“One extra-large milkshake, to lift that frown and help you smile!”
Silver Spoon said nothing. She just threw ten bits at Pinkie Pie with a huff and wrapped her lips around the milkshake’s straw, sipping away as she thought about the fight she had with Diamond Tiara that morning. The fight to end all fights.
It all started when Diamond Tiara thought that it would be funny to swap the sugar that the Cutie Mark Crusaders had on their lemonade stand with salt. It was, especially since Scootaloo was the first to try it.
Diamond didn’t want to stop there, though. She wanted to tie together Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle’s tails whilst Snips and Snails kept them distracted. Was that funny? Of course it was! Afterwards Diamond Tiara suggested they stop hiding in the shadows and confront them directly, with Silver Spoon ‘accidentally’ bumping her rear into the stall to make it collapse. That’s where Silver Spoon got mad. So some things were said, so kicks were thrown, some voices got raised and the two went their separate ways.
Silver Spoon had also lost her glasses in the process, rendering her very blind until her ophthalmologist had repaired them. Silver Spoon continued sipping her milkshake even after the glass was empty.
The sounds of giggling to Silver Spoon’s right caught her attention. She couldn’t see much besides an orange and a yellow blur, but she recognised the voices. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. They were apparently having a lot of fun together, and the sounds of their laughter made something in Silver Spoon’s stomach churn.
Silver Spoon’s anger vanished, and was replaced by sadness. Diamond Tiara was her best friend for so many years, and now she was gone, thanks to that one argument between them. And now she was sitting outside of Sugarcube Corner, drinking an extra-large milkshake all on her own.
Something in the corner of Silver Spoon’s eye caught her attention. She looked over to the building in the distance, where a striped, curly tail had just walked inside. She couldn’t see it clearly, but the colours and the shape told her who it had belonged to. With a determined look on her face, Silver Spoon rose to her hooves and stepped forward. It was time to set things right.
Sweetie Belle was humming a merry tune as she browsed through the selection of candies before her, trying to find the ones that Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had asked for, as well as deciding which ones to pick up for herself.
The bell rang behind her but she paid it no mind. That is, until she heard hoofsteps walking closer and stopping nearby. Turning a curious head, Sweetie Belle found nopony there…
“Hey,” a voice called out from around the corner. “Can we talk?”
Sweetie Belle recognised the voice, but she couldn’t for the life of her figure out why Silver Spoon would be approaching her… Okay, that was a lie. She figured that the mean filly was just trying to get under her skin or something. “Well…”
“I’m sure you don’t want to, but please… I have… I have something I really need to get off my chest…”
Sweetie Belle raised an eyebrow. Silver Spoon sounded strange. Was she crying? “Uh, o-okay then…”
“… … … I-I’m sorry, okay?”
Did Sweetie Belle hear that right? Was Silver Spoon actually apologising to her?
“I didn’t mean to… you know, to make you feel bad or anything. I just got a little carried away, you know?”
Silver Spoon felt her legs shaking. Was she nervous? Or was it fear that she was feeling? Who was to say that the other filly would accept her apology?
“I mean, it was all just in good fun, right?” It was fun up until things took a sour turn. “But then I went a little overboard.” Understatement of the year. “Maybe we can… just forget it ever happened? Maybe?”
Silence. Silver Spoon gulped. She was terrified of what the other filly might say or do. Finally, she heard movement. “You really mean it?”
Silver Spoon nodded. ‘Wow. Di’s voice sounds different. Is she feeling shaken up by this whole thing, too?’
A white blur entered Silver Spoon’s eyes. Did Diamond Tiara have any white spots on her coat? “Wow. I don’t know what to say…”
Also, where was the blurred outline of Diamond’s tiara? “W-Well, I just hope that you’ll forgive me.” ‘I’m sure she didn’t mean to insinuate that my flank was fat…’
“Well, my sister always said it’s important to forgive and forget.” … Diamond Tiara doesn’t have a sister. “So, okay!” Diamond Tiara’s voice doesn’t get that high. “This is great! A new friend! Come on, let’s go meet Apple Bloom and Scootaloo and tell them the good news!”
‘… Oh Celestia, it’s Sweetie Belle!’
A hoof grabbed Silver Spoon’s and pulled her out of the store before the grey filly could say anything. “I bet they’re gonna be so surprised when they hear you want to be our friend! Oh, I can’t wait to see the look on Scootaloo’s face!” Sweetie Belle giggled, apparently amused by the current situation. Silver Spoon was not, but the other filly was talking too much for her to get a word in. Boy, was this going to be awkward.
“And so, we now welcome our new friend and fellow Cutie Mark Crusader: Silver Spoon!” Sweetie Belle clapped her hooves, completely oblivious to the tense atmosphere surrounding her friends and her new ‘friend’.
‘… Oh, is she done now? I can speak?’ Silver Spoon opened her mouth to object.
“Ah don’t like it,” Apple Bloom said. “How do we know we can trust her?”
“Yeah, I don’t trust her either,” Scootaloo added.
“Well actually-” Silver Spoon began.
“Come on guys!” Sweetie Belle interrupted as she dashed in front of Silver Spoon. “Silver Spoon said that she was sorry and that she wants to be a better pony!”
‘Did I?’
“She said it was all Diamond Tiara’s fault and that she was just following along out of fear!”
‘That doesn’t sound right…’
“She’s never had any other friends!”
‘WHAT?!’
“She just wants this chance to prove herself!”
With Sweetie Belle finished, and Silver Spoon feeling like an enraged ghost, Apple Bloom scratched the back of her head in shame. “Well gee, ah guess ah never saw it that way… Sure, ah guess ah can give ya a chance, if Sweetie Belle says so!”
“I dunno,” Scootaloo said. “I’m still kinda spectacle.”
“You mean ‘sceptical’?” Silver Spoon asked.
“Oh, what, is my word not fancy enough for ya?!”
“Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle scolded. “I thought you were better than this! Can’t you see how much pain she’s in?”
‘Actually I couldn’t care less.’
Scootaloo sighed and sunk her head. “I-I’m sorry. I just, when I think about all the horrible things you did before… But I guess it was all Diamond, huh? You’re not really that bad of a pony?”
‘Tomorrow, I’m putting ketchup in your juice.’
“If Sweetie Belle says you’re okay, then that’s all I need!” Scootaloo said, removing her cape and draping it around Silver Spoon. “Welcome to the club!”
“Uh, thanks? But actually, I-”
“Let’s celebrate!” Sweetie Belle declared.
“No really, I-”
“That sounds like a great idea!” Apple Bloom agreed.
“I-”
“I’ll get the snacks and the music!” Scootaloo said. “Silver Spoon, you can just chill out here an’ wait for us!”
Scootaloo ran past Silver Spoon, soon followed by Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. “… Snacks?” Silver Spoon put a hoof to her chin and grinned. “What the hay. I could use some time to calm down before facing Di anyway, and I could use this chance to get some valuable information on them…”
“And then ah told mah sister ‘that’s a great hat, if ye’re from the seventies!’
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo burst out into laughter, whilst Silver Spoon failed to see the humour in Apple Bloom’s little tale. Maybe it was because she hadn’t shown what the hat in question actually looked like. At least the snacks were good, though. The music could use a little more class, or perhaps just be something that isn’t Bustin Jeiber, but… the snacks were good.
“What’s wrong?” Sweetie Belle asked Silver Spoon, seeing her still frowning. “Aren’t you having fun?”
Silver Spoon almost choked on the sweet in her mouth and swallowed quickly. “Uh, well… It’s just… I’m still sooooo hurt over my falling out with Diamond, y’know?”
“Eh, you’ll get over it,” Scootaloo said.
“Ye’re better off,” Apple Bloom added. “Hey, ah know what we could do! Tell us all the things that Diamond did ta make ya angry! Get it all off yer chest!”
Silver Spoon narrowed her eyes at Apple Bloom, though to the farm filly this just seemed like she was trying to compensate for her lost glasses. “I don’t think that’s-”
“C’mon Spoonster!” Scootaloo said, wrapping a foreleg around her new ‘friend’. “Let it all out! Don’t hold anything back!”
“I think it would help, too,” Sweetie Belle said. “What did you two fight over today, anyway?”
Silver Spoon fell silent, her jaw hanging open. She wasn’t sure what to say. “U-Uh… W-Well, it was just a… a disagreement, that’s all…”
Apple Bloom scoffed. “Lemme guess. She wanted it ‘her way or no way’.”
Silver Spoon scratched the side of her face with a hoof. “Well, she can get a little bossy sometimes, I guess.”
“‘Guess’? I’m guessing you don’t remember the time she declared the sandbox her territory.”
“Ah bet it was real hard puttin’ up with her all those years.”
‘The fun outweighed the difficulties. Although…’ “I suppose it got kinda annoying whenever she got something wrong and refused to admit it, and insisted on carrying on to certain failure.”
Scootaloo snorted into laughter beside Silver Spoon. “I bet that happened a lot, huh?”
“She’s also selfish and greedy,” Sweetie Belle said.
Silver Spoon grinned and gave a slight laugh beneath her breath. “Yeah, she definitely has her moments. And when she doesn’t get her way, boy can she throw a tantrum! Sometimes I feel like I’m light-years ahead on the maturity scale.”
The Crusaders all broke out into laughter, and Silver Spoon found herself joining them, albeit not quite as much. “An’ what’s with that tiara she always wears? Like she’s runnin’ in some kinda twenty-four seven beauty pageant!”
“Oh don’t get me started!” Silver Spoon said. “‘Daddy, where’s my tiara?!’ ‘Silver Spoon, drop everything and help me find my tiara!’ ‘Randolph, call the police! Somepony stole my tiara!’ Maybe if she stopped to organise once-in-a-while, she would be able to actually find the thing!”
“She’s messy?” Sweetie Belle asked through her laughter. “I never would’ve thought that about her!”
“Just lazy,” Silver Spoon said. “She’s actually a total neat freak, just not with her room! She calls it ‘organised chaos’.”
“Not very ‘organised’ if she can’t find anythin’ in it,” Apple Bloom pointed out.
“But hey, at least she keeps it clean. She’s a total germaphobe, which is okay and all, but like, what good does that do if you eat nothing but junk food and have a total fear of vegetables?!”
Scootaloo could barely contain herself by that point. “That explains it! I thought she was gaining a little more weight than most ponies in our class!”
“Yeah! We keep this up and I’d have to call her ‘Chubby Tiara’!”
As the clubhouse filled with the sounds of laughter once more, Silver Spoon found all depression and anger quickly flying away. What she thought was going to be a nuisance piled onto her already rainy day actually turned out to be a healthy distraction for the filly… It’s just too bad that she was so caught up in her laughter that the sound of a shutter completely eluded her.
‘But despite all that, she’s still a good friend…’
As Silver Spoon walked home, a spring in her step and a smile on her face, she would occasionally giggle as she recalled the night’s events. The Crusaders were still losers, there was no denying that, but at least they were there to help her vent out some frustration. Maybe she wouldn’t put ketchup in Scootaloo’s juice the next day.
As that thought crossed her mind, Silver Spoon was intercepted by a familiar pink blur. “Hello there, ‘friend’.”
Silver Spoon stopped and gasped in horror. “D-Diamond Tiara? H-How’d you know where to find me?”
“A little birdie told me,” Diamond Tiara replied before stepping forward. “So, I see you’re doing much better after our little fight earlier. What was it you said in there? I’m ‘Chubby Tiara’ now, am I? I’m lazy, immature, stupid, and a klutz?”
Silver Spoon bit her lip. “H-How’d you-”
“Like I said, a little birdie told me,” Diamond Tiara said just as Featherweight stepped out from the shadows.
“Look, I think you’re taking my word a little out of proportion. Also, I never said that last one.” ‘Out loud.’
“Oh don’t worry, Silver Spoon. I’m not mad.”
“… Y-You’re not?”
“Nope! After all, what kind of friend would I be if I let a few little remarks like that get the best of me?” Diamond Tiara stepped even closer, still smiling that unsettling smile all the while. “I just think that if you have some complaints, you should share them with me! Maybe over a nice, friendly dinner?”
Silver Spoon joined Diamond Tiara in smiling. “T-That sounds-”
“Like, here?” Diamond presented a menu to Silver Spoon. A menu from a familiar, posh restaurant.
“T-This is the most expensive place in town.”
Diamond Tiara took the menu away. “And of course, since we’re such good friends, it’ll be your treat, right?”
Silver Spoon flinched and took a step back. Diamond Tiara was still smiling. “… Sure…” she conceded.
“Good! Well then, let’s be off!” Diamond Tiara turned around to leave, but Featherweight stepped forward to say something.
“Miss Tiara, didn’t you ask me to track down Silver Spoon so you could apologise to her?” Silver Spoon’s ears twitched and she turned her attention straight to the scrawny colt. “I mean, isn’t that what all this was abou-”
“Oh em gee! Lyra’s making out with a mare that isn’t Bon Bon!”
Featherweight turned to where Diamond Tiara was pointing and charged forward, camera raised ready to take photographs. “SCOOOOOOOOOOOOP!”
Diamond Tiara turned around to face Silver Spoon. “… Well?”
“Ah.” Silver Spoon nodded her head and followed after her friend, a little too quickly. She bumped into the pink blur and fell to her haunches.
“Sheesh. Who’s the real klutz here?” Diamond Tiara dropped something at Silver Spoon’s hooves. “You’re useless without these, so I had Featherweight get them repaired. You’re welcome.”
Silver Spoon opened the glasses case before her and pulled out the pair of clean, brand-new glasses inside. She put them on and all became clear. Diamond Tiara had already started walking away, so Silver Spoon scooped up the glasses case and ran after her. A smile crossed over her muzzle. “Hey Di?”
“Yeah?”
“… Wanna put ketchup in Scootaloo’s juice tomorrow?”
Diamond Tiara stopped and turned to Silver Spoon with a diabolical grin. “Hay yeah!”
