“I'm sorry, Mrs. Platter, but there was only one school in Manehatten with any seats left.”  The beige unicorn behind the desk shuffled her papers uncomfortably.

Silver Platter raised the acceptance letter in her magic. “The schedule works, though. I can send her off before I open up every day.”

Silver Spoon screwed up her face, tugging on her mother's tail. “But Mom, it's so far away!”

Silver Platter gently levitated her daughter and set her down a foot away. “Now shush. I'll hire a carriage to take you to school so you'll be safe, but you'll just have to get used to it.”



Silver Spoon peeked her head out from behind her locker door as the students around her bustled about getting ready for their free play period. “Hey, guess what I brought? I saw you with these yesterday, and it looked fun!” Muffling her words was a shiny new Super Gameagon in her mouth with a crystal dangling from the back.

Valencia Orange gaped at it. She and Feather Touch glanced at each other uncomfortably. Valencia spoke up first. “Um, nopony else can afford one of those, Silver Spoon. Why do you have to show off like that?”

Feather nodded. “I got my Gameagon from my big sister when she grew out of it. Valencia got hers from her uncle's attic. We were lucky to have two of one game so we could play together.”

Silver frowned. There was an uncomfortable pit starting to form in her stomach. “But this was the only kind at the store. How am I supposed to play with anyone?”

Valencia shrugged. “You keep bugging us every day and then you show up with that thing? Beats me. Come on, Feather, let's go.” The two of them stepped alongside each other toward the playground.



Silver Spoon bounded in next to Dewdrop and Leafy Green before her first class of the day. “I got my cutie mark!” she yelped, loud enough to make Leafy pin her ears back. “It's a silver spoon! Just like my name! See?”

“What? Already?” Leafy whispered back. “What does it even mean?”

“Maybe you could help figure it out? I don't want to be put in that class with all the dumb foals who don't know what their marks are.”

Dewdrop snorted. “Serve you right if you were. You think we're dumb too because we don't even have our cutie marks at all?”

Silver looked confused for a moment. Then the pit started growing again. “No, I didn't mean it like that! I'm just nervous!”

“Yeah, sure.” Dewdrop turned around and started walking away. Leafy followed close behind. They didn't say anything else.



“[i]Ponyville[/i]? But that's in the middle of nowhere!”

“I know, dear, but we need the space. Aren't you sick of this stuffy apartment? We could have a whole house to ourselves!”

“Their school's just one big room! I'll have to sit next to everypony all the time!”

“Now, Silver Spoon, that's enough. We're very lucky ponies already, and you shouldn't be complaining like that. You'll just have to get used to it.”



Silver Spoon gulped down a knot in her throat as she took the first empty seat she could find in the Ponyville schoolhouse. A bright pink filly sat down next to her, sizing her up with narrowed eyes. Then the other filly suddenly brightened up. “Oh, wow! You've already got your cutie mark? It looks just like the spoons we have at home! Your mom isn't Silver Platter, is she?”

“Uh-huh,” Silver nodded uncertainly. She was starting to feel the pit all over again.

“Wow! Well, [i]my[/i] mother's Spoiled Rich. I'm Diamond Tiara. I guess we've got something in common, huh?”

Silver grimaced, looking around to see if anypony had heard. “How can you just say it out loud like that? Don't ponies get mad at you for it?”

“Psh! Rich, high-class fillies like us don't need [i]them[/i]. Sure, they get jealous sometimes, but you'll get used to it. Just ignore them, and they'll go away. You don't need poor friends when you've got me.”

Silver Spoon turned back to her desk, lost in thought. As other foals continued to file into their seats, a tight grin started to form on her face. Yeah. She [i]could[/i] just ignore them, couldn't she? And they'd just have to get used to it.