Shining may have been sleeping. He couldn’t properly tell in the cold and the position. All he knew was that the sound of foot-steps up the stairway his cage overlooked caught his attention.
Another figure emerged. From the sound of his steps, he was having trouble walking.
A stallion in a sea-green monstrosity of an outfit lumbered gracelessly up the steps.
The outfit was star-shaped and ridged and, upon closer inspection, was so bulky that the arms and legs had to come out holes. Its shoulders were crowned with arching gold-spiked pauldrons with fleshy fuchsia accents and scarlet orbs crammed into the inlay. Out of the arm-holes was a trailing cloak of false-gold thread.
There was something about it that appeared almost reminiscent of a runny nose.
The stallion wearing the ungainly ensemble was lime-green coated and skinny, making him look like a tortoise in that shell of an outfit he wore. His mane was acid-yellow and unkempt, showing signs of stress and tension. Parts of it had signs that their owner had been pulling on it. His pop-eyed expression showed a haughty air coupled with an insecure demeanour as he hid the strain of heaving his heavy garb up the stairs.
“And...what in the crap do we have here?” Shining asked in an unimpressed tone.
The approaching stallion turned her muzzle up at him.
“Oh...it’s you.”
Shining folded his arms.
“Manny Collars, aka Needle Stitch.”
The supposed master tailor’s eyes bore into him.
“So, it will proceed as planned. A shame. I so wanted Rarity to take your place.”
“Rarity’s not an alicorn, dingus.” Shining said flatly “What do you call this new design then? ‘Ode To Excessive Mucus Build-Up’?”
Manny’s eyes bulged as he gritted his teeth.
“Do NOT insult me!”
“Why? You insult just about everypony you know. Why can’t you take a little your way? Is it ‘cause you’re sensitive?” Shining made the last word high-pitched and baby-like “Though on that subject, sensitivity is the word for being aware and caring for others' feelings, not just your own.”
“SILENCE!” Manny Collars shrieked “She put you up to this, didn’t she!”
“Who?”
“Who do you think? The thieving, brainless, bankrupt arch-bitch, Rarity Belle! I know she’s out there, laughing at me!”
“Rarity has recently become a mother and hasn’t spoken of you since she and Spike began their relationship. Nopony has.”
That hurt. Shining saw the tick in the tailor’s eye.
A telling sign of an egomaniac. Even if she was the one he hated above all else, the fact that Rarity had forgotten about him pricked him like a thorn, negated his victory, made the slights ache all over again.
“You’re lying.” he hissed.
“Nope” Shining quoted his (Unofficially) brother-in-law-by-sacred-oath “She hasn’t spoken of you since the incident was cleared with us. In fact, I doubt she even remembers your name, either of them. She’s certainly not gonna’ tell her daughter about her ‘greatest mistake’.”
“You LIE!” he shrieked “Rarity wouldn’t forget! I HURT that day in ways she can NEVER recover from.”
There it was. The overemphasis again, done in screams.
“Well, if she hasn’t recovered, she’s done a damn fine impression.”
“Well, that’s her, isn’t it!” he scoffed “The poser, the VAIN, SELF-CENTRED, BOASTING, MAKEUP-WEARING, HINDRANCE-HIDING LITTLE BITCH! Always LYING! Always pretending it’s SOMEPONY ELSE’S FAULT!”
That made Shining laugh.
“Takes one to know one!”
He didn’t wait for him to query just what he meant. Shining leaned forward and explained.
“We found out everything, Manny. You’ve been played for a total fool! And so’s Grand Ruler! I suppose he must have thought it was so convenient, finding you, a pony with such an axe to grind against the Bearer he so badly wanted denounced. Right when Rarity was about to come forward with just how horrible Starla was around her and other mares that Starfleet was meant to protect! Just how much you and Starfleet looked down on mares in general! He’d look anywhere for a mystery witness to discredit Rarity...even in a prison cell.”
“No! How dare you! It’s a lie!” Manny yelled.
“No, Manny, that’s not gonna’ work. We found all the evidence. And we did things the Equestrian way too. No memory scans, no mind control, no dragging dissidents to the lobotomy chambers, just by the book, old-school snooping. It wasn’t as easy as we thought to work behind Grand Ruler’s back but then it wasn’t as hard either.”
“You know NOTHING!”
“We know enough.” Shining said, watching the hands of Manny Collars shaking fitfully with rage “We know what really happened with you and Rarity all those years ago. Perhaps you’d like a little trip down memory lane...” he cleared his throat, leaned back against the side of the cage in a cocky manner and began.
Glitter was all well and good but proper fragmented gemstone, encased between two layers of tektite shaped like a tiny water droplet, made all the difference. Spike had helped her find the gems as well as crunched them himself and spat out with cleansing flame to smooth the facets while Pinkie’s parents had gotten their old family forge working again to give the tektite the proper works. She’d need to make sure to thank them both profusely once this was all complete.
The Ponhemian-style combination of elegant vanilla-coloured kirtle slashed with rhubarb-red and beads of zircon organised into snowflake-patterns over a simple but comely white smock with buttons of tear-shaped tektite glass decorated with powdered ruby and amethyst surrounding a dainty lacy collar. Padding the garment was a shawl of blue-grey faux fur meant to resemble snow leopard but upon closer inspection, the rings and patches were in fact compressed patterns of flowing text; archaic rune-work that, translated, read the top fifteen of Snow Angel’s ‘Seasonal Poems of Equestria: Winter; Its Woes And Its Wonders’ from over five hundred years ago. Thrown in for free, attached to the garb by button-holders, were rings of faux-ivory studded with a rhombus of rhodolite at every cardinal point to keep the mane and tail fastened and flowing fluidly.
Rarity gave a weighty breath of pride, very much satisfied with the result.
“How about it, Coco?” she hollered happily as her timid, beret-sporting assistant, still a few weeks on the job, joined her in her study “I think I shall call it ‘In Frost, A Cry For Summer’.”
“It’s, um...very nice, Miss Rarity.”
“Now, how to make a dress that says ‘We yearn for winter in summer’?” she pursed her lips “Maybe take some influence from Saddle Arabian designs. Then again, how often do ponies like them see snow at all?”
“Well, uh, I wouldn’t know.” Coco Pommel gave a small shrug “I, um, I don’t quite understand why you’d think of summer in winter...or winter in summer.”
“Oh it’s all part of the theme of subversion, darling.” Rarity tossed her hooves dramatically “You see here, the clothing looks, at first impression, too light and soft for winter-dress but upon actually wearing it, it’ll warm you comfortably. It looks like it’s built for summer but is actually made for winter. Appearance contrasts the purpose. It’s controversial, catching, and opens the market for designs of all seasons whilst still subconsciously elevating the importance of specialist construct. Draws the art crowd. Put simply, my dear,” She gave a gleeful spin “It’ll put Carousel Boutique on the map!”
“Oh, well that’s...very nice...” Coco cleared her throat and blushed “Sorry, I, um...came to tell you, there’s somepony at the door to ask for you.”
“Whoop, well, can’t stand around her dawdling. Come along then, Coco, my little button-muzzle.” Rarity gave Coco’s muzzle a friendly little nuzzle with her forehoof, smiling sweetly at her nervous but tender little assistant as the two mares trotted merrily out to the counter.
“Good morning, sir, and welcome to Carousel Boutique where everything is chi-”
“That’s enough, please.” A stallion’s sharp voice cut in “I’d like to get down to business with no time wasted whatsoever.”
Rarity stopped, hiding her slight peeve at the new customer’s brusque. Coco Pommel made her way forward and gave a polite nod. That seemed to put a smile on the stallion’s face.
He was a light-green unicorn with lemon-yellow mane slicked back, wearing gold-rimmed spectacles and a trim suit. His cutie mark was a set of paint-powder pots opening up and flying into the air. He held up a card.
“Manny Collars. Heir to Collarcorp Enterprises. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?”
“W-well, I know of Collarcorp, certainly. Formerly Bryte and Crayola Collars’ Dyes and Lenses?”
“The same.” The stallion had a smug air about him, relaxing slightly against the desk and giving Rarity a look that almost looked bored “I’ve heard you’re quite well-sought after in these parts. Not that I come here often.” He ended his sentence with a small exhale that sounded almost like a scoff.
“Well, if you’ve heard of me, I must be doing something right.” Rarity gave a giggle, shrugging bashfully. After a pause, Coco got the gist and gave a small, closed giggle.
Behind his glasses, Manny Collars rolled his eyes which Rarity preferred not to notice.
“Well, I’d like to order a commission.” he said frankly “A jacket of velvet, long-tailed, navy-blue, gold-buttoned with silver lapels decorated with amber patterns, nothing feminine; fastened with a gorge of black-bear fur-”
“It’ll have to be faux-fur, I’m afraid.” Rarity butted in.
Manny Collars didn’t seem to like being interrupted. His chartreuse eyes narrowed behind his spectacles and his lip curled but after a pause, he continued.
“Fine. Cuffs to match. An indigo waistcoat with concealed double-buttons in jet, framed in brass. And atop, a high cravat fastened with a turquoise brooch. Have you got all that?”
“Almost...yes.” Rarity jotted it all down and puffed her cheeks “Goodness...That’s a rather intricate piece.”
“Well, if you’re as good as you say...”
“But of course.” Rarity raised an eyebrow, determined to prove her worth to the tricky customer “And to make a commission one must pay half-way on request plus deposit.”
“Money’s no trouble. Here.” Nonchalantly, Manny Collars whipped out a chequebook and pen, scribbled and threw it down on the desk without looking at them.
Rarity picked it up. Her mascaraed lashes bounced upwards as her bright blue eyes widened and her mouth opened.
“Eighty-five thousand bits?!”
Coco Pommel covered her mouth with her forehoof.
“You’ll get the deposit when I leave and the other half once it’s finished.” Manny Collars gave a smirk “Like I said, money’s no trouble.”
“I...see...” Rarity said, mind-boggled at the prospect “That is...more than ten-times the amount I would have asked for a piece like this!”
“I accept nothing but the best, which I very much expect it to be.”
“That goes without saying, my good sir.” Rarity gave a small bow “As to the matter of how long it may take...”
“Take all the time you need. It’s not a problem for me.” Manny Collars idly checked the soles of his hooves.
“Well, by the look of things, considering the need to search for and order the desired materials...” Rarity calculated in her head “I’d say I could have it sorted in perhaps...three weeks?”
“Make it four. I want nothing left insufficiently made.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it, sir.” Rarity said with her usual courtesy “Will that be all?”
Manny Collars finally turned to look at her and gave a small smile.
“Well, after all I’ve heard about this place, I was hoping I could...well...” he meandered about the word and in the pause, he turned to look closely at Coco Pommel “Get a better look.”
“A tour of Carousel Boutique?” Rarity giggled with excitement “I would only be too happy, my good sir.”
“Ah, no, no.” He put up his hoof “I think it would be more beneficial for us if you began the designs. I’m sure your...assistant could manage.”
“Oh. Well, Coco’s still quite new but I imagine she could manage?” Rarity gave a small shrug “Would that be alright with you, Coco?”
“Oh, um...yes, I’m sure I can show him something interesting.”
“Oh, I’m sure you can.” Manny Collars left his slouch upon the counter and sidled up to her “After you.”
Rarity gave her materials list and design one more examine before trotting off to her study and begin work on this lucrative ensemble.
“Alrighty then. If anypony needs me, I’ll be getting on with the show, so to speak.”
“You do that.” Manny murmured “Miss Pommel, if you please?”
“Right, okay...” Coco steeled herself. She was sure she could manage. She didn’t know the place that well but Rarity had shown her all the important points of the boutique and she knew how most of it worked. She could manage. All she had to do was put on a brave face and-
She stopped. Her face paled, her hooves stood stock-still despite the tremor running through her limbs.
She felt the cold, hard sole of a stallion’s hoof pressed against the side of her flank.
Manny Collars’ voice was quieter and altogether more sinister.
“Very nice.”
“Wh-wh-what are you doing?”
“Enjoying the tour.” the stallion leaned over, his muzzle inches from his neck. With a sickening, nasal sound, he sniffed deeply.
“You’re quiet...I like that in a mare.” He said, that smug, controlled tone had sounded grating before. Now it sounded immeasurably dangerous “This tour is starting to bore me...Take us somewhere private.”
Coco had no idea what to do. If she didn’t say anything, it would continue. To an end-point she had no wish to experience whatsoever.
But if she did cry out, what would happen?
Her mother had told her about stallions like this. Her mother, Rococo, had always been a tough old mare and told her that if ever a creepy stallion started trailing her or trying to touch her, the best thing to do would be either fight back or tell somepony.
But what could she tell anypony? The only other pony in the building was Rarity and what in Celestia’s name would happen to her if she cried out? Would Rarity be able to stop this?
Supposing she took his side? He was, after all, offering her the biggest pay-check she’d ever seen.
Manny could lie? Manny could threaten?
Her mind was a maze.
And Manny was leading her in deeper and deeper.
“Somewhere quiet. Now.”
Her breath coming out in quick, shaky stutters, Coco walked on into the materials cabinet.
The sound of the door shutting behind her was as sudden and foreboding as the click of a loaded gun.
“Please.” she whimpered, too frightened to say any other word “Please. Please. Please. Please.”
“Hush.” Manny had his hoof at her back “You want me to give your establishment a glowing review, don’t you? Well then...”
She felt his neck close to hers, skinny and clammy.
“I think I’d enjoy a ride on the carousel.”
“No! No, you can’t!” Coco found an inch of courage and clambered at the wall, eyes fixed on the stallion “If-If I tell anypony, you’ll be sent to prison. Because...well...that’s where they send ponies to try to-“
His hoof came forth like lightning. She found her chest pressed against the wooden shelf, knocking over a roll of crimson fabric. The stallion’s eyes stared into her, burning her way through her like sulphur.
“Don’t say...anything.” his voice was openly threatening now. He wasn’t trying to hide his wish to instil fear in this mare or his clear enjoyment of the fear he was already sensing in her.
“Remember, girly. Eighty-five thousand bits is a lot of money. And for less than half that much, a stallion like me could pay somepony else to have something very nasty done to Carousel Boutique...or its owner.”
Coco paled at his words.
Now he was serious. He was threatening Rarity’s business, and possibly her life.
Now she knew. She had no choice. If she did anything he didn’t like, Rarity would be the one who really suffered.
“D...d...don’t hurt Rarity.” she whimpered, holding her forehooves in front of her muzzle defensively.
Manny’s hoof wrapped round them and pulled them close.
“What’s the magic word?”
Coco could tell he wanted to hear the word. He needed to hear the word. She could tell.
It stuck in her throat.
The hoof raised above Manny’s head, the burning yellow eyes of its owner wide and hungry.
“Tell me, would you like Rarity to turn up at the bottom of a cliff...or would you prefer her little sister?”
“No, no, please! Please! Please!” Coco was wailing in a panic before Manny’s hoof clasped her muzzle.
“Good.” he positively purred the word “Now...Take off that beret.”
Coco’s hooves were shaking like dry leaves as she reached up and tentatively removed her cap.
“Right. Now...turn arou-”
“Coo-ee?!” Rarity’s lilting voice jerked both of them as the door creaked open “Sorry, I heard something fall, is anything the matter?”
Manny Collars and Coco Pommel stared wide-eyed at the puzzled-looking seamstress.
The stallion straightened up.
“No worry. Miss Pommel was showing me around the fabric room and she bumped into one of the rolls.” he gave the assistant a look “Isn’t that right, Miss Pommel?”
For a moment, Coco Pommel stared into space.
All she’d seen and heard and had done to her swam in front of her eyes in a sudden, screeching, seconds-long tide.
She looked at Rarity, this lass of peerless talent and unending generosity, the strong and noble heart of diamond beating strong behind the exuberant drama queen she appeared to be, always something so inspiring to a meek little thing like her.
Then she remembered the cheque. The threat.
She pictured that gentle, jovial face of the mare before her black and white in the paper, foretelling some horrid occurrence nopony but she could point to.
Knowing it would be all her fault.
She managed to mumble out the words that made her feel unclean.
“Um...yes...He’s right...sorry...”
“Oh. Well, at least there’s no harm done.” Rarity’s horn lit up and gently replaced the roll of fabric in its correct place.
Manny checked his sides and spoke again.
“Yes, well, I’m afraid I’m in danger of running late. Afraid to say this tour rather petered out somewhat. It seems Miss Pommel found the fabrics room difficult to navigate.”
Rarity gave a small titter.
“Oh Coco, you silly old thing. You should have called for me.”
Coco turned and answered suddenly and anxiously
“No! No, it...” she took a deep breath “It’s okay. I’ll...do better next time.”
“She’s just a bit worked up.” Manny explained.
“Yes, don’t worry. She gets like that.”
“Um...yes, yes, I do.”
“Still, I have enjoyed the tour so far. Maybe I could continue it tomorrow or whenever you’re both available.”
“Oh, by all means, sir. We’re always available.” Rarity waved her hoof gaily.
“Excellent.” Manny gave a supercilious smile “Work hard. And I look forward to carrying on where we left off, Miss Pommel.” He fixed her with an eerie glint “Remember my advice.”
Coco felt a staggering pit open up in her chest as he walked out, Rarity waving goodbye amiably as ever.
“Cheerio, Mr Collars. We honour your patronage.” She spun round with a smile and saw Coco standing in the doorway, shaken and sweating.
“Are you alright, dear?”
“Um...”
“Look, I’m not angry at you for getting lost. It happens to everypony. I could tell you things about Sweetie you’d never-”
Her assistant gave a short gasp. Both mares stepped back from each other as Coco managed to stammer.
“I...I...I’m okay. I promise. It’s just that, er...anxiety...my...my...I haven’t been well...I...I just remembered...”
“Alright, alright, look...” Rarity held up a gentle hoof “Maybe you should take the rest of the day off. I can handle this alone. You don’t seem well.”
“O-okay...I’m okay...But thank you.” Coco said, nodding frantically “I...I...”
He remembered Manny Collars’ words.
“Thank you...Miss Rarity...I’ll be in tomorrow.”
Without another word, not looking anywhere but towards the ground beneath her, Coco Pommel sped out. Walking briskly on, blind to the world around her until she found herself on the path home, green, narrow, quiet.
Now so frightening.
A bird took off on one of the trees. Coco spun round, eyes wide, heart pounding against her chest, certain that, for a brief second, she saw Manny Collars pouncing at her.
She stopped at the base of an old tree, mighty, wide and gnarled. She remembered her mother had taken her to the tree to steadily get over her fear of heights, teaching Coco to climb over several weeks.
It had always felt safe.
Yet not even the oh-so familiar shade of its branches or the moss around its roots eased her.
Sitting down, the events of the hellish day swamping her mind, Coco Pommel held her muzzle in her hooves and sobbed.
*
He'd try it this time. She knew.
Coco Pommel barely managed to make her way to Carousel Boutique without breaking down.
Every step she took, she remembered what Manny Collars would surely do to her.
But every time she paused, she remembered what Manny Collars would surely do to those she cared about.
While pulling at her mane last time, Manny had told her, in gruesome detail, the kind of things that would happen to little Sweetie Belle, the kind of ponies he’d sent after her, the kind of things they liked doing to little fillies.
Her hooves shook on the ground she trod.
The door of Carousel Boutique, once a haven to her now loomed over her like the entrance to a prison.
She gently pushed open the door and found her employer, hearing her long before seeing her.
“So!” the shrill cry of Rarity ran through her establishment as the seamstress stomped to and fro, her mane wild and her face stretched with a grimace of fierce resolve “They think I’m some sort of idiot, do they?! Well, they can’t escape my gaze this time! I, Rarity Saccharina Belle, will have vengeance!”
She caught sight of her perplexed assistant and shook her by the shoulders.
“Coco! You’re here, at last!”
“Is...Is something the matter, Miss?” Coco asked, quietly cursing herself for asking such a silly question.
Rarity gave a slightly unhinged-sounding giggle.
“Not anymore, my dear!” she cackled “Brace yourself for utter horror but I’ve just uncovered a detestable scheme to pilfer my meticulous designs and materials! Fortunately, I have ensured this goes no further.” She grinned “Ooh, just you wait, my dear. Very soon, the sounds of trapped miscreants pleading for mercy shall echo throughout the boutique! Very soon!”
She cleared her throat, straightened her mane and smiled.
“Forgive me, I’m wittering on. Are you alright this morning? You seem a bit peaky.”
“Oh, um...I’m alright.”
“Well, if there’s anything the matter, just let me know, okay?” She gave her a wink as, like a death knell, the bell on the boutique rang, heralding the arrival of Manny Collars.
“Ah, Mr Collars. A very fine morning to you.” Rarity gave a merry bound “You’ll be pleased to know we have amplified some moderate protective measures in the boutique so you needn’t worry about any chance of-”
“I wasn’t worried to begin with.” Manny interrupted flatly “Whatever keeps you entertained.” He cleared his throat “Miss Coco. I believe there are some...areas in this place that very much...interest me.”
The young assistant’s heart felt gripped by deathly-cold claws.
“Uh...yes, sir.”
“Righty-ho, then.” Rarity hopped a little and trotted off “I’ll just be working on that design. You two have fun.”
“Oh, we will.” Manny said in his usual flat, humourless tone, hiding his sinister smirk from the disappearing seamstress.
He didn’t even need to gesture. Coco knew where he wanted him.
She knew where she needed to be and what she needed to do to keep Rarity and Sweetie Belle safe from the world of hurt and horror she’d found herself in.
Whistling another of the old jaunts her mother used to sing, Rarity applied a finish to the faux-bearskin cuffs. The silver thread would barely (Rarity rolled her eyes at the pun she’d non-verbally made) show but it made little concern. It looked lovely either way.
Tensing herself for tonight where she would, hopefully, catch the nefarious wrong-doers intruding on her establishment in the act, she checked the newly set-up security and observation system.
Crystal-operated cameras, the frames of which she’d designed herself with help from Spike and hidden in places only she would know, would record whatever took place in every room with an entrance outside.
A couple of days ago, she had discovered to her dismay that the materials in her room were being mislaid or strewn so terribly untidily around the place. She knew Coco would never leave the room in such a way and nopony on earth went in there without permission. Manny Collars had already been in there once, surely his interests lay elsewhere, among the ponnequins displaying her designs or the...
A thought entered her head that caused her face to twist slightly in discomfort.
Steadily, reaching over to the crystal ball that displayed the observed rooms one after the other, her horn lit up and turned to the fabrics room.
Her bright blue eyes were wide and unblinking.
Her treasured assistant was standing, crying, steadily lowering the front half of her body down below. Manny Collars was behind her, his hooves at her flanks, his features stretched in a look of obscene hunger.
Suddenly a great many things made very unpleasant sense.
Rarity blinked.
Turning steadily to the door, her magic dissipated and she felt a tendon in her neck grow tight.
She took a deep breath.
“Stop whimpering.”
She so hated his voice. Every word dripped the things she feared in ponies. Malice, obsession, callousness.
And she was completely at its mercy.
Shutting her mouth tight, a few slight muffled whines and sniffles escaped her, tears running down her cheeks puddling below her on the floor.
“I’ve changed my mind.” Manny said horribly quietly “You can whimper. In fact, I want you to whimper. A lot.”
The young mare gave a drawn-out cry through clenched teeth as she felt his hooves press harder against her.
He hadn’t begun. He wouldn’t begin for some time.
He was drawing it out to make it worse for her.
“Do you know something?” he said, almost ponderously “When I’m done...you’re going to have nothing. Something in you will make you feel like the worst thing alive. You’ll quit your job, you’ll stop seeing your friends, you’ll never go out and see somepony or really do anything that makes you feel happy...Because you’ll feel like you don't deserve it. And in the end, the only time in your life you remember somepony loving you...was now.”
He heard him give a giggle, each word slamming into her like a knife.
“Enjoy it.”
“Why...” she managed to whimper. Manny still hadn’t started but this, this felt more painful than she’d ever imagined the act itself to be “Why are you doing this?!”
There was silence for a moment. Coco held her breath.
“You know...” the stallion said at last, “I remember on my Cutecinera, dad got me balloons. Huge, floating heads of every colour. All around, the other foals laughed but I didn’t see the joke. They were just standing in mid-air, fat, silly and useless. One floated right up to me, pale yellow...just like you. I popped it. I cast a little spell and popped it. It was nice, that feeling, taking something that just stood around looking pretty and stupid and just...making it go away. So I stood on the table and popped them all. The other foals were crying. But I...I felt so happy there...so much better...and it felt right. It didn’t just feel ‘good’, Miss Pommel...It felt right. That was what counted in the end. And the feeling, the first really good, really right feeling I felt in so long...is exactly what I’m feeling now.”
Coco felt ready to collapse on the floor. She so wanted, desperately to black out, shut herself off, not have to endure any of what was happening or what would come next.
How?
How had she suddenly found herself in this tiny corner of Tartarus.
“Please...”
That was all she could whisper as she shut her eyes tight and waited for what would surely ruin her, body and mind.
Then there was a chill at her back and a slam.
Manny’s hooves finally left her.
She turned.
Standing in the doorway, rigid as an iron lamp-post, was Rarity.
Despite nothing in her appearance out of its usual, meticulously-glamorous manner, it was really quite remarkable how much she looked like a sabre-toothed tiger!
She was staring, eyes like burning cobalt, directly at Manny Collars, her lips so small and tight they threatened to disappear.
Her horn lit and the small, narrow door to the back outside unlocked and flew open.
The stallion gave it a quizzical look.
Then turned to see the freight train of a mare heading straight for him.
With an almighty crash, Manny Collars was catapulted out the door, landing in a pained heap, writhing and groaning, half his body smoking with bitter-smelling blue cinders.
Blinking, uncertain if what she’d just seen was part of a defensive hallucination, Coco Pommel got to her hooves and peered out the door to observe the aftermath.
Rarity Saccharina Belle marched over, grabbed Manny by the collar and slammed his back into the recycling dumpster. Her face was now stretched with pure rage, her teeth bared and clenched, her hooves shaking as they clutched the stallion’s throat.
“G-get off me!” Manny shrieked “You...How dare you! You can’t do this to-”
Rarity’s hoof came around like a flying cinderblock. Manny’s head threw itself to the side, bleeding from the muzzle and lip. Coco could see tears in his eyes as Rarity spoke, her voice a draconic hiss.
“Let me make this nice and sssssssparkling clear!” she growled “Prince or pauper, when a pony dares, in all their foul depravity, to abuse any friend of Ponyville’s most talented tailor, they put their hoof in it!”
“You...I’ll sue!” Manny griped.
Rarity gave a scoff.
“For what, pray? Preventing attempted rape?!”
“I have powerful friends like you wouldn’t believe!” the stallion replied “You just assaulted me! That’s all they’ll know! You’ll never be able to bring that scared little bitch to court! You won’t have a leg to stand on!”
“Oh no, sir, I believe I will have at least one leg to stand on. The other three, of course, will be too busy KICKING YOUR FLANKS FROM HERE TO BALTIMARE!”
And with that, Rarity spun him around by the collar and delivered a hefty kick with both back hooves to his flanks, sending flying head-over-hooves out of the boutique yard and into the dirt.
“Oh! And you can take your tainted entitlements with you!” Rarity yelled, bringing out the half-finished suit in her magical grasp, tearing it down the middle and flinging it in Manny’s face. She then removed the cheque he’d written from her purse and lit it alight, holding it up between them as it burned to nothing.
“You are patron of Carousel Boutique NO LONGER! Good day, sir!”
“You-”
“I Said Good Day!”
“Coco...my dear, sweet companion...I am so sorry.” Her bottom-lip was trembling “I was so caught up in my work, too busy musing over this and that, I...I should have noticed something was wrong days ago, I...I should never have let that vile thing into this place, I’m...I’m so sorry!”
“No, no, Miss Rarity, I....I should have said. I was just so...” Coco buried her face in Rarity’s shoulder as days and days of dread and degradation fell off her back “He...He said he’d do such...horrible things to you and your sister if I...if I...”
“Shh-shh-shh...” Rarity gently stroked the back of Coco’s mane “It’s alright, darling, it’s alright. He won’t hurt us now. I won’t allow it. Not here. Not in Ponyville.”
She gave a smile through teary eyes and looked at Coco in a sisterly tone, reminding herself of all the times Sweetie Belle had to open up about problems she was facing with only her big sister to help her out.
“Coco Pommel. When you came to my boutique all those years ago, finding me there in the grip of torment and humiliation, you offered me kindness. And I swore to repay it. I shall, by any means, ensure the world deals by you as it does by me and no matter what happens to me, you will be kept safe.”
She placed her hoof on Coco’s chest, the heartbeat of the timid young mare gently easing itself.
“That is a promise from the Bearer of Generosity, the most skilled fashionista in Ponyville...and a true friend. And that, Miss Pommel, is more valuable than any jewel.”
Shining watched Manny Collars’ face contort with indignation.
“It must hurt...” he said coldly, “Having to face the thing you’ve spent so much time and resources trying to run from. I suppose you kept the suit she’d made. The fact it was her design in the first place must have made it somewhat easier to convince ponies she stole yours.”
“The bitch ruined my life!” the deluded stallion snarled “She landed me in a cell!”
“Best place for you.” Shining replied “And you opened that door yourself. Remember...”
Coco pattered nervously through the prison entrance.
The guest entrance of course.
Though that wasn’t the entrance Rarity had gone through.
She was escorted by Twilight Sparkle, her worried face rigid as her mind rushed.
Also escorting her was Colonel Peregrine, a decorated guard captain who’d trained Shining Armour as a recruit. Twilight had sent for him, knowing she could trust the old veteran. With his black and white coat, tawny ponytail and steely ebony eyes, clad from chest to hoof in intricate armour with shoulder-plates fashioned to resemble an alicorn taking flight, he cut an impressive figure.
After telling Twilight everything over tea the day after Manny Collars had been thrown out of Carousel Boutique, Rarity had requested Coco have somepony looking out for her for a period of time. When armed guard had knocked on the door of Carousel Boutique a day after that, Rarity had assumed Twilight had taken the need to protect Miss Pommel a little far, calling on her brother’s royal guard.
In fact, they were a private protection group. Under contract from the Collars family.
The Bearers of Harmony and Cutie Mark Crusaders heard from a sobbing Sweetie Belle hurrying to their company that her elder sister had been arrested. Charged with assault and emotional distress.
Fortunately her friends weren’t about to take it sitting down.
Coco had heard the terrible news from the Canterlot Gazette and had hurriedly made her way to the visiting centre.
Twilight was disgusted. Rarity hadn’t even been on trial yet but visiting her would require a glass door. This part of the prison was for repeat offenders.
She’d spoken to the warden but all she’d heard was that her accuser had friends and family in high places.
Coco inched forward, keeping her head down, hesitant to look into the eyes of dangerous ponies, even behind bars.
She sat down as Twilight spoke to a prison guard who went inside to inform Rarity she had guests.
The three watched as their friend was brought out, sitting down in front of the glass.
To her horror, Rarity appeared quite changed, even after only a day in prison. As she emerged, Coco noticed the seamstress’s right eye was swollen and blackened. A significant scab ran down her bottom lip and her left ear appeared marred with what looked like bite-marks.
Yet despite this, Rarity held her head up high, a dignified smile on her face with nary a hair in her mane out of place. As she sat down, her fully-opened eye brightened.
“Good morning, Coco. How very lovely it is to see you.”
Her young assistant’s voice was barely louder than a whisper.
“Wh-what happened?”
Rarity cracked a smirk, leaning back in her chair a little.
“What happened, my dear Coco, is that I gave a very firmly-expressed lesson in courtesy to a highly uncouth little madam called Lucid ‘Splitz’ McChrome who had the gall to make some highly inappropriate advances on me while I freshened myself one morning.” she waved a hoof over her features nonchalantly “If you think this is bad, you should take a look at her craggy countenance, rendered substantially craggier. She’s actually become quite a good friend now that we made up in the hospital wing. Quite decent company for somepony serving eight years for armed robbery and assault. We found we have similar tastes in literature. I hope to introduce you to her when this is over. But enough about me, how are you? Has anything bad happened to you since...”
“Uh...no. Pinkie Pie let me stay with her. She’s a bit loud and quick but she’s really nice.”
“I’m sure. You can take it from me, dear, you are quite safe under Pinkie’s watchful eye.”
She turned her head.
“Twilight, dear. How is everything? Is Sweetie alright? And how’s Spike?”
“They’re both fine. Sweetie’s staying with her parents. They came home yesterday. Spike wanted to write to you but I was told I couldn’t give you any messages until after the trial.”
“Ah...When is the trial then?”
“A day from now. They wanted to delay it but I still have some pull with the system.” Twilight said determinedly “And a friend has volunteered to stand for your defence. Came out of retirement just to help you.”
Rarity gave a heartened chuckle.
“How lucky I am to have such faithful friends.” she sighed, “Well, I think I’ll be able to sleep a little easier tonight thanks to you. Just take care of Sweetie, alright. And...if the trial goes awry...tell her I’m so sorry to miss her singing at the school concert.”
Twilight nodded plainly, a little concerned at Rarity’s skewed priorities but impressed nonetheless at how she was taking it.
She and Coco departed. The timid little tailor’s assistant turned to the Bearer of the Magic of Friendship and whispered.
“Am I...going to have to stand at the trial?”
“...Fluttershy asked me the same thing when we heard about Manny Collars. I think...it may be inevitable.”
Coco gave a strangled noise from the back of her throat as her mind throbbed with terror.
All those eyes watching her, judging her, knowing she was lusted after. It would be everywhere.
And Manny, what would he say? That she asked for it? Begged for it? Bargained for it? His lies would ruin her, this she knew. And Rarity. And who knew who else.
She couldn’t do this.
She wasn’t ready.
“I...I need to think...”
“Okay, don’t worry.” Twilight gently held her shoulder. Secretly she held worst suspicions.
The crystal image recording from Carousel Boutique had gone missing when the guard came for its owner.
The same guard would occasionally intrude on Rarity’s parents or her library or Sugar Cube Corner or Sweet Apple Acres just to check that everypony knew Rarity was a criminal and there was no way anypony could prove her innocence.
These guard were not Royal Guard. They lacked the gilded armour and plumes. These were stallions in hard, dark sap-leather armour with glass visors. None of them ever smiled.
Twilight Sparkle had a nasty feeling that the Collars family were onto them.
And one way or another, they’d see Rarity in prison and Coco goodness-knew-where before they allowed their golden son to face the consequences of his actions.
Twilight kept her head down as she passed one of those guards. Gritting her teeth, she braced herself.
So it was war.
*
They came for her at last. Rarity hadn’t even had time to eat breakfast or shower but the guards weren’t to be put off.
She arrived at the court looking dishevelled. And she wouldn’t be surprised if it was deliberate.
The court was packed. Mostly with ponies she didn’t know. She saw Sassy Saddles near the front, Lyra and Bonbon holding each other’s hooves, Colgate Minuette, Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts. But she couldn’t see her fellow Bearers anywhere.
There was foul play ahoof, she knew it.
She was sat down, none too courteously, she noticed, and brushed a strand of mane out of her face.
Behind him, a tall, lean pegasus stallion with a ruddy orange coat and white mane sticking up on two sides of his head like two corners of a decorative kite and a long goatee forming the third corner. Evidently, his lawyer, and the chief prosecutor.
Prosecution. She was the one under prosecution. She, the mare who’d come to the aid of a friend suffering sexual harassment, was under prosecution. She found it sickening at the thought.
Manny sat down, cast a disdainful eye at Rarity and pulled something out of his coat pocket.
It was a picture he’d taken of Coco, looking scared, in his grip.
Eyes still fixed on Rarity, Manny Collars gave the picture a lick.
Rarity fought hard to hide her anger, watching him sitting there, so nonchalant, so ready to go right back and hurt Coco once again.
“You sick, pathetic creep...I despise you.”
The prosecutor, meanwhile, brushed a forehoof over the points in his mane, stood and gave Rarity an amiable but somewhat arrogant smile, offering his forehoof. She could feel the gel from his mane upon it.
“Rarity Belle? Delighted.” he said in a reedy tone as oily as his mane “Wiremane LeTerrier JD-MBA. My niece is an enthusiast of your designs. I’ll have to avoid talking about this particular case over family dinner.”
Rarity gave a smile, betraying nothing but a lady’s courtesy.
“You may tell her whatever you wish, Mr LeTerrier. I have nothing to hide.”
Wiremane sucked his teeth.
“Not the sort of thing to be very proud of here, under such charges.”
“Has your client told you the whole story?”
“...not in words. But then he’s not the one facing the charges.”
“He will be. And any judge with a shred of moral decency will hear me out when they hear what I have to say.”
Wiremane’s blue eyes glinted.
“Is that right?”
“Indeed, sir.” Rarity replied flatly, pausing a moment as she took note of Manny and Wiremane’s smug confidence.
“Who is the judge?”
The Prosecutor shrugged with a wicked grin.
“Not the most well-known among the judicial circles but I assure you, he’s very keen to be here.”
The doors opened on either side of the court.
Twilight Sparkle cantered down the courthouse to Rarity’s seat. She looked a whole sight more dishevelled than Rarity with her brow pouring with sweat.
“Rarity!” she said shakily “It’s all going wrong! I don’t know what to do! What they’re doing, it’s horrible, it goes against everything we stand for but I can’t get in contact with-”
“Slow down, dear.” Rarity put up a gentle hoof, having to act as the older mare in this rare instance “They’ve started the trial early, it seems.”
“Three hours early! They don’t want you to have a lawyer and they can’t let me serve as one. I can serve as counsel but not much else and even then-”
“Twilight, darling, if I have to represent myself, I will. I know what I’m guilty of and I know who should actually be on trial here. I will say what I need to say to the judge.”
“That’s just it!” Twilight replied frantically “The judge is-”
“Court is in session!” The Bailiff roared “The Right Honourable Bryte Regen-Bogen Collars is in the chair!”
Rarity’s eyes boggled as she stared up at an older, stouter, greyer shadow of Manny Collars looking down upon her with a disdainful look, small round coke-bottle glasses hiding his eyes.
She looked to her friend who looked ready to let the ground swallow her up.
The gavel sounded as Bryte Collars barked.
“The case before us is that of the Civil Court of Equestria versus Rarity Saccharina Belle, small-town seamstress and resident drama-queen.” he sniffed loudly, ignoring Rarity and Twilight’s look of outrage “The charge before us is that Rarity Belle did knowingly, deliberately and in full awareness of the severity of her actions deliver grievous bodily harm upon a respected citizen, namely one Mancheron Underhott Collars, in a blind rage brought on by out-of-control histrionic tendencies and feelings of inadequacy. Counsel for the Prosecution, Wiremane LeTerrier JD-MBA, do these charges conclude with your accusations?”
“Perfectly, your honour.” Wiremane said plainly, likely preparing himself for the easiest five-figure sum of his career.
With a vindictive scowl, Bryte Collars turned to Rarity.
“Does the accused argue against their accusations?”
Rarity was still stunned by the sheer madness on display. She mustered a couple of words to the effect of an answer.
“Well...yes...”
“Then do you deny these charges?”
“...no but...”
“You are aware that inflicting such an act of violence upon a citizen of Equestria is against its laws and customs?”
“Of course but-”
“Then if the defence does not possess any evidence to the effect of their innocence, I must conclude the trial-”
“Your honour, I must object!” Twilight Sparkle stood. Bryte Collars slammed his gavel peevishly.
“Order in my court! Miss Twilight Sparkle, you have had your opportunity to bring forth evidence to your...associate’s innocence and you have none!”
“Sir, my client...associate, rather, would like to make a countersue.”
“Overruled!” Bryte snarled “Methods to that effect are very clear, the defendant should have brought such information to the court before the trial began.”
“She was in a federal prison at the time.”
“Then I hardly see it remotely seemly that we should hear an accusation from a convicted criminal!”
“She has not been convicted.”
“Soon remedied.” Bryte Collars pointed a gavel at Twilight Sparkle, himself appearing a much more fervent accuser than the prosecutor himself “I am not blind, Twilight Sparkle! I have sat chairs like this since I first acquired my knighthood and all too often I have seen the civil courts tainted by the manipulations of the overprivileged! Highborn little parasites who believe they can twist the laws simply by being friends with the right mares! I shall not allow it, not in my court! You do not possess credentials as a qualified lawyer and your relationship to the accused is common knowledge! Another word in regards to fanciful claims your associate is not permitted to make and you shall be held in contempt! And may I say, Twilight Sparkle...” he adjusted his spectacles and stared down at her accusingly “I shall be making a public censure in the Equestrian court of law to bar you and others like you from intruding on this courthouse as unofficial counsel, involving yourself in matters you know nothing about! I shall be writing to the Princess personally to ensure both she and you know the cost of trying to bend the law to suit your wishes! Is that clear?!”
“Your honour, I have known Rarity for...”
“Rather less than a decade.” Bryte Collars interrupted “And the company you keep condemns you, Twilight Sparkle, rather than absolves your associate! In fact, I shall take the liberty, in regards to your insistence on defending such an individual thereby wasting the time and resources of the Civil Court, to fine you and your office a sum of a thousand bits.”
“Your honour...” Twilight Sparkle was fighting for breath despite her standing stock-still with a quiet, measured tone to her voice, ignoring Manny Collars’ open laughter.
“I have spoken!”
“My associate would like the court to consider mitigating circumstances.”
At this, the judge snorted loudly.
“Pah! How like you to make such a claim. This is the Civil Court of Equestria, young mare! Unlike some, we do not allow dangerous criminals to get away freely with their deeds and behaviour! Your Princess shall hear of this in vivid detail!”
“She was defending a pony from sexual assault!” the Bearer of the Magic of Friendship finally made her voice heard.
“Liar!” Manny’s laughter abruptly stopped as he stood and screamed in her direction, nearly taking his lawyer off his chair. As the court rumbled, Bryte slammed his gavel so hard it threatened to snap.
“Order!” he roared “The court finds the defence counsel in contempt! The jury is to disregard the previous statement! Such fabrications are beyond reprehensible! You will stay behind to answer for such behaviour, Twilight Sparkle, and I believe the rest of your circle will require serious examination for similar violent potential!” He cleared his throat, the side of his lips twisting.
“Does the Prosecution wish to add anything?”
“Nothing whatsoever, your honour.” Wiremane was checking the soles of his hooves idly.
Rarity stared into the abyss, unable to comprehend anything beyond the enormity of just how suddenly and viciously her liberty, integrity and Celestia knew what else had been robbed from her.
What would happen now? To Coco? Her friends? Her family?
What would Manny do to them with her out of the picture?
A tear hit the wooden desk under Rarity’s muzzle as Twilight Sparkle was shoved back in her chair and Bryte Collars raised his hammer.
“Then I see no reason to delay the outcome of this trial. The court hereby finds the defendant, Rarity Belle...”
The door blowing open and a familiar voice in Rarity and Twilight Sparkle’s ears were as the call of alicorns from Paradise. They turned with alleviated smiles to the figure striding into the court, scrolls under one forehoof, wearing a powdered wig the same blue as his mane with his elegant mustachios and twinkling monocle unmistakable as he announced himself.
“Representative of the Defence. Sir Fancivale Chevalyan Whittlocke Abhimanyu...Basil...Pants, Princess Council, Lord of Briefly Manor, Former-High Magister of the Free City of Trottingham, Knight Commander of the Order of Star-Swirl First-Class, Master Marlin of the Tranquil Lodge of Grammatica Aesthetica, Chairman of the Lowrider Club and Five-Time Winner of Mare’s Magic Magazine ‘Sorry Girls, He’s Taken’ Award.”
He spun round and gave the nonplussed Bryte Collars a ready smile as the judge, cut off at the peak of victory, scrambled for words.
“You...got our message then? That the time and place of the trial...had been changed.”
“Er, no as it happens, I must have missed it.” Fancy adjusted his monocle thoughtfully “Though by a happy coincidence, I was here to wish a friend of mine, Raven Inkwell, good luck for her Masters Examinations. I’m not too late, am I?”
“We were in fact about to conclude the trial.”
Fancypants gave Bryte Collars a curious look, then checked his pocket-watch.
“Trial over in less than ten minutes? Dear me, that is impressive.” he said, sounding none-too-impressed “Are we quite certain all the necessary measures have been taken? Has the Jury been allowed to conduct their own decisions? Has my client been subjected to questions without the supervision of the lawyer she explicitly requested and has every right to wait for?”
“You’re not wanted here!” Manny Collars stood up and snarled. LeTerrier had to urge him back into his seat as Fancypants spun round to sit down at his own.
“Not by the plaintiff, naturally. Now, if we may go over this without making a scene.”
Throwing his jacket tails, he sat down and gave the two mares a gentlecoltly smile.
“How are we this morning, my good ladies?”
“Fancypants!” Rarity gasped “I am indebted!”
“Think nothing of it, Miss Rarity.” he patted her forehoof “When I heard of what happened from your good friend I knew I simply could not take it standing down.”
“I’m so sorry everything got so out-of-control.” Twilight sighed “Bryte Collars is one step ahead. I tried my best but-”
“Dear Twilight, you’ve done better than most in the field under such circumstances.” the gentlecolt said sincerely “It’s disgraceful the way Old Blackball is behaving. It goes against every principle in the field.”
“Blackball?”
“Yes, that’s what we called him in the academy. Bit of a long story. Fifty years and a fortune in the fashion business haven’t changed him a great deal disposition-wise, sad to say.”
“I had no idea you were a lawyer.” Rarity chuckled.
“I’ve led a full life, dear girl, such as it is. I’ve been more than a number of things.” Fancypants said bashfully “Still, that’s for another day. Twilight, how much do we have vis-a-vis the erstwhile trial?”
“Not great. Bryte doesn’t want to let us say anything.”
“It goes deeper than that, I fear. The jury over there...” he pointed to the twelve jurors who had been so silent and motionless throughout that the court had largely ignored them.
“You’ll notice four of them share the Collars colours. Three of them are Blackball’s business partners. The remaining five are ponies with debts to their name with Bryte’s name on the IOUs.”
“It’s disgusting!” Twilight snapped “Doesn’t he know what his son’s done?”
Fancypants sighed.
“How much do fathers know about their sons? How much are they willing to know? A question for later dates. Right now, we must be forthright and cordial. The court is a dance, dear mares and full of trips if one lacks appropriate grace.”
“Understood.” Twilight nodded and stood “Good luck. If you need anything, call for intermission and I’ll see what I can do.”
“Righto old filly.” Fancypants adjusted his monocle again and readied himself.
“In regards to the fact that my client was unable to meet with the representing bodies of authority to present her countersue owing to the fact that the trial began three hours earlier than expected, thus the lateness of her claim resting on our shoulders rather than hers, I move that we hear her out immediately and without interruption.”
“And what?” Bryte Collars snarled “Let her lie, bare-faced, to the civil court?”
LeTerrier cleared his throat, wondering exactly what he was here for if the judge was going to do his job.
“It is the plaintiff’s claim that the accused if not of sound mind and thereby cannot be considered a credible source.”
“Surely, Mr LeTerrier, if you remember your studies, that is in the case of a witness, not the accused.” Fancypants gave him and both Collars’ a stern look “Is it not the right of any pony in Equestria’s court to make whatever claim they deem just? Elsewise, what place have we judging what we do not allow to be judged?”
“I would have expected you to have learned, Fancypants that rights are forfeit in the case of dangerous criminals.”
“My client does not wear that moniker.”
“But will do so when found guilty. So I hardly see it necessary to hear what she may have to say.”
Fancypants raised an eyebrow at the judge in a manner that betrayed contempt.
“You may hardly see it necessary, your honour, for reasons I am not privy to. But does the court?”
Bryte Collars’ lips twisted furiously behind clenched teeth but he said nothing.
Fancypants nodded curtly and proclaimed.
“The Civil Court of Equestria will hear from the defence.”
Rarity brushed her mane with one forehoof and took the speaker’s chair, standing before the court with a tired but dignified face. Fancypants approached the podium and begun.
“You are a Miss Rarity Belle of Carousel Boutique, Ponyville?”
“I am.”
“And you did see your accuser on the date described in the plaintiff’s statement?”
“Yes.”
“Was this the first time?”
“No.”
“Can you describe your relationship with the accuser.”
“...Short answer? None too fond.”
There was a murmur from the court as Manny Collars fixed her a look of hatred.
“Can you describe what had happened on that particular day and the events leading to it.”
“Certainly. And how refreshing it is to be asked that in this house.” she gave the judge a brusque glance as she described in detail her side of the story. No sooner had she said Coco Pommel’s name than Manny Collars burst.
“She’s lying! You can’t trust a word she says! You!” he jabbed a forehoof at the stunned stenographer “Stop writing this down! Tell them, father!”
Wiremane pulled him down as Bryte gave his gavel a slightly feeble slam.
Rarity examined her accuser’s reaction and focussed hard.
She always spoke of Coco by her full name or just as ‘my assistant’.
Then she began to speak of the moment she’d caught Manny bending ‘her assistant’ over in the fabrics room while ‘Coco Pommel’ was very clearly sobbing in despair.
“Upon catching such a thing with the naked eye, well...I confess to say I rather lost my temper. The end results being the injuries Mr Collars sustained in his claim, about the only true thing in the whole sorry statement.”
“You lying bitch!”
“Order!” Bryte was starting to lose patience with his son.
“And you considered such an action warranted?”
“Very.” Rarity replied plainly “He had been sexually harassing my assistant, my dear friend, for the duration of his patronage. I too bear some blame in the affair but only in regards to not noticing it taking place under my muzzle. If I must be punished for it, then very well. But I shall not be punished for the measures I took to protect an innocent pony in my care.”
“Was there anything else you did?”
“Yes. I burned his cheque and tore the half-finished clothes design he’d commissioned in front of Manny and Coco, declaring his patronage at an end and departed inside to tend to my assistant whose emotional injuries were deeper and more painful than injury Manny Collars sustained, many times over.”
As the court murmured again, throwing a number of condemning looks at Manny Collars. Rarity bent down and whispered to her lawyer who nodded with a wry smile.
“Thank you, Miss Rarity, that will be all. Now, I call to the stand, Mr Manny Collars.”
Manny Collars, wearing an uncomfortable expression, stood where Rarity had a moment ago.
“Mr Collars. Do you know of this pony, Coco Pommel, mentioned in Miss Rarity’s statement?”
“No. Absolutely not. She’s lying.” Manny spoke through gritted teeth.
Fancy pressed the switch in Manny’s head.
“Are you certain? It is Miss Rarity’s insistence that you do indeed know Coco Pommel.”
“Well, I don’t! I don’t know her! I’ve never met her! She doesn’t exist! Do you understand?!”
He’d clicked. Fancypants gave a smirk as he spoke as gently and properly as ever.
“Mr Collars, your honour, members of the court...I would like to point out that at no point did I or Miss Rarity or anypony else in this court...explicitly refer to the pony known as Coco Pommel as ‘her’.”
One could have heard a pin drop. The only movement was the colour soundly retreating from Manny Collars’ face.
Wiremane LeTerrier’s expression had changed from smug and self-assured to something quite different. He appeared troubled. Not just by the fact that his client seemed to have put his hoof in it but more indicatively that he was not aware there had been any ‘it’ to put a hoof in.
Bryte was nearly shaking as he spoke.
“Does the prosecution offer any objection?”
Wiremane gave him a look.
“No, your honour. Mr Fancypants has simply stated a fact. It is not my place to object to those.”
Both Collars’ stared at their lawyer venomously as Manny choked on his words.
“S-stop this.”
“Mr Collars, I must ask how did you know Miss Coco Pommel was a mare if you had never seen or heard of her?”
“Well...it was obvious!”
“How? It would not be improbable for the name ‘Coco’ to be that of a stallion’s. And stallions can be victims of sexual harassment.”
Manny Collars’ acid eyes boggled.
“You think I’d go after a stallion?! I’m not some kind of freak!”
Fancy looked at him.
“I didn’t say you were. Nor would you be if you found stallions attractive.” He tilted his monocle “In fact, the one thing I and, I would be fair to say, the members of the court find ‘freakish’ is the idea of forcing one’s attentions on a pony against their will, regardless of their gender.”
“Stop it.” Manny burbled “Stop...stop asking me these questions! Father, make him stop!”
“Order.” Bryte said the word more like a desperate reassurance than a command “Does the prosecution wish to object?”
“It depends.” Wiremane glanced at Fancypants “Has the counsel for the defence finished questioning my client?”
“Why, yes, Mr LeTerrier, I believe so. No further questions.”
“Then I see no reason to object. However, your honour, may I request a moment’s intermission?”
“Granted!” Bryte didn’t need telling twice.
Manny stormed out of the podium and stared his lawyer in the face, blazing from the eyes and mouth.
“What kind of lawyer are you?! What am I paying you for! You’re meant to get me-”
“Young stallion...” Wiremane LeTerrier raised his pen-point in front of Manny’s muzzle, his voice as curt and stern as a disapproving schoolteacher.
“Never...lie...to your lawyer. We are going over your case again and this time you will give me the truth and nothing else. It will change nothing except my opinions on you, which will not affect my performance in court. I may not like the case but I respect the job, something you and your father should understand. I will prove you innocent if I can but I have absolutely no intention of proving you above the law. Now...” he got to his hooves, hauling his client up out of the room “Let’s start from the beginning.”
Fancypants, Rarity and Twilight watched them leave, feeling a whole lot more reassured.
“Heh. Never pick a lawyer with pride.” Fancypants chuckled “I knew Wiremane from the academy, old bounder. He is ambitious and sly and I’ve always found him a tad too smug for my liking but he has standards and we can count on him to play by the rules. He’ll lie if he can but he won’t persist if caught out. Old Blackball, on the other hoof...”
“I’ll keep an eye on him.” Twilight said, patting Rarity on the shoulder “That was a clever trick you pulled there, Rares.”
“I read a lot of detective novels in my spare time. And as an entrepreneur, one develops a skill for hearing what one does not necessarily hear.”
“Corking show, old mare.” Fancypants congratulated her “Now, as luck would have it, I have a few items that may aid us at some point in the proceedings...” He reached inside his jacket pocket and retrieved a set of photos. She showed them to the two mares with a wry smile, “Now, what would you make of this?”
Twilight and Rarity stared a moment. Blush steadily rose to their cheeks as Rarity cupped her mouth with a forehoof and Twilight spoke nervously.
“Gosh...er...Is it safe for Miss Fleur-de-Lis to hold that sort of position? Those ropes look pretty tight. And then there’s the sundae there...is it cherry? Looks like cherry.”
Fancy checked them, dropped his monocle in shock and fumbled to retrieve them, grinning with embarrassment.
“Oh golly! Sorry, old girl. Those were just some ah...mementoes, you understand...Let me just...ah, here’s the little devil!” He pulled out another set of photos. A set of various social events with assorted richly-dressed fellows. Manny Collars could be seen circled with red ink. Beside him in each one was a different mare, wearing expressions of varying discomfort as Manny Collars hung on them.
“So...poor Coco isn’t the only one.” Rarity hissed “Still, the picture’s vague and it didn’t tell us much.”
“So it would seem but it could lead to something bigger.” Fancy shook his head “In the social circles I’ve seen, I’ve come to realise that there is no such thing as a one-time sexual harasser. They like to feel like they can play the field freely and use the same dirty tricks to get away with it. But prove one case and all those before will come back to haunt the bounders.”
“A domino effect...” Rarity smirked “I like it.”
“Good luck, you two. I’ll speak with Peregrine. He can get our friends in here. That’ll make sure...” She stopped as the crystal communicator wrapped around her hoof blinked. Her horn lightning up to receive it, she spoke.
“Yes? Pinkie, hi, yeah, don’t worry, we...What?! My gosh! Are you...Yeah, I’ll be right over. I’ll let them know.”
The lavender unicorn stared down again, her face once more a picture of dread.
“It’s Coco...” she murmured, “She’s in hospital. She...she tried to kill herself.”
*
Twilight Sparkle stared at the prone form of Coco Pommel in the hospital bed, pale and morose.
Matron Nightnurse and Nurses Redheart and Tenderheart were present in the room, their faces grave.
Upon Twilight’s shoulder was Pinkie Pie, quietly crying.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” she whimpered “I only looked away for a minute. She said she was gonna’ help me make grilled cheese sandwiches. I shouldn’t have let her hold a knife!”
“Miss Pie, please don’t beat yourself up.” Nightnurse rubbed her shoulder gently “You acted commendably quickly and did well to bandage the wound and press off the circulation. Older ponies than you have made worse mistakes.”
The bright little pink mare sniffed and managed a half-smile.
“Thanks, ma’am...Fluttershy gave me lessons.”
Nurse Redheart nodded and explained to Twilight Sparkle.
“She attempted to slit her own fetlocks. She’d cut into one by the time Pinkie had caught her.” she said “We’ve managed to reattach the vital artery but she’ll probably be bed-ridden for some time. Absolute respite. At the time of her injury, we’ve found out from her scans she was showing signs of dangerous stress-levels.”
“She woke up screaming in the night. I had to sing her a lullaby.”
“I see...” Twilight brushed a forehoof over the underside of her muzzle “So...how soon will she be conscious?”
“Soon after tomorrow. Our priority is keeping her calm to prevent a severe nervous attack.”
“I see...” Her forehoof travelled across her mane, nursing a migraine “Okay...Okay...I think we might be able to save this...Rarity had the whole scene on the crystal ball.”
“Bad news on that particular front.” Sassy Saddles swept round the doorway, her face a bigger picture of anxiety than normal “When the Collars colts came to bundle up Rarity, they broke into the surveillance room. The Crystal Ball’s been left broken. And the recording crystal’s been taken.”
Twilight cursed. On a normal day, Pinkie Pie would have assured her that whenever a pony used words like that, a little chocolate cupcake cries but this was not a normal day.
“Okay...I need to let Fancypants know. He might know somepony who can lend a hoof.”