Silver waited outside of the fashion plaza until the door opened and Rarity came out. He opened his mouth, but the unicorn raised a hoof for silence,
“I have some good news.” She said sternly, “Suri said that she will not press charges for your behavior. After the security guards left, she explained to me that from your perspective, it looked like she tossed the coffee at Coco-”
“But she did throw the coffee!” Silver cried exasperatedly.
Rarity sighed, “Even if that accusation was true, there was no need to act the way you did. While your intentions were gallant, your course of action was brutish. I don’t know how it’s like in your land, but in Equestria, we do things in a civilized way.”
Silver sighed, “Okay, I’m sorry for the way I acted.”
“I don’t need an apology; Suri does. The next time you see her, you will apologize, right?”
Silver nodded. Rarity smiled and she led the way back to the hotel. Of course, Silver had no intention of apologizing to Suri. His only concern for Suri was how he could prove he was right.
“Can I ask you something?” Rarity asked the human after a minute of walking.
“Sure.”
“Why did you pretend not to know me when the security guards came?”
“Oh, that. Well, I thought that you might have gotten disqualified because of my ‘brutish’ behavior, so I pretended to be a total stranger.”
“You know, you don’t have to do that; Twilight must have explained that we’re all friends. As the old saying goes, ‘All for one and one for all.’”
“True, but I’d rather not be the one that gets everypony in trouble. Speaking of Twilight, do you mind not telling her about this?”
“Oh, darling,” Rarity turned to Silver and smiled, “you know I can’t do that.”
________________________________________
The next day
The Mane Fair Hotel was one of the nicest hotels in Manehattan. Each rising floor got better and better in prestige. It was at one of the top floors that Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, Dash, and Fluttershy entered their room, all talking about their exciting day out in town. Behind them was Spike, who was equally as gleeful as the mares. As they all settled in the room, which was the girls’ room (Spike and Silver got their own room), Silver walked inside, hunched over from all of the shopping bags he was carrying.
“You can leave my stuff on my bed, Silver.” Dash said.
“Okay.” Silver grunted as he painstakingly walked to the pegasus’s bed.
“On second thought.” Dash said as soon as the human was at the foot of her bed, “I think my bags would be a better by the door.”
Silver stared hatefully at the pegasus; he was now sweating bullets, “Fine!”
“Wait a second.” Dash said, smiling wickedly, “I think I want them by the window.”
“How about I shove these bags up your-”
“Silver…” Twilight said warningly.
The human sighed and marched to the window. After Rarity told everypony about Silver’s brush with the law, Twilight scolded him for hours about control and thinking calmly. As punishment, he wasn’t allowed to eat dinner and he was forced to carry all of the girl’s bags as they enjoyed a day at Manehattan. It would have been fine if it wasn’t for the fact that Dash spent a small fortune buying useless and heavy things so Silver could carry them.
The human reached the window and glared at Rainbow, daring her to give him another order.
Dash saw the glare and giggled, “Now Silver, remember; control. You can go ahead and leave the bags there.”
“Thank you.” Silver gasped as he dropped the bags and fell to the floor; he was completely drained.
It was at that moment that the door to the room opened and Rarity entered.
Silver was too tired to pay any attention to the mares’ conversation, at least until he heard Rarity crying.
Slowly, Silver got up and managed to get the gist of the situation; Suri used Rarity’s fabric as her own, completely stealing the unicorns design.
“Excuse me.” Silver said as he walked out of the room. As he walked down the hallway to the elevator, Twilight called from the room, “Where are you going?”
“I have to pay somepony a visit. You take care of Rarity, and I’ll go have a talk with Suri.”
Before Twilight could say anything, Silver ran into the elevator and was gone.
________________________________________
Silver was running to the fashion plaza. All of his fatigue was now gone and replaced with bitter anger. As he continued to run, he bumped into Suri and Coco.
“Well, if it isn’t Mr. Asylum.” Suri said, holding a cup of coffee, “I suppose you came to apologize. Don’t worry, I’ll gladly accept it.”
She put the coffee to her lips, but Silver smacked it away.
“Well, that was uncalled for.” Suri said coolly.
“You just made a terrible mistake, Suri.” Silver said quietly, “You can call me all the names under the sun, but nopony makes my friend cry.”
Suri yawned loudly, “I’m sorry, but were you trying to intimidating me?”
“No, I was just stating a fact.”
“Look, I’m not scared of some has-been’s assistant.”
“Then you should be afraid of a fashion prodigy’s psychologically unbalanced friend.” Silver then looked at Coco with a disappointed look, “Are you seriously going along with this?”
Coco looked down at her hooves despondently and didn’t answer.
“Of course she is.” Suri said delightfully, “As a matter of fact, it was Coco here who made my new dresses from my new material.”
“Fine.” Silver said, still staring at the assistant, “Just know this, Coco; Rarity is the most generous pony I know, and she doesn’t deserve this.”
With that, Silver took off to the other direction. As he left, he could hear Suri laughing, which only made him angrier. One of the few things he hated were people that made his friends upset, and took joy in it. Suri fit the bill perfectly.
Instead of going back to the hotel, Silver walked around Manehattan looking for a certain store. He eventually found what he was looking for; a shop with a flower sign. He entered the store and the cashier; an earth pony mare, introduced herself,
“Hello there!” She said, “I’m Poppy Seed and welcome to Poppy’s Gardening Superstore. We sell everything from Sunflower seeds to heavy-duty gardening equipment. How can I help you today?”
“I’m looking for some fertilizer.”
“Then you come to the right place. Here, we have every single fertilizer known to pony kind, and some known to griffons. Anything in particular you’re looking for?”
“Actually, I’m looking for the foulest smelling fertilizer you got. You see, some foals back home are always running around my garden, so I need a fertilizer that could help and protect my garden.”
“I’ve got just the thing.” Poppy said cheerfully. She trotted out of the counter and deeper into the store. After a while, she came back with a large and dusty bag.
“This little beauty is Hydra fertilizer,” She gave the bag a little pat and a dust cloud formed, “This will keep your plants healthy, but most ponies don’t buy it since the smell is just too repulsive. If you got a strong nose, then this is for you.”
“You got yourself a deal.” Silver said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pouch. Twilight had given Silver a little spending money when going around Manehattan, but Silver didn’t buy anything since he already had enough to carry.
“I should probably warn you that if you let the fertilizer touch your skin for too long, it will cause some nasty red blotches.” Poppy said. She then smiled again, “Anything else?”
“Yes, actually. Do you know where the nearest pet store is?”
________________________________________
The Next Day: Fashion Runway Day
The fashion plaza was packed with ponies. There were mutters and flashes of light as everypony waited in anticipation for the show to start. The backstage was no different as contestants were making sure their dresses were top notch. As everypony was busy with their designs, nopony noticed the weirdly placed bush behind the curtains.
The bush gave a small shake and Silver poked his head out.
“Man!” Silver said quietly as he fanned himself, “It is hot in there.” He looked up and saw that his plan was still in full effect.
After Silver got the materials for his revenge plan, he snuck into the plaza at night. It was pretty easy, which surprised the human. Of course, he didn’t complain since it took several hours for him to figure out how to actually make his plan a reality. Thankfully, he placed the finishing touches before the plaza officially opened and ponies started to pour in, eager for some fashion fun.
Silver didn’t return to the motel and has been stuck in the plaza all day, so he looked like a complete mess. The human, however, didn’t care since he was moments away from revenge. He looked up from his hiding spot to see a pulley system working its way to the runway. At the end was a bucket hanging over the runway, ready to drop at a pull of the rope Silver was holding. Inside the bucket was the Hydra fertilizer, which was soaked in skunk spray to give it a water texture. To disguise the scent, Silver wrapped the bucket with countless air fresheners (the human knew that would have never disguised the scent in the real world, so he just thanked cartoon logic).
Minutes passed by as contestant after contestant showed of their designs. Finally, it was Suri’s turn. Unsurprisingly, the crowd loved Rarity’s fabric. As Suri was being praised, Silver tightened his grip on the rope,
“Silver, is that you?”
The human turned around and saw Rarity standing next to him.
“Rarity?” Silver said, confused, “what are you doing here?”
The unicorn raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean? I’m competing.”
“You managed to recreate your entire design in one night? Very impressive.”
“Well, I did have some help.”
“You and everypony else spent all night making the dresses? That was pretty nice of them.”
“Well, they did kind of owe me for all of the things I’ve done for them.”
“Yeah, they did owe-wait…what?!” Silver said after realizing what Rarity said. It was at that moment of shock that Suri left the runway and returned backstage. Silver, however, didn’t care about that at the moment, “What do you mean they owed you?”
“Well, I always do so many nice things for them, and I never ask for anything back…”
“Wow, just, wow. Aren’t you supposed to be the Element of Generosity?”
“Does that mean I’m not allowed to get any assistance when I ask for it?” Rarity said hotly.
“Fair point. Then tell me, how did you ask for it?”
“Well, first my friends offered, so we started to work on the dresses. But after a couple of hours of work, they started complaining about food and wanting to go see Hinny of the Hills. Can you believe that? How selfish!”
“Okay, Rarity, please tell me your hearing yourself. First off, seriously? You didn’t give them food?”
“We had some room service.”
“Also, are you telling me that you didn’t let them go see Hinny of the Hills?”
“If it wasn’t for me, they wouldn’t even have tickets to the show.”
“And does that mean they are indebted to you for life? Did you at least ask them nicely to skip the show to help you?”
Rarity blinked, “Well, no. No I didn’t.”
Silver sighed, “Rarity, you have every right to be pissed, but whenever someone or somepony is angry, we never take it out on our friends. Did you thank them after they helped you?”
Rarity dropped her head in shame and shook her head.
“I am such a horrible pony.” She muttered as she realized what she had done.
Silver heard this, “Well, you did act like one, but I highly doubt that you are one.”
It was then that huge cheers erupted from the audience. The pony and human looked and they saw the crowd was cheering for Rarity’s new dresses. Silver couldn’t help but chuckle at the models wearing furniture, but the audience seemed to love it.
The director of the fashion show, Prim Hemline, walked up to the duo, “Rarity, they all adore you! Aren't you going to tell them about your fabulous pieces?”
Rarity, however, didn’t look the crowd that was infatuated by her designs. All she did was look at a section of the audience that was vacant. Silver knew that that was where the rest of the girls were supposed to be.
Rarity’s face then turned from sadness to determination, “I have to go.” And without another word, she shot out of the runway and out onto the streets.
“Where is she going?” Prim cried, shocked by Rarity’s behavior.
“She’s off to do the right thing.” Silver said proudly. Prim had no idea what that meant, so she simply walked away.
“That was really nice of you for helping your friend.”
Silver turned and saw that it was Coco Pommel that spoke.
“I didn’t do anything.” Silver said coldly, “I just helped her see what she already knew.”
Coco heard the bite in his voice and bowed her head, “I’m sorry.”
Silver sighed, “It’s not your fault that you don’t have a backbone, and it isn’t me you should be apologizing to.”
Coco was now unnerved; she seemed to have thought the conversation would have gone along a lot better than it was going. Silver, however, wasn’t acting as she had hoped, but the human didn’t really care. To him, Coco was still guilty for helping Suri steal Rarity’s fabric.
“Is there anything I could do to help?” Coco said hopefully.
Silver was about to reply viciously when an idea popped into his head, “Actually, yes, you can help. Can you tell Suri that Prim said the audience wants an encore of her design?”
Coco seemed confused by the request, but she nodded. After about a minute, Suri was strutting onto the runway and Coco was by Silver’s side.
“I have to ask you something.” Silver said as Suri displayed her dresses again.
“What is it?”
“You seem kind of nice, so why are you working for somepony like Suri?”
Coco sighed, “I’ve always wanted to be a fashion designer, but nopony would take me as their student. Then Suri came along and offered me a role as an apprentice, which basically meant as an assistant. Still, she has connections…”
“So you put up with her crap for your dreams?” Silver said slowly, “I have to respect; not many ponies would risk a lot for their dreams. Now, can you tell me how you honestly feel about Suri?”
“…She is a…um…”
“We’ll work on that later.” Silver said. He then smiled as he passed the rope to Coco, “Pull on this whenever you’re ready, because you need this more than I do.”
“What will it do?” Coco said as she took the rope.
“It’ll give Suri something to think about. Now, excuse me while I go look for a friend.”
Silver ran onto the runway, surprising everypony. He jumped into the audience and sprinted to the door to the entrance. As he had one hand on the handle, he heard his contraption starting up. Then, the room was filled with Suri’s shrill screaming and a horrible stench.
Grinning victoriously, Silver walked out of the runway and out of the Fashion Plaza.
________________________________________
Finding Rarity was easy; all Silver had to do was follow the sound of her despondent singing. After a quick talk about the rest of the girls going back home, Rarity decided to go back as well, but not before thanking Prim Hemline for the opportunity of Fashion Week. So, the human and pony found their way back to the fashion plaza.
“You sure you’re okay?” Silver asked as they stepped inside the plaza.
Rarity sighed, “I’m fine; I just hope my friends will forgive me.”
“I’m sure they will.” Silver said optimistically, but he knew that there was a chance that the ponies would hold a grudge.
As Rarity asked the receptionist for the whereabouts of Prim, a door on the other side of the room opened. She and Silver turned and saw Suri and Coco stepping out. The human grinned at the sight of Suri; although it seemed she removed the fertilizer and the smell, the designer had angry red blotches all over her face. Coco seemed to be trying to avoid looking at Suri because every time she saw Suri’s face, she cracked a smile. Right behind the two, to Silver’s and Rarity’s surprise, was Twilight and the gang stepping out of the door.
Silver quickly took a couple steps back and tried to blend into the background. He knew that he had to let the girls resolve their conflict themselves, but he was still within range to stop any physical or verbal confrontation.
However, to Silver’s pleasant surprise, the ponies didn’t fight at all. It seemed that the gang overslept, so they missed the show, and that Rarity lost. To the human’s even greater surprise, Rarity wasn’t hurt by this; she was just glad her friends were still her friends.
‘I guess you were right, Angel.’ Silver thought as he watched the friends hug, ‘These ponies really are something special.’
Silver opened the door for the ponies and baby dragon as they all stepped outside and talked about Rarity’s surprise; an exclusive Hinny of the Hills showing.
“Don’t worry, Silver.” Rarity said, “This time you will be able to see the opera.”
“I can’t wait.” Silver said, although he wasn’t all too thrilled about operas. He turned around for one last look at the fashion plaza and saw Suri and Coco standing outside. Suri smirked victoriously before stepping back inside the plaza and Coco waved goodbye before following her employer.
“Could you girls excuse me?” Silver said, walking back to the plaza, “I have to take care of something.”
“It’s okay.” Twilight said, “We’ll wait.”
“That’s okay. I’m gonna take a while, so y’all just enjoy yourselves. I’ll meet you at the opera house.”
“Do you even know where it is?”
“I’ve got maps, right? I’ll be fine, just have fun!”
The ponies waved goodbye as they made their way to the opera. Silver entered the plaza and saw Suri standing in the middle with Coco, who was holding Suri’s coffee.
Suri saw who entered, “Well, if it isn’t the practical joker. Are you here to try and scare me into giving my money to the needy? Or are you here to bask in the glory of my victory?”
Silver sighed, “Why are you such a bitch? I sincerely want to know why you have no sympathy for anypony else. Is it because you weren’t loved enough as a kid or something? Give me a reason that at least explains why you are who you are?”
Suri was expressionless for a second before smiling, “Wow, you must really be pathetic if that’s the best insult you have. You and Rarity are just so sad that it’s actually funny.”
It was at that moment that Coco stepped in front of Suri and stared her employer straight in the face, “Shut up.”
This time, Suri actually looked shocked, “Excuse me?”
“I said shut up.” Coco said loudly. This new confidence completely caught Silver and Suri off guard. Coco continued, “Don’t talk about Silver that way. He is a good pony who is good to his friends. And don’t you ever call Rarity sad. I almost believed you when you said it was everypony for themselves, but Rarity is proof that you are full of yourself. Rarity is an amazing designer and a generous friend. She is more deserving of winning the trophy than you…you…heartless cow!” and then Coco took the coffee she was holding and dumped it on Suri’s face.
There was complete silence between the Suri, Coco, and Silver. Then, Silver cupped his hands around his mouth, “OHHHHHHHHHHHH-
-HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” He then burst out laughing as Coco then walked into the room next door and then walked out with her head held high.
Silver followed Coco, but he then turned back to Suri, who had not moved in inch. Silver opened his mouth, “I have absolutely no other thing to say other than DAMN!” and with that, he left.
“That was incredible!” Silver told Coco as they walked down the streets of Manehattan, “Would you be at all freaked out if I said that I really love you right now?”
“The old me would, but not the new me.” Coco said . She was still brimming with confidence from her courageous action, which only made Silver giddy.
“So, what are you going to do now?” Silver asked.
At this point, Coco lost some of her flair, “I…don’t really know. My only plan right now is to give Rarity her trophy.”
“Wait, her trophy?” Silver said slowly, “You mean she won?”
“Yes. Suri lied because she hoped she would get the trophy if Rarity didn’t collect it. And I lied too.” She added shamefully.
“Don’t beat yourself up, you made things right.”
“But there were others. Other ponies that Suri took advantage of…and I helped her.”
“Then let’s go and apologize to those ponies.”
Coco looked at Silver, “Really, you think they’ll except my apology?”
“Yes, and if they don’t, then it’s there lost. Plus, Rarity is watching Hinny of the Hills with her friends, so it might be best not to disturb them. Come Coco, let’s go do a redemption montage!”
________________________________________
One redemption montage later
Silver and Coco walked into the opera house that was showing Hinny of the Hills. From all of the good things he heard of the show, Silver expected the opera house to be packed, but it was empty. The two walked down to the entrance to the stage, and saw that it was completely deserted except for the clapping Ponyville gang.
“Wow, when Rarity says exclusive, she means exclusive.” Silver said. He turned to Coco, “It looks like the opera just ended, so go in and do your stuff.”
Coco took a deep breath, “Wish me look.”
“You don’t need it.”
Coco smiled as she opened the door and entered the room. Silver looked through the small window on the door and saw Coco talking to Rarity. There were many surprise faces and then happy faces. After Coco handed the trophy to Rarity, Rarity said something that made Coco’s face light up. As the conversation seemed to dwindle down, Coco added one more thing that surprised the ponies. She then pointed to the door, and the gang saw Silver looking at them.
“What’s going on now?” Silver wondered. The human saw Rarity leading Coco to the backstage of the opera house while Twilight and the rest walked out of the theater and were now with Silver. The alicorn walked to her student and gave him a hug,
“I’m so proud of you.” Twilight said after letting go, “Only four days as my student, and you’re already teaching other ponies.”
“Coco told us what happened.” Fluttershy said in response to Silver’s confused look, “She said that you taught her how to do the right thing.”
“But I didn’t do anything.” Silver said, slightly confused from all of the praise, “I just told her the obvious, and it wasn’t until after she saw Rarity treat you girls that she realized the truth.”
“Well aren’t you the modest one.” Applejack said, “You can learn a lot from him, Dash.”
“Yeah, right.” Dash said sarcastically as she stood on Silver’s head, “The only thing I learned from him is how to carry bags.” She then looked down at Silver’s face, “Sorry short stack, but you’re still just a guppy. Only after you do something really awesome, like save Equestria, will I be somewhat impressed.”
Rainbow Dash was then pushed out of the way by Pinkie Pie, who took Dash’s position on the human’s head, “I know you already said no to the ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party, but can I at least make you a small party with just us for your first friendship medal.”
Silver raised an eyebrow, “Friendship medal?”
Pinkie hopped of his head and then pulled out a scrapbook from her pink mane. She opened it and showed the contents to everypony, “I’ve been making medals after each of us did something friendship related. This section is for Twilight and here,” she pointed to a medal with Twilight wearing a crown and reading letters, “is the medal she got after we all became the opposite of who we were and she set is straight.”
Silver looked at the scrapbook and he was glad that he wasn’t the only one surprised by Pinkie’s hobby.
“Um, Pinkie,” the human said, “has anypony every told you that you’re…um…”
“Random?” Dash said helpfully.
“I was going to say insane, but your way sounds better.”
Everypony giggled, even Pinkie.
“Don’t worry, Silver.” The party pony said cheerfully, “You don’t have to worry about me; my parents had me tested.”
Silver didn’t know how to respond, so he just kept his mouth shut. After another minute of talking, Rarity rejoined the group.
“Coco is all set up.” She told the gang, “She’s now hard at work for my designer friend for his next show. Don’t worry,” Rarity told Silver, “he’s nice.”
“I’m not really worried about Coco.” Silver said, “I’m sure she could handle herself now.”
“So, Silver,” Twilight said formally, “how was your first experience out in Equestria?”
Silver thought for a moment about his two days in Manehattan. All the drama was definitely something to take into consideration, as well as the hardships and the ending results of his little adventure. Silver looked at Twilight and the gang and smiled,
“It was fan-pony-tastic!”