'Like, why do I have to know any of this?'

"Like, why do I have to know any of this?" Diamond Tiara grumbled, her ears pulled back.

'Why do I even have to keep going to school.'

"Why do I even have to keep going to school?" she huffed, crossing her arms.

'I already know what I'm going to do with my life anyways.'

"I mean, like, I already know what I'm going to do anyways, and I don't need school for it at this point."

Alright, so the script did vary a little more than she expected, but Silver Spoon had pretty much guessed all of what her friend was going to say. Almost verbatim in fact. Not much of a surprise since the two of them had known each other for years. A lot of ponies would be envious of the idea that one pony knew another so well, they could guess what that pony was going to say.

However, Silver Spoon just found it disappointing.

If she were to be completely honest, Silver Spoon had gotten tired of putting up with Diamond Tiara's cattiness and bad attitude. At the worst moments, Silver Spoon alternated between wondering why she put up with it, and fearing for being on the receiving end. Either way, both had the added anxiety of having no friends at all. Diamond Tiara had pretty much terrorized everypony their age to the point of wanting to avoid her, and thus Silver Spoon by association. At the best moments, Silver just wished that Diamond would talk about something new, or just so some interest in her for a change.

"Are you even listening to me?" Diamond Tiara snapped, turning to glare back at Silver Spoon (who it seemed had to always walk back and to the right).

"Like, of course," Silver Spoon replied, trying her best to act offended at the accusation. Of course, it was a complete lie. She had been listening at first, when they had gotten out of school, but had basically tuned out when she realized that Diamond Tiara was basically going to do the same thing she always did: complain about things and act like she was better than it all.

This was their senior year, the last year of high school, and she had not wanted it to start just like every other had since elementary school. She wanted it to be different. She wanted it to be memorable. Although she had know it was unlikely, Silver Spoon had really been hoping that with the threat of adulthood pending, Diamond Tiara would return from her vacation with a more mature attitude.

It became quite clear how wrong she had been when they got to school, and Diamond Tiara started bragging about her vacation in the tropics and showing off the brand new -- and much, much more expensive (as she pointed out quite loudly) -- tiara she had gotten during the trip. There had even been some extra effort on Diamond's part to make certain ponies even more jealous than the rest.

Over a decade, and some things had not changed: such as Diamond Tiara's favorite targets for teasing and harassing. Granted, one of them had gotten a lot bigger and tougher, and had even threatened to give Diamond Tiara what for a few times. Unfortunately, not even the threat of physical retaliation had not seemed to discourage her. If anything, she seemed to take it as a challenge.

"Hey, Silver," Diamond whispered. "Look."

Up ahead and off to one side of the path sat a familiar white form of a unicorn. Silver Spoon recognized her instantly. Number three on Diamond Tiara's list of favorite victims: Sweetie Belle. Currently she was paying more attention to something off in the woods than anything else, completely unaware of their approach.

Silver Spoon felt her jaw clench as she had to bite back the urge to groan. She really did not want to do this. Not now. And definitely not with her. Of the three choice victims, Sweetie Belle was the one that had become the least fun to Spoon.

"Well look at that," Diamond Tiara called out. A sneer spread across her face as she stalked toward her target. "If it isn't Squirtie Belle."

At the sound of Diamond's voice, Silver could see Sweetie Belle jump. Turning around, the petite unicorn looked up at the approaching Diamond Tiara, green eyes wide under her hat. Sweetie gripped at a notebook, holding it close to her chest.

"What do you want?" Sweetie Belle asked. It was kind of sad how her voice cracked, and squeaked at the end.

Closing her eyes, Silver Spoon rubbed at her forehead. She did not want to do this. She did not want to be involved in this. Really, at this point she would prefer to do anything else. They were supposed to be going to Diamond Tiara's house to hang out and have a slumber party. That sounded like it would be a lot more fun than teasing another pony.

"What do you have there?" Diamond Tiara asked.

"Nothing," Sweetie Belle answered. "It's just a notebook with some stuff written in it."

Oh no, Silver Spoon thought. That had been the wrong answer. "Stuff" indicated that it was personal, and that meant that Diamond Tiara would want to know about even more. Especially if it was something that she could use to embarrass her victim in front of everypony at a later time.

"Ooooohhhhh," Diamond cooed. "A notebook with 'stuff' you say? What kind of stuff? Is it about your boyfriend?" Pausing, she tapped at her chin. "What was his name? Muddy Splash or something?"

"I don't have a boyfriend," Sweetie snapped, her eyes narrowing in anger. "And even if I did, whatever I wrote is private. Who would have a name like that anyways?"

"Tell you what," Diamond Tiara said as she smiled and held out a hand, "you let me see your stupid little notebook, and you won't have to find out. Okay?"

"What does that mean?" Sweetie Belle asked, taking a step back.

A part of Silver Spoon wanted to tell Sweetie Belle to run. She could guess what was going to happen. This was all going to far.

"Just give me the notebook," Diamond Tiara said.

"No." Taking another step back, Sweetie Belle turned to hold the notebook further away.

"I said give me the notebook, you little squirt," Diamond growled out. Her ears pulled back against her head as he bared her teeth.

"And I said 'no!'"

With a snarl, Diamond Tiara reached out and grabbed a hold of Sweetie Belle's dress. With a hard yank, she pulled the smaller mare closer. Diamond grabbed a hold of the notebook and started yanking.

"Give it to me you little--"

"Let her go!"

For a moment, time seemed to stop with everything frozen in place. The air, the trees, even the insects all stopped and turned quiet. Eyes wide, both Diamond Tiara and Sweetie Belle turned to look at the pony that dared speak up.

At which point, Silver Spoon realized that it had been her who had said something. She did not remember doing it, but there was no other pony around, and they were staring at her.

"What!" Diamond snapped. "Did you! Say?!"

"I said let her go," Silver Spoon repeated, shifting. Why did she do that? Why? Now she was on Diamond Tiara's Radar of Wrath. She had to do something. Say something that would defuse the situation.

"Come on Diamond. This is boring." Shifting, she looked down at the ground, focusing on the puddle of mud. "Besides, it's just a stupid notebook. There's probably, like, nothing cool or interesting in it. Just some stupid love poems or something."

Diamond Tiara shifted, her stance getting wider. There was a hiss from Sweetie Belle as the grip on her arm tightened.

"You..." Diamond said slowly, "want... me... to let... her... go?"

"Yeah. Come on. You made your point and it's not like you need to find out more about her anyways. It's just a waste."

For a moment, everything turned quiet again. Silver Spoon shifted, looking up just enough to watch Diamond Tiara while still keeping her head down. Diamond's eyes were narrowed as she glared at Silver, her jaw clenched tight and teeth bared. Silver fought the urge to shrink back, to flinch. She just had to stay still and wait for Diamond to make her decision. Silently, Silver Spoon prayed to Celestia that she would not end up Diamond's list of victims.

The glare vanished as a smirk spread across Diamond Tiara's mouth. The look sent a shiver down Silver Spoon's spine since she had seen that look before, just never aimed in her direction.

"You know what?" Diamond Tiara asked. "Fine."

Adjusting her stance, Diamond Tiara gave Sweetie Belle a hard shove. One of her legs stuck out to catch the other mare's throwing her off balance. Still trying to keep her notebook close, Sweetie Belle through out one arm to try and break her fall.

There was a thick, wet splattering sound and Sweetie Belle landed in the puddle of mud. Instead of breaking her fall, the outstretched arm made her turn onto her side. The hat went fluttering from her head, and the notebook slipped from her grip.

"What in Tartarus is wrong with you?!" Silver Spoon bellowed out, much to her own surprise. She could feel one of her hands clenching hard enough for her nails to dig into her palm.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Diamond Tiara yelled back, stomping toward Silver Spoon.

"This," she motioned toward Sweetie Belle, "is stupid. And pointless. It's our senior years. We're supposed to be learning to be grown-ups, and you're still doing this... childish, bratty stuff."

"Childish?"

"Yes. Childish! And worse. Look at this." Again, Silver Spoon motioned at Sweetie Belle, who was now sitting up in the puddle of mud. "You shoved her into the mud."

"Why do you care so much?" Diamond Tiara asked.

"Because this is too far!" Silver Spoon shouted, finding herself nose to nose with Diamond Tiara. "It's bad enough that you still have to tease them over, like, whatever petty slight you've deluded yourself with them having done --"

"Petty?" Diamond Tiara cried out.

"-- but now you're actually resorting to physically assaulting them. And her of all ponies. It's... lame."

"That's enough," Diamond growled, grabbing the front of Silver Spoon's outfit. "I will not put up with any more of your insubordination. You got me?"

Anger flared in Silver Spoon, burning hotter than before. One of her hands grabbed Diamond Tiara's wrist as the other reached out to Tiara's chest. Giving the arm on her top a yank, Silver shoved hard. There was a pop of stitches and ripping of fabric as Diamond tore it.

"Don't put your hands on me!" Silver Spoon yelled. "And you're not my boss. You're supposed to be my friend."

"Friend?" Diamond said. "Ha! I was only friends with you because you were the only pony even close to being as rich as I am. Plus I knew the moment I saw you that you were totally spineless. You were never my friend. You were just some shallow, weak, wimpy, pathetic little yes mare that I kept around because I knew that you would do what I want when I wanted and were too much of a coward to ever really stand up to me."

With each of Diamond Tiara's insults, Silver Spoon's anger gave away to fear and sadness. In truth, there had been times when she was very much scared about the very things that Diamond Tiara was saying. It was like hearing the worst things she had thought about herself being said, and by the one pony that was supposed to be her friend no less.

Everything started to get blurry.

"Well you were wrong," Silver huffed, her voice thick with emotions as she tried to blink back tears. "And anyways, who would want to be friends with a spoiled, selfish, egotistical, rude, brat like you!" She took a swing at Diamond Tiara. Unfortunately it was wide and horribly sloppy. Even if she had managed to hit, she had not put any sort of real weight behind it. It probably would have just glanced off of Diamond Tiara harmlessly.

"And what are you going to do?" Diamond Tiara asked, once again moving toward Silver Spoon. "Be more like her? Or the rest of them? Some wimpy little nopony?"

"At least they are able of actually caring for and supporting each other," Silver Spoon retorted. "And if they were 'noponies,' then why do you always work so hard to be so... so... such... such a... such a bitch to them?"

Once again, everything seemed to freeze and go silent. Slowly it sank in what Silver Spoon had just said. Worse, she was aware that she had totally meant it in the worst way possible.

"Wh...what did you call me?" Diamond Tiara asked.

Fuck it, Silver Spoon thought. I'm already dead. May as well go for broke.

"I called you, a bitch," she stated. "Like, I knew you were stupid since I've been doing the homework for both us, but I thought you at least knew what that word meant."

"You want to get into this?" Diamond Tiara snapped. "Because if it wasn't for me, you would just be another pony that got picked on and ignored."

"If it weren't for YOU, I would probably have more friends. Real friends. Ones that actually cared about me and what I wanted to do once in a while instead of only thinking about themselves."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Well if you want to be like them so badly..."

Taking another step forward, Diamond Tiara gave Silver Spoon a hard shove. Before she could even register what was happening, Silver was stumbling backwards, trying to catch her balance. One foot got sank in the mud, getting stuck, as the other slipped out from under her. There was a flash of pain from her ankle as she fell backwards. A splat sound filled her ears as she felt something wet on her back.

"... then you can just lay in filth like them," Diamond Tiara finished. With that she turned and stopped off, heading down the trail.

"And you can forget about staying the night at my house," she called back.

Silver Spoon did not say anything to that. She just sort of laid there, letting it all sink in. She had pretty much just ended her longest -- and pretty much only -- friendship. Now she was laying in mud. Plus, she had a whole school year of Diamond Tiara's wrath and social pariahism from the her former victims to look forward to.

This year was going to suck. Horribly. At least if she had waited until after school ended, she would not have to worry about things so much. Some ponies lost touch after they graduated normally, so she could have waited until then, started avoiding Diamond Tiara, and just pretend that it was life taking its natural course.

"It was song lyrics."

The sound of Sweetie Belle's voice broke Silver Spoon from her thoughts of the dark, lonely future that was approaching her for the next nine months.

"What?" Silver Spoon asked, turning to look at the other mare.

"My notebook," Sweetie said. "It was full of lyrics for songs I was writing."

Turning away, she started searching through the mud. Silver Spoon continued to lay there, just watching. Finally, Sweetie managed to pull something out of the mess. It was about the right size and shape to be a notebook, but was covered, the was plopping off in thick gooey blobs.

"Whatever," Silver Spoon said, turning away from Sweetie Belle as she moved to sit up. "Like I care about your stupid notebook. It would have been a lot easier on all of us if you had just let her look at the stupid thing."

"But it's private," Sweetie Belle whined. "Not even Apple Bloom or Scootaloo have ever seen what was inside it. I haven't even show it to Rarity." She sighed. "Although I doubt it matters now. The mud and water's pretty much ruined it all."

With a snort, Silver Spoon pushed her way back to her feet. There was an ache in her ankle from the fall, but it was tolerable. She would be fine -- if uncomfortable -- walking on it to get home. Although she would probably want to ice and wrap it after. Pulling free of the irritable muck, she sloshed her way out mud puddle. Once back on solid, dry, ground, she tried to slough off as much of the stuff for her fur and clothing as she could. It was a miracle that not only were her glasses still on, but they were not covered as well.

"Do you want to come over to my house?" Sweetie Belle asked.

The question made Silver Spoon freeze. Was this really happening? Seriously? Was a mare that she had helped pick on for years actually asking her over? It had to be her imagination, or maybe she misheard. Either way, there was no way she had actually heard that.

"What?" she asked, turning to look at Sweetie from the corner of her eye.

"Do you want to come over to my house?" Sweetie Belle repeated. "I mean, you did kind of get in this situation because you were trying to protect me from Diamond Tiara. The least I could do is let you use our shower and give you something to eat." She perked up. "I bet I can even convince Rarity to let you stay the night. And I bet she will mend your dress."

At that last part, Silver Spoon looked down at her top. During the argument, she had completely forgotten that Diamond Tiara had grabbed a hold of it, and that it had ripped when she had shoved her. There was now a large tear across the front. Not enough to expose her bra or show anything inappropriate, but it was definitely obvious.

"Come on," Sweetie said as she moved to stand beside Silver. "The worst that happens is that you go home a little later wearing some borrowed clothes."

"'Borrowed clothes?'" Silver repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah. I mean, even if you decide to just shower and leave, you can't really walk home in a muddy dress. And I don't think you have a change of clothes in your school bag."

"No, I don't," Silver Spoon confirmed. She had actually dropped off her change of clothes at Diamond Tiara's before school. Not like Diamond Tiara would ever let her borrow clothes, even though they were supposed to be best friends. Although really -- like so many other things when it came to Diamond Tiara -- it only worked one way. Diamond Tiara had borrowed plenty of outfits from Silver Spoon over the years. Which now that she thought about it, she never got back most of the time. How many of her clothes did she end up never getting back? Then there was the question of why? Diamond Tiara could have the latest of any outfit from anywhere in Equestria if she just asked her father for it, so why would she even borrow Silver's clothes in the first place?

"So what do you say?" Sweetie Belle asked.

With a sigh, Silver Spoon nodded and let out a small, "fine."

She started along the path, mud plopping off her as she went.

"Let's just hurry up so no pony I know sees me like this."