The Filly with the Purest Heart

Silver Spoon laid onto the ground with her face buried in her own hooves. She had heard Diamond Tiara scamper out of the playground as she lifted her head up and stood back on her hooves. She turned her attention to Scootaloon and, though still teary-eyed, she held a confused look about her as she approached the Crusaders.

“Why did Diamond Tiara run off for, what the hey happened?” asked Silver Spoon as she looked off into the direction she knew Diamond’s house to be.

“It would seem to me that your own confessions towards Scootaloo had caused her to feel some kind of guilt, I saw the look on her face as she ran away, it was a look of pain, and sadness.” said Sweetie Belle as she trotted over beside Scootaloo and looked at the exit of the playground, where Diamond Tiara had just galloped through.

“Oh goodness, this is all my fault, now she is going to blame herself.” said Silver Spoon as she began to fall into despair again.

“You don’t have to worry about me Silver, just worry about your own things, I appreciate the apology, really, but just worry about your own friend.” said Scootaloo as she had cleared the last of the tears from her eyes as she stared at the ground inconspicuously.

“No, you don’t get it Scootaloo, I am sorry for what I said, but I accept that you can’t forgive me or Diamond, that is fine.” said Silver Spoon as she wiped a few tears of her own away.

“Now hold on a minute, I never said anything about that, it’s just weird to hear these things from you, that is all.” said Scootaloo as she turned towards Applebloom with a look of confusion on her face.

“That was very gracious of you ta’ do Scoots, I am very happy fer’ ya.” said Applebloom as she embraced her Pegasus friend with a hug.

“Recess is about over, let’s go back to class, and then we can talk about the rest of this later.” said Sweetie Belle.

“Okay, that is fine.” said Scootaloo as she and her two friends trotted slowly towards the school house, just as the bell signaling the end of recess began to ring.

“Oh Diamond, where did you go, home I hope.” thought Silver Spoon to herself as she headed back towards class with the rest of her peers.

Ms. Cheerilee was finishing up her reviews of the student’s work for the day so far. She always took the time that the students used for recess in order to grade the tests that had came earlier in the day. She could hear most of her students galloping back into the classroom, and once she had finished grading the final test, she looked up to see that most of her students had already made it back into the classroom.

“I see everypony is almost here, we will resume class in a short moment, as soon as the last few of your classmates arrive.” said the teacher with a smile and a gleam in her eye. This gleam faded, though, once she saw Silver Spoon and the Cutie Mark Crusaders enter the room. She could see that the four fillies had a troubled look on their face as they trotted their way in. She could make out what appeared the be signs of crying around the eyes of both Silver Spoon and Scootaloo, and once she had allowed her students to take their seats, she began to address the four fillies in question.

“Scootaloo, what happened, why do you and your friends look so roughed up for?” asked Cheerilee with a concerned tone towards the reckless Pegasus filly.

“Me and Spoon had a little argument, but it is over now, we are good.” said Scootaloo with an unamused tone about her as she averted looking anypony in particular in the eyes.

“An argument, is that right Silver Spoon?” asked Cheerilee as she then turned her attention towards Silver Spoon, and held a look and anger and disappointment on her face.

“N-no, I was just apologizing for something that me and Diamond had teased her about earlier, I was truly sorry, I.. I swear.” said Silver Spoon as she began to whimper a little at the statement she had just made. The emotion and events that had just transpired over the last twenty minutes were still taking their toll on the filly. She was not adjusted to feeling this way, especially without the presence of her friend, Diamond Tiara, around.

“Speaking of Diamond Tiara, I don’t even see her anywhere, is she scared of coming into class?” asked Cheerilee to Silver Spoon as she raised an eyebrow thinking about the reason that Diamond was not present in class.

“No, she ran off after Silver Spoon apologized, but listen Ms. Cheerilee, don’t get mad at Silver Spoon, she did not do anything wrong, she gave a heart felt apology to Scootaloo for the times that she was mean in the past.” said Sweetie Belle as she looked over towards Silver Spoon with a look of empathy and depression sewn across her pure-white muzzle.

“Uhh.. Alright, so Diamond ran off...again.” said Cheerilee. She had known Diamond Tiara to have ran off from school a few times before, for various reasons, mostly reasons related to being a trouble maker. She was not too surprised to hear that at all, but the hear the Crusaders defend Silver Spoon, now this certainly threw her off guard. She glanced over towards each of the three crusaders, and then back at Silver Spoon, before returning her gaze the papers that laid on her own desk.

“Alright, you are not in trouble then Silver, but after school, you should go check up on your friend and see why she ran off.” said Cheerilee as she wanted to get back to the lesson for the day.

“Okay, I will do that.” said Silver Spoon with some semblance of a smile as she was still worried about the mindset of her friend at that particular moment.

The two cloaked ponies that had been wandering in the wasteland for the last few days had arrived at a train station out in a nearby canyon. It was past noon at this point as the sun was beginning to make it’s way back down west so that the moon could inevitably be brought out. The larger stallion of the duo trotted slightly in front of his mare friend, yet she was flying above ground, around twenty feet above him, looking around at the local scenery. She had a look of glee in her eyes and a wide smile around her muzzle as she flew up in the air, doing backflips and occasionally flying back down near her partner, much to his chagrin.

“You sure are having fun Sky, maybe a little too much fun for my tastes.” said Lateralus, looking up at the Pegasus above him, with a mixture of annoyance and embarrassment.

“Oh who give a hoof if anypony sees us like this, what are they going to do to us anyway, huh?” asked Graceful Sky, who continued to float about diving from side to side in the afternoon, sunny skies of the canyon. “We are almost at the train station anyway, but you said you did not even want to take it.” said Graceful Sky with a disappointed tone as she stared down at her compatriot with a pleading look in her eyes.

“You know, it’s rather ironic that a Pegasus pony would complain about traveling in a train, uhh I don’t know, because maybe you can freaking FLY!!!” yelled Lateralus as he stood up on his hindlegs and reached his head up as close to Graceful Sky as he could. “You can fly, and I can’t, yet I am not the one complaining about having to travel on hoof, now am I?” asked Lateralus as he returned to all fours and continued to trot at a average pace, paying no heed to the antics of his Pegasus partner.

“Yeah, I can fly, but traveling by train sounds nice, it’s not like we should have too much to worry about, my paranoia from earlier has even calmed down, I think the heat was just getting to me a little back in the wasteland, that is all.” said Graceful Sky as she lowered the altitude of her flying to only be about three feet above Lateralus.

“I was beginning to worry about you a little, I did tell you not to fly too close to the sun.” said Lateralus as the two hooded ponies were now within five-hundred feet of the train station, which was located at the end of a small town just north of Appleloosa.

“Hey genius, Pegasi are immune to weather, I was joking.” said Graceful as she stuck out her tongue and pulled down her left eye-lid, making a silly, somewhat offensive gesture towards her friend.

“Those actions really speak to your mental maturity Graceful.” said Lateralus as the stallion flipped his long, brown mane to the side and adjusted the glasses sitting in front of his dark blue eyes.

“Oh, lick my flank!” said Graceful Sky with an annoyed tone as she flew above Lateralus, and making another obscene gesture towards him.

“Typical silly responses.” thought Lazarus to himself as the two ponies had finally arrived in the small desert town. The town was sat up on the base of a large cliff, but the train station was up on the cliff itself, looking over the rest of the town. The train tracks themselves were constructed on the long winding land that was above where the top of the cliff was. The two traveling ponies knew that these train tracks would eventually lead them to the Eastern Pines, and Lateralus was certain that they would not necessarily even need the train in order to make their voyage to the said destination.

“We are going to take the train right?” asked Graceful Sky as she landed on the ground beside Lateralus as the two ponies had arrived in the central part of the town.

“Oh for goodness sakes, fine, we will take the train!” said Lateralus with an aggravated tone as he finally gave in to his partner’s demands. “We will take the train, but we must make sure not to rouse any attention while we are out here.” continued Lateralus as he stared at Graceful Sky with a fierce look in his eyes.

“Don’t worry about me, I know how to fit in with the crowd, they won’t notice a single thing at all.” said Graceful, sure of herself.

“Well, forgive me if I have a hard time believing you.” said Lateralus with a mocking tone as the two ponies made their way towards a food market on their trek to the train station.

‘Hey Lateralus look, Rocky General Foods, that is what the sign says, I bet we can get some good snacks in there to take with us on our train ride!” said Graceful Sky with an overjoyed tone.

“Alright fine, but make sure not to get too much, I know we have amassed a good number of bits, but I would like to save them for situations that actually matter.” said Lateralus with a hesitant look about him as he followed Graceful Sky into grocery store.

“We have been getting a few strange looks from the ponies here in town, I even saw a griffon or two look our way as well.” said Graceful Sky with some suspicion beginning to fester in her mind.

“Probably because we are new around here, and these cloaks we are wearing probably don’t help in keeping us from getting noticed easily, which is rather ironic if you think about it.” said Lateralus as he picked out a few snacks for himself from several of the grocery aisles, making sure to keep track of his Pegasus partner the whole time.

“But nopony has any reason to suspect anything from us, so there is nothing to worry about, right?” asked Graceful Sky as she had trouble selecting what she wanted to take with her on the train ride ahead.

“Exactly, so keep your mouth shut, and everything will be just fine, now hurry up and pick out something, we don’t have all day you know!” said Lateralus annoyed as he trotted over beside his partner.

“But I can’t decide if I want the chocolate or vanilla sweet roll!” said Graceful Sky with a surprising amount of sadness in her voice.

“Really, this is what the fuss is about, over what kind of darn sweet roll that you want?” asked Lateralus with a bewildered expression dotting his face as he could only hoof palm at what he was hearing.

“Hey, nothing is more serious than a mare and her sweets, don’t rush me here, ya got it!” exclaimed Graceful Sky as she turned to Lateralus with a teasing look on her face.

“Sweet Celestia help me.” thought Lateralus to himself as Graceful Sky finally decided to pick the vanilla sweet roll to take with her.

“Finally, now let’s get some drinks to go with this, and then we can get the hey out of here.” said Lateralus with anticipation to get to the train station as quickly as possible.

“For somepony who does not seem to be too worried about being found out, you sure do sound rather scared right now Latzy!” said Graceful Sky with a playful tone as the two cloaked ponies made their way to the beverages section of the grocery store.

“I told you not to call me Latzy, please that.... Ya know what, never mind.” said Lateralus as he began to blush a little, the more he thought about the situation, the more he started to blush.

“Aww, you can be so adorable at times, anyway I am getting the Dr. Salt, what do you want, the Hoof-a-Cola?” asked Graceful Sky as she had already picked out the drinks for both herself and her antsy friend.

“Like I have a choice in the matter, now let’s go pay for these, and get out.” said Lateralus with a worried tone as the two ponies casually trotted their way towards the cash registers located near the front of the store.

‘Hey, that aisle there does not look too crowded, let’s go check out there.” said Graceful as she trotted down towards the register with the number 14 on a sign above it.

“Okay, anything to get us out of here faster.” said Lateralus as he began to notice sweat drops fall down the sides of his face.

There was only two ponies ahead of them, and they had finished paying for their groceries rather quickly, as Graceful Sky had placed their own snacks in front of the cashier.

“Good afternoon ma’am, how are you doing today?” asked the cashier, who was a rather young mare with a yellow coat and purple mane.

“Aw, thank you, we are having a good day, right Latzy-Watzy?” asked Graceful Sky as she cooed the words to her bewildered friend, which only caused him to start sweating even more profusely.

“Deep breaths Lateralus, just take deep breaths.” thought the stallion to himself as he tried to ignore the teasing of his partner.

The cashier giggled upon hearing Graceful Sky say those words to the stallion standing next to her, and proceeded to scan the groceries that the two ponies have gotten.

“Alright, that will be twenty-five bits.” said the cashier. “Hey Latzy, twenty-five bits, you heard the lady.” said Graceful with a taunting tone as Lateralus handed her over the bits without putting up any kind of fight.

“See, that was not so bad, you should really learn to not be so stingy with our money.” said Graceful as she handed the bits over to the cashier. The cashier then put their groceries into some bags before handing them over to her two unusual customers.

“You two have a great day, thanks for shopping at Rocky General Foods!” said the mare cashier with a chipper tone.

“You too sweetie, see ya.” said Graceful Sky as she and Lateralus began to exit the grocery store.

“Geez, you could have said bye to her as well, you are always so rude and awkward.” said Graceful as she nudged her friend in the side of his flank.

“The things you put me through, you know I hate crowded places.” said Lateralus, as he wiped away the sweat that had continued to roll down his face.

“Huh, I did not know that crowded areas bothered you so badly, and here I thought you were supposed to be this tough no-nonsense stallion, hehe.” laughed Graceful as the two ponies had finally began their journey towards the train station that sat at the top of the cliff over looking them.

“Go ahead and poke fun at me while you can, because our work starts soon.” said Lateralus.

The two dysfunctional ponies had made their way up the winding, steep road that led to the train station. Though, in actuality, Graceful Sky was flying the whole time, while Lateralus merely trotted up the sharp cliff on hoof.

“I bet you wish you were a Pegasus right now, hahaha.” laughed Graceful as the two ponies had almost made it up the steep road that led to the entrance to the train station.

“Nah, not really, I can trot for miles, you are the one who is too lazy to walk, and besides, we are here now.” said Lateralus with a matter-of-fact tone as the two ponies entered the front door into the station.

“Once we get to the Eastern Pines, then our search can truly begin.” said Lateralus as Graceful Sky landed on the floor of the station beside him.

“Boss will be so pleased once we finally get to the Everfree and secure that gemstone, then we can utilize it’s magical properties and really make a statement against Equestria.” said Graceful Sky with a malicious look in her eyes as the two ponies waited in line to receive their train tickets.

The bell had sounded for class to end at the Ponyville school building. All of the fillies and colts had already left the premise by this time, except for the Crusaders and Silver Spoon, who had decided to stay behind for a short while. They were having a conversation with Cheerilee about what had happened in more detail that day.

“So you are going to go check on Diamond Tiara, right Silver Spoon?” asked the teacher as she looked at Silver Spoon curiously.

“Yeah, she can get rather down at times, but I know just the thing to cheer her up!” said Silver Spoon with joy as she turned to the Crusaders with a bright smile on her face.

“Yeah, and what would that be?” asked Scootaloo with an uneasy look on her face, as she was not used to seeing Silver Spoon stare at her with any other emotion other than anger and resentment.

“I was thinking that one of you three could come with me, you know to sweeten up the whole recovery process.” said Silver Spoon as the four fillies had waved goodbye to their teach, and had now entered the playground area.

“Those fillies sure are silly, but that is why I love them.” thought Cheerilee to herself as she could only smile in amusement at the antics of her cherished students. Cheerilee then went back to finishing the review process over her student’s work for the day as the feint laughter and talking of the fillies outside began to go quiet.

“So, who wants to come with me to Diamond Tiara’s house and check up on her?” asked Silver Spoon to the three confused fillies trotting beside her.

“Well, as much as I would love to see how Diamond is doing right now, I have to help mah’ brother and sister on the farm today, but we can ask her if she wants to go treasure hunting with us tomorrow though.” said Applebloom with a smile towards Silver Spoon.

“Oh, okay, what about you Scootaloo, you were the main target of our teasing, but having seen me apologize to you, maybe she will say sorry too if you come with me.” said Silver as she then turned her attention to the Pegasus filly.

“Well, about that, I have to get back to the orphanage today, I am supposed to help clean around the dumpster at the back of the building.” said Scootaloo with an awkward tone to her voice as she began to sweat and tremble slightly.

“I will go with you!” said Sweetie Belle as she trotted in front of Silver Spoon and looked in her eyes with sincerity.

“The other girls may be busy today, but Rarity told me that she will not be home for a while after I got out of school anyway, so I might as well visit Diamond Tiara with you!” said Sweetie Belle to Silver Spoon.

“Hey, that sounds like a good idea, thanks Sweetie Belle!” said Silver Spoon as Scootaloo hopped onto her scooter and began to speed away towards the location of the orphanage.

“Look, I will see you girls tomorrow, that is when we will go treasure hunting at Fluttershy’s again, you and Diamond Tiara are welcome to come too if you want, see ya!” yelled Scootaloo as she rode away on her scooter in a hurry, and out of the sights of the three remaining fillies.

“Wow, she sure seemed in a hurry, but after everything that she had been through today, I guess it makes sense.” said Applebloom as she slowly began to trot down the road that led to Sweet Apple Acres.

“Anway, ah’ will see ya’ two girls tomorrow, bye!” said Applebloom as she cheerfully began to gallop down the dirt road that sectioned off from the paved road, which led from the school to the main square of Ponyville.

“Oh Applebloom, I would actually like to talk to you later alone, maybe tomorrow before school starts, is that okay?” asked Silver Spoon as she managed to get the farm filly’s attention before she managed to gallop off too far.

“Um.. Yeah, sure Silver Spoon, we can talk tomorrow before class, about anythin’ you want to talk about.” said Applebloom as she smiled warmly towards Silver Spoon and Sweetie Belle before turning back towards the direction of her home.

“Thank you.” said Silver Spoon to herself quietly as she briefly watched the red-maned filly gallop out of sight down the old dirt road that led to her family’s farm. She then turned her attention back to Sweetie Belle, and began to put on a friendly smile in front of the white unicorn filly, not sure what to ask her next.

“Well... Sorry for the awkward air around us all of a sudden.” said Silver Spoon as it was just her and Sweetie Belle at this point, trotting in the location of Diamond Tiara’s home.

“Hey, it’s fine, it’s now like we have ever really talked before, I can imagine how unusual this might seem for you.” said Sweetie Belle as she looked at Silver Spoon with a small grin and a relaxed expression in her eyes.

“Aww, thank you Sweetie Belle, you really know how to calm a pony down, hehe.” laughed Silver Spoon as she returned the warm facial greeting back to Sweetie Belle as the two fillies were approaching the gate that led to Filthy Rich’s mansion.

“I don’t want to force myself too much here, I will just let you do most of the talking at first, you do know Diamond Tiara more than I do after all.” said Sweetie Belle towards Silver Spoon.

“Alright, I can say the same to you, just act natural, if you do not feel comfortable doing or saying something, just let me know okay?” asked Silver Spoon to Sweetie Belle.

“Thanks.” proclaimed Sweetie Belle as she watched with amusement as Silver Spoon pressed the button on the speaker that sat beside the gate around Filthy Rich’s property.

A few seconds of silence went by, until an elderly male voice could be heard on the speaker. “Hello, welcome to Filthy Rich Estates, I am Goldenhoof, butler of the Rich family, how may I assist you today?” asked the butler on the other end of the radio.

“Hey Mr. Goldenhoof, it’s me Silver Spoon, I am here with a new friend, we just want to check up on Diamond Tiara, and make sure that she is okay.” said Silver Spoon as she glanced over to Sweetie Belle and began to chuckle. Sweetie Belle returned the giggle as the two fillies thought that the sound of the butler’s voice over the speaker was just the funniest thing ever.

“Is that so, well as far as I know, Diamond Tiara has not returned home yet, I have not seen her since this morning before she left for school, did something happen?” asked Goldenhoof over the radio to Silver Spoon, with a worried tone audible in his voice.

“Well that’s the thing, she had gotten upset earlier during recess, and she took off galloping out of the playground, I thought that she may have been heading towards her home, but it would seem that this is not the case.” said Silver Spoon to the butler over the radio.

Sweetie Belle listened to the conversation with both curiosity and worry in her mind, as she was hoping to find out that Diamond Tiara was at her home. Instead, she was not home, and the butler was not sure where she was at. This indeed perplexed Sweetie Belle, but all she could do right now was listen in to Silver Spoon and Goldenhoof’s conversation.

“So, you do not know where she is right now?” asked a fearful Silver Spoon as she eagerly awaited the butler’s response on the radio.

“No, I am afraid not, but why don’t you and your new friend look around town for a while, I am sure that Diamond Tiara probably got upset and decided to run off to Sugarcube Corner, that is where she told me that she likes to go when things make her upset.” said the butler with re-assured tone.

“Oh, okay, thank you Mr. Goldenhoof, I will see you later.” said Silver Spoon as she mover her hoof off of the button that was on the speaker, which she had pressed down the entire time she was speaking to the butler.

“It would seem that we are going to Sugarcube Corner then?” asked Sweetie Belle as Silver Spoon turned her attention away from the speaker and towards the general direction of where she figured the bakery would be.

“Yep, let’s hope she is there, I would hate for her to be missing for some reason, especially if it is my own fault.” said Silver Spoon with a tone of despair in her voice as she and Sweetie Belle trotted back towards Ponyville at a brisk pace.

“Silver, even if she is not at Sugarcube Corner, it would not be your fault anyway, so don’t go beating yourself up over this, understand?” asked Sweetie Belle with a comforting look on her face as she turned her attention towards the depressed filly.

“Thank you Sweetie Belle, your compassion really matches your name after all.” said Silver Spoon as she immediately stopped moving for a second and grabbed Sweetie Belle with a big hug. “Thank you so much Sweetie Belle!” continued on Silver Spoon as she let the white unicorn go and stared at her with a few tears of joy in her eyes.