Something I'm working on, I'd love to hear your opinions. This is just the first chapter. Chapter 1) “Di, Di come on! We’re going to be late. ” Silver Spoon anxiously called up to her friend’s bedroom window. The grey earth pony paced up and down impatiently; this was so typical of Diamond Tiara. “I’ll be there in a minute Silver Spoon, jeesh!” Diamond was perfecting the curls in her mane. It took her a long time to do so, but she wouldn’t dream of going to school with a single hair out of place. Silver Spoon didn't have the same attitude; she just plated her mane and flung it over her shoulder, she wouldn’t understand. Every morning Silver Spoon would call at her friend’s house, but Diamond Tiara was never ready. Their teacher - a kind hearted unicorn named Cheerilee - never gave them much grief, but it still made Silver Spoon a little on edge - she didn’t like walking into class with all the other students staring at her. Diamond however, seemed to love the attention. Today it was particularly important – at least to Silver Spoon – that they were not late. Earlier that week, the class had been given a special assignment, and today they were presenting their finished projects. The students worked in small groups of two or three, and as always, Silver Spoon was paired with her only friend; Diamond Tiara. The two were upper-class ponies from rich families; they had been friends since Kindergarten. Diamond Tiara was a confident young filly, she had a pale pink coat and lilac streaked mane. Her cutie mark resembled her name and represented her upbringing; it was a tiara. She wore a matching tiara upon her head, which her father had purchased for a hefty price on the very day she gained her cutie mark. As always during school projects, Diamond was bossy and disinterested. She would usually leave Silver Spoon to do most of the hard work, but then assert her authority as ‘team captain’ whenever decisions needed to be made in terms of presentation, often creating a dispute between the two. Needless to say, Silver Spoon was actually quite proud of their project this time around. She carried it around her neck in a large green satchel, it was a bit heavy and weighed her head down a little, causing her neck to ache. “Di are you ready yet?” Silver Spoon was growing more impatient. “Hold on!” “But we’re already…” “I said hang on!” “Di…” “Okay! Ready!” The front door of Diamond’s manor flew open, and Silver Spoon couldn’t help but realise how pretty her friend was; her pink coat was glossier than ever, her streaked main intact, her long eyelashes curled, and her tail wavy and primed. “Honestly Silver Spoon you need to chill out.” Diamond pranced past her friend without a care in the world. Silver Spoon followed without a word. “Our project is going to blow the others out of the water.” Diamond began to brag. “No pony will even come close to what we have prepared. You’re so lucky to have me as a partner Silver Spoon.” Silver knew that wasn’t true – after all, she had done most of the project, as well as come up with the idea for it, but she smiled and agreed with Diamond Tiara; just as she always did. “Especially those Cutie Mark Crusaders, can you imagine the look on their faces when they don’t have the best project for once?” “They’ll be pretty disappointed.” Silver Spoon laughed along. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were three fillies at their school; Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. They were the best of friends, and the only ponies in class who had not yet earned their cutie marks. Diamond Tiara seemed to enjoy teasing them for this, and Silver Spoon often joined in. The two soon arrived at the school, just as the bell was about to ring. Diamond pushed past all the other ponies, including the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and Silver Spoon followed behind her. As the students exchanged greetings and took their seats, Cheerilie began to speak, in her usual cheerful tone. “Alright class, settle down. Now, I am sure you are all very excited to show off your projects on the history of Equestria.” She glanced around the room. Some of the students had their projects out on the desks. Two of the young colts - Snips and Snails - were wearing paper helmets. A trio of students near the front of the class were holding together a small stage set they had created, along with figurines. “I can already see we are in for quite a treat.” Cheerilee added anxiously, “So, who’s going to go first?” Many ponies raised their hooves, but Diamond Tiara was the first. Silver Spoon wasn’t sure she wanted to go first, she would much rather see what the competition was like. She knew in her head that it wasn’t really a competition, but Diamond Tiara treated everything as such, and her attitude had rubbed off a little onto her partner. “Alright Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, let’s see what you came up with!” Silver Spoon reached into her satchel and pulled out their project, it was a sculpture, made from clothe, gems, paint, and glitter. The young pony tampered with her glasses nervously, and then took a breath, ready to explain the concept of their sculpture, but as usual Diamond Tiara beat her to the mark. “Our project is a miniature replica of the palace built by the wealthy Prince Topaz, who built a tower out of gems, in order to win the approval of his subjects and overthrow his controlling power hungry father.” Diamond said in a boastful manner. She pointed at the top of the tower, where a doll version of the prince was placed looking out over the kingdom. “As you can see, there is no entrance to the tower. The only way to get to the top was by flying. King Topaz exercised his wings to make them strong enough to reach the top, many pegasus would get tired and not be able to make it halfway up the tower, and his father – an earth pony - had no chance.” Silver was about to make a point, when Diamond continued, “The fields are made from emerald coloured clothe and decorated with real emeralds. As you can see, King Topaz had gems to spare. It wasn’t long before the entire kingdom turned their back on his father, and crowned him their new king.” “That’s very creative.” Cheerlie praised the two. Diamond Tiara stuck her chest out proudly, “But do you know what happened to King Topaz’s father after he was overthrown by his own son?” Diamond hesitated, she had no idea. Luckily Silver Spoon had the answer, “He tried to destroy the tower, but Prince... urm, 'King' Topaz, set his army against him. His father was exiled from the kingdom, and never seen again.” Silver Spoon smiled at Diamond Tiara, expecting a response, but Diamond simply glanced at her partner, and then turned to face Cheerilee. “Very good you two, I am impressed.” Their teachers face lit up, “Now who is next, Applebloom, what about your group?” Applebloom’s group always did so well in presentations. The three young fillies were best friends, having bonded over their desire to earn their cutie marks, they spent a lot of time together. Applebloom was a young country pony who lived on a nearby apple farm. She wore a bright pink bow in her mane, and was always cheerful and upbeat. Sweetie Belle was a unicorn; she was a little air headed, but ambitious and full of ideas, she took care of her appearance, although not quite to the extent of Diamond Tiara. Then there was Scootaloo, a tomboyish orange pegasus, who was well known for riding everywhere on her scooter. Applebloom looked a little anxious at first. She glanced at her partners, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, who nodded in support. Then concluded “Yes Miss Cheerilee, we are ready!” The three of them looked determined as they took Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoons place at the front of the class, carrying with them an oddly shaped cardboard cut-out. Diamond Tiara smirked and whispered to Silver Spoon, “This should be good.” As the three friends stood in place, they turned their project toward the class. It was a shield, painted and decorated just like the sculpture, except it involved many detailed drawings of knight ponies, buffalo tribes, and even a dragon flying overhead. There were only a few gems around the boarder, on the main surface the fillies had used buttons, ribbon, and paint instead. Cheerilee looked instantly pleased with the detailed project, which calmed Applebloom’s nerves a little. She looked toward Scootaloo and gave a nod, and the pegasus smiled back at her friend before continuing to speak. “Our project tells a story, going back to the days when the buffalo tribes and earth ponies weren’t getting along. As you can see in this image, drawn by our artist Sweetie Belle…” She gestured to her friend. “The buffalo and knights are battling it out, to decide who has rights to the land.” Sweetie Belle blushed a little, before pointing to the next image. “In this segment, we’ve shown how the Buffalo and Ponies tried to divide the land between them, but argued constantly. The buffalo needed large areas to stampede, and the Ponies needed areas to farm and build civilisation. We were going to leave it there, but then Applebloom had this great idea to include the dragon… you tell them Applebloom!” She excitedly smiled at the young earth pony, who picked up where her friend left off. “Here you can see how the ferocious dragon appears and begins to attack the land, and suddenly the two sides must decide to work together in order to protect it. The Ponies build barriers around their homes, and the buffalo lured the dragon miles away into the mountains. When the buffalo returned, the Ponies welcomed them happily.” Scootaloo continued, “They were able to compromise, building tracks and roads around the farms and buildings.” Then Sweetie Belle stepped in, “They celebrated their unity by creating shields to represent how the two cultures worked together to defend their home.” Applebloom concluded, “Scootaloo came up with the idea to tell the story on a shield, to commemorate that moment.” The three friends smiled, they knew they had done well. The class was wide eyed and Cheerilee looked very impressed. “That was excellent girls, very well done, I really liked your choice of story. That deserves a gold star.” Diamond Tiara’s mouth fell open; she couldn’t believe the Cutie Mark Crusaders had gotten another gold star. She gritted her teeth and scowled. Silver spoon sighed, she was sad about losing to the crusaders, but there was something else about their presentation which had left her feeling rather down, something she felt quite often, when she was around them...
