Cutie Marks Are Confusing

Silver Spoon set her bags down on the table as she tried to sneak upstairs to her room. After the day she had at school, Diamond Tiara bullying the other fillies and Dinky, Diamond getting punched hard in the face enough to bleed. Silver Spoon was still mindblown Dinky did that. Everypony has a breaking point, after all.

It was that reason Silver Spoon was being as quiet as she could to avoid her sister potentially being at home. Silver Spoon knew Silverspeed would been furious, especially if she found out Silver Spoon had been there. With their parents being gone on their various long business trips, Silverspeed played the role of guardian to the filly, which included having to punish her occasionally.

Word occasionally spread fast in Ponyville as they do in most, if not all, small towns. Silver Spoon had no doubt some word was going around, especially if Dinky talked to Liza, Ruby and Noi about what happened.

“Silver Spoon.”

Silver Spoon froze nervously before slowly turning to face Silverspeed sitting calmly on the couch with an unreadable expression, her helmet sitting on the coffee table with a bottle of polish.

“B-Big Sis,” Silver Spoon forced a smile on her muzzle and Silverspeeds expression barely changed, if at all. “How are you?”

“Doing just great. And how are you today? How was school?” Silverspeed asked and nudged a pillow on the couch back into position. “Did you learn anything today?”

“Yeah. We did a lot of math today,” Silver Spoon answered and trotted to the couch, sitting down hesitantly.

“And anything else you did today? How was the playground?”

Silver Spoon gulped slowly. She definitely knew. Silverspeed was always smart of the two. Most grownups were, accordingly to Diamond.

“You just realized I know what happened, didn’t you?” Silverspeed asked knowingly and her purple eyes hardened slightly. “You got three tries to tell me what happened. And the truth. Don’t you lie to me.”

“Well uhm Diamond got into it with three of our classmates and uh Dinky,” Silver Spoon muttered and felt her older sisters gaze practically burning a hole into her back.

“Hmph. And what did you do to stop it?”

“Nothing.”

Silver Spoon felt Silverspeed stand up and loom over her as Silver Spoon gulped nervously, slowly glancing at her sister’s face.

“You’re a coward,” Silverspeed frowned and Silver Spoon flinched. “Even with my parents dislike of me joining the Royal Guard, we weren’t raised to sit by and watch ponies be mistreated. We were raised to act, not sit by and do nothing. You have no idea how angry I am.”

“Pissed?” Silver Spoon offered weakly and Silverspeed gave a humorless laugh.

“Pissed doesn’t even come close to describing my anger. Go pack your bags, we’re going on a trip to Canterlot. Sunset is already aware and supports it.”

“Canterlot?” Silver Spoon gave her a confused look and Silverspeed nodded.

“This is not a vacation. This is your punishment. You’ll see what I mean, now go pack before I pack for you.”

Silver Spoon paled slightly before galloping up the stairs. She didn’t know how Canterlot could be a punishment. The capital of Equestria seems from a punishment, after all.

Silverspeed landed on the ground a far distance from the castle, sliding Silver Spoon off her back onto the ground. Silver Spoon looked around anxiously before glancing at Silverspeed. The two had been airborne for almost two hours till they reached their destination. Silverspeed could have made it in an hour alone but Silver Spoon wasn’t that used to flying so high up.

“Walk,” Silverspeed ordered and Silver Spoon felt her sisters cold golden shoes pushing her forward.

“To where?” Silver Spoon asked and rolled her purple eyes slightly as Silverspeed pointed forward to a large, intimidating gray compound with the Equestrian seal above the doorway, fences with barbed wire going around, large towers inside the compound. “What is this place?”

“You’ll see,” Silverspeed answered simply and kept trotting forward, pushing the door open and holding it open. “Hurry up.”

Silver Spoon stared around inside the room in growing confusion. Royal Guards sat behind thick plastic windows, random ponies sitting on chairs with their hooves cuffed.

“You’re going on a Scared Straight your today along with seven other kids,” Silverspeed told her finally. “Follow me and stay close. You don’t wanna get lost in the jail.”

Silver Spoon gulped and shifted closer to Silverspeeds flank. Silverspeed smiled reassuringly before her expression turned stern. Silverspeed accepted a orange uniform and hoofed it so Silver Spoon.

“Put it on. You’re gonna look like an inmate for the rest of the day until we leave.”

Silver Spoon gazed in disgust at the orange suit. Orange wasn’t her color. It clashed horribly with her silver coat and her purple eyes. There had been a very brief period she genuinely wondered if her sister was really secretly her mom based on how similar they looked.

“It looks so ugly,” Silver gagged into her hoof and Silverspeed rolled her eyes.

“Put it on,” Silverspeed repeated more forcibly as some guards looked over.

Silver Spoon sighed and watched as her sister spread her wings to block other ponies from watching as Silver reluctantly started dressing in the orange jumpsuit.

Silver felt gross. Like if she hadn’t taken a shower in a week, got forced into one of her older sisters dresses and made to go out in public. She just hoped she would never be seen like this again. The orange was horrible, like she thought.

A blue mare trotted down a row of similarly looking colts and fillies, eying them sternly before stopping in front of Silver Spoon.

“Who is this?” The mare demanded and turned to Silverspeed. “You. I know you.”

“I was in the papers. Uhm element of loyalty? This is my sister, Silver Spoon. She’s here for the Scared Straight tour.”

Silverspeed always got a bit uncomfortable when ponies recognized her. It was surprisingly more and more common outside of Ponyville.

“I see. Line up with the others. Staff Sergeant Guardian Angel,” Guardian Angel held out a hoof and Silverspeed shook it. “Pleasure to meet you.”

“The pleasure is mine ma’am,” Silverspeed tossed her a hasty salute. “Silverspeed.”

“What did your sister do? And are you sure this is what she needs? The inmates aren’t gonna be friendly. This isn’t a nice place, after all. I need to know you’re one hundred percent about this,” Guardian Angel glanced at Silver Spoon standing nervously in a line with the others. “Some parents get a bit upset about it.”

“I’m certain. I’ve done all I can to try to make her stop bullying her classmates. I’ve taken her toys, grounded her, I’ve banned her for a week from seeing her friends. It works for a bit but then she’s right back at it. I just hope this works,” Silverspeed shifted her weight anxiously.

Guardian Angel recognized the look on the other mares face pretty quickly. She had seen it often on other ponies faces when they brought their kids or other relatives through her program. Silverspeed had a tired expression on her muzzle as Guardian Angel rested a hoof on her shoulder.

“We’re gonna straighten her out, don’t you worry about a damn thing. She’s gonna be completely different when she leaves her. Most kids see the inside of this place and quickly change their lives.”

Silverspeed only hoped she was right.