As the sun began to set on another day in Ponyville, a filly named Apple Bloom raced through the streets to get home on time.
She couldn't believe that she had been out so late to begin with. Then again, none of her friends realized how long it would take, not to play a game of chess, but just to learn how to play the game. As soon as they figured out how a Princess was supposed to move, they found out that they were moving the Minotaur three spaces instead of four and in the wrong direction the whole time.
With no cutie mark to show for what little progress they made, they decided to call it a day. As they exited the library, all three of them soon realized that the sun was beginning to set. Worse, at least for Apple Bloom, was that her friends’ decision to try and learn at the library instead of the clubhouse had put her in jeopardy of missing curfew if she didn't high-tail it home.
"Tartarus, tartarus, tartarus!" Apple Bloom cursed to herself as she galloped through the empty roads. Eyes locked straight ahead, mind focused only on getting home, she didn't even notice the rock in the road until she tripped over it. She tripped over it and landed on the dirt right in front of Sugarcube Corner.
"Ow!" Apple Bloom cried, along with a few other choice words. She took a moment to rub her sore hoof. When she got up, ready to take off, she heard something unsettling. It came from behind Sugarcube Corner, and it sounded a lot like somepony crying.
Apple Bloom twitched her ears and started in the direction of the sound. It was coming from the sweetshop's alleyway. She didn't want to get grounded, but at the same time she couldn't turn her back on a pony in need—thanks largely in part to the same sister who would ground her if she didn't get home.
Decision made, she wasted no more time and made her way towards the alley.
Even though it wasn't dark yet, the alleyway was a bitter black. Not pitch black, but enough to make every sound aside from the distressed pony caused Apple Bloom's skin to crawl. Every rattle of a trash can caused her to gasp. It wasn't enough to stop her, but it made her walk more cautiously as she went on.
Eventually, Apple Bloom approached the pony that had been the source of the crying. At first, she didn't recognize the filly. She couldn't be sure who it was, but she could tell right away that she was around her age, curled up in-between the shop's dumpsters. As Apple Bloom got close enough to recognize the filly's cutie mark, she stopped dead in her tracks, mouth agape as her blood ran cold.
Apple Bloom rubbed her eyes just to make sure she wasn't mistaken who the filly was. Sure enough she hadn't. Sitting in front of the dumpster in a fit of tears sat her archenemy; Silver Spoon.
Apple Bloom had already started to walk away, trying to forget what she had seen. If she left now, she wouldn’t get grounded by her sister, and she wouldn’t get mixed up in whatever drama Silver Spoon would bring either.
"Serves her right," Apple Bloom muttered under her breath. It wasn't her problem, so why should she care? If it had been any other filly, she wouldn't have even thought about it, but this was Silver Spoon.
The filly that, apart from Diamond Tiara, had caused Apple Bloom and her friends, along with every other foal in town, much misery. Day in, and day out, always going out of her way just to tease her. This was the filly who constantly reminded her that she didn't have a cutie mark, and how embarrassing it was not to have one. Worst of all, was the time when Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had teased her about her deceased parents.
Apple Bloom was at the edge of the alleyway when she remembered something. This wasn’t the type of pony she, or her older sister, would have wanted her to be.
She had been raised better than that, and she knew Applejack would have disapproved if she walked away. When she was younger, she had once held onto some bits she had earned for candy instead of donating it to an orphanage fundraiser on the weekend she had that money. While Applejack had said that she didn't have to donate the money, Apple Bloom had felt like she would have disappointed her sister if she hadn't given the money to a good cause.
The truth was, Apple Bloom couldn’t ignore a pony in need even if she wanted to, and she really wanted to.
With a sigh, she made her way over to Silver Spoon and gave Silver Spoon a light nudge to get her attention.
Silver Spoon jumped at the touch before she turned around to see who nudged her. Her eyes were puffy, her mane was a mess, and she glared at Apple Bloom through her glasses like she was a pony out of Tartarus. “What do you want, blank flank?” She shouted, causing Apple Bloom to take two steps back.
“Fine,” Apple Bloom snapped once she got over the shock. “Be that way.” She was about to walk away, ready to make up for the lost time, when she heard Silver Spoon continue to cry. “No,” she said to herself coming to a halt. Although she had to clear her throat before she addressed her again, Apple Bloom finally worked up enough courage to do so.
“Are you alright," Apple Bloom's bow began to flatten, "Silver Spoon?”
Silver Spoon held her head down. “Y… you wouldn’t understand," she said in a light tone. It was as if she was trying to act like she hadn't been sobbing for Celestia knows how long.
Apple Bloom realized that she had only ever seen four ponies (herself included) that could cry as hard as Silver Spoon did right now. She knew those tears personally, because she always saw them on everypony's in her family on the anniversary of the death of her parents.
It was in that moment that Apple Bloom realized that she couldn’t leave Silver Spoon alone like this. Despite having every reason not to trust her, she knew that she had to stick around to make sure that Silver Spoon would be alright. She might never hear the end of it from her friends, or from her sister for missing her curfew, but none of that mattered to her anymore.
“It’s okay," Apple Bloom attempted to reassure, "but what happened? Your parents ain’t dead or something, are they?” Even though she tried to make it sound casual, she still hated to ask. However, she had to know for sure if Silver Spoon's parents had passed away to figure out what to do next.
Silver Spoon then did something unexpected, she wrapped her hooves around Apple Bloom to cry some more.
Apple Bloom winced, and even fought for a bit to push Silver Spoon off of her. In the end, she closed her eyes and return the hug. She began to rub Silver Spoon's back after a minute.
“It will be okay,” Apple Bloom said between strokes.
“No it won’t,” Silver Spoon muttered, “be… because they are not dead, but I wish they were.”
Apple Bloom pulled away from the hug to look right into Silver Spoon's eyes. “How… how can you say that?" she asked as her eyes narrowed. "What could be so bad that you’d wish em dead?”
At first, Apple Bloom thought Silver Spoon’s parents had just denied her some new pair of shoes or something, which Apple Bloom knew wasn’t past Silver Spoon, or even Diamond Tiara, to overreact about.
The bullies had once tormented her friends for a week because their mommies hadn’t allowed them to go to Las Pegasus for the summer. They had called them blank flanks every recess, placed thumbtacks on their seats, and even pointed out Scootaloo’s inability to fly again, and that was just Monday.
While such a thing wouldn’t have surprised Apple Bloom, what Silver Spoon said next left her lost for words. “They’re… they’re getting a divorce.”
Apple Bloom tilted her head. “A what now?”
“A bucking divorce!” Silver Spoon screamed right into her face. Unfazed, but unable to keep herself from stepping backwards, Apple Bloom forced herself to stay put until Silver Spoon regained her composure. “Sorry, I just… I just never thought they would actually do it. I mean, I never thought I would actually want them dead like your parents are.”
Apple Bloom stomped her hoof into the ground as her back legs reared to buck. “Excuse me?”
Silver Spoon's ears fell flat. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
Apple Bloom was still eager to buck the tar out of Silver Spoon, but the apology had caused her mind to do a 180 as she relaxed her back muscles. She would let her last comment go, for the moment, but only because she wanted to find out what a divorce was.
“I didn’t mean to say that," Silver Spoon went on, "it’s just…. I was just a foal to believe that they would work things out in the end, or at least wait until I graduated. Then my parents told me that they were going through with it, and then I," she began to sob some more, "then I just ran off."
“But what does it mean?” Apple Bloom's patience was reaching it's limit.
Silver Spoon removed her glasses for a moment to wipe a tear away. “In short, it mean’s my parents are not going to be married to one another anymore. My mother is moving away, and now they expect me to choose who I’m supposed to live with from now on. I just- I just, gahh!" She began to beat the ground, "how could they do this to me?”
None of this could be real. Nothing Silver Spoon said made any sense to Apple Bloom. Ponies didn’t get married only to get unmarried in Ponyville and then expect their children to choose who they would live with for the rest of their fillyhood. Those kinds of things didn’t happen, at least in Apple Bloom’s world.
Then again, if this was really happening to Silver Spoon, and this wasn’t some stupid joke, what could she do?
“Well, I," Apple Bloom stuttered as she tried to think about what to say. Unable to think of something better to say, she asked another question that had been on her mind for a while. “Why ain’t Diamond Tiara with ya right now?”
“Oh,” Silver Spoon sighed, “I tried to talk to her about it, but she insisted that a divorce is one of the best things that could happen to a filly.”
Apple Bloom no longer saw her enemy in front of her. “How in Tartarus is a vorce supposed to be a good thing?"
“Divorce.” Silver Spoon corrected. “And… she said that I was acting foalish by crying over it, and that it would actually be great in time.”
Sounded like Diamond Tiara alright.
“She tried to make it sound like a divorce was a good thing because now I get to have two Hearth Warming’s... with four parents competing to give me the best presents when they get married again.”
Silver Spoon broke down again as Apple Bloom offered her a warm hug which she readily accepted.
How was she supposed to deal with all of this? Apple Bloom thought. How was she supposed to comfort Silver Spoon through all of this? She didn't even know that there was something worse than your parents' deaths until now, so what could she say?
As she thought about it, she realized something. She finally knew what she had to say.
“Hey," Apple Bloom said as she pushed her back to look her in the eyes. "Ah know this can’t be easy for ya, Ah wouldn’t wish this upon my own worst enemy.” Poor choice of words, she realized, but continued. “But the thing is, your parents are still alive and still love ya, right?” She prayed to Celestia that a divorce didn’t mean that too.
“I…I think so,” Silver Spoon placed a hoof behind her head. “Before I ran off, they said that they both still loved me.”
“Well, there ya go,” Apple Bloom swung a hoof across her chest. “I’m not saying anything about this is fair, but at least they’re still alive and love ya, what more could a pony ask for?”
Silver Spoon remained silent as Apple Bloom went on.
“Maybe your friend Diamond Tiara was right, in her own way, but maybe it does get easier with time. While Ah didn’t experience my parents’ deaths myself, my sister told me how she dealt with it.” It probably wasn’t the best example for this situation, but she rolled with it."
“At first, she was a mess, heartbroken, and said that she didn't want to live anymore. She even ran away to Manehattan because she couldn't stand the sight of our farm anymore. Then one morning while she was living in the city, she saw a rainbow that pointed home. Believing that it was a message from mom and dad to live her life to the fullest, she raced back here and was never as sad again."
"She realized that she still had friends and family who loved her. She had a reason to live because things weren’t that bad. It was a bad situation, but that didn’t mean she had to live like she was sad all the time. She told me that as long as there is life, there is hope and happiness. It's important to never let sadness take over your life, even when it seem like that’s all there is.”
She placed a hoof over Silver Spoon's shoulder. "So yeah, it ain't fair what your parents are doing to ya, but moping bout it won't help. Your parents are still alive, so there's always another day. Even when they’re driving you crazy, you better love them because there is nothing truly worse than death. Ah should know."
After she had finished, neither filly said anything as Apple Bloom allowed Silver Spoon to cry into her chest again while she stroked her back as she spoke simple, but reassuring words.
****************************
After a good long cry, Silver Spoon broke her embrace and gave Apple Bloom a weak smile.
“Thanks, Apple Bloom," Silver Spoon straightened up her glasses, "I guess I should apologize to Diamond Tiara for shouting at her, as well as my parents."
Silver Spoon began to walk away, but stopped short to address her again. "Also, I’m... sorry for treating you and your friends so horribly. I don’t like it, but after a long sleepless night of my parents arguing, it always seemed to be the easiest way to get through a day. I’m sorry I do it, but I’ll stop it now, and I’ll see what I can do to make Diamond Tiara quit it as well.”
Apple Bloom wished she had a camera with her so she wouldn’t think she had dreamt all this. From what she knew, Silver Spoon had always been a pony who went along with whatever Diamond Tiara did without a second thought, or so she believed. Had Silver Spoon enjoyed all her teasing with Diamond Tiara, or had her hatred towards Silver Spoon blinded herself from noticing any regret from Silver Spoon afterwords?
Then Apple Bloom began to wonder, what would she be like if she had witnessed her parents’ deaths or if they had lived and gotten divorced? Would she have become a bully as Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara were to get through a day? Would she have turned out worse? If it weren’t for her sister’s guidance and the love of her friends, what would have made her any different from Silver Spoon?
It was at that moment that she understood Silver Spoon. She wasn’t some spoiled rich kid who bullied her for no good reason; Silver Spoon was just a pony with a lot of problems. Maybe all she really needed was a good friend.
As Silver Spoon turned to walk away, Apple Bloom thought of something else to say to her. “Oh yeah, Silver Spoon?” Silver Spoon looked upon her in the light of the rising moon. “The girls and I were going to try to get our cutie marks in deep lake fishing tomorrow, if you want,” she was still hesitant, but confident that this was what she wanted, “you and Diamond Tiara can join us.”
She could tell that it was the first time Silver Spoon had smiled all day. “I’ll talk to her about it tomorrow, but thanks again, Apple Bloom.”
“Sure thing, friend!” she added, hoping that calling Silver Spoon her friend wasn't too much.
Silver Spoon never turned around to address her as she stood in place for a moment, and then walked off into the night.
Realizing she had missed her curfew anyways, Apple Bloom decided to walk home so she could think about what had happened. She also began to wonder if things were really going to change between her and Silver Spoon for the better. Even if that didn't happen, she could at least fall asleep that night with a smile as she dreamed of all the fun things she, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Silver Spoon, and even Diamond Tiara, would do at the lake. The best part, it wasn’t a nightmare.
Author's Note
If you want to say that I need to fix up my spelling and grammar (which I really want) then please take the time to at least point out the most annoying error you came across as well, especially if you have to give it a dislike, thank you.
