Celestial's Half-hours

by Celestial

Breaking Point [Slice of Life]

"I need a moment with Prim Hemline. I have to rush back to Ponyville, but I just wanted to thank her first for—"

"Uh-uh-uh, you'd best steer clear of Prim for a while. She's pretty... furious. Isn't that right?"

Coco Pommel felt a bulge in her throat, and had to look at the ground to manage a "Um... yes."

She registered the rest of Rarity's friends coming to join her, but she knew how it probably would play out now. Her head was swimming, barely hearing that they were going to enjoy a last theater play before returning to their city.

"And that is how it's done, hehe," Suri Polomare declared, walking out of the building to see them go, "Pretty clever how I convinced her to stay away from Prim, wasn't it?" She chuckled some more for good measure. "Wouldn't have wanted her to find out the truth now, would we?" Her intimidating gaze on the apprentice left her speechless, forced to withheld her gaze with a heavy spirit and a screaming heart.

Without adding more, Suri turned and walked back inside; all was left for her was playing the waiting game, trying to subtly convince the judges that Rarity's behaviour implied that she would not really come back, like she had been for the past half hour. Coco, however, left alone, felt more restless with each passing minute.

Walking back and forth in the hall, she had all the time to wonder just what had happened. She had realized Suri had basically stolen the fabric from the white unicorn, and even still, in a single day, Rarity had managed not only to sew a completely new, successful line, but to invent it out of thin air, outside of her studio, in the first place.

The same mare who had just offered the fabric to Suri out of her own volition.

The same mare who left the ensemble not once, but twice, because she cared more about her friends than... than these petty games of competition, really; she knew by now the unicorn was more than talented. She was... open-hearted, and the more she compared the unicorn to herself, the more she realized her priorities might not be straight as she wanted.

She stopped in her circles as she contemplated the simple question: Why are you doing this?

Working for a mare that the harder you worked, the harder she would berate you to work faster?

Passing sleepless nights sewing someone else's pride to call your own?

Not even contemplating about getting a life because the mea- your 'mentor' could call up in the middle of your free afternoon because she didn't like the stitches and wanted them redone a different colour, like she did three days ago?

All this, for what? Getting to learn something new? Petty idea theft and overexertion were being added to your resume currently, that much was sure.

Hoping for recognition maybe. But were you even going to get that recognition in the first place? You sure didn't the last three times, when you sewed everything and added all the best touches you could think of to Suri's line; the very same details that the patron liked so much.

And what are you doing to reach that? Daily slavery? Swindling the most kind-hearted mare you ever met of her impossibly well-deserved prize not once, but TWICE?

No. This was where she drew the line. This was not where she had ever wanted to end up. Nothing could justify the amount of low blows she was stunting anymore. She was bringing some changes in her life, and she was starting right that instant.

For the first time in weeks, she could feel relief washing over her, and the fire of resolution sparking in her chest, growing as she contemplated how much she could do to fix things while she could.

It took her little to figure out that if Rarity wouldn't come back to claim the prize, the best next thing would be bringing the prize to her.

But not before making it up somehow to her. She knew already a gift shop along the way to the theater where she could have something wrapped, and she knew just the thing: the rainbow spool she always carried with her, ever since her mother passed it to her. So that she could remember that 'Creativity is as wide as imagination, and as varied as a rainbow, and any source can flare the brightest spark.'

She wondered if that could help her, now that she was coming up with a plan to effectively steal the first prize... even if just for a small while.

Author's Note:

Prompt #541: I quit.