Song One: 99 Barrels of Oats

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Coco Pommel stared out the window intently, watching the Manehattan skyline fly past as the wind caressed her mane. Less than a year ago, she would have viewed such a departure as an escape from the worst sorts of ponies imaginable, and yet somehow, she couldn’t help but feel a bit of longing for the city. It’d been one of the few places she’d ever known, and yet here she was, leaving it to the dust like a madmare. But even then, she knew that before long, the skyscrapers that’d fenced her in for so long would fade into mere memories.

She and the rest of her theatrical troupe, Silver Phoenix, had huddled into a strange-looking cart set to leave at dawn, out to spread their latest song and dance to all of Equestria. Or, at least, the seven cities they could manage to hit on a two-week tour. In any case, the director, Scene Stealer, had assured his cast and crew that this “bus” would accommodate to all their requests in a new and innovative fashion and take them places that even trains couldn’t go. Coco still wasn’t completely sold on it, but she’d learned not to doubt Scene’s instincts.

Or, as she blushed and hoped rain wouldn’t fall on her head anytime soon, that’s what she chose to tell herself. Thinking about Scene for too long gave her all sorts of conflicting feelings, ones that were often all too easily spotted.

“He’s not up here,” the pony next to her said with a scoff. “He’s on the other level, so think of him all you want and don’t worry one bit about embarrassin’ yourself.”

If it’d been anypony else, Coco would’ve wondered just how they knew what was going through her head, but that voice told her everything she needed to know. Years ago, she’d almost sacrificed her past job with Suri for this filly in front of her, and not too long ago, she’d even come close to sacrificing her life. She’d been through so much for this foal, but as the other pony blew her mane out of her eyes, Coco felt nothing but love stream through her heart.

She’d always known that Equestrian legends came with confidants, and traveling to Canterlot only made her hyper-aware of that fact. Heroes never came alone, and finding that special group would always be the first step in a great journey. One that both the Elements of Harmony, and the Pillars of Equestria before them, had faced. Just thinking about it was enough to make her feel as if she was embarking on some amazing quest rather than just a mundane vacation.

And yet Coco also knew that she would never become an Equestrian legend, or even a true hero. She and everypony else on this bus was destined to be an ordinary celebrity, never somepony who could liberate entire lands with barely a thought. But at the very least, she had a special something that wasn’t there a year ago--a family that she’d formed and fought for all on her own.

The other members of her new family, Cameo and Bambi, were off living their lives in Manehattan, probably already waiting for her return. But the one in front of her, Babs Seed, was the one who’d brought it all together. Her daughter, the one pony Coco would sacrifice everything in Equestria for.

The thought still overwhelmed her, even a year after the adoption. And yet all Babs could do was stare at her in the strangest sort of awe, wondering just when exactly her incapacitated mother could respond.

“I’m fine,” Coco finally said, shaking her head nervously. “I just can’t believe we’re actually doing this. I mean sure, it won’t be a complete party, and we still have to work on school and work stuff, but--this is actually going to be nice.”

“Yeah,” replied Babs, scoffing slightly at the way Coco effortlessly changed the subject. “Just the two of us with no real problems in sight? Doin’ normal family things? It almost don’t feel real, ya know?”

What would’ve felt like an ordinary vacation for many ponies was going to be a welcome break for the two of them. When Coco had first found her, Babs had been wasting away in an illegal factory, working hours even Coco herself couldn’t imagine. Back when she’d first adopted the filly, she’d thought she could help Babs put her past aside and live like a normal foal, but that had been easier said than done considering the fact that the Oranges, the wealthiest family in Manehattan, had been the ones to abandon her in the first place. Taking them to justice had been one of the hardest battles of both of their lives, especially considering that Mosely, the Orange who’d started the whole mess, had worked as Coco’s producer for a while. He’d even lured her into dating him for a month or so, just so he could cover his tracks.

Once she and Babs had finally worked up the courage to go to therapy, the therapist had told both of them that whenever either felt the urge to think about Mosely, they should imagine an incredibly disgruntled stallion in a orange jumpsuit, probably cleaning the first toilet of his life. Both found this strategy exceedingly helpful.

The two unlikely relatives didn’t have much time to consider their lives, though. The Silver Phoenix crew could be a boisterous bunch, and the new producer, Wright Notes, had felt the need to involve everypony in a group activity. As if his voice wasn’t already loud enough to be heard from both layers of the double-decker bus, he’d chosen to snatch a megaphone away from a particular blue stallion beside him.

If there was one thing Coco knew about Scene Stealer, the unicorn who’d helped her through her convoluted conditions on more occasions than she could count, it was that he was very protective of that particular megaphone. He was already getting along better with Wright than he had with Mosely, but Coco had a feeling that was about to change after this kind of stunt.

After a few minutes of barely audible bickering between her director and producer, Wright finally reclaimed the megaphone and announced their latest event--a team-building exercise.

“Call it what it is,” Scene muttered annoyedly, grabbing hold of the megaphone for the shortest of moments. “You’re just trying to dress up a travel game as something productive.”

“Maybe I am,” Wright responded. Coco could practically hear his eyebrows waggle. “But if I remember right, that isn’t exactly something we did on the road with the last guy. So we might as well make up for all the fun we could’ve had without that killjoy!”

Coco had heard jokes before about entire trains breaking into cheers and clapping, but nothing could compare to actually seeing it. Everypony (including herself, admittedly) hooted and hollered at Wright’s remark, even though most secretly dreaded the activity he had in mind. Although a few ponies had missed Mosely after he’d had to step down, he had a reputation for being a stick in the mud amongst the crew, a businesspony who micromanaged everything they did and who wouldn’t last a day on Bridleway proper. While enough ponies liked Coco for her to believe they took her side out of kindness alone, sometimes she couldn’t help but wonder if the Mosely grudge had been part of the equation, too.

As much as she appreciated having that much support, though, the rowdiness on the bus was already starting to worry her. Most of the time, she hadn’t had to worry about Babs running into things a filly her age shouldn’t know about yet, and some would even say that after what she’d been through, trying to preserve her innocence would be a futile affair. Yet, even though Coco had never thought of herself as a particularly prudish pony, she began to wonder what sort of whisperings her filly would hear from her troupe. She’d spent enough time trying to keep Babs from finding out too much about the legal issues her family had faced, and about the type of pony Mosely really was, that she knew her daughter could figure anything out with time. And while Coco had kept information from Babs before, it’d largely been to preserve her sanity.

With all that in mind, the idea of her picking up a bad word from ponies she trusted was trivial at most. After several minutes of thinking it over, and several minutes of everypony around her bickering about what game to play, all she could do was sigh in annoyance at herself.

Am I really making up my own problems now that everything’s okay? Coco asked herself, shaking her head in annoyance. For a slight second, she almost didn’t want to admit to that embarrassing fact, but then, right as the bus left the outskirts of Manehattan, she could hear a single sound that drowned out everything else.

She knew exactly what it was going to be before it came, before just about everypony else on the bus lifted their heads towards the sky and opened their mouths wider than she’d ever seen before. From her experiences with theatre, and with ponies in general, those signs could only mean one thing.

“99 buckets of oats on the wall, 99 buckets of oats, you take one down, you pass it around, you’ve got 98 buckets of oats on the wall!”

The song choice was at once unexpected and painfully obvious to everypony inside the bus, especially Coco.

These, she had to remind herself, are grown adults. The finest actors in Equestria. Ponies who make dirty jokes backstage all the time. And I was worried about them?

She stood on her high horse for about five seconds before joining in. After about five verses of the song, the cast members decided it would be much easier on them, and far less distracting to the other ponies on the road, if each pony took turns singing instead of doing it all at once. And so the song continued at the back of the bus and moved effortlessly forward.

At that moment, Coco realized that she’d never really had this kind of experience growing up. She’d been to a few cities, Ponyville included, but since her parents were small business owners, they didn’t exactly have the time for these sorts of vacation shenanigans. Most of her travel had been done when she was older, and especially once she left Suri behind. Experiences like this were things that Coco had only heard about in movies, from the friends she made in class.

When she told all this to Babs, the filly nodded in agreement, as if she was on the same wavelength.

“At least we’ll get to do this together, then,” she said. “It’s a first for both of us, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Me neither,” responded Coco. “So what do you think we should do once we get there? I mean, you’re the one who’s been wanting to go to Canterlot for so long and all. We probably won’t be able to do anything tonight, since we’ll get there pretty late, but we don’t have to get ready for the play for another couple days. Any plans?”

She expected the foal to go straight into a flurry of ideas, but for some reason or another, Babs stayed silent. She scratched her chin and blew her hair out of her eyes, but the only sound that came out was still “99 Buckets of Oats,” now on 89 buckets. As if she wasn’t already flustered enough, the bus suddenly went silent, and after a few stress-filled seconds, she finally realized that it was her turn to sing.

“I, uh, don’t really know how to do this,” she answered, trying to act cool but still letting out a few nervous chuckles in the process. “Haven’t been payin’ attention. What are we on again?”

Coco practically cringed as everypony’s eyes turned towards the two of them. While she knew that nopony was going to judge them for flubbing the song, Babs wasn’t always aware of such things. Some of the first memories she’d had were of ponies confronting her over small things, whether they were her bullies at school or the criminals who ran the factory she worked at, so it was all too easy for her to flash back to those times and forget the present. So, just when Babs was about to freeze up, she felt a comforting nudge to her side.

“85 buckets of oats on the wall,” Coco sang softly, “85 buckets of oats…”

“...you take one down, you pass it around, you’ve got 84 buckets of oats on the wall.”

The shift was almost too tiny for most ponies to notice, but as Babs sang, her mother could already feel her confidence returning. Once she got out of that judgemental world of hers and back into reality, she was as much like an ordinary foal as anypony in her condition could be. By the time she stopped singing, it was almost like she’d forgotten why her fear had been so powerful to begin with.

Before she’d adopted her, Coco wasn’t sure what her dream was, but in that moment, she knew. With any hope, this would be the last time that Babs would show up during the trip, and the rest of the time, the foal would be filled with happiness. With any hope, that would become their new lives.

And so, the two kept careful watch, waiting for their next turn, and spent the rest of the time discussing all the ways they could fulfill their dreams in two weeks’ time. The time was filled with more awkward silences than either wanted to hear, but eventually, even that was broken.

“Actually,” Babs finally said, “I’ve never really thought about what I wanted to do in Canterlot. It just seemed like a place I’ve wanted to be. A place normal foals go with their parents. I never really thought about what to do there ‘cause I never thought I’d be there, you know?”

Even though she’d heard that same sort of talk from her foal all too many times, Coco’s head still sank towards the floor, as if some magnetic magic had drawn her there. No matter how much Babs was moving forward, these sorts of thoughts would always invade her mind for years to come, but Coco had sworn months before to prove her wrong every time.

She was a normal filly. And even if she wasn’t, that wasn’t what she needed to be. All she needed to be was the smart, artistic, unbelievably strong pony that she was, and the amazing pony she was destined to be. As long as she knew that, it didn’t matter how many times Coco would say those same words.

“You’re here now. It doesn’t matter if you’re like the rest, because you can become better than all of them. And you deserve every good thing that’s about to happen to you. Every friend you’re about to make, every star you’re about to see, every adventure you’re about to have. It’s because you fought to become more than what those ponies thought you were. So tell me--what does a bad seed really do?”

This had been a trick Coco had picked up from the therapist, but the words were all her own. They were some of the final words she’d told Mosely, the ones that had brought his whole world crashing down. The words that, she hoped, would just as easily rebuild Babs’ world.

“They feed on other ponies’ potential and steal it for themselves.”

“And tell me, do you do that?”

“Nope!”

Babs shook her head about as wildly as she could, another coping strategy she’d picked up over the past few months. The more the two of them made her insecurities into a game, the more ridiculous they seemed every time she brought them up. Eventually, she’d come to associate them with her mother’s support and another set of good memories instead.

The two of them both knew that would be a long path ahead, even if most of their sorrows had dissipated to the past. But, as they took in the landscape and planned out their Canterlot trip, Coco couldn’t help but think that maybe, just maybe, the path to self-forgiveness would be far shorter than either of them realized.

****

As it turned out, the boisterous troupe of actors had taught Babs something she was far too young to know about. In the next few hours, all of Coco’s worries were confirmed. To her surprise, however, the pony who confirmed them was the last pony she’d expected.

Her coltfriend, the craziest Bridleway director she’d ever met, had been allowed the last word. And whenever Scene Stealer got such a chance, it would never go well for anypony.

Right when everypony was on the last legs of the song, singing in unison about one barrel of oats, Scene finally reclaimed hold of the megaphone and sang in his best baritone:

“Negative one barrels of oats on the wall, negative one barrels of oats…”

They were already less than an hour’s distance from Canterlot, and before the song had ended, everypony had turned to stare at Celestia’s sun, setting as near to its source as they’d ever see it. But now, that enthusiasm had clearly faded, and it was all anypony could do to groan at Scene and hope for a few minutes of peace. After a series of annoyed sighs that almost rivaled the way they’d reacted to Wright slamming Mosely hours ago, Scene finally put down the megaphone and let the song die a natural death. But the damage had already been done, and Coco knew it as soon as she realized Babs had been one of the few ponies who didn’t mock Scene.

And in those moments, she knew that the minute she hit Canterlot, she wasn’t going to be thinking about taking a dip in the hotel pool, or crashing on an extraordinarily plush bed. Because, after almost a year with this filly, she knew exactly what was going to come out of Babs’ mouth:

“What does he mean, ‘negative one?’”

The Manehattan school district was one of the finest in Equestria, and the foals who studied there learned a wide number of things before their peers even thought about them. They started learning dragon history in kindergarten. Basic STEM education in first grade. The Pony Decimal System, every second grader knew. But for some un-celestial reason, it didn’t occur to anypony to start teaching negative numbers before the first semester of fifth grade.

And so, as she wracked her brain in an attempt to both explain the concept as best as she could in less than a half hour and do so using the new math methods Babs’ curriculum taught, it took everything Coco had not to curse her director.

As the sky faded into night and the group finally arrived at their destination, a staggering group of ponies complained about how tired the journey had made them. Yet, even as she felt the most fatigued out of all of them, Coco was still able to work up enough energy to answer Babs’ final question.

“So, if negative numbers mean that you don’t have somethin’, to the point where you have to come up with new ones just to say how much of it ya don’t have...how can ya have negative one barrels of oats?”

Staring up at the sky, embracing her filly with everything she had, Coco Pommel came out of the tour bus laughing.

“You can’t. And that, my filly, is why Bridleway directors can’t be trusted with math.”

Song Two: You Are My Sunshine

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Math had been the last thing on Babs’ mind when she went to bed that night, and as she arose the next day, that was the one thing that remained the same. As interesting as the new discovery had been, her mind had already flitted to another detail, one far more applicable to the moment at hoof.

The sun had just barely rose, but the filly still found herself tingling with urgency all the same. She wiggled out of her bed, taking care not to wake Coco up, and trotted over to the hotel dresser in the middle of the room. While it was one of the most ornate and well-polished cabinets she’d ever seen, there was nothing of particular interest on top of it other than a few assorted travel items the two had brought with them. That, and a complete guide to Canterlot’s countless attractions.

With all the light that filtered itself into the room, Babs couldn’t help but be a little surprised that Coco still wasn’t awake, but she lunged on the opportunity all the same. She inched towards the nearest desk and opened the small magazine as quietly as she could, which, considering that she happened to be an earth pony, wasn’t very quietly at all. By the time she’d managed to get the magazine in place and on the right section, she’d almost ripped at least a couple pages straight out of it.

This, she thought to herself, is why we gotta have metal bars through the middle of things like this back home. Glad to hear unicorn towns have better things to worry about.

Once she got the hang of flipping through delicate pages with her mouth, Babs made an effort to take in as much information as possible. Even as her body ached for the luxurious bed behind her, she knew today’s events were going to be far more important.

Because she’d seen Coco’s face yesterday. Even as the mare coached her through her insecurities, there had still been a look of disappointment in her eyes. Babs was over thinking it was anything too extreme--her mother had proved her love for her time and time again--but she still couldn’t stand it. All this time, she’d told Coco her one dream was to go to Canterlot, and now that she was there, she had no clue she wanted to be there to begin with.

Coco had set this all up for nothing, but it wouldn’t be that way for long. By the time the sun ascended further into the sky, Babs would know, and she wasn’t about to make a fool out of herself in front of her again. She wasn’t about to let today be the day she wandered aimlessly around some big city like she could do back home. And, more importantly, Coco absolutely deserved better than that.
Especially after everything she’s been through, Babs thought, letting the doubts drown her yet again.

No, especially after everything I’ve put her through.

****

The questions never stopped. By the stars, by Celestia above, they never stopped.

At first, they’d been another novelty, another way of life for a Bridleway star. And as Coco’s star rose, they just kept coming. Sure, the constant stream of reporters had only worsened Babs’ wounds when they first came, only a matter of hours after Mosely was first arrested. But that was the thing. She tolerated them, she hid her scars for as long as she could, because she knew they’d eventually stop coming. Whatever weird miracle had brought the two of them fame would end in an instant.

She’d thought that after the Oranges had sought revenge, after their matriarch Midsweet had foalnapped her and tried to take her for her own. She’d thought that after Mosely had gone to trial--that once there weren’t any more stories to tell, they’d finally leave both of them alone.

And they had, for a little while. Just enough time to lull her into the ultimate bliss of ignorance. And then, a few nights before Silver Phoenix was set to take off, they’d come for her again.

Throughout the last few months, the papers had figured out how fragile she really was, and so she was largely ignored. That was another thing Babs had taken for granted, too, the way the simplest of words could remind her.

It had been a simple question phrased to a new couple, but she’d been there to hear it all the same. The outlets might have pretended she wasn’t there, but she could hear every word.

Coco and Scene had been promoting their tour alongside the rest of Silver Phoenix when a single piercing sentence came out of the pony’s mouth. The one that told Babs what she’d been denying all this time.

“Your animosity towards your ex-producer is well-known in this industry.”

A stream of words, ones Babs could barely understand, but ones that she knew would destabilize everything all the same.

“So, Scene Stealer, how can we be sure you aren’t dating her with similar ill intentions in mind? That is to say, how can we tell that you aren’t just playing around with her because you know she’ll go along?”

The head reporter on that story had rushed towards his partner, trying to silence him in every way he could. In the new Manehattan, nopony dared ask such things, not when they knew just how much the couple had been through together. But apparently, it wasn’t enough for some ponies.

“How do you know you aren’t just dating her to get back at him?”

Even if things didn’t pan out with Scene, Babs knew the question would be the same. Every time Coco got into a new relationship, tried to shed her troubles with somepony new, they’d always find a way to bring him up. In their minds, there was no other reason anypony would want to be with Coco anyway.

Babs already knew all those thoughts were irrational, but she let them invade her mind anyway. Out of habit, or perhaps because she knew they should’ve been on her mind anyway.

Mosely had only dated Coco because he’d wanted to get closer to the filly he’d never wanted to exist. To figure out what had somehow brought these two otherwise different ponies together.

What it all added up to was this--Coco and Babs were both damaged goods. But there was one thing nopony had realized before--Coco didn’t have to be.

And yet, because of Babs, that’s all she would ever be known as.

****

An hour or so later, Babs finally plopped the magazine down onto the desk, sighing in satisfaction. It would be a stretch, making sure both her and her mother would get to do everything they wanted to do today, but she would have to make it work. Anything, so long as her brain didn’t flood her with that crazy guilt trip again today.

It’d cost her valuable time, and as much as she hated to think about it, it was still in her head. She had a vague idea that it was irrational, and if her therapist had been there to watch in on her, she would’ve been praised just for recognizing that. Yet, just knowing that much wasn’t enough to get it out of her mind, and at this point, she wasn’t quite sure what would.

Just when she was about to stew on it even further, though, Babs heard a fluttering sound under the covers, and she breathed a sigh of relief. At least with everything going on in her mind, Coco was still able to get a better night’s sleep than she usually did.

From what Babs could remember, her mother had never really gotten much sleep. The job she’d had before Bridleway had been even more demanding than her current one, if such a thing was possible, and over the years, she’d become a pony well-acquainted to late nights. Even when she turned her life around and stopped working for Suri, she’d still caused everypony quite a few scares with her old habits, and Babs could distinctly remember a time when she’d actually fainted out of pure exhaustion. Then again, that had also been one of Mosely’s incidents, so Babs put it out of her mind just about as soon as it popped up.

She wasn’t sure if she’d ever woken up before Coco, and if she had, she figured she would’ve remembered the sight. Sure enough, the normally-fashionable mare had just about as terrible a case of bedhead as anypony else, and the sheer irony of the sight was almost enough to reduce Babs to tears. By the time she placed a hoof over her mouth, it was too late, and Coco flashed her a knowing smile.

“I guess that means we don’t have to go to the science museum today,” Coco teased. “Since these pillows work about as well as the plasma balls they have there.”

Even with the remark, there was still a hint of nervousness in the mare’s tone, almost as if she’d also been up all night trying to consider what to do today. However, when Babs finally brought herself to look in the mirror, she noticed that her mane was just as static-filled as her mother’s. That, at least, helped things out a bit, considering the way she’d outright laughed in her face a few minutes ago.

Once the two had finally gotten all the laughter about the strange situation off their chests, they rushed to get ready just like they would’ve done on any ordinary day. That, in and of itself, was enough to alleviate Babs’ nerves a little. The second they left the hotel room, though, Coco was already flooding with ideas.

“So I’m assuming you don’t actually want to go to the science museum, right?” she asked as the two approached the ground floor. “I know we haven’t had time to ourselves in awhile, but I’m pretty sure it hasn’t suddenly become your favorite subject.”

“Even if it was, I still don’t really wanna do school stuff today,” Babs replied. “Some ponies might like learnin’ on vacation, but I don’t just want this to feel like a field trip. It’s a free day, and I want to embrace it.”

Granted, she still didn’t know much about the city itself, even with the hours she’d spent poring over the informational magazines. But gradually, she was starting to come to the sense that this was her chance to really explore Equestria outside of her schoolbooks. It was a strange sort of excitement, really, but one that Coco seemed to understand all the same. Just like she seemed to understand everything else about the filly.

“What were you doing up so early, anyway? It felt like a tornado was pulling my bedsheets off this morning. You must’ve really had something on your mind.”

“I just wanted to make sure I had everything planned. I told you I didn’t really have anything in mind for our trip yesterday, so I wanted to make up for that.”

Babs could practically imagine the words streaming out of her mother’s mouth--that they could’ve spent an hour or so planning that before going out, that she didn’t have to worry. But behind that warm aqua gaze, Babs could tell that Coco was onto her. Not just about the surprise planning session, but about her thoughts, too. By now, even she knew she couldn’t hide things from Coco forever, and that she’d be willing to listen to every one of her insecurities and coach her through it.

But somehow, as they trotted out the door to their first destination, Babs still didn’t feel the need to mention it. If the thought came back at all, at any other time, she would tell Coco everything. But for now, she’d practice fighting on her own and hope she could come out better than the last few times she’d tried it.

Because for the first time in a long time, the two finally had time to themselves. It was the least she could do not to ruin it with her own problems.

It was what Coco deserved.

****

No matter what possibilities Babs could’ve run through in her mind, nothing could’ve compared to the surprise Coco had for her. As embarrassed as she’d felt telling her mother she had no clue what she’d wanted to do in the city, she’d barely even realized that Coco had been expecting a clear reaction. And, while Coco readily agreed to whatever activity Babs chose for her, she wanted to make sure everypony got the chance to see what she’d planned.

As the two cantered along the city, Babs learned that Coco had set this up quite a while ago, right after Scene had announced the tour dates. Knowing her connections with Rarity, and Babs’ own connections with Applejack, the filly should’ve seen this from a mile away. But somehow or another, Coco had managed to get special access to Canterlot Castle, the one attraction just about every tourist in Equestria tried to get into.

Babs had never thought of herself as a particularly princess-obsessed filly, but the idea of seeing the castle in person still sent chills down her spine. As cool as she’d thought it’d be to surprise Coco with a visit to Canterlot’s largest Ferris wheel (there were apparently enough in the area to justify such a qualification, though the magazine emphasized that this particular one was the only one with a panoramic view of the city), this simply paled in comparison. So much so, in fact, that disappointment barely registered in Babs’ head.

When the two approached the drawbridge, the sight was almost too much for either to take. It was at once dreamlike and real, the same spiraling towers they’d seen every day in Equestrian newspapers, and yet something neither had really seen before. Even though they’d been chatting all the way there, the way its perfection loomed over them was still enough to leave both ponies breathless.

“We’ll only be able to look in on the royal proceedings,” Coco finally said. “Rarity told me that the princesses are too busy to take guests today, even if they are intimate friends of the crown.”

Babs got the distinct impression that was supposed to be a buzzkill for most ponies, but for her, it was nothing but a relief. While she’d gradually gotten used to being around important ponies, and gotten used to the fact that they wouldn’t automatically hate her or disown her like the Oranges had, she had a feeling that the next step in her recovery probably wasn’t going to be “strike up conversation with the Royal Sisters.” Or the hundredth step, for that matter. Come to think of it, it was a wonder her friends hadn’t immediately fallen into a coma the minute Princess Luna trotted into their dreams.

Instead of saying all this, however, she simply nodded in agreement, said it was okay, and moved on. To her surprise, she swore there’d been a hint of relief in Coco’s voice, too.

In any case, the inside of the castle was an equally impressive sight, with an entryway that was almost a cross between a catwalk and a temple. From what little Babs knew of the place, the sparkling blue carpet the Crusaders had told her about wasn’t there, so she assumed it was just something they’d put out for the Grand Galloping Gala. Again, she got the impression that she ought to be jealous of her friends for being invited to such an event, but as she stood there, all she could do was hope nopony recognized her or told her she was now famous enough to attend.

However, even if nopony tried to pass an invitation her way, the two ponies still got stopped more than once as they waited to get into the larger areas of the castle. As it turned out, the Canterlot tour dates had been highly publicized, and apparently, they’d sold out quicker than any other Bridleway performance to date. If Babs hadn’t already known how quickly situations like this could get awkward, she’d almost be proud her mother’s play was getting this much recognition.

Coco gave a few smiles and nods as she trotted past, handling the situation like a seasoned pro. For the most part, these sorts of encounters died down about a half hour after they got there, when they’d escaped the ticket lines that seemed surprisingly conspicuous for such a hallowed place. The booths, which looped around the grand hall, resembled the ones Babs had seen at museums, right down to the anti-changeling security checkpoints. While the castle was as impressive as she’d always imagined in all other points, looking at the ticket booths for too long made it seem like just another tourist trap, a theme park attraction rather than the political center of Equestria.

Thankfully, the wait wasn’t long, and by the time Coco and Babs got their tickets, a tour guide was already prepared to embark. Not wanting a repeat of what’d happened a few minutes ago, they made their way towards the back of the group, and sure enough, nopony seemed to pay them any mind.

They were all too taken by the scenery, and the potential of meeting Equestria’s real number one celebrities.

Other than the tourists, the castle was mostly deserted, making it seem more like the spooky abandoned palace in the Everfree Forest Apple Bloom had told her about than a hub of Equestrian society. However, as the tour guide assured them, life in the castle was often far more hectic, filled to the brim with as many sisterly activities and pranks as royal events. Ever since the changeling treaty was signed, Equestria was more and more willing to accept trade deals with other kingdoms, and so much of the week had been devoted to the delegations.

Most of this information went over Babs’ head, but with the way the hallways were designed, she barely cared. Even as the tour guide lectured her through various historical events that had occurred in each space of the castle, the architecture proved far more interesting. Every once in a while, one of the shining white pillars would be covered by some great Equestrian work or another, and the hallways were surrounded by ancient pieces of culture, from scrolls to silverwork. As much as it was a historical artifact in and of itself, the princesses had also designed it to be the strangest art museum in Equestria.

And so, most ponies were so lost in the magnificence of the building that after a while, Babs swore they weren’t listening either. It was a place that almost froze time just by looking at it, and by the time the tour guide took Coco and Babs aside for the extended version of the tour, neither realized that it’d ended in the first place.

The guide told them that they would end the tour with a trip to the royal courtroom, where discussions about the trade agreements were already underway. For the time being, however, he left them behind in one of the exclusive viewing areas, a room filled with stained glass portraits, and said he would be back in a half hour.

It almost seemed like an excuse to lock them in, even though Babs knew that wasn’t really the case. Even with the beautiful artwork covering the area, somehow the feelings she had before faded into the air, and she could feel an invisible sort of pressure mounting around her. While she knew it wasn’t exactly claustrophobia, since the room was still comfortably spacious, it hit her all the same.

And then she realized what it really was. Silence. For once, nopony was following her or clamoring to speak with her. It pressed against her, and for a few moments, she didn’t feel as though she was in a castle chamber at all. From the chilling quietness of it all, and the dark thoughts still on her mind, it almost felt more like an interrogation room.

She wasn’t sure how long things actually stayed that way, but for her, it felt like an eternity. Long enough, at least, for her to ask the one thing she promised she wouldn’t.

“Would you do it all again?”

The phrase echoed across the high walls, almost as if it was interrogating Coco right alongside the filly. However, when the mare finally came close to responding, she just looked confused. And so, despite herself, Babs felt the need to open her big mouth even more.

“I mean, I know you definitely wouldn’t leave me behind or anythin’. You’ve proved that so many times. But what about all the extra stuff that came with me?”

With a quick sigh, she added, “I was just thinking about that reporter from a few days ago this morning, and--”

Coco’s confusion slowly morphed into understanding before her eyes, and then onwards into fear. It’d become clear that she hadn’t thought about that incident, that she’d become too used to things like that for them to affect her. With all that in mind, the terror on her face was almost inexplicable.

Until the mare curled her up into her chest and gave her the most comforting feeling imaginable.

“It’s okay,” Coco whispered. “You’re handling this better than you would have a few months ago, but I had a feeling you were hiding something else today. You don’t have to do any of that as long as I’m around to help. Besides, I should’ve known this would come up after those reporters stormed us like that.”

Even though Babs was still a bit too young to fully comprehend the words Coco was whispering under her breath, she had a distinct impression that somepony had to have made her pretty mad for her to talk like that. Babs had heard those sorts of words from her tormentors, but never from her own mother.

“Nopony should have the right to make you feel that way,” Coco finally whispered, going back to some semblance of her old self. “That reporter probably knew the minute he said it that you were going to blame yourself for it, so that makes him the one at fault. So let me just say this: if anypony wants to make you go back to the pony you were before, the one who always doubted herself, don’t listen. Because you’re becoming such a great pony, and I never want you to have to go through anything like that again. I never want you to think you’re hurting me.”

In the past, it would’ve taken Babs so many more words to fall out of her wave of self-doubt, but somehow, for now at least, that moment had been enough. If anypony else had been watching it, they might’ve thought the whole thing had been anticlimatic, nothing to get worried over, and yet Coco understood. And yet that was what mattered.

“Because if it means being with you, I don’t care if I hear a million of those rumors. I know in my heart that they’re wrong, and I know in my heart that we can beat him together.”

“Besides,” Coco finally finished with a grin, “Mosely probably would’ve messed with me even if you hadn’t come into the picture. He would’ve found some other reason for making my life be miserable, and I wouldn’t have gotten the best daughter in the world out of the deal. My life would have a lot less sunshine without you in it, that’s for sure.”

And with that, the room went into silence yet again, but this time, it was a welcoming one. The one that came from a genuine understanding between ponies, a silent desire to be alone together with the ones they loved.

So the next time Babs trotted into the entryway, on her way towards the surprise she’d planned for her mother, she willed new thoughts to enter her mind. Ones that Coco, and everypony she cared about, had spoken countless times.

A bad seed takes other ponies’ potential and steals it for themselves. I create my own, and as long as that’s true, I will never be a bad seed.

Song Three: Why Were You Born So Beautiful?

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While there was still a lot Coco didn’t know about the touring scene, what she did know was that time passed quickly as you moved from city to city. She still took the time to enjoy all of them with her daughter, sure, but the journey was starting to wear on everypony, even her. By the time the ponies of Silver Phoenix made their way to Vanhoover, nopony was really sure if any of them could perform as usual.

It’d been a week, and as much as she enjoyed the experience, Coco was already starting to miss her family back home. They’d gathered to her shortly after she adopted Babs, sure, but she considered them hers all the same. Bambi, Babs’ older half-sister and the pony who’d stayed with the filly longer than anypony, was off on some sort of breaking investigative assignment for the Manehattan Times, something so secret she couldn’t even tell anypony else about it. Cameo, Babs’ biological mother and one of Coco’s closest friends, had a jewelry shop to run in her hometown, so getting her away from it was next to impossible. Coco had so many roots in Manehattan that she even found herself missing Valencia, the one pony in town she’d probably had the most complicated relationship with. On the one hoof, she’d gone against her family to help Coco on several occasions, but on the other, being Mosely’s twin sister didn’t do her any favors.

Somehow or another, letters still found their way to the tour bus, and Coco supposed she could at least be grateful for that. It would be another long drive to the next city, but with the wind in her mane, with ponies she cared about, and with the latest correspondence from Cameo, she figured it’d go quickly enough. The letter didn’t bring much new information--mainly that Valencia had finally managed to free herself of the Orange life and her new flower shop had just opened--but it was still a relief to see. Coco stared at it a few times, imagining the ponies mentioned in it speaking before her eyes, before Babs finally poked her leg and brought her back to Equestria.

“What day is it again?” the younger pony asked, as if the thought had just occurred to her. “It’s kinda hard to keep track when you don’t have to write it on all your papers.”

Coco chuckled slightly, remembering back to her days at school and how each new sunrise had been like a milestone then.

“They say that’s how you can tell if you’re having a good trip,” she said. “If you can’t remember the date, then that just means your mind’s on other things. It means there aren’t any deadlines, and you can just relax. If the vacation’s really good, you might not even remember if it’s a Tuesday or a Sunday.”

The filly gazed at her in awe, taking in everything Coco just said, before giving her mother a confused look. Too late, Coco realized that she’d barely even answered the question at all.

“Oh, right, almost forgot. It’s the 10th. Why do you ask?”

She half-expected some sort of snarky reply from Babs or some question about why she couldn’t ask what day it was without something important happening. Then the two could have a good laugh about it and move onto the next topic. But instead, Babs’ face contorted into a knowing smile, the unmistakable sign of a Cutie Mark Crusader up to their usual tricks.

From the few times Coco had seen that expression in Ponyville, she really wasn’t sure if the bus could handle such shenanigans right now.

“You do remember what happens on the 11th, don’t you?”

The second she realized what was going on, she practically kicked herself. In the midst of this whole trip, plus the drama of the past few months, she’d entirely forgotten just how close it was. She’d underestimated the fact that even if Babs wasn’t her biological daughter, she still would’ve known enough about Coco to know exactly what happened on the 11th.

Granted, the mare still hadn’t gotten around to telling her daughter just how old she was, but the fact that Coco had managed to forget her own birthday was embarrassing in and of itself.

Then again, she hadn’t really made a big deal out of it since she herself was a filly. Suri’s operation wasn’t really the kind of workplace that would go out of its way to wish its employees a happy birthday. And on top of that, in the back of her head, she had to have known she would be on tour with Silver Phoenix this time, so she couldn’t have any big celebration.

Still, from the look on Babs’ face, Coco had a feeling things would pan out far differently than she had expected. By the time she was really able to process the situation, her filly had already run all the way down the double-decker bus, and even though Coco couldn’t hear her, she had a sinking feeling Babs was already telling Scene. And as the head of the play and her coltfriend, there was no way he wouldn’t pull out all the stops once he knew.

Before she could tell either of them that they didn’t have to put on a big song and dance about it, they were already planning every last detail. After all, expecting anypony on Bridleway not to put on a show about anything, much less an overexcited filly and a kooky director, was a tall order.

As she finally conceded to this fact and as the tour rolled on, all Coco could do was hope the bus would be in one piece by the time all this was over with.

****

Surprisingly enough, as everypony moved onward to their newest hotel, nopony made a single mention of what was about to take place. The conversations ponies made with Coco were suspiciously innocent, devoid of any sort of celebration. In fact, most of the ponies she talked to couldn’t stop talking about how nice Vanhoover was this time of year.

As much as the place was known for being a wintery destination on par with the Crystal Empire, Coco couldn’t help but wonder if that was some sort of messed-up code Scene had come up with.

That, and the fact that every time she asked somepony what was going on, they would either say some variant of “it’s lovely in Vanhoover” or “I hope I see a moose.” But, then again, she’d been around Scene long enough to know that the stallion had no sense of subtlety whatsoever. A few of her castmates had even offered to take Babs off her hooves for a bit so she could relax, an offer she appreciated but nevertheless refused.

After all, she’d already left enough of her family behind on this trip, and there was no way she wasn’t going to spend time with the most important pony in her life.

When the group reached Vanhoover, Coco quickly unpacked her things and headed towards the hot tub, ready to relax alongside her daughter. Thankfully, unlike some she’d heard about in the area, the hotel hot tub was indoors and away from the still-somewhat-chilly town air. She’d hoped this could be a chance to get a response out of Babs, but the filly remained surprisingly quiet about the whole affair. Or, at least, as quiet and subtle as an extremely excited foal could be about such things.

“It’s going to be big,” she finally said with a wink. “Or at least, as big as we could get on short notice. Not Canterlot Castle big, but still pretty big.”

If Babs said “big” one more time, Coco swore the filly would have exploded. Babs wasn’t the type of foal who got nervous about anything, which made her mother wonder if subtlety was something lost on her, too. The minute she noticed that Coco was thinking too hard, though, Babs immediately splashed the older mare in the face.

“Don’t think too hard about it. It’s not like we’re gonna take you indoor skydiving or anything.”

Admittedly, Coco had never considered that possibility, but Babs’ outright denial of it made her all the more suspicious. It must’ve shown on her face, though, because Babs quickly shook her head, accidentally splashing some more water on Coco in the process.

“Come on! There isn’t even a place for it here, even if you wanted to do it!”

“And you definitely know I wouldn’t want to,” Coco whispered with a chuckle, sprinkling a little bit of water on her companion in retribution. “I just appreciate that you’re going so far for this. You really didn’t have to.”

With a blush, she continued, “Most fillies don’t really celebrate their mom’s birthday, anyway.”

Babs rolled her eyes and waved her hoof to the side, this time taking care not to get any water on herself.

“I’m not like most fillies. And you’ve put on enough things for me with Nightmare Night and Hearth’s Warming. I figure I owe you one.”

As innocent as that statement was, Coco couldn’t help but wonder if Babs still felt guilty about everything. She hadn’t talked about the castle incident for days, and as much as that seemed like recovery, Coco also knew that the filly tended to keep things bottled up in her head. That, and the last time Babs felt like she owed her mother something, she’d spied on the Oranges and gotten herself foalnapped again in the process. Needless to say, that was never something either of them wanted to hear, even without thinking about that event.

But, even then, Coco still couldn’t bring herself to voice those concerns. Or, rather, she knew deep down that they were irrational and that this birthday would go off without a hitch.

She knew that, when Babs said that, she didn’t mean it in the way she used to. She meant it in a way that any filly would say to their mother, with guiltless appreciation.

“We owe each other a lot after everything,” Coco finally admitted. “But even if I’m not keeping score...I’d like to see what you two have planned.”

****

Perhaps the first sign that things were about to go very, very differently the next day was that the minute Coco had woken up, Babs had already started singing. That, and Scene had inexplicably gotten a key to her room.

“She’s awake,” the director whispered, so low that it barely even registered in Coco’s mind. “That’s your cue.”

Babs placed her hooves to the table in a rough approximation of the drum set she’d started playing in school and sang at the top of her lungs.

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to y--”

At that point, Coco had noticed one of two things. One, that Babs was actually singing the sincere version of the song, rather than the silly one she often sang to her friends. And two, as she realized too late, there was no way Scene would let her finish the song without getting a word in.

“Cut!” he yelled, relishing the opportunity to use one of his directorial terms in real life. “We can’t use that one!”

A few seconds later, Babs’ face had moved away from the cabinet, and even though Coco couldn’t see it, she could imagine the confused stare on her face.

“Why the hay not?” she asked. “We practiced this!”

“Because I checked the trivia book in the hotel library today, and that song’s been copyrighted for almost a hundred years, and as much as I appreciate Coco, Silver Phoenix is not about to break its five-years-without-getting-sued streak over something like this.”

“Really?” Babs questioned, her voice laced with trademark Apple skepticism.

Scene ripped his saddlebag open, pulled out a book, and showed her the exact place he’d read that fact.

“No, no,” the filly muttered, facehoofing. “I can believe the copyright deal. But you’re tellin’ me nopony ever sued us about Mosely freakin’ Orange? And what, do you get a free sandwich if you go six years on Bridleway without getting sued?”

At this point, Coco could tell Scene had never wanted to laugh more in his life. However, she could also tell that he was in his deadly serious mode, and there was no way he was going to go off track for something so frivolous.

“Yes and no. But let’s stick to the script, shall we? Alternate song, Oatstralian version, go!”

For a brief second, Coco thought things couldn’t get any weirder. The minute the two ponies opened their mouths, though, she was greeted with the strangest song that she’d never heard.

“Why were you born so beautiful? Why were you born at all? Because you had no say in it, no say in it at all…”

****

By the time she’d gotten ready for the next event of the day, Coco was already wondering why Oatstralia was the way it was. She’d never thought to question the spiders or the assorted strange wildlife, but somehow, their version of “Happy Birthday to You” had been enough to send her over the edge.

Scene had gotten quite the kick out of it, however. Every time Coco had tried to bring it up, he’d laughed like it was the best joke in the world.

“I’m no party pony,” he told her as they trotted off to their latest attraction with Babs, “but that song makes me want to be one. Nopony expects it to get that dark.”

“I sure didn’t,” Coco said with a twirl of her hair. “But I did appreciate the calling me beautiful part.”

She still wasn’t the best at flirting, but she could practically imagine a tally going off in her head as she said that. Flawless execution, Coco Pommel.

“And I, for one, am glad that you were born beautiful and born at all.”

Celebrity charm power-up, Scene Stealer.

“Anyway,” Babs interrupted, cutting into the romantic moment, “the classical Chineighese garden should be right around this way. We weren’t able to make reservations for a true garden party, but we can still look around and stuff.”

Sure enough, the three ponies barely had to trot ten blocks before plum trees and jasmine blooms came into their sight. An ornate pagoda gate greeted them, every bit as elegant as Canterlot Castle itself, but tucked into the smallest of spaces. A similar building stood nearby, presumably a visitor’s center of some sort.

To Coco’s surprise, neither of her two companions headed towards the benches or flowers, instead making their way towards the center of the gardens.

“We can see all of those later,” Scene suggested. “But this part was all Babs’ idea. She wanted to make sure you had time to see this.”

He quickly shielded her eyes, as if just now realizing that he needed to create a dramatic event, and trotted her towards the nearest gazebo. From there, she’d half-expected some huge gathering of ponies waiting for her, the least comfortable thing she could imagine.

But instead, there were simply dresses as far as the eye could see. Silken ensembles, more intricate than even Rarity was capable of, lay under delicate glasses with accessories every bit as ornate. A single sign had been nailed to the gazebo walls.

“Lunar Chineighese Fashions: A Walk Through Style and Time.”

Sure enough, similar outfits adorned the path nearest the gazebo, each in their own glass cases for ponies to admire. It seemed to stretch on for miles at a time, and when she looked at it, it almost seemed impossible. And yet here it was, very much real.

“These were supposed to have been destroyed when Nightmare Moon was banished,” she whispered, half to herself. “All my fashion books said they were, and here they are. Still intact after a thousand years.”

She’d never thought of herself as somepony who was particularly interested in history, and yet her spirit soared just seeing these pieces. Some of the earliest fashions of Equestrian civilization were right in front of her face, had been spared from the destruction the area had later faced. She couldn’t bring herself to look away from them, not even for a moment.

“I’d found out a few months ago that they were touring Equestria with these,” Scene spoke. “Just like us, in a way. Both of us were at a loss about what to do for your birthday, and we were almost about to just give you a party until Babs found out they were here.”

Just as Scene said this, Babs came back from another section with a carefully wrapped package.

“Since we spent so much time findin’ a place, I wasn’t able to buy you a present until just now,” she said. “It’s not super great, I guess, but it was what I was able to find.”

Inside the package was a single white lotus--fake, of course--with a clip at the top. After further examination, Coco realized that not only was there a small rhinestone in the center, but the clip was meant to hook onto another hairpiece. The one she’d worn for years, the one who’d come from the pony she’d looked up to more than anything.

And here was her daughter, giving her a tiny flower to hook onto it, so Coco could keep both ponies in her heart forever. Even if it was just something she’d found in a gift shop on the fly, Coco couldn’t think of anything that could possibly be better.

Everypony together, some standing beside her and some in her heart, all staring at some of the most lasting objects in Equestria. Hoping that they, too, could live on for many more years together. Unbreakable, even by forces of nature or magic itself.

As the sun rose in the sky on a brand new day, Coco embraced the two most important ponies of her life and continued on the gravely path.

She had been born beautiful, so that she could bring beauty and happiness to their lives.

Song Four: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

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After ten days of flitting around Equestria, Babs was beginning to understand why so many singers wrote songs about the toll tours took on them. At this point, even after Coco’s eventful birthday festivities, Babs still couldn’t bring herself to remember where they were going at any particular time. It all seemed the same to her by now--drive towards a city, spend a few all-too-short days there, and then pack up and head someplace else. It was the sort of hugely predictable pattern nopony should associate with vacation, and if she and Coco ever got the chance to see the world again, Babs decided she’d rather pick one city and stay with it.

If it was any comfort to her, though, many of the ponies on the tour bus seemed to feel the same way. They hid it a lot better, as she’d expected famous actors would, but fatigue dominated their surroundings nonetheless. As the days went by, more and more of them began to talk about their home and tell stories of the city they’d all become so entranced with.

One more stop after this one, they’d say. Applewood, then Ponyville, and finally back to Manehattan. It’d been on their minds so much that a couple days ago, when Silver Phoenix landed in Las Pegasus, few ponies went all out. A few rounds of sparkling cider, a few rides and games, and everypony else was too tired out by then.

With all this in mind, Babs chose to stare out the window at the landscape, an activity that had become less of an adventure than a way to stay awake. Meanwhile, as she drifted off into her own world, Scene Stealer went by, handing everypony the latest letters. Since the tour dates were common knowledge to anypony who followed Bridleway, anypony who wished to send news to the cast would mail letters to the latest hotel Silver Phoenix was staying at. The correspondence had dried out a little as the novelty of sending letters to Bridleway actors wore out, but sure enough, Babs could already see that Coco had received a letter.

Before she could think any further, there was already one on Babs’ lap, too. And the minute she saw it, she knew Scene hadn’t examined any of today’s letters, because if he had…

Anyway, all she needed to do was look at the address to know it belonged in the nearest trash receptacle. For some inexplicable reason, somepony from Applewood had not only decided to send her something right before she entered the city, but that somepony also had the misfortune of being named Wild Orange.

Babs may not have known this pony, but she knew what happened to ponies who got letters from the Oranges. If there was one thing the Oranges were passionate about, it was recruiting ponies into their family like it was some sort of prestigious club. A few months ago, she and Coco had been targeted, and by the time it was all over, Babs had ended up with a fake Orange cutie mark on her flank. It was all part of the matriarch Midsweet Orange’s plan--separate the two of them for long enough to get Babs off by herself, only to foalnap and indoctrinate her into the perfect daughter she’d never had. Though, at times, Babs swore the elderly Orange had seen her more as a new pet than anything else.

Either way, just thinking about her time with Midsweet was still enough to make her shudder. Any news the Oranges gave would bring them straight into another trap, so opening it was the absolute last thing Babs wanted to do. And yet, somehow, morbid curiosity brought her to do so anyway.

That, and the image of the utterly desperate Manehattan Oranges practically begging her, Coco, and the rest of the Apples for assistance. Apparently, if what her therapist told her was any indication, these sorts of vengeful delusions at least meant she was getting somewhere in her trauma management process.

So, without further ado, she tore open the letter, and as she did so, Babs could distinctly feel Coco breathing down her neck. Either she’d been too scared to open it or was waiting for her daughter to do so, but now that the envelope was open, a look of confusion and fear came across her face.

“It’s fine,” Babs said, pretending the news hadn’t affected her every bit as much. “I mean, the Oranges aren’t even recruiting ponies from other families anymore. I have no clue why they’d want to send us anything else, but whatever it is, it can’t be as bad as what we got before.”

I hope, she thought to herself as she said it.

Midsweet’s plan had put a damper on all the Orange recruiting and forced the family to take a long, hard look at themselves. For a while, some of the Apples had even stayed in Manehattan to help with the restoration process, if only to teach the Oranges what real family looked like. They’d found a new leader in the process--Mosely’s daughter Bambi, which would have freaked Babs out significantly more if Bambi didn’t also happen to be Babs’ half-sister and near-constant fillyhood companion. That, at least, was one comfort--with Bambi’s job, if anypony tried to hurt Babs again, they’d end up on the front cover of the Manehattan Times.

Finally, after several seconds of consideration, Babs slowly lifted the letter out of the envelope, only to find that it lacked the Oranges’ usual stationery. In fact, it was barely large enough to be a letter at all, with a huge logo taking up most of the space.

Seville Orange Spa and Wellness Studio
If you or a loved one have encountered our Manehattan family branch, you may be entitled to financial compensation. Exchange for one FREE spa treatment and meditation session!

The address was printed on the back in equally intricate writing and was conveniently located a mile or so away from where Silver Phoenix was staying. While she couldn’t help but think the Applewood Oranges could have avoided the whole deal by giving everypony on set coupons instead of singling out her and Coco, she had to admit one thing was better about the other branch.

Babs still wasn’t sold on whether or not they really repented for their relatives’ actions, but at least they had a good sense of humor about it.

Coco, however, seemed far less impressed. She’d turned to ask Limelight, one of the actresses behind her, about whether or not the coupon could be trusted. However, right when Limelight was about to respond, the mare next to her cut in. Unfortunately for everypony involved, that mare also happened to be Suri Polomare.

Suri wasn’t super high on Babs’ hate list--not anymore, at least--but she was still up there. Back when Mosely had her on factory duty, Suri had been one of Babs’ top customers--and hence top tormentors. And that was on top of the fact that she’d actually dated Mosely before Coco had, and on top of all the things she’d done to her mother throughout the years. The fact of the matter wasn’t that Babs hated her any less as much as that she’d found herself having to hate other ponies more. Compared to them...at least Suri was just a minor annoyance.

“I’m not so sure I’d trust them,” Suri began. “I met up with the Applewood Oranges ages ago, and it wasn’t such a good time. I’d say they’re almost as bad as our Oranges, just a lot better at hiding it.”

She stared at her hooves casually and admired her pony-pedi before turning back to Coco. Babs could tell that, as much as Coco doubted any kind of Oranges, in that moment, she doubted Suri even more. Her normally warm eyes almost turned ice blue with all her skepticism.

“And where did you learn that? Was that something the Manehattan family told you?”

Even when she was calling somepony out, Coco’s voice never felt too bitter or barbed. Babs had almost never seen her lose her composure, and this time was no different.

“No,” Suri scoffed. “I met one in the flesh, mmkay? They’re a bunch of hippies who think they can control everything. They’re into relaxation services now, and they were into cosmetics when I saw the Applewood Orange I found. This was way before I met Mosely, by the way. Anyway, one just randomly came up to me on the street and told me I had really pretty eyes. Of course, I completely agreed with him, but that’s beside the point, mmkay?”

Babs felt herself tuning out of the conversation for a minute. Even if Suri wasn’t quite the bad pony she used to be, she could still drone on for hours without getting to the point. Again, this time was no different.

“...so after a few minutes, I figured he was flirting with me, and I let him keep talking. But the next thing I know, he pulls out this brown eyeshadow palette and tells me it’d really compliment my eyes. So on top of everything else, turns out he was just giving me a sales pitch the whole time.”

“Sounds like you’re just bitter that you didn’t get a date,” Limelight teased.

For probably the nineteenth time, Babs marveled at how she could sit next to Suri this whole time without facehoofing.

“I’m not, okay? And then he told me that his company doesn’t test on animals.”

“What’s so bad about that?” Coco asked innocently.

“We are animals, Coco! Ponies are animals! He tried to pawn a completely untested product on me!”

Babs had never stayed in Ponyville long enough to carry on an extended conversation with Fluttershy, but she was still pretty sure that wasn’t how it worked. If all else failed, maybe she’d ask this Wild Orange tomorrow and, if he was really a bad pony, she could at least catch him in the act.

But, just like always, the open road ran on and on, and by the time Babs could collect her thoughts much further, Silver Phoenix was already in Applewood.

****

Even as suspicion surged through Babs’ heart, a strange side of her actually wanted to see this place. At the very least, just to make sure it wasn’t another Orange scam, or perhaps out of some other misplaced hope.

Throughout her life, she’d met many terrible Oranges. But she’d met just as many good ones: Bambi, Valencia, even Cameo, the birth mother she was still getting to know. If she could trust in them, and if they were good on the inside, maybe not all Oranges were tainted by their lineage.

Maybe this would become yet another act of closure.

Coco, for her part, seemed to agree, though she did warn Babs that she was mainly doing this because she hadn’t planned any other activities in Applewood. The second things got suspicious, the two told themselves, they would make a run for it and head to the next safe and normal tourist destination. And so, as the clock struck ten, they trotted into battle.

They said a quick farewell to the theatre ponies, who were all practicing in the hotel ballroom. Babs suspected that, if they weren’t so famous, the hotel staff would have surely run them out for all the noise they were making.

This would be the hardest part of the whole thing--while they were used to taking excursions on their own by now, they couldn’t tell Scene or anypony else just who had summoned them. Coco had harped on this especially, knowing that Scene would stop all production to escort the two of them if he caught wind that Orange hijinks was about to ensue.

Babs had almost pointed out that her mother was all too used to doing such things, keeping secrets so other ponies wouldn’t know what she was going through, getting herself into trouble far too many times. But then, she recalled all the times she’d done the exact same thing.

“Come on, everypony!” she could hear Scene say in the distance. “You can’t spell ‘improve’ without ‘improv!’”

As they moved towards the spa center and left him behind, Babs supposed that was yet another reason fate had drawn her and Coco together.

****

Babs had never been an expert when it came to spa treatments, but she was pretty sure this wasn’t how they were supposed to start. Namely, with a white pony in an orange mohawk trying to teach an entire room how to breathe.

She knew that all this yoga and meditation stuff was just another way to differentiate the Orange business from the millions of other spas out there, but honestly, she couldn’t wait to get it over with. The massages and hot tubs at the Ponyville spa always looked like far more fun than any of this, if only because trying to think hard enough about something she did naturally was the most annoying thing in the world.

“Inward through your nose,” the stallion droned in his almost comically relaxed voice. “Out through your mouth. Imagine your diaphragm expanding and contracting as you breathe your sorrows away.”

She wished it was that easy, but it seemed like the more she thought about all this stuff, the more restless she got. It may not have been another Orange trap, but she was still a Cutie Mark Crusader. She couldn’t just lay around and breathe for a half-hour straight! She was made to move around, explore Equestria, discover herself--

“You’re supposed to suck your stomach in when you breathe out,” Coco whispered as Babs was thinking this. “I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense, and it’s not how ponies normally do things, but it’s helping me.”

At least one of us is gettin’ something out of this, Babs thought to herself. Just for that, she made a special effort to do everything Wild Orange the meditation coach told her, but she couldn’t get the weirdly contradictory advice out of her head. One minute, he’d told his class to breathe naturally, without thinking about it, and then he went around and told them to focus on their breathing. The very fact that ponies paid for such things made her wonder if part of Suri’s story had been true after all.

They definitely weren’t like the Manehattan Oranges, that much was for certain. But with every breath, Babs couldn’t help but wonder if they were scammers all the same.

They almost had to be. There was no way in Equestria that anypony, let alone an enemy family, could just clear up her life in an instant. Not only that, but she was naive for even thinking they stood a chance of doing that.

Another ten minutes of breathing went by, but it might have well as been a thousand years to Babs. Still, by the time she got back onto her hooves, a feeling of relief crossed her stomach. Her lungs hadn’t ached so much since she’d worked in the factory, yet that thought never came to her mind. Instead, all she could feel was a sort of calm power emanating through her, something she hadn’t felt since she could remember.

She’d barely done anything, and yet somehow, in that moment, everything just felt okay. Then again, that could just as easily have been because she’d spent so long letting her anger out inside her head. As the coach directed them through yet another series of exercises, she kept that thought inside her head and tried to keep in control.

If the breathing was a calm control, then this had to be far stronger, the sorts of things Babs imagined royal guards trained through. Rearing up, laying back, kicking hooves into all sorts of positions she wasn’t even sure she was capable of. Coco struggled a little bit more with this sort of thing, and she was never able to hold the poses as long as everypony else. But Babs could tell that her mother spent that time standing back, admiring her daughter, the way her strength and flexibility flowed inside and out.

Slowly, more and more ponies left the session until it was only the two of them and the Applewood Orange and for the first time all day, Babs’ body began to tense. This was it. Any chance the Orange had to trick them, swindle them, anything, would come at this very moment. The Oranges knew better than anypony else that the best way to get to them was to take everypony else out of the equation, and it was a trap that Coco and Babs had always fallen into.

This time, Babs swore, would be no different. The time they’d had with him was relaxing, sure, but even that could be twisted for an ulterior motive. Just before talking with them again, he’d spent several minutes outside the room, as if he’d been desperately searching for something suspicious. And, as if her past experience with Oranges didn’t confirm it enough, Wild took out the absolute last thing she was expecting to see. It was a box of essential oils, no different than the kinds she’d seen Rarity use occasionally, but the name stamped on the pack was enough to make her stop in her tracks.

Flynn Skim.

The pony who’d started all of this, Babs thought to herself. My father.

Between his early death and her own kidnapping, Babs never really had a chance to get to know him. He’d been an aromatherapist many years ago, but his ties to the infamous Flim Flam brothers had kept him from getting too far in the business. As if that wasn’t enough, Mosely had never really forgiven Flynn for stealing his wife away from him, and he’d sought to continue that revenge with Babs. That was about all Babs had ever known about her father, and most of that had come from the night Mosely had been exposed in the first place.

But, somehow or another, this pony, this Orange knew even more. Even though she’d never felt particularly curious about Flynn before, Babs felt her eyes widening as her father’s handicraft lay in front of her.

“There’s no way,” she said, almost to herself. “H-he never sold anywhere but Manehattan, and his workers haven’t made any new scents since! This has to be a trick!”

Instead of answering, though, Wild Orange simply shot her a mischievous smile. After a few short moments, though, he said the first non-instructor words she’d heard out of him all day.

“I guess I could say that you’ve learned well. It’s best not to believe anything any of the Oranges on the other coast say. I can’t pretend I’m any better or worse than them, any more than I can say I’m better or worse than anypony else. But I can at least tell you this: my family here has vowed for years that they’ll never turn into those Oranges. And I think this is the best way I can get you to believe me.”

As much as Babs tried to maintain her composure, her green eyes were still shocked enough to practically fall off her head. Just seeing that her father had gone into the world and created something that others still used was enough to chase away any grief she might have had for a pony she barely remembered. Finally, after a few moments, she urged herself towards the set, as if to confirm its existence.

The labels were peeled, and the oils inside were already beginning to discolor. But the scents inside them were beautifully pungent all the same, taking her to places she’d never even been before. The years had taken Flynn Skim, but they hadn’t taken his products.

As if to confirm, Wild Orange said, “Aromatherapy oils can actually get a little bit better with age. The best kinds of ponies are the exact same way. I never got to know your father very well, but I suspect he was the same way, too.”

For the first time all day, Babs could see just how young Wild really was. He’d always seemed different from the straight-laced Oranges she’d known, but just seeing the gleam in his eye was enough to tell her. He was barely any older than Coco, barely old enough to know her father. And yet somehow, for the briefest of moments, they’d met. She could only hope it had been a better experience than the one Mosely had given him.

“If you could excuse me,” Coco interrupted, staring at the spa pony somewhat self-consciously, “you never did answer the most important question we had. Where did you find these, and why did you call us? It’s no secret that you didn’t invite the rest of the ponies on set.”

With a toss of his hair, Wild continued with the sort of Orange swagger Babs suspected was the one thing that brought the two halves of the family together. Whether Manehattan or Applewood, no Orange lacked confidence. To the best of her knowledge, though, the Applewood Oranges just seemed to use it for better purposes.

“I’ll admit, this box was a good chunk of the reason for that last part. Ever since I started this business, I’ve had so many of these sets lying around, I’ve lost track of them all. I guess I could call myself a collector more than I could call myself an aromatherapist. Anyway, I figured with all the trouble my family’s caused you, it’s only right for it come back into Skim hooves. We can’t take back everything else our relatives did, but we at least owe you this much.

“Plus,” he said with a wink, “since most ponies go to us for orange crops nowadays, our health and wellness division’s been taking a massive hit. I figured having famous ponies like you around would get at least some business back here.”

Babs simply shook her head. Once an Orange, always an Orange. But, for once, she could at least tell he was kidding about the business stuff. And, even though she never really thought much about being called a famous pony or a Skim, somehow she didn’t mind it so much right now.

To her knowledge, this box had been the one piece of Flynn’s life that hadn’t faded away to time. Though she couldn’t claim she would ever remember the stallion enough to form a connection to him, or that she’d ever use the oils for their intended purposes, seeing them comforted her nevertheless. In a small way, she supposed, that probably was their intended use.

As the day went on, Wild told the two of them everything he knew about Babs’ father. He had appeared at a small perfuming convention in Applewood before Babs was born, and since he normally only sold in Manehattan, his sets had been “extremely limited-edition,” in the Orange’s own words. Back then, the Applewood Oranges had pooled most of their business into the burgeoning wellness industry, and they’d come to the convention as a sort of business retreat. Wild had been a teenager then, and according to him, Flynn had been a visionary. The pony who’d led him to research relaxation treatments. About to hit the big time, very nearly at the top of his game…

...but not quite. Not enough for Manehattan to start seeing him as more than just Flim and Flam’s brother. But still apparently enough for ponies on the opposite side of Equestria to appreciate his craft.

Babs got the feeling that Wild was exaggerating a little, playing it up for his idol’s daughter, but for once, her father felt like more than just another plot device in her life. Either way, thoughts still streamed through her mind as their spa treatment began, as she allowed herself to soak her aching body into the warm hot tub.

“Ponies are at their best when they relax,” her father had said years ago. “When there is no longer stress in the world, there will no longer be evil. I know it’s an impossible dream, but with my products, I hope I can bring at least a drop of purification to ponies’ lives. Because to feel relaxed is to feel redeemed.”

Flynn may not have been able to fulfill those dreams, but the minute Babs saw the cutie mark on her flank, she realized that she could do so just as easily. It would have to be another part of her potential hairstyling business, sure, but she could use those oils the way they were meant to be used. Relaxation, purification, relaxation.

It may well have been a passing dream for her, but she would fulfill it to its very end--for the mother who trotted by her side, and the father who watched over from the stars.

Author's Notes:

Before you ask about how this part was released awfully close to Father's Day, a short disclaimer: the part with the oils actually came out of the blue. It wasn't part of the "original plan" for this part, but I enjoyed writing it all the same. Babs' father is a character I've wanted to explore for a while, and he may or may not get a whole prequel series dedicated to him at some point. I think of him as similar to Coco--well-intentioned and naive at times--except he never got the chance to learn the truth about Mosely.

(That bit about him being similar may or may not come into play later in this series. )

Also, our next part will take us back to Ponyville and to this series' first "real" plot arc. Rarity will confront Coco with a decision she may not be able to refuse...so look forward to it!

Song Five: Rock, Rock, Rock the Boat

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As the tour bus trucked on to yet another location, Coco couldn’t help but think about how something like this would have been impossible just five years ago. The city they were going to--their final stop, in fact--was barely a city at all, no more than a village, at that. It was the sort of place that, under any other circumstances, Bridleway ponies would never bother to visit. However, over recent years, this place had grown not in size, but in influence, as the area Equestria’s greatest heroes chose to defend above all else.

Ponyville was hardly the usual final stop on tours like this, as past productions had tended to save the best city for last. But maybe that was part of the reason why Silver Phoenix had chosen to do so, Coco thought to herself. Like many other ponies in Equestria, her troupe owed the Element Bearers a great debt for what they had done. Her, perhaps, most of all.

When Mosely had forced her into a relationship, Rarity had been the first pony to know, and the first who understood. In her desperation, Coco had tried writing to Rarity several times, asking her and Princess Twilight to intervene on her behalf, but back then, she had been too scared to send a single letter. Her roommate, Bambi, had been the one to find them and the one who sent all of them Rarity’s way. Still, even if Coco had never really intended to trouble Rarity with her problems, she had to admit that she’d gained a valuable ally that day, and the tides had turned against Mosely ever since.

A wave of relief came over her as she saw the Castle of Friendship towering in the distance. Even though Coco had never needed to consult Princess Twilight during her trials, or even really knew her for that matter, the sight was still a comfort to behold. She never quite realized it until now, but Ponyville had become a second home, almost, to her.

Babs was already chattering about all the things she would do with the Crusaders, and Coco just stared at her daughter with a smile on her face. From what she could tell, Wild Orange’s sudden appearance would be the last time she’d have to worry about the filly for awhile. Ever since the two had left Applewood, Babs had been in an extra determined mood, and she’d already planned out how she would show off her new aromatherapy kit.

Meanwhile, Scene Stealer had just climbed aboard the top deck, megaphone in tow. Every once in awhile, when they approached a new city, he would read off some random facts to pump up the crowd, but since the crowd seemed very visibly un-pumped, he opted for a more direct approach. In fact, Coco barely got a chance to get another word in with Babs before Scene spoke in his loudest possible tone.

“Alright, everypony! A lot of you know the drill by now, but for all the new talent in the crowd, here’s your chance to listen up and listen good. At Silver Phoenix, we like to hit the last city, and we like to hit it hard. Throughout the years, we’ve given show-stopping final performances from Applewood to Appaloosa, and now--”

“No, you haven’t,” Suri muttered from the back of the bus. “Silver Phoenix just started three months ago.”

Just about everypony on the bus turned their heads towards her, some in shock and some in annoyance. Scene and Suri always seemed to butt heads on-set, but nopony thought the latter would be idiotic enough to bring it up just before a performance. That, plus the fact that she mentioned the “unmentionable times before Wright Notes,” as Scene always put it, would be enough to make almost the entire crew hate her for a few more days.

“Maybe so, but this is one Stealer-Orange tradition we’re not leaving behind,” Scene replied, barely hiding his anger at having to mention his troupe’s original name. “The only one.”

He then clopped his front hooves together in exaggerated excitement, turning his attention towards the other side of the bus--and away from Suri.

“Now, a lot of you might be wondering, ‘Why would we have such an extravagant show in a town like Ponyville.’ Personally, I’m wondering if I’ll be free for a date with my new marefriend once we get back to Manehattan, but you do you, I guess.”

For the slightest of moments, he winked at Coco, and for once, she winked back. She hadn’t really had much of a chance to get to know Scene when the theatre wasn’t at stake, so her heart was pumping at the opportunity, even if it was just one of his usual quips.

Even if absolutely nopony on the bus bothered to ask the question Scene insisted everypony would be asking.

“Seriously, nopony’s wondering that? I had a whole speech prepared and everything.”

“I’m guessing it’s about how much we owe to Ponyville,” replied Suri. “How Rarity helped us find Coco, and get rid of Mosely, and get the Oranges off our scent, and get rid of Mosely in court, and now I’m sure she’s going to help us do some other amazing thing. I’d tell the whole story, but I’m pretty sure it’s too big to fit in a book, mmkay?”

After that, she just slumped in her seat and sighed, as if her months of jealous rage towards Rarity had never left her mind. Thankfully, nopony really paid attention to her outburst, and it was quickly forgotten once Scene began his actual speech, summing up the same things Suri had said in far kinder words.

Then again, Scene didn’t have to tell Coco twice when it came to reminding her of Rarity’s generosity. While she wanted to spend a good amount of time at Sweet Apple Acres and let Babs catch up with Apple Bloom, Coco knew she’d stop at Carousel Boutique at least once during the trip. Since the situation in Manehattan was under control, Rarity hadn’t had to visit in awhile, and Coco hadn’t even seen her since the trial. The more she thought about it, the more she realized she had her own catching up to do.

But in that simple moment, she barely realized how much Rarity would end up changing the trajectory of her trip...and how she would bring all her dormant drama rushing back.

****

Ponies often joked about Rarity’s dramatic streak, to the point where even Manehattanites gossiped about her taste for vanilla oat swirl ice cream. Coco, like a good friend, ignored these remarks whenever they came, figuring they were exaggerated at best.

The minute she stepped into Carousel Boutique, though, she discovered otherwise. Flyers had been strewn about left and right, and by the time Coco made it through to the store’s main showroom, she could tell that Rarity had gotten herself into a particularly large predicament. Under any normal circumstances, the white unicorn had never been the sort of pony to leave such a mess.

“I don’t see a problem,” Babs said when Coco asked about it. “Apple Bloom’s told me stories about Sweetie Belle tearing the whole store up tryin’ to find her Crusader cape. I figure it’s just one of those deals.”

That much was reassuring for a little while, but after a few minutes of searching, neither of them could find Sweetie Belle, or anypony, for that matter. It almost looked like the whole store had been robbed and ransacked, and judging from the quizzical look on Babs’ face, Coco knew that was exactly where her mind had gone. Long before Coco had adopted her, Babs had joined Rarity and Applejack on a quest to clear a town magician’s name, and the filly had been hooked on mysteries ever since. Coco wasn’t quite sure if she’d jump that far to a conclusion, but the shop was so strangely deserted, she didn’t know what else it could be.

“I don’t think we should be here,” Babs whispered, her voice contorting into a nervous sing-songy tone. “Let’s just go to Sweet Apple Acres and let the cops handle it.”

“You’re right about that. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen this place look this creepy. It’s like a haunted house in here.”

As she said this, her face turned to the shadows that seemed to cloak the entire store in darkness, even as Celestia’s sun shone in the sky. Coco could even see a few cobwebs, something that the normal meticulous Rarity would never allow. And then, finally, she saw the pleading look on her filly’s face and realized she’d just made a terrible mistake.

“And no, I’m still not letting you go to one next Nightmare Night. You’ve been scared out of your mind too many times this year, and the Manehattan haunted houses are too scary for foals, anyway.”

Babs’ face quickly turned in disappointment, but before long, the filly found a passage of light just beyond the showroom. Without really thinking it through, she ran through the hallway and towards the one sign of civilization the building had. With an annoyed, but still somewhat amused sigh, Coco followed, and before long, the two found themselves in a workroom only slightly larger than a storage closet. Sure enough, Rarity was sitting in the small room’s only desk, mulling over an ornate dress that she’d probably been slaving over for hours, if not days.

In fact, it took her a few seconds to even notice her guests, and until then, Coco and Babs just stared across the room, waiting for her to respond. The second she realized they were there, though, she jumped straight out of her chair like a rocket in midair.

“Oh, I should have known you’d be visiting soon,” Rarity said, struggling to compose herself. “My grandest apologies for the mess. You see, I have a new store opening in Manehattan, but there have been quite a few delays in the process. I was just about to head over there, so I’ll probably end up heading there the same time as you two.”

Taking her hooves off the ensemble she’d been sewing, Rarity reached towards a cup of tea on the other side of the table as she said this. She’d already taken a tentative sip, and she was about to take another before Coco interrupted her train of thought.

“Your store’s coming to Manehattan?”

“Saddle Row, darling!”

Almost as if on cue, Coco found herself squealing along with Rarity. She’d always pretended not to pay attention to the big Manehattan fashion scene, but deep down, she had to admit that even she’d daydreamed of having a Saddle Row shop as a child. Every aspiring fashion designer did, and even though she was perfectly satisfied with where she was as a costumer on Bridleway, she couldn’t help but be proud of her friend.

“No way!” she screamed, as if she was a hip Manehattan teen getting the latest gossip. To be honest, it freaked her out just a little to know that her voice could go that high in her 20s. “How did you even find a place there? I mean, not that you’re not famous enough, or that you don’t have the money, or--”

With a quiet sigh, she muttered, “Sorry. I kinda sorta messed that up.”

Even in her nervousness, Coco’s “kinda sorta” habit was still in full play. Scene had been the first to notice her tendency towards that phrase, and throughout their relationship, it’d become a sort of inside joke amongst the two of them. As she thought this, Coco made an internal note to talk to Scene about that date idea he’d had before and hoped against hope that both of their schedules would work out.

“It’s fine. I know what you meant. Even for somepony as fashionable as me, getting into Saddle Row is quite the feat. So, it all started when--”

Just as Rarity was about to go into her long tale, Babs interrupted, blowing her mane out of her eyes as she did so. Usually, Babs’ mane-blows didn’t mean anything, but Coco had been around her long enough to know that this particular type was a nervous tic the filly had.

“Um, so I’m not really followin’. Is getting into Saddle Row a big deal? Honestly, I don’t even know where that is.”

Rarity simply waved her hoof around in the air, as if to dismiss Babs’ worries.

“Hush, darling. Fillies such as yourself can’t be expected to know such things. Manehattan’s far too large. Anyway, I do hate to toot my own horn--”

Coco’s mind didn’t usually wander, but now she found herself wondering how unicorns interpreted that expression.

“--but Saddle Row is, quite possibly, Equestria’s premier fashion destination. Admittedly, the place I found had been sitting vacant and filthy for quite some time, and the landlord is an absolute loan shark, but I think we’ve all been through worse in Manehattan, haven’t we?”

Just a few months ago, hearing words like that come out of anypony’s mouth would’ve been enough to offend Coco. But, then again, Rarity had always been just a little bit different to her. They’d gotten along so well in their short time of knowing each other that Coco felt like she’d never take it as anything but a joke. After all, there was no way in Equestria Rarity could hurt her, let alone mean to do so.

Sure enough, just as Coco thought that, just as she let out her last big belly laugh, Rarity chose that moment to prove her wrong. Even in the coming days, Coco would still think her friend had never meant to tell her such a thing, but it stung her nevertheless. Because Rarity was about to suggest the one thing Coco could do to repay her for everything--something Coco wasn’t sure she could bring herself to do.

“Actually, that brings me to something I’d like to ask you, Coco dear. Has everything been going well with the play?”

“Of course,” Coco replied, not knowing what would come afterwards. In return, Rarity let out a huge sigh, as if she’d been holding Equestria itself on her shoulders.

“I believe you, but I want you to know that you can always tell me if it isn’t. I certainly wouldn’t want a repeat of last time. I’ve actually been thinking about that for awhile and...I just feel like I wasn’t able to handle the situation right back then. When you first told me about Mosely, I gave you a shoulder to cry on and didn’t do much else. So when I say what I’m about to say now, I want you to remember that. This is all because I wasn’t the best friend to you before, and I want to make up for it.”

Coco was about to raise her voice in opposition, and a million responses flooded her brain. You were there for me before anypony else. You couldn’t have done anything more. You didn’t even have to do that. Yet, her mouth froze in place, like a cockatrice was staring right into her. The more she tried to move, or say anything else, the more she swore she could feel the stone spell moving up her face.

“I still have a salespony position available at my shop, and you can sell some of your things there, too,” Rarity began. “The minute I realized that, I knew it had to be fate. I was the one to get you involved in the whole Bridleway mess, after all, when it just as easily could have been me getting heckled by Mosely. Or who knows, maybe he never would have figured it out, and never would have targeted your family.”

Already, Coco could feel the stone spell lifting with every one of Rarity’s words, spurring her into action. She knew these sorts of feelings all too well, whether they came from herself or from others, and this time, she had a chance to stop them before they got out of hoof.

“I’m tired of hearing that,” she finally whispered. “Sometimes, between me and Babs and everypony else, it feels like that’s the only thing I ever hear. I know you feel bad, but there’s no point in imagining it any other way. It happened, it’s over, and we’re here for each other, together. There’s nothing you or anypony else could have done about it.”

“That doesn’t stop me from having a guilty conscience,” replied Rarity. “And that doesn’t stop me from wondering if it could happen again.”

She turned to the other side of the room and briefly examined a newspaper, where another Bridleway troupe was featured on the front page. It was a troupe Coco hadn’t seen or heard about for years, and it took a few moments for the name to pop back in her head--Swan Snow. They’d made a good living adapting ballets into musicals with dance numbers every bit as detailed as their source materials, but they’d disappeared into obscurity ages ago. Nopony really talked about them anymore, or why they’d vanished into midair.

For a few brief moments, Coco allowed herself to believe that they were making a comeback, like Stealer-Orange had when it reformed into Silver Phoenix. But then she saw the date on the newspaper, and all those thoughts dissipated as Swan Snow itself had. It was a paper from seven years ago, and the headline read--SWAN SNOW DIRECTOR PLEADS GUILTY TO ABUSE CHARGES.

“I did some research after the trial,” Rarity continued, “and your case is hardly rare. Not to say that Mosely’s any better for it, but...I’m worried about you, Coco. I forced you into something you weren’t ready for, and now--”

“Silver Phoenix won’t end up like them,” Coco said with an intensity that surprised even herself. “And you didn’t force me into anything. I chose for myself. I...thought you knew that. I thought you knew both things, but clearly you don’t.”

Every bit of Coco’s body was telling her that she shouldn’t go against her friend, but before she knew it, she felt Babs trying to restrain her, either to keep her from tears or from something worse.

“Can’t there be another way through this?” Babs muttered. “Just ‘cause it happened before doesn’t mean it’ll happen again. You shouldn’t let your friendship get ruined over it.”

More than the Swan Snow revelation, more than anything else, those were the words that hit Coco more than anything else. Other than Babs, Rarity had been the one constant in her life, and here she was, just letting it slip away over a simple disagreement. Letting her best friend slip away, the very thing the Element Bearers always warned about. And what for? Some ponies that she wasn’t even sure she trusted?

No, she corrected herself again. She may not trust Suri, and she may not have known some of the ponies on the set enough to trust them, either. But she trusted Scene, and she knew that he would do everything in his power to keep Silver Phoenix out of Bridleway scandals for good.

But what if that meant Rarity didn’t?

She was about to ask, but mercifully enough, Babs asked for her. The question was simple enough--if you don’t trust Bridleway, and Coco’s coltfriend works on Bridleway, what does that really mean? Through Rarity’s whole denial, Coco wondered if she really believed it herself, but she shook those thoughts aside like morning dew. Rarity and Scene had been through enough together that she had to trust him by now. It was the principle she’d grown to hate, the spectacle that too often led ponies down the wrong path.

And even if Rarity did hate the one place Coco called home, she wasn’t about to let her friendship slip by for it. So, in that moment, she said the words that she’d never say for any other friend.

“I’ll think about your offer. And if that’s what makes both of us happy, then I’ll do it. I’ll quit Bridleway.”

Coco swore, she’d never seen Babs’ mouth open so wide as it did when she’d said that. Once they got to Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack did the same thing, too, as if it ran in the family. But all through the trip to Ponyville, and the trip back, all she could think about was something she’d heard Princess Twilight say once in the newspapers.

“Friendship isn’t always easy, but there’s no doubt, it’s worth fighting for.”

For Rarity, it was all worth it. Even if it meant Coco might have to give up one of the deepest parts of herself.

For her, she would do it time and time again, as long as it would take.

If You Have a Little Hope...

by Quillamore

Song One: 99 Barrels of Oats

Song Two: You Are My Sunshine

Song Three: Why Were You Born So Beautiful?

Song Four: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Song Five: Rock, Rock, Rock the Boat