Coco Pommel's Adventures in Friendship

by ThiefRara

2. Baby Steps

As Rarity and Coco took a walk around Ponyville, Rarity conversed with Coco to see how she enjoyed the town. To her relief, Coco enjoyed Ponyville more than she did Manehatten and that was something that made Rarity glad because she knew how Manehatten worked. Not everypony can stand Manehatten's atmosphere. She thought, sighing. Coco turned to Rarity, worried about her. "What's wrong, Rarity?" She asked and Rarity turned to Coco, not shocked that the mare had noticed her upset demeanor.

"Sorry about that darling. I was just thinking about Manehatten, that's all," Rarity was honest with Coco and it made the blue-maned mare happy that Rarity didn't mind being honest with her.

"Manehatten is definitely a place of change," Coco spoke up after a few moments of silence. In fact, I couldn't help to wonder if she was like that in general or if Manehatten really changed her? Coco thought that she had kept her thought to herself but when she looked up, she realized that Rarity was looking at her with concern in her eyes.

"You are talking about Suri, I presume?" Rarity didn't want to push but when Coco nodded her head, Rarity released a small sigh before fully turning to Coco once again.

"That depends on if you want to believe that Suri was a good mare even before my appearance in Manehatten," Rarity was honest with Coco and it caused the slightly younger mare to gaze towards the ground.

Suri wasn't a good boss towards Coco and the mare was now realizing how bad it was once again.

Coco had a response to Rarity's words. "No. Suri was a bad boss," Coco murmured and she felt cold fear wash over her. Why am I so afraid? Rarity won't hurt me. Coco released a small whimper and Rarity hugged her, making sure to tell Coco that she cared about her.

"It's alright, Coco. It's fine. You know I would always care for you, darling," she murmured to Coco and it took a few minutes for Coco to calm down but when she did, Rarity was still with her. There were no angry exclaims, no irritated huffs, and no order for Coco to fetch coffee.

Rarity wasn't like Suri Polomare and while Coco knew this, she still felt very strong fear that she was going to mess up something. "I'm afraid to make mistakes," Coco lets out after she had calmed down. Rarity felt bad for Coco because she knew what making mistakes meant to Coco.

"I know making mistakes can be bad but mistakes are normal. It proves to us that we can't do everything on our own," Rarity tells Coco and the mare shuddered as she remembered Suri saying the exact opposite. Rarity must have realized this as she took Coco's attention off of her memories of Suri with soothing words. "What Suri did to you was wrong. She hurt you and made you think this way," Rarity softly spoke as she really hated Suri Polomare. Rarity didn't like that Suri practically made Coco fear her as she noticed the flinching Coco would do around Suri. It made Rarity want to reveal that Suri didn't design her own clothes but she didn't want Coco to take the burnt of Suri's irritation as she remembered that Suri seethed after she had lost Fashion Week.

It was at that point that Coco had sought refuge from Suri's rage and Rarity allowed Coco to safely get out of Manehatten. However, Rarity knew that Coco would be deeply afraid of Suri for a long time coming because she left without telling the mare anything. It made Coco realize that Suri could ruin her reputation as a future designer but Rarity had promised her that she wouldn't let Suri do that to her. "I had left without saying anything to her," Coco tried to rationalize that she did didn't deserve Suri's scorn.

"What does it matter?" Rarity asked her kindly and Coco looked up at her. "What I'm saying is that Suri hurt you and so, you don't owe her anything. Yes, you left but it was out of concern for your own safety," Rarity tells Coco in order to help the mare realize that it was okay that she had left the mare. "You left because you didn't want things to get worse, right?" Rarity asked and Coco nodded her head. "That's your right, darling," Rarity tells Coco and when Coco tearfully smiled at the mare, Rarity knew that she had done something right. She is still afraid of making mistakes but that can change with time. Rarity didn't want to rush Coco because she knew that the mare would shy away from other ponies if she was rushed.

"I can take it slow, right? Baby steps?" Coco asked after she had allowed herself to cry out some of her tears. Rarity smiled softly at her.

"You can take baby steps," Rarity responded, wanting to help Coco in every way she could in order to help out the gentle mare she had befriended in Manehatten.