

"D-d-don't try anything!" Silver Spoon stuttered as she seemed tense from the customer by her register.

"Why? I'm just looking. My eyes just happen to be drawn to those display cases and selection behind you. No harm in looking, right?" Berry Pinch asked almost rhetorically.

"I'll- I'll call the police and have you removed." Silver threatened.

"Oh, but you can't. They have a law against that sort of thing." Berry replied as she seemed to almost stare through Silver Spoon, keeping her eyes on the gray mare as she moved in such a way that made her seem intimidating.

"What kind of law?" Diamond demanded to know as she announced her presence to Berry Pinch.

"Oh, in case you didn't know, Diamond, Mayor Mare has made it illegal to refuse customer service or remove from the store prospective clients outside of closing times barring a valid reason that holds up in court. Maybe you should have studied up on it if you're going to run a business. You cannot seperate that from politics." Berry informed her.

"Now why would she do that?" Diamond Tiara asked, rather sceptical.

"Oh, concerns over shopkeepers denying service based on race. The increasingly divisive atmosphere has a lot of politically correct ponies worried. And you know the mayor, always ready to make a visible stand against racism to make herself look good in the eyes of the public. Except of course this is just something blown out of proportion and not in reaction to any real event in which a pony was refused entry to a store based on race, gender orientation or anything. A lot of ado about nothing. In fact, it's probably fuelling resentment where there wasn't much before. I've heard some earth ponies mumbling something along the lines of 'must have been passed for some uppity put-upon pegasus or snooty unicorn not getting the treatment she wanted'. Did you know Apple Bloom is pulling ahead in the latest polls by the way? This is exactly what that head of hers needs; more encouragement to keep spouting those insipid lines against the all-powerful Establishement. You and Silver might have to pack your bags soon if her progressive taxation proposals get rubber stamped, they're punitive on snot-nosed rich fillies and their daddy more-bits."

"If I find you hurting or bothering Silver here in any way I will kick your plot to the curb, law or no law!" Diamond Tiara threatened in no uncertain terms.

"Careful Mrs. middlemare pony, you wouldn't want the blame to land on the pony tending the register who isn't you." Berry cautioned, but moved around Diamond Tiara to leave, who watched her do so.