The Mare in the Moon and Silver Spoon

“Since when has Diamond Tiara’s mansion had a hallway this long,” Silver Spoon asked the walls to either side of her. “Or with this many pictures of her.”

All along the walls were placed paintings and pictures of Diamond Tiara at various stages of her life as Silver Spoon had known her, starting from when they were both years younger. There was one from when Silver Spoon had just moved from Canterlot, alone and scared.

“Did I really look that scared?” Silver Spoon asked, pausing to reflect on the picture. Diamond Tiara was right beside her, offering her a candy. “That was so long ago. I don’t…”

A sound from the other end of the hallway caught her attention and she trailed off. What had that noise been? It was like laughter, but…

It came again. “Diamond Tiara?” She asked.

No answer came back but another strange, twisted laugh. Not evil… Not exactly, but unsettling, it sounded like her friend’s voice; and yet, it wasn't.

The lights behind her, the way she had come, began to shut off and plunge the hallway into darkness one section at a time. Fear tingled up her spine and settled in a cold lump in her stomach. She didn’t want to be caught in the dark.

Leaving the picture of a happy Diamond Tiara behind, Silver Spoon trotted down the hallway. The darkness followed. The faces on the walls she passed now were angry, with sneers and pointing hooves. She passed picture after picture pointing a hoof at her that mouthed insults that wound through her mind like snakes.

“You’re wearing that?”

“Sure, if you want to look stupid.”

“You really should do something about your mane.”

The petty insults stung, piling on one after another until she couldn’t hear anything else and felt their sting like a dozen tiny fly bites at her flanks. She ran faster, her hoofbeats disturbing the paintings so that they followed her along the walls, crowding together and chanting insult after insult.

A doorway appeared at the end of the hallway, looming out of the gathering gloom like a golden, glittering promise of hope.

The massive gold plated panels on the door also featured Diamond Tiara’s haughty visage, seeming to glare down at her for even daring to approach. But they opened as she ran towards them, inviting her inside. Not caring beyond getting away from the shadow rapidly gaining ground behind her, she dashed through.

She found herself suddenly elsewhere. There was no up or down, no point of reference. All she could feel was something underneath her hooves. Silver Spoon twisted around, looking every which way. Nothing but darkness surrounded her.

A harsh light snapped on from high above and surrounded Silver Spoon with its unforgiving radiance. Every flaw in her silver coat was suddenly obvious and every imperfection on her hooves seemed to get its own spotlight. Horrified, disgusted, she looked away.

The light brightened, pushing back some of the shadows as she looked around.

She was sitting in the middle of a giant table like an executive meeting table. What was worse were all the other ponies around her, shadowy figures lost in the gloom to either side and showing nothing but their eyes; glowing like flint sparks of malice in the darkness.

This wasn’t better than the hallway. The golden, glittering door had lied to her with its promise of safety.

Another, more radiant and beautiful light snapped on above Diamond Tiara, sitting at the far end of the table and casting her in a glow of absolute perfection.

“You’re late!” Diamond Tiara’s voice boomed.

“Late?” Silver Spoon asked after a long moment of looking around, seeking some sign of a friendly presence, some glimmer of sympathy in those harsh eyes. There was none, and the eyes never left her. “For what?”

“For what?!” Diamond Tiara yelled, then continued in a quieter voice. “Don’t tell me that you forgot, Silver Spoon. You are in enough trouble as it is.”

“Please, tell me! I’ll remember. Just tell me what I forgot and I’ll never forget it again!”

Diamond Tiara sneered and smacked her hoof against the table. “We’ll see.”

 The light dimmed around Diamond Tiara until all that Silver Spoon could see was the twinkle of malevolence in her eyes and the sparkle of the diamonds encrusting her friend’s namesake.

“It’s time to account for your lackluster friendship performance. The board hasn’t been happy at all with your performance this year, Silver Spoon. Not. Happy.” Then she smiled, the whites of her teeth visible in the darkness, and continued in a more familiar haughty tone. “You’re very, very lucky that I, as Chairfilly of the board, have granted you this gracious opportunity to explain your failures.”

“Failures? But, I’ve been your best frie-”

“I see that we’ll need to review your performance. Again. You forgot.” Diamond Tiara’s eyes narrowed to glinting slits. “Again.”

The chairfilly loomed out of the darkness, the malice in her eyes no less menacing than it had been before. Between her teeth she clutched a slender steel pointer that seemed entirely too long and whip-like for Silver Spoon’s taste.

“Where to start?” Diamond Tiara asked, tsking as she looked over a list that was suddenly there at the end of her hoof. She shrugged after a moment and slapped the list on a white board that was also suddenly there.

“First! My thirteenth birthday.” Diamond Tiara slapped the pointer against the board with a resounding smack that sent a crack shooting through the center of the board. An image of Diamond Tiara’s last birthday appeared over the crack. “The gift you got me was sub par, at best!”

Silver Spoon flinched back.

The image shifted to showing the elaborate wooden carving of a spoon, just like Silver Spoon's. She'd meant it as a token of their friendship.

“Second!” Another slap and another image, this time of Diamond Tiara alone beside her pool. “You didn’t make it to my pool party three months ago! I had to sit by the side of the pool alone for hours.” The image flickered through several still images of Diamond Tiara looking more and more bored.

“But-” Silver Spoon protested, cutting herself off and biting her lip. She had been with her parents that day… It was a rare treat to spend time with them, since they were so often gone on business.

“Third!” The whiplike tip of the pointer left a sizeable dent in the board this time and widened the crack down the center. Silver Spoon fell to her belly and covered her ears as the sound echoed louder and louder throughout the chamber. When she looked back up, there was a picture of herself, from just seconds before.

“Pay attention!” The Chairfilly shouted, suddenly in her face. “Third! Interrupting me! Never interrupt me!” Diamond Tiara stopped and took a deep breath before stepping back to stand by the board.

“But you weren’t all bad this year,” the transition from raging to calm was shocking. “No… You did actually manage to do something good,” she grumbled, then murmured, “Celestia only knows how.”

More gently this time, she tapped the tip of the pointer against the whiteboard and an image of them both standing nose to nose against the three Cutie Mark Crusaders appeared.

"You were there with me to try and bring down the Crusaders again so that I could win the competition and represent Ponyville at the Equestria Games. It would have been a coup d'etat! Nopony would ever doubt me again, and I would have had even the Cutie Mark Crybabies grovelling at my feet.”

Diamond Tiara smiled and closed her eyes, shivering with what Silver Spoon could only imagine was joy. The silence lasted only moments. “But even there you failed, Silver Spoon; snatching defeat from the hooves of victory."

Diamond Tiara slapped the pointer against the board again, and a moving picture appeared, showing Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon planning their routine to break the Crusader’s spirit.

"See, right here! I had to come up with the plan on my own. You didn't contribute anything. It was almost like you didn't want me to win!"

“No! I did want us… you-” her mouth clicked shut of its own accord. Surprised, Silver Spoon tried to talk again, and when nothing came out, she reached up with a hoof to touch her muzzle.

Gone! She had no muzzle!

Diamond Tiara smiled and tipped her chin up, continuing her lecture on Silver Spoon’s failure to help her capture the flag.

Tears came again, and this time she couldn’t stop them, nor did she try. Maybe her tears would soften her friend’s heart? What else could she try?

“Stop crying!” came the thunderous roar, shaking the board room.

The tears just kept coming. She staggered to her hooves and tried to find a way out, only to fall again and again as she lost her footing.

Why can't I stand up?

As though the thought were a curative, she found her footing. Only to see that all around her the other ponies of the board had closed in, still shrouded by shadow and leaving no gap between them. She was trapped.

“Be still, Silver Spoon. You don’t want me to have to take corrective action. You wouldn't like that." The Chairfilly paused, then continued as though Silver Spoon's terror meant nothing to her. "Things are already bad enough for you. Don't make them worse."

Diamond Tiara lifted a hoof to tap at her chin, “Now... Where was I? Oh yes… Then there was the worst incident of them all.” This time the loud thwack nearly broke the board, and one corner toppled away to land with a loud thunk on the table. Cracks began appearing in the surface of the table, spreading with alarming rapidity towards where Silver Spoon stood.

No longer paying attention, no longer hoping to do anything but survive, Silver Spoon scrambled away from the jagged cracks, but found everywhere that she turned more appeared out of the solid surface of the table.

A resounding crack shook the chamber, tearing the table into two and sending her spinning and adrift below the half where Diamond Tiara still stood. All around her, her half of the table got smaller and smaller as piece after piece fell away.

"Are you even listening to me?!" her friend shouted again. Chunks of Diamond Tiara's table crumbled and spun off into the roiling darkness below, narrowly missing Silver Spoon and her rapidly dwindling island.

Silver Spoon buried her muzzle under her hooves.

Please... Just let it-  She blinked. Her muzzle was back!

"Ahem."

Diamond Tiara seemed to be expecting something, and her impatient scowl grew angrier the longer Silver Spoon paused.

"Please! Please just let me make it all up to you!" Silver Spoon yelled up at her, "I promise I can be a better friend, just let me try! Please! I don’t want to be alone!"

"I don't believe you. You've always just said whatever it is that you thought I wanted to hear, haven't you? You've never meant any of what you've said to me. Admit it!"

Silver Spoon shook her head wildly, "No! I wanted to be your friend! Why can't-" She cut herself off and clapped a hoof over her mouth.

"Why can't... what? Why can't I be nice to you? I have always been nice to you. But you don't ever seem to appreciate the advice that I offer. You're still wearing that same, silly braid, those same silly glasses, and that same old string of pearls."

Silver Spoon cringed. It was all true. Wasn't it? A small part of her whispered, No. Maybe it was time to listen to that part of her?

"I think it's time that I explore other avenues. I just don't think that you could make up the friendship mistakes you've made, and I can’t have a friend who doesn't appreciate me for all that I give back to them. Can I?"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, didn't you already figure it out?” Diamond Tiara's table spun above her, so that Silver Spoon had to turn if she wanted to keep an eye on the monster that her friend had become. She dare not turn her back now.

“Oh, wow. This is just too rich!" Diamond Tiara laughed. "I don't know how you lasted this long as my friend being so dim witted. I suppose it makes sense, though. I came up with all the ideas, you just followed along, dragging at my success, drinking from my fountain of knowledge. Useless toadie that you are. What have you contributed? Nothing."

“But I-” She spun around, trying to keep Diamond Tiara in her sight, but the monster kept eluding her, sneaking around behind to tear away another chunk of table just beside her hooves. She had little room left to stand. Already, she felt one hoof slipping. “I-”

"And you’re pretty stupid, too. You can’t even form a complete sentence anymore. Useless, pathetic, simpering stooge."

Shame and anger curdled inside Silver Spoon and helpless tears streamed down her cheeks as she stood up taller, lifting her head and planting her hooves on what little ground was left to her.

She had been a lot of things. Tagalong, toadie, yesmare… but one thing she was not and had never been was stupid. She was tired of the constant nitpicking, the subtle bullying and the incessant snide remarks about her appearance.

"No. I'm not stupid. I'm not your stooge. I don't need a friend like you!" Confidence growing, she stamped a hoof down, and continued, "You think you’re so high and mighty, so perfect? You’re not! You’re mean, capricious, selfish, and-" Silver Spoon paused in her tirade to catch her breath and flinched when another piece of table fell away under her hoof.

“What was that?” The whisper sent yet another chunk whirling away, “What did you say to me?”

Silver Spoon lifted her chin; enough was enough. “I said-”

“Lies! Liar!” Diamond Tiara’s roar shattered the small island of table and flung Silver Spoon into the waiting hooves of two guard ponies. In an instant, calm fell over Diamond Tiara and she smoothed back her mane. Somehow, that was more terrifying.

"Guards,” she said sweetly to the burly unicorns. She smiled again, but there was nothing pretty in it and it widened into a manic insane grin that split her muzzle from cheek to cheek. "Take her cutie mark away. She doesn't deserve it anymore."

At first, she remained defiant, and struggled against her captors. But then the light around her dimmed, dropping all but the two stone faced unicorns and herself into a deep gloom with nothing but fiery lights to mark their eyes.

Terror and a mad, panicked laughter that threatened to burst out bubbled up inside Silver Spoon. This couldn't be happening! How could she take away her cutie mark? Could she? She had no doubts now that if the monster that had been her friend could, then she would.

It wasn’t possible, was it?

She struggled, pulling at the iron bands that seemed to serve as one unicorn’s legs. She was unable to move even an inch away from him. The other approached her with a blank expression.

"What are you doing?! Get away from me!" She flailed about with her hooves, striking his face with a sound like, well, like a hoof hitting a rock.

"We're taking your cutie mark, stupid little toadie," the one holding her growled, his voice comparable to the sound of rocks gnashing together and just as sympathetic. "Boss's orders."

"You can't have it! It's mine!" The unicorn in front of her, the one she had kicked, approached her again, this time putting a rock hard hoof against her belly to hold her still. “Get away from me!”

Somehow, she found the strength to push him away, kicking again at his face with both hind feet and connecting solidly enough to chip away a little bit of the stone veneer. Underneath there was nothing… Just a hollow statue.

Heartened, she kicked again and again, but managed to do nothing else. Chips and flakes flew, but no more crumbled away. Her strength faded faster than she was destroying the statue.

"I earned it," she whimpered as her legs dangled. She no longer had the strength to keep fighting.

"You may have earned it, Little Spork, but you have to use it to keep it," a voice said in her ear, belonging to neither of the unicorns nor to Diamond Tiara.

"My name is Silver Spoon," she growled, kicking out at her tormenter once more with a brief surge of energy that quickly gave out again.

"Ooh, anger. Good. You'll need that." The voice left her.

Silver Spoon gasped as the one in front of her dipped his head and shoved his horn into her belly. There was no pain, nor was there any blood. Terror and confusion warred within her, and she could only watch in horrified fascination as the unicorn statue pulled back, drawing out a spark of silvery, shimmering light.

As soon as it left her body, it transformed into a spoon and fell away. She recognized it instantly.

It was her spoon.

~

High above the scene unfolding in the boardroom, outside of the dream, Luna sat bound up in chains by none other than Discord. She struggled against the bonds of his power, but even here in her place of power, she wasn't strong enough to break free of his binding.

"Let me go, Discord! You can't do that to her!"

"Oh, but I already have." He held out a silver spoon and tapped it against her nose. "Trust me, Luna. This is for the best."

"Trust you? Why should I trust you? You just... What did you do?" His ability to manipulate dreams, she was forced to admit, was at least on par with her own and far more subtle than her usual approach. But even so, she hadn’t expected the result to be quite so… disturbing.

She usually stopped things before they got anywhere near the point they had in this dream. It was almost a relief when the bubble of Silver Spoon’s dream popped, banishing the remnants of the nightmare.

Beside her, Discord sat back down on the path, looking curiously introspective and tapping the spoon against his chin.

“Was it honestly necessary to be so cruel, Discord? Did you have to push her so hard? She put herself through an ordeal far worse than I have seen in a long while, and then you-” she cut herself off, feeling ill and not trusting her lunch to stay down as the images that she now could not keep from seeing flashed through her mind.

“Oh, lighten up. It’s no different than the nightmares she’s inspired in others.” He glanced at the spoon in his paw, “Well… Maybe a little different. But I had to push her, to get her to… well, you saw her at the end? She was ready to fight back.”

"Fight back? Against what? You?" The queasy feeling returned. “Surely there was an another way to do what... whatever it is you intend,” she pleaded. Perversely, she found herself hoping that his answer would be negative, that the anguish Silver Spoon had suffered hadn’t been just because she wasn't powerful enough to stop Discord on her own.

She had learned long ago to never underestimate Discord’s abilities or what he was capable of; reformed or not, she did not trust him. But he was necessary. Celestia had tried, time and again to impress that upon her, that he could do good, and was doing good. But here, she just couldn't see it.

“Against me? Oh no, Luna. I'm not so petty as to hurt a child just for the sake of doing it. As for what I intend, there really was no other way. At least not one that I can see. If I were to just leave it as a disturbing dream, she would dismiss it as such and go back to being just a drab, little, grey spoon.” In his paw the spoon shriveled and shrunk, tarnish covering most of its surface.

He held out the spoon for her to inspect. “See.. this is our little spoon before tonight.” He covered it with his eagle claw for a moment only and held it out again, “And now.”

The spoon was still covered with tarnish and shriveled, but there were also places where the tarnish was beginning to flake off. “With the right polish and some effort, she could really shine and straighten herself out. As much as it pains me to put little Silver Spoon through this, I cannot shine her for herself. She needs to discover how to do that all on her own."

“I will weep for your pain later,” Luna growled, under her breath. “Why was this the only way that you could get her to shine? By tormenting her?"

“Tormenting her? Oh no. Well... maybe a little. Just a teensy bit," he held the talons of his claws together so close she couldn't see between them. "She's been oh so awful to one of my bestest pals. And one of yours too, if I recall.”

“Then why are you even bothering? I do not recall you being this compassionate when my sister and I faced you the first time. For all I know, everything you just said was a lie and you’re just tormenting her like you did to everypony so long ago.”

“Luna… You wound me. I intend only the best, I assure you.”

“Then why chain me up? Why not explain all this to me?”

“Well, if I recall, you came in ready for a fight right at the start. I couldn’t very well let you stop me right at the crucial moment of the dream, now, could I?”

“It’s not like I could have stopped you, apparently,” she growled, looking down at her chains. “And,” she conceded, “there’s not much I can do to stop you even if you let me go.”

"What was that?” He cocked his head and held his paw to an ear, “Oh, that's right! The precious elements of harmony are all tucked safely back into the tree, aren't they? How could I have forgotten about that?" He snapped his talons together, "Oh, right. I didn't."

“Are you done teasing me?"

"Teasing you? Is that what this is?" He pulled his goatee off and fluffed her chin with it, "I'm trying to educate you. But let's be a little more blunt about it."

He snapped his talons and everything went white for less time than it took for Luna to blink.

Instead of sitting beside him and in chains, Luna found herself sitting in a far too small desk in the Ponyville Schoolhouse while Discord stood at the front of the class with a long pointer. An outline of a pony with a Discord cutie mark on its flank was drawn crudely on the board.

Instead of being painful, the desk was flexible enough to  hold her without biting into her legs. She bent her head down to bite the desk, only to jerk upright when it tried to bite her right back. When she looked up again, he had a book open in his lion’s paw and began to read from it.

“A pony’s cutie mark is more than just a picture. It’s a mark of understanding, deep and profound, that touches upon a pony’s entire life. When a pony achieves a stage of enlightenment about themselves and what they are meant to do, through a profound realization of what it is that they most enjoy doing.”

“What? I am quite aware of that, thank you!” She strained and flapped her wings, but the desk had suddenly grown as heavy as a boulder.

“Shush dear, teacher is giving a lesson.” Discord droned, looking over horn rimmed glasses at her. He snapped his cloven hoof and something heavy settled onto Luna’s head.

She shook her head to knock it off quickly, only to see that it was a dunce cap. Seething, but unable to do anything about it, she buckled down on her ire and settled in to listen. It wasn't likely that he was going to just let her keep interrupting him. Her muzzle might be taken away next.

Discord didn’t seem to notice and continued his lecture.

“This realization ignites a spark within the pony, bolstering her spirit and granting her clarity whenever she focuses on a task within the purview of her talent. A pony with a talent for growing flowers, for example, will be able to understand the flowers she grows more profoundly than any pony that tries to grow flowers without that talent and, by extension, be able to tend to them more ably and produce a healthier, more beautiful flower. Yada, yada, beauty, wealth and kindness, blah blah. Ah. Here we go.”

Discord flipped through the book towards the end and began reading again.

“There does not appear to be any way to lose a cutie mark through any means, or to gain one by trickery or by means of magical assistance without serious side effects.”

He held up a talon and pointed it at the book, “Now here’s the important part: a cutie mark must be gained by understanding that comes from within. Without that understanding, a cutie mark is meaningless.” He snapped the book closed to show Starswirl the Bearded’s mark on the front of it and popped it back to wherever it had come from.

At least Luna hoped that it ended up where it had come from. “That does not explain anything,” she grunted, straining against her chair again.

“It explains everything, my dear. Silver Spoon is a one in a million case. She forgot what her talent was. That is the only reason why anypony, even a being as powerful as I, would have been able to take her cutie mark from her. For her, it was just a picture on her flank. But the spark remains. That cannot be removed; even by me.”

He snapped his talons and broke the desk down into pieces on the floor, dumping her unceremoniously to her rump amidst the ruin. She rushed him, trampling the dunce cap on her way, and pressed her horn under his chin, "You need to give her cutie mark back! Before-"

Appearing completely unconcerned, Discord laughed and pushed her horn away, "Before what, Luna? Are you going to tell her that big bad Discord took her cutie mark away? What kind of lesson would she learn from that?" He held his upper legs up to his chin and pranced about, "Oh! Save me, the big bad monster took my things!"

"That's not funny."

"Was I laughing?" He asked. Snapping his talons, he was suddenly by her side with an arm around her neck. "Luna, I'm reformed. I only want what's best for all of my little pony friends. But none of what you all were doing was helping her. Admonishments, discipline... She's still the same pony she was, if not worse. It's my turn to try."

Against her better judgement, Luna did not disagree. "Will you at least give her some sign of hope? Or let me do it? She needs a friend right now."

"Of course. I'm not evil, Luna. I'm chaotic. There is a difference, you know. Not that you seem to care."

Luna sighed. He had made some valid points, and she was forced to agree with his reasoning, even if she didn't agree with his methods. But, she could not let one thing stand. She tapped into the fury she’d felt when she first saw Discord tampering with Silver Spoon’s dream.

"You may think that you have done good here Discord, and perhaps you have. But do not think that you can do whatever you please in the name of what you consider good, Discord," she said in a voice roiling with barely contained, cold fury.

 He yawned. “Yes, yes. Doom upon my house, curse upon my name and cockle-burs in my stockings. All very dramatic.”

She paused, glaring at him. "I will be watching you. If you think you can capture me again and do what you wish to one of my subjects, think again. If you even try, I will become your own personal nightmare until the end of time. Do you understand me?"

"Whatever."

She kept her gaze level with his, "Don't test me, Discord."

He sighed. "Fine. I'll ask pretty please with a cherry on top next time."

It wasn’t an apology, but it was probably the best she was going to get out of him for now. She might as well argue with a rock. She sighed, instead and shook her head.

"And I will listen,” she conceded, “You've made a... an argument." She still refused to admit that it was a good idea, but there wasn't much she could do to stop him at the moment. And he had made at least one good point amongst all those he’d tried to use. Some ponies just didn’t respond to gentle correction the way that most others did; whether by their own willfulness or that of another impressed upon them.

"Oh, fine. I'm sorry I didn't ask first. Will you at least let me try to help her my way?"

She wanted to say no. "No more nightmares," she said instead.

"No more nightmares," he agreed.

"And you won't let her suffer?"

He snapped down a white screen from the air to show a short movie of him skating around an ice rink made of the Apple Family’s pond. In the foreground, Fluttershy had a sterner than usual expression and refused to even look at him until finally he turned the pond back into a farm.

"If she doesn't experience hurt from this, then she won't learn that being friends with a petty little tyrant is bad for her finish,” he tapped her nose again with the still tarnished spoon. “I will promise that I won't add any more to it, if that's what you're asking."

Luna conceded the point only grudgingly, and nodded. "I will accept that promise... but I will watch you, Discord. Will you give her back her talent at least?"

"Oh no. I didn't even take that away. Weren't you listening?" He snapped his talons and a wash cloth flew up to smudge his image on the blackboard. "I took the picture away."

“But I thought-” Luna began, stopping herself as she tried to remember what he'd said. Most of it was hazy; she had been just a little angry, after all.

Discord flicked her nose with his talon, cutting off her train of thought. “Weren't you listening to my lecture?" He looked down at the dunce cap pointedly. "What you saw was illusion; smoke and mirrors. What you saw was a bright light transform into a spoon.”

He clucked his tongue at her. ”Seriously, Luna, you shock me. I would have thought that you, of all ponies, would understand the power of symbolism in dreams. The spark is still within her. All I've done is add some kindling. It's up to her now to reignite the fire.”

“Then you will return her cutie mark?”

“When she realizes what her talent is, I won't need to.”