Once upon a Hearth Warming's Eve
Can I remember when I first met Diamond Tiara?...Not really. We're only a year apart, age-wise. Which one of us is older? I kinda promised Diamond Tiara I wouldn't tell. What lady likes anypony to know her age? But either way, it was like five years ago and I was a lot younger. Not a baby or anything, but everything back then was just kinda...innocent. Must sound kinda weird considering I'm a kid right now, but...
It's not really right to call it our first meeting. Diamond Tiara was always just sort of there. She said the same thing about me? I... I didn't know. I think we'd have to go through photo albums to find out when we actually first met. Yes, you think Apple Bloom's family is the only one with those? Though I think Diamond probably swiped hers and hid them knowing her... Me? I could never do a thing like that. It's not what a proper lady does, and mom made it clear I was to be a proper lady. Which also meant a lot of mine are probably a lot more boring than Diamond's.
It's kinda strange to think about, Apple Bloom has known us longer than she knows her best friends. But I barely learned anything about her. Diamond Tiara knew a little if any more about the Apples. Seems surreal you could know somepony that long without learning a thing...but I got to know Diamond...I know what she was like before we started bullying, I think I'm the only foal that did.
Don't get me wrong, Diamond and I were BOTH spoiled rotten long before Diamond started bullying Apple Bloom. But so what? Who did we hurt? Oh, I guess we could have been less rude to the hired help. And Diamond Tiara has driven away her fair share of nannies. So yeah, we were nasty brats. Of course Clean Dishes still helped me that day, we're ponies.
Before Twilight Sparkle came, there weren't many upper-crust ponies around. But now Diamond's Daddy told mine that he was considering starting to sell souvenirs at his store with all the tourist.
Mommy and Mrs. Tiara? Diamond's Mom wanted to meet more ponies, Mommy wanted to meet the right ponies. At least with me Momma did most of my...tutoring. And you saw how she reacted to me and the Crusaders at the Gaia Festival.
But...if I had to guess how we met...Our daddies were friends for a long time. Before either of us were actually born. They like to visit and talk all the time. I think for a while we thought we were cousins. No, that was BEFORE I mistook one type of love for another when it came to Diamond.
What did we do? We were two rich fillies, what couldn't we do? But we enjoyed ourselves together. We built things, we played video games, we UNDERSTOOD each other. We weren't always two bullies, I swear!
I think my earliest memory of Diamond...was our daddies talking to each other about something or other. I was five or six. Big pony things didn't concern me yet. We were just sitting, playing with building blocks made of imported wood, that were also a Silver family heirloom. With tin soldiers dating back a century. Top-quality toys.
We built a little castle out of them and played Princesses. Who was the Princess? Both of us...Surprised?...Thinking back on it, so am I.
I was Diamond's yes-filly. Her minion, I admit it...but it wasn't ALWAYS that way. It became that way. Even I forgot that.
I guess it makes sense. Between the two of us, Diamond was always the more 'free.' Her parents let her have a lot more free reign than Momma ever did me. I was so used to taking orders, I guess I just naturally started following her.
That's the weird part about losing yourself like that...you forget to think back on the 'good old days.' Ugh! I can't believe things have changed enough for me to HAVE good old days to think back to!
... Diamond Tiara never had her 'claws in me.' I was never her 'slave.' She never intimidated me. She never told me 'or else.' Or that I was a 'bad friend' if I didn't do this or that. There was no pressure for us to stay friends for 'the good of the family.' Not what you were expecting, is it?
Something else you won't expect?...How she reacted when I got my Cutie Mark first.
I got my Cutie Mark helping Momma with money and antiques. As I'm pretty sure you've figured out, I got which part of my mark actually mattered way off. But like any foal I was excited when it happened.
My family naturally fawned over me. But I was kinda afraid of letting Diamond know I got it, so I wore a dress and didn't tell her, intending to hide it until she got hers.
I guess I understand Scootaloo wanting to hold up her party until her friends get their Cutie Marks.
But it didn't work for very long and she noticed it.
Diamond was naturally jealous...but she hid it. She congratulated me sweetly and attended my Cute-ceañera.
How did I know she was jealous? Diamond Tiara's good at hiding many emotions but jealousy isn't one. But I was polite and didn't let on that I knew. Yes, she acted polite for a friend. I think I'm the only pony Diamond has ever quietly accepted beating her at anything.
I don't know where it all went so wrong. Diamond never told me. Maybe it was when she got her Cutie Mark, maybe it was when her mother...got sick.
Everything we've had together means I WILL find her...I will see her again...and no matter how far beyond saving anypony, even her, thinks she is...I still have hope I can. I don't know if my dream was just a dream, but part of my REALLY doesn't think so.
What Diamond Tiara said to me before she ran away was awful... but I asked about things I knew she was sensitive about at the worst possible time.
When? When did it really start with us? Where it truly begin with us? The Silver Spoon and the Diamond Tiara everypony knows? I don't mean teasing Apple Bloom and her friends, that came later, that was me supporting Diamond, and Diamond finding somepony to take out her ... take out her troubles on.
When did I decide... that if Diamond Tiara had become Nightmare Moon herself, I'd have followed her into Tartarus with my head held high? It was Hearth Warming's Eve. Way back when Diamond Tiara was still Tarnished Rich, before I had my cutie mark, back when I was named 'Silver Tray' in honor my mother Silver Platter. My family was hosting. Mom was talking with Tarnished Rich's Mom, as always. Mom was spilling every lesson she learned to be a proper lady growing up to Tarnished Rich's Mom in an evening.
Some of those rules were just crazy, 'Always keep your pinky at ninety degrees, more tea please.' What the hay is a pinky? I asked Pinkie and she said she didn't know.
Both Tarnished Rich and me were done up in the most frilly, pretty, and sparkly dresses you could imagine! I almost wonder if all that shiny jewelry is reason my family all have bad eyesight.
And this being my house, fillies were expected to be seen and not heard. I was told not to speak unless spoken to, and what I was supposed to say to guests WHEN spoken to. I didn't run, didn't want to trip up in my dresses (especially considering how layered and frilly they were). I stayed in place like a filly should. You could have replaced me with a doll for all the difference it made.
This was an old horseshoe for me, Hearth Warming's Eve was just another big party. Oh I always got what I wanted, that's because I was told what I wanted well in advance, what was proper for a little filly to want, and what was improper for her to want. And I wasn't far enough gone yet for Santa Hooves to give me coal and having to hide it from Momma.
And there was the verses I was expected to memorize and recite on command... like how a dog is trained to do tricks.
The times I was with Diamond were the only times I think I honestly felt ANYTHING like a filly instead of a 'lady in training.' Not nearly close enough...but closer than I ever was otherwise.
Diamond Tiara? She was used to being pampered, she was used to looking pretty, she was used to being treated like royalty... but she was also used to getting her own way... a lot. I dared steal a sideways glance at her. And it shook me to my core. Her face was even, but as a filly training for high society, I spotted the tells. Tense muscles, her hooves biting a bit too much into the polished floor. We both knew so much as a twitch on our faces was a guaranteed tongue-lashing and extra lessons on keeping yourself under control, and not being a selfish filly and remember all these guests came to have a good time and how dare we ruin that evening with a twitch.
I know it was Mom that convinced Her Mom to act that way, and probably Her Daddy too (if high society didn't do that itself)...but how did Momma get that way? The one time I dared ask Daddy after growing a spine, he said Mommy's 'a product of her environment' saying that our family's name went back farther than the Rich's did. We were vieux riche, they were nouveau riche. Considering Diamond Tiara's family fortune started with her great grandfather, I'm not sure what he meant by that.
Diamond Tiara? Oh right right! How'd it go? Picking up sublimity is something you learn in the upper class, along with learning to HIDE all your tells. Diamond Tiara had the same lessons as me, didn't she? Either way, I could tell, Tarnished Rich was building up, like a volcano, and she was looking ready to erupt. And... I naively didn't quite understand why, why didn't she just grin and bear it like I did? It was what proper young ladies did, and we were both proper young ladies. Of course I didn't ASK that, because talking would be rude.
I truly and sincerely don't know what happened. Maybe her meter just overflowed. Maybe she spotted a piece of candy she just really wanted. Maybe she couldn't stand not being the center of attention for a moment longer. Whatever the case, Tarnished rebelled.
"Come on, follow me," she said and took me by the hoof, looking around at the faces of everypony in the room. Of course I obeyed, maybe this was some new rule I'd forgot?
She quickly pulled me over to one of the table. Quickly, that wasn't proper. Then she grabbed a whole plate of cookies, instead of just one. That's not proper either! She then pulled me under the table! Nopony noticed.
Under the table we went! My eyes only grew wider and wider as I watched Tarnished Rich stuff her face. She then looked up at me, swallowed, and said, "Dig in! There's plenty where this came from!"
A... a proper lady didn't refuse a guest. So I had one cookie, one two, then three, then four, then five!
She grinned at me. "Next course!” She reached up, and took a serving tray of sugar lump candies.
"I-I'm going to spoil my dinner."
"Don't worry about that," she said. And she ate the whole bunch between us.
Then she snuck me away from the tables, we were leaving the party! "W-wait we can't-"
"Shush!" She whispered, and I shut up.
She led me out the dining room and into one of the spare bedrooms. Then she... she... SHE TOOK OFF HER DRESS!
"What are you doing?!"
"How is anypony supposed to notice me underneath all that fluff?"
"T-That's the point!"
"What point? How are we supposed to have fun?"
"I... we... we're supposed to have fun?"
"Like duh! Are you having fun right now?"
"... No?"
She grabbed my dress by the hem. I was so bewildered that I couldn't even muster up any resistance. She pulled it off me. I barely managed to keep on grandma's pearls. I had to straighten out my glasses as they nearly came off.
Being naked for Hearth Warming's Eve as a brand new experience for me. I know, ponies are almost always naked...which says a lot more than anything else I could say, huh?
Then Tarnished Rich assumed a thinking pose. "Now, what next?"
I wanted to say that maybe we should go back to the party, maybe, but I wasn't sure whether the question was rhetorical. I was feeling confused and my head was spinning.
"Hey!" She looked at the treasures around the room, then at me. "Silver, your family's swords and suits of armor are all real right?"
I didn't know Daddy was a retired guard yet, but I knew how important his gear was.
"Y-yes, of course they are! Dating back to-"
"Let's try some on! I always wondered what I looked like in barding!"
'Always,' in retrospect, was likely 10 seconds.
"We can't!"
"Don't be a sissy NOW! Come on, it'll be fun!"
"Dad says not to use swords unless you're taught how to use them!"
Tarnished Rich rolled her eyes. "Well, do you know how?"
"A... a little?" Dad's had me learn just enough to not hit myself in the face with a wood training sword, but he still won't let me NEAR anything with a real blade in a million years.
"Well." She trotted up to the fencing rapiers, and kicked two of them out, grabbed one in her mouth, and kicked the other one towards me that I panically caught. She put on a fencing mask and tossed one over my head. "Show me."
"But I've never used a metal one before. Just wood ones that aren't sharp!"
"You scared?"
"Yes! Daddy would be angry!"
"Do you do everything your parents say?"
"Don't you?!"
"...When they're watching... " She playfully poked me with the nub point of the rapier. "This thing is heavy."
"It's made of metal. It... it takes time to build up the strength."
"Meh. I can do that with Mommy any time." She tossed the sword over her shoulder putting it back in place without a hitch. "So wooden, huh?"
I hurried over to a closet and took out a box, opening it up, taking two beautifully carved wooden swords with the blunt blades having been nicked countless times and replaced. They were much lighter than a metal sword. Both to make them easier to use and so you didn't accidentally hurt your sparing partner.
Tarnished Rich picked them up without hesitation or regard for how expensive or ancient they were. It... it entranced me.
How could she exist? She was bred like me. We were cut from the same cloth. But she acted like all this wealth was to serve HER, instead of her existing to serve the wealth. It was like seeing a solar eclipse for the first time, night and day merged, the impossible standing right before me. She was an impossibility, and yet she existed against all logic I'd been taught.
I should have run away screaming from her... but ladies didn't do that. So instead, I looked at her in awe.
"So... you gonna play?" She offered me the other sword. And it hit me. She... she asked me a question. Good hosts don't refuse, but everything else had gone out the window already and... I nearly felt intoxicated at the idea at being asked. I now know Tarnished Rich was likely being rhetorical, but in that moment... she was like a star to me.
"Yes!" I took one of the swords. "En garde!"
And we exchanged blows for the better part of an hour. I admit, I did a bit better than Tarnished, I actually had SOME training after all, but she wasn't jealous of me. We just were enjoying ourselves. Light wooden swords would only leave light bruises that our fur would cover up, if any at all.
And I lost track of time. First were we knights jousting, then pirates, then we were nobles dueling it over the last piece of royal cake, then were were Royal Guards fighting against the evil suit of armor invading Spare Room Castle! We would not let it pass!
Then I spotted some blankets on the couch with beautiful patterns on them, never meant to be used. I took one off and tied it around my neck and stretched the blanket out! "Look at me! I'm a flutter pony!"
Tarnished wasn't one to be outdone and did the same. "No you aren't! I am!"
"We both are!"
And... and we laughed. Not a polite ladylike laugh, or our laugh the CMC would come to know. It was... just a laugh, of fillies being fillies. We flew over the Everfree Forest! We flew over the desert! We flew over the ocean! We fought dragons in the sky! We reached the end of the world and were greeted by the stars! We were two for the sky!
'Two for the sky...' For a moment, I felt like I'd used those words before in a dream. Then we landed and had another game to play.
We went through the looking glass where everything was reversed, but we couldn't go beyond the frame of the mirror since the mirror world only existed in what was being reflected.
Tarnished Rich's mirror self would say how pretty and smart she was. Mine was more interested in if we had anymore candy.
"We'll have to keep this whole thing our little secret," Tarnished said.
"Yeah…" I said, though...I didn't think of Momma. Just of how fun that sounded.
"I know some ponies do a hoofshake when they agree on something, to kinda 'seal the deal' sorta thing...think we should have something like that?" she asked.
I nodded like a wild pony. "SURE!" Why not? And anypony who knows us knows what we came up with.
"Bump, bump! Sugar lump rump!"
Don't ask me where it all came from, all I know is it was OUR thing. (And that's how I know we saw Babs as a REAL friend in my dream).
Then of course we had to silence the witnesses, like the couch, what, you never never-heard-from-again a davenport?
And no pony to this day has dared called our secret hoof shake silly, and I don't care if you're the first, it's ours.
We heard the bell. It was dinner time. We looked at each other, and in a panic, grabbed our dresses, shoved them back on, straightened them out best we could, and ran out, galloping as fast our skirts allowed, slowing down only just as we entered the dining room to sustain appearances.
I admit I was scared. I knew Momma would be upset if she knew. Tarnished and I got into position, thankfully only drawing the slightest attention from our parents. The blessing was said and we had a traditional (for us) Hearth Warming's Eve dinner. And I fell back into routine, into everything I'd been taught, but the fun I'd had with Tarnished buzzing in the back of my head like bee that wouldn't go away.
Then, as the party was just about over, and most of the guests had left... we were cornered by our mothers.
"Young Lady," Mother said.
"Tarnished Rich?" Her Mom said.
We both felt small.
"What are you doing wearing each other's dresses?" I felt Mom's eyes zeroing in on me. I knew Tarnished Rich's Mother's frowning face was no less intense.
My mind broke down into a panic. I was going to be punished so badly! I was ready to never so much as THINK again without being told to! If this was what breaking the rules brought, then I'd never do it again! I'd be a good little proper lady!
"It's a Hearth Warming's Eve gift," Tarnished Rich said in an even polite tone, looking right back at Her Mother.
"That's right!" I blurted out without thinking.
Tarnished Rich kept her warm and happy voice. "We loved each other's dresses so much, we were inspired by the Hearth Warming's Eve spirit! After all, tonight is about gift giving, isn't it?" She kept smiling. "I loved her dress so much, I had to ask if she had another, but she insisted that if I love hers so much, that I should have it. Such an excellent host!” Tarnished Rich put a hoof around my shoulder and pulled me close. She looked at me, and I smiled too looking up at Mother.
"I didn't wish to refuse Tarnished and make her sad!" I said. I felt so revved up inside while keeping my face straight to Mother. I might've liked it.
"I was so surprised to find out she liked my dress too! And why buy our own when we could make it a gift exchange?"
"Tarnished!" Her Mother gasped. "Why didn't you tell me you liked those colors so much?! I would have gotten you one right away, you little scamp!" She smiled.
"I, didn't want to be rude."
"That's my daughter! Taking charge and knowing what she wants, but so polite!" She nuzzled her.
Mom's eyes looked deeply at me. "Dear, I'm not sure that dress really suits-"
"Oh don't worry, Silver Platter!" Her Mom smiled. "I'd say it makes for an iron clad contract between them! Exchanging gifts is a great way to help foster good ties between families, isn't it?"
Yes. Tarnish Rich's mother said that.
"I... I suppose, Golden."
That's when I realized how brilliant Tarnished Rich really was! There was no way a proper lady would EVER demand a gift be returned! If it was already accepted, then it's a done deal!
...You know, now that I think about it...it reminded me of how Sweetie handled Momma at the Gaia Festival.
"Well, we'll be seeing you girls in those dresses a lot since you love them so much," Her Mom said. And My Mom agreed.
A while later, our last chat before Tarnished and her family left for the night, she whispered to me.
"Hey, Silver?"
"Yeah, Tarnished?"
"I hate the color of this dress!" She laughed out loud, curtsying my dress she was wearing.
"Well, I hate the color of this dress!" I twirled her dress I was wearing and laughed too! We cracked up like a pair of hyenas.
"They're so full of the Hearth Warming's Eve Spirit," Her Mom said not hearing what we said.
I still think I got the best Hearth Warming Eve present ever that day. That or the diamond encrusted teddy bear, just kidding, it's rhinestones. Seriously, I'd never been so happy that night with her!
You know... it's funny, I still have that dress, and I'm sure Diamond Tiara has hers too. We still hate those colors... but we love the dresses. And I'd never give mine up! Strange how that works out, huh? I guess that's why they call it the magic of friendship.
And that is that... that was when I decided, well, it was the beginning anyway, where I chose that wherever Tarnished Rich led, I'd follow. Whatever her scheme, I'd support her. Even if she became a super villain and tried to conquer the world, I'd be her first minion. Because she was the first pony in my life to make me feel free.
And that's the reason...I won't give up until I help her be free too.
