Author's Note
I haven't worked on my other story in a while, so here's a special treat I whipped up in an hour and thirty.
I'll grab some cherries next week if you want more, alright?
Righteous Inspiration
I've worked for Suri for so long, I started to believe that it really is everypony for herself in this town. Until I saw how generous you were with your friends and how generous they were with you. It made me start believing there was something better for me out there.
That was one of the last sentences that Coco had told Rarity in the theater. She took more time thinking about how to sum up her feelings into words than making those dresses with that stolen fabric. She thought it was perfect, the description of perfection. But when she looked back on it, she noticed something that shouldn't have been there from the start.
I've worked for Suri for so long.
"I never should have worked for that prissy, demanding, scheming..." Coco Pommel began to drift away into her words, calling her as many names as she could have thought of. Even going to the crude dimensions of mule.
"...Not-deserving-of-a-cutie-mark blank flank..." Coco began to sit and mutter nonsense for the next minute, when suddenly the door to Suri's apartment burst open. Then the mare of the hour was in behind her, and with a slam like that, what pony wouldn't perk their ears up in surprise and turn around?
"Like, oh my gosh. COCO? WHERE IS MY TROPHY." When Suri appeared, she was a mess. Her mane had hairs sticking out from every rim, the headband on her skull, ripped to shreds and pieced all through her awful mane, and her crossed scarf loosely and lazily tied around her front left hoof. But that wasn't the start of it, the symptoms she suddenly showed made her look like she was about to go nuts, hyperventilation, collapsing then getting back up, it was an utter disaster nopony should have every beheld.
"I-I-I don't-"
"WHERE. IS. IT." Suri' slowly hoofed over to Coco Pommel, and in turn, she began to back up with every eerie step that echoed in the silence of the room.
Eventually, Coco reached the back of the room, and was cornered. The large shadow of Suri Polomare shrouding her happiness in a cloak of terror. She quickly curled up in a ball, and hugged her head close.
"WELL?" Suri began to smile, and her eye twitched every millisecond.
Coco was frightened more than a filly in her bedroom at night with shadows lurking in every corner of their eyes. She had her mind engulfed in a sea of fear, covering up any type of thought that could be summoned by words.
"I GAVE IT TO YOU. THEN YOU HAD ONE JOB."
"ONE"
"JOB"
Spontaneously, the yelling had driven away the butterflies in Coco's stomach, and she finally realized something. She has nothing to fear, the only thing to fear is her current path in her life. This mare? THIS MARE? Boss around THE Coco Pommel?! She can't just stand back like a filly to a couple of bullies, not here, not now!
"I gave it away. To Rarity." The words finally passed through Coco Pommel's lips, and once these said words passed...
"Huh? H-huh? H-h-h-h-h-huuuuuuuuuuuuuuh?!" Suri suddenly collapsed, and this time, her eyes rolled back into her head, and she didn't get up.
Coco approached the lifeless Suri Polomare, and put her ears up to her heart. There was still a beat, so those few words may not have killed her. Yet.
As quickly as she could, she gathered up some of Suri's bits, a small picnic blanket to wrap some clothing in, and stood in front of Suri.
With a quick turn, Coco flicked her tail at Suri's lifeless eyes, and quickly trotted out of the apartment, a triumphant smile welded across her face as she high-tailed out of the hotel after exiting. With only a hair out of her tail left as any evidence.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once Coco reached outside, giggling with laughter and tears of joy in her eyes, she bumped into a stallion.
"Watch where yer goin', you worthless blank flank!" The stallion angrily yelled at her and then began to trot away, all the while attempting to adjust his tie in a straight line. He eventually slipped on a rock, and tripped on a unicorn. The two began to feud and fight, blaming each other for one simple mishap.
Then, as Coco looked around herself, wondering what to do, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Two mares pushing each other over a flower on the ground. Then she noticed something else, two ponies arguing about a spot in a taxi line, soon breaking it into smithereens.
"Wait! Please, this was all my fault!" Coco stepped in between the two raging colts, and raised her hooves in front of both of their faces.
"Young miss, I do believe this awfully freckled disaster in front of me purposely ran into me with the intentions of ruining my crossword puzzle! If you would PLEASE mind your own business and let me deal with this scoun-"
"What're you talkin' about?! You're the moron who decided to hold up a newspaper, blockin' off yer vision to logic and everything!"
"I said STOP."
Coco Pommel's voice suddenly raised to a higher frequency than an excited swarm of fruit bats in an orchard. The area around the hotel suddenly went more quiet than the dark alleys of the Crystal Empire, and all attention was focused on Coco.
"Listen to yourselves! Bickering like a bunch of fillies! Where do you think you ARE? The PLAYGROUND? This is MANEHATTEN. The city of luxury and business, not a tree house where you call each other the most idiotic of names! How about you two start growing up and living your lives like how your supposed to, hmmmm?"
"..."
"..."
.....................
Suddenly, in the blank silence of the city, a pair of hooves begin to stomp on the ground. Then another. Then two more. Then five. Coco suspected that the attention is suddenly driven away from her as suddenly when the taxi gets back to its bustling line. The number of hooves increases so loudly, though, that it soon occurs to Coco that the ponies aren't walking away; they're applauding. Somewhere in the crowd, a flower bouquet is even thrown up into the air, then hastily ripped to shreds while being grappled at by fancy looking mares.
"Look here, missy, uh,-"
"Coco Pommel."
"Miss Pommel, sorry 'bout my words earlier, ah' guess I was just blinded." The redneck stallion began to rub his hoof behind his mane, and a small amount of pink was peeking from his cheeks.
"I also owe you an apology, Miss Pommel. I should have listened to you earlier and let you assist me in dealing with this scoun- I-I-I mean, polite stallion." The fancy unicorn began to show his hoof in front of Coco, and she shook it.
"My sincerest apologies."
"Apology accepted. Now, let this be a lesson to ALL of you!" Coco raised her hoof, and then bolted it to the gray pavement below. "Fighting without reason will just make you look like a fool! To EVERYPONY around you! You all need to learn that you are now the next generation of Hope to fillies all around Equestria! So start acting like it!"
With that speech, Coco turned around, and walked into a building. When she entered, in the background, was a near earthquake as the crowd was lit and inspired.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Coco aimlessly wandered the hallways for a while, she arrived at a door. Instinctively grabbing a key under the mat below her, and turning the lock. When she got inside, she began to burst.
"Oh my Celestia! I was so fantastic! Everypony cheered, and I was the center of attention, and I wasn't shrugged off, for most of the time anyway...and, and, and..." Coco had gushed out for nearly 5 minutes when she had just realized where she was...
"Hello...COCO POMMEL." Coco immediately dropped her sack of clothes and bits. The ruined Suri Polomare was still in the heap found nearly 10 minutes ago. It didn't look any more pleasant to set eyes on.
"Hello. Suri."
"What? Are you gonna curl up into your teensy weensy ball back in this corner now? So I can make that awful hairdo of yours nonexist- I mean, more fabulous than it should be?"
"No."
"What? What do you mean NO?! You are going to follow my every COMMAND. You hear me, you twerp?" Suri began to slowly rise up from the ground, with something in her hoof.
"I mean, come ON. I can fix up that UGLY...PUTRID mane you've decided to stick with. I could even fix up this HORRID color." Suri pointed at the object in her hoof, a small strand of Coco's tail.
"No."
"Okay, Coco, you are REALLY. TESTING. MY. PATIENCE.. Go get me a coffee. RIGHT. NOW." Suri was, once again, slowly trotting towards Coco Pommel. Aligning Suri's face were electrically charged tufts of violet, that wicked grin now turning creepier by the second, and those eyes. Those eyes that stare so deep into your soul...they make Fluttershy's stare look like a wannabe.
"What's your point?" Coco's face was blank, any existing emotions on her face were invisible to the naked eye.
"MY. POINT. IS..."
"Yeeees?"
"FOLLOW MY COMMANDS RIGHT NOW OR ELSE!" Suri looked like she was right about to become an Alicorn, and banish Coco Pommel out of existence.
"No."
"Okay, how about this: if you follow my commands again, I'll let you follow along with me on my path to glory. You can split the fame with me, half and half, mkay?" Small little smiles gathered in the room...from both mares. One excited about the others smile, and possible consideration of a deal.
"I'm thinking reaaaaally hard about it."
"Yes?" The smile began to widen, as Suri knew she had Coco in her grasp.
"Final answer...."
"Yeeeeesss?" Victory was so close, Suri could just taste it.
"No."
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAH!" In that instant, Suri Polomare went into a mad dash towards Coco Pommel. Her mane flapping behind her in fuzz balls, her coat scratched and filthy with carpet material, her "bandaged" hoof scarf nearly slipping off, the tail dragged through the carpet musk, and the face. Suri's face...was a disorientated mess. The eyes of a madmare, the smile now a frown, deranged crooks spreading throughout her face.
Within those few seconds to react, time seemed to slow down for Coco Pommel. She saw Suri's movements nearly a second before she could even preform them, and she had a quick reaction time to errors in her flow. Within those few seconds she had to spare, she took a quickstep away from the madmare. Her mane glowing in the sunlight from behind her, the screams of Suri now not charging, but falling. It felt so...calm to Coco.
"NYAAAAAGH!" After that quickstep, Suri tumbled into a pile of bits and clothes, both fluffy and painful.
"Back in the same heap now, aren't you?" Coco stepped in front of the heap, and watched Suri try to rummage her way through it. Muffled screams were lurking inside, as the madmare tried to take down Coco, or possibly just her mane.
"MRFFFF....FFFFRAAAWWW!" Suri suddenly burst through the pile of bits and clothes, and then attempted to pounce Coco like a tiger barreling for prey. Of course, with another swift sidestep, Suri crashed and burned all over the floor. She struggled to get up, but she was too tired, already from the pain. Then, with that...Coco Pommel approached the fallen Suri Polomare.
"You know, I guess you truly did teach me a lesson." Coco Pommel starred downwards towards Suri.
"H-h-huh? I-I-I mean, of COURSE I did, you worthless scum!" Suri continued to try to get up, but just ended up slipping and collapsing over and over again. With an expressionless Coco Pommel looming above her.
"You taught this lesson to me, and I suppose you need to relearn it."
"WHAT? I TAUGHT you it! I'M the smart mare!" Suri began to snarl and thrash at Coco.
"'It takes some small-town fillies a while to learn it's everypony for herself in the big city, m'kay?'"
After that, Suri's mouth was agape at what had just been spoken. What she had said...to...HER...
"Oh, also, you can keep all that "fame and glory" for yourself, because I don't align myself with 'small-town fillies.'"
Then, with that, Coco Pommel got in front of the still shocked Suri Polomare, and flicked her tail and presence in front of her.
For one.
Last.
Time.
Coco Pommel gathered up her bits and picnic blanket, and prepared to step outside.
"No...please! Coco, I'm nothing without you!" Suri's face began to stream away with tears. The wood around her was surrounded by wet tear stains, as if she was in her last moments of life...surrounded in a pool of despair.
