If You Give a Little Love...

by Quillamore

Act III, Scene 11: Putting One Hoof in Front of the Other

For all the ruckus still going on over the Pink Lady letters, the news of which had already spread throughout the theatre company, Coco found that the day was going surprisingly peacefully. As soon as she’d heard that the secret was out, she was expecting to find something at least remotely resembling panic, but the actors seemed to gossip more about the “glitter battle” they’d had after the show than about the play’s future.

While it was nice to know that the actors had at least as much fun as she did last night, the costumes themselves told another story. It would take hours to get everything off of them, and she had no clue how a few clumps of glitter could cover entire costumes or where the actors would even find enough to throw at each other in the first place. At least it gave her something to do, though, on a set that seemed to be needing her less and less. And, of course, at least it meant that some ponies were able to move on past everything that had happened and that was still happening now.

Coco took a quick breath, almost like a sigh, as she swept her hoof across the first cape, guiding the glitter towards a dustpan on the other side of the table. It wasn’t quite as even or sweeping of a motion as she would’ve liked, and a few sparkles escaped onto the ground.

I’ll be able to move past it just like everypony else, she thought to herself as she picked the tiny grains off the ground. As long as I remember what Cameo said last night, talk to Scene later this afternoon…

Falling back into the comfortably repetitive motion, that was the last Coco thought about anything for a while. If anything, the main things that came to her mind today weren’t about anything that happened before opening night, but rather about Bambi’s visit with the Oranges the night before. There’d been no leads, and nopony had been willing to cooperate. The closest any of them had were Cameo’s suspicions, and even those weren’t enough to fully narrow down the culprit.

Still, Coco found herself going through the names to the best of her ability, alternating thoughts between sweeping up the glitter and remembering the Orange she knew best, Belladonna. It’d been almost a month since the two had met in Cameo’s shop, but even then, she couldn’t recall much about the incident. Coco had been so excited about Cameo forgiving her that everything else seemed to be a blur, and after a while, the peace she’d had for the past few hours finally ruptured inside her.

“The one time I actually want to remember stuff about them, I can’t,” she muttered to herself, batting the dustpan onto a particularly sticky spot of glitter. “How useless…”

She didn’t even care anymore about what, if anything, this strange family of aristocrats had to offer. All those promises of prosperity that Belladonna had offered her had gone empty with every warning everypony around her gave. But even then, in that moment, she knew that Cameo had to be wrong when she told Coco not to think of the Oranges. If solving the issue was that easy, she would’ve saved her family and the play by now. So as she wiped the residue out of the clothes, she welcomed it back into her mind, knowing that the more information she could summon about the Oranges, the sooner they would be out of her life.

The tiniest of smirks lit her face as soon as she realized that just imagining out of her life wouldn’t be enough. Somehow, the prospect of fighting them and getting involved wasn’t quite as unappealing as it had been before. Especially not if it meant never seeing that family lay their claws into anypony else ever again.

As much as she hated to admit it, she’d almost missed having somepony to fight. Before she’d met Mosely, she’d never challenged anypony liked that, and twisted as it was, she found herself liking the feeling.

At least if she focused on opposing them, she wouldn’t have to think about how much Mosely, and them by extension, had hurt her. About how weak she really was.

However, the distraction from reality that the Pink Lady case provided her was too good, as Coco didn’t even notice the door opening behind her. Even as hoofsteps clopped onto the floor, she was too engrossed in figuring out how to scrub out both the glitter and the Oranges to notice the blue streak approaching her.

“Hey there, Coco,” Scene finally spoke, not even noticing that the mare wasn’t paying attention to him. “How’re you coming on those cloaks?”

Coco gave only a single nod of recognition before plunging herself back into work, not wanting her director to realize that other things were distracting her. Meanwhile, Scene directed his gaze towards the lines of costumes, which were already almost finished for the day.

"That one you’re working on looks fine to me,” he said.

“Are you sure?” Coco replied, just now acknowledging him. “I’ve been trying to get this clump off for ages, and nothing seems to be working.”

Sure enough, there was a decently large mass at the end of the blue cape, almost enough to look like a polka dot from a distance. From the look on Coco's face, though, it seemed to be the bane of her existence, and she gritted her teeth slightly whenever she swept across it.

“Honestly, I didn’t even know that little silver part wasn’t supposed to be there,” Scene admitted sheepishly. “Besides, the rest of the cast is taking a break now, since rehearsals didn’t take as long this time.”

At first, Coco didn’t quite know what he was implying with his last comment; what the cast did didn’t normally influence the crew’s actions. They’d often keep at their tasks even when the actors were finishing up, or would find other things that needed to be done without them. Even working with Suri, breaks were nothing more than a short afterthought to keep the authorities thinking she ran a legal and ethical operation. But Spellshock was morphing into a very different production from anything she’d ever experienced, as much as she often forgot that.

“You told me you wanted to talk to me earlier,” he continued. “So I figured I’d check up on you, and I’m glad I did. Otherwise, you would’ve stayed here all night trying to get that glitter out.”

Carefully placing the cape she’d been working on next to all the others, Coco then worked on arranging the costumes in bundles for each actor. At this point in the production, it came so naturally that it barely took a few minutes. In a way, it was like playing the same memory game that she’d had as a foal, where it was almost natural to associate one piece of the set with the other.

"So,” she whispered as she eased herself into her desk chair, “what was up with that whole extravaganza last night, anyway?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she could just see the unicorn biting his lip, as if his job hinged upon answering the question correctly. Just when she was afraid he was getting too nervous, though, his mouth suddenly curled back into a smile.

“I really don’t know,” he replied. “Sometimes, backstage shenanigans just poof up out of the blue. From what I know, it went straight from talking about how well the play went over last night and ended with one of the actors gossiping about these ‘glitter bombs’ he bought in a store a week ago. If I would’ve thought about how much work you’d have to put in today because of it, I would’ve stopped them.”

“It’s fine, really,” Coco answered, still not really knowing how to react to the situation. “I’ve had to put up with worse before, at least. But you made it sound like you got involved with all this, too.”

She’d at least expected that to faze him a little, but instead, that same small smile still swept across his face. Even though it’d only been a few months, it’d seemed like forever since she had seen him in one of these moods. For a moment, Coco wondered if even he was recovering quicker than she was, and then, as she kept talking to him, she spotted it.

“I did,” he said, a bit more sheepishly this time. “I’ve been trying to run a serious production as much as possible in light of these past few weeks, but—“

The act was starting to peel away, if only just a little. Not quite enough to know just how much of it was truth, but enough to know that things with him weren’t as simple as a few stage hijinks.

“But you should’ve seen it. Last night, Suri had no clue what was going on. She was too busy putting all the costumes back, and by the time she finished, the war was already on. I’ll have you know I wasn’t going to get involved in these shenanigans until I realized she had her flank straight in my line of sight, and…well?”

“Well what?” Coco asked.

“Did you see her today? She’s got green sparkles all over her back! Even covered up her cutie mark a little, too.”

As much as she imagined both she and Scene would laugh at such an image, even Coco could tell at this point that he was overexaggerating it. From the way his front hooves slapped his knees as he doubled over in laughter, it wasn’t even particularly good acting. And sure enough, the more Coco stared at him, the less and less he reacted to the incident.

“Oh, come on,” he chuckled. “As far as I can tell, she was asking for it ever since this show got off on the ground. Any other day, you probably would’ve hoof bumped me for that, right?”

“Maybe,” Coco answered, “but that’s not the problem I have with that. I’m just afraid that you’re not acting like yourself, and if there’s anything I’ve learned over this whole experience, it’s that you can’t keep hiding these kinds of things.”

Scene’s face flushed just about as quickly as it could before Coco could realize that perhaps she hadn’t made her words clear enough. He started to bat at his mane with his hooves and said nothing for several seconds, a rare moment of silence for such a normally composed director.

Coco gave a deep breath, knowing that she’d have to ease into the situation sooner or later. Even though the words she had planned on saying to him were already choking her throat, making her want to regret everything, she could at least take comfort in the fact that he, too, had his own confessions to make.

“If it makes you feel any better, there are some things I need to get off my chest, too,” she continued. “And really, considering the way I humiliated myself crying in your arms back when I first adopted Babs…I feel like I at least owe you the same.”

“I almost wish it was like that,” Scene confessed after a few moments of silence. “Maybe it’d be easier for both of us to solve if it was just something we could pour out of our systems like that. When it’s something frustrating like this, though…it won’t seem to let you go.”

“Frustrating like what?”

Even though more topical thoughts should have entered her mind by now, ones about how to help Scene or how to at least do something useful for once, the other fears invaded once more. What if whatever the play was about to go through really was worse than before? What if they’d have to endure even tougher versions of the same issues they’d barely escaped?

“Last night, after the play,” Scene began. “After the glitter battle and everything else. Late in the evening, when nopony else was there, I got two letters. One from Pink Lady, and one from somepony who claims she can help.”

"Oh,” Coco answered without thinking. Her voice was tinged with relief, something all too understandable to herself and all too unintelligible to Scene. Before she could take it back, though, she already knew it was too late.

“So you don’t think it’s a problem?” he replied, his voice bitter yet composed. “That it’s just some second chance to reform Suri, that doesn’t have any stake in anything else?”

“No. I just figured it would be something worse.”

Even then, she could still see the stallion preparing to raise his voice, and in that moment, she knew. The fears penetrating her mind hadn’t gotten to anypony else; even Babs seemed to be healing. Maybe, as long as he stayed angry at her, she really would be all alone.

"Worse than our play being shut down?” he retorted. “Or the company sued?”

A flicker of recognition finally came to Scene’s face as soon as he looked to hers and the genuine panic it showed. And between those two shared glances laid hope itself.

“I did some research with Cameo last night,” Coco explained as the tension slowly began to ebb away. “There was something she didn’t want to tell me, though, and something nopony probably wanted you to hear, either. But all the same, I still saw it last night when I trotted out of her apartment.”

Pausing for a minute, she continued, “I can’t stop thinking about the Pink Lady incidents, either, but for a second, my mind was somewhere else. You see, last night, I found out that when Mosely started working on shows here, the Oranges pooled their bits and became part owners of this theatre. When you said you’d encountered something worse than before, I remembered that Pink Lady wanted to bring Mosely back, and I thought…what would stop them from trying to defend their stake here? I figured that if they came here, things wouldn’t be any different than before.”

As nervous as Scene had been only a few minutes before, Coco looked even more pathetic; while she didn’t cry, her eyes still shimmered as if they were about to tear up at any moment. Nopony, not even Scene, had seen her this vulnerable since the producer swap, and just like the director’s mood change, it was something that seemed to burst out of the blue.

On the other hoof, Scene’s previous indignation was replaced with concern, watching as this mare he knew so well stated things that seemed so unfamiliar to him. While he’d known that she’d tried to help Suri, perhaps against her own better judgment, he’d just as soon assumed that the Oranges were just some disembodied party of rich puppeteers, swaying ponies a certain direction and never showing their faces in public. Just about everypony else on set had, for that matter.

“How do you know so much about them?” Scene questioned. “Was it because Bambi let you in on some information, or—“

"They’ve been pursuing me,” whispered Coco. “I don’t know how or why, but somehow, they want me in their family. They think they can just exchange the relatives that don’t serve a purpose to them for ponies who do, but I don’t even know what they want with me anymore. They say it’s because I was Mosely’s marefriend, but they didn’t try to recruit Suri like this.”

While Scene seemed willing to believe her story, she could still see his eyes narrow as he shook his head. Though he seemed to make sense of why the Oranges had chosen her rather than Suri, that much was less out of genuine understanding and more out of his existing feelings concerning the other mare.

Even now, after only a month of knowing them, Coco had gotten so used to the Oranges’ strange ways of doing things that she could barely understand how anypony could be confused by them, or how paranoid she would probably sound trying to sum up the incidents in only a few sentences.

“Okay, start over,” Scene finally replied. “When exactly did all this start? Back when Stealer-Orange was still around, or—“

“No, even after that,” clarified Coco. “I’d gone into Cameo’s shop a week after the arrest to try to patch things up with her. She was busy working on one of her pieces, though, and while I was waiting, I happened upon Mosely’s mother. Or she happened upon me, to be more precise.”

“That must’ve been an experience.”

Scene’s nose scrunched up just thinking about it, as much as he was trying to lighten the mood. Even though he was quipping about the issue, a spark of worry still lit his eyes, and Coco wondered just how often he hid his true emotions with humor.

“Trust me, it was. But for most of the conversation, she acted like she was just a regular mare. She gave me this whole sad story about how her son loved the store and was arrested just a few days before.”

"And you didn’t catch it then?” This time, the stallion was back to his confused mode, and his voice seemed more teasing than genuinely angry. “As soon as she would’ve said that—“

“I know, I know, and I should’ve caught onto it then, I swear. But I thought it could have been another pony who just so happened to work on Bridleway, liked Cameo’s store, and got arrested on the same day.”

“Wow, she really didn’t make it clear who her foal was, did she?”

While she hadn’t necessarily expected the story to lift Scene’s spirits, at least seeing him joke about her overly trusting nature was better than seeing him like he was before. Utterly desperate, not so different than how he was a month before.

“Anyway,” she said sharply when she realized how fast the break was going by, “she gave me an invitation to join the Oranges. Another pony tried to get me to join at the reunion, too, and a few times, I was genuinely tempted. I guess I just didn’t want to have to keep fighting ponies who’d already made my life miserable as soon as they came into it. I feel like they must have known that, too, because as soon as I started resisting, the Pink Lady letters came out, and I’ve been on this set long enough to know that there’s no such thing as coincidence. I didn’t want to have to deal with another crisis, so when I was at my worst, I decided that to go to the gathering they held last night. But, long before I could, Bambi stopped me and, well, she told me everything.”

Pausing only for a moment, she continued, “They say they need a replacement because they’ve already disowned Mosely for what he’s done, and while the Apples have cut him off, too, it’s different for them. The Apples only do this if a family member makes an irredeemable mistake, but for the Oranges, even suggesting change is bad enough. Bambi told me that only about half of the current Oranges are actually related to the main members of the family, and that’s because over the years, that’s the only punishment they’ve used. I don’t know what they want from me, but the more I hear about it, the more I think it’s a short-term thing. They’ll be through with me after I stop being useful, just like they’d treat anypony else. And so…I don’t want any part in that. I won’t let them force me into doing anything anymore.”

She gave a quick sigh after this whole speech, and if there was one thing she hadn’t been worried about while telling it, it was Scene’s reaction. After the way he’d still taken her into his life after the things she’d done before, whether it was the deal she made with Mosely or the criminal dealings she had even before that, nothing had seemed to faze him away from her. And just like that, there was already a look of pride in his eyes that she wanted to soak in forever.

“But that’s not what I wanted to talk about today,” she whispered. “Being pulled into all of this, it’s made me realize some things, and I feel like the only way for me to get over everything is to start over with somepony else. And, well, you’ve been waiting for my answer for a while now. So even though I don’t know about my own feelings for you yet, I’d be willing to try, and really, I feel like things have been leading me towards you for a long time.”

The stallion looked shocked for a few moments, but the concern still didn’t fade from his eyes.

“Um, yes, I—I feel the same way,” he finally replied after a few moments of silence. “But honestly, it seems a bit sudden for me. It’s still only been a month since—“

Once more, she was made aware of the distance between them and how much he failed to recognize. The things that she’d kept nestled in her heart just like before hadn’t revealed themselves to anypony, and that was the one thing she’d dreaded the most. She’d have to let her real fears out to a pony who held the same grudges as she did, one who would only be repulsed by them.

“I know it hasn’t been long,” she said, her voice coming out a bit more desperate than she would’ve liked it to be, “but I’m worried about what’ll happen if I go about this any longer. I like you, and you’re the one pony I’d trust more than anypony else to really make me happy in a relationship. But, as much as I hate to say it, there are other reasons. Namely, that being with somepony now…means that I won’t be able to do something I’ll end up regretting.”

“And that is?”

Coco facehooved, hating herself for even getting into this situation. There was no way he could possibly understand, but there was no avoiding it now.

“The more I learned about the Oranges, the more I doubted what I knew, and the more I wondered about what could’ve been. You see, I’d actually been in a case like this before, with one of Babs’ friends from Ponyville. Her mother had taught her to believe that there was one way of living life, and that was by intimidating and looking down on others. For so long, she’d bought into it, even, and at first she and Babs didn’t start off on the right hoof because of it. The filly didn’t stay here long, but her being here made me wonder just how similar her family was to the Oranges, and that was when the thoughts started entering my head. If I’d been wrong about who my main enemy was before, when I’d thought Suri was anything more than a cog in some carefully oiled plan, then who’s to say that—“

In that moment, she realized that Scene’s eyes were locked straight towards hers, appearing not to blink even once.

“Mosely wasn’t?” he finally asked. “That—that is what you meant, right?”

Coco carefully searched for any signs of anger in his eyes, but all she could see was bewilderment. The same sort of shock as he’d had before, and the same kind she’d had when these doubts first came to her.

“I know it can’t be right,” she whispered. “After everything he said, there had to have been at least a part of him that really wanted this. It—it couldn’t have just been the Oranges controlling him. But it almost feels like there’s something deep down that wants me to feel this way. And if I’m not able to distract myself soon, I’m afraid I might try to go back to him.”

She met his gaze as intensely as he met hers. Still, there was no response.

“I’m sorry,” she could barely manage to croak out. “I didn’t mean to—“

“It’s fine,” Scene replied. “I mean, I knew him a decent amount, too. If I was in the same situation, I’d probably think the same thing.”

"You mean if you’d dated him and everything?”

Sure enough, Scene’s whole face was back to scrunching up after this particular remark.

"Not like that!” he muttered, shaking his head in disgust. “Don’t tell me you believed those gossipy fanfillies, who’d always go on about how Mosely and I were a ‘forbidden couple’ and all that.”

“Sorry. I guess I just take things a bit too literally sometimes.”

The two let out a good laugh about the image of the former Bridleway giants getting together before finally regaining their composure.

"And I’d finally gotten those images out of my head,” Scene muttered, only half in annoyance. “Anyway, if you’re worried about using me for something like this, don’t. I know you’ve been through a lot, and if that means having to be the comforting stallion for a while, that’s fine, too. When I confessed to you, I knew that I’d have to go through your harder times with you, but I still did all the same. And if I’m the one thing keeping you from going utterly bonkers and trying to break into the Manehattan jail to see your ex…I have to say, I’d be honored.”

He let out a single breath before continuing, almost as if he knew that what he was about to say was practically a theatrical monologue in and of itself.

“About that other thing, though. It’s good that you’re able to block the thoughts out of your mind, even if it’s creating them to begin with. But I can’t pretend that I can just help you overcome it with just one meeting. As long as you keep fighting past this darkness inside of you, you can overcome everything you faced. I’ve seen you do it before, and in a way…I feel like that was what made Mosely weak, more than anything. It would’ve been one thing for him to keep his beliefs in colthood, but for them to stay there and invade his mind when there’s a wide world out there that stands against everything he is—you can’t excuse that. Eventually, there had to be a time for him when he let them take over, or maybe they always had taken over. But the point is, you are far stronger than he will ever be. Remember that.”

Awestruck by her director’s support once again, Coco was about to respond when she heard a bell ring. While it could have come from any one of the towers surrounding the theatre, she looked at Scene, and she knew. Break was coming to an end.

Just before he walked off, though, he showed her another letter, one that she’d almost forgotten about. The other letter he’d received last night, which just so happened to be from the one pony who started this whole mess—Belladonna Orange.

This time, for once, it wasn’t a threatening one. Rather, it exuded a sort of desperation that Coco hadn’t seen in a very long time. The letter claimed that Belladonna knew Pink Lady’s true identity, and that if somepony didn’t intervene soon, her daughter would be in danger. Coco didn’t try to understand it or even believe it, since she and Cameo had already targeted her as the prime suspect. But all the same, just as usual, the other parts of her mind drew her into the case.

She was already running through the possibilities in her mind, wondering if this lead was really worth getting caught in the Oranges’ web again. But Scene already knew.

“I’d rather not do this, but it’s the only proof we have,” Scene told her. “I’m guessing that’s what you’re thinking, too?”

Coco nodded, knowing that with him on her side to guide her, there was no way she was falling into their trap again. She’d go right in and dismantle it when they didn’t see it coming.

“I guess that makes it a date, then?”

Author's Note:

A couple going out and questioning the suspect together, ahhh~

Sorry for the lateness, guys. There's a Christmas reference somewhere in here this time, and I wish you the best of luck in finding it. ScenexCoco is finally officially sailing!

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[Titan Commander Sebaste]

ScenexCoco is finally officially sailing!

Full speed ahead!

[Golden Fang Ryu Shenron]

All aboard the Shipping Express!