Diamond Tiara sat upon her bed and peered at her cutie mark of a crown that she had only gained a few weeks ago. Surrounded by her finery, she was far from happy. The voice of a footcolt came up the stairs. “Miss Tiara, Lady Spoon is here to see you.” Very soon Silver Spoon trotted upstairs and into the bedroom of her friend, her silver fur combed and gleaming as always. She was surprised to see how unhappy her friend looked. “Diamond, what’s wrong? Never fear, Silver’s here, I’m sure I can find a way to cheer you up. Why are you so upset about?” Diamond looked at her friend and said “I…think I can trust you. You’re the only pony that I can tell this to, my parents would not understand. It’s about the Cutie Mark Crusaders; they may be blank flanks but…promise me by Celestia and Luna that you won’t tell anypony this.”
Silver Spoon thought a bit. Her only close friend who was her friend because of herself rather than her money and connections was Diamond Tiara, and there was no way she wanted to ruin that friendship. “I promise by Holy Celestia and Holy Luna not to reveal your secret to anypony.”
“I’m jealous of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. That’s why I’m so nasty to them.”
“What?” Silver stared open mouthed at her friend. “How can you possibly envy blank flanks for?”
Diamond sighed. “They have so much potential. Look at our cutie marks. My cutie mark is a crown, but that just announces to everyone who sees it that I’m a spoilt brat, whilst your cutie mark of a silver spoon shows that you were born rich and has no need to work ever. How many ponies will ever generally look up to us because of that?”
“Scootaloo is a Pegasus, and although she can’t fly yet, when she grows up she will be able to fly almost wherever she wants to go, with the birds and her fellow Pegasus ponies. No doubt she will get a job that she loves kicking the clouds around, bringing rain to the crops and dry weather so that ponies can go about their business without being rained upon, and keeping violent weather such as thunderstorms and tornados away from the cities to keep every pony safe. Perhaps she’ll be a firepony, putting out fires before they can get really dangerous. Her friends and family and almost everypony she meets will look up to her. I will never be able to take to the skies and fly with her; I will never see the wonders of Cloudsdale or be able to get from town to town with ease. I’m an earth pony, forever bound to the ground for my entire life.”
“Yes, but she’s not as rich of you and she never will be. She’ll never be invited to the Grand Galloping Gala like you no doubt will once you’re fully grown. She’ll never have servants to attend to her every whim.”
“But she will have genuine respect. Not respect that’s brought by bits like we have, or respect gained by force and fear like the gangsters of the Black Hoof, but she’ll be looked up to by almost everypony. Not like us.”
Diamond went on. “Sweetie Belle is a unicorn and how I envy her ability to use magic. If she has an itch somewhere that she can’t really scratch properly with a hoof, or in a place that she can’t scratch in public, a bit of magic does the job. She can pick up the most delicate things that a hoof can’t, and when she is old enough she will go to magic school and learn how to use all manner of magic. Perhaps she’ll end up taking over Rarity’s dress shop and will make all manner of beautiful dresses, or perhaps she’ll take up one of several jobs that are only open to unicorns. Jobs that earth ponies with their clumsy hooves can’t do. I want to draw and paint, but it’s impossible to do that really well with hooves. I mean, I do have bracers that I can attach to my forelegs and put a pen, pencil or paintbrush in, but it’s not really the same.”
Silver Spoon nodded in sympathy. “Again, she’ll never have as many bits as you have.”
Diamond asked “What do I have that makes me stand out? My wealth? I have never earned a single bit, Filthy Rich did all of that before I was even an unborn foal. As far as I know, he did it without breaking the law, but I played no part in it. Nopony will look up to me for any reason but my money, and no doubt there will be those who try to scam me out of my bits. When I am old enough to find a colt who seemingly loves me, how do I know if he loves me for my mind or my money? Apple Bloom may be an earth pony too, but she will have a very useful life, providing apples and zap apples for everypony who can afford to pay for them. And I’m just a spoiled heiress and that’s what I’ll always be. Nopony will ever respect me for who I am.”
Silver Spoon stared into her friend’s eyes, her tail twitching from side to side. “I respect you for who you are, and I don’t ever want you to change.” She gently touched Diamond’s cutie mark with her hoof. “When you have foals, unless they’re very unlucky they will be able to live for the rest of their lives in comfort because of you. As for work, hey, it’s grossly overrated. Unless it pays a lot of bits, or it’s something you really do want to do, why do it if you don’t have to. I’m a lazy filly and proud of it, you should be the same. Bump, bump, sugar lump, rump!” As she did their little dance together, Diamond smiled. As long as Silver Spoon was her friend, she was not alone in the world.