//------------------------------// // Act II, Scene 2: Mosely's Secret // Story: If You Give a Little Love... // by Quillamore //------------------------------// Was that seriously a love confession back there? Or was she just trying to throw me off like always? Stepping into that room, Scene was already disoriented enough just facing his boss, but after that enigma of a sentence had just been thrown at him, he didn’t know what or even how to think. Rationality was the furthest thing from his mind at the moment, and as much as Suri had claimed she wanted to keep him from messing up, she sure wasn’t helping by confusing the sense out of him. However, all it took was another voice to temporarily stir him out of his stupor and back into his role as director. An especially suiting word, “role,” considering how much he saw himself morphing into a figure no different from the actors just to please those above him. Even if it was for Coco, for the greater good of all those in danger of being fired if he made so much as a single deadly mistake, he still couldn’t help but feel dissatisfied with how he’d kept trapping himself; as powerful as he was, he would still always be chained to those above him. Just when he thought he’d finally gotten the chance to forget that, the terrifying question pierced through his ears worse than any arrow could’ve done. “Mr. Stealer, if I may so ask,” Mosely finally spoke, “where were you off to a few days ago? I thought we had an agreement that you would stay on the set at all times.” “I—it was an emergency, sir,” Scene willed himself to whisper, however much he wanted to keep quiet. “It won’t happen again.” “With the costume department, I presume?” Another arrow went through, this time straight to the director’s spine. Panic spread throughout his entire body. He couldn’t have made the connection, could he? If he had, why would he have waited this long to confront him? Was he really underhanded enough to pretend not to know just so he could savor his misery even more? All he could think to ask was a quick “how do you know,” followed by perhaps the worst response he could fathom. “Somepony was trustworthy enough for once to have turned you in. I commend her for her courage in exposing her boss’s corrupt behavior. Not everypony would’ve been bold enough to do that. Be grateful she stopped you from getting too far off the wrong path; she might’ve kept you from losing your job, for all you know.” That smug chuckle on Mosely’s face lit his entire body and being on fire, or at least it might as well have. He knew all too well just who had told him; for once, Suri couldn’t have just made this up, not when a coincidence like this was unfolding before him. But why on Equestria would she have warned him if she’d been the one to turn him in? Was it really because she had grossly exaggerated feelings for him? Or was it just because she wanted to pretend to have some guilt for something she was very much responsible for? In that moment, he didn’t care. No reason could’ve justified what was happening before him. Even though Mosely hadn’t yet said anything to imply he’d caught onto Scene’s burgeoning crush, if Suri had told him enough, it wouldn’t be long before he picked up. Just as he’d feared, his entire career could come undone because of a single mare. But it wasn’t the mare he thought would end it. The one thing he would hold onto in spite of all this strife was that Coco hadn’t put him in any danger. She had saved him. She had shown him that, even if he was still trapped under Mosely’s influence, it was possible to escape bosses like him. She had brought light to what was all too often a monotonous existence. Suri, she had been the one to bring him under the rug, but Coco had saved him more than anything else. “Now, tell me,” he heard the producer he’d worked under for so long speak in the background of his thoughts, “are you in love with the new costume designer?” At that point, he could’ve done one of many things. He could’ve denied it, brushed it off as if it was nothing, even pretended to be insulted at the very thought of a possible workplace romance. The old Scene would’ve done one of those, as a stallion who meant to avoid drama at all costs. But sometimes drama is needed in life, he had realized somewhere down the line, if not acting on it meant worse outcomes for loved ones. Some things couldn’t be denied. Some ponies were worth fighting for. Scene wasn’t sure if Coco would’ve fought for him; sure, he was a friend, but he couldn’t delude himself into thinking he was the number one pony in her life. Babs was, and probably always would be, but that didn’t change anything for him. A pony could have more than two loves, and even if she didn’t feel the same way, there would always be room for him in her heart. She would always back him up in a way that Mosely couldn’t, so it was only fair to repay the favor. Even if it meant destroying himself in the process. “Yes,” Scene answered, a surprisingly cool tone appearing in his voice. “I love her, but I have enough dignity to separate my professional life from my personal life. I may have failed so far in that aspect, but Coco doesn’t deserve to be punished for feelings that I have, feelings that she doesn’t even know about, for that matter.” “Do you think I can let you off that easily? You’ve been away for several days and are clearly privileging her. If it was a one-time issue, I might be able to forego punishment, but…I expected so much better from you, Scene Stealer. I never once thought that you would be the one out of all my directors to go corrupt.” With nothing else to lose and everything already on the line, Scene gathered up his courage and said what was quite possibly the number one most brazen insult to a boss one could dream up: “You say I’ve gone corrupt as if you’re one to judge? What about your girlfriend?” Any audacity he might’ve had to go further, however, quickly melted away when he saw the quick spiraling movement of the chair in front of him. Up until then, Mosely had had his back to his director, supposing that an employee acting up could be so easily quashed that it wasn’t even deserving of his full attention. If it’d been anypony else, the action could’ve just as easily have been read as an eccentric, entertainment-starved office worker amusing themselves with a spinning cushion, just as Scene had seen countless times before, something that even he had found himself doing on occasion. But somehow, when Mosely did that very same maneuver, time seemed to move so much slower, the air itself seeming ominous. The difference was simple: everypony else who pushed the chair that way, no matter how deep down they felt it, did it because they wanted to feign some amount of power. Mosely, on the other hoof, had just that. Even if he wouldn’t have had this job, he would’ve still had enough money to make just about all of Manehattan adore him. As for those who didn’t? Scene had never really known up until then, but when he looked into his eyes, he knew. The cordial flash of blue light that was all too easy for Mosely to conjure had completely dissipated. He may have been only an earth pony, but his gaze just then was that of the most livid dragon you could find. “Who said you have the right to bring her into this?” he muttered, sounding as if he was only barely keeping himself from clenching his teeth, trying and failing to hide his true emotions towards the situation. “For all you knew, I could’ve chosen to give you the benefit of the doubt about not bringing your personal life into your job, but now you just had to accuse me of the very same thing. I am many things, Mr. Stealer, but I am far from a hypocrite. I thought after years of work with me, you would catch onto that.” “That’s because you’re wrong,” Scene answered without thinking, the dragon’s gaze only further igniting his own rage and dulling any better senses he might’ve had. “You are the worst hypocrite I’ve ever met. You say that you trusted me once, but well…I stopped trusting you long before you suspected a thing about my conduct. If you really want to get precise about when that was, I’d have to say it was about when you started pulling an entire spool full of tangled-up strings just to get a street hack knockoff artist onto Bridleway. Only as an assistant, though, because after all, nopony will really notice that way, right? And here you are saying that even if you wouldn’t have fallen for her, you still would’ve hired her, and you still would’ve done the same even if you knew that you would’ve had to have done what every other big-name producer does and actually consult your director before making such a huge, performance-altering decision? Is that what you’re saying when you claim you’re not a hypocrite?” “Suri has done nothing to you,” Mosely muttered through gritted teeth. “Neither have I. I have done nothing but encourage you on all our productions, and while you may not have gotten your way on this one, I still have yet to harm you, your job, or your reputation in any way. But considering all that you’ve done for me up until this point, I believe you deserve an explanation—but only barely. Push me any more and I can assure you that I can just as easily rescind this privilege. Either way, consider yourself lucky that we’re far enough into this play to where finding a decent replacement would be next to impossible. Otherwise, if this had occurred earlier on, you would be gone by now. Having a good director can be vital in this trade, but always remember that I can dispose of you and ensure you never work again with just a wave of my hoof. Do you understand, Mr. Stealer?” Scene gulped at this revelation, his nerves finally catching up to him, and decided to say nothing. He hated having to placate such a tyrannical stallion as his boss was shaping up to be, but any bit of information could help. If he could figure out the inner secrets of why Mosely seemed to go out of his way to shun Coco, he could tell the costume designer, and everything would be fine once more. All she would need to do is give into whatever petty issue he had with her and she would be golden once more. There would be no more interruptions to this play, and he could finally have peace. “I will admit that I pulled some strings to get Suri into such a high position,” Mosely replied, “but I didn’t originally know that she was involved in such shady business when I arranged the affair. She played me just as much as I played all of you. By the time I found out, it was far too late, but even if it wouldn’t have been, she still would’ve gotten the job. I figured I was doing Equestria a service, taking a pony off the streets and putting her into a respective profession. Plus, I don’t know why you have so much against her, but deep down, I feel that if you would’ve made an effort to get to know her, you would’ve seen that whatever monster you think she might’ve been in the past is gone now. If you would’ve just bothered to see past the surface—“ “I have seen past it,” Scene responded. “It may not have been the good side you claim exists, but her dark underbelly is still beyond the surface you claim I dwell on. And even if it is true that I haven’t seen past it…that still doesn’t change that she traumatized foals in some of the worst ways possible.” “So I see that you’ve caught onto the rumors surrounding my marefriend. Rumors that can be just as easily applied to your own special somepony. Whatever Suri may have done, your Coco is far from innocent—“ “Don’t you dare compare her to that other mare ever again,” the director threatened, feeling the surges of anger rush through him once more. “They are on completely different levels, and you know it. Everypony isn’t always aware that they’re causing others trouble. Suri had a choice; she always did, but for Coco, it was the only thing she could do, even if it meant hurting others. So if you’re still wondering, I believe in what you call ‘rumors.’ Anything else is just hurting the victims more. With all due respect as your inferior, I just want to ask you one simple thing: can you really face yourself knowing that you’re dismissing an innocent foal’s suffering just so you can keep putting your marefriend on some pedestal?” “Yes, I can,” came the simple words that rocked Scene’s world, “because the filly you mention is little more than a lie herself.” “But she isn’t. Babs may not seem real to you, but she’s real to Coco. She’s becoming real to me. How can somepony as young as her be so invalid in your eyes? You say that I have no reason to be against you, that you’ve done nothing to me, but that filly doesn’t even know you.” “That still doesn’t change the fact that she’s illegitimate. She wasn’t meant to be born in the first place. You may not realize this, but her very existence could bring scandal to the Apple family in a way you couldn’t possibly imagine. The only thing keeping it from happening now is that the information of her parentage was never fully released. Only her fellow Manehattan Apples know anything of the affair, and I speak for all of us when I say we want to keep it that way.” “So you’re saying that your family bonds are so weak that all it takes to destroy them for good is some kid being born?” Scene answered after several futile moments spent trying to comprehend a statement so contrary to everything he believed in. “And if you honestly think that every Apple in Manehattan thinks that way, then I’m here to tell you that that’s the furthest thing from the truth. I may not know the rest of your twisted family that could apparently agrees with everything you just said, but there’s somepony out there who your kind wasn’t able to convince. Somepony who sees her as being every bit as legitimate as she really is. As long as that pony is out there, you can never say that Babs didn’t deserve to be born, because as long as that pony loves her and Coco loves her, she will always be worth something to somepony. Even if she isn’t worth anything to you.” “You may have gotten me on one point,” Mosely reluctantly admitted. “If by some stroke of fate, you happen to be referring to my daughter…Bambi has never been one to adhere to family standards. But she’s one of us nonetheless. I’ve been telling her for years to let that filly go, but she just doesn’t listen. She’s not too different from you in that respect, I’d suppose. Though I never thought I’d see the two of you actually meet up.” “If you still need to know anything about where I was a few days ago, then just ask her. It’s hard to believe that she’s your daughter, but that works well enough for me; from what she’s told me, I’m sure she already trusts me more than she does you. I may have been a guy she’s just met, but at least I can say that I’d actually open the door and save her sister instead of just leaving her out there to be kidnapped.” “Say anything more about that incident and I’ll fire you on the spot,” Mosely warned. “That was years ago, and I certainly don’t need anything like that dirtying my record. Could you imagine what would happen if somepony else heard? If the media were to find out, this play would be a total bust, and then both of us would be out of a decent job.” “Let me get this straight,” the director growled, his patience wearing thin once more, “you directly endanger a foal’s life and the one reason you give for regretting that decision is that your reputation would be tarnished?! Is that really the pony you are behind all that primping and posturing?” “It is. But if it was done to protect the good name of a family I willingly call my own, then I would much rather have done that than let the truth come out. That is how I fight for the ones I love.” “Then we can just agree to disagree. As for me, love means something entirely different from your rigid bloodlines and regulations, and that means that I will never stand for what you have done or renounce my own deeds. Punish me as you will, but know that I will never stop believing in my own vision of love. Because, for me, the very definition of love is the very opposite of abandonment.” “You might say that, but what if I were to tell you that the only way you could keep your job was if you had to abandon those you love? Would you still stay so set in your beliefs then?” Once again, and for the final time, fear coursed its way into Scene’s eyes. This time, however, it was different: it was the feeling of knowing that he had lost, that the punishment for his actions would be even more brutal than he could possibly comprehend. “From here forward, I am banning you from any interaction with Ms. Coco Pommel that does not directly relate to a specific task at hand. If the job requires you to visit the costume department for any reason at all, you will be still be allowed to fulfill that duty, but you will be closely monitored and if you so much as make small talk with her outside of your required dealings with her, you will be banned from any further Bridleway productions. And before you ask if I have the jurisdiction to do this, let me respond by saying that I do. This is the authority all Bridleway producers have over any employee that violates our policies, and directors are no different. I can assure you that my own eyes in the costuming department will keep close watch on you until I am confident that I can trust you again. But I wouldn’t press your luck with that.” If anypony were to walk into the room in that moment, they would never be able to tell that this was meant to be a meeting of equals. From the way Mosely’s director stood, all fire drained from his eyes to how he couldn’t keep himself from falling to the ground in deference, the scene appeared to be far more like that of a king upbraiding a particularly troublesome servant. That was just the way Mosely Orange liked things: he would never have to see himself in the opposite position. He would always be the one in control. It would only be a matter of time before he’d see Coco and Babs reduced to that very state. For that matter, in the days to come, they would only further approach that point. Mosely may not have known about Scene’s plans to move the two of them to Bambi’s condo, but even if he had, the result would still be the same. Scene would be oh-so-conspicuously missing from a place that he had fervently promised to be. That would leave the two would-be lovers without a meeting, without even the slightest of explanations for their separation. Only the worst could be assumed about Scene’s avoidance, and that would surely leave Coco without any choice other than to abandon him for good. That, Mosely projected, would drive her into such despair that she would be exactly where she wanted him: out of his office and, more importantly out of his life. Ultimately, should his plan succeed, he would never have to see those two insufferable mares ever again. The illegitimate princess and the knight who so futilely fought to protect her.