The evening in Ponyville was calm and as peaceful as always. The burden of a hard day’s work was behind him, and now that he had finished cleaning up after dinner, Filthy Rich could retire to his lounge and finally have some time to himself. His daughter was upstairs watching her cartoons, and all of the immediately important paperwork had been signed and filed.

Now, it was time for the stallion to just sit back in his favourite chair, a hot cup of tea at his left and a warm fire blazing to his right, and his new favourite book that tonight he intended to finish in his lap. As Filthy placed his pipe into his mouth and reached over for his lighter, a knocking at the door startled him and made him spit out his pipe. “Of course,” he sighed as he climbed out of his chair, leaving his book in his place. “Just as I was finally comfortable…”

The knocking returned, but with much more volume this time. “I’m coming, I’m coming!” Filthy Rich shouted as he walked towards the door, an annoyed look on his face as he looked through the peephole to see who was on the other side. He mentally slapped himself when he saw the grey mane of his daughter’s best friend, suddenly remembering that Diamond Tiara had invited Silver Spoon around for a sleepover today. “One second,” he called out as he worked on unlocking the door, fumbling around with a small white box attached to the wall. “Stupid new magi-lock. Let’s see, this like this and…”

With a click, Filthy moved over to remove the chain-lock and then reached into the bowl to his left for the key. Placing the key into the keyhole and twisting it, Filthy Rich braced himself and forced a smile onto his face as he opened the door. “Good evening Silver Spoon. Here for your sleepover with Diamond Tiara I take it?”

“Well, duh,” Silver Spoon said as she rolled her eyes and walked into the house. “Thank you for having me over, Mr. Rich.”

“Oh, it’s no problem at all.” Filthy turned to look up the stairs, ready to shout up to his daughter to announce that her friend was here. He decided instead not to bother giving himself a headache and turned back down to Silver Spoon. “Diamond is in her room right now. Feel free to go on up to-”

He didn’t even get to finish as the excited filly was already charging up the stairs, leaving behind only a list of her allergies that her parents always supplied him with whenever she came over to spend the night. He already had plenty of copies of this, so he simply scrunched it up and threw it into the bin as he re-entered his lounge.

“Now where was I?” Filthy Rich asked himself as he reclaimed his seat, lighting his pipe and opening his copy of Daring Do and the Sapphire Stone to the bookmarked page.

“Diamond, stop!” Silver Spoon said in a hushed voice as she glanced over at the bedroom door. “What if your dad hears?”

“Oh, don’t be such a worrywart,” Diamond Tiara said as she shot a sly grin towards Silver Spoon. “Daddy knows what I get up to up here anyway.”

Silver Spoon gasped and gave her friend an incredulous look. “He does? And he doesn’t mind? He doesn’t mind that you… B-But, isn’t this sort of stuff meant to be for adults?”

“Oh, come on,” Diamond scoffed as she looked back towards her monitor, licking her lips as she watched the action on the screen unfold. “Daddy knows I’m mature for my age. And he knows I won’t be so easily influenced by what I see.”

“But still, if my father caught me doing this, he’d ground me for life and demand where I got it from!”

Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes. “Aren’t you overreacting? It’s just a video game,” Diamond pushed down on the right trigger button on her controller, and unleashed a menacing laugh as her character swung a chainsaw into her target’s neck. “Kids these days play this sort of stuff all the time!”

“T-They do?” Silver Spoon asked with a surprised look. “But, the rating is-”

“The rating is just there for legal mumbo-jumbo. Trust me, there are lots of kid who play these kinds of games. Now quit worrying so much and help me loot this jewellery shop!”

Silver Spoon glanced towards the screen, where could see Diamond Tiara’s character swing a baseball bat across the head of a zombified cashier, and then she lowered her gaze to the controller at her hooves. “Well, if you say so…”

The two spent some time working together to kill zombie after zombie, loot store after store, and eventually, when Diamond started to grow bored, travelled to safe zone and started to cause mayhem and destruction for absolutely no reason whatsoever, save for it being funny.

“Hey, pass me another coke,” Diamond said as she focussed on aiming her crosshair at the head of her character’s unsuspecting girlfriend. She fired the crossbow bolt and it struck the mare in the head, who rather than dying simply told Diamond to knock it off. The filly simply laughed and fired again, and again.

“We’re out,” Silver Spoon said as she looked over to where bottle of cola once lay.

Diamond paused the game and sighed. “Well, guess I’d better go get some more,” she said as she rose to her hooves. “This is getting boring anyway. We should probably do something else next.”

“We could make a start on our homework,” Silver Spoon suggested. She knew that Diamond wasn’t much for anything school-related, but Silver Spoon herself loved school, and especially loved filling in her homework and handing it in to the teacher, knowing she was going to get an A out of it.

“Perhaps I should rephrase that: something fun,” Diamond said as she shook her head. “Honestly, you can be such a nerd sometimes.”

Silver Spoon frowned and turned her attention back towards the screen. “I’m not a nerd, and we just spent fifteen minutes playing this, so shouldn’t it be my turn to-”

“Look, just think of something fun for us to do, and I’ll be back shortly,” Diamond Tiara said as she opened her bedroom door and left the room.

Silver Spoon pouted as she stared at the carpet beneath her hooves. “But I was serious. I think it’d be nice to do our homework together and help each other out. And besides, you really need to push your grades up…” With a sigh, Silver Spoon looked around the room for an idea of what they could do next. Her eyes landed on Diamond Tiara’s open wardrobe, where a dollhouse and numerous dolls were sitting on the bottom.

“I’m back,” Diamond said as she re-entered the room. “So, what did you think of? Maybe make a big Hearts and Hooves Day card for our teacher?” she asked in a joking tone.

“Actually,” Silver Spoon said, adjusting her glasses. “I was thinking we could play with them.” She pointed at the dollhouse in Diamond’s wardrobe.

“Hey, yeah! It’s been a while since we played with the RichSpoon family.” Silver Spoon giggled at the silly name the two had come up for the family of dolls years ago whilst Diamond Tiara pulled out the dollhouse and opened it up, revealing the various accessories packed into the sides, such as a large table for tea parties, a pool to place outside, and Diamond’s personal favourite, the beautiful, sparkling chariot fit for a Princess. The sparkles and gemstones were of course stickers, but the filly’s imagination made the glamour and the beauty come to life.

Silver Spoon got to work setting out the dolls, starting with her own personal favourite, Miss Scarlet. She noticed Diamond setting up Mrs. Peacock by the tea table and decided to make her own piece join her.

“Good day Mrs. Peacock,” Miss Scarlet said with a bow. “Such fine weather we’re having today, is it not?”

“Most certainly it is,” Mrs. Peacock replied. “Would you care for some tea? My own special blend.”

“I would love to-”

“Everypony inside!” a gruff-sounding voice called out suddenly. Diamond Tiara reached over for Colonel Mustard and had him gallop towards the two mare dolls. “Everypony inside, now! It’s an emergency!”

Silver Spoon raised an eyebrow, wondering what Diamond was up to. “An emergency?” Miss Scarlet asked. “Whatever could be wrong?”

“Zombies! Hundreds of them!” Colonel Mustard shouted. Silver Spoon facehooved. “We have to get inside and hold out here until-”

“Diamond!” Silver Spoon shouted, startling her friend.

“What?” Diamond asked as she looked up at Silver Spoon.

“We’re playing dolls here, not Resident Evil.”

“I was actually thinking more Left 4 Dead,” Diamond Tiara said as she had Colonel Mustard turn around and point his spear forward. “Watch out! They’re coming! I’ll hold them back! You two-”

“We’re supposed to be having a nice, peaceful tea party,” Silver Spoon said. “Not fighting for our lives against an undead horde.”

Diamond Tiara paused for a second. “Fine.” She returned to her gruff voice as she rehearsed Colonel Mustard’s lines. “Veolciraptors, incoming! Get inside and lock the doors!”

“Diamond!” Silver Spoon took a deep breath to calm herself down. “C’mon, take this seriously.”

“Seriously?” Diamond asked with a raised eyebrow. “We’re just playing dolls. And what’s wrong with trying to make it more exciting?”

“Nothing, but come on. Veolciraptors are extinct, and zombies aren’t a real thing.”

“Yet,” Diamond muttered.

“If you’re going to spice things up, try something more realistic. Like a romantic love triangle.”

“Blech,” Diamond gagged. “Those things are so lame. Unless it’s between ponies with supernatural powers, because then they get into cool fights… Hey, I know!”

“No,” Silver Spoon said. “They don’t have Shinigami powers, or ninja powers, or alien powers, or anything of the sort.”

Diamond Tiara pouted. “So it’s just a regular, boring love triangle?”

“It can still be fun,” Silver Spoon insisted. “And it was just a suggestion. I’ve got many more where that came from, like-”

“Doing their homework?” Diamond asked with a mocking grin, snickering afterwards. Silver Spoon, however, was not amused.

“Well, at least then they wouldn’t be falling behind in school, now would they?” Silver Spoon mumbled.

“What was that?” Diamond asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Nothing,” Silver Spoon said.

“You said something about me, didn’t you?”

“Nope.” Silver Spoon tried to resume playing with Miss Scarlet, but Diamond Tiara wasn’t ready to give in just yet.

“Yes you did.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did!”

“I didn’t say anything! Now let’s just continue where we left off!” Diamond Tiara grabbed Miss Scarlet and snatched it from Silver Spoon’s hoof. “Hey! Give that back!”

“Tell me what you said!” Diamond demanded as she held the doll away from Silver Spoon.

“I didn’t say anything!” Silver Spoon shouted as she reached for the doll, only to be held back by Diamond’s hoof. “Give it back!”

“Tell me what you said!” Diamond repeated, but before Silver Spoon could answer, she fell onto her back from the force of her friend acting against her and landed on her doll. As she sat up, rubbing her back to ease the pain, Diamond Tiara looked behind herself to see Miss Scarlet on the floor, one limb detached and another two bent in ways they shouldn’t be. “Now look what you did!”

“Me?! You’re the one who took her from me!”

“It’s my doll! I’m allowed to take her if I want to, and I would have given it back if you just told me what you said!”

Silver Spoon gritted her teeth together. “Fine! I said that you’re falling behind in school because you don’t take your schoolwork seriously enough!”

Diamond gasped, then furrowed her brow. “I take them plenty serious! I just have a life that takes priority! I have this thing called fun that I like to do!”

“Are you saying I’m not fun?!” Silver Spoon asked. “I’m plenty of fun!”

“Yeah, sure! ‘Hey Diamond, let’s go work on our project.’ ‘Diamond, we shouldn’t eat too much ice-cream because it’s bad for us.’ ‘Ooh! I know what we can do! Just sit here and drink tea, with nothing eventful happening.’ Yeah, you’re a real hoot!”

“Well at least I have this thing called common sense!” Silver Spoon retorted. “And excuse me for being concerned for my own well-being, and that of my friend!”

“We’re kids! We’re not supposed to be smart, or do healthy things! We’re supposed to have fun and be imaginative!”

“Imaginative? Like when you suggested I wear that icky silver dress to my father’s party?”

“You said you liked that dress! And it was not icky!”

“I only said that to spare your feelings! You’re welcome, by the way, and it was too icky!”

Diamond was taken aback, and her rage began to boil. “Well, the earrings you got for my birthday were icky!”

Silver Spoon gasped. “I spent hours picking those out for you!”

“Great job you did,” Diamond responded sarcastically.

“Fine, then give them back!” Silver Spoon demanded as she rose to her hooves. She turned to Diamond Tiara’s dresser and stomped her hooves towards it.

“No!” Diamond shouted as she grabbed Silver Spoon’s legs, causing her to fall to the floor with a loud thud.

Filthy Rich raised an eyebrow and looked up from his book as he heard raised voices somewhere in the house. He looked up towards the ceiling, just in time for a loud bang accompanied by the house shaking making him jump.

“Girls, keep it down up there!” he shouted up towards the ceiling, and not a single noise followed. With a smile on his face, Filthy Rich resumed his reading. “Now that’s parenting.”

“Stupid-head!” Diamond Tiara shouted.

“Moron!” Silver Spoon returned.

“Egghead!”

“Imbecile!”

The two of them took in deep breaths, and together, they shouted: “I’m never speaking to you again!”

The following morning, the foals of Ponyville were playing happily in the schoolyard as they waited for their teacher to call them inside. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle in particular were having a blast. Quite literally, in fact.

“Are you sure this is alright?” Sweetie Belle asked. “It doesn’t seem safe.”

“Girls!” The three fillies turned around to see their teacher, Cheerilee, standing over them with a look of utter shock on her face. “W-What in heaven’s name are the three of you doing?!”

“Oh, good morning Miss Cheerilee!” Sweetie Belle shouted cheerfully.

“We found this book in Twilight’s library about this really cool-looking pony who invented fireworks,” Apple Bloom explained.

“He had the coolest looking Cutie Mark any of us have ever seen!” Scootaloo added, receiving nods from her friends. “So we thought we could try to get the same Cutie Mark!”

Cheerilee pressed a hoof into her face. “What am I going to do with the three of you? Where did you even get these fireworks?”

“There you are!” a voice shouted from behind the fillies, directing their attention towards the blue mare who owned it, and the white rabbit sitting on her shoulder. “Trixie thanks you for your information.” The pony levitated a carrot towards the rabbit, who took it with a happy smile on his face and hopped off of Trixie’s shoulder.

“Snitch,” Apple Bloom muttered as the rabbit ran past her. The rabbit simply stopped to stick his tongue out at the disgruntled filly, before turning back to hop off on his merry little way.

“I’m terribly sorry about all this,” Cheerilee said as she approached the annoyed-looking mare. “At least they didn’t seem to set any off just yet.”

“No apologies necessary,” Trixie said. “Not from you, at least. In a way, this is a good thing.” A grin crossed the mare’s face as she scooped up her fireworks in her magic and turned around. “Trixie knows who your sisters are. She will enjoy having them owe her to make up for this.”

“Come on you three,” Cheerilee said to her three unhappy students. “It’s time to go in now. We’ll discuss your punishment for playing with fireworks on school ground later.”

“But-” Sweetie Belle began, but stopped when she remembered that Cheerilee was one pony who could not be swayed. “Okay…”

The three fillies followed their teacher into the schoolhouse. Inside, the rest of the class was already present, with the exception of just two fillies: Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara.

“Class, has anypony seen Silver Spoon or Diamond Tiara today?” Cheerilee asked, receiving only shrugs and headshakes from the class.

“I’m here!” Silver Spoon announced from the door as she walked inside. “Sorry I’m late. I had to take the long way here.”

“You did?” Cheerilee asked. “Well, you’re not exactly late, but it was certainly a close call. Is Diamond not with you?” Silver Spoon threw her bag onto the floor in an aggressive manner and took her seat, not answering her teacher’s question. The class looked at her with wide eyes. “Uh…”

“I’m here!” The class turned to the door, to see Diamond Tiara walking in, her head held high as usual. “I had to take a detour to get here. That’s why I’m late.”

“Just try not to make a habit of it,” Cheerilee said as she watched her student take her seat with an odd look. “Now then, I believe I set you all some homework to complete over the weekend? One-by-one, come up and place it on my desk while I prepare the lesson.”

Diamond Tiara was the first to climb out of her chair and place her sheet on the teacher’s desk. Cheerilee glanced down at the sheet, expecting to find most of it empty and the rest inadequately answered. Instead, what she found shocked her.

“Diamond Tiara.” Diamond turned around to face her teacher, whilst Apple Bloom passed her to place her own sheet onto Cheerilee’s desk. “Would you mind explaining why your paper just says the word ‘jerk’ over and over again?”

“What?!” Diamond asked, rushing over to check the paper for herself. She heard snickering behind her, and turned around to shoot a dark glare at Silver Spoon, whose head was turned to hide her laughing face.

“I’ll talk to you about this later,” Cheerilee said, causing her student to mumble angrily as she walked back over to her seat. Silver Spoon jumped out of her own seat and placed her paper onto the teacher’s desk with a confident smile, and once again, Cheerilee was shocked at what she saw. “Silver Spoon, why does your paper simply say ‘egghead’ over and over again?”

“What?!” Silver Spoon asked, before turning around to bare her teeth at the giggling pink filly behind her. “You jerk!”

“You did it too, mule-face!” The entire class gasped at Diamond’s response, with the exception of Silver Spoon, who was still grinding her teeth together in anger.

“But at least my paper would have had correct answers, you parasprite!”

“Nerrrrrrrrrrrrd!” Diamond shouted, sticking her tongue out at Silver Spoon.

“Diamond Tiara! Silver Spoon! Enough of this!” Cheerilee shouted. “Silver Spoon, take your seat! Everypony else, continue handing your homework assignments in and if I hear one more peep form anypony, I will start issuing detentions!”

“Hmph!” Silver Spoon threw her nose into the air as she walked back to her seat, sitting back down and turning her head so that she was facing as far away from Diamond Tiara as possible.

Diamond Tiara did a similar thing, turning her head so that she was looking outside of the window to her left, glaring at the rabbit eating his carrot outside.

“Did you guys see what happened in class today?!” Scootaloo asked as she and her friends sat down at one of the benches in the schoolyard to eat their lunches.

“How could we have missed it?” Sweetie Belle asked with an odd look. “Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, having a fight? I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“What d’ya mean?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Yeah. If those two are fighting each other, they won’t be able to pick on us!” Scootaloo pointed out. “We’re free!”

“But for how long?” Apple Bloom asked.

“I feel sorry for them,” Sweetie Belle said with a sad look on her face. “Even if it’s those two, I still feel bad whenever I see two friends fighting.”

“Eh. It’s got nothin’ to do with us,” Scootaloo said with a dismissive wave of her hoof.

“Scootaloo’s right,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah feel bad for ‘em too… somewhat. But it ain’t any of our business.”

“Hey Apple Bloom!” The three Crusaders stopped what they were doing and turned to the source of the new voice: Diamond Tiara. “What are you doing?”

Apple Bloom exchanged a confused glance with her friends before turning back to Diamond Tiara. “Uh….eatin’?”

“So nothing important then,” Diamond said as she grabbed Apple Bloom’s foreleg. “C’mon. You’re eating with me today.”

“Ah am?” Apple Bloom asked.

“She is?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“She is,” Diamond Tiara confirmed. “Come now, let’s go before my favourite spot is taken away.”

“But ah’m already eatin’ here,” Apple Bloom protested.

Diamond Tiara looked over at the other two fillies and laughed. “Oh please. Sure, you could waste your time sitting with the same boring company you always eat with. Or, you could sit with a new, much more fun friend who’s willing to share her daddy’s world-famous salad with you.”

“World-famous?” Apple Bloom asked. Diamond Tiara reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a small plastic tub, opening it and offering some of the salad inside to Apple Bloom. Not wanting to be rude, Apple Bloom took a piece of the salad and tasted it… and her eyes lit up as a wonderful taste filled her mouth.

“So? What’ll it be?” Diamond asked.

Apple Bloom looked at her friends, and then at Diamond Tiara, and then back at the salad. “Well… ah guess there’s nothin’ wrong with some variety every now an’ then.”

“What?!” Scootaloo asked. “You’re actually considering eating lunch with her?!”

“It’s just that ah eat with you two all the time!” Apple Bloom explained. “It’s only fer today, so she doesn’t have ta eat all alone. Y’all understand, don’t ya?”

Scootaloo sat back in her chair with a huff and crossed her forelegs. “Whatever. Go have fun with your new friend…”

Sweetie Belle gave Apple Bloom and nervous smile and nodded her head. “We understand. We’ll hang out after school, okay?”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom said.

“Come on, let’s go,” Diamond said as she turned around, only to come face-to-face with Silver Spoon. “Oh, look who it is. Here to apologise are you?”

“As if,” Silver Spoon said as she stomped past Diamond Tiara, stopping at Apple Bloom and giving the nervous farm filly a hard glare. “It didn’t take long to replace me, did it?”

Diamond Tiara shrugged. “Come on Apple Bloom, just ignore her. We’re going to go have fun. Is that one of the billions of words you know of, bookworm?”

“Fine, you go and have your ‘fun’,” Silver Spoon said as she trotted up to Sweetie Belle, who shied away from the glowering filly. “Come on, Sweetie Belle. I need somepony to help me practice for this week’s spelling bee.”

“Nerrrrrrrd,” Diamond Tiara whispered, purposefully loud enough for Silver Spoon to hear.

“You want me to help you?” Sweetie Belle asked with a surprised look on her face.

“Of course. You’re the next smartest pony in the class after me,” Silver Spoon said, causing Sweetie Belle to blush. She grabbed the other filly’s arm and pulled her up to her hooves. “Come on, we don’t have all day.”

“Uh, sure…” Sweetie Belle quickly packed up her lunch and placed it into her saddlebag. “Sounds like you really need a friend right now, huh?”

“… Well, at least you’re more considerate than some ponies around here,” Silver Spoon said.

“That’s good,” Diamond Tiara said. “Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery. The second is to stop being a mule.”

“Okay!” Apple Bloom shouted as she began to push Diamond Tiara away from the scene. “Let’s just go have our lunch peacefully an’ not go causin’ a scene, alright?”

Silver Spoon harrumphed as she watched Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom walk off together. “This way Sweetie Belle.”

“Um…” Both Silver Spoon and Sweetie Belle turned to face Scootaloo. “What about me?”

Silver Spoon gave the Pegasus a quizzical look for a few seconds. “Just… do what you want,” she said before turning to leave with Sweetie Belle, who offered a silent apology as she left Scootaloo on her own.

“…” Scootaloo packed up her lunch and placed it into her saddlebag. “I wonder if Rainbow Dash wants to eat with me?”

Apple Bloom gulped as she walk across the schoolyard behind Diamond Tiara, trying to ignore all of the eyes focussed on the unusual duo as they strolled towards the large oak tree at the other end of the playground. “So… why did ya invite me ta eat lunch with ya all of a sudden?”

“Because Silver Spoon’s being a jerk right now and I don’t want to eat alone,” Diamond Tiara replied flatly.

“But why me? There’re plenty of other ponies y’all could’ve asked.”

“I don’t like getting to know new ponies. It’s such a hassle. I already know you, so we can skip the introductions.” A grin spread across Diamond Tiara’s face. ‘Also, Silver Spoon should feel majorly insulted that I chose the likes of you over her,’ she added in her mind.

“Ya know other ponies here,” Apple Bloom said. “There’s Dinky, an’ Berry Pinch, an’ Archer, an’-”

“I mean know know them,” Diamond interrupted. “I don’t really know anypony else besides you and Silver Spoon.”

Apple Bloom frowned at that news. ‘All this time, her only friend has been Silver Spoon, an’ now they’re havin’ a huge fight. Poor Diamond.’ Apple Bloom noticed something odd in Diamond’s story. “Wait, y’all don’t know me at all.”

“Of course I do,” Diamond Tiara said as she and Apple Bloom arrived at their destination. Diamond reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a blanket, and began laying it out on the ground. “Your family used to foalsit for me when we were in preschool, remember?”

“How could ah forget?” Apple Bloom asked rhetorically through gritted teeth. “Ya used ta knock ma blocks over. An’ steal ma blanket during naptime. An’ kick me in yer ‘sleep’, sleep in air quotes.”

“That’s all in the past,” Diamond Tiara said as she finished laying her blanket out. “Sit.”

Apple Bloom hesitantly sat down opposite Diamond Tiara on the blanket. “Even so, that’s not really ‘knowin’’ me at all. Ah bet ya don’t know what mah favourite food is.”

“Apple fritter,” Diamond replied.

“… Okay, but ah’ll bet ya know what ah wanted for mah birthday last year.”

“Your mother and father,” Diamond answered. “You came to school all depressed about it, remember?”

“… Alright, ya got me there, but… ah bet ya can’t guess what number ah’m thinkin’ of.”

“Eighty-nine.” Diamond Tiara grinned as she watched Apple Bloom’s flabbergasted face. “See? I know you better than I do anypony else around here. Salad?”

Apple Bloom looked down at the delicious salad being offered to her, and felt that she needed to resist the urge to drool after remembering its amazing taste. “Oh, uh, no thanks. Ah brought mah own lunch.”

“You sure?” Diamond asked. “Being my new best friend means you get a range of benefits now, such as being able to enjoy the finest cuisine in all of Equestria, and five-star luxury spa treatments paid for by me.”

“Really?” Apple Bloom asked with an excited look on her face. “Ah don’t know what ‘cuisine’ means, but ah’ve always wondered what one of them fancy spa treatments is like.”

“Well today’s your lucky day! Let’s say we both pay a visit to the spa after school is out?”

“Ah can’t,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah’ve got detention after school for tryin’ ta set off fireworks. The others are gonna be stuck after school with me, too.”

“Aw, that’s too bad,” Diamond Tiara said, her ears drooping. They perked up less than a second later. “Okay, I’ll wait for you!”

“Y-You wha?” Apple Bloom asked, leaning back slightly as she began to fear that the pink filly was losing her mind.

“Sure, I don’t mind! And when you get out we can go to the spa together and you can get your luxury treatment! What better time to unwind than after a long and surely unfair detention?”

“Hmmm… That does sound pretty temptin’,” Apple Bloom said. “But, me an’ the girls-”

“You play with them all the time,” Diamond Tiara said. “C’mon, spend some time with your new friend.”

“… W-Well, ah guess they’ll understand, since y’all really need a friend right now-”

“Great! It’s a date then!” Diamond Tiara picked up her salad and dug into it.

Meanwhile, Apple Bloom was wondering just what she was getting herself into. “S-So, what exactly were you an’ Silver fightin’ about?”

“That’s not important,” Diamond answered instantaneously. “Oh, that’s right! We should exchange phone numbers!”

“Uh, ah don’t have a phone,” Apple Bloom said with a frown.

“You don’t?” Diamond asked, completely caught by surprise. “Well, that’s okay. Here, I’ll give you one of mine.” Before Apple Bloom could protest, Diamond Tiara reached into her bag and pulled out a small, red mobile phone. “Here.”

Apple Bloom hesitantly took the small device and stared at it in wonder. “W-Wow. Ah’ve been savin’ up fer one of these fer so long… an’ now ah’ve got one just like that.”

“You know how to use it, right?” Diamond asked. Apple Bloom shook her head. “Let me show you then.” Diamond Tiara leaned over to explain the various features and functions of Apple Bloom’s new phone. The entire time, the farm filly’s excitement continued to grow as she thought about all the new things she could do now that she finally had her very first phone.

Sweetie Belle sat in the grass and clutched her juice box with both hooves as she sipped away nervously in front of Silver Spoon, who was ranting about the time that Diamond Tiara got her dress dirty and lied about it.

“Can you believe she thought I would buy that? But, silly me, I decided to let it slide, thinking we would be best friends for life.”

“Mhm.” Sweetie Belle glanced over at the school building, wondering why the bell hadn’t yet rang. Either it was broken, or time was just moving a lot slower from her perspective.

“You know what, you’re a much better friend than she ever was! You’re so easy to talk to. You don’t interrupt me when I’m speaking or tease me for my smarts…”

“Mhm.” Sweetie Belle glanced over at the other foals playing in the distance, wishing she were there instead of here.

“We should totally hang out some more! I know, how about you come round my house after school and we can totally hang out together and do more fun stuff.”

“Mhm.” A moment passed before Sweetie Belle had realised what she had just agreed to. “I mean-”

“Great!” Silver Spoon said with a smile, telling Sweetie Belle that it was too late to back out now. “I’ll help you pick out a new manestyle, something with braids I’m thinking. Or maybe a different colour is what you need…”

“Uh, Silver Spoon?” Sweetie Belle asked, backing away a little bit as the other filly moved in to examine her mane. “The spelling bee?”

“Oh, right! Okay, next word, hit me!”

Sweetie Belle picked up the stack of cards by her side and read off the next word on the list. “Amplification.”

“See?!” Silver Spoon shouted, startling Sweetie Belle and causing her to fumble the cards in her hooves. “Another great thing about you is that you can actually read! Diamond would have just skipped that word and many others because she can’t read big words like that at all! Oh, I wish I had realised sooner how much of a pain she was. But it’s okay, because now I have you, and you’re a much better friend than she could ever be!” Silver Spoon reached a hoof around the back of Sweetie Belle’s neck and pulled her in for a friendly hug.

Sweetie Belle let out a nervous laugh as she tried to scoot away from the crazy filly beside her. ‘I hope Apple Bloom’s doing better than I am.’

“And they just totally left me there, all on my own!” Scootaloo took another bite out of her carrot and chugged her juice to wash it down. “I had, like, a hundred ideas for what we could do to find our Cutie Marks, but they’d rather hang out with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon!”

“Yeah, sucks,” Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes and forcing herself not to just take off into the sky and abandon the little filly. “So, why come to me? Why not find somepony else your age to hang with?”

“Nopony else is as cool as you!” Scootaloo said, causing a grin to appear on Rainbow’s face. “Y’know what? Who needs ‘em?! You and me are the two coolest ponies in Ponyville! I’ll just hang with you from now on! It’ll be totally rad!”

“Uh, yeah. That’s, that’s great.” The sound of the school’s bell gave Rainbow Dash some relief, and she quickly jumped into the air. “Well, that’s the bell! Guess you’d better get yourself back to class, right?”

Scootaloo moaned and packed what remained of her lunch back into her bag. “Yeah… Well, it was fun hangin’ with ya! We’ve gotta do it again sometime!”

“Totally!” Rainbow said before taking off into the air, taking a moment to look back down at the filly waving up to her. “That’s what I get for slacking off on the job. Maybe I should stop taking so many breaks… Nah, just gotta find a better place to nap, that’s all.”

“And that’s how we arrive at our answer: ten with a remainder of seven, or ‘ten and seven eights’.” Cheerilee turned back to her class, clearing her throat to remind her students to take notes. Half of the class, who had been staring forward with blank looks on their faces, began writing in their little notebooks, though what exactly they were scribbling down the teacher had her doubts about.

Suddenly, the classroom door burst open. Everypony jumped and turned to the door with a start, finding a young brown colt standing at the doorway, his left eye twitching and his entire body shaking.

“Where is she?!” the colt suddenly shouted, charging into the room and searching underneath every desk. “Where is the Princess?! I must find her before the evil knight Tirek does!”

Cheerilee sighed and slammed a hoof into her face. ‘Why me?’ she asked herself as she approached the colt. She placed a hoof onto his shoulder, causing him to gasp and quickly jump back. “Button, have you been drinking coffee again?”

The colt quickly shook his head for a solid five seconds, before stopping and instead nodding. “One cup! Needed to wake up, thought it’d help! Actually three! GAH!” Button jumped up as high as he could. “Ten cups!”

Fillies and colts laughed as they watched the younger colt running around in circles around their teacher, chanting about some evil spirits following him around and a curse afflicting Cheerilee’s mind.

“Okay, Button. Take it easy,” Cheerilee said as she stopped the colt with a hoof. She then raised her head to look over her students. “Class, I’m going to have to step out for a moment to take care of this. While I’m gone, I want you all to answer the next twenty questions on your own, in silence.”

“Yes, Miss Cheerilee,” the class answered in unison. She knew there was no chance of that happening, but didn’t have time to worry about it as Button Mash had somehow eluded her grip and slipped out through the open classroom door.

“Oh no! Button, get back here!” Cheerilee raced out after her student, leaving her class alone whilst she tried to prevent any big disasters from taking place.

Now all alone, the students took the time to not study or answer any textbook questions, but to plan what they were going to do after school with their friends, or to continue their conversations from lunchtime.

“Hey Apple Bloom,” Diamond Tiara called out to her new friend as she leaned over towards her, “Isn’t this lesson like, so totally boring?”

“Uh, yeah,” Apple Bloom answered, turning her attention to her work in the hopes of Diamond Tiara following suit.

“So glad you agree. It’s good to have such a cool, and fun, and glassesless friend like you around.”

“‘Glassesless’ isn’t even a word,” Silver Spoon and Sweetie Belle said in unison. The two fillies turned to each other in shock, and then Silver Spoon turned back to Diamond Tiara with a smug grin.

“Well well, my new friend has an IQ higher than a grape,” she said, earning a glare from both Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom.

“An’ what’s that supposed ta mean?” Apple Bloom asked. She turned to Diamond Tiara. “No, really, what does that mean?”

Diamond Tiara simply shrugged. “It means you’re stupid,” Sweetie Belle said. “IQ is a measure of intelligence. She’s saying you’re stupider than a grape… or at least as smart as one.” Sweetie Belle gulped at the glares that the two fillies were giving. “H-Hey, those were her words, not mine!”

“Hey Diamond,” Silver Spoon said, “Remember when you asked me how my day was? Oh, wait, that was Sweetie Belle. You never seemed to care. Well, in case you’re wondering, it’s been pretty great, with you not around and all.”

“Why would I care?” Diamond asked. “All you ever do is follow me around and agree with everything I say, it’s obvious you were always having a good day.”

“Actually, thinking back on it makes me want to puke,” Silver Spoon said before turning around to face Sweetie Belle. “C’mon, new best friend, let’s solve these problems together. Anything to get my mind off of that stupid, annoying, prissy little-” Silver Spoon stopped as she felt something hit her in the back of her head.

Turning around, Silver Spoon found Diamond Tiara pulling back on an elastic band, a fragment of a broken eraser nestled inside the makeshift catapult. Letting go cause the piece of eraser to fire forward, striking Silver Spoon on the forehead.

“Hey! Do you mind? Some of us are trying to work over here!” Diamond Tiara ignored her and fired a third eraser from her elastic band. “Stop that!” Silver Spoon shouted, grabbing her water bottle and spraying it at Diamond Tiara, who shrieked and quickly jumped out of her seat. Apple Bloom, however, was not fast enough and found herself hit by the water assault meant for somepony else.

“What are you trying to do, ruin my perfect mane?!” Diamond shouted as she stormed up to Silver Spoon’s desk.

“You’re the one who was acting all childish and wouldn’t stop shooting these at me!” Silver Spoon shouted back, picking up one of the eraser pieces and throwing it at Diamond’s face. It bounced off of the growling filly’s nose and landed on the floor.

“You calling me a child?!” Diamond asked.

“Yeah! What are you going to do about it?!” Silver Spoon challenged, butting her head with Diamond Tiara’s as they both gritted their teeth together and growled furiously to each other.

“H-Hold up you two,” Apple Bloom said, slowly climbing out of her seat and approaching the two fillies. However, she was stopped by the voices of her classmates behind her.

“Fight! Fight! Fight!” they chanted, much to Apple Bloom’s surprise.

“Two bits on Diamond Tiara!” one colt called out.

“Five on Silver Spoon!” a filly added.

“Stop encouragin’ them!” Apple Bloom shouted before turning back to the two arguing fillies. Only, they weren’t arguing anymore. Diamond Tiara pushed Silver Spoon backwards a little, and the grey filly returned the favour with just a little more force.

“Stop it!” Sweetie Belle shouted, a frightened look on her face as she watched the situation spiralling out of control.

“Fight! Fight! Fight!”

“Shut up!” Scootaloo shouted, before jumping out of her seat as she saw Silver Spoon fall backwards into her desk and fall onto her flanks.

“Ow!” Silver Spoon cried out, before adjusting her glasses and jumping back to her hooves. She lunged forward and pushed Diamond Tiara so hard that the other filly stumbled on her hind hooves for a few seconds, before falling over the teacher’s desk behind her.

“Diamond! You okay?!” Apple Bloom asked as she ran around to the other side of Cheerilee’s desk, finding Diamond Tiara sitting on the floor and rubbing her head. A small gash on Diamond’s foreleg leaked a small trail of blood, but at this point Diamond was simply too enraged to even notice the pain. “Diamond!”

Diamond Tiara rose to her hooves and circled back around the desk, charging towards Silver Spoon, who was more than ready for her. The two fell down to the floor in a heap as blows were exchanged between the two, a few of them occasionally getting through and hitting the other filly in the face.

The cheers of the students continued for a few moments, but soon started to die down. The two fighting fillies didn’t notice however, and simply continued to fight until a loud screeching sound startled them both into freezing on the spot.

Looking up, the two fillies saw their teacher towering over them, a whistle in her hoof and a very angry look on her face. “Class, I’m sorry that that took so long. We will now resume the lesson. Diamond Tiara, I want you to remain in your usual seat. Silver Spoon, I want you to sit in the opposite corner of the classroom.”

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon exchanged glares for a second, but stopped when another blow of the whistle caught them completely off guard. Grumbling under their breaths, the two fillies obliged, Diamond sitting down in her usual seat and Silver Spoon packing up her things to move to her newly-assigned seat.

“Now then, I want you all to continue answering the questions in your text books quietly for the next ten minutes, while I sort these two out.” Cheerilee walked over to her desk and pulled out a first aid kit from within her top drawer. She made her way over to Diamond Tiara, remaining perfectly silent as she lay the small green box down on her student’s desk and started to tend to Diamond’s injuries.

Nopony in the class dared to say anything. Not even the Crusaders, who usually communicated through note-passing, made any sort of move to try talking to each other. They simply kept their heads down and continued working through the uncomfortable silence, wishing the day would just end already so that they could serve their detention and then leave.

After school let out, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were surprised to find that their detention had been lifted. Cheerilee decided that there were two other foals whose actions were much more serious, and needed her immediate attention at that point. Though not all hope had been restored, as the teacher made sure they understood that their detention had simply been delayed, not forgotten.

Still, for that afternoon at least, they were free. However, it was difficult for them to concentrate on Crusading with the events that took place earlier that day still fresh in their minds, and so they decided instead to simply hang out at the clubhouse.

“So, how was eating lunch with your new friends today, you guys?” Scootaloo asked, crossing her forelegs as she kept her head turned away from her two fellow Crusaders.

“Come on, we only did that because we felt sorry for them,” Sweetie Belle said. “Right Apple Bloom? … Apple Bloom?”

“Huh? What?” Apple Bloom looked up from her new phone and looked between her two friends. “Oh, yeah! We weren’t tryin’ ta abandon ya or anythin’.”

“You’ve been playing with that phone ever since we left the schoolhouse,” Scootaloo said. “Is it really that interesting?”

“Yeah!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, holding her phone out for her friends to see. “Check it out! It can send and receive texts, it has a built-in calculator, a clock and a calendar, a thermometer, it tells moon phases and wind direction-”

“Why would you need that?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Well, it, uh… Ah’m sure it can be used fer somethin’! Oh hey, there’s some game on here called ‘Angry Birds’!”

Scootaloo extended her hoof to obstruct Apple Bloom’s view of her phone. “That’s great, but I think we can all agree this has just gotten out of hoof! That fight in the classroom earlier was totally out of control!”

Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement. “Somepony could have gotten seriously hurt if Miss Cheerilee hadn’t returned when she did!”

Apple Bloom put a hoof to her chin. “Somethin’ really bad must’ve happened between those two ta make ‘em fight this big, huh?”

“Wonder what it was?” Scootaloo asked.

“They always seemed like such good friends,” Sweetie Belle said, her ears lowering and she looked down at the floor. She was struck by sudden inspiration, and she jumped up to knock the light bulb above her head, causing it to light up. “That’s it! We’ve gotta find a way to make them remember what good friends they were!”

“How’re we gonna do that?” Apple Bloom asked.

“I… I don’t know! But since when has not knowing something ever stopped us from carrying out a secret mission?”

“Never,” Scootaloo answered. “But I don’t know. It’s kinda their fight, not ours. Shouldn’t we just let ‘em handle it themselves?”

“Oh no!” Apple Bloom shouted. “Sorry girls, I told Diamond ah’d meet her at the spa later today! Ah’m gettin’ special VIP service now that we’re friends!” Apple Bloom quickly picked up her bag and galloped towards the clubhouse’s door. “Sorry, y’all will have ta carry this on without me!”

Scootaloo watched with an annoyed stare as Apple Bloom rushed out of the clubhouse without another word. “… Alright, I’m in. So what’s the plan?”

Apple Bloom left the Ponyville spa feeling like a new filly. She felt refreshed as the cool breezed brushed against her shiny new coat, and a pleasant odour wafted into her nose as her mane blew in front of her face. Her body felt as light as a feather, and her mane felt silky smooth as she ran a hoof through it.

“Ah never knew a spa treatment could feel so good,” Apple Bloom muttered to herself as she looked back inside the spa building behind her. She could see Diamond Tiara handing the payment to the receptionist and couldn’t help but feel a little guilty. ‘Ah shouldn’t take advantage of such a generous offer. Ah should really make this up ta her somehow.’

“Psst!” Apple Bloom turned around and raised an eyebrow as she noticed Scootaloo calling her over from behind a nearby lamppost. “Apple Bloom! Over here!”

“Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom asked as she walked over towards the orange filly. “What’s goin’ on?”

“Not much time! We’ve come up with a plan to get those two idiots back together!”

“Ya have?” Apple Bloom asked. ‘That’s it! Ah can make this up ta her by helpin’ her make up with her best friend in the whole world!’ “So what do we do?”

“Just get Diamond Tiara over to the park’s gazebo when she comes out! Sweetie Belle’s workin’ on gettin’ Silver spoon there.”

“Are ya sure this’ll work?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Probably. What’ve we got ta lose?” Apple Bloom thought about it and nodded her head in agreement. “Alright, I’m countin’ on you!”

“Jus’ leave it ta me!”

“Apple Bloom?” Diamond asked as she left the Ponyville spa. Scootaloo quickly ducked behind a nearby bush and Apple Bloom hurried back to her new friend’s side. “There you are. So? Wasn’t that spa treatment simply the best thing you’ve ever experienced in your whole life?”

“It sure was somethin’,” Apple Bloom said. “Say, since we’re friends now…” Apple Bloom had to pause for a bit. That was something she never thought she would say to this filly. “Uh, since we’re friends now… there’s somethin’ ah wanna show ya.”

“Oh?” Diamond asked. “It’s not going to involve me getting my hooves muddy, is it?”

“No, nothin’ like that. Just a quick visit ta the park.”

“Oh, that’s all? Well, sure, I guess I’ve got the time. I kind of don’t want to go home yet anyway… Miss Cheerilee sent a letter home to daddy about today’s incident.”

Apple Bloom bit her lower lip, thinking about what would happen if Granny Smith ever found out she was in a fight with another pony. “Well then, if ya’ll just follow me then…”

“Hold it,” Diamond Tiara said, causing Apple Bloom to freeze mid-turn. Diamond leaned forward and narrowed her eyes at the farm filly, before reaching a hoof towards her and grabbing her mane. “Those twins really didn’t do a good job brushing your mane, did they? Guess I’ll have to do it myself later.”

Apple Bloom let out a sigh of relief and continued once Diamond Tiara released her mane. “Yeah, later. But first, the park.”

Diamond Tiara nodded. “Alright then. Lead the way.”

“How much further is this place?” Silver Spoon asked as she followed Sweetie Belle through the park. She decided that since she was no longer friends with Diamond Tiara, and since she didn’t want to go home to her surely-angry mother and father just yet, she might as well accompany her new friend to the park for a bit. However, had she known the walk would be so tiring, she would have simply suggested a visit to Sweetie Belle’s sister’s boutique instead.

Silver Spoon stopped walking as the two arrived at the gazebo, and she noticed a certain pink filly standing before her. “Ugh, what is she doing her?” Diamond Tiara asked Apple Bloom with a disgusted look on her face.

“Let’s go, Sweetie Belle,” Silver Spoon said as she turned around. “Whatever you had planned here will simply have to wait.” Silver Spoon waited for a second, before realising that Sweetie Belle wasn’t moving. “I said, let’s go.”

“Now hold up there,” Apple Bloom called out. “This here park’s big enough fer all four of us. Why not jus’ share it?”

“Like I’d share anything with that nerd,” Diamond scoffed.

Silver Spoon turned back and narrowed her eyes. “On second thought, I guess I’ll stay after all,” she said, receiving a glare from Diamond Tiara. “But only because I know she doesn’t want me to.”

Diamond gritted her teeth together, but refused to give in. “Well then, since we’re all here, let’s play a game together!” Sweetie Belle said as she jumped in-between the two fillies.

“What kinda game?” Apple Bloom asked, still completely oblivious to the plan herself.

“Truth or dare!” Sweetie Belle answered. “It’s real easy! You ask one pony truth or-”

“We know how it works,” Diamond Tiara said. “And I’m not going to sit around and play such a stupid game with this loser here!”

“Hey!” Apple Bloom shouted.

“I was referring to Silver Spoon.”

“Oh.” Apple Bloom gave Sweetie Belle a curious look, wondering where she was going with this. “Well, I’m up fer it! It might be fun, an’ who knows? Ya might be able ta get Silver Spoon ta do somethin’ silly.”

Diamond Tiara considered that for a second, and then sported a devious grin on her face. “Hmmm, you’ve got a point there. Okay, I’m in.”

“Great!” Sweetie Belle said. “I’ll go first! To make it more interesting, I’ll roll a dice and the number I get is the number or truths or dares I can ask a pony before my turn’s over.”

“It’s called a die,” Silver Spoon corrected. “And I guess that might spice it up a little bit.”

Sweetie Belle rolled the die, hoping it would land on any number besides one. She needed at least a two for her plan to work. She smiled as she saw the number three come up, and started things off by turning her attention to Diamond Tiara. “Diamond, truth or dare?”

“Hmph. Like I’ll give you the chance to make me humiliate myself in front of everypony in Ponyville. Truth.”

Sweetie Belle anticipated that, and was ready with her question long before the game even started. “Why did you first become friends with Silver Spoon?”

Diamond raised an eyebrow. “That’s stupid. Give me another question.”

“Ya can’t do that,” Apple Bloom said. “No do-overs. Either answer or take a dare.”

“Or admit defeat,” Sweetie Belle said, to make extra sure that Diamond wouldn’t simply back out of it.

“Ugh, fine,” Diamond Tiara sighed. “Let’s see… it was when we started our first day of school together. Daddy said that she was from a wealthy family too, and had lots of toys at her house, and asked if I wanted to play with her. So we played for a little bit at her house and I guess somehow we became friends.”

“There’s got to be more to it than that though,” Sweetie Belle said. “If you become friends with somepony simply because they have toys, we would have been friends long ago.”

“… Well, she was also wealthy,” Diamond Tiara said. “And… kinda funny…” Diamond turned her head to avoid everypony’s eyes as she trailed off. “And pretty, too. Just like me. She was also loyal. I could tell her anything and she wouldn’t share it with a single soul… no matter what.”

“… Well, of course,” Silver Spoon said, turning her gaze towards the ground. “You looked like you needed somepony to talk to sometimes, and I wanted to make sure you never felt alone…”

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle exchanged knowing smiles. Sweetie Belle then turned to Silver Spoon. “Your turn now. Truth or dare?”

“Um… Based on the last question you just asked, I’m going to have to go with dare.”

‘Kiss Diamond Tiara!’ was the first thing to enter Sweetie Belle’s mind. ‘No, I’ve gotta stick with the plan!’ Clearing her throat, Sweetie Belle gave her dare. “List five good qualities that Diamond Tiara has!”

Silver Spoon scoffed. “Well that’s east, ‘cause there are none!”

“You sure?” Apple Bloom asked. “Ah bet Diamond could beat ya easily if she had that dare!”

Diamond took the chance to cast a smug grin towards Silver Spoon, who huffed and slammed the ground with a hoof. “Fine! Let’s see… I guess she’s okay at video games. And she’s kinda pretty. She’s got the whole leadership thing going for her, too, I guess. She’s got a good imagination… which helps her to come up with things I couldn’t even dream of. And she’s… fun to be around…”

“I am?” Diamond asked, genuinely shocked by Silver Spoon’s confession.

“Well… yeah… Like I said, you come up with some really great ideas. And you never seem to let the little things bother you. You’re always laughing, in any situation… and it makes me laugh, too.”

Diamond Tiara scratched her head and blushed slightly at what she was hearing. “Well, I had to laugh. You were always worrying over every little detail, and I didn’t know any other way to cheer you up. Since you’re smarter than me, I kinda thought anything I’d try wouldn’t work. You’d just see right through it…”

There was a long silence between the two, neither of them willing to lift their heads up and look into each other’s eyes, but neither of them baring their teeth or glaring in anger anymore. Sweetie Belle thought that that would have been enough, but she decided to give it one last little push. “Silver Spoon, truth or dare?”

“Me again?” Silver Spoon asked, turning to Sweetie Belle with furrowed brows. With a sigh, she said: “Fine, truth.”

Sweetie Belle grinned. ‘Exactly as planned,’ she thought to herself. “Silver Spoon, same question as before: why did you and Diamond Tiara become friends?”

Diamond raised her head as she heard the question, and watched as Silver Spoon looked back at her with a unreadable gaze. “I…” Silver Spoon swallowed the lump in her throat and took a step forward, towards Diamond Tiara. “I liked hanging out with her. She was easy to talk to, and she always knew how to make me laugh, even when I was sad. She teased me for my smarts, but she also celebrated whenever I did well on a test or in a spelling bee.”

Diamond also took a step forward, followed by another, and another. “Well, yeah. Because I was your friend…”

“You are my friend,” Silver Spoon said as the two fillies met in the middle, tears starting to fall down her eyes. She raised a hoof to wipe them away. “And I’m sorry for the things I said. I… I’m sorry I hurt you-”

“Hurt me?” Diamond huffed, and reached a hoof forward to wipe some of the tears from Silver Spoon’s face. “Idiot. You know me. I’m tougher than that!”

Silver Spoon let out a weak laugh. “But, I still said a bunch of stuff that I shouldn’t have.”

“Well, so did I,” Diamond said. “I’m… I’m sorry too…” Diamond Tiara leaned forward and nuzzled against Silver Spoon’s cheek, the affection being returned by her friend. “Can we just go back to the way we were already? I hate feeling bad without my best friend to give me her ‘logic therapy’.”

Silver Spoon giggled at the familiar term she was used to hearing. “Yeah. I hate not hearing your laugh when I’m feeling upset.” The two parted from each other and nodded as they raised their forehooves. “Bump…”

“Bump…”

“Sugar lump rump!” the two finished in unison as they completed their ‘secret hoofshake’ together. They laughed together as they wrapped their hooves around each other in a friendly embrace, before being interrupted by a coughing sound beside them.

Turn their heads, the two fillies noticed that Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and now Scootaloo, were still standing there, watching them. “That’s great that y’all made up an’ all,” Apple Bloom said.

“I’m really happy for you! Looks like the plan worked,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Yeah! So, you think a ‘thanks’ or somethin’ is in order?” Scootaloo asked with a smug grin.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon turned to each other, knowing grins spread across their faces, and they parted as they turned back to the Crusaders. “Thanks,” Diamond Tiara began, “For meddling.”

The two fillies nodded to each other, and in unison, they cried: “Blank flanks!”

Whilst the two fillies laughed together, extra hard to make up for lost laughs, the three Crusaders simply exchanged deadpan stares and let out sighs in unison. “You sure this was such a good idea?” Scootaloo asked.

“Well… they’re happy now, right?” Sweetie Belle said.

Apple Bloom reached into her bag and took out her phone. “Sweetie Belle’s right. They’re happy again, an’ besides, at least somethin’ good came from this whole thing!”

Suddenly, a pink blur swiped the device from Apple Bloom’s hoof. The filly turned to find Diamond Tiara tossing the phone up and down in her hoof. “I’ll be taking this back now. It shouldn’t be in the hooves of an uncivilised hick like yourself.”

“Hey Diamond, let’s go and grab something to eat at Sugarcube Corner,” Silver Spoon said.

“Great idea Silver Spoon.” Diamond Tiara put the phone into her bag, and the two fillies left together, chatting and giggling as they wandered out of sight from the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

When they were gone, Apple Bloom dropped to her knees, her face pale and her hooves shaking. “No way,” she said. “They took her! They took Samantha away from me! I only just got her, and they took her!”

“Are you okay?” Scootaloo asked, eyebrow raised as she watched her friend with mild embarrassment.

“Samantha, NOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo covered their ears with their hooves until they were sure that Apple Bloom was finished. After their ears uncovered, Scootaloo asked: “So, Cutie Mark Crusader lawnmowerers?”

“Yeah!” Sweetie Belle cheered. “Let’s use the big one Apple Bloom’s brother keeps in the barn!”

“Ah’m in!” Apple Bloom shouted as she jumped to her hooves. “Let’s do it!”