No good deed goes unpunished.
That, along with everypony for themselves, had become Coco’s defense mechanism of choice, her justification for going down the path she had. It’d taken her three years to fully sweep Suri under the rug, to quit her job and move onto a presumably better life, but it’d felt like it’d happened far sooner. Those years would have taken many more off her life, with the way her boss would constantly confront anypony who could’ve taken her suppliers out of commission. They should have, considering the way Suri’s business tanked immediately after her middlemen were arrested.
But some inexplicable “something” had stopped all of that. And for once, Coco finally seemed to know just what it was.
As she looked around her new office in disbelief for about the millionth time, admiring the ornate decor of an established costume designer, she couldn’t help but notice that both phrases were equally false. It’d been two weeks since Rarity gave her the offer of a lifetime, and Coco still sighed just thinking about it. The only way she could feel the cloud lift off her head more would be if she was a pegasus. Yet, unlike her knockoff artist days, planning seemed to be the last thing on her mind.
Everything ebbed and flowed into impulses for her, changing with the day. A new dress design here, a trot into town there. It was everything ponies had always made freedom out to be, but even in this discord, there was always one constant thought on her mind, one that she’d spent far too long dismissing.
She could just barely hear one of the stagehands calling her forward, probably to ask her one of the few things a costume designer could help with this early in the production process. But as she gathered her things into her saddlebag, she could feel her hooves finally taking her on a new journey.
It would start after work, with a pile of documents Coco took care to place into the front pocket. With a pilgrimage to the one place that united this week’s disjointed thoughts.
As much as she’d always tried to deny it, she’d always had a single wish on her mind in the event she ever left Suri. And today, she was finally going to fulfill it.
****
The Manehattan foster care facility was, surprisingly enough, one of the least crowded areas in the city. Whether Rarity had willed it or not, Coco’s hometown had experienced a sudden surge of generosity in the last few years, so it showed in the foals most of all. Still, the building was every bit as large, imposing, and commanding as she’d remembered it.
The inside brought a far less reserved image of walls covered in drawings, and it brought a smile to Coco’s face to see that Babs still had the best ones. No matter how many times she told herself it was against her better judgement--at the emergency room, the rehab clinics, the foster care facility itself--she somehow couldn’t stop herself from visiting the filly. As much as she would’ve liked to think it was out of some sense of pity, or even mutual respect, it didn’t take much longer for it to grow into something more.
First, she’d promised to be Babs’ first friend. And then she managed to be in...whatever weird territory she was in now. Dangerous territory for a knockoff artist, and yet strangely empowering territory now. The sort of territory that would sneak out just to see somepony they couldn’t even consider family.
She’d hidden it for long enough, told Suri time and time again that she had a relative in the hospital. Over the years, it’d turned into a sort of routine that Coco never really thought to question. She’d kept setting boundaries for herself, assuring herself that she would stop seeing her when she was well, then when she went into foster care, and then when she had a family. But the years had gone by, and yet she was still there.
Babs still had nopony in her life. Nopony but the foster workers, her distant family in Ponyville, and by some odd twist of destiny, her.
Just two weeks ago, Coco would’ve told herself that she didn’t like foals, that she was insane just for coming here. But the second Rarity freed her, after the lights went down on Fashion Week, she stopped thinking of Babs’ lack of family as a sad coincidence and started thinking of it as fate.
She turned towards the office doors, spent what seemed like years finishing the necessary paperwork, and turned to the other wing of the building with no regrets. When she opened the door to the foals’ residence hall, she barely had a second to herself before they all crowded around her. She suspected that they’d been listening in the second they heard hooves, like Celestia’s guards themselves, and that it only took a single sliver of light for them to sense that the guest was friendly.
Or that she’d visited whenever Suri would let her, under the guise of volunteer work, and convinced her that the police would be less likely to catch on if the knockoff artists got themselves involved in such things. Either way, at least twenty ponies piled her with hugs and cuddles. That, at least, was one thing that didn’t change. No matter how many ponies left the home, the new ones that came always learned about her soon enough. Just like the way she’d been with Babs, she’d started visiting the place out of some sense of penance, wanting to keep these small bundles of warmth away from the sorts of things Manehattan could do to foals. But now, she knew it was just another way she’d gotten attached to this sort of life.
She knew she’d never be a hero, but these foals didn’t know she’d been a villain, either. All they could do was look at her with the most sympathetic eyes she’d seen in a long time.
“How’s your new job?” one of the colts called out. “Is your boss nicer than before?”
Coco cursed herself just about as soon as the foal said it, realizing she hadn’t been down to this part of the foster home in a couple weeks. However, she could still feel her face forming into a hopeful smile.
Something she hadn’t allowed herself in far too long.
“I really don’t know how anypony could be worse than her,” she admitted. “But for now, yes. I’m having a good time working with everypony on Bridleway.”
She was just about to leave the rest of the foals behind to find Babs, who was stuck behind the crowd, but they weren’t about to let her go so easily. The minute they found out where she was working, they enveloped her even more, refusing to let her go and bombarding her with questions about Manehattan’s most glamourous figures.
Coco could barely see Babs through the wave of children, but without looking, she could tell that the foal’s eyes were shining with pride as well. Perhaps, even, with something else entirely.
Finally, she settled on a compromise--for a few minutes, she would answer a few of their questions, just enough to placate them, and then steadily weave herself out. Thankfully, before she got the chance to do any of that, one of the employees came over and waved the other foals away to go about their business, and they eagerly obliged. Just before Babs could leave, though, the worker shook her head and gave the two of them a knowing smile.
“Sorry about all of that,” Coco finally spoke, holding the foal close to her side. “I know you’re not that big on crowds, and if I could’ve gotten to you sooner--”
Babs shook her head as soon as Coco’s words left her mouth, simply blowing her bangs away from her mane the way she always had.
“Nah, I’m over that,” replied Babs. “I just know this sorta place isn’t where you want to get to know ponies. I do fine at school, making friends and all, but it’s just--”
She could barely even finish the thought before a sigh escaped from her, but Coco still knew exactly what she was about to say. It was the sort of thing she’d told her from her hospital days onward, the sort of thing Coco could never quite counter, because it was something she’d thought so many times, too.
“Those foals aren’t any better than you are,” she whispered, running her tail along the filly. Making sure not to touch what Babs called her ‘broken spot,’ the place on her flank that bore four scars instead of cutie marks. “You’ll get yours soon enough. Your home and your cutie mark.”
They’d been through this countless times before, especially when Babs had started school. By then, most of the foals who’d come in with her had already been adopted, while she was left to the side. Even now, Coco couldn’t help but suspect that, when the filly told her she’d been made fun of for her lack of a cutie mark, she’d really been bullied for something else. Yet every time, Babs seemed to cover her problems just like she covered her flank, even hiding them from the ponies who loved her most.
“How do you know that?” Babs finally asked, staring at Coco with the same look she’d had on that day, when she’d been the weakest filly in the world. “I mean, sure, you’ve just gotten your big break, but I’m just--”
Coco shook her head and held onto her even tighter, knowing that when Babs had these moments, she often kept to the same sort of loop. Like Coco herself, the filly had come a long way since being reintegrated into Equestrian society, since the days where she’d felt like she’d needed to sneak into the laundry room and help the employees sew just to deserve the treatment she had here. But every once in awhile, she’d revert straight back to the filly Coco had met all those days before, and the words she’d said as she fought for her life.
I’m just a bad seed who causes misfortune.
Maybe that was how she justified treating those ponies the way she had in Ponyville, or maybe she just wanted the tiniest bit of control over her life. But either way, those words and the scars she bore were the last things she remembered about her life in the factory, and the only ones Coco knew.
One, she couldn’t fix. But the other, she knew she would dedicate her life to.
“No, you aren’t,” Coco said, as she’d said countless times before. “I’ll spend my whole life convincing you otherwise, if I have to. And I know for a fact that you’re getting out of here today.”
That was enough to get Babs out of her cloud of doubt, even if her next few words confirmed her ignorance. For the next few minutes, she bounced around Coco, asking what sort of adventure the older mare was going to whisk her out on today. But if she would’ve turned to look at the clock, Babs would’ve known that just about everything was closed, and that on any ordinary day, Coco would have been out on the Bridleway stage, shining as only she could.
But if there was one thing Coco knew for sure, it was that today wasn’t going to be ordinary, and it would be the start of everything Babs had ever wanted. From now on, she told herself, the two of them would shine together, because if there was one thing Babs had brought her, it wasn’t misfortune.
It was hope. And if Rarity had managed to save Coco’s life from the worst kind of trouble, to convince her that she was a good pony after all, then it was her sworn duty to do the same for the one pony who’d never left her side. As the two left the foster home, that was all she could think about.
No good deed goes unpunished. Everypony for themselves.
Suri had always been wrong, so wrong. Because in the end, only fools believed such things.
****
After a long walk around Manehattan, the two were now seated inside a small café. As Coco stared out the window, she ran through the best way to break the news, and she couldn’t help but notice how quickly Babs had gotten over her issues. She knew deep down that it was only temporary, that they’d return with the wind, but for once, the filly would have a permanent pony to go to for them.
Babs began to peer over the menu and giggled when she found the drink section.
“Look here,” she spoke, pointing to a particular section. “You have your own special drink! And it’s brand-new, so you must be getting famous!”
“It’s not exactly new,” Coco chuckled. “It was around when I was a filly. They must’ve just started serving it here.”
“Wow, now I want to try it!” Babs shouted. “Even if it’s not new, it’s still cool that you have your own drink like my cousins do!”
Coco shook her head with a smile. The filly still didn’t quite get it. But she didn’t want to restrain that adorable imagination. She’d heard that at her new elementary school, the brown foal was already one of the emerging artists. It didn’t matter that the venue was just a display on a bulletin board. Her heart swelled with pride nonetheless.
“Order whatever you like, dear,” she answered.
“Ugh, you know I’m not used to being called that,” Babs groaned, sticking her tongue out slightly. “I don’t mind it when you hug and all, but can you at least stop calling me that?”
A couple of ponies passing by chuckled at the scene and one even complimented her on how cute her daughter was.
“She’s not my mom,” Babs clarified. “Just a friend.”
The irony of the situation was enough to bowl Coco over, and she couldn’t help but wonder if it was a perfect segway into the confession she was about to make.
“Would you have a problem with me being your mom?” Coco asked.
“Nope, they just told me not to get my hopes up. Especially not with that annoying old mare you work for intruding. You know, I’ve never even met the jerk, but I don’t need to. Anypony who tries to boss somepony as cool as you around doesn’t deserve my attention.” She sipped her cocoa and winced, not realizing that doing so right after it’d been brought to the table wasn’t such a good idea.
“If you’re quite done burning yourself, what if I told you that there was a good reason I took so long to pick you up?” Coco chuckled.
“I just assumed you were stuck in the crazy traffic here,” reasoned Babs. In reply, Coco just took out the same sheet of paper she’d been carrying all week, the one she’d been waiting to show. It’d taken her years to finally own up to, with both Suri and her own denial holding her back, but now, she finally had guardianship over the filly. She’d finally be able to give her the care she’d been missing for so long.
For a brief second, Coco could notice a similar look of shock forming on Babs' face. She looked back and forth between the document and Coco, as if either could fade away without warning, and she could hardly get her voice to form anything except stutters. All the older mare could do was assure her again and again that this was real, that no matter how much it might seem like a dream, it was their reality now.
For the next several minutes, it seemed as though the filly would never let go of Coco, and for the first time in a while, she wished time could stand still for this small moment.
“After dinner, I’ll take you over to my apartment, where you’ll be staying from now on,” Coco explained once Babs had enough time to calm down. “You’ll be sleeping in my guest room for a while, but you can help me choose how to decorate your room. And I suppose you’ll want to show me off to the Apples, too.”
“Of course!” Babs yelled.
“I’ve already sent a letter to Applejack. And before you ask how I know her, her friend Rarity found me a new job at the theatre here. The hours are more manageable, so I’ll have plenty of time to spend with you after school. Didn’t you say you’ve been struggling with your math a bit?”
“Yeah,” the filly sighed, hiding her flank with her tail as she usually did when ashamed or embarrassed. Most thought it was to disguise the fact that she didn’t have a cutie mark, but Coco knew that in reality, it was a way of shielding herself from the whips that were once used on her and also to hide the scars they’d inflicted.
“Well, I’ll be able to help you out with your homework, too. I can use my equipment to help you visualize. Just warn me in advance when you get to the twelves tables so I have enough pins ready.”
As the two continued to laugh and chatter, Coco looked to the window, realizing that she was just as eager to visit Ponyville as Babs was. Rarity may have thought that all she’d given her was a new job, but in a little while, she was going to proven wrong. Without Suri in her way, she was free to live a new life, the life that she’d wanted to live for years. She’d never wanted for her generosity to just be learned and then forgotten. She wanted, more than anything, to spread it.
This new life was going to be hard, she couldn’t deny it, and especially without a special somepony to act as a father. But she was going to enjoy every bit of the way and embrace the challenges that lay ahead. Besides, she didn’t need a special somepony quite yet.
She already had one, a tiny one, that she needed to get to know first.