A Cozy Tale

by Leondude

Chapter 18 - The Last Straw

Ringing. That was all Buff could hear after Don Ravioli's goons gave him the beating of his life and left him to bleed out onto the cold streets of Manehatten. He could barely speak, let alone see since they did very good work on his face. The only thing he could feel was the cold pool of his own blood he was laying in. It was miraculous that he still knew what planet he was on. Even when he was on the verge of death, there was one thing that helped him cling onto the thinnest strands of life.

Hope.

Hope that the filly would gallop quick enough, away from the stallions that intend on finishing what they started. Hope that she would grow up into a decent mare and not go down the same path he did. Hope that he might live long enough to see her grow up before his very eyes, provided Ravioli's men didn't buck up his one good eye too badly. Even if he knew he wasn't going to make it, he found some solace in the last words he spoke to the young thing.

"Run. Run, you sweet li'l miracle. And remember me. Not as a bad pony but as a good one."

Brocade looked proudly at the final chapter of her novel. It had been a hectic couple of years but the one thing that had always remained consistent was her novel and her sweet little Glowie. As she waited for the ink on the parchment to dry, she excitedly galloped out of the study towards the front door. She couldn't wait to tell Facade the good news and, for once, she hoped he was still at the bar with his drinking buddies. It would make telling him that much easier. She could send him a letter like when she messaged him about Cozy's birth but she felt this was news that had to be told in person.

---

Facade sat on the sofa inside of Limestone's apartment. It was always good to use the apartment of somepony else as his own bachelor pad. Gave him a break from the wife and the brat. The only problem he had with borrowing the place was that he was worried the police might find the body of the original owner. He was accompanied by two prostitutes, a cheap one with a dirty blonde mane and an expensive one with a platinum blonde mane, both of which believing his name is Limestone.

"So," Facade asked smugly, "Don't you wanna know what I do?"

"No," the expensive one replied.

"No, not really," the cheap one followed suit.

Barely hiding his annoyance at the two mares' answers, Facade decided to tell them anyway. It didn't matter if they were interested or not, he's paying them good bits to have fun.

"Well, I work as a businesspony. And when I'm not busy selling golden watches and other valuables, I do a bit of theatre work as an actor. Unfortunately, I tend to work with incompetent directors that keep trying to tell me how to act even though I have more talent in my hoof than they do in their entire body."

The prostitutes just gave Facade a disinterested look.

"You have a really nice place here, Lime," the expensive one said, "How much did you pay for it?"

"That's none of your business," Facade replied, "But I can assure you it wasn't cheap."

Facade got up and trotted towards the record player, which had a Ge-neigh-sis record inside.

"Do you like Ge-neigh-sis?" Facade asked, "Ever since the release of Dukes, I've been a fan of their music. Before that, I didn't really understand their work. Too artsy and intellectual for my tastes."

As Facade trotted into the bedroom, the two mares followed suit.

---

Brocade trotted up the stairs of the apartment, hoping Facade's friends weren't lying about where he was. What Facade was doing in a place where a businesspony like him was found murdered, she will never know. She just hoped that he wasn't kidnapped by a serial killer or a terrorist. The door to where Facade was said to be was left open. She cautiously nudged the door and slowly made her way into the room. The lights were off and the air was irradiated with the stench of booze and what Brocade hoped was gone-off fish. As she lit up her horn to find her way around the darkened room, she slowly crept towards the bedroom. And that's when she saw her husband in bed with two mares. At a loss for words, she just stared at the three ponies before her. To think he had the gall to accuse her of cheating and yet, in what was supposed to be their second happiest moment, she caught him in bed with two mares she had never met in her life. And when Facade finally noticed her distraught wife, she stormed out of the apartment.

"Honey, I can explain," Facade said.

Words couldn't describe how angry she was at her husband. Her abusive, alcoholic, hedonistic, lying unfaithful swine of a soon-to-be ex-husband.

"Hey, wait up!" Facade shouted.

Brocade turned around. She saw her husband, his usually slicked-back mane in a total mess.

"Give me your key to the house," Brocade said coldly, barely containing her wrath.

"Come on, sweetie," Facade said in an attempt at being charming, "Can't we talk about this?"

"You'll find your things outside of the house by sunrise. Now give me the key."

Facade scoffed, "Honey, you're being irratio-"

"Give me the key!" Brocade shouted, tears in her eyes "And stay the Tartarus away from my filly, you hear me?! I am gonna go to the police and tell them everything you did! The beatings, the attempted murder of my baby, everything! Now give me the k-"

Brocade felt a sharp sting through her jaw, followed by the sudden taste of metal in her mouth. She looked at her husband, his confident smirk replaced with a cold stare. The same stare he gave her when Cozy was born. She tried to scream but she couldn't. As Facade removed the knife from her mouth, she coughed and spat out as much blood as she could. But it wasn't enough for her to breathe. Before she could even run, Facade slashed through her legs. It was methodical in the way he did it, starting with her hooves and then her knees. Brocade was in so much agony that, if it weren't for her drowning in her own blood, she would have screamed. Instead, it came out a loud pained gurgle as she collapsed onto the floor. She could only watch in terror as Facade pinned her against the wall and dug the knife all the way into her stomach. With the knife still embedded in her, Facade pulled it up all the way to her heart. He was soaked head to hoof in blood, that cold expression never changing. Brocade felt cold. Weak. It was all over for her. She no longer had it in her to be terrified any more. As Facade released his former partner from his grasp, Brocade could only look at the blood-soaked monster she used to call her husband.

And then she saw him smile. It was a wicked smile. The kind nopony should ever see on another pony. That smile was the last thing she ever saw before everything faded to black.

Author's Note:

Bit earlier than I thought it was gonna be but, since we're now focusing more on Cozy's POV, perhaps it was time for her mother to be out of the picture.

Also, if any of you had seen (or read) American Psycho, then you would probably know what will happen to the hookers Facade hired the next time he sees them.

Speaking of American Psycho, you know that stallion Facade was having dinner with in chapter 3? Yeah, no surprise as to what happened to him. Though I do wonder what Equestria's equivalent to Huey Lewis and The News would be.

Comments

[FanficReader920]

The novel should be called “What Could Have Been.”

Man.... so Cozy’s stuck with her Dad now.

[Leondude]

10455201
Considering how the novel will never be published due to Facade having no interest in it, that would be a fitting title.

Also, yeah, Cozy's stuck with her dad for the time being.