Chapters Chapter One-A Replacement Diamond
Diamond Tiara glared angrily at Silver Spoon with the sort of look that she normally reserved for the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "Silver, I know we are a secret couple and have been that way for a long while, but I am just not ready to tell everyone yet, and least of all my parents. And you are taking things a little too fast for my liking. I mean, you are a great kisser, but I am just not quite not ready for more then kissing and cuddling quite yet. That will change in time but...maybe we should see a little less of each other for a while." Silver looked at her marefriend in horror and her mouth dropped wide open.
"Di, surely you can't really mean that? You know how much being with you means to me. What if....what if you plan to have a secret relationship with another pony behind my back? I mean, you are the best, richest, most attractive pony in all of Ponyville. Other ponies would love to be with you."
Diamond rolled her eyes. " Silver, I look so attractive to you because you love me to a rather unhealthy degree. And of course I don't plan to cheat on you just because I want to have a few days apart from you. You can be so insecure at times. My love for you is solid enough to take a dragon's weight. I just want us to have a time out for a few days, that's all." And she turned her back on her marefriend and headed back to her mansion. When she entered, she dropped to her knees in shock. "Princess Luna! It is an honour to meet you, but why are you here? " She automatically curtseyed to the Alicorn of the Night. Then she saw the other pony with her, a purple-furred filly her own age.
The Princess replied "Diamond Tiara, you are in great danger as there are plans being made for you and Silver Spoon to be kidnapped and ransomed for a great many bits. We have a plan to catch the kidnappers in the act but it will mean that you have to be given a disguise and a new identity whilst a double from Canterlot Intelligence takes your place. We will need you to help train your double, who is putting herself in a lot of danger for your sake. It might be months or even years before you can go back to your old life."
Diamond stared at the Princess in horror. "But...you can't do this to me! Daddy, don't let her do that to me. We are Rich by name and rich by nature. Surely you could just hire a bodyguard or two to guard me? And what about Silver Spoon? I don't want to be without her. I love her and she loves me."
Filthy Rich replied "We are dealing with the Black Hoof here, the Equestrian Mafia, which is prepared if need be to murder ponies. This way you will be safe and we have a fair chance of catching the entire gang when they make their move. I could just send you away to live in Manehatten with your uncle and aunt, but that is where the Black Hoof is strongest so I would be sending you right into their lair. And whilst there are other family members that might agree to help, they would not want you living with them for more then a few days. Silver Spoon will also be sent into hiding, but you cannot be told where she will be sent, nor will she know where you are."
Diamond sighed and turned her attention to her double. "So you want to be me and do a good job of it, do you? Well, the first thing you need to know is that the lower orders are beneath you and always to have an air of nobility. You don't have to be horrible to other ponies, but you only socialize with the upper crust." Over the next couple of hours Diamond took a strange kind of pleasure in drilling her double to walk and talk and act like her. "You have an eye for a cutie mark? That will need to be covered up with make-up or magic and replaced with my tiara. I bet you are really going to enjoy living a life of luxury in my place."
"Yes, apart from the fear of being kidnapped every time I leave your mansion. And of something going wrong that could end with my maiming or death. Whilst you will be safe whatever happens."
"So what happens to me now?" Diamond asked.
"You will be taken to Canterlot for your disguise to be applied."
Diamond Tiara gave a little squeal of joy. "O Canterlot! Despite being a noble pony, I have never been there yet or seen the outside of Canterlot Castle. The shops there must be so amazing as well with so many things to buy." The Princess cut her off.
" You will go to Canterlot in a closed litter tonight. You will not have access to your funds until you can return to your old life. Too much spending could give you away." She used her magic to lightly pull Diamond Tiara's tiara from her head. "You won't be wearing this for a while."
"But I feel naked without my tiara!"
"That's because you are naked without your tiara."
Diamond galloped into the hooves of her parents and they hugged and kissed their daughter. "I'm going to miss my princess," Filthy Rich told her. Diamond looked sadly at them and wondered when she would see them again.
"Can't I take any books...bedding...that sort of thing?"
"You can take nothing out, as you might try and take a picture of you and your parents and that could set tongues wagging. Besides, you will be sleeping in Canterlot on fine bedding. The sun is setting and it is time to go."
"Canterlot? I have never been there before. Such sights to see and so many things to buy in the shops."
"You will be going there in a closed litter and you will not have access to your fortune until you can regain your old life. First, two much spending might give you away. Second, you badly need to be taught how to live without luxury and without being waited on by servants. In your new life you will live like the average pony does. You will not be dirt poor, but you will not be rich either. You must learn humility."
Diamond sighed and headed to the door, where a closed litter pulled by a couple of Royal Guards awaited. She looked back with love at her parents, and hatefully at her double, who would be served by her servants, live in luxury and sleep in her bed. Then she climbed inside, drew the curtains and the pegasui took off into the sky. After a few hours of boredom in which Diamond had grown tired, they arrived at their destination and Diamond was allowed out. She found herself in a large room with a vat. Princess Luna herself told her "You need to get into that vat and quickly submerge yourself. The paint inside is safe to wear on your body and hair and can be washed off by a long enough bath in water, and will turn your body and mane green. And then we can see about giving you and a new name and placing you somewhere until the would be kidnappers have been arrested and the danger is over."
Green? Yuck! I'll look so ugly. Other ponies will laugh at me."
"You will still be a pretty pony when we have finished with you. You have lost a great deal anyway; we do not want you to lose your looks as well."
Diamond screwed her nose up in disgust but rather then disobey the Princess, she climbed into the vat and did what she was told. The paint rapidly dried when she got out and had the effect of giving her curly hair like Twist. She was expecting it to have become a smeared mess but it dried so quickly that it didn't have time. "I don't look as bad as I thought...but it's still upsetting for me to have to give up who I am. It's covered my cutie mark and I feel like a blank flank again. I don't have to be a...?"
"No. On the opposite leg to the leg with your real cutie mark on it, you will have a cutie mark tattooed upon your body that will look totally genuine."
Diamond Tiara stared at her in utter horror. "WHAT? No. I am a noble pony and I am so not being tattooed. Mother says tattooing is vulgar and looks bad as a pony ages. She says, not only is it painful to have done, but it itches like crazy as it heals and any scratching will ruin it. Why can't I just paint on a cutie mark with make-up?"
"Because it might smear or get washed off in the rain and then your cover will be blown. Zecora can give you some salve for the itch to keep it at a bearable level as long as you don't scratch. Once you start scratching you won't be able to stop and you will tear a wound in your flank and it will both scar and blow your cover. Your new name will be Apple Turnover and you will be placed with Applejack as part of her family."
"So you are putting me with a bunch of country hicks..."
The Princess's horn flashed and she slapped Diamond's cheek with her magic. "The Apple family is as old as the Bluebloods and Applejack is a noble in her own right for all the services to Equestria she has performed. She is just not snobbish and unpleasant about her high status, unlike your family. If there is one good thing about this situation, it is that you will have to spend some time with those who you consider to be the "lower orders" and share your life with them. When you were a young pony you were beastly to your fellow ponies just because their cutie marks were a little late in coming, and you are still clearly a very spoilt brat. Labouring for a few weeks or months will make you into a better noble pony when you return to your old life, once the kidnappers have been captured. It might also teach you to be nice to your fellow ponies. You will spend the night here, and then you will be taught the details of your new life and in turn will teach your double everything she needs to pass as you, before going to Sweet Apple Acres in a week or so." She paused.
"You will be paid for your work on the farm-you are not a slave or a convict-labourer. Some farmers are slave-driver types but not Applejack, I know her well. You will be kept safe and will learn some much needed humility at the same time. For now-bedtime. Tomorrow you will be tattooed and then your training to keep you safe will begin."
Chapter Two-Swapping Silver
Silver Spoon looked at Diamond Tiara with horror. No marefriend should have to see that sort of look on her loved one's face, the sort of look that Diamond normally reserved for the Cutie Mark Crusaders when she was about to tease them. "Silver, I know we are a secret couple and have been that way for a long while, but I am just not ready to tell everyone yet, and least of all my parents. And you are taking things a little too fast for my liking. I mean, you are a great kisser, but I am just not ready for more then kissing and cuddling quite yet. That will change in time but...maybe we should see a little less of each other for a while."
Silver felt her mouth drop wide open at the thought. "Di, surely you can't really mean that? You know how much being with you means to me. What if....what if you plan to have a secret relationship with another pony behind my back? I mean, you are the best, richest, most attractive pony in all of Ponyville. Other ponies would love to be with you."
Diamond rolled her eyes and her reply was not what Silver wanted to hear. " Silver, I look so attractive to you because you love me to a rather unhealthy degree. And of course I don't plan to cheat on you just because I want to have a few days apart from you. You can be so insecure at times. My love for you is solid enough to take a dragon's weight. I just want us to have a time out for a few days, that's all." And she turned her back on her marefriend and headed back to her mansion, Silver watching as her marefriend walked out of sight. Maybe it was a bad idea to try and lick her cutie mark the last time we made out and I took things too fast She decided to just take things slow and wait for Diamond to be ready for going further then making out together.
When she got home she found Shining Armour, the Captain of the Royal Guard, waiting for her in his full uniform, and curtseyed. Her family was rich, but it was very rare to have a pony of this rank come to see them.
With him there was another pony and her mouth dropped open for the second time that afternoon. The filly was her age, and an apparent double of her down to the glasses and braid of silver hair and the silver spoon for a cutie mark. Shining Armour told her, after throwing a small magical shield around them " Silver Spoon, you have to leave now. You are to be taken in a closed litter to Canterlot where you will be told what is expected of you."
"What? For how long? And who is this fraud who dares to dress as me?"
"An agent of Canterlot Intelligence, but the rest is classified information."
Silver's tail flicked from side to side, her ears went right back and she snorted with anger at the hated double who was going to take her place. A horrible thought came to her. What if the double ended up going out with her precious Diamond-kissing and cuddling her or worse, making love to her in Silver's place?
"I am not letting that...that whorse seduce my Diamond, she's mine."
"Diamond Tiara will also be sent elsewhere, so you need not worry about her being seduced by the agent. "
"You expect me to let this...horrible false me sleep in my bedroom and steal my life? NO."
"I can have you shackled and muzzled and dragged into that closed litter if I have to, to keep you safe and preserve our operation's confidentiality."
Silver let a kick out at him that dented his armour.
*****
Silver Spoon screamed through her leather muzzle but not much sound got out. She could barely move her hooves, trapped in padded iron hobbles as they were. "Be fortunate it is me stallionhoofing you and not the Equestrian Mafia. The Mafia would most likely maim you or worse. I don't care what happens to you, you spoiled little brat ; but I do care that my mission against the Mafia is a success." Her parents held her close in their hooves and kissed her forehead lovingly again and again. He father told her "I will so miss you, princess, and this faux daughter that has been forced on us means nothing to us. As soon as you are back we will throw a huge party for you with Pinkie Pie's help, as large as your cutecenara was." Her mother was almost crying and said "I too will miss you, Silver. As soon as the Mafia are caught you will be the first to know."
As she was placed in the pegasui-pulled closed litter she wanted to wipe her forehead as her parents had planted what felt like thirty kisses on it, but her hooves were trapped in the hobbles so she had to leave it alone. She imagined her Diamond finding her like this, kissing and hugging her and then setting her free, and they would run away together. This might cause it's own problems, but even if they had to sleep under a bridge and beg for bits at least she would have her glorious Diamond by her side. She let out a deep sigh and sat there bored until at last she landed and two unicorns took her using her magic to a spa that seemed better and bigger then any spa she had ever been to. Two spa ponies came up and to her horror they began to paint her body a copper colour, smoothing it all over her and ignoring her muffled protests. They dyed her mane and tail blonde and placed mane extensions in her mane after unbraiding it and red contact lenses in her eyes, removing her pearl necklace that she had worn since she was a very small foal. A red ribbon was tied into her tail and then they brought over a mirror for her and ungagged her so they could paint her muzzle.
Looking at her in the mirror was a beautiful copper pony with fine red eyes, who as yet had no cutie mark. "At least you took my gag off. I am hungry and thirsty and stiff. When will you take these hobbles off me?"
"Copper Mine, as that is your name now, when the paint has dried as it will soon do. Then Princess Luna herself will speak with you."
After she was unhobbled and allowed to stretch and the last of her silver fur painted over, she bowed when Princess Luna came forward. Despite everything that had happened to her she still had the deepest respect for the Royal Princesses like any loyal Equestrian should.
"I am sorry for what you had to go through, and it must be very traumatic for you to be forcibly taken from your family, renamed and restyled, but if the Black Hoof Gang had grabbed you they would have cut off your ears and Diamond's too and sent them to your parents with the ransom demand. They are very nasty ponies indeed and have done this twice before. One of their victims was a young model who can now never model again, as none of the modelling agencies want a pony with stumps for ears. They also sliced through her cutie mark. Come in, Pretty One."
A pony came in with bright white fur, a yellowish mane and tail, and barely healed stumps where her ears used to be. Her cutie mark, one of a golden cup, had two healed cuts in a cross over it and she looked very unhappy. "Look what they did to me! I was a model, tipped by Fancy Pants to be the Next Big Thing. Until they kidnapped me, sliced up my cutie mark and cut off my ears which they sent to my parents. My parents had to pay a hundred thousand bits to get me back, and our house was repossessed as we could no longer pay the mortgage on it. I don't want what happened to me to happen to you. I will never be able to be a model again as none of the model agencies would want to hire a mutilated pony. I now have to work at a market stall."
Princess Luna said "It is vital to our operation that you not only be kept safe, but that the kidnappers don't know that anything has changed. When they make their move we will be waiting for them. For now a family of rock farmers who recently lost a daughter to death are willing to take you in. You will have to get used to not being rich, but I feel sure that they will look after you. Diamond Tiara is going through much the same as you are. Tomorrow you will have a false cutie mark tattooed upon your flank to complete your disguise, and you will spend a while teaching your double what she needs to pass properly as you. And as soon as the kidnappers are caught, you will have your pearl necklace back, will be restored perfectly to your silver self and brought back to your family."
"This would be much easier to bear if I had Diamond with me."
"You'll be alright. I watch over all colts and fillies in their dreams and perhaps I can send you some sweet dreams of your true love, although I cannot be everywhere at once. Tonight you will sleep in a fine bed in the Castle, as good as your bed at home. But first you will have a fine meal fit for a Princess." Soon, her belly filled with the finest food, "Copper" fell asleep thinking of her gorgeous marefriend, wondering what Diamond looked like in disguise.
Chapter Three-A Pony Can Dream
Silver Spoon tossed and turned, finding it very hard to get to sleep.
She opened her eyes and found to her surprise that she was outside Rarity's Boutique and that the streets were crowded with ponies. To her joy Diamond came up to her looking as good as Silver had ever seen her. Unfortunately she was with Silver's double, and the two of them kissed on the lips right in front of her.
"Hey, you can't kiss my marefriend in front of me!" Silver objected, only to realize to her horror that she was still disguised as Copper Mine.
Diamond stared at her and sneered "Aw, how cute! It looks like I have a stalker who thinks she is Silver Spoon. Silver Spoon is right by my side. You are most certainly not her. Go and bother some other pony, I am happily taken." All the other ponies began to laugh and point at the real Silver and call her names.
She woke up. Luna told me she would keep the nightmares away from me but I suppose she can't be there all the time with all those others to watch over she thought. She looked in the mirror. Even if I were to bump into Diamond by chance, they even changed the colour of my pretty purple eyes. Diamond loved the colour of them and called them her amethysts. Of all her jewels, she told me once, Silver's eyes were the ones that made her the most happy.
She knew it would be a long and lonely time without her marefriend. As had been the case for the last few days, her flank itched like a feather was being run across it from her new cutie mark, a circle of emeralds. She longed to run the frog of her hoof across it until the skin split if that would only ease the itch, but that would scar her pretty body, ruin her disguise, and make Princess Luna angry with her. Or worse, alert the Equestrian Mafia to who she really was, and then they would kidnap her and cut her ears off to send to her parents. She pulled them back against her skull at the very thought of it. It was that more then anything else that kept her in her role as Copper Mine. When she was presented to her new *parents* they had hugged and kissed her and seemed as happy as if she was their real daughter.
Her new cutie mark had been tattooed with special ink; secret magical ink that gave it the powers of a real cutie mark and therefore bestowed them upon her. She had spent much of the past two days toiling away breaking rocks with a pickaxe adapted for Earth Pony use to reveal the jewels within, something made much easier by her cutie mark. When she realized that she, a delicate noble pony, was to have to have to toil away at hard labour, it was difficult to keep her rage bottled up inside. She nearly walked out in a rage, but managed to control herself. If she left, she would have nowhere to live and she feared that Shining Armour would most likely come after her and muzzle and chain her up again until she did what she was told. Although her new parents were nice to her and fed her well, and let her keep a tenth of the jewels she found, it was still hard work in the hot sun for eight hours a day, nothing like her luxurious life as Silver Spoon was. There were no spa trips or luxury shopping for her. Bathing was in a warm spring; the paint would only be removed by a soaking of many hours in salt water, and the spring water was fresh. She wondered where Diamond was and if she was finding her new life any easier to bear. At least she had school today.
When she went to school her attention was attracted by a green furred mare with a cutie mark of two apple horseshoes upon her flank. This pretty young mare had curly hair and beautiful cornflower-blue eyes that to Silver, looked beautiful, even though there was a sadness in them too, and also some anger. The teacher said "Class, quiet. We have two new students today, Copper Mine and Apple Turnover. Please treat them the way you would want to be treated." Silver decided that when she got the chance to without getting caught, she would pass a note to the mare with those pretty eyes. She wanted to have at least one friend here, even though she knew she could not tell her the truth about who she really was. And every time she looked into those eyes, it would remind her of the eyes of Diamond Tiara, the young mare that she loved. At least she would still be able to enjoy the magic of friendship, even if she had lost her wealth, her noble status , her looks and even her real name.
They were in the small town of Mareburg just over an hour's canter from Sweet Apple Acres and Ponyville proper , but Shining Armour had strictly forbidden her to enter Ponyville even though she was in disguise. It must be so I can't go back to my family and spend time with them like I really want to do. Maybe it's so I don't have to see my double trotting around enjoying what should be my wonderful life. The note that she sent secretly simply read I want to be your friend if you'll give me a chance. Back came a speedy reply I would love to become your friend. Clearly things were going to get a bit better. She may have lost her noble status, her family, her money, her looks, and even her own name, but at least she could still enjoy the magic of friendship.
Chapter Four-Together Again
As soon as Silver Spoon saw the mouth writing on the reply, she wanted to give a whinny of pure joy. She recognised it from all the notes they had passed to each other in the past since they were young blank flanks. It was the writing of Diamond Tiara. Under what she assumed to be a layer of green paint, was her favourite mare in Equestria, the love of her life. She decided to talk openly to her as soon as they could do so in private without blowing their cover to everypony around them. She had a lot of kisses that she had planned for her loved one, and she also wanted to ask how Diamond was coping with her new life undercover. She and Diamond had so much to talk about. Normally the two of them were together far more often then not, so being forced to be apart was seriously annoying for them. As soon as the school day was over and they had the chance they went to a nearby alleyway and looked around a few times to make sure that they were indeed safely alone.
"Diamond Tiara! What have they done to you? Did they think some green paint and a curly mane, and taking away your tiara would stop me from recognising you?"
"Silver Spoon! Yuck-that disguise is so not you, but under it all you are still the wonderful mare that I love. So how are they treating you?"
"I have to toil away on a rock farm. It's not as bad as it could be, as they let me keep some of the jewels that I find, but still, a rock farm! So not me. I belong to a very important pony. I should not be having to get my hooves dirty. And worse, Shining Armour had me transported to Canterlot bound and muzzled! Outrageous. He may be the Captain of the Guards, but I am an heiress and should be treated with respect. What he did was guard brutality. So how have things been for you? Are they treating you any better?"
"Not really. They have me bucking apples with the rest of the Apple Family. Me, an apple-bucker, imagine that! There are compensations, Applejack is much sweeter and more affectionate then my mother is, but I still missed you so much."
The two ponies gave each other a big warm kiss, and then more hungry kisses of love that had been denied them for far too long. Whatever might happen to them in the future, at least they were now together again. "If they were going to place us together but disguised, they might as well have done so anyway. It's not as if we are the only marefriend couple in Equestria. Maybe there are no gangsters after us? Perhaps it's some kind of elaborate prank to try and make us into well behaved, hard working ponies?," Diamond Tiara asked.
"I'm not so sure of that," Silver Spoon replied. They showed me a pony that used to be a model, who had her ears cut off, both of them, and her wounds were most certainly not faked. And her cutie mark had been slashed as well. It must have cost quite a few bits to get us properly disguised, renamed and sent here. We come from rich families as well who could have afforded bodyguards to watch over us, at least in the short term. Whoever is after us must have the strength and the weapons to even penetrate a bodyguard screen. And be determined as well. So I suppose all this is worth it just to keep us safe. I wish they had not put those dreadful doubles in our place."
"I could almost wish that our doubles end up getting hurt," Diamond Tiara said "except that we need them to help trap our would-be foalnappers. I wonder how mine is coping with my mother getting angry with her?" She grinned at the thought.
"They may be in the lap of luxury now, but they are most likely in fear that something will go wrong and they will end up foalnapped for real and having their ears sawed off. At least we can comfort ourselves thinking about that. In public, we can't be a couple, but in private you and I have a lot of marefriend time to make up."
