Animalistic instincts kicking in, she pushed through the ache in her legs, but the Manticore was gaining on her. She could almost see Ponyville; the pastel-colour buildings filtered through the trees like brief glimpses of hope, close but still too far away. Why she had come into the forest she could not remember; something had called, and suddenly she was in the forest. She could smell the manticore's natural halitosis as it came closer and closer behind her.
Her pace was abruptly slowed by a fallen tree across her path. She turned, seeing the manticore that had seemed inches behind her before, now bounding towards her. She realised that this was the end as she looked at its glowing red and black eyes.
Suddenly a wave of energy passed through her. She had little time to comprehend this as her body locked up, and something... else took control. A hunger. A need. She smiled as her horn glowed a sickly reddish colour. A blast of blood-red magic came shooting from her horn, hitting the manticore square between the eyes. The manticore made a short squealing noise, then collapsed, a raw hole clean through its head unnaturally devoid of blood. A strange pinkish gas permeated from its body, and entered hers; she felt a wave of warm energy circulate around her body. She looked at her reflection in a puddle to see that her eyes were red and black, bands of colour shooting across her eyeballs like ripples in a pond. She was suddenly aware of something behind her, and turned to see a bipedal creature lifting the manticore's corpse. She made to attack, but the moment her horn flickered on, the energy drained from her, and she was left powerless. Exhausted, she began to fall, her last thought being how surprised it looked as it enveloped her with its magic.
Sweetie Belle leapt awake, breathing fast and deep. Slowly she realised where she was, and calmed down enough to contemplate her dream. She couldn't remember what had happened, but knew it was the same nightmare from the night before, or some variation of it, because of the face of that strange creature. It was strange that the only detail she could remember was a face, but she had chosen not to forget it like most dreams. It felt important to her, and whatever it was, it was connected to whatever had happened in the Everfree Forest a week ago.
Like those dreams, she couldn't remember much; She had been hanging out with her friends, when she had felt something pulling her towards it. From that point, she could remember nothing, but her friends had said that she had claimed that she had somewhere to be, then walked off. She smirked to think that whatever had controlled her had been a terrible at imitating her; she always shared her plans, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders went everywhere together! This had been enough explanation for Scootaloo, but it had made Apple Bloom suspicious, and she had told Rarity about her absence.
Aparrently, she hadn't gotten far; Rarity's friends had found her a short distance into the forest, unconscious. She had spent the next few days in a coma, suffering from 'magical exhaustion' or something like that. she had been going in and out of consciousness yesterday, but had been awake to hear her fate.
She was grounded.
She frowned. It wasn't fair! She didn't choose to go into the forest, so why was she being punished! If only Rarity understood. If only she could explain...
Her eyes widened as she looked at the calendar on the wall; today was the 4rd of August! That meant that Rarity is going to the Crystal Empire and that, unless she was to stay with her parents, Rarity would have to bring her, and she was fairly sure she wouldn't be spending time with her parents. If they knew about this, Rarity would be in trouble. 'Loco parentis' and whatever. So there was a good chance that she will be going with Rarity, even if she doesn't manage to convince Rarity of her innocence! Of course, now that she thought of it like that, it sounded like she was a criminal, but she was anything but.
At the moment, she decided she would go downstairs for breakfast. She was starving!
Silver frowned as she heard her parents talk with their 'visitor' downstairs. She knew what they were discussing, despite how her father had tried to hide it; her mother had made no attempt to hide what she had wanted, and she was fairly sure she had gotten her way.
Her father was going on a trip to Trottingham for business purposes, and was bringing the whole family. But her mother was quite open about her hatred for her own daughter; her family were unicorns through and through, as was her husbands, but one of her daughters was an earth pony. So she had conspired to have Silver stay home with a sitter, so that she would not have to bring her to Trottingham. To be honest, Silver was quite alright with her plan; she enjoyed her mother's company as much as her mother enjoyed hers. No, Silver's problem was that she would be stuck at home, but unable to go out and play with Diamond and her new friends, the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders'. After all, she snarled obscenely, her mother wasn't home! How could they trust that she, an earth pony, wouldn't hurt herself by getting into trouble?
She frowned harder at her mother's voice bouncing it's merry way through her mind. It was bad enough her mother thinking like that, but she had spread the sickness to Silver's siblings, all picking at her mind every day. Every time her mother had tried the convince her husband of her plan, he had turned her down. But it was clear that she was wearing him down, and his integrity had finally fallen, submitting to his wife's wishes.
Her door opened, and her butler Mulworth entered the room.
"Ma'am, your father would like to speak with you downstairs." he said, his eyes somewhat apologetic.
She gave a practiced smile. "I will be down in a moment." Mulworth nodded, and left the room, closing the door gently.
She took a deep breath, and checked herself in the mirror. Happy that her nervousness was hidden, she made her way down the stairs, across the hall, to her father's study. When she entered, she noticed that neither her mother of whoever her sitter was to be were there.
She approached her father, who was sat in his chair. He noticed her, and signalled her to the chair across from him. She obliged him, and when she was comfortable, he spoke.
"Silver, I have decided that you should not come with me and the others to Trottingham." Silver nodded, looking behind him at a plant pot on his windowsill.
"I thought as much." Her father's eyebrows furrowed.
"Come, don't be so stand-offish."
"I'm not."
"You are, and stop being curt as well!" He cried suddenly, taking her aback, then put his head in his hooves. "Look, Silver... I haven't changed my mind because I agree with your mother. Far from it! I changed my mind," he looked her in the eyes, " 'cause I want to spare you from her!"
Silver's eyes widened slightly.
"Y'see, I understand that you'd prefer to stay with me," he said, slumping a little, "And I'd prefer that too! But, well, your mother wouldn't." He looked at her again, but she cast her gaze aside. "And I know that she'd make life a living hell for the both of us, so I've made my decision. Now, I know that you didn't want to stay in Ponyville, trapped inside by whoever y'mother chose to torture-i mean, babysit you," he smiled momentarily, and Silver snorted, "so I looked myself. And when all hope seemed lost, Miss Rarity said she was going to the Crystal Empire."
"The Crystal Empire?" Silver smiled hopefully.
"Yes, the Crystal Empire. So naturally, I asked her if she would mind you tagging along..." he paused, "and she said that she was fine with it!" He grinned at Silver, who was herself grinning.
"Yes!" she cried, then suddenly frowned again. "Then where is she? I heard you talking to her earlier."
"She's gone to 'freshen up', and your mother has gone to check on your sisters, so I chose now to speak with you." He suddenly looked at her intensely, and glowed his horn to pick something up behind her. "In fact, there is something else that I must say. Y'see, I had a... realisation. A realisation that to compensate for y'mother's... mistreatment, I'd always treated you as an equal instead of a child." The object he was levitating, a key, landed in Silver's lap. "And I give you this as an equal. When this house was built, It was build upon a small cave, that happened to come close to our wine cellar. Your older brother built a connecting passageway to it and used it as a workshop before he left, converting it to a series of rooms. Only He, I and Mulworth know of their full extent, though as he used them as a bedroom as well, y'mother knows of the first one. Still, they're bigger than your current room, and much further from your sisters. They even lock!" Her father nodded towards the key. "That's one of three keys. I've one, Mulworth has one, and you now have the final one. My question is," he smiled, "would you like to use them as a bedroom? I understand if you wouldn't like to, but I think-"
"Yes." Silver said, staring determinedly at the key. Bigger that her old room! Far away from her sisters! With a LOCK! It was like Hearth's Warming had come early.
"O-kaay," her father said, "That's quite a response. Well, we can have Mulworth move your stuff downstairs over the weekend, if you want?"
"Yes." she said, still staring at the key.
"Riiight. Well, Mulworth has already packed your things, so you can take them with you. I'm fairly certain that y'mother won't want to accompany you to the train station. She wants to be rid of you as soon as possible."
"Mmhm."
"For Celestia's sake, look at me!" Silver looked up in shock. "I gave you that key as an equal, and I don't want you to start acting like an excited vegetable." Silver blushed.
Mulworth walked in.
"Sir, ma'am, Rarity has finished and is returning."
"Thank you for the warning Mulworth." by the time Rarity arrived, they were stiff as mannequins, having both activated 'hoity mode'.
"Hello, darling- ah! You must be Silver!" Rarity smiled. "I've heard a lot about you, both from your father, and my sister Sweetie Belle. But I digress, that is a story for another time! My name is Rarity, and I shall be taking you to the Crystal Empire." She smiled a little too wide, which indicated to her that Rarity was attempting to get in her father's good books. Makes sense; she was most probably a current or prospective business partner.
"Hello Rarity, I'm Silver Spoon, and I'll be the pony that you take to the Crystal Empire." she said in imitation of Rarity's voice. Rarity blushed.
"Perhaps I could have... worded that better."
"Come, Silver, don't tease her too much." Her father said, barely withholding laughter. He smiled at Rarity, who blushed harder. "Let us head to the front door. I feel that your mother will be waiting impatiently there for us."
On the way, Rarity talked with Silver's father on length about dress prices and other business nonsense. Clearly, Silver's father was dabbling in fashion. As predicted, her mother was waiting at the door for them. She evidently couldn't wait to see Silver off.
"There you are dear. I was wondering why you were taking so long. Is she with you?" Silver's mother couldn't even say her daughter's name.
"Yes dear, we were about to see her off."
"Splendid. Well then. Goodbye." Silver's mother said, seemingly increasingly desperate to get rid of Silver. Silver looked up at her mother, putting on a neutral expression.
"Goodbye." She turned to her father, who smiled.
"Bye Silver." Silver smiled back, then hugged him.
"Bye Father." Her mother looked on in contempt, then went back inside. An utterance of 'Good Riddance' reached Silver's ears.
"Now Silver, as you are my equal, you have to be good for Miss Rarity."
"Yes Father."
"Now go and enjoy yourself!" he grinned and pushed her away. "After all, I'm fairly certain that your mother might vomit if you stay any longer. Not that I mind, but Mulworth would have to clean it up." As Mulworth nodded sagely, Silver laughed.
"Goodbye ma'am."
"Goodbye Mulworth. And my room better be done by the time I get back!" Silver grinned. Mulworth smiled, then put on a tired face.
"Yes dear." he said and rolled his eyes in perfect imitation of her father. They all laughed. Mulworth then gave Silver her saddlebags. "Everything you need is in there. And do be careful. Your father would have a fit if you got hurt while he wasn't on watch."
"Of course Mulworth." She smiled, then walked over to Rarity, who was waiting by the gate. She turned and yelled, "Goodbye!" They waved. She turned to Rarity. "Shall we go?" she said.
"Sure, darling." they walked out of sight.
Back on the porch, Silver's father and Mulworth were heading inside.
"So, you're giving her the rooms?" Mulworth asked. Silver's father looked out at where Silver had just been.
"Eh. They never really felt like mine anyways."
Sweetie sat in the bedroom again, having gotten bored of downstairs. When alone in this place, you had remarkably little to do! Therefore, she counted the ceiling tiles, before deciding that they weren't tiles and that she needed a more accurate name for them. She had been searching for a better term when she heard the front door open, hooves trotting in.
"Now, if you go into the kitchen and wait, I'll talk to Sweetie Belle, okay?" she heard Rarity's voice reverberate around the house.
"Yes Miss Rarity." said the other voice. Sweetie Belle recognised that voice.
What was Silver Spoon doing in her home? Before this thought could process fully, Rarity entered.
"Oh!" Rarity stepped back in surprise. "You're... awake!" Sweetie contemplated a sarcastic response, but chose a more confrontational tone.
"Yes, that I am." she frowned, thinking how she could break her case to Rarity. Rarity, however, beat her to it.
"Well, I'm not sure if you were aware, but... well... I grounded you."
"I am well aware."
"Okay, well... let's say that... okay, that was wrong of me to do." Sweetie Belle looked at her incredulously, but was interested. "The doctor made me aware that you might not have been in control when you walked into the Everfree Forest, and from that perspective, I made a poor decision. I blamed you, when you might have had nothing to do with it. So when I ask you this, I expect you to be honest." She leaned in close. "Did you choose to go to the forest, or were you forced?"
Sweetie Belle blinked at her, then smiled.
"Of course I wasn't in control! Who goes to the Everfree Forest and exhausts her own magic! It's like going into a Manticore's den then cutting off your horn!" They both giggled a bit.
"Yes... though your likening was... strange, It does sound silly." Rarity smiled. "Well then, Sweetie Belle, you are officially un-grounded!"
"Huzzah!" Sweetie cried in mock excitement, then stopped abruptly. "But what about your trip to the Empire?"
"About that," Rarity sighed, "While you were... sleeping, a friend of mine convinced me to take his daughter with us while he and the rest of his family went to Trottingham."
"And that pony happened to be Silver Spoon?" Rarity gasped.
"How did you know!?"
"I recognised her voice when you spoke downstairs. So, she'll be hanging with us on the trip?" Rarity nodded.
"That's the gist of it. Now, I understand that you two have... issues, so I-"
"It's all water under the bridge."
"Really?!" Sweetie nodded. "Well... that's splendid!" Rarity glanced at the room around her. "Why don't you go down and... talk... or something... with her, because I need to finish packing."
"Okay." she said, then made her way back down the stairs, leaving Rarity to her luggage-mountain.
Silver sat patiently in the Boutique's small kitchen as Rarity dealt with Sweetie Belle upstairs. She fiddled with the key that now hung on a chain round her neck, thinking about what was to come. She hoped that Sweetie didn't harbour some grudge against her for whatever reason, though she didn't remember doing anything; she was nervous for nervousness' sake. It was at this moment that Sweetie Belle made her way down the stairs and entered the kitchen. Silver's breath hitched in her throat; she nervously waited for Sweetie Belle to address her. Despite this, Sweetie Belle made no effort to speak, instead sitting across from her. They sat in silence for a few moments, before Silver spoke, breaking the tension.
"So... how are... things?" she said, embarrassed by how pathetic her ice-breaker was. It had a good effect, however; Sweetie Belle had been surprised by the sudden statement, and was unable to hold her laughter at how terrible the sentence had been. This quickly transferred to Silver, and soon both were roaring with laughter.
"S-seriously, such a long period of awkward silence to think, and that's the best you can do!?" Sweetie Belle and Silver laughed even harder, but slowly began to calm.
"So, you're not mad at me for anything?" Silver said, wiping tears from her eyes.
"For what? You're the one who got us out of that conflict with you and Diamond." Sweetie Belle then looked lost in though for a moment. "To be honest, it's not clear why you bothered joining anyways. You could have avoided that and been friends with Diamond all the same."
"Integrity." Silver said, holding her hoof over her chest as to recite something. "A friend that does not support your endeavours is not your friend." She brought her hoof away and grimaced lightly. "Though they weren't exactly good endeavours, were they?"
"Never mind that." Sweetie Belle said, smiling. "It's all water under the bridge. Deal?" She put her hoof out.
"Deal." Silver took the hoofshake gladly, then they both sat down in silence again. As both attempted to find a new conversation topic, their salvation came in the form of a luggage-laden Rarity, who currently resembled a mountain.
"Okay girls, it's time for us to go to the station." As Sweetie Belle left to grab her own saddlebags, Silver addressed the walking hill.
"Miss Rarity, are you sure that the train will carry that much luggage?" The hill seemed to blink, though Silver couldn't be quite sure.
"Darling, I've taken far more than this with me on a train before, so they should be perfectly fine with this amount." even as she said this, she appeared to struggle under the weight. "Ponyville really has a very efficient luggage system, I assure you."
"If you say so." Sweetie soon arrived, ready to go. They headed to the train station, avoiding hitting anypony.
The Ponyville station was unusually active today, and for good reason; It isn't everyday that the Elements of Harmony, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the two richest fillies in town all converged at one time. In most circumstances, this was a recipe for disaster; but seeing as the conductor was intent on the train not being delayed by 'shenanigans', this goodbye was rather peaceful - at least, by Ponyville standards. Near the luggage compartment of the train, the Element of Generosity, Rarity, was being seen off by her friends, while an attendant struggled to fit her luggage into the train.
Further away, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were bidding farewell to a third of their team; and Diamond Tiara was saying goodbye to Silver Spoon. Eventually Sweetie turned to Diamond.
"Now you'd better be a good replacement for me!" she said jokingly, but Diamond began sweating profusely. Sweetie then turned to Scootaloo.
"Scootaloo?"
"Mmhm."
"Behave while I'm gone."
"What?!" Scootaloo frowned at Sweetie. "I haven't done anything yet!"
"But you will."
A moment of silence reigned. Suddenly, the Crusaders scooped her into a group hug. Silver turned to Diamond.
"Why are you so nervous right now?" Diamond leaned towards her.
"Because we must make friends with them, so we have to be ultra-nice, or they'll think that we are bad again." Silver contemplated Diamond's statement, before deciding that she was going on holiday and that it wasn't her problem.
"Yeah, good luck with that I guess." Diamond spluttered desperately, but Silver was already on the train, with Sweetie Belle following suit. Eventually, even Rarity found her way aboard the train, and they waved as the train zoomed off into the distance.
"Well then Diamond Tiara," said Scootaloo in simultaneously the most sweet and the most menacing voice she had ever heard, "time to show you the ropes." Diamond gulped.
Back on the train, Silver looked out of the window at the fleeting scenery as the train slowly accelerated. She felt, somewhere inside, that things were about to change, and she hoped it would be a positive change. When the train got so fast that even distant landmarks were a blur, she turned her gaze into the cabin, and decided to rest in silence.
In a cave deep under Canterlot, a strange bipedal creature attended a computer panel. Upon the computer panel, a video of a train moving away played, then stopped abruptly. The creature stepped back, revealing its human nature and its clothing; a long black trench coat, an grey waistcoat, grey jeans, blue converse shoes and a blue bow tie. Its brown hair and eyes shined in the light reflecting off the crystal walls as it began to pace, and speak out loud to itself, revealing a male voice.
"This is quite interesting." he said to himself. "Her magical signature matches that of the inter-clusterial membrane. If I could add my power to hers, and focus it with a really big cannon..." he stopped pacing. "She could blow a hole in the membrane big enough to allow me through, albeit in some form of vessel. A rudimentary TARDIS should do."
The prospect was enormous. He had accepted his banishment to this cluster for too long, and he yearned to reach out to his fellow revolutionaries. He had to escape back to Tipath. His war must continue!
"I certainly will be keeping tabs on her." He looked at his manipulator watch thoughtfully. "If I am to use her as an escape, I must make sure she doesn't die along the way."
A loud noise emanating from his computer panels made him jump; some kind of alarm had activated. He wondered what it was this time. With some buttons pressed and switches flipped, it was revealed to him; a video screen depicted waves of dark magic rippling across Equestria, originating in the Crystal Empire. Something powerful was waking up, and it probably wasn't friendly.
And his ticket to freedom was heading right for the epicentre: the literal and proverbial eye of the storm.
"Well, that isn't good." his eyebrows furrowed. "I guess I'll have to protect my new ‘friend’ earlier than I thought."
He lifted his manipulator watch, and activated a pony 'disguise', morphing into a pony, then opened his transporter function. He set the destination to the Crystal Empire, then looked up at his base, with it's pale blue glow, and the long row of control panels to one side. Yes, he thought. This would make for a good TARDIS. He activated the transporter, and disappeared in a bright green flash, leaving his base empty.
Author's Note
To be completely honest, this story's characters began existence in the spring of 2013, slowly morphing until the story was born in a first-draft form in the summer of 2014. Now, after 3 years of writing improvements and brainstorming, I am now finally writing a revised and infinitely better version of the story I began but never finished oh so long ago.
In other words, thank you for reading. And, as we used to say in the fandom's prime, have a moustache. 
