Worth more than silverby Nova_WingsChapters01: A chance meeting.02: Hotel Conversations and ConfessionsCheck-Up's and Check-In's01: A chance meeting.The cold, early fall air whipped through Manehattan, the wind cutting through the coat of anypony out in the big city. For some colts and fillies, the cold is a reminder that winter was coming, some are happy, but some knew harder times were coming as well. For one gray filly, the cold weather and approaching winter could mean death. Looking around the little cardboard box she called home Silver Spoon shivered, she wondered how it had come to this, how she had fallen as low as she could. Of course, she knew the answer, but she still didn't want to believe it. She looked at one of the newspapers she was laying on, the article staring back at her was about her old hometown Ponyville. Ponyville celebrated the opening of Princess Twilight Sparkle's new 'Castle of Friendship', the celebration was organized and headed by local party pony Pinkie Pie. Twilight with her marefriend Rainbow Dash and their adopted daughter Scootaloo presided over the festivity yesterday... Scootaloo, Silver Spoon fixated on the name, how many times had she teased that filly back in Ponyville? How many times had she called she names like 'chicken', 'flightless', and so many other names, and now Scootaloo was adopted by a princess and living in a castle, and Silver Spoon? She was shivering in a box in an alley in Manehattan, how ironic life could be. Silver Spoon looked around, it was early evening and lots of ponies were returning home from work and various other activities. Crawling out of her box Silver Spoon decided to try and find something to eat somewhere, she remembered having some success near a few restaurants in the downtown area. Trudging along the streets she tried to avoid the looks from passing ponies, a homeless foal was a sad sight but not uncommon in this area of the city. Sometime later Silver Spoon found herself in a long alleyway that led between several buildings, there were a few restaurants and theaters in this area and at this time of night, there were often fresh scraps she could get to before they got too bad. The door to one opened and a stallion tossed a bag of garbage into a can in the alley, taking the opportunity Silver Spoon jumped up to the edge of the can and opened the bag finding a few scraps that were still warm. Not caring where they had been she ravenously ate at the scraps she found. ~o0o~ The theater was dark with only a few dim table lights scattered around, the stage was lit only a little more than the rest of the room, giving an atmosphere of quiet relaxation. The soft harp music being played by the mint green unicorn on stage only added to the feel of the room, Lyra greatly enjoyed this, twice a month she would come to Manehatten to play here. She brought a lot of ponies to this little dinner theater when she played, she loved playing music, and she loved coming to Manehattan as well, though the bits were nice too. Quiet conversation added an almost soft backdrop to her music, yes she could lose herself in this setting for hours, and often did. It was only when a soft tap on her shoulder that Lyra came out of her music, without even turning to see she knew who it was. Lyra played a few more notes letting them fade into nothingness before she quietly left the stage. There was no thunderous applause, cheers, but it didn't matter, one look out into the crowd and Lyra knew how much they all had enjoyed her music. Lyra gave the gray mare who had gotten her attention a sideways grin, her way of saying 'sorry I went so long', a look Octavia was more than use too. Trotting back stage, levitating the harp with her, Lyra found two mares quietly talking to each other. “See ya finally let Tavi on stage, thought ya might just play all night the way you were goin'.” “Ya, I guess I can get a little absorbed sometimes.” Lyra said rubbing the back of her main. “That putting it mildly.” The second mare added. “Oh, and you never obsess over anything, like the time you spent three day-” “Finish that, and you'll be sleeping on the couch when we get home dear.” Bonbon added with ice in the last word. “Hmmm, seems I remember how well that worked out last time.” Lyra said with a coy smile.” “Alright you two, I'm leavin' before things get personal. I got a set to play anyway, see ya later.” “Bye Vinyl.” “See ya Scratchie.” “Remember Harpstrings, you're the only one who gets away with that.” With that Vinyl left the backstage area heading to the club she would be performing at. Lyra and Bonbon just chuckled at each other as Vinyl left, gathering up their saddle bags they headed out into the hall ready to leave. “You have to be the only performer who I have to pay to stop.” Came a stallion's voice from behind them. Lyra and Bonbon turned to the see theater's owner, Second Act. He was a tall earth pony with silver fur and cobalt mane, his cutie mark was of two laughing theater masks. “What can I say Act, I love what I do maybe a little too much.” Second Act just laughed. “If even half of the musicians in this city had your drive we would be the music capital of Equestria, here's your pay for the weekend,” He said hoofing over a bag of bits. “Now get going before I try and rope you into a full-time gig here.” The three of them shared a few chuckles at their banter, it was a little something they always did. Lyra and Bonbon left the theater out of the side door, it was a little habit of theirs after getting swamped with requests for shows whenever they left out the front entrance. “It's a little later than normal, wanna go back to the hotel, or see if Pie Slice is still open?” Bonbon stroked her chin with her hoof. “I think Slice will be closed by the time we get there, feel like getting some hay burgers at Red Colts?” Lyra grinned almost unnaturally wide. “Hmm, you and me sharing greasy hay burgers, that are in no way healthy? If I didn't know you better I'd say you were flirting with me.” Bonbon just gave a sarcastic, but playful eye roll. “Oh come on you, we can cut through the alleys.” “Bonbon!” Lyra said in mock horror. “Are you trying to lure me into dark alleys to do terrible things to me?” Bonbon just deadpanned. “You're lucky I love you so much.” Lyra just gave Bonbon a peck on the cheek as she started trotting off. The two mares trotted quietly through the back alleys of Manehattan, while dangerous to some, the two of them had made an impression on those ponies that lurked in the shadows, and they wisely left the two be. The two of them were just coming around a corner that ran between another theater and some adjacent restaurants when they heard something, or somepony, rustling around nearby. Lyra whirled around and readied her horn, while Bonbon crouched into a defensive stance. Nothing moved for a moment, then the sound was heard again, now they could tell it was coming from up ahead. Bonbon poked her head around the corner to see what was making the noise, she saw the outline of a foal head first in a garbage can. Bonbon gave a heavy sigh, it wasn't the first time they had seen a pony looking for scraps in an alley, it was the first time they had seen a foal. “It's just a foal Lyra.” Bonbon said in a sad tone. “Don't tell me their...” “Yep.” Bonbon could hear the sigh almost before it left Lyra's mouth. “Think we should take them to the drop off point, or take them with us?” Bonbon mulled it over for a moment. “Take them with us, they look pretty young, it will be easier that way.” “You're right, better than going there.” There was a long pause, Bonbon knew the weight behind that one word. The two walked up to the foal, it was only when they got close enough in the dim light they could see the foal more clearly, they had a gray coat a bit lighter than Octavia's, and their tail was two tone silver rather than black. Bonbon paused, something about this foal seemed familiar somehow, but she wasn't sure what. Lyra took a step closer while Bonbon was distracted. “Hello?” The foal froze, then started thrashing trying to get out, only succeeding in sending the garbage can toppling over. With a crash the foal rolled out of the can, now Lyra could see it was a filly with a main matching her tail. The filly looked at her with a terrified look in her eyes, before Lyra could react the filly ran off, but not before Bonbon got a look at her cutie mark. No, it can't be... “Silver Spoon?” The filly looked back at hearing the name, just long enough to make eye contact with Bonbon before continuing to run. “Lyra stop her!” “What?” Lyra looked back confused, they were hardly in the business of abducting some filly. “Grab her with your magic, NOW!” Lyra reacted on instinct alone at hearing Bonbon's voice, she only used that voice when something was serious. She levitated the filly off the ground high enough that she couldn't run, the two of them walked slowly up to the filly, Bonbon's eyes grew wide when she saw, it was her. ~o0o~ Silver Spoon had survived on the streets for months, she knew not to trust other ponies in the back alleys of the city, so when she heard a voice while trying to find a bit more to eat, she reacted as any pony in her situation would, panic. She thrashed around in her panic, only succeeding in knocking herself and the trash can she was in, to the ground with a crash. Once she rolled out of the can she saw a pair of ponies, not waiting to find out what they wanted to do with her she ran, it didn't matter where just as long as she ran somewhere. “Silver Spoon?” Silver looked back when she heard her name, not many ponies knew her name anymore, and even fewer would recognize her. Even so, she still looked back, looking long enough for the two figures to register as vaguely familiar. Oh sweet Celestia! I’ve seen them somewhere! They must be after me, oh please don't let one of them be a... “Grab her with your magic, NOW!” BUCK! One's a unicorn, maybe if I can just get out of the alley if they lose sight of me... Silver Spoon's thoughts came to a halt as she felt herself being lifted off the ground, she still tried running, what else could she do? Still, she struggled, but it was useless, Silver Spoon just let her body go limp in the magic she was held in, whatever happened next she was powerless to stop it. ~o0o~ Lyra held the filly in her magic, soon she stopped struggling and just went limp in her magic grasp. She looked over to Bonbon with a worried look. “So... now what?” Lyra asked. “Now we see why a filly from Ponyville is dumpster diving for food in Manehattan.” Lyra blinked. “Wait, what?” “I recognized her cutie mark, her name is Silver Spoon and she use to be a very well off pony.” “Silver Spoon, the Silver Spoon from the family of silver traders? How?” “Let’s find out.” Bonbon walked up to Silver Spoon with Lyra right behind her, once she was about a hoof away, she looked the filly over. Her coat was filthy, her main and tail knotted and seemed dirtier than her coat somehow, even her cutie mark was scuffed. Bonbon mentally shivered, how long had she been out here? What had happened to bring her this low? “Silver Spoon?” Bonbon asked quietly. When she didn't respond, Bonbon started to fear the worst. “Hey there,” Lyra said standing next to Bonbon. “We're not going to hurt you, just want to make sure you're ok.” Still, Silver Spoon was silent. Bonbon decided to try one last approach, it was a long shot but if this didn't get a response she might be worse off than they feared. “Silver, I have one of those bonbons from my shop back in Ponyville, the ones you and your parents use to buy me out of all the time.” This time Silver Spoon looked up, eyeing her captors for the first time. She had a far off look in her eyes, the kind both Bonbon and Lyra knew from experience. Quickly Bonbon reached into her saddlebag and pulled the aforementioned treat from within, Silver Spoon looked at it for a moment, then up at Bonbon, after a long moment, it seemed to click for the filly. “B-bonbon?” She asked uncertain. “Yes, you remember me?” “Y-You run the c-candy shop in P-Ponyville.” Lyra decided now would be a good time to let Silver Spoon down, with practiced ease she set the filly back down on the ground. Silver started to back away, she only got a few steps before stopping. Bonbon held out the treat, waiting for her to take it, in one motion Silver snatched the treat and stuffed it in her mouth, rule of the back allies, uneaten food is lost food. While the filly ate Lyra and Bonbon shared a look, having a silent conversation like only they could. <So, how do we do this?> <We need her to trust us, at least far enough to let us take her back to Ponyville.> <Agreed, let's take her to the hotel, we’ll get her cleaned up and get some room service food.> Turning their attention back to Silver, Lyra and Bonbon stepped closer once again. “Silver,” Bonbon began in a warm voice. “Would you like to come with us? We're staying not too far from here, you can get a bath and some more food.” Silver looked up, looking each of the ponies over. “Why?” Was her only response. Lyra took the lead here. “We don’t want anything from you, we both knew you back in Ponyville and we just want to make sure you're safe. You can come with us, get some good food, get cleaned up and sleep in a warm bed tonight. We won't force you to come with us, but we would like it if you did.” Bonbon just looked at Lyra, she had almost forgotten that she knew what it was like and that she knew how to talk to ponies like this. “What about after?” Silver asked, clearly not trusting them to just leave her out in the cold the next morning. “We're heading back to Ponyville in the morning,” Bonbon took over. “If you like we would take you with us, it's a lot nicer and safer than staying here. You can stay with us for a bit, or if you don’t want to we know some ponies who would be more than happy to take you in, you don’t have to stay out here in the cold alone.” Lyra glanced around as if looking for something, or somepony. “Um you are alone, right? You don’t have somepony else waiting on you?” Silver hung her head, shaking it slightly. Bonbon hates what she was about to do, but they needed to know. “Silver, where are your parents? They… they didn’t abandon you did they?” Both Lyra and Bonbon had a good idea what had happened, but in the off chance that her parents turned out to be total scum. Silver began to shake, choked sobs could be heard coming from the little filly as she started crying. Bonbon pulled Silver close as she let the filly cry into her coat, her cries were all the two mares needed, her parents were dead, how and why didn’t matter now, maybe they would find out later, but that was neither here nor there. After a few minutes, Silver calmed down, her crying only sniffles now. Wordlessly Lyra lifter silver onto Bonbon’s back with her magic, letting the filly snuggle into her curly mane. Quietly the three of them left the alley, silently all of them hoped they were leaving that part of Silver's life behind as well. 02: Hotel Conversations and ConfessionsLyra and Bonbon walked back to their hotel with Silver Spoon still on Bonbon’s back, few ponies were out this time of night, most were already home or inside someplace enjoying whatever entertainment they pleased, leaving the streets rather quiet. As they entered the hotel lobby, the pony working the desk nodded to them. Waving back to him Lyra and Bonbon went up to their room, inside Lyra took their bags with her while Bonbon took Silver into the bathroom. “I’m going to help Silver get cleaned up, see if room service is open.” Lyra chuckled. “Find us food, yes ma'am.” She said with a salute. Rolling her eyes Bonbon as she went into the bathroom, she lifted the filly from her back setting her in the tub. She took off Silver’s glasses carefully setting them on the counter, Bonbon noted how bad of condition they were in, she would need new ones before long. “Miss Bonbon.” “No Miss, I’m not quite that old yet.” Bonbon said with a chuckle. “Thank you for helping me.” Bonbon nodded, though she wasn’t sure how well the filly could see without her glasses. “Well, we couldn’t leave you out on your own, though I and curious, why didn’t anypony else in your family come find you, or help you and your parents?” Silver went quiet sitting in the tub, her head low she didn’t say anything. Bonbon turned the water on, letting the warm liquid fill the tub surrounding the small filly. “I’m sorry, I’m sure you don’t want to-” “Dad’s family all live in Vanhoover,” Silver started cutting off Bonbon. “He didn’t stay in touch with them. As for mom’s, I think I remember her saying that she wouldn’t have anything to do with them ever again, I don’t know why.” Bonbon’s ears flatten, some family the poor filly had. “So I’m guessing they didn’t even know you were… well.” Bonbon didn’t need to voice it, Silver knew what she was trying to say. “I don’t think I remember meeting any of them.” Silver said sadly. Bonbon didn’t say anything, there was nothing she could that would help the little filly. Taking a shampooed brush Bonbon started to clean Silver, she hardly seemed to notice just letting Bonbon lather up her coat. She got about halfway through cleaning her before Silver spoke up again. “What's going to happen to me now?” “Like we said, we’ll take you back to Ponyville and you can stay with us for a few days, legally we have to try and contact your family since you don’t know them we’ll try and find them.” “What if you don’t?” “Well decide if and when we get there, sometimes you just have to take life one day at a time.” Silver Spoon leaned into Bonbon’s hooves, seemingly noticing them for the first time. “Thank you.” “You're welcome, we couldn’t just-” “No, I mean… thank you for helping me wash. No pony would before, I was always doing things on my own.” Something didn’t add up here. “Not to be rude, but didn’t your family have servants back in Ponyville? I was sure I saw some with your parents.” Silver looked up at Bonbon. “They had assistants, but no pony was allowed around me, none of them were ‘good enough to be around our Silver’, that’s why I was only friends with Diamond Tiara. If somepony didn’t have a big enough bit count in the bank, they couldn’t be worth being my friend.” Now that made sense. “But what about when you were younger? A foal can’t bathe themselves.” “Mom and Dad did that until I was old enough to do it myself, then I needed to learn to be ‘an independent mare’, or something.” Bonbon could only facehoof in her head, every pony had assumed Silver Spoon was spoiled and pampered like Diamond Tiara, now it seemed like the truth was a rather different story. “I know what you're thinking, you and every pony in Ponyville thought I was spoiled like DT, what my parents lacked in parenting skills, they thought they could just throw bits at it.” “So they gave you anything you ever wanted, as long as it could be bought with a bit? What about the ‘independent mare’ part?” “I guess they thought if I learned to take care of myself, then I could have whatever I wanted, or something, I’m not really sure anymore.” The best parents Silver’s mom and dad weren't, even so, they didn’t deserve to end up dead. Bonbon finished cleaning Silver’s coat, followed by attempting to work out the rat's maze that was her mane. Eventually Silver was fully clean, Bonbon noted that her fur was actually a bit lighter than when they started, it must have been a long time since she had even brushed the dirt from her coat. After the two ponies got dry, they found Lyra lounging on her back on the rooms bed, paperback book in her magic and a large covered plate sitting next to her. “Hey you two,” Lyra said not even looking away from her book. “I was starting to wonder if you would ever come out.” “Oh hush you, what did you get?” Lyra closed her book, looking at the pair from her position. “Only the best.” Bonbon pinched her brow sighing. “Really?” “Yep!” Silver looked back and forth between the two confused. “What did she get?” “Lyra ordered a Manehatten style deep dish pizza with onions, olives, peppers, mushrooms, spinach and…” “Pineapple!” Lyra announced happily. “You are incorrigible Lyra.” Silver shuffled slightly. “I-I like pineapple.” Lyra gave a huge grin. “You and I are going to get along just fine, come on let's eat, we still have to catch the train home tomorrow.” Silver nodded, she seemed slightly happier than before. With some help from Bonbon, she made her way onto the bed, finding herself in between the two mares. Lyra levitated out some paper plates, placing a large slice of pizza onto each. As the plate floated closer to Silver, she felt a leg on her withers, looking over she saw Lyra looking at her with a knowing smile. “It's not going to run away or get taken, so do try to eat it all at once, we don’t need you getting sick.” Lyra finished as she set the plate in front of her. Silver dove in taking a large bite right away, Lyra looked nervous for a moment but relaxed as Silver chewed savoring the warm food in her mouth. The three ate in relative silence, Lyra would hum a tune or something now and then, a few times Silver would ask what she was humming leading the three of them to discuss whatever tune or song had popped into her head. The three finished the large pizza with ease, after cleaning up Silver started nodding off, she began making her way off the bed, only for Bonbon to pick her up by the scruff of her neck and place her between her and Lyra. Silver started to argue, but her full belly and the warm bed mad her protests half-hearted, soon enough she snuggled in between the two mares and drifted off to sleep. After Silver had fallen asleep in Lyra’s hooves, she felt a familiar tingle in the back of her head. <That’s a good look on you.> Lyra stuck her tongue out at Bonbon. This got a playful glare from Bonbon. <Ya, I think we should have her checked out, and I’m not talking about nurse Red Heart.> <Agreed, but we need to be careful, we try too much too fast and it will be worse.> Lyra gave an internal sigh <We still have to look for her ‘family’ don't we?> Bonbon nodded slightly. Bonbon gave a slight nod. Lyra gave Bonbon a flat stare. Lyra rolled her eyes. <That was way different, but point taken. So we should look into adoption papers once we get back, just to have them ready if and when the searching doesn't pan out.> Both ponies nodded, before snuggling closer together around the filly between them and falling off to sleep. Check-Up's and Check-In'sThe train chugged slowly into the Ponyville station, it was late afternoon now and ponies were busy going to and fro taking care of whatever business they had. Three ponies stepped off the train and into the cool fall air, they moved through the town waving to ponies they knew as they made their way home. There were few whispers as they passed from a few of the more talkative ponies. “Is that?” “I thought they moved to Manehatten?” “Where are her parents?” “Did they adopt a filly finally?” “About time, I won the bet by the way.” The group ignored these for the most part, though the last comment got Lyra to give Bonbon a sideways smirk. Once they made it home Silver noticed they were at Bonbon’s store. “Wait, you guys live here too?” “Yep, we rebuilt the entire upstairs into a two bedroom apartment slash house, a little trick we learned, if you live on the property you pay residential tax, not business, and it's a lot cheaper.” SIlver tilted her head as if something clicked. “Oh, so that's why the Cakes and Pinkie Pie live at Sugarcube Corner.” “Yep, lots of ponies use that, come on let's head up and get these saddlebags put away, I need to stretch after that long train ride.” The three made their way to the upper level of Sweet Drops, the stairs opened into a sunken living space, complete with fireplace, bookshelves and comfy looking couches. There was a dining and kitchen area that ran along the opposite wall, between the three areas they only took up about half of the total floor space, the rest was divided between two bedrooms and a bathroom that formed a rough ‘L’ shape. The entire place was cozy without feeling small, and was open enough to make it feel like a proper home instead of some upper floor apartment. This in itself was a shock for Silver, but it was what was in the home as well that made her jaw drop. Everything was high quality and expensive items, the floors alone seemed to be made of cherry wood, something not even Silver’s old home had. “H-How?” Both Bonbon and Lyra looked puzzled. “What's wrong Silver?” Bonbon asked frowning. “You two must be loaded, you have stuff not even my parents had.” Both mares traded confused looks. “Seriously?” Lyra asked. “This is stuff we just bought around Ponyville, mostly. I found the bookshelves in Canterlot, they just looked really pretty” Said bookshelves were a dark wood with gold leafing around the edges. SIlver gave Lyra a shocked look. “Where at, the palace when nopony was looking?” Bonbon shook her head. “I know we invested a lot in this place when we rebuilt it, but it's not that much.” “Not that much? I think this place might be worth more than my old home here in Ponyville.” Lyra rolled her eyes. “Now I know you're exaggerating, it's not like-” “You have a mahogany bookshelf with gold, cherry hardwood floors, and I swear those couches are made of velvet.” Bonbon faced hoofed. “The floors are recycled timber, we stained them and it came out darker then we intended. No the bookshelf isn’t mahogany, though it is stained to look like it, Lyra added the leafing with some bits she melted down, yes I’m still annoyed you did that.” “You said it looked good!” Bonbon rolled her eyes. “And the couches are reupholstered, Rarity did that in exchange for a favor, she didn’t tell us she was going to use velvet for them.” Silver just blinked. “Ya you don’t have to be swimming in bits to have a few nice things, you just have to know how to use them and what to look for.” Lyra said proudly. Silver just looked at the two mares, seemingly unable to process what she had just learned. “I think we broke her.” Bonbon sighed. “On it.” Lyra said cheerfully. Before Bonbon could ask what she was going to do, Lyra leaned in and licked Silver right on the snout. “GAH!” SIlver flailed, falling over backward. “What was THAT!” “Lyra!” Lyra just smiled like a cat that ate the canary. “It was effective, not to mention the look on her face was priceless.” Silver glared up at Lyra, fixing her glasses from her tumble. Bonbon just sighed pinching her brow. “Sometimes I swear Lyra. Alright, we have a few things to take care of now that we're home, starting with you Silver.” Silver looked at Bonbon with a somewhat timid look. “Me?” “Yes, firstly we need to get you a check up. As much as I loth to leave you with her, Lyra can you take her to Nurse Red Heart, and behave.” “Yes mom I’ll behave.” “None of the sass, we still have a couch you can sleep on.” “Oh, you're no fun.” Lyra said with a chuckle. “Come on Silv let's go pay a visit to Red Heart, we can meet Bonbon for lunch afterward, I don’t know about you but I’m hungry after that trip.” Silver Spoon nodded, she was starting to wonder what she had gotten herself into by going with these two mares. ~o0o~ Bonbon entered the Ponyville Town Hall, she made her way up to the mayor’s office knocking on the door. “One moment.” Came the voice of Mayor Mare. Bonbon waited, hearing the shuffle of papers for a few moments before the door opened. “Oh Bonbon what a nice surprise, what brings you here?” Bonbon glanced around before leaning in a little closer. “I’m here in regard to that arrangement.” Mayor Mare’s face became serious. “I see, come in.” The inside of the office was much like one would expect, ordered chaos of papers scrolls and documents. Bonbon sat facing the Mayor and her desk. “So what do we need to discuss?” Mayor Mare asked. “I’ll give you the full details with the official paperwork, but me and Lyra will be taking care of Silver Spoon for some time, possibly permanently if she agrees.” Mayor Mare blinked, of all the ponies SIlver Spoon was the last she thought would come up in this conversation. “How did this come about?” “Turns out Silver has been living on the streets of Manehatten for the past several months to a year, we found her yesterday and brought her back with us.” “I see,” Mayor Mare said pausing. “Well I can see why you wanted this rushed, but you know legally…” “Yes, we asked her about living relatives, fathers side lives in Vanhoover but is not in contact, mothers side is an unknown, not even sure what the maiden name is.” “Well, we’ll look into the mother’s side, as for the father.” Mayor Mare let out a long sigh. “I happen to know from previous legal matters that they have disowned each other, as far as the law is concerned they are no longer related.” “I would say we don’t bother contacting them,” Bonbon began. “But we both know the letter of the law on this one, we have to at least send a letter.” “I’ll send it,” Mayor Mare said. “I can use my official letter head, they might read it rather than a random letter arriving from a strange pony.” Bonbon raised an eyebrow. “That bad?” “You have no idea.” Mayor Mare said shaking her head. “Should I draw up adoption papers?” “Yes but hold on to them for now, we might want to keep her but if she’s not comfortable with us it would be better if we helped find her a better home.” Mayor Mare smiled at this. “You and Lyra are going to make wonderful parent, regardless if things work out with Silver.” ~o0o~ “Well aside from being underweight everything checks out, you should try to get her back up to wight for her age.” Nurse Red Heart said to Lyra as she looked over her clipboard. “Are we talking body weight or muscle mass?” Lyra asked, in an oddly serious tone. “I would say half and half, but it's not an exact science.” “So lots of food and exercise got it. Anything else we need to take care of?” “Not today, but I would like to schedule some follow-ups.” Nurse Red Heart smiled at SIlver Spoon before hoofing her a lollipop. “Here why don’t you wait in the lobby for a minute while we set up some appointments, it won't be long.” “Thank you, Miss Red Heart.” Silver said as she exited the examination room. “Alright Lyra, what have you gotten yourself into?” “Wow right for the low blow huh? What makes you think I had…” The unamused stare Red Heart gave Lyra cut off any further argument. “Alright alright, we ran across her in an alley in Manehatten when she was dumpster diving for food, Bonbon and I agreed to bring her to Ponyville, at least she's not going to be out on the street here.” “I can assume Bonbon is taking care of the other side of things?” “She’s at town hall right now, everything is going to be taken care of.” “Good, have you two thought of any candidates?” Red Heart noticed the grin Lyra had. “You two, really? Not saying you would be bad, but I just didn’t expect you two to think about adopting a filly yet.” “We’ve been discussing it for a while, and well, my past and how we found her…” “Say no more, have you told her?” Lyra shook her head. “Were trying not to overwhelm her, she didn’t say it directly but… we think she witnessed her parents death.” Silence hung in the room for several moments. “I see, well that explains that I suppose, I hope things work out one way or another.” Lyra gave a firm nod. “So about that follow-up?” “Bring her back in six weeks, just make sure she doesn't lose any weight and things should go smoothly.” Lyra gave a salute before heading out. ~o0o~ The Hay Bale wasn’t the fanciest restaurant in Ponyville, but it was known for having some of the best food. Lyra and Silver Spoon found Bonbon waiting for them at a booth, they sat across from Bonbon as a waiter came with menus for them. “How did things go with Nurse Red Heart?” “Better than we thought, Silver’s in good health over all, just need to put some weight back on.” “With you, I’m sure that won't be a problem.” Bonbon joked. “Says the candy maker.” Lyra said with smirk “Keep it up and I’ll cut you off form those chocolate mints you like so much.” Bonbon’s face told Lyra the threat was very real. Further conversation was halted as the waiter came back to take their order, with there orders place the three returned to talking among themselves, albeit with a more serious tone. “How is it being back in Ponyville Silver?” Bonbon asked. “I-its strange really, when we moved I thought I would never come back, and really I was fine with that. I could have more friends then Dimond Tearra, even if they were all just picked for me at least it would be more then one bully.” “You and her weren't really friends were you?” Lyra asked, she mostly knew the answer but she assumed the two files at least liked being around each other. “No, she made me follow her around and do what she said or she would stop being my friend, and considering that she was the only one in town who my parents would let me hang out with…” “If she stopped being friends with you, then you wouldn’t have any friends and have nopony to hang out with, meaning she had all the leverage.” Bonbon summed up. Silver nodded her head as she looked downcast, Lyra, however, had a brilliant idea. “Well you’re here now and we won't tell you who to hang out with, maybe you could start over, make some real friends for a change.” “I’d like that.” Silver said with a little smile. “Well I know the best way to do that, do you think about going back to school?”
01: A chance meeting.The cold, early fall air whipped through Manehattan, the wind cutting through the coat of anypony out in the big city. For some colts and fillies, the cold is a reminder that winter was coming, some are happy, but some knew harder times were coming as well. For one gray filly, the cold weather and approaching winter could mean death. Looking around the little cardboard box she called home Silver Spoon shivered, she wondered how it had come to this, how she had fallen as low as she could. Of course, she knew the answer, but she still didn't want to believe it. She looked at one of the newspapers she was laying on, the article staring back at her was about her old hometown Ponyville. Ponyville celebrated the opening of Princess Twilight Sparkle's new 'Castle of Friendship', the celebration was organized and headed by local party pony Pinkie Pie. Twilight with her marefriend Rainbow Dash and their adopted daughter Scootaloo presided over the festivity yesterday... Scootaloo, Silver Spoon fixated on the name, how many times had she teased that filly back in Ponyville? How many times had she called she names like 'chicken', 'flightless', and so many other names, and now Scootaloo was adopted by a princess and living in a castle, and Silver Spoon? She was shivering in a box in an alley in Manehattan, how ironic life could be. Silver Spoon looked around, it was early evening and lots of ponies were returning home from work and various other activities. Crawling out of her box Silver Spoon decided to try and find something to eat somewhere, she remembered having some success near a few restaurants in the downtown area. Trudging along the streets she tried to avoid the looks from passing ponies, a homeless foal was a sad sight but not uncommon in this area of the city. Sometime later Silver Spoon found herself in a long alleyway that led between several buildings, there were a few restaurants and theaters in this area and at this time of night, there were often fresh scraps she could get to before they got too bad. The door to one opened and a stallion tossed a bag of garbage into a can in the alley, taking the opportunity Silver Spoon jumped up to the edge of the can and opened the bag finding a few scraps that were still warm. Not caring where they had been she ravenously ate at the scraps she found. ~o0o~ The theater was dark with only a few dim table lights scattered around, the stage was lit only a little more than the rest of the room, giving an atmosphere of quiet relaxation. The soft harp music being played by the mint green unicorn on stage only added to the feel of the room, Lyra greatly enjoyed this, twice a month she would come to Manehatten to play here. She brought a lot of ponies to this little dinner theater when she played, she loved playing music, and she loved coming to Manehattan as well, though the bits were nice too. Quiet conversation added an almost soft backdrop to her music, yes she could lose herself in this setting for hours, and often did. It was only when a soft tap on her shoulder that Lyra came out of her music, without even turning to see she knew who it was. Lyra played a few more notes letting them fade into nothingness before she quietly left the stage. There was no thunderous applause, cheers, but it didn't matter, one look out into the crowd and Lyra knew how much they all had enjoyed her music. Lyra gave the gray mare who had gotten her attention a sideways grin, her way of saying 'sorry I went so long', a look Octavia was more than use too. Trotting back stage, levitating the harp with her, Lyra found two mares quietly talking to each other. “See ya finally let Tavi on stage, thought ya might just play all night the way you were goin'.” “Ya, I guess I can get a little absorbed sometimes.” Lyra said rubbing the back of her main. “That putting it mildly.” The second mare added. “Oh, and you never obsess over anything, like the time you spent three day-” “Finish that, and you'll be sleeping on the couch when we get home dear.” Bonbon added with ice in the last word. “Hmmm, seems I remember how well that worked out last time.” Lyra said with a coy smile.” “Alright you two, I'm leavin' before things get personal. I got a set to play anyway, see ya later.” “Bye Vinyl.” “See ya Scratchie.” “Remember Harpstrings, you're the only one who gets away with that.” With that Vinyl left the backstage area heading to the club she would be performing at. Lyra and Bonbon just chuckled at each other as Vinyl left, gathering up their saddle bags they headed out into the hall ready to leave. “You have to be the only performer who I have to pay to stop.” Came a stallion's voice from behind them. Lyra and Bonbon turned to the see theater's owner, Second Act. He was a tall earth pony with silver fur and cobalt mane, his cutie mark was of two laughing theater masks. “What can I say Act, I love what I do maybe a little too much.” Second Act just laughed. “If even half of the musicians in this city had your drive we would be the music capital of Equestria, here's your pay for the weekend,” He said hoofing over a bag of bits. “Now get going before I try and rope you into a full-time gig here.” The three of them shared a few chuckles at their banter, it was a little something they always did. Lyra and Bonbon left the theater out of the side door, it was a little habit of theirs after getting swamped with requests for shows whenever they left out the front entrance. “It's a little later than normal, wanna go back to the hotel, or see if Pie Slice is still open?” Bonbon stroked her chin with her hoof. “I think Slice will be closed by the time we get there, feel like getting some hay burgers at Red Colts?” Lyra grinned almost unnaturally wide. “Hmm, you and me sharing greasy hay burgers, that are in no way healthy? If I didn't know you better I'd say you were flirting with me.” Bonbon just gave a sarcastic, but playful eye roll. “Oh come on you, we can cut through the alleys.” “Bonbon!” Lyra said in mock horror. “Are you trying to lure me into dark alleys to do terrible things to me?” Bonbon just deadpanned. “You're lucky I love you so much.” Lyra just gave Bonbon a peck on the cheek as she started trotting off. The two mares trotted quietly through the back alleys of Manehattan, while dangerous to some, the two of them had made an impression on those ponies that lurked in the shadows, and they wisely left the two be. The two of them were just coming around a corner that ran between another theater and some adjacent restaurants when they heard something, or somepony, rustling around nearby. Lyra whirled around and readied her horn, while Bonbon crouched into a defensive stance. Nothing moved for a moment, then the sound was heard again, now they could tell it was coming from up ahead. Bonbon poked her head around the corner to see what was making the noise, she saw the outline of a foal head first in a garbage can. Bonbon gave a heavy sigh, it wasn't the first time they had seen a pony looking for scraps in an alley, it was the first time they had seen a foal. “It's just a foal Lyra.” Bonbon said in a sad tone. “Don't tell me their...” “Yep.” Bonbon could hear the sigh almost before it left Lyra's mouth. “Think we should take them to the drop off point, or take them with us?” Bonbon mulled it over for a moment. “Take them with us, they look pretty young, it will be easier that way.” “You're right, better than going there.” There was a long pause, Bonbon knew the weight behind that one word. The two walked up to the foal, it was only when they got close enough in the dim light they could see the foal more clearly, they had a gray coat a bit lighter than Octavia's, and their tail was two tone silver rather than black. Bonbon paused, something about this foal seemed familiar somehow, but she wasn't sure what. Lyra took a step closer while Bonbon was distracted. “Hello?” The foal froze, then started thrashing trying to get out, only succeeding in sending the garbage can toppling over. With a crash the foal rolled out of the can, now Lyra could see it was a filly with a main matching her tail. The filly looked at her with a terrified look in her eyes, before Lyra could react the filly ran off, but not before Bonbon got a look at her cutie mark. No, it can't be... “Silver Spoon?” The filly looked back at hearing the name, just long enough to make eye contact with Bonbon before continuing to run. “Lyra stop her!” “What?” Lyra looked back confused, they were hardly in the business of abducting some filly. “Grab her with your magic, NOW!” Lyra reacted on instinct alone at hearing Bonbon's voice, she only used that voice when something was serious. She levitated the filly off the ground high enough that she couldn't run, the two of them walked slowly up to the filly, Bonbon's eyes grew wide when she saw, it was her. ~o0o~ Silver Spoon had survived on the streets for months, she knew not to trust other ponies in the back alleys of the city, so when she heard a voice while trying to find a bit more to eat, she reacted as any pony in her situation would, panic. She thrashed around in her panic, only succeeding in knocking herself and the trash can she was in, to the ground with a crash. Once she rolled out of the can she saw a pair of ponies, not waiting to find out what they wanted to do with her she ran, it didn't matter where just as long as she ran somewhere. “Silver Spoon?” Silver looked back when she heard her name, not many ponies knew her name anymore, and even fewer would recognize her. Even so, she still looked back, looking long enough for the two figures to register as vaguely familiar. Oh sweet Celestia! I’ve seen them somewhere! They must be after me, oh please don't let one of them be a... “Grab her with your magic, NOW!” BUCK! One's a unicorn, maybe if I can just get out of the alley if they lose sight of me... Silver Spoon's thoughts came to a halt as she felt herself being lifted off the ground, she still tried running, what else could she do? Still, she struggled, but it was useless, Silver Spoon just let her body go limp in the magic she was held in, whatever happened next she was powerless to stop it. ~o0o~ Lyra held the filly in her magic, soon she stopped struggling and just went limp in her magic grasp. She looked over to Bonbon with a worried look. “So... now what?” Lyra asked. “Now we see why a filly from Ponyville is dumpster diving for food in Manehattan.” Lyra blinked. “Wait, what?” “I recognized her cutie mark, her name is Silver Spoon and she use to be a very well off pony.” “Silver Spoon, the Silver Spoon from the family of silver traders? How?” “Let’s find out.” Bonbon walked up to Silver Spoon with Lyra right behind her, once she was about a hoof away, she looked the filly over. Her coat was filthy, her main and tail knotted and seemed dirtier than her coat somehow, even her cutie mark was scuffed. Bonbon mentally shivered, how long had she been out here? What had happened to bring her this low? “Silver Spoon?” Bonbon asked quietly. When she didn't respond, Bonbon started to fear the worst. “Hey there,” Lyra said standing next to Bonbon. “We're not going to hurt you, just want to make sure you're ok.” Still, Silver Spoon was silent. Bonbon decided to try one last approach, it was a long shot but if this didn't get a response she might be worse off than they feared. “Silver, I have one of those bonbons from my shop back in Ponyville, the ones you and your parents use to buy me out of all the time.” This time Silver Spoon looked up, eyeing her captors for the first time. She had a far off look in her eyes, the kind both Bonbon and Lyra knew from experience. Quickly Bonbon reached into her saddlebag and pulled the aforementioned treat from within, Silver Spoon looked at it for a moment, then up at Bonbon, after a long moment, it seemed to click for the filly. “B-bonbon?” She asked uncertain. “Yes, you remember me?” “Y-You run the c-candy shop in P-Ponyville.” Lyra decided now would be a good time to let Silver Spoon down, with practiced ease she set the filly back down on the ground. Silver started to back away, she only got a few steps before stopping. Bonbon held out the treat, waiting for her to take it, in one motion Silver snatched the treat and stuffed it in her mouth, rule of the back allies, uneaten food is lost food. While the filly ate Lyra and Bonbon shared a look, having a silent conversation like only they could. <So, how do we do this?> <We need her to trust us, at least far enough to let us take her back to Ponyville.> <Agreed, let's take her to the hotel, we’ll get her cleaned up and get some room service food.> Turning their attention back to Silver, Lyra and Bonbon stepped closer once again. “Silver,” Bonbon began in a warm voice. “Would you like to come with us? We're staying not too far from here, you can get a bath and some more food.” Silver looked up, looking each of the ponies over. “Why?” Was her only response. Lyra took the lead here. “We don’t want anything from you, we both knew you back in Ponyville and we just want to make sure you're safe. You can come with us, get some good food, get cleaned up and sleep in a warm bed tonight. We won't force you to come with us, but we would like it if you did.” Bonbon just looked at Lyra, she had almost forgotten that she knew what it was like and that she knew how to talk to ponies like this. “What about after?” Silver asked, clearly not trusting them to just leave her out in the cold the next morning. “We're heading back to Ponyville in the morning,” Bonbon took over. “If you like we would take you with us, it's a lot nicer and safer than staying here. You can stay with us for a bit, or if you don’t want to we know some ponies who would be more than happy to take you in, you don’t have to stay out here in the cold alone.” Lyra glanced around as if looking for something, or somepony. “Um you are alone, right? You don’t have somepony else waiting on you?” Silver hung her head, shaking it slightly. Bonbon hates what she was about to do, but they needed to know. “Silver, where are your parents? They… they didn’t abandon you did they?” Both Lyra and Bonbon had a good idea what had happened, but in the off chance that her parents turned out to be total scum. Silver began to shake, choked sobs could be heard coming from the little filly as she started crying. Bonbon pulled Silver close as she let the filly cry into her coat, her cries were all the two mares needed, her parents were dead, how and why didn’t matter now, maybe they would find out later, but that was neither here nor there. After a few minutes, Silver calmed down, her crying only sniffles now. Wordlessly Lyra lifter silver onto Bonbon’s back with her magic, letting the filly snuggle into her curly mane. Quietly the three of them left the alley, silently all of them hoped they were leaving that part of Silver's life behind as well.
02: Hotel Conversations and ConfessionsLyra and Bonbon walked back to their hotel with Silver Spoon still on Bonbon’s back, few ponies were out this time of night, most were already home or inside someplace enjoying whatever entertainment they pleased, leaving the streets rather quiet. As they entered the hotel lobby, the pony working the desk nodded to them. Waving back to him Lyra and Bonbon went up to their room, inside Lyra took their bags with her while Bonbon took Silver into the bathroom. “I’m going to help Silver get cleaned up, see if room service is open.” Lyra chuckled. “Find us food, yes ma'am.” She said with a salute. Rolling her eyes Bonbon as she went into the bathroom, she lifted the filly from her back setting her in the tub. She took off Silver’s glasses carefully setting them on the counter, Bonbon noted how bad of condition they were in, she would need new ones before long. “Miss Bonbon.” “No Miss, I’m not quite that old yet.” Bonbon said with a chuckle. “Thank you for helping me.” Bonbon nodded, though she wasn’t sure how well the filly could see without her glasses. “Well, we couldn’t leave you out on your own, though I and curious, why didn’t anypony else in your family come find you, or help you and your parents?” Silver went quiet sitting in the tub, her head low she didn’t say anything. Bonbon turned the water on, letting the warm liquid fill the tub surrounding the small filly. “I’m sorry, I’m sure you don’t want to-” “Dad’s family all live in Vanhoover,” Silver started cutting off Bonbon. “He didn’t stay in touch with them. As for mom’s, I think I remember her saying that she wouldn’t have anything to do with them ever again, I don’t know why.” Bonbon’s ears flatten, some family the poor filly had. “So I’m guessing they didn’t even know you were… well.” Bonbon didn’t need to voice it, Silver knew what she was trying to say. “I don’t think I remember meeting any of them.” Silver said sadly. Bonbon didn’t say anything, there was nothing she could that would help the little filly. Taking a shampooed brush Bonbon started to clean Silver, she hardly seemed to notice just letting Bonbon lather up her coat. She got about halfway through cleaning her before Silver spoke up again. “What's going to happen to me now?” “Like we said, we’ll take you back to Ponyville and you can stay with us for a few days, legally we have to try and contact your family since you don’t know them we’ll try and find them.” “What if you don’t?” “Well decide if and when we get there, sometimes you just have to take life one day at a time.” Silver Spoon leaned into Bonbon’s hooves, seemingly noticing them for the first time. “Thank you.” “You're welcome, we couldn’t just-” “No, I mean… thank you for helping me wash. No pony would before, I was always doing things on my own.” Something didn’t add up here. “Not to be rude, but didn’t your family have servants back in Ponyville? I was sure I saw some with your parents.” Silver looked up at Bonbon. “They had assistants, but no pony was allowed around me, none of them were ‘good enough to be around our Silver’, that’s why I was only friends with Diamond Tiara. If somepony didn’t have a big enough bit count in the bank, they couldn’t be worth being my friend.” Now that made sense. “But what about when you were younger? A foal can’t bathe themselves.” “Mom and Dad did that until I was old enough to do it myself, then I needed to learn to be ‘an independent mare’, or something.” Bonbon could only facehoof in her head, every pony had assumed Silver Spoon was spoiled and pampered like Diamond Tiara, now it seemed like the truth was a rather different story. “I know what you're thinking, you and every pony in Ponyville thought I was spoiled like DT, what my parents lacked in parenting skills, they thought they could just throw bits at it.” “So they gave you anything you ever wanted, as long as it could be bought with a bit? What about the ‘independent mare’ part?” “I guess they thought if I learned to take care of myself, then I could have whatever I wanted, or something, I’m not really sure anymore.” The best parents Silver’s mom and dad weren't, even so, they didn’t deserve to end up dead. Bonbon finished cleaning Silver’s coat, followed by attempting to work out the rat's maze that was her mane. Eventually Silver was fully clean, Bonbon noted that her fur was actually a bit lighter than when they started, it must have been a long time since she had even brushed the dirt from her coat. After the two ponies got dry, they found Lyra lounging on her back on the rooms bed, paperback book in her magic and a large covered plate sitting next to her. “Hey you two,” Lyra said not even looking away from her book. “I was starting to wonder if you would ever come out.” “Oh hush you, what did you get?” Lyra closed her book, looking at the pair from her position. “Only the best.” Bonbon pinched her brow sighing. “Really?” “Yep!” Silver looked back and forth between the two confused. “What did she get?” “Lyra ordered a Manehatten style deep dish pizza with onions, olives, peppers, mushrooms, spinach and…” “Pineapple!” Lyra announced happily. “You are incorrigible Lyra.” Silver shuffled slightly. “I-I like pineapple.” Lyra gave a huge grin. “You and I are going to get along just fine, come on let's eat, we still have to catch the train home tomorrow.” Silver nodded, she seemed slightly happier than before. With some help from Bonbon, she made her way onto the bed, finding herself in between the two mares. Lyra levitated out some paper plates, placing a large slice of pizza onto each. As the plate floated closer to Silver, she felt a leg on her withers, looking over she saw Lyra looking at her with a knowing smile. “It's not going to run away or get taken, so do try to eat it all at once, we don’t need you getting sick.” Lyra finished as she set the plate in front of her. Silver dove in taking a large bite right away, Lyra looked nervous for a moment but relaxed as Silver chewed savoring the warm food in her mouth. The three ate in relative silence, Lyra would hum a tune or something now and then, a few times Silver would ask what she was humming leading the three of them to discuss whatever tune or song had popped into her head. The three finished the large pizza with ease, after cleaning up Silver started nodding off, she began making her way off the bed, only for Bonbon to pick her up by the scruff of her neck and place her between her and Lyra. Silver started to argue, but her full belly and the warm bed mad her protests half-hearted, soon enough she snuggled in between the two mares and drifted off to sleep. After Silver had fallen asleep in Lyra’s hooves, she felt a familiar tingle in the back of her head. <That’s a good look on you.> Lyra stuck her tongue out at Bonbon. This got a playful glare from Bonbon. <Ya, I think we should have her checked out, and I’m not talking about nurse Red Heart.> <Agreed, but we need to be careful, we try too much too fast and it will be worse.> Lyra gave an internal sigh <We still have to look for her ‘family’ don't we?> Bonbon nodded slightly. Bonbon gave a slight nod. Lyra gave Bonbon a flat stare. Lyra rolled her eyes. <That was way different, but point taken. So we should look into adoption papers once we get back, just to have them ready if and when the searching doesn't pan out.> Both ponies nodded, before snuggling closer together around the filly between them and falling off to sleep.
Check-Up's and Check-In'sThe train chugged slowly into the Ponyville station, it was late afternoon now and ponies were busy going to and fro taking care of whatever business they had. Three ponies stepped off the train and into the cool fall air, they moved through the town waving to ponies they knew as they made their way home. There were few whispers as they passed from a few of the more talkative ponies. “Is that?” “I thought they moved to Manehatten?” “Where are her parents?” “Did they adopt a filly finally?” “About time, I won the bet by the way.” The group ignored these for the most part, though the last comment got Lyra to give Bonbon a sideways smirk. Once they made it home Silver noticed they were at Bonbon’s store. “Wait, you guys live here too?” “Yep, we rebuilt the entire upstairs into a two bedroom apartment slash house, a little trick we learned, if you live on the property you pay residential tax, not business, and it's a lot cheaper.” SIlver tilted her head as if something clicked. “Oh, so that's why the Cakes and Pinkie Pie live at Sugarcube Corner.” “Yep, lots of ponies use that, come on let's head up and get these saddlebags put away, I need to stretch after that long train ride.” The three made their way to the upper level of Sweet Drops, the stairs opened into a sunken living space, complete with fireplace, bookshelves and comfy looking couches. There was a dining and kitchen area that ran along the opposite wall, between the three areas they only took up about half of the total floor space, the rest was divided between two bedrooms and a bathroom that formed a rough ‘L’ shape. The entire place was cozy without feeling small, and was open enough to make it feel like a proper home instead of some upper floor apartment. This in itself was a shock for Silver, but it was what was in the home as well that made her jaw drop. Everything was high quality and expensive items, the floors alone seemed to be made of cherry wood, something not even Silver’s old home had. “H-How?” Both Bonbon and Lyra looked puzzled. “What's wrong Silver?” Bonbon asked frowning. “You two must be loaded, you have stuff not even my parents had.” Both mares traded confused looks. “Seriously?” Lyra asked. “This is stuff we just bought around Ponyville, mostly. I found the bookshelves in Canterlot, they just looked really pretty” Said bookshelves were a dark wood with gold leafing around the edges. SIlver gave Lyra a shocked look. “Where at, the palace when nopony was looking?” Bonbon shook her head. “I know we invested a lot in this place when we rebuilt it, but it's not that much.” “Not that much? I think this place might be worth more than my old home here in Ponyville.” Lyra rolled her eyes. “Now I know you're exaggerating, it's not like-” “You have a mahogany bookshelf with gold, cherry hardwood floors, and I swear those couches are made of velvet.” Bonbon faced hoofed. “The floors are recycled timber, we stained them and it came out darker then we intended. No the bookshelf isn’t mahogany, though it is stained to look like it, Lyra added the leafing with some bits she melted down, yes I’m still annoyed you did that.” “You said it looked good!” Bonbon rolled her eyes. “And the couches are reupholstered, Rarity did that in exchange for a favor, she didn’t tell us she was going to use velvet for them.” Silver just blinked. “Ya you don’t have to be swimming in bits to have a few nice things, you just have to know how to use them and what to look for.” Lyra said proudly. Silver just looked at the two mares, seemingly unable to process what she had just learned. “I think we broke her.” Bonbon sighed. “On it.” Lyra said cheerfully. Before Bonbon could ask what she was going to do, Lyra leaned in and licked Silver right on the snout. “GAH!” SIlver flailed, falling over backward. “What was THAT!” “Lyra!” Lyra just smiled like a cat that ate the canary. “It was effective, not to mention the look on her face was priceless.” Silver glared up at Lyra, fixing her glasses from her tumble. Bonbon just sighed pinching her brow. “Sometimes I swear Lyra. Alright, we have a few things to take care of now that we're home, starting with you Silver.” Silver looked at Bonbon with a somewhat timid look. “Me?” “Yes, firstly we need to get you a check up. As much as I loth to leave you with her, Lyra can you take her to Nurse Red Heart, and behave.” “Yes mom I’ll behave.” “None of the sass, we still have a couch you can sleep on.” “Oh, you're no fun.” Lyra said with a chuckle. “Come on Silv let's go pay a visit to Red Heart, we can meet Bonbon for lunch afterward, I don’t know about you but I’m hungry after that trip.” Silver Spoon nodded, she was starting to wonder what she had gotten herself into by going with these two mares. ~o0o~ Bonbon entered the Ponyville Town Hall, she made her way up to the mayor’s office knocking on the door. “One moment.” Came the voice of Mayor Mare. Bonbon waited, hearing the shuffle of papers for a few moments before the door opened. “Oh Bonbon what a nice surprise, what brings you here?” Bonbon glanced around before leaning in a little closer. “I’m here in regard to that arrangement.” Mayor Mare’s face became serious. “I see, come in.” The inside of the office was much like one would expect, ordered chaos of papers scrolls and documents. Bonbon sat facing the Mayor and her desk. “So what do we need to discuss?” Mayor Mare asked. “I’ll give you the full details with the official paperwork, but me and Lyra will be taking care of Silver Spoon for some time, possibly permanently if she agrees.” Mayor Mare blinked, of all the ponies SIlver Spoon was the last she thought would come up in this conversation. “How did this come about?” “Turns out Silver has been living on the streets of Manehatten for the past several months to a year, we found her yesterday and brought her back with us.” “I see,” Mayor Mare said pausing. “Well I can see why you wanted this rushed, but you know legally…” “Yes, we asked her about living relatives, fathers side lives in Vanhoover but is not in contact, mothers side is an unknown, not even sure what the maiden name is.” “Well, we’ll look into the mother’s side, as for the father.” Mayor Mare let out a long sigh. “I happen to know from previous legal matters that they have disowned each other, as far as the law is concerned they are no longer related.” “I would say we don’t bother contacting them,” Bonbon began. “But we both know the letter of the law on this one, we have to at least send a letter.” “I’ll send it,” Mayor Mare said. “I can use my official letter head, they might read it rather than a random letter arriving from a strange pony.” Bonbon raised an eyebrow. “That bad?” “You have no idea.” Mayor Mare said shaking her head. “Should I draw up adoption papers?” “Yes but hold on to them for now, we might want to keep her but if she’s not comfortable with us it would be better if we helped find her a better home.” Mayor Mare smiled at this. “You and Lyra are going to make wonderful parent, regardless if things work out with Silver.” ~o0o~ “Well aside from being underweight everything checks out, you should try to get her back up to wight for her age.” Nurse Red Heart said to Lyra as she looked over her clipboard. “Are we talking body weight or muscle mass?” Lyra asked, in an oddly serious tone. “I would say half and half, but it's not an exact science.” “So lots of food and exercise got it. Anything else we need to take care of?” “Not today, but I would like to schedule some follow-ups.” Nurse Red Heart smiled at SIlver Spoon before hoofing her a lollipop. “Here why don’t you wait in the lobby for a minute while we set up some appointments, it won't be long.” “Thank you, Miss Red Heart.” Silver said as she exited the examination room. “Alright Lyra, what have you gotten yourself into?” “Wow right for the low blow huh? What makes you think I had…” The unamused stare Red Heart gave Lyra cut off any further argument. “Alright alright, we ran across her in an alley in Manehatten when she was dumpster diving for food, Bonbon and I agreed to bring her to Ponyville, at least she's not going to be out on the street here.” “I can assume Bonbon is taking care of the other side of things?” “She’s at town hall right now, everything is going to be taken care of.” “Good, have you two thought of any candidates?” Red Heart noticed the grin Lyra had. “You two, really? Not saying you would be bad, but I just didn’t expect you two to think about adopting a filly yet.” “We’ve been discussing it for a while, and well, my past and how we found her…” “Say no more, have you told her?” Lyra shook her head. “Were trying not to overwhelm her, she didn’t say it directly but… we think she witnessed her parents death.” Silence hung in the room for several moments. “I see, well that explains that I suppose, I hope things work out one way or another.” Lyra gave a firm nod. “So about that follow-up?” “Bring her back in six weeks, just make sure she doesn't lose any weight and things should go smoothly.” Lyra gave a salute before heading out. ~o0o~ The Hay Bale wasn’t the fanciest restaurant in Ponyville, but it was known for having some of the best food. Lyra and Silver Spoon found Bonbon waiting for them at a booth, they sat across from Bonbon as a waiter came with menus for them. “How did things go with Nurse Red Heart?” “Better than we thought, Silver’s in good health over all, just need to put some weight back on.” “With you, I’m sure that won't be a problem.” Bonbon joked. “Says the candy maker.” Lyra said with smirk “Keep it up and I’ll cut you off form those chocolate mints you like so much.” Bonbon’s face told Lyra the threat was very real. Further conversation was halted as the waiter came back to take their order, with there orders place the three returned to talking among themselves, albeit with a more serious tone. “How is it being back in Ponyville Silver?” Bonbon asked. “I-its strange really, when we moved I thought I would never come back, and really I was fine with that. I could have more friends then Dimond Tearra, even if they were all just picked for me at least it would be more then one bully.” “You and her weren't really friends were you?” Lyra asked, she mostly knew the answer but she assumed the two files at least liked being around each other. “No, she made me follow her around and do what she said or she would stop being my friend, and considering that she was the only one in town who my parents would let me hang out with…” “If she stopped being friends with you, then you wouldn’t have any friends and have nopony to hang out with, meaning she had all the leverage.” Bonbon summed up. Silver nodded her head as she looked downcast, Lyra, however, had a brilliant idea. “Well you’re here now and we won't tell you who to hang out with, maybe you could start over, make some real friends for a change.” “I’d like that.” Silver said with a little smile. “Well I know the best way to do that, do you think about going back to school?”
