Friday, July 8, 2016

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Today's Horoscope (Virgo): Sometimes, unexpected surprises are exactly what a person needs.

Morning

When I wake up, I recall what I learned about Coco last night. I realize, to my chagrin, that I've done a pretty shit job of keeping tabs on my friends from school over the summer. I mean, I haven't really been texting them or anything. Granted, I've been caught up in my own stuff most of the time, but still...

If I'd just checked in with Coco, I'd have learned about all that drama with Suri. Who knew that wretched bitch would still be causing trouble for poor Coco even now?

After I finish washing up, I head down to breakfast. Everybody's eating together for a change. Pinkie looks upset.

"We need to do something for Coco," she says.

"Coco? Coco Pommel? What about her?" Sunset asks.

"We just found out the old captain of the tennis team has been causing her grief since she left Canterlot," I say.

Sunset's brow furrows. "You mean Suri Polomare? Ugh. I hate that bitch. You know she tried to fuck her way into Crystal Prep?"

We all stare incredulously at Sunset.

Sunset rolls her eyes. "Hey. For the record, I have never used sex to get something I wanted. Intimidation, coercion, extortion, and violence, yes. I only use sex to annoy people."

"If you say so," Applejack says in a bored tone.

"So anyway," Sunset says, "what did Suri do, find out Coco's illegitimate or something?" A deafening silence follows, coupled with looks of sick dread on our faces. Sunset shakes her head and facepalms. "Let me guess, she went to the press with it."

"Yep," Pinkie says, popping the 'p'.

"So what're we gonna do?" Rainbow asks.

"Well, you could start by sending her a text," Sunset suggests. "Let her know you're rooting for her or something."

I think about it, then shake my head. "No," I say. "This isn't the kind of thing I want to talk about over texts. I need to check up on her in person."

"Hmm," Pinkie says. "Do we go over to her house then, or...?"

I pull out my phone. Sunset raises her eyebrow. "I thought you weren't gonna text her?"

"I'm not," I say. "I'm texting Coach Chrysalis." I spend a few minutes exchanging texts with Chrysalis, with everyone watching me, craning their necks as if to see my phone screen from their seats.

I look around at the expectant faces of my friends. "Coco's been spending her days at the CHS practice courts," I announce.

Pinkie gasps. "Perfect! We can all go over there and—"

"Present a strong, supportive front of friendship," Rarity interrupts firmly. "This is not the time for a party."

"Aww."

"She's right, Pinkie," Twilight says. "I doubt Coco's in a party mood. But I'm sure she could use some friends right now."

"Well then what're we waiting for?" Rainbow asks. "Let's get dressed and move our butts!"

"Count me out this time," Sunset says. "I...doubt seeing me would make Coco feel better."

"Yes, we definitely, absolutely do not want Sunset there for this," Fluttershy agrees.

An uncomfortable silence settles.

"Well, I need Sunset today," Cadance announces. "I need to make a trip to the maternity store. Sunset can carry my stuff so Shining Armor doesn't have to sweat out the 'does this make me look fat?' question."

Sunset raises an eyebrow. "You know if you ask me that, I'll say yes every time."

"I know," Cadance answers with a smirk. "But I won't feel as bad about it if I throw things at you."

We all laugh. Sunset shakes her head. "Okay, okay, I'll be your pack mule," she says with a roll of her eyes. "Good luck with the church mouse!"

Daytime

Pinkie being Pinkie, there is no such thing as a total victory. When we leave for the school, we do so carrying bags of snacks and drinks. Pinkie and I also have our tennis gear with us, just in case.

What we find waiting for us at the school tennis courts is...mildly disturbing.

Coco is moving across the court at incredible speeds, an intense look on her face. She has a Neighponese headband tied around her head, holding back her dripping bangs. Across the court from her are four ball launchers, firing about five seconds apart from each other. Behind the ball launchers are a row of the kind of human-shaped wooden firing targets you see at a gun range, all with photographs of Suri Polomare taped over the blank faces.

Every single one of them has dents, holes, and splinters in it. One is missing its head entirely.

"Holy crap she's good," Rainbow says with wide eyes as Coco flawlessly hits every ball being fired in her direction.

"No, her form's off," Pinkie says with a worried frown. "She's about to—"

Coco stumbles and drops to the court with an aggravated scream. We all run up to her; Sonata rushes to the other side of the court and shuts down all the ball launchers.

"COCO!" I yell, tossing my bag aside and kneeling beside her as she rubs her ankle. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah," she says with a grimace. She brushes aside my hand and stands up, her face burning with embarrassment. She looks around, blinking. "Wh-what are you all doing here?"

"We came to see you," Pinkie says, handing Coco a cold bottle of apple juice. Coco accepts it with a confused look as everyone else starts setting up our impromptu little midday buffet.

"Yeah, we...uhh...we heard," I say awkwardly. I sigh. "Coco, I should...I haven't been keeping in touch like I should. If I had, I'd have known sooner. I wouldn't have found out...y'know...second-hand."

Coco shrugs. "It's summer. I haven't even heard from most of the team since school let out."

"Yeah, but—"

"Coco, what the hell are you trying to do to yourself?" Pinkie interrupts. "This little tantrum you're having, you're gonna hurt yourself! Where are we gonna be next year if you break your ankle or your wrist? Or worse?"

"Pinkie, be a little more sensitive!" Twilight hisses.

Coco smiles weakly. "No, she's right." She looks across the court at the Suri effigies. "I...I guess I am being a little ridiculous."

"No," I say. "Well...maybe just a bit. But..." I put a hand on her shoulder. "I mean...we get it. We all do. What Suri did..."

Everyone's gathered around now, all giving Coco concerned and supportive looks.

Coco looks away, a frustrated expression on her face. She clenches her hands into fists at her sides. "I just...I can't believe that mean-spirited witch is still obsessed with bullying me and making my life miserable!" She slumps down onto the court, mindless of the scorching heat of the asphalt.

Rainbow sits next to her. "Hey, join the club," she says. "We've all dealt with bullies, jerks, and assholes."

"That went out of their way to destroy your family?" Coco asks.

Pinkie raises her hand. "Right here," she said. "Got disowned because a certain someone sent my family a video of me from Halloween."

Coco winces. "Oh, right. I'd...actually forgotten about that. Sorry."

"It's cool." Pinkie sits on Coco's other side and pulls her into a hug. "You know Suri's nothing, right?"

"That's right," I say. "She went out of her way to hurt you in the most bitchy way she could think of because she knows you're better than her. Revenge against you for getting her kicked off the team is all she has."

Coco sighs. "That...I get what you're saying, but it doesn't help." She bows her head. "My home life is a wreck. Mom and Dad are fighting like cats and dogs, Dad's constantly being nagged by reporters..."

"I know how that goes," Rainbow says, handing her a wrapped honey bun. "My dad? Has people going through his trash tryin' to dig up stuff on him. It's gotten worse since he retired." She snorts. "Hell, since he started dating Principal Celestia, they're tryin' to figure out if she's my real mom."

Coco giggles. "Well, you do both have really colorful hair."

Rainbow snickers. "True."

Coco unwraps the honey bun and takes a bite, then looks around at all of us. "You...you really all came here just to try to cheer me up?"

"Of course we did," I say.

Coco smiles. "Thanks," she says. "Really, it...it means a lot to me."

"Say the word and the whole world finds out about Suri's abortions," Fluttershy says casually.

Coco blinks. "What?"

"Fluttershy!" Twilight snaps.

"Just a thought," Fluttershy says with complete innocence and an adorable smile.

"But really darling," Rarity says, "if there's anything at all we can do to help, just say the word."

"That's right," I say firmly. "My friends are your friends, and you have the entire CHS tennis team behind you. All you have to do is say the word and we're all with you, whatever you need."

Coco looks at everyone with tears in her eyes. "Th-thank you," she sniffles. Then, her nose wrinkles, and she shifts around uncomfortably. "Ow, this court is burning my fanny."

We laugh and stand up; I gently pull Coco to her feet. "So, we brought a bunch of snacks, we've got music, and if you want to play some singles or doubles matches..."

Coco smiles. "I think I'd like that," she says. "I think...I think right now I'd love to spend the rest of the day with friends."

We spend a little while just having snacks and chatting. Coco asks us what we've been up to; we tell her all about our time on Sweet Apple Acres and our trip to the beach.

"Wow, you guys have been busy," she says.

"You don't know the half of it," Rainbow mutters.

"But we're pretty much back in town for the rest of the summer," Twilight says. "I mean, we might go down to Canterlittle for the weekend again later if we get a chance, but mostly we're staying put."

"Good, because we need to start summer tennis practices soon," Coco says. She walks over to her bag and pulls out her phone, checking it over as she walks back over. "I think the earliest we can start summer practice is the seventeenth."

"Sounds good," I say. "About two hours a day, four days a week?"

"Mmhmm," Coco says, nodding. "I'll talk to Coach about it."

After a little more chit-chat and snackage, Pinkie and I grab our rackets, while Coco gets some spares out of the equipment shed for the others. We spend the rest of the day playing casual doubles sets, swapping partners whenever someone gets tired. By the time Coco needs to leave for home, she's in a much more cheerful mood, and we've all worked up a sweat.

"Thank you, Flash," she says. "Thank you, everyone. I..." She sighs. "I don't know if things will get better at home, but at least...at least I know who I can turn to when it gets to be too much."

"Anytime," I say. "Keep in touch." I clasp Coco's hand firmly, then pull her into a hug. After that, she packs her bag and heads for the bus stop, while the rest of us clean up our mess and head back to the dorm.

Evening

We order pizza for dinner, but everyone grabs a plate and a drink and heads off to do their own thing instead of eating together. After all, we just spent all day having fun at the tennis courts together, and we all have things we want or need to do.

I carry a big paper plate with five assorted slices of pizza, some wings, breadsticks, and cinnamon knots up to my room, along with a liter of soda.

I'm picking up Twilight's bad eating habits...

As soon as I'm at my desk, I see an incoming call notification on my computer. It's my parents. As soon as I open the call, I hear:

"—ink he's ignoring us? Is he upset? Did we do something wrong? What—"

"Hi Mom," I say around a mouthful of pizza. "Sorry, I was downstairs."

"Oh, hi Flash!" Mom sounds relieved. "We were worried, we've been trying to connect to you for half an hour."

I roll my eyes. "You should've texted me," I say. "I do keep my phone on me all the time."

Mom blushes. "Oops. Now I feel silly..."

My plate must be in range of the camera, because Dad raises an eyebrow at it. "What, is it all you can eat pizza buffet night or something?"

I laugh. "Nah, I'm just really hungry. Didn't really eat lunch, just snacked. Spent the whole day playing tennis with my friends."

"That sounds like fun," Mom says.

"It was," I say. I frown. "The tennis team captain's kind of going through some stuff, though."

In between bites of pizza (I am starving and don't care about manners right now—another bad habit I'm picking up from Twilight), I explain the Coco situation. Dad looks upset, and Mom looks sad.

"That poor girl," Mom says.

"So this other little witch just went into her personal life and took it to the press over something so petty?" Dad asks. "You should go to your principal with that."

I shrug. "It wouldn't do any good. Suri isn't a student at CHS anymore. Hasn't been for months." I shake my head. "Anyway, all we can really do is be there for Coco and help support her while her parents has this whole thing out." I snort. "And here I thought family drama was through following me around for a while after that whole thing with Shining Armor and Sunset Shimmer..."

Mom and Dad share a pained look. I wince. "Sorry," I say. "Didn't mean to—"

"It's alright," Mom says. "Actually, that brings us around to why we're calling in the first place."

"Oh?" I ask, picking apart a chicken wing.

Dad takes Mom's hand and squeezes it. "We've been talking to the department heads here and at Canterlot University," Dad says.

Mom smiles. "We've been doing a lot of thinking, and we've decided...our place is wherever you are, because you're our son. You've...you've made it clear that your life is in Canterlot, and somehow I get the feeling you're never coming back to Seaddle."

"So," Dad says, clapping his hands together briskly, "we've decided that if your life isn't in Seaddle, then neither is ours."

"We've got jobs lined up in Canterlot," Mom says. "We're coming down next week to start house-hunting."

I stare at them. "You're...you're moving to Canterlot?!"

"We certainly are!" Mom says. She fidgets. "Of...of course, we understand if you want to keep...keep living at the dorm. And it's a good idea, I mean, we love the people you're with, it's close to the school."

"We just want to be closer to you, Son," Dad says. "To be part of your life. To be able to see you whenever we want."

I put down my chicken wing and lean forward, smiling. "You know, I...I think I'd like that." I frown. "But...can you really do that? I mean, what about—"

Dad waves off my concerns. "Don't worry about us, Son. We've been doing impulsive things like this our whole lives. It usually works out for the best."

That's not especially encouraging...

"The important thing is, we can be more of a family," Mom says. "I mean, we'll be busy setting up house and with our new jobs, you'll be busy with school and your friends and tennis, but..." She smiles hopefully. "We'll do our best to make time for you if...if you can make time for us?"

I swallow heavily. "Y-yeah," I say. "Of course."

Dad checks his watch. "Well, we have an appointment with some colleagues," he says. "We're wrapping things up here. We'll be in touch soon, okay?"

I nod. "Alright. Keep me posted. I'll want to help however I can getting you settled in down here. I'm sure my friends will too."

"Goodnight, Flash," Mom says.

"Goodnight, Mom. Goodnight, Dad."

The call disconnects. I sit back, absently picking at my dinner.

They're moving to Canterlot? Just to be closer to me?

I never expected that...

Maybe I'm not the only one who didn't have anything tying them to Seaddle...