I can't go home. I really don't want to go home whilst my parents are still arguing..
It was late Autumn, just a couple of days after the Running of the Leaves, All over Equestria the weather teams were busy day and night bringing in the clouds and preparing the snow. Diamond shivered in the cold, wishing she was wearing her pretty Rarity Original dress, but when her parents started yet another row with each other she had galloped away from it, unable to face her parents shouting and screaming and swearing at each other.
They have so much money and they lavish me with jewels and pretty dresses and all sorts of gifts, but I get so little real love. Father spends so little time with me and is so often away in Manehatten or Canterlot chatting with important business ponies. And then when he does come back, more and more often he and Mother end up arguing dreadfully right in front of me.
She spoke aloud to herself. "Where am I going to go? I can't stay out here in the cold, and I'm not yet ready to go back there yet." She was in the middle of a crowd of ponies, mainly buying Hearths Warming food and Hearths Warming gifts, but she felt horribly alone. "I know where I'll go. Spoony. Silver Spoon has never let me down or failed to stand by my side. I'll go and spend some time with her in her mansion." It was a short trip down a few streets and she knocked on the door of the aging mansion of the Silver family. Most of the lights were out, unlike the Rich mansion, which was normally lit from end to end. Silver Spoon herself opened the door.
"Diamond Tiara! Welcome!"
Diamond hugged her friend, enjoying the contact of Silver's grey fur against her own, and lightly kissed her on the cheek. "Can I come in and hang out with you for a bit? My family are wrapping up my Heath Warming Presents and don't want me sneaking around trying to see them, so they banished me from the mansion until the wrapping is done."
"Come in, I'm sure my parents won't mind. They think you are a great friend for me."
"So what's wrong with the lights here?"
"One of the fuse boxes decided to go bang on us. Luckily my bedroom light was not affected. Why not come upstairs and chat?"
Diamond heard Silver Spoon's parents chatting nicely to each other. Not shouting and swearing and screaming at each other, not coming close to hitting each other. Just happily talking together. She trotted upstairs after Silver Spoon and into her bedroom. It was a little bit smaller then hers. She looked around at an open wardrobe with a few dresses inside it and gently ran a hoof over the nearest one. "These dresses are amazing! Hoof stitched! Only my Rarity Original that I wore for my cutecenara is hoof stitched. These dresses must have cost a fortune in bits." She smiled and went over to Silver's desk, where amongst the general clutter was a second pearl necklace. Diamond quickly put it on, looked at Diamond and spoke softly. "Diamond Spoon. Or should that be, Silver Tiara? You have such a wonderful life, don't you?"
Silver Spoon backed away slowly, with fear in her eyes.
"Uh, Diamond, you are creeping me out now. Seriously creeping me out. This is getting into Single White Mare territory and I don't like it one bit. You're not a changeling are you?"
"No. If I was a changeling, I would be starving if I only had the love of my parents to feed on. My father almost never pays attention to me unless it is to give me a new gift and is not even at home most of the time. Whilst my mother micromanages my life and complains bitterly if I fall beneath her *high standards* even choosing the way I style my mane. I'm not allowed to bring any friends home except you. And, don't tell this to anypony, but...she and my father keep shouting at each other and I don't know how long their marriage will last. Your parents are so nice and kind and never shout at each other and your dresses are all hoof stitched. Are they Rarity Originals?"
Silver Spoon let out a deep sigh. "If you were not my best friend I would not be telling you this. My mother hoof stitches my dresses not because she wants to but because she has to. And most of the lights are off to save on the bills. And my father has much more time to spend with me because he lost his job when the company he worked for downsized. The only reason why we are not paupers is that we have a lot of bits saved up in the bank, but not enough to last more then a decade or so. His age counts against him getting a new job. He also spends too much time with me. He doesn't abuse me in any way but...but his attention is suffocating at times. He likes to go for long walks with me, ruffle my mane, kiss me on the forehead sometimes. As a foal I loved the attention but as I grew up, it no longer feels the same. But I don't have the heart to tell him that he should leave me alone and stop treating me like a foal. I envy you too and your life of pure luxury but I didn't say it out loud to avoid creeping you out."
The two ponies hugged each other tightly.
Diamond said "Maybe I should go out with your father the next time he wants to take you for a walk. You get some much needed time to yourself and I get some sort of father-daughter time that my father cannot or will not provide."
Silver smiled. "And when your parents are fighting and you need to get away, you can spend a few hours here."
"If you need to borrow one of my dresses or some of my jewellery you can do. And I'll talk with my father if possible to try and get your father a job to pay the bills," Diamond told her best friend. "We can stop envying each other's circumstances and deal with our problems together."
"Together forever," said Silver, grinning. "Bump, bump, sugar lump rump!" As they did their little dance together, both fillies felt that together they could both help each other a great deal and make each other's problems much easier to bear.
