Author's Note

a personal speedwrite, to force myself from the dreadful spiral of writer's block. hope you like it

Ribbons and Feathers

Coco Pommel let her hooves run over the soft silk of her most recent creation one last time before she handed it over to Rarity with a grin almost as big as hers.

"Coco," Rarity gasped in awe, "this is fabulous! Why don't you make dresses more often?"

Running a hoof through her mane, she eyed the old hat that sat on the dresser in the corner of her apartment. It was a purple sunhat that she threw a ribbon and feather on, and the start of her career in beauty. "It's just a side thing, really. I started with hats," she explained simply.

Rarity sent her a soft smile. "Well, with a design like this, I could've guessed you studied dressmaking."

"Actually," Coco reflected, "I majored in architecture."

She was, in a word, shocked. "Architecture? My, I never would've guessed. Why?"

"I mean..." There was no simple way to put the whole story. She gave a vague answer instead. "Bad things happen when buildings aren't safe. I just had to make sure they were."

Being the social butterfly she was, Rarity could easily tell when secrets were being kept. Her sweet and soft-spoken friend, however, was not somepony to demand an answer out of, so she simply agreed. "I see," she responded. To keep the coversation going, she asked, "Then why did you switch to beauty?"

"Really, it was just what felt right," Coco answered simply, staring back at the hat.

Following her gaze, the dressmaker asked, "Then what does that hat have to do with it?"

"It was an apology."

"To whom?"

For the first time that night, Coco locked eye contact with Rarity. "Who do you know who absolutely loves purple?"

She chuckled. "Aside from myself? Probably Twilight."

Coco remained unfazed. "In the fashion inudstry."

And for the life of her, Rarity couldn't guess. "Who?"

"Suri Polomare."

Then, Rarity's eyes widened. "Oh my, I'm so sorry! Why..."

"What? Suri and I have known each other since we were little. I mean, I was in her shadow, yes, but I was happy there. And she was happy to take charge."

"But she—"

"Wasn't the bad guy, Rarity. Just a bit reckless. Not to mention, she had rich parents and a doormat of a best friend, so she was more than used to getting her way."

"Then why would you give her that beautiful hat to apol..." Rarity trailed off with a sheepish smile at Coco's stare.

"Storytime, Rarity. Try not to interrupt," she reminded with a smirk. "Anyways, it was a bit before university applications closed, and she'd already chosen her path in the beauty industry. She was born a natural. Meanwhile, I was just a basic middle class bookworm of a filly. I still didn't even have a cutie mark. With no path set out for me, I decided to just follow Suri since she was so sure."

"So you applied for beauty and still ended up in architecture?"

Coco smiled. "No. But one day, Suri and I were hanging out. Like friends do, right?"

"Right?"

"And being the innocent, young fillies we were, we played games and dared eachother to do stupid things. Right?"

"Right..."

"So. Truth or Dare, Rarity?"

"What?"

"Which one do you think I chose?"

Rarity frowned. "...Truth?"

Coco grinned. "I chose truth. It didn't matter, though, because I always choose truth. Then Suri said something like 'you're so boring' and eventually, I gave in and she gave me a dare. Mind you, I never even said the word."

"And you said she wasn't a bad friend," Rarity mumbled.

"She always got her way," Coco reminded her. "Anyways, there was this old, abandoned building not far from the park. My dare was to go inside it, but you know me. Always worrying."

"Well," Rarity reasoned, "who wouldn't be worried in that situation?"

"Suri," she answered simply. "So after I questioned my life, like, a million times, I said I would only do it if she came with me. And—I told you she was a good friend—she did."

Rarity shook her head. "She was the one who dared you to begin with."

"Still, a bad friend would've forced me to go in by myself, then leave me there. She still cared enough to go with me. Sometimes I wish she was the bad friend. But she wasn't, so in we went. It was practically everything you'd expect—dark and dusty with spiderwebs strewn everywhere."

"Spiderwebs!"

Coco rolled her eyes. "You know that wasn't our biggest concern. I just wanted to get the dare over with, and she was actually pretty excited to check the place out. I kept trying to talk her out of it, even when we were inside. She just kept telling me I was a chicken. Then we went onto this creaky platform."

"No!"

"Yeah, big mistake. I was holding on to the railing so tightly that if the thing was going to fall, I was going with it. Suri, on the other hoof? She was just fine trotting on it as if it were her runway. And then, um, it broke."

"Ooh," Rarity hissed, turning away. "Not the prettiest sight to see, I assume. And especially at such a young age."

"Mhm." Coco took a few seconds of silence to think, then continued. "That was the day I changed my application. Went right for architecture, so I could make sure nothing like that happened again, not on my watch. Applications were already closed when I finally went to visit Suri again. She ended up with a broken hoof and a big scar across her forehead. See that hat in the corner?"

Rarity followed Coco's hoof to the corner where the old hat was. The purple one, with the ribbon and the red feather. It really was a pretty thing, even despite all the dust. You could even call it vintage. "Yes."

"An apology. For dragging Suri to the building with me. And to cover up that hideous scar. I couldn't really face it."

"What did she say?"

"What?"

"About the apology? About the hat?"

"She told me, 'don't worry about it.' She said she probably would've gone in even if I hadn't asked her. And she loved the hat. Never stopped wearing it until she grew her bangs and covered the scar up without it. Then she gave it back to me. Actually, this was all before we even started college, so she said 'I knew fashion was your thing!'"

Rarity chuckled. "And you still did architecture."

"Yeah, until I graduated, and I realized fashion really was my thing. Suri... might've made a few mistakes, but she wasn't wrong there."

With a smile, Rarity looked back at the hat. "It really is a pretty thing, you know."

"I know."

"What if you never went into that building? Would you have had a reason to make that hat?"

Coco frowned at the thought. She took a few seconds to consider it, then grinned. "I would've had no reason to take architecture, so I would've done beauty anyways. You know, there's so many paths you can take to end up in the same place."

"Well, I'm sorry you took that path," Rarity replied, because she was. Having to experience that while so young must've been terrible.

"A start is a start," Coco shrugged. "And either way, I'm doing something that matters."

"Oh, you certainly matter," Rarity assured her.

Personally, that was all she'd ever wanted.