It was all deja vu for Coco; it was the same reply that Chrysalis gave her before was now being repeated. Everypony was in silence. Nopony dared to speak. At least, the changelings wouldn't speak against their leader.
“You... want me to make more dresses?” Coco couldn't help but feel irritated at the Queen.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I demand it.”
“No, you don't.”
A familiar glare gazed into the pony's eyes. All the designers looked in shock and fear as they heard Coco turn aggressive toward Chrysalis. “What did you say, Coco?”
“I said 'NO you DON'T'.” She couldn't help it. Coco was upset, and not in a sorrowful way. “Why do you want more dresses? Do you have a particular reason for why you are not giving me any amount of critique?”
Once again, Chrysalis' face jumped at Coco and the pony flinched. The pony's knees shivered, but she remained stationary. “You don't get it, do you? I am your customer. And as your customer I demand more dresses.”
Without another word, the queen began to make her way for the door. She was about halfway when she heard the mare's voice again. “Wait!” Looking back, Chrysalis saw Coco pushing Knight Cap over to her; however, Knight Cap was not happy about being handled in such a manner. As Coco and Knight Cap came to Chrysalis, the pony said to the tailor, “Read Queen Chrysalis' mind and tell me what she is thinking.”
“W-why are you throwing me under the horse-drawn carriage?” Knight Cap shivered as she tried to back peddle away from the ruler of changelings.
“I need to know what she is thinking. We need to know!”
“Yes, Knight,” Chrysalis grinned. “Read my mind. Go on ahead. I DARE you!”
But Knight couldn't. The changeling just couldn't do it. She wanted to understand the Queen's thoughts, but would never invade her leader's mind. All Knight could do was pull her cap over her eyes and cower, hoping Chrysalis would disappear.
“I thought so.” Chrysalis began to walk toward the door. “Now, I have other things to attend to. Since you have worked so hard, I will give you three days to make any amount of dresses within that time. Don't disappoint me...”
Using her magic, the Queen of Changelings opened the door and walked out. Following her was Fang with haste. The door closed with a slam, and the sound was quickly swallowed by the still and quiet night.
Knight Cap broke the silence, “I... I'm sorry.”
“Shh,” Coco hissed. Knight looked at Coco with distaste as she heard the pony's snide remark. Then Knight knew that Coco wasn't trying to be rude, she was trying to listen. Coco heard voices on the other side of the door and she gently pressed her ear against the door to hear what was being said.
“What do you mean you are having second thoughts?” It was Fang's voice.
“I mean I am thinking about calling off this entire mission about going to the Grand Galloping Gala,” Queen Chrysalis' spoke next.
Coco was in shock. She wanted to kick the door down after hearing what she had just heard and give the queen a good shout of how hard she had worked. But instead of doing such a rash action, Coco continued to listen.
“But why? What about our food supply?”
“Fang...” It was a few moments before the Queen's voice was heard again. “It's not because of my hatred toward Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. They mean nothing to me. I want to call it off because I will not subject myself to even seeing that wretched witch, Celestia!”
Now Coco was glad she didn't storm out of her room. Confusion flooded into the pony's mind. Why does she hate Princess Celestia?
As if they heard her thoughts, Fang answered her question from the other side, “It's because of what she did to you one-thousand years ago, isn't it?”
“Yes.”
What did the princess do?
“You don't want to know,” Knight Cap said as she stood behind Coco. Even though the changeling didn't show much of any emotion, the female had a sad look on her face.
“What do you mean I don't want to know? Of course I do. I mean, I am here to help the hive obtain love. Maybe I could try and help-”
“You are here to make a dress, not create a treaty.”
Coco felt that she needed to know. But why don't they want me to know?
Knight Cap turned and said, “You ask too many questions,” as she went over to the other tailors.
Moments passed as Coco stood at the door while the other designers mingled quietly among themselves. The pony heard their whispers but could not decipher what they were saying. I just want to know... What harm will that do?
Then the door opened. Fang entered without a sound. His weapon hung in the air; its shadow looming over Coco. The changeling looked at the pony as she stared back at him, giving him a look of sorrow.
“So what now?” Coco spoke.
“Just do as you were told,” Fang replied.
“Did Queen Chrysalis say anything?”
“Nothing important.”
I know that is a lie. Looking at the four tailors, she went over to them and looked at dresses that were made. From left to right, Coco observed the created dresses. She saw her own dress and Silky's light-purple creation. The one next to Silky's was Knight Cap's.
Knight's dress had a light-dark blue body. Silver rhinestones specked the breastplate region and went all the way to the hips. The rhinestones were more abundant in the front, whereas in the back, the rhinestones were more spread out and scarce. The hem of the dress had a trim of white on the bottom edge of the dress. On the head of the manikin looked to be a large mage-like cap. It was blue and had a pointed end that sagged down. There was a large white rose that rested on the left side of the hat.
Next to Knight's was Silver Liner's dress. Even though he didn't like Silky's simple dress, his design was similar to hers. The front of the body was a simple white cloth that stretched over the breast of the manikin. Near the midsection of the dress was a large wavy blue fabric that was layered on top of the white cloth and went down the flank until it reached the back of the manikin's hind hooves. Around the neck of the white fabric was a fluffy blue hem that closely resembled cake frosting. Nothing covered the head because he also thought that the queen's mane will be done in a different fashion (that is if she chose his dress).
And lastly, of the changelings, was Stitch Snitch's dress. Her's was Coco's favorite. The entire dress was colored with a lovely dark-light violet, closely resembling Princess Twilight's body color. On the shoulder of the manikin were two thick golden strips of silk that crossed each other in the shape of an X at the center of the figure's belly. The strips also went across the back of the manikin, creating a few large diamond shapes before reaching the bottom hem of the dress' long skirt. At the skirt were fluffy balls of cotton, resembling the clouds that drifted through the sky. Hanging above the manikin's crown was a small halo that hung on a metal string, which was wrapped around the left ear of the manikin.
Then there was Coco's second dress. Half of the dress' color was white. However, despite the choice of a plain color, the detail of blue and gold made it shine among the other dresses. At the front of the dress, a piece of blue fabric was in the shape of a diamond, and the point of the shape reached the center of the piece's front collar and stretched down to the lower section of the manikin's torso. On the back of the dress was a strip of blue, covering most of the manikin's back. It went from the back of the dress' neck piece and stretched all the way to the skirt of the dress. At the border of every piece of blue was outlined with a thin golden rope, giving depth to the dress. At the hem of the dress was an array of small triangle points that reached around the skirt. At the head was a golden medieval helmet visor and rested above the manikin's forehead.
So much work has been done in the last two days and yet Coco Pommel had no idea what to do next. The earth pony sucked in air from her nostrils and then sighed in distress. But something was off; something smelled. She sniffed harshly. Then three times. Then her shoulder. It was herself.
It never occurred to Coco that she has been working for two days and she has not properly cleaned herself. She felt embarrassed that she was in such a state and wondered if the others thought harshly about it.
Looking at her co-workers, they looked back at her as if a large spotlight shone down upon her. Flustered, Coco asked, “I umm... hate to ask, but is there any place I can... bathe?”
“Yes, there is.” None of the tailors answered. It was Fang. He moved from his position from the door, leaving his large weapon behind. “There is a spring above ground we use.”
Coco sighed in relief. "That's good to hear. Can you take me there?”
“Of course.”
“Oh, thank you.” Making haste over to one of her briefcases, Coco opened it up and pulled out a towel. She threw it at Fang and said, “Hold this,” without warning.
When he grabbed it, Fang went to place it on his back. However, there was a problem. The towel stuck to his hoof. Violently, he tried to shake it off but it remained glued to him. Then it occurred to the changeling that it was a cloth fabric. Any kind of fabric, other than spider silk, would stick to a changeling's body.
“Are you... okay?” Coco asked.
“Yeah, I am fine. I just... wanted to try your towel on.”
Fang blushed as the towel was stuck on his face; though it was good that it was stuck to his face so Coco, nor the others would see his red expression. Nonetheless, the tailors laughed at Fang.
***
Rushing water was heard as Coco walked beside Fang in the starry night. She was walking outside on the edge of the cliff side, up against a stone ledge. Several lanterns lit the way as the light posts reached up from the ground like some possessed tree root. Even though Coco walked near the wall, she would glance every now and then toward the edge, wondering where the bottom was; however, every time she looked, she thought of the dreadful incident with Scar Splash.
The four tailors followed from behind as they mingled among themselves. They decided to come along as well because they had nothing better to do other than lay around and wait for the queen to order them to make something for her.
Coco and Fang reached a corner that sharply turned to the left. As they rounded the bend, the pony saw where the sound of rushing water was coming from. A waterfall from a high above place cascaded water down into what looked to be a large pool. There were several lanterns lit the way and the same type of light shined through the water. The sight reminded Coco of fancy homes that always seemed to have a complex and interesting pool design. What she was looking at now was something that far exceeded the beauty of a makeshift body of water in an expensive home.
While the pony continued her walk with Fang, the others flew on ahead and went toward the body of water.
Coco and Fang were one again alone. Because of the absence of others, Fang spoke, “It's nice out.”
“Oh.” Coco looked up and saw a beautiful array of spots in the sky. “You are right. In the city, it's hard to see even one star because of all the lights.”
“Well, now you get to see what I see on an every evening basis. It's nothing special to me really.”
“It is to me,” Coco smiled. Fang looked back at the mare with a quick glance and a smile. Then Coco had a thought. “Hey, Fang?”
“Yes?”
“Why are you and Sea More so nice to me?”
The changeling stopped. “Why do you ask?”
“You two are different. I mean... your brother is nice, but he is... umm...”
“He's stupid. Don't worry about him.” The pony laughed at Fang's comment toward his own kin. “Yes, Sea More and I are different,” Fang continued. “We have different views on ponies and think that they, including yourself, can help us.”
Having another question pop up in her mind, Coco asked, “Are there any others like you and Sea More?”
“No.”
“How come?”
Fang didn't answer the question; he replied with, “You ask a lot of questions.”
“I just want to know. Knowledge is power right?”
“It is, but let's ask and answer questions later.” Fang then had a change of pace. He began to walk faster than he was before, leaving the mare behind.
He is hiding something... But what?