//------------------------------// // Punching the Clock // Story: Coconut Punch // by MistyShineStar //------------------------------// "No, Berry. That's not...oh dear, let me do it," Coco said, pulling a coat out of her grip. "You see, you have to use a slip stitch across the hem if you want it to be nice and invisible." When Berry stared at her blankly, the yellow mare rolled her eyes and sighed. "Like this," she said, taking the needle in her mouth and demonstrating the stitch with the grace and skill of somepony who had done it thousands of times before. Berry watched with awe as her tangle of thread turn into something that looked like it was produced by a machine. Coco looked over at the mare as if she were making a decision. Finally, she said, "I know it's your first day, so it must be a little bit tough on you. Why don't you just handle working the counter while I keep making garments?" She smiled kindly and continued to fix the mess of fabric that the pink mare had created. --- "Berry, why is your nose bruised and bleeding?" The pink mare looked away from Coco with embarrassment. "It's complicated." "Really? Because it's kind of easy for me to piece together," the mare said, not unkindly. "You got into an altercation with a customer, didn't you? I heard shouting and some insults being hurled regarding somepony's mother." "It looked like they were trying to steal something, Coco!" the mare said, her eyes growing big as she pouted out her bottom lip. "I was just trying to stop them from taking the garments you worked so hard on." Coco breathed out sharply. "Okay. Look, Berry, just go back to my apartment and take care of yourself, okay? Here's the key." She smiled and tossed it into the mare's hoof. "Thank you, Miss Pommel," Berry smiled before trotting back to the apartment. "It's Coco!" she shouted over the sound of traffic as Berry cheerily skipped home. --- Berry hadn't been lying about the altercation. For the most part, at least. It had appeared that the mare at the stand was trying to steal something- Berry's dignity. "What does fruit have anything to do with fashion?" she asked Berry, staring at her cutie mark. "What does a key and a lock have to do with being a dick?" Berry had replied, glancing down at the customer's cutie mark in return. "Hey, that was uncalled for." Berry mimicked her voice in a deep and vapid tone. "Hey! That was uncaaAAaaalled for! Meh meh meh meh meh!" To be fair, Berry thought to herself, I was kind of asking for it. She pressed a wet rag against her nose, staring at herself in the bathroom mirror. She winced at the sting it caused just as she heard the front door of the apartment open. Had she left it unlocked? Was somepony robbing the place? She supposed that the adrenaline from the altercation she just had was making her antsy, but she decided not to risk it. She grabbed a plunger and shot out of the bathroom. "Who's there?" she screamed. Just as she did this, her vision was filled by a pair of green eyes. Then, everything went black. --- "Oh, jeez," Berry heard as she regained consciousness on the living room couch. "I'm real sorry, Missus Punch. You really freaked me out back there, you know? You can't scare me like that." Babs. Babs had knocked her out. "You throw a good punch, kid," she said, getting up. Berry was a more than a little embarrassed- a filly had truly bested her. Babs had hit her in the exact spot that the mare from the altercation had, causing her bruise to double in size. "Where did you learn to do that?" "On the streets of Manehatten," the young mare said, swelling her chest with pride and grinning. Suddenly, her smile faltered, and she shook her head as if to clear some sort of bad thought from it. "Hey, why are you home from work early, anyway? Aren't you supposed to be helping Missus Pommel?" "I got in a fight," she said simply. "Very cool," Babs responded. "You look like you lost." "I didn't lose!" Berry said indignantly. "I just did the mature thing and walked away." "So...you lost," the filly said simply, shrugging. "Listen, kid," Berry said, "I have years of experience on you, and I'm not going to let you act like a little smart aleck around me when you don't know your ass from a hole in the ground." "Hm. Interesting, considering that your stupid little story about your cutie mark doesn't fool me one bit," Babs replied casually, checking out her hoof. Berry felt her heart stop in her chest. "What are you going on about?" Berry answered in the most incredulous tone she could. "C'mon, Missus Punch," the filly replied, staring her in the eye. There was something very intimidating about the bright green color of the filly's irises. "Missus Pommel, bless her sweet heart, likes to give ponies the benefit of the doubt. See, I was raised on the streets of Manehatten, and I had to fend for myself. Us former homeless folk? We aren't so easily fooled." Berry gulped as Babs got up and started pacing the living room. "Berry, I don't hate ya, despite what you might think," she said. "But I know that you're playing my roommates and I for fools. The only reason I haven't voiced my suspicions to Missus Pommel is because I think it would break her heart. Did you know that she can go on for hours about you and what a good person you are underneath your selfish image? And she barely even knows you!" Babs felt herself getting angrier and angrier but managed to keep it under control. "So here's the thing, Berry. You're going to make your money and then you're going to get the hell out of my house. And if you ever-" Babs got close to Berry's face- "EVER hurt Missus Pommel OR her business, I will make you wish you were never born. Do you understand, Missus Punch?" Despite how intimidating the filly was, Berry could feel the intense familial love Babs felt for the closest thing she ever had to a parent. She suddenly felt the weird, strong wave of guilt she had felt when Coco first wished her goodnight. "Yeah, I understand," Berry said softly. Babs seemed shocked at the mare's willingness to back down. "W-well...good!" Babs said, stomping into the communal bedroom. Berry watched her go before getting off of the couch and cleaning up the apartment. For once in her life, she was driven to kindness with no ulterior motive.