There are secrets behind Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's friendship.....
The families of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are pushing them together for reasons of their own, and neither pony knows that the other one is being urged into it and thinks it is only their family that is being pushy towards them.
Silver Spoon stood there and sighed. Over the past hour or more, she had to stand there in front of a mirror in her parent’s bedroom whilst her mother, Silver Tray, and the maids had spent a long time grooming her. Silver Spoon liked to look good and enjoyed being groomed up to a point, but not this much. First, she had been carefully brushed from her muzzle to her withers and hindquarters, until her grey fur shone softly in the light. Her hair had been put into a plait tied with silver thread. Her hooves had been thoroughly cleaned of any dirt and dust, her horseshoes had been likewise cleaned and painted with silver paint, and her hooves had been painted silver with a harmless and easily removable make-up based paint, as had the silver spoon cutie mark upon her flank. Her teeth had been brushed and cleaned, which she appreciated as it helped to stave off decay, and her mother had looped a pretty pearl necklace around her neck, before kissing her gently on the forehead and telling her, “You’re beautiful.”
“Mother, I know everypony should look good upon their cute-ceanera, but isn’t this rather over the top even for such a party?” Silver Spoon asked politely. “Anypony would think you were getting me ready for my wedding day.” Her mother replied “Amongst the many family members and friends at your cute-ceanera we have invited the Rich family, and we want you to befriend Diamond Tiara Rich, the daughter of that family. In fact, in the long term, for such a thing cannot be hurried, we want you to do more than befriend her. We want you and her to become friends, then best friends, and then a coupledom. But, and this is very important, you are not to tell anypony, least of all Diamond Tiara, that your parents want you to be together, otherwise if she found out she might be disgusted and want nothing more to do with you. She has to think that it is all coming from you and only you.”
“But mother, I…I like colts. I mean, I like mares as well, but when it comes to romance I want a coltfriend, not a marefriend. Why do you want me and Diamond Tiara to be a romantic couple anyway?”
“It is for the good of the Silver family to be linked with the Rich one. We are one of the oldest and most noble families in all of Equestria and were around when the Princess was young, advising her, normally with good advice. However, the past two centuries have not been kind to the Spoon Family. First, one of our ancestors accidentally gave Princess Celestia bad advice. Very bad advice indeed, that caused the most discord since, well, Discord was free. Very few ponies know the exact details, since Celestia censors the history books, but on the advice of Silver Knife Celestia started a new tax, a poll tax, where everypony would pay five bits a week. For the noble families this was hardly anything at all, for the middle class families it was moderately annoying, but for the poor ponies it was most of their wages going to pay tax.”
“Silver Knife must have thought that there was nothing that the poor ponies could do about it. The next thing he knew, ponies filled Celestia Square to protest, first in their hundreds. When the Royal Guards, who were a bit more warlike in those times, drove them out, they returned in their thousands and then in their tens of thousands and then in their hundreds of thousands and began to chant, “The ponies demand the fall of the regime!” Celestia herself had to go and talk with them. It turned out that they were not against their living goddess, but just against this tax. Celestia had to give way on two counts; the poll tax was abolished and there would be no reprisals legally or otherwise against anypony who took part in the protest. Only then did they leave the square and go back to work. Celestia blamed Silver Knife for the whole fiasco and banished him from the royal court, and our family lost a lot of its influence as a result.”
“Things got a bit later when fifty years later our family was restored to the royal favor, but then Celestia brought in death duties which weakened our family further, and then your father made a few bad financial decisions. Don’t worry, we are not paupers, we still have plenty of bits, but to really prosper we need the help of the powerful Rich family. And that is where you come in. By making Diamond Tiara your marefriend, you can indirectly get her family to help us where a direct request for help would just be refused.”
*****
Several streets away at the Ponyville mansion of the Rich family, Diamond Tiara was filling a little irritated, but held her anger in, for it would not do to start shouting at her own family. In the past hour she had a tooth clean, which at least was useful, a hoof clean until her hooves shone, her hair had been combed with care, her purple coat had been brushed until it shone in the sunlight, and the finest thin silver leaf had been used to make her tiara cutie mark glitter. Filthy Rich and Screwball Rich gazed happily at their daughter. “You look wonderful,” Filthy told her, “and there is a reason why we want you to look so good. Over the past few years I have made a few financial decisions that were…unwise. Don’t worry, the bailiffs are not coming to take all our bits and possessions and throw us out on the street. But for us to regain our old stature, we need to ally ourselves with the powerful and influential Silver family.”
“Why do you need me for that?,” Diamond asked. “I’m not even a fully grown mare yet. How can I help you?”
“The Silver family has a daughter your age called Silver Spoon. We want you to befriend her at her cute-ceanera, after all, friendship is magic. Then we want you to become her very best friend, and then we want you to take things a bit further. We want you to slowly, gently seduce her and become her marefriend. Softly softly catchee pony.Once she loves you, you can loosely influence the Silver family in a way that would not be possible if we asked directly. Of course, we would still have to provide a quid pro quo if we wanted anything major from the Spoons, but with you on the inside it'll be a lot easier. Of course, she must not know, nopony should know, that we, your family, put you up to this. If the Spoons found out our plan to gain influence with them through their darling daughter would be in tatters. Silver Spoon has to think that you are with her because you want to, not because your family want you to be with her."
Unlike Silver Spoon, Diamond had in the past had crushes on both colts and fillies. None were really serious, she had been too young for that until now. All the same, she was worried, and it showed in her eyes. "What if she does not like me? What if she just likes colts, not fillies? Does she like the same sort of things that I do?"
"Of course she likes the same things you do, we would not try to match you up if there was no hope of success. And if there was even a chance that she would fall for any filly, it would be you. You are of her class, beautiful, and intelligent too. Remember, take it slow. You have to walk before you can gallop; in the same way she must be your friend before she can be your marefriend.Let's go, the cute-ceanera of Silver Spoon awaits."
Silver Spoon's mouth was watering at the feast that awaited her. There were apples and apple pie and apple slices and apple juice and soft cider, there was watermelon and every kind of fruit, there was bread and nuts and cake, and there was a replica of the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness with a figure in marzipan of Silver Spoon herself at the top. However, she had to wait, not something she was used to doing, until the feast formally begun. Already the guests were coming thick and fast. Some were adult friends of her family who she knew little or nothing of, others were colts and fillies her own age who were friends, but not really good friends, not the sort that she thought she could share absolutely everything with. And then the Rich family showed up and she got her first good look at Diamond Tiara. She looks good, no doubt her parents have cleaned and gilded her to make sure she looks her best at such a special event as my cute-ceanera just as my parents did to me. But what is her personality like? Is she like me? Does she only date colts?
At the same time Diamond Tiara got her first good look at Silver Spoon. She looks a beauty. Of course she does, it's her cute-ceanera so of course she looks good. Look at the way her gilded cutie mark shines. But what is her personality like? Does she hang out with blank flanks or tease them like I do? Are enough of her views mine for us to one day date and be a couple as my parents want? Or will we end up being not able to stand each other? She went over to Silver Spoon, a wrapped present in her mouth, and laid it at Silver Spoon's feet. "Happy cute-ceanera, Silver Spoon. Your name matches your cutie mark perfectly. I'm Diamond Tiara, and I hope that you enjoy your present."
Silver Spoon tore it open and grinned. "A dress from Rarity's Boutique-how lovely. Soft blue silk, with an open bit so that my gorgeous cutie mark can still be seen by everypony whilst I'm wearing it. That is lovely. Thank you." And I don't have to fake it either, that really is a wonderful present. I've had plenty of presents already...make up, jewelery, books, but that is the best dress I have ever seen. Her father called everyone to the table and made a speech about Silver Spoon that made her blush, and then said, "And I will now say grace...Good food, how sweet, thank Celestia, let's eat." The feast begun and Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara gorged themselves as much as everypony there but still remembered to talk to each other. And the more they talked the more they realized that they had a lot in common. Both ponies now despised blank flanks and saw them as inferior, for example. Both saw riches as the most important thing in life. Although neither pony would have admitted it to anypony, they were both excessively spoilt by their families. At the end of the party, with Luna's moon high in the sky, Diamond Tiara told Silver Spoon "Goodnight, my friend, I was enchanted to meet you," and gave her a light friendly kiss on her cheek.
"Mum, Dad, I think Silver Spoon will be such a good friend. I don't have to fake it either as she's so much like me," Diamond Tiara told her parents happily as they walked back home. "And she's in my class at school too. School will be so much more fun with a friend in the class who I can relate to. And yes, when the time is right she will become my marefriend as long as I take things slowly."
Over the next few weeks and months Diamond and Silver got along tremendously well. They helped each other with their homework, heartily wishing that Celestia had abolished it at the same time as she abolished the cane. They came up with a little "Bump, bump, sugar lump, rump" dance. They bulled and humiliated the blank flanks at every opportunity, and when Diamond went too far and annoyed Granny Smith and was forced to humiliate herself by jumping over watering cans, Silver had voluntarily humiliated herself too. It was embarrassing, but it might provide the chance to get closer to Diamond, as her parents wanted her to.
That evening the two of them were lying on their backs along, watching the sky and the clouds as the sun set, looking for pictures in them. "There is a pony's head," Diamond said, pointing with a hoof. "That one looks like a heart," Silver replied,
"So tell me," Diamond asked her best friend "your parents didn't make you jump over the watering cans singing to them, so why did you do that?"
"Because if you were in trouble, I wanted to share your pain with you. You...you've become more of a friend to me. We...we should become a coupledom."
Diamond turned to her and kissed her on her cheek and Silver replied with a kiss on the lips. Diamond made no move to pull away and wipe the kiss, instead returning it and adding a kiss to Silver's forehead. "Yes, we should. You and I , together like Lyra and Bon Bon. If you want, we can keep it secret if you think your family would mind."
"Oh, my family won't mind," Silver replied, whilst thinking That's because they set this whole thing up. They'll be overjoyed when they find out that we are together and in love. And, Diamond, I think that I do love you. I never thought that I could love another filly but now I do. "But are you really sure that you want to have a relationship with me."
Diamond kissed her again and smiled at her. "I would not be kissing you if I was not sure, would I?"
Silver Spoon softly began running her hooves down Diamond Tiara's flanks and kissing her softly at the same time. The kisses were gentle, soft, sweet, Silver not wanting to make them too passionate yet. There would be plenty of time for that later on, when she was sure that Diamond loved her. Then she licked Diamond Tiara's cutie mark and it had a cool, metallic taste. Diamond giggled as Silver continued to lick the cutie mark and wiggled a little. "I wouldn't lick that if I were you...Mum had it gilded recently. She likes me to look my best."
"Ewwwww. ewww, yuck!" Diamond could not help giggling at the look on her friend's face when she realized she had been licking silver leaf.
Silver looked deeply into the eyes of her best friend and lover. "I'm worried. What will your parents say if we announce that we are in love? Will they be horrified? I would think they would be expecting you to produce an heir? Not that I would mind one day having your foals, but we are both mares, so I can't.."
"Oh, they'll get used to it." And no wonder, they are the ones that set this whole thing up in the first place. But I'm very pleased that they did, because now I'm in love with you for real.
"If someone had told me when I was a foal and first met you, that one day you and I would be a happily dating couple, I would have laughed in their face. But really, the more I get to know you, the deeper my love for you gets. You and me are two of the same kind, we hold the same views, and the fact that you're so pretty does not hurt. I'd better get back home, Mummy gets so scared when I stay out on my own late at night, even more so since that Changeling attack on Canterlot. She thinks one or more of the changelings are still around and would see me as a good target, or that somepony would mug me for my bits, even though violent crime is almost unheard of in Ponyville. Goodbye, my precious Diamond ." She gave Diamond a long kiss goodbye and trotted home, her head full of images of her true love.
She had a big smile on her face when a servant let her in. "Mummy, Daddy, your plan worked perfectly. Not only is Diamond Tiara totally in love with me, but I am totally, genuinely in love with her. Thank you so much for helping me find my special somebody." Something was wrong, her parents despite the fact that had been their idea were not smiling and did not seem happy at all. "Mummy, Daddy, what's wrong? I did everything you said and I'm even in love for real."
Silver Tray said "Silver Spoon, we just had a change of plan. Prince Blueblood has shown interest in you and has told us that he will help us financially if...you agree to become his marefriend."
Silver Spoon stared in horror at her parents and screwed up her face in disgust. "What? I cannot believe what I am hearing. First, he is more then twice my age. He also, from stories I've heard floating around, has a very low view of mares and thinks them inferior to stallions. And anyway, I'm taken, I am happily in love with Diamond Tiara and I want to stay in love with her. I'm not a....a sex toy for your amusement and the so called honor of the family. Falling in love with Diamond because you wanted to was one thing, I had no coltfriend or marefriend back then. But now I'm in love and I won't leave Diamond as long as she still loves me, not for you, not for anypony. Diamond is perfect for me and that is all that matters. I would rather be a...blank flank then lose her."
Silver Tray replied "You could still see Diamond behind Prince Blueblood's back, Prince Blueblood behind Diamond's back, and neither of them need know about each other."
Silver Spoon stomped her hoof on the floor in anger. "Mother, I am not a...a concubine, which is no doubt what Prince Blueblood wants me to be. I've found my special somepony, and that is final, and I will be informing Diamond Tiara of what you wanted me to do. If you throw me out of the family mansion, I will just go and move in with her."
Her father snapped "What if I was to disown you? Would she still want you then? I doubt it-if you were a poor pony she would kick you to the curb."
Diamond narrowed her eyes. "Mother, Father, even if I were not in love with Silver Spoon or anypony and were single, I would still refuse to marry Prince Blueblood. First, he must be four times my age! He and I really have absolutely nothing in common with each other. Second, I was with you at the Grand Galloping Gala, the one that turned into a total disaster. And I saw with my own eyes the way that he treated Rarity, a mare that was genuinely in love with him, as a shield against a flying cake. He is boorish, full of himself, and has little or no respect for mares no matter who they are. At best, he would just use me for sex as a brood mare to have legal heirs, and I'm better then that. A lot better then that. And would you really disown me, your only daughter? I really don't think so. Who would you choose as your heir then? I choose Silver, not Blueblood, and you won't be able to change my mind."
Silver's father turned to a couple of foot-stallions. "Grab her and take her to her bedroom." As they started to advance on Diamond, she leapt out of one of the windows, smashing it in the process, and galloped away as fast as possible to Silver's mansion. Silver's mother turned to her father and said "You know, this is at least partly our fault. We encouraged our daughter to fall headlong in love with Silver Spoon, and she did. And she's right about Blueblood, he is all those things and more. I think we should accept our daughter's choice. Silver Spoon is of our own class and is as wealthy as we are, so it's not as if our daughter fell in love with some poor peasant. We should have one more talk with her to see if she really is in love with another mare or not, and if she is, give her love our blessing. The only thing that really bothers me about this would be the lack of a legitimate heir to the Rich fortune in the long term. "
"I suppose you're right, and this mess is our fault. Servants, clean up this mess please and get a new window installed as soon as possible."
Unaware that her parents were considering letting her and Silver Spoon be together, Diamond Tiara galloped up to the Silver Mansion. The gates were closed of course against trespassers and thieves and sealed with a magical spell, but Diamond was one of the few ponies outside the Spoon family to know the magic word to get in. She said it and the gates clanged open and once she was inside, they clanged shut behind her. She knocked on the front door and Silver herself opened it. Diamond leapt up in a hug and almost pushed her gorgeous marefriend over, kissing her warmly on the lips.
"You would not believe who my parents now want me to marry-Prince Blueblood! He's a dirty old stallion who must be three times my age at least , he has no respect for mares at all; and besides he's not you. I would choose you, Silver, above anypony. Don't hand me over to a loveless marriage."
"I will do no such thing, don't forget that I love you too. We were so totally meant to be together," Silver assured her marefriend. "There is no way that I will ever hand you over to your parents or to Blueblood. You're mine."
Diamond Tiara slowly felt safe again once she was in her marefriend's arms. "Even if I was single, there is no way that I would ever agree to marry that oaf Prince Blueblood, given how he treats mares and the way he thinks about them. I am a lot more then a container for his heirs to be. I do still love my parents though, and we need to talk to them as soon as possible to let them know that. Hopefully they will see reason in time and understand why I galloped away from them. If we have to, we can try and appeal to Princess Celestia. I feel pretty sure she would not force me to marry her nephew against my will."
Silver nodded. "I'll send a servant to your parent's mansion with a message saying that you want to meet them here. I won't let them drag you away, I promise you that."
Soon enough the Riches and the Spoons had met in the Great Hall of the Spoon family mansion, which was decorated with portraits from long ago of fierce looking Spoons going back into the distant past. Unlike the Nouveau riche Rich family that had only been rich for a couple of generations, the Spoons were an Old Money family and proud of their ancestry that stretched all the way back to Princess Platinum.
Diamond said, "Mother, Father, I do love you, but I really don't think you know just how much I both love Silver Spoon and detest Prince Blueblood. Silver is my own age, truly loves me for who I am, and I know that I can have a happy future with her. Blueblood is thrice my age, grossly sexist with no respect for mares and you yourselves saw how he used Rarity as an equine shield against a flying cake."
Silver spoke next, rather sharply. "Don't you care about the happiness of your own daughter? I love her mind and her personality, and she and I are of the same social class. If anything, my family is of a higher social class then yours, not that such a thing matters much to me. Blueblood would use your daughter as a sex object and not much else. With me, she'll be happy for the rest of her life."
Filthy Rich asked Diamond "Are you certain that you love Silver Spoon as much as she loves you? If your love is true, and I can see no doubt in that, then I have no objection to you and Silver staying together as a loving couple."
Diamond's mother, Screwball Rich, said "We should never have tried to break you two apart in the first place. You two are as much in love as I love your father. We do have one major worry, and that is that no heirs will come from a coupling of two mares, so you will have to make sure that you write a will so that your fortune can pass down to the ponies who you want it to, rather then being seized by the state or falling into the wrong hands. And of course, once you have been together for a few years we will need to think about a proper wedding for the two of you."
Diamond hugged and kissed her parents and accepted their forehead kisses in return, happy to have made up with them, and the Spoons looked on and smiled.
It was three years later when during the Grand Galloping Gala at Canterlot Castle, Diamond Tiara, who was dressed in her best dress for the occasion, knelt in front of Silver Spoon and offered her a velvet box. Silver opened it to reveal a silver bracelet studded with diamonds. Ponies did not wear wedding rings or any sort of rings, as they lacked fingers to put them on. Rings were a griffin thing.
"Silver Spoon, will you marry me?" she asked Silver hopefully. Silver placed the bracelet on her wrist where it fitted perfectly and kissed Diamond and replied "I would love to marry you and spend the rest of my life with you." The nearby nobles clopped-their hooves together to show that they approved, not the other form of clop that was done in private. Over the next few weeks, a lot of bits were spent and a lot of time was taken to make sure that the Rich-Spoon wedding would be truly one to behold.
Both wedding dresses were personally sewed by Rarity herself. Diamond's made her look rather like a pony crossed with a meringue, and was studded with diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and other such gems. Spike had to be banned from the sewing room after he ate one of the rubies. Silver's was form-fitting with silver thread holding it together and the Spoon crest in gold leaf. Both dresses were made of fine white silk.
The wedding cake was made by Mr and Mrs Cake, was twice the size of the Marvellous Meringue Madness, was decorated with pink and grey marzipan icing and had little marzipan models of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon at the top of it. And there was plenty of other food to go with it of every kind except meat. Everypony who was anypony was invited and Princess Celestia herself said the vows.
"Do you, Diamond Tiara Rich, swear to Silver Spoon Lode that you will love, honour, protect and stay faithful to her for as long as you both shall live?"
"I do."
"And do you, Silver Spoon Lode, swear to Diamond Tiara Rich that you will love, honour, protect and stay faithful to her for as long as you both shall live?"
"I do."
As the two ponies kissed and gazed into each other's eyes, they knew that their happy ever after had only just begun.
