"Suri you really are an idiot." Coco spoke up, "Trying to fool Prim Hemline. Trying to fool Rarity. Trying to fool yourself. It's no wonder you live in this disgusting little hole in the wall. It suits you."
"Ex...excuse...me?" Suri responded in a mixture of shock, anger, and fear.
"You need to just be done with it already." Coco continued as she trotted forward, "The headaches are never going to stop. They just get worse, harder, stronger, louder."
"SHUT UP!!" Suri screamed as she could feel the pain throb in the back of her mind.
"Suri, why are you yelling at me?" Coco said in genuine surprise as she backed away, "I didn't say anything."
"You just said all those horrible things!!" Suri said, "You want me to kill myself!!"
"I.....I....never said that." Coco stammered, "Are you...hearing things?"
"NO!!" Suri screamed in defiance.
"Kill yourself, kill yourself, kill yourself." Coco said abruptly, "Nopony wants you. Nopony needs you. Nopony loves you."
"JUST DIE!!" Suri shrieked in agony as tears filled her eyes and she reached for her coffee mug.
The crazed pony lunged at her former assistant again just as she did in the alley (or did she?) and bashed her on the head with the mug, shattering it and leaving a deep, nasty gash that trickled a river of blood down Coco's forehead.
Coco's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she slumped over, collapsing onto the carpet. Suri gave an insanely victorious cackle as she believed she had triumphed over her tormentor and her headache started to ease.
"She's gone! Coco's gone! She can't hurt me anymore!" Suri cheered, "I've done it! I've killed her! She tried to kill me...help me...be my friend...but she said mean things....but I was mean to her...but I...but she...snow alley....snow..."
Suri hyperventilated as the realization of what she had done washed over her. Coco had never said those mean things, Suri only imagined them. Coco had only ever been kind to her, even after she had done nothing but mistreat her. Poor Coco. Poor Coco. Poor Coco.
Kill yourself. Kill yourself. Kill yourself. Suri thought, You killed Coco. You killed Coco. You killed Coco.
"Suri!!" Coco shouted all of a sudden, snapping Suri back into reality.
"Coco...forgive me...please..." Suri sobbed, "I didn't mean to....not again...."
This time Coco wasn't hearing it. Coco gave a look of pure rage as life came back into her eyes and blood soaked her muzzle. Suri had only knocked her unconcious and this time she wasn't imagining Coco's reaction.
"I tried to help you." Coco said in tranquil fury, "Despite everything you did. You made me help you cheat Rarity. You barked orders at me like I was your slave. I go out of my way to check in on you and now I'm going to have a giant scar on my forehead the rest of my life."
Coco's repressed anger got the best of her as she pummeled her former boss into the floor with her hoof. She smacked Suri around again and again and again. Suri herself collapsed against the wall in a daze, but still lucid enough that she could hear Coco. Suri's right eye was swollen and puffed over, her face a wash of blood and bruises, and one of her teeth chipped.
"Snow alley..." Suri muttured.
"Snow alley?" Coco questioned, "You said that before...snow alloy!!"
Coco's eyes widened and her face went blank in utter realization at what had happened to Suri.
"Snow alloy! That's it!" Coco repeated.
The melancholy mare punched the wall with her hoof and it cracked into flimsy drywall as white specks scattered on the carpet.
"The walls are snow alloy!" Coco explained, "This is an insular substitute that's been banned for years! It's been known to cause nightmares, headaches, and hallucinations."
Coco looked at Suri who was now shaking and cowering in sorrow and fear. Coco gave the tormented mare a look of pity and guilt so deep that it would put Princess Luna to shame.
Coco wrapped her arms around Suri again, this time feeling nothing but the warmest affection. She burst into tears and blubbered for several minutes.
"Suri...Suri...I'm so sorry..." she whispered, "No wonder...no wonder you've been acting like this...breathing in that awful poison...I can't
imagine what you've been through..."
"M'kay...." was all Suri could manage in response.
Suri slowly struggled back onto her hooves and wiped the blood from her muzzle. She could only see out of one eye and saw Coco still lying on the floor.