A Gift Best Given
In what ponies would call the richer side of Ponyville, was a small shop filled to the brim with antique hats, silverware, and whatever else a stupidly rich pony would buy. But on this particular day, Ancient Waters received an unusual customer.
It started out like any other boring day. Clean the night dust off the items, tidy up, and then play the waiting game until a potential buyer comes inside. Then it's just the matter of watching them to make sure they don't end up being a shoplifter. It was much more exciting in Canterlot, where ponies would show up every hour of the day. However, since moving to Ponyville a few weeks ago, business was rather slow. Yet the air was clean and that was all it took for Ancient's family to ship him off to this unusually friendly town.
Once Ancient Waters put the last animal statue in place, he quickly eased himself behind his desk and took out the daily newspaper. Though before he could even begin his crossword puzzle, the door opened with a chime.
The unicorn looked up from his newspaper, only to find that no pony was there.
"Down here!" A young, feminine voice called out.
Ancient Waters shifted his gaze to the ground and gazed blankly at a young pink filly.
"Were do you keep your spoons?" The tiara wearing filly asked. Though to the teal unicorn it sounded more like a command.
"Past the hats." Ancient Waters replied.
As the filly left, he couldn't help but wonder about the strange filly. Ancient Waters didn't know a lot about foals this day and age, but from experience he was certain that his prices were just too high for a filly to buy anything, even if she was rich.
Letting out a sigh, the unicorn ran a hoof through his dusty mane and left the counter to follow suit. From years of running his store, he's seem many shoplifters. So if she turned out to be one, why Celestia have mercy on her soul.
Letting out a sigh in frustration, Diamond Tiara put yet another spoon in her 'already has' pile.
"Why do you need to have such a big collection!?" Diamond whispered loudly.
"Can I help you with anything miss?"
The filly jumped and spun around, only to calm back down once she realized it was just the cashier.
"I need your rarest spoon." Diamond Tiara explained.
"You already looked through all of my collection." The unicorn replied.
Diamond Tiara let out a 'humph.' Silver Spoon's birthday was just two days away and she still didn't have the best possible gift to give her; and this shop was her last hope! Now it seems like the options are to either take a train to Canterlot's Spoon Store, or fake an illness so she couldn't go to the birthday party. Yet there was always that off chance that she could buy a spoon from the store and pass it off as something special with a story.
But I could never lie to my best friend. Diamond Tiara thought to herself.
"Why do you want a spoon so bad anyways?" The cashier asked while using his magic to put the spoons away.
"I need a gift for my best friend and she likes to collect spoons, and if I don't get her the best present then she'll think I'm the worst friend ever and-" But she was silenced by a teal hoof pressed against her mouth.
"Does your friend take care of her spoons?"
Diamond Tiara found this to be a really weird question to ask. But her daddy always told her to always answer somepony when they speak to her. So once the hoof was removed, the filly took a deep breath and answered with a nod.
"Silver Spoon polishes them once a day and only uses them for the most finest of meals. Then she washes them by her own hooves and her own hooves only."
"Come with me."
Ancient Waters led Diamond Tiara back to his desk. Then he pulled an antler down from his deer statue. There was a quiet groan and suddenly two pieces of wood on his desk pulled back to reveal a small tin box. He quickly levitated the box in between both of them. The tin box was quite flat but it was at least six inches long.
"What's inside?" The filly questioned.
Ancient Water's stomach flipped as he slowly opened the lid. He saw it in her eyes that this filly cared for her friend deeply, and told the truth about how well her friend took care of her spoons. So though it pained him to do so, Ancient Waters decided to give his precious treasure to somepony who would use it with love and care.
Inside was a simple silver soup spoon. But unlike a simple soup spoon, the handle was all twisted up.
"Why is it all twisted?" The filly asked, causing Waters to chuckle.
"This here is the very spoon a young Princess Celestia used when she was first practicing her magic. Once the first castle got destroyed, this spoon was found by an explorer who later sold it at an auction. Then the winner gave it to a museum who then sold it at an auction which I happened to be a part of."
The filly's eyes widened at this tale. Once he was done, she quickly asked, "How much!?"
"How much do you have?" Ancient Waters questioned
"One hundred bits." The filly replied.
"Done." He smirked.
As they made their exchange, the two ponies said their farewells. Once the door closed with a chime Ancient Waters couldn't help but wonder who this lucky friend of hers was.
"If she's anything like that filly I'm sure Ponyville is lucky to have them." He smiled to himself.
The party was nothing special. Just a boring tea party with dad's business partners. The only thing saving Silver Spoon from running upstairs and reading a book, was her friend Diamond Tiara who was sitting in front of her. While the adult's talked about boring stuff the two friends were playing hoofsies under the table.
"Attention all!" Silver Spoon's dad, Silver Tong, announced.
Everypony including the two fillies turned their attention to the light grey earth pony.
"As you know today is my darling's birthday. So I believe it is time for her to open her presents."
As the adults hurriedly got their presents ready, Diamond Tiara quickly whispered, "I told your butler to put my present in your room."
Silver Spoon gave a quick nod. Now she really couldn't wait for present time to be over so she could go into her room. The last time Diamond did something like this, Silver Spoon found a pink crystal spoon on her bed.
"Mrs. Wing why don't you start?" Silver Tong asked.
Golf clubs, vases, stuffed animals, another pet Stabyhoun, honestly the only mildly pleasant thing Silver Spoon got was a box of chocolate. Though it was from Filthy Rich and he did know her better than any of dad's clients.
"Thank you all for these wonderful gifts," Silver Spoon cheerfully said with a fake smile, "dad, may I please go to my room to put my gifts away? I'd hate for them to get ruined."
With approval from her dad, Silver Spoon, with the help of Diamond Tiara, dragged the presents up into her room. But it was hard keeping Tin Tin Jr. from getting into the chocolates.
"So where's my gift?" Silver Spoon asked.
Diamond Tiara carefully set down the golf clubs by Silver's bookcase. "It's in a tin box."
Silver Spoon looked around her room for a bit before finding it on her nightstand. The presentation was a little weird, but its what's on the inside that counts. So with that she opened the lid and let out a gasp.
"I know it doesn't look like much but that spoon use to belong to-"
"This is the famous twisted spoon!" Silver Spoon squealed. "Oh my dad would always take me to the Amazing Museum of Wonder when I was little, and we'd see this spoon on display! I was so sad when it closed oh Diamond thank you!"
With tears in her eyes, Silver Spoon gently put the spoon on her bed before giving her friend a bear hug. Diamond Tiara stiffened at first but then quickly relaxed and wrapped her forelegs around Silver.
"You're the best friend ever!"
