A few minutes later, Diamond Tiara was sitting on a plush couch in a room that was appointed like one of her father’s old smoke-filled gentlemen’s clubs. There was even an old oak bar and a humidor that smelled of some very expensive tobacco. Behind the bar, a professional-looking unicorn stallion in a black dress vest was waiting for an order.

Diamond wanted very badly to place one, for that matter. She was feeling the effects of her fourth (fifth, counting the one Silver had taken) martini of the night, but a part of her wanted to be much further along the curve towards ‘not worried about consequences.’

The rest of her was already regretting the third.

“Miss? If you’d like, I can make something that isn’t alcoholic,” the bartender offered as though he’d read her mind.

“What would you suggest?”

“You came in with a martini?” Diamond nodded her response. “I have just the thing; I can make it weak, or I can make it completely alcohol free for you.”

“Weak, I think,” Diamond told him, compromising between her desire to calm her nerves and the fear of what might happen if she stopped being afraid of what might happen.

He nodded and pulled a bottle out from under the far end of the bar with his magic, starting to work as the rattling of the beaded curtain at the door drew Diamond’s attention.

When she looked back, she saw Silver Spoon walking in calmly, black silk stockings and her garter belt all she was wearing now.

“There’s security listening outside in case anything gets… like last time,” Silver warned her as she lounged across some cushions on the other side of the table meant for private dances. She posed unconsciously, showing off all the best parts of her body. Supple curves, firm muscle along her legs… she’d lost the hint of pudge that Diamond remembered, her barrel taut and sculpted out of firm muscle.

”Did she do that before she left? Celestia… I can’t even remember any more,” Diamond thought to herself. She sighed, and then started to speak.

“I understand. And it won’t,” she added, straightening up as the bartender floated her drink over. “Uhm… do you want something? My treat.”

“It was always going to be your treat back here,” Silver chuckled, looking up at the bartender. “I’ll take a Manehattan, Straight Up.”

“Won’t be a minute, Silver.”

“So….” Diamond started, trailing off as she realized she didn’t know what to say now. Two weeks, and she hadn’t really figured out what she was going to say… just that she had to say it. “You’re looking good, Silvy.”

“Thanks. Takes a lot of work to stay in this shape, especially when you live on Manehattans and bar food half the time. You….”

Silver Spoon looked Diamond over, really looked her over, for the first time.

“You look tired, Di. Still running yourself ragged at Barnyard Bargains?”

“Top purchasing agent my age!” Di smiled awkwardly, taking a sip of her drink. It was better than she’d expected; a little more of a spicy note to it, but a hint of clove and cinnamon worked well with whatever vermouth Straight Up had chosen for it. “Besides, no point in taking that much time off when all I have to do is remember how badly I fucked up the best thing in my life.”

“Yeah… yeah, you did,” Silver Spoon nodded, taking her Manehattan as it floated over towards her. “I probably shouldn’t have slapped you, but I don’t regret anything else that I did that night.”

“You shouldn’t regret that, either,” Diamond told her. “I tore the place apart after you left. If you hadn’t….” Diamond knocked back the rest of her drink, and Straight Up retrieved her glass to refill it.

“It was a wake up call,” she admitted. “It’s funny, you know? You’re the most important pony in my world, except for maybe my Dad. And I’ve managed to drive you away twice! But both of those times… I needed to hear what I was turning into. That’s the big reason I’m here, Silvy. I want to apologize for everything I did to you. And I want you to know that I’m trying to be a better pony, thanks to you.”

“That’s why you hired a detective to track me down?” Silver Spoon asked flatly. “So you could say you’re sorry?”

“And because I wanted to know how you were doing. I tried contacting all the modeling agencies Marketing knew of, but they couldn’t find a Silver Spoon working for any of them. I know why now….” She took her next drink as a convenient excuse to try and drown the frog that had taken up residence in her throat. “I’m glad that you’re happy, Silvy. You… you really are, aren’t you?”

“I am,” Silver Spoon agreed without hesitation. “I’ve got a nice place, with a roommate who worries enough about me that he was willing to be a go-between for us. And for all that I have to deal with some real creeps, I love working here. The dancing, and the time spent with clients. Talking,” she added, heading off any possible accusations. “Some of us offer the full Special Somepony experience, but I’m not one of them. Mostly... I’m a little hesitant about ponies who think they can buy me.”

“Yeah,” Diamond flinched, “that makes sense. Silvy, I meant it when I said you were the most important pony in my world. I’ve been seeing this doctor for the last few years… Dad thought it would be good, after the breakup, and he was actually right. Doctor Blotch helped me work out a few… issues that I’ve had.”

“Like not trusting ponies close to you?”

“Like thinking that the only thing anypony has a reason to like about me is my bank account,” Diamond explained. “Like thinking that you’re all I had that I actually had that Mom or Dad couldn’t take away if I disappointed them. Like thinking that if I ever gave you the chance to find somepony better… it wouldn’t be hard at all. And like listening for an instant to my mother’s diatribes.”

“Don’t you try to blame-”

“I’m not blaming Mom for what I said, Silvy. I’m blaming her for telling me what to say that would hurt you. I’m the one who decided to say it. That’s on me, and I’ll never be able to scrub it off. You know I didn’t mean it, right?”

Silver Spoon gave her a long, level look, not even looking away when Straight Up sent her another drink, just taking it in her pastern and taking a sip.

“Forgiving you doesn’t mean that we’re going to get back together,” she eventually decided. “You know that, right?”

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to give it a try, but I didn’t really expect that we could,” Diamond admitted. “I just want to know that you’re doing well, and hope that I could maybe get my best friend back.”

Silver Spoon sighed, returning her drink to the table and holding her hooves open.

“Get over here, Diamond!”

The pink-furred filly knocked back the rest of her drink, and hurried over to Silver Spoon, hugging her close when she felt those achingly familiar arms wrap around her.

“I’ve missed you so much, Silvy!” She cried, giving up on holding back the tears.

“I’ve missed you too, Di. I’ve missed you a really long time,” Silver murmured, rubbing her friend’s back. “I just hope you’re back for real this time.”

Diamond Tiara swallowed hard, reluctantly pushing back a bit to look into those violet eyes she’d been searching for the last six months.

“Silvy, that side of me… it’s the real me too. You really don’t want to know what I was thinking during your act.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t act on it. And you haven’t yet,” Silver pointed out. “That was the scary part. I could tell you were going to lose control sooner or later, and I had to get away before you did. I’d like to be friends again, Di. I really would. But as for anything more…”

Author's Note

Agh! Cliffhanger to the feels!

Snow Quill had always wanted this to be a CYE type of story - and so, both possible endings are going to go out on the same day! You get to choose if Diamond and Silvy can *really* reconcile, or if this is the best they can expect.

And then, of course, I shall pontificate on some of my thoughts about the story throughout, and its creation. Because I'm a self-indulgent SOB that way.