//------------------------------// // Act I, Scene 7: Bridging the Gap... // Story: If You Give a Little Love... // by Quillamore //------------------------------// “Bambi Byline!” a voice bellowed outside the door of a fancy Manehattan condo. “Open up and come out with your hooves up or we’ll have to use that search warrant of ours against you! Either way, we’ll get what we want because we’re the police and justice must be served. You have the right to remain silent and I have the right to yell at you all I want because I’m the one in charge here. I’m always the one in charge. I’ve been in charge since I first steeped hoof in Equestria, and I’m not about to back down for some measly criminal—“ Rather than an actual police force being outside the newsmare’s door, however, a particularly obnoxious earth pony with a megaphone had been tramping through the entrance in a futile attempt to capture Bambi’s attention. Three others that had accompanied her there stood embarrassedly behind her until one, a royal blue unicorn, came forward, grabbing the amplification instrument straight out of his companion’s hoof. “Suri, that is not how you use the director’s megaphone,” Scene groaned. “Furthermore, isn’t impersonating the police a crime somewhere?” “Not that I know of,” Suri answered. “If you’re going to insist on coming along and doing this with us, at least try not to drag the rest of us into your lawbreaking shenanigans. Unlike you, we have reputations to keep, okay?” “Firstly, I am reformed, and secondly, my habits really are rubbing off on you, aren’t they?” “They most certainly are not!” Scene protested. “Says the stallion who just ended his last sentence with ‘okay.’” He groaned once more as she giggled about the incident. On any other occasion, and if any other mare would’ve pointed out the accident to him, he would’ve found it humorous. But this had been the fourth time they’d shown up here, the eighth day since Babs went missing, and he couldn’t take any of this any longer. Sure, it was easy enough for Suri to take this lightly, as for all he knew, she’d wanted all this to happen. She likely still thought Coco had deserved it for walking out on her. But her former assistant was already becoming a shell of herself after losing her adoptive daughter, putting less effort into her job and avoiding ponies as much as possible. He was lucky she even managed to show up for this, even if she just stared at the ground most of the time and didn’t respond to anything they were doing. “Why do we even keep bringing her, anyway?” Rarity asked. “She’s only making things worse.” “So what if I want to help, okay?!” Suri replied, suddenly stopping her laughter. “I actually have feelings, even if you seem to forget that sometimes. Maybe I actually want to make up for what happened before.” “You clearly don’t,” Rarity countered, “because if you did, you’d know that this mission isn’t meant for you to participate in. Babs left because she was traumatized by you, remember?” “Like I ever get a chance to forget.” “You deserve to have that nailed in as much as possible until you realize that, you know. But regardless, my point is if she sees you, she’ll just end up running off again.” “Or I could end up, you know, getting her to like me.” “I think it’ll take a lot more than what you’re doing right now to do that. The way I see it, it’ll be years before she stops seeing you like she does now, if ever. I’m not sure if you know, but when somepony’s this hurt by somepony else, it doesn’t just heal overnight.” “Fine, fine, we can get into all this psychobabble later when we, like, actually know that this is where Babs is staying,” muttered Suri. “If Scene would just give me the darn megaphone again, I could have this over and done short enough for Mosely to realize that we’re not working.” “Yes, how did you manage to coerce your boss into letting his employees leave like this?” Rarity questioned. “Isn’t the play already behind schedule as is?” “Yeah, but he’s also my coltfriend. We’re at that stage where, if I say it’s a good idea, he’ll mainly go along with it. It’ll take him a while to realize that I sneaked the director out, too, but as long as I come up with a good lie about it, he’ll understand. Of course, me covering for you guys is going to cost you one megaphone. I don’t do favors without asking for something in return.” “I am not giving Yorick back to you,” Scene replied, shoving the device away. “You have already been a bad enough influence on him, getting him to be used for nefarious, police-impersonating purposes and all. Megaphones, being mouthpieces, are very easily manipulated, you know. They have to be used properly by a loving director or else they’ll—“ “So you have both a ukulele and a megaphone obsession?” Suri retorted. “Wow, that’s certainly going to get the mares coming after you. I’m surprised you don’t have a marefriend already. With your tastes, it’d have to be somepony like Co—“ “COME OUT OF THE CONDO AT ONCE AND YOU WON’T GET HURT! POLICE CHIEF’S ORDERS!” Both Rarity and Suri glared suspiciously at Scene as he had just finished doing exactly what he had ranted about not wanting to do. “Smooth,” the latter answered. “Impeccable timing and everything.” The director, silently cursing the fact that Suri could now very well know of his secret love affair, knocked on the door, hoping to Celestia that somepony would pick up for once. “Sheesh, quit it with all the racket already!” a voice muttered on the other side. “I’ve got a foal tryin’ to sleep in here; school got out early due to exams, and heaven knows she needs rest. Don’t even agree with the way they’re testing foals her age these days, but no, a reporter can’t show her point of view on things as a parent, now can she?! Every single time, it’s always, ‘Your editorials are great, now keep them out of the way I’m running my school!’ Never mind that you rich Manehattan principals might actually be wrong about something.” “Hey, if you quit inserting politics into everything, maybe we can reason with you, give you a lesser sentence and all?” Rarity facehooved at this, muttering, “We don’t even know if she’s the right one! Besides, Suri, it’s not the police’s right to decide sentences. I’m not even going to go into how you should’ve known that already, and—“ The door suddenly opened to a peach-furred earth pony mare. She flicked her wavy orange ponytail from side to side and stared at the others blankly for several moments, not quite sure what to make of her guests. They certainly weren’t wearing police uniforms, but then again, she hadn’t really expected them to. As suspected, they were merely a bunch of buffoons. “Did you just call one of them Suri?” she questioned with strange calmness. “As in Suri Polomare?” “Why, yes,” Suri responded. “I’m glad to have found somepony who recognizes me for my accomplishments. Surprisingly, not many around here do.” “Really?” the other mare asked. “Because I figured more would. I had hoped more would, at least. But really, sometimes there’s no correcting ignorance, even in my profession. But who cares what the other ponies think? I’ve been waiting to meet you for a really, really long time, all so I could finally give you a piece of my mind.” “Did you happen across one of the works I designed for the play? My coltfriend’s a producer in Bridleway, and he’s pulled tons of strings to get my work available. So, if you’re able to pick me out by name, I guess it’s working, right?” The newsmare only slapped her in response. “Next time you’d better think before crossing my family, or me for that matter,” she answered. “To think a big shot like Mosely Orange would go so low as to date a criminal like you…who knows what’s going to come of that? Certainly not anything I’d want to get involved in.” “How do you even know him?!” Suri questioned, now leveled to the ground from the force of the hoof hitting her face. “Simple: all the rest of the producers are married, but he isn’t. See, I came from a Bridleway family, so I know these sorts of things. The guy’s already insufferable enough as is without somepony like you involved with him. But in that case, I suppose you’re the perfect couple.” The speaker merely gave a smug grin as a final response and said nothing more after that, but what she did next still sparked an aura about her that went far beyond speech, one that could not be chalked up to mere coincidence. As the newsmare continued to gloat, Scene couldn’t help but notice it. “Madam,” he questioned, “if I might so ask, did you just happen to blow your bangs out of your eyes while you were laughing at my colleague’s expense?” “Considering she’s your colleague, I’m not sure I’d even be obliged to answer your question. But seeing as the majority of Manehattan still isn’t in the know about her crimes, I’d prefer to give you the benefit of the doubt for now until you give me a reason to put you on her level. Going back to the subject, though, yes, I just did. It’s been a tic of mine for years, and for some strange reason, I’ve never thought of cutting them so I wouldn’t have to do that; it’s just become habit at this point. What importance does that serve to you?” “Well, I happen to be friends with a mare who just adopted a foal with that very same trait. The filly’s gone missing, and we figured that as somepony involved with the press, you might have some information on the matter. Despite what Suri might think, we don’t mean to accuse you in any way.” “It seems you have a sorely terrible taste in friends, if that’s really the case,” Bambi answered. “Assuming you’re talking about my Babs here, she’s doing perfectly fine without that illegitimate caretaker of hers. Granted, she still has her issues to get over, but as long as she’s kept out of contact with anypony from the incident, she should be able to finally live a healthy life. But that’s the case if and only if she’s completely isolated from anything that could trigger those memories of hers…including that mare who was so imprudent as to lead that monster Suri to her.” “And I have absolutely no problem with that,” Scene replied. “It’s nice to see a busy mare like you taking such an interest in your sister’s life, and I’d like you to know that.” Just after he’d said that, Rarity pulled him away from the reporter, her eyes burning blue fire after witnessing what he’d just done. “Just whose side do you think you’re on?” she muttered. “No matter how good the intentions are behind this whole debacle, you know we can’t just leave Babs with her! Coco’s just barely managing as it is!” “I know,” the director whispered, “but play along. Somehow, we need to get her to see that we’re not enemies. If we keep acting hostile towards her, regardless of whether or not that’s how we really feel, there’s no way she’ll give in. But most importantly, we need to stop treating this as a competition. Both mares have equally good reasons for why this foal needs to stay in their lives, so we shouldn’t freeze either of them out. We need a compromise somehow. As an Element of Harmony, I suppose that’s where you come in.” “I guess you’re right,” Rarity answered after hesitantly considering the offer for several moments. “But if she mouths off to us any more—“ “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure once we explain the whole Suri thing to her, she’ll warm up to us. But for now, just follow my lead.” “Are you quite done with whatever you’re scheming?” Bambi interrupted, sighing in annoyance. “Oh, the two of us weren’t scheming at all,” clarified Scene. “We were merely trying to get our facts straight, making sure we were on the same page with how we would explain things to you, that’s all. As somepony in the news profession, I’m sure you’d understand how necessary this is before any major encounter.” “I guess so. But what does any of this have to do with the parenting dispute? Who the hay are you guys, anyway? I only recognize the pernicious pink plagiarist pony.” “Glad you asked, very glad you asked,” Rarity chimed in. “I am Rarity, a very good friend of the Apple family, and perhaps more important to your interests, a rival of Suri’s.” At hearing this, the purported pernicious pink plagiarist pony felt the need to insert herself into the conversation with an indignant reply of “since when are we rivals,” only to be completely ignored and shoved to the side. “I was also the winner of this year’s Manehattan Fashion Week event, but it wasn’t an easy victory, I assure you. When I first found out that Suri would be in the running alongside me, I had no clue of just how depraved she had become, as I knew her only as a fillyhood acquaintance whom I hadn’t seen in years. We caught up just before the first round, she complimented me on my designs, and I was foolish enough to fall into her trap and give her some of my fabric. Never give a knockoff artist fabric you designed yourself, I tell you. The only good thing I might have to say to her blatantly stealing my designs is that at least it was the only time she’d probably ever used products manufactured through morally sound methods and—“ “Sheesh, do you really need to bring other ponies down to explain this stuff?” Suri muttered. “As an Element of Harmony, you ought to know better—“ “Being a heroine such as myself also means telling the truth when it needs to be told,” Rarity retorted. “And really, I can’t just go up to Bambi and say ‘some mare with no recognizable features and whose name I can’t recall stole my designs at an unspecified time’ when that’s not the truth, can I?” With a mutinous scoff, the other pony finally backed off, realizing in annoyance that the story was, in fact, necessary to their interests. “So where was I?” Rarity continued. “Oh, yes, Fashion Week. I’d fallen into quite a deep despair over it all, taking it out on my friends, even. I thought for sure I couldn’t win it, that I couldn’t report her without making myself look like the plagiarist. But, as it turned out, somepony who worked for Suri actually ended up helping me. She saw everything, quit her job, and—“ “That whole song and dance you just did was just to get me to warm up to Coco, wasn’t it?” “Well…yes,” Rarity replied with a note of hesitation. “But is that really such a bad thing? I mean, yes, at first glance it does seem like an awfully heinous mistake on the foster home’s part to pair your sister up with somepony who knows the one who caused her suffering, but if at all possible, I just want you to see the situation from dear Coco’s perspective. As a newsmare, you ought to know better than anypony how ponies don’t always choose the path of crime willingly, that sometimes there isn’t a better situation to be found. You can’t just lump everypony together like that; there are good ponies in bad professions and bad ponies in good ones.” “Going to fashion school in Manehattan doesn’t actually do anything, okay?” Suri piped in. “You’d be surprised at all the employees I rustled up just because mine was the only one with decent openings. There just aren’t enough opportunities in such a huge town, and the way I see it, I was just the one who gave them enough funds to live in those cramped, overpriced apartments that everypony in Equestria fights over. Granted, it involved working them half to death and possibly getting involved in unsavory legal issues, but I’m smart enough to know not to tell them up front. If they’re desperate enough, they don’t really need to know, okay? That’s all there is to running a decently successful business in Manehattan: all you’ve got to do is sell your soul enough to get over those moral inhibitions of yours.” “And you’d think I’d believe you, of all ponies?” Bambi spat. “If you’d just let those friends of yours that you don’t even deserve speak for themselves, maybe I’d let down a little. But if you think for a moment that I have nothing better to do than listen to you gloat around and try to push the blame off yourself, just get out of here. Go straight to Tartarus for all I care, if that’s what it takes to get you to get over yourself. But don’t keep spreading some absolute lies about how you were some perfect little filly before the terrible city got you in its clutches. Cities don’t change ponies—they change themselves. Don’t go dirtying each and every other pony who lives in Manehattan just to wipe your hooves clean. I may have a bit of corruption in me—everypony does—but just being here doesn’t make me lie and cheat and steal other ponies’ sisters away for selfish purposes and—“ Just as the yellow earth pony mare was ranting, something began to stir within Coco, who had for the most part stayed out of everything, kept her head down, same as she’d done all week and perhaps even for her entire life. She’d never been one to get involved in conflicts. As long as it meant not getting hurt, she’d be satisfied with staying on the sidelines, never to be noticed. That’d been how she’d always gotten through life: she’d chose not to leave Manehattan to strike out someplace else, chose to take the job with Suri without weighing the consequences, chose not to say anything when she found out just how bad the situation was there, and now here she was, choosing to watch in silence as the one truly brave thing she’d ever done was about to dissipate as if it had never existed. Somehow, no matter how much Rarity and her other friends had seemed to push her in the right direction, she was right back where she started. She was back to being Coco Pommel, the model worker without a brain or free will of her own, the one who would always think of others, who was so afraid of being selfish that she would even let them hurt her, who would never think for herself, do anything for herself, be herself. But was that who she really defined herself as? Who she really wanted to be? Who was this Coco Pommel she called herself, anyway? She knew the answer immediately. Deep down, underneath all that suppression she’d built up over the years, there was a single voice that cried out, urging her forward. Everything she’d always thought of herself as was true to an extent, but it wasn’t the full, ideal self that Coco had always strived towards. While some ponies were born as whole versions of themselves, she realized, she could never reach her highest potential without others to surround her, to complete her. She had many of those figures in her life, both past and present. Maybe someday in the future, she’d find somepony to complete her in the traditional sense most think of, as a romantic partner spending the rest of her life with some stallion or even another mare for all she knew. But Coco also had a feeling that whatever her prospects in love were, they couldn’t compare to what she felt now. The pony who completed her more than anything else, that made her life worthwhile, wasn’t a lover or even a friend. She was something more than that, something that went even farther than blood. Babs had always been the one to balance out her weaknesses, the one who had made her life worth living when she thought it wasn’t. Bambi had a point. Coco may not have been the best choice for a foster mother. There might be moments when the past would lurk once more, clouding doubt on the relationship she treasured so dearly. But somehow, it’d still happened, and in that moment, that was what really mattered. If even for a little while, she had become somepony’s mother. She had felt it touch her all over her body and even into her heart. She wasn’t about to give it up for anything. Babs Seed was somepony who would always be worth fighting for. And that’s just what she was about to do.