Being Brave part II

The residence of Suri and Frank was a colossal mansion at the edge of town. It's exterior resembled a combination between a playboy mansion and Jefferson's Monticello estate. Taking residence on top of a steep hill and surrounded by a pristine medal fence, with a security check point to top it all off, it seemed this couple took their privacy seriously.

As Coco and Twilight approached the entrance, a large booming voice could be heard over the gates.

"Excuse me maam!" Said the voice. "Do you have an appointment?"

"Oh..I..I..uh." Twilight couldn't think of the words to say.

"She's the new housemaid the Agees ordered." Said Coco.

"What are you doing?" Asked Twilight.

"Trust me."

"Hmmm...proceed." Said the voice.

The gates opened as the two girls walked onto the property.

"Soooo what was that about?" Asked Twilight as they approached the door.

"Suri is always looking for someone to do housework and pay their taxes." Replied Coco "Believe me. I've been a victim of that."

As the two walked inside, Twilight found herself in the middle of a large rotunda. Surrounding her were large marble pillars that melted in with the floor. In front of her was a glorious spiral staircase with an impression that reach toward the sky as its curvature surrounded a chandelier just as decadent. However, the most peculiar part of the interior design were the painting that adorned the walls. Each work seemed to center on the theme of violent eroticism sex, whether it was a couple biting each other and making out, a woman naked and bound to a chair, or a three way of individuals in a balletic cavort.

"I had to pose for one of those painting." Said Coco as she started to shed a tear. "It was a terrible experience."

As Twilight came over to comfort her, they heard what sounded like heated argument in the next room. Twilight down the hallway while Coco stayed behind.

"I'll be fine Twilight." Said Coco. "You go ahead and confront them."

"Thanks." She replied.

"But there is one more thing."

"Yes?"

"May I have that document about Cory?"

Twilight reached into her pocket, handed it over to Coco, and briskly walked down the hallway. As the argument got louder and nastier sounding and she walked closer, a string of uncertainty fell across her body. Are they going to hurt me? She thought to herself. What are they doing back there? No. You have to do this for Cory. If you don't, you'll never know why. As she approached the room, she could make out what was being said:

"What do you mean there's no champagne?" asked one voice.

"I'm sorry maam." replied a scared, timid voice. "we're fresh out today."

"You're fresh out today! You're fired! GET THE FUCK OUT!!"

The doors to the room burst open as a male servant walked down the hallway crying. Twilight wanted so badly to comfort him, but she knew she had to focus on her goal. As she entered the room, she noticed how the decor took on the shape of an erotic mixture of leather and silk. The furniture was curved and etched out to look like a woman's back as it all faced a humongous fireplace fit for a king. In the middle of the center coffee table was a flower stuffed vase shaped like a male torso with whip marks on the chest and back. On top of a rather attractive mantlepiece was large portrait of what clearly the owners of the household dressed in business attire. The bottom of the portrait read: Frank "Blueblood" and Suri "Polomare" Agees in gold insignia. All around the walls hung rugs and tapestries of various individuals in rather uncomfortable positions. To her right, in front of a large glass window was a see-through desk shaped like a crescent moon complete with a speaker phone, computer, pen holder and stack of unread bank statements. "If only Rarity were here" thought Twilight. "She would be in inspiration heaven."

"What the hell are you doing here?" asked a snappy voice from behind.

Twilight turned around to see Suri in the flesh. She had the physique of a cover girl role model yet a complexion of one facelift and makeup tutorial too many. Her choice in attire was a gorgeous red silk dress curling around her waist and legs, complete with a pair of matching Prada shoes. The hair style was a sensual beehive hairdo with sprouting curls that would make Rarity blush. In one hand was glass filled with champagne and in another, a long Cruella-DeVille like cigarette.

"Are you retarded?" whined Suri "I asked you a question."

"My name is Twilight Sparkle." Said Twilight firmly as she snapped back into reality. "I'm here to..."

"Ah, Darling. It must be our new secretary." Said Frank "Blueblood" who approached the scene sporting a lavish robe. "Come. Lets fit you in your new uniform."

"That's not what I'm here for." Said Twilight as they walked to the nearby closet.

"Alright, what would you like: exposing leather or sensual fur?" Asked Suri.

"I'm not here to get a job Mrs. Agees." Said Twilight Sternly. "I'm here for family matters."

"Personally I prefer leather." Said "Blueblood" as if he wasn't even listening. "Exposes the body more."

"I'm here to talk about your son Cory."

"Listen, we hate children." Said Suri as she placed her brandy and cigarette on the coffee table. "I'm afraid you mistook us for some other couple. Now please head to the fitting room."

"Mr. and Mrs. Agees. I have a document from Canterlot county library stating you were both Cory's parents." By now Twilight was losing patience.

"We told you!" Said "Blueblood." as his tone got stricter "We don't know what your'e talking about. Could you get into your uniform please?"

He presented to Twilight a trashy looking dress.

"I'm not putting that on Mr. Agees." Said Twilight angrily "I have Coco waiting down the hallway with the document in her hands."

"Coco?" Asked "Blueblood" with a chuckle "That wimpy bitch we fired about a year ago? You know you can't trust a weakling like that."

"Well from her accounts," continued Twilight. it was you two who made her insecure about herself. Now please can we move on to..."

"Look!" Said "Blueblood!" as he approached Twilight threateningly "We never had a son! We never plan to! We don't know what you're talking about! Now either get in this uniform, or get out!"

"Cory Agees." Twilight began to recite. "Blue Hair, blue eyes, skinny body, light flesh, about 4' 3". According to documented accounts, he was brutally abused by father, berated by his mother for un-thought out reasons. At the age of 10, he was left at the gift shop of Canterlot County airport without any adult supervision. During his stay at St. George's Home For Children, he and a few other peers endured a great many run ins with bullying and abuse, so much to the point that the state had to confiscate and demolish the orphanage. In addition..."

"WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP?!!!!" Screamed Suri "Alright, it's true. We had a son named Cory. We abandoned him, and it was the best decision we ever made."

"Do you have any idea how hard it was with him around?" Asked Blueblood. "We could not wait until that miserable little shit was out of the picture and out of our lives."

"Yes, we admit it!" Said Suri. "We hated him with a fiery passion. Everyday I would look at him and just wish he would kill over."

"Why?" Asked Twilight as a tear stream down her cheek. "Why did you hate such a good kid like Cory. And for that record why did you allow Cory to be born in the first place?"

"You wanna know why?" asked Blueblood threateningly "Because we made the stupid decision of being surrogate parents to a dimwit couple."

"We were about to have it all." Commented Suri. "We filled up all our savings in the bank to buy a beautiful mansion, own a sweet insurance company, and live the life of a worry free couple."

"But some childhood friends just begged us to conceive their child." Added Blueblood.

"Having that brat inside me was the most miserable 9 months of my life: filled with vomiting, mood swings, nausea and a pain in my gut. But we knew it would be over in 9 months."

"Then, suddenly, as cruel as fate is, we saw on the news the couple had died in a car accident."

"I would have wanted to have an abortion, but it was too late. The fetus had reached a stage where killing it would endanger my life, and the worst day of my life was becoming a mom. We had to cancel our bank statement, have a crappy wedding in a makeshift hotel, and spend our honeymoon looking at a billboard. So, as you can see, I didn't hate Cory because he was un-athletic, or unintelligent, or skinny, or small. I hated him because his coming into existence took away my chances of ever having a single moment of happiness ever again!!"

"After his birth, it was a hungry, greedy little mouth to feed. We were forced to waste savings so we could bathe, cook and even dress him as we were obligated to do. All our plans and dreams went down the drain because of him. I was forced to get a crappy job down the street, buy a low end house and only eat at some cheap diner to get away from all that stress."

"But above all, the crying and screaming was without mercy. we had to slap him in the face and punch the lights out of him just to shut him up and get some peace and quiet. Every day we would leave him in the bathtub, praying he would drown. When we spoon fed him we would stick the utensil down his throat, hoping he would choke. Every night, we would go on dates and leave him alone with the fireplace lit, wishing it would burn the house down with him in it..."

"How dare you! Said a stunned, yet angry Twilight. "How DARE YOU TRY TO KILL YOU OWN CHILD!! Why treat him like he's less of a person? I don't know about you two but this is the worst excuse I've ever heard. Answer this. If you hated Cory so much, then why did you hold onto him?" "In spite of your bitter hatred, you allowed him sleep under your house and eat your food for a good ten years. Why?... Why?!!... Answer Me!!

"Because we wanted his college fund money!!" snapped Suri. "We learned that if he reached ten years that money would reach the amount we needed to achieve our long lost dream. So one day, we pretended we were going on a stinkin family vacation so we wouldn't get in trouble with the law. Then, we left him at the gift shop telling we'd be right back. We saw the next plane to Miami and dashed inside. I remember shouting to everyone on board: We're ditching our kid and taking the honeymoon we always wanted. Everyone on board cheered as we took our first class seats and headed down to Florida. The moment we touched down, we rushed to the nearest hotel, checked in, turned out the lights and made sweet love for the first time in years. Now we have a huge mansion, a load of cold hard cash, and a future of everlasting sex and retirement to look forward to. Now do you understand?"

"Yes I do." Twilight answered coldly. "I understand that you two are what is wrong with the human race. I thought I could take it but now I realize why you left Cory. It wasn't because of him, it was because of you. You don't deserve to be parents. In fact, you don't deserve any of Cory's money, nor any of his sympathy. In fact, you don't deserve this mansion at all. You two are a bunch of insensitive windbags and you should know better than to leave your own child alone, sad and scared. Do you know what it feels like to be a kid with no one to turn to?!"

By now Twilight was steaming with anger.

"Do you know what it feels like to wake up every day in an empty room with a broken heart and a crushed soul, how it seems that no one cares if you're dead or alive? Every day you just walk around feeling worthless and void of any love or friends and hardly any way out, wishing that someone out there would just take you away from all the trouble?

"We'd expect that kind of bullshit sob story from a loser like you." Said Blueblood. "With your sex free life I'm surprised you haven't ended up in a rundown apartment with some worthless...."

"ENOUGH!!!!" Screamed Twilight.

Suddenly, her wings came out of her shirt and her eyes turned into beams of light as she flew up above them. The force of her voice was so strong, the large window by the desk shattered to pieces.

"You had your time to make your excuses." Said Twilight "Now it's my turn. So you are going to stand there and listen to every damn word I have to say."

"Who the hell are you?" Asked Blueblood in bewilderment.

"I'm Cory's new mother, and if you threaten my son, you threaten ME!!"

As she said those words, the erotic vase on the coffee table shattered to pieces. It was then her eyes returned to normal and she landed softly onto the floor.

"I know how hard it is to have kids." Twilight continued as she calmed down "I know how big of a responsibility it can be. Believe me, my parents didn't expect to have me nor my brother either. But they didn't care, because they supported us, cared for us and fought and believed in us no matter how big the challenge would be. In fact, I'm pretty sure they will continue to fight for us till the very end. Your problem on the other hoof is you two gave up far too easily, because you let fear and hatred of a new person in your life get the best of you , and because of that, you've passed on that fear of the new onto other people. You just love to whip others who can't fight back, like Pommel down there. From what I've heard from her testimonies, she was broken hearted by your thoughtlessness and cruelty to her. It's no wonder she quit. She knew life was too short and she couldn't endure you two any longer, and that includes the servant you just fired, as well as all the customers in the world you scammed for their money."

"How the hell did you know about..."

"NO, I AM TALKING NOW!!!!!" Twilight shouted as her eyes lit up again. The tapestries on the wall blew against the sound her voice.

"The only reason why I came here," She continued as her eyes turned to normalcy once again "Is because I needed to know just why you were so cruel to him, why you shunned Cory and didn't take one moment to acknowledge his needs and achievements, and now that I've figured it out. It's because you are stubborn bullies who will never understand the meaning of family and friendship. Your son always strived to make you love him despite your constant torture on him, even going as far as making a painstaking drawing for the two of you.

"I thought I could take people like you because a girl I knew used to be like you. Luckily I was able to make her know the error of her ways. But apparently, that doesn't work you two stubborn jerks. You're so busy trying to make your names heard and be on top of the food chain you forget what is clearly in front of you. The world does not revolve around your ideology of cruelty and discipline. It just doesn't work that way. But you can't see that. You are too thick minded to see what is clearly in front of your eyes. You think the two are all great parading your wealth, power and good looks to everyone else, but you haven't noticed a thing. Well guess what, I notice. I've noticed you never care about others around you. I've noticed you are too much concerned about how much sex you're having every day. I've noticed you have a son that has cried many nights wondering as to why you hated him and how you weren't able to see what was painfully obvious. You may see nothing from Cory, but I do. I do. I see a talented, good hearted, beautiful boy with a quality most of your kind lack. As unexpected as he may be, he is one of the best individuals I've ever seen, and you should love him for that, because one day, he can be gone in a flash and you're going to wonder why you took him for granted."

"So you got a mansion, a boatload of money and a facelift. good for you. You might want it all for yourself, But look what idea is costing you. It's costing you friends, it's costing you your dignity, it's costing you your reputation, and it's costing you your self respect. But I for one feel sorry for the customers you've scammed. If I can't get any of what I just said through your head, I want you to get this straight. Those people, those customers who asked for your money had nowhere else to go, and you both just step all over their necks as if they were nothing. But as for Cory, not only did you step on his neck, you bruised it for life, and that is something only a bully and coward would do. Because that's what you both are: cowards. You are not brave enough to see the new things that come into your life. You just want to do what you think is pleasurable. Sure, it's fun to enjoy life. But what good is it if you have no one to share it with? Huh? especially with your son. Now you think about that for awhile.

"You think you're son was the source of all your problems. Well guess what? It's the other way around. You were his problem. And what's more, I betcha you had problems far before he was born. You are thoughtless, cruel, blinded by your own useless ambitions, and none of your colleagues or customers deserve your attitude, especially Cory, because it is getting really old, and we are all sick of it. I suggest you stop it, apologize to your son and get a better attitude, and as far as I know, I wouldn't give two bits about you right now."

"Well that was a very amusing speech Twilight." Said Suri "But we have things to do."

Then the couple walked to their desk and went back to their business as if nothing happened.

"Frank...Suri." Twilight said sternly. "You walk away from Cory right now, don't you ever come back for him."

"Fair enough." The two said in unison.

Disgusted by how heartless they were, Twilight turned away and started to head for the door. But at that moment, the phone rang on their desk.

"What is it Doris?" Asked Blueblood as he put the phone on speaker.

"Mr. Agees. There's a few gentlemen outside from the force as well as a few clients who wish to have a word to you."

"What's this about?" Asked Suri.

"They say you two are under arrest for illegally stealing some of their insurance money. In addition, one of your clients by the name of Coco has evidence of you abandoning a child five years ago as well as illegally spending his college fund on the mansion."

"Tell them we don't know what she's talking about." Said Blueblood "Besides this is nothing our lawyers cant handle."

"I'm afraid this out of thier hands Mr. Agees. The force have received a few documents from Coco and the others as well as some airport security footage from Canterlot County that will make your testimony useless."

"Wait, What?" Snapped Blueblood. "But what about the bailout money?"

"That money technically belongs to the customers. In addition the lawyers are now joining the customers side of this case."

"But..But! How is this even possible?!!!" screamed Suri as she tugged at her hair. "How do they know about this?!"

"I'm sorry." replied Doris. "But due to extent of these damages, unless you can find someone at the moment who will testify on your behalf, you will lose the mansion, the company will go to the state, and you will be sentenced to no less than 10 years in a state penitentiary. Speaking of which I'm quitting in order to avoid jail time. It's been a pleasure serving you."

"WAIT! DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE US LIKE THIS!!" Screamed Blueblood. But it was too late. The phone connection was lost.

"Frankie! What are we going to do?" asked a semi-hysterical Suri. "I am not spending a decade in a jail cell!"

Suddenly, she felt a flight pain on her face.

"Oh, No." She said as she grabbed for a mirror in the desk drawer. "The facelift is wearing off. My beautiful complexion is melting. I can't go out looking like a hag!!"

"Wait." Proclaimed Blueblood. "Twilight."

The two nodded as they frantically burst out the room and sprinted down the hallway. Outside they could hear the sounds of police sirens and angry mobs. It was then they caught Twilight who was just about to step out the door. They ran towards her and went down on their knees, tugging at her skirt and begging for mercy.

"Twilight quick." Said Suri "Go outside and tell the police it's an honest mistake. We were just sending our customers money to charity. Besides we don't have a son. It was just a funny joke. Help us! Please!!"

Twilight looked down at them with a disapproving look as she calmly yanked their hands off and brushed the dirt off her skirt.

"Take back everything you said about your son." Said Twilight

"NEVER." Blueblood replied in a demonic whisper.

"Then you are on your own. Goodbye."

Twilight walked out and slammed the door on them. She could hear screams of hysteria in the background as she stepped off the front porch and walked down the long concrete driveway. On her way, she saw a few police officers running up to the entrance and ready to arrest the former owners of the house. It was then that she saw Coco waiting for her at the gates. She was talking to a few individuals about the dangers money scamming and the importance of believing in oneself.

"Hey Coco." said Twilight in a tiring voice.

"Hey Twilight." replied Coco as she approached her. "How did it go?"

"As you can see, not very well." She answered.

"Well at least we got a bit of victory over the Agees."

"eh, I suppose so. C'mon. Lets get the hell out of here."

As the two young women stepped inside the cab, Twilight could see out the window Frank and Suri, who were being escorted outside in handcuffs. They were screaming with intense hysteria as they were forcibly placed in the back of a police car.

"What's wrong Twilight?" Asked Coco.

"I just..." Twilight tried to find the right words "I just don't know what to tell him."

From the cab ride, to the airport, to the next flight back, Twilight remained silent. She was distraught as to how Cory would deal with this truth. Though Coco tried to comfort her, she was lost in her own thoughts, thinking of the proper words to say, preparing for what the reaction would be, not to mention he was celebrating his birthday in her world.

As the plane touched down in Canterlot County airport, Twilight and Coco wished each other good luck, One thanked the other, they gave a friendly hug and went their separate ways. As the next bus drove Twilight to the station near Cory's shack, she noticed once more her five human friends sharing a laugh or two at Sugarcube Corner. But even they couldn't soften the ache in her heart. It was then she stepped off the bus and slowly walked towards the shack, rehearsing in her head the right words to Cory. Then, as she stepped inside the wooden interior, she took a deep breath and walked through the portal once more.

On the other side, Twilight took a moment to make sure she was back in her old pony form. After a minute or two of contemplating what had just occurred, she looked up at the sky and noticed it was already late afternoon. It was then came up with an idea.

"Ok," she said to herself. "Now I need to make a letter to Cadence and Shining Armor. This is a family emergency."

Then she galloped over to her castle and started to write away.