The White Phoenix

by Quick Fix

The Ugly Truth

February 25th

---

For all the energy that Manehatten radiated during the day, it was when the sun went down and the world was blanketed under Luna's light that the city really came alive. No matter where one went, there was a near endless choice of activities. From the city's renowned dance clubs to Bridleway, any number of options to kick back and unwind were available. This was certainly something of a plus to Sweetie Belle right now. As Ink Slinger had warned, the interview that had been published in the February Twenty Third edition of the Equestria Today had run completely counter to what she had been promised in writing and come across as another attempt to tear her down as an arrogant, self-centered mare with a vendetta against the newspaper. She had elected not to mess with the potential hornets nest in this case and simply told the media the truth that the article was in breach of a signed deal between her and them, complete with showing them the contract itself. Now she was just trying to relax herself again while the inevitable reaction blew over.

Singing always helped her relax.

Fortunately she still had several performances scheduled for the coming weeks, enough to tide her over while the public reaction to the interview occurred and she had to decide what to do next. Tonight was one of those performances, part of a variety show at the Ember Hall in central Manehatten. It was one of the more prestigious concert halls in the city, seating thousands and accepting ponies from all trots of life. Right now such a crowd was seated and enjoying another of her performances, at least she hoped, when she was in the zone the world faded around her and she put everything into her music, every little muscle movement tuned to deliver a rendition that flowed like water from her soul to the world. She didn't see their reactions, didn't hear any murmurs they might be making. Right now her world was just the music around her and her voice joining with it in harmony.

As her song came to an end she dropped into a bow and took a breath she didn't realise she'd been lacking. She started to feel the wood of the stage beneath her hooves again, the gentle pulse of magic running through her horn as it lowered her trademark silver microphone, even the slight increase in temperature from so many ponies being in the room. Her ears twitched as her brain caught up with them, ringing slightly at the sudden rush of noise as hundreds of hooves applauded her. It was a little quieter than she was used to, indicating that there probably were a number of ponies out there who'd bought into the twisted words written against her. Overall though she was still getting a positive response though, that ponies were enjoying themselves made it still worth it.

"Thank you everypony. Have a great evening." She called to the audience as she made her way offstage, getting some extra applause for that. As she made her way backstage a number of stagehoofs and other performers joined in, looking like they'd enjoyed the show as well. She'd handled any meeting and greeting prior to going on stage though and settled for nodding her thanks to everypony as she passed. As much as she loved spending time with other ponies like that, she just wanted to get home and rest up right now. Spending more of her free time on alert in case something with The White Phoenix came up had left her rather worn out. As she reached the performers' cloakroom and carefully placed her microphone in her saddlebag, she looked up on hearing somepony else entering.

"Sweetie Belle? You here?" A familiar voice called moments before Coco Pommel entered the room, perking up on finding her friend there.

"Coco?" Sweetie asked in surprise, managing to keep herself from asking what she was doing here. She'd managed to secure a backstage pass for the dressmaker earlier and asking that now would just be weird.

"Oh good, I thought you might have left already." Coco said as she trotted over. There was a definite spring in her step and she seemed outright perky compared to her rather drained look over the last few months. Neither of them knew exactly why but her health had improved over the last few weeks, her legs were still aching but her chronic fatigue had almost completely gone. She'd been able to make the most of this upturn and resume her dressmaking almost as good as she used to.

"How'd you know I was leaving straight away?"

"Oh, I know what a pony who just wants to go and get some sleep is like," The earth pony gave a small chuckle before stepping forward and bringing out a small box. "I had some spare time and made you this, as thanks for making sure I didn't have any extra issues to deal with while working through my health problems."

"I, didn't really do that much." Sweetie replied in slight confusion as she took the box in her magic. All she'd really done all this time was making sure neither Rarity or Market Match knew the full extent of her problems and buying her the spa day. She didn't think that would justify getting a gift but Coco had always been a pony who highly appreciated her friends. She opened the box and looked in, jaw dropping slightly as she did.

Resting inside the box was a purple silk scarf, perfectly matching the rest of her detective outfit from the same shade as the band on her hat to be being small enough to fit into her coat without being too obtrusive. She lifted it up and looked it over closely, smiling warmly before putting her coat on, keeping her saddlebag underneath it, before fitting the scarf, tying it at the front and letting a little drape over her chest. It was definitely quite snug and yet breathable at the same time, something she'd be able to keep wearing on cooler days until summer came around. She smiled more at the feeling before stepping forward and hugging Coco in thanks.

"Sometimes I forget just how good you are at your work, and at being a friend. Thank you." She finally said, stepping back and putting her hat on. Coco smiled more and nodded, rubbing her leg in slight embarrassment at the praise.

"You're welcome, and it's the least you deserved." Coco finally replied, giving that small, slightly awkward grin that her friends couldn't help but think was cute.

"Thanks, Coco. Once I've had a proper rest I'll think of something for you in return. For now I'll let you return to enjoying the show, apparently the Whinnyapolis juggling act is fantastic."

Coco nodded and made her way out, back toward her backstage viewing area. Sweetie smiled to herself and put her hat on before making her way out of the building. A light rain had started to fall as she came out, combined with the time of night and the fact she had exited onto a side street, it meant there weren't any other ponies about at present. She adjusted her coat slightly to keep the rain out better before setting off. There was a taxi carriage stand a few streets away, she could get one easily in this weather and be home in half an hour if everything went smoothly. She instantly regretted thinking that since it meant that any moment now...

"I'll admit, your voice is impressive for a commoner."

Sweetie paused and turned toward the voice, her expression currently unreadable. Standing in the shadow cast by the nearby streetlight ahead of her was Spoiled Rich, flanked by a pair of stallions in business suits, one of them holding an umbrella for her. The two of them simply stared each other down for a minute, memories of their last encounters coming back to the fore. For Sweetie Belle it was a rather benign thing, back when she was a filly and simply thought the older mare was super mean for being president of the school board and yet allowing Diamond Tiara to keep pushing everypony around like she did, though that was before she learned of their family connection. Spoiled Rich, on the other hoof, was simply putting a lot of effort toward keeping herself from punching the unicorn in the face right now.

"Spoiled Rich, it's been a long time." Sweetie finally said, trying to sound civil and neutral at the same time.

"Less than you think, though I suppose you wouldn't know. You weren't allowed to see me after all." Spoiled replied, eyeing her with unmistakable distain as if she would rather be having this discussion from a hundred feet away.

"Okay...I'm guessing from the presence of your 'friends' that this isn't a social call," Sweetie glanced over at the stallions, sizing the situation up in the event things went bad. She probably couldn't take on either of them on her own, though she could easily teleport out before things got violent if she needed to. "Though if you want them to join in, you should probably know in advance that I do have friends in the Manehatten police."

"Oh that's cute, you manage to be nice to a blue collar nopony and think it actually improves your social standing," Spoiled smirked slightly and brought a hoof up, condescendingly patting Sweetie's cheek. "Plus you just made it even easier for us to have a scapegoat in the event that The White Phoenix starts going too far. Aren't you just full of surprises?"

"Us to...You're involved with the Equestria Today?!" Sweetie exclaimed as she took a step back, really wishing that the street wasn't deserted. Any kind of witness would be really nice right about now. Spoiled simply chuckled coldly and closed the gap again, practically going nose to nose.

"I AM the Equestria Today. As editor-in-chief it's my word that gives everypony in Equestria the chance to read the truth about you and your little 'blank flank' friends." The venom in her voice hit a new high at the mention of that old insult, clearly wanting to say worse but making a laboured attempt to remain civil.

"...Okay, first things first, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both have their cutie marks and-"

"Don't you dare mention that faux-pegasus so lightly!" Spoiled snapped, making Sweetie recoil in fear. This was more than just some longstanding dislike, this was deep rooted hatred. "She ruined my whole setup for Diamond Tiara by getting her to be another confused fool who turned her back on the life she could have had, deserved to have."

"...Really?" Sweetie Belle replied flatly as she straightened up again, her patience for the older mare starting to wear thin as she recovered from that outburst. "So Scootaloo saves your daughters' life in front of the other crusaders and shows her the way to a life that currently sees her as a happy, well balanced mare with a lovely daughter, as well as becoming the popular mayor of Ponyville...And you decided to disown her and hate all four of us for it, because it's not exactly what you had in mind?"

"If she had stuck to my intent she would be one of the most influential ponies in Equestria! She could have had the world in her hoof right now and she threw it away for a trio of insignificant filth who went on to make nothing of themselves. It's bad enough that you and that apple pony were accessories to this crime, but the fact the pony responsible should have been abandoned to her fate as soon as her parents realised she couldn't fly...It shows just how far this land has fallen if they think a flightless pegasus deserves to make it this far."

The silence following that statement hung between them for several seconds, broken only by the constant and steadily building sound of rainfall. There had been no ambiguity in those words whatsoever. Sweetie Belle stood rooted in place, trying to process just what she'd heard. Her eyes narrowed slightly and her expression dropped into a dark glare, punctuated almost perfectly by a distant roll of thunder. She normally wasn't one to go for any kind of aggression but being told that one of her friends didn't deserve to live because of who they were sparked something hidden deep inside her. She didn't care about the odds against her anymore, the only reason she was restraining herself now was that Spoiled Rich probably did have the ability to ruin her life unless she went further than even this anger would let her.

"You, sure you want to continue this line of thought?" She said with a growl, which unfortunately didn't sound very good coming from her voice.

"That's why I settled for leadership of Equestria's leading newspaper," Spoiled Rich continued, as if she hadn't even registered that comment. "So I can put all of you back where you belong. In your case, that's just making everpony realise how worthless you are when they look past your voice and ending your music for good. That would be getting off lightly for the pegasus though, she needs to be broken, ridiculed, seen by everypony as I do until she realises all she can do is-"

"Okay, no," Sweetie snapped, legs shaking slightly in anger. She had a good idea where that statement was going and it was unforgiveable. "You think this is justified? Ruining ponies lives because you disagree with what they said to your daughter?!"

"...It IS justified. Speaking of which, I know you're thinking of telling ponies about this little discussion. I wouldn't, not unless you want to become public enemy number one within twenty four hours..." Spoiled smirked softly and turned away. It was almost scary how quickly she can regained her composure after the earlier outburst. "Oh, and I don't bluff either. Enjoy your night."

Sweetie stood rooted in place as the trio of ponies in front of her made their way to a carriage hidden in the shadows further down the street and left the area. Her mind was racing to handle the revelations it had just been witness to, her body struggling to move on its own from a mixture of shock, anger and being freezing cold in the rain. Without thinking about it her horn flared up and she teleported straight back into her house. Unable to think of anything else at the moment, she headed upstairs to try and get some sleep, wondering just what she was supposed to do against a pony that very likely wasn't bluffing about holding every advantage here.

---

I wish I could say I had been prepared for something like this.

But no, the one responsible for the slanderous writing against me and the others coming up to me, admitting it and being in a position where I just couldn't stop them...That's something they don't train you to deal with. I think, is there something in detective school for that? I wish Babs had been there, we could have probably taken them together and stopped this whole thing tonight. Or failing that, I should have had some way of recording it...Ugh! Why did I have to overlook learning that spell during Twilight time? Why did Twilight stop it before I could learn? Ok, getting off topic. Maybe the MPD has something just as good, something that will let me expose her for what she is. Here's hoping, otherwise I'm completely sunk.

Ok, first thing tomorrow, I'm calling in that favour.

Comments

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

*Sigh*
Slander is spoken. Written or broadcast is libel.