@SemiJuggao  
I find it a great pity there was no pony who had her wing, to pull her out of the obvious dive.
 
Like say, somepony who finds herself in that position constantly and lost a friend to such a thing before.
 
Real shame.

@HunterSClopson  
If you say so, but it wasn’t an intentional backstab as far as I can tell.
 
@SemiJuggao  
I just have this mental image of whoever’s putting this group together picking Sunset Shimmer as Twilight’s opposite, but fail spectacularly at tempting her back to the dark side. “I don’t want power anymore. Last time I had power, it turned me into a monster. Literally. So unless you’d like to buy tickets to the pep rally, I think we’re done.”

@HunterSClopson  
Exactly! Lightning Dust started out as a potentially awesome character. A pegasus who can match Rainbow Dash’s abilities, while being more of a daredevil. However, the warning signs start popping up as her recklessness causes her fellow cadets to get injured, which she dismisses as them being unable to keep up. The final straw, as you said, was her not giving a crap that she nearly caused the death of innocent bystanders, even after Dash CLEARLY told her that they were her friends.
 
She may seem like a perfectly dependable pony, but she seems to have no problem throwing caution to the wind, if it means achieving victory.

@Scrounge  
Well, technically, she betrayed Dash. Dash thought she found a friend in Lightning Dust and the fact that said friend didn’t care that she almost offed her other friends probably came as a kick in the teeth to her.

@SemiJuggao  
I don’t think Lightning Dust ever actually betrayed anyone. She just didn’t care if they live or died. I think something like “Disdain” might work better.
 
Agree with you one Fluttershy not having a chance to shine lately, though.

@Scrounge  
But, of course! In fact, here are the antagonists I’ve picked for my imaginary Legion of Doom-style villain group. Each of them bring their own brand of douchebaggery to the table…
 
Gilda - Ill-tempered; rude; can dish out pranks but can’t take them. Anti-Laughter (Bitterness)
 
Lightning Dust - Skills rival Rainbow Dash; reckless, with no consideration for others. Anti-Loyalty (Betrayal)
 
Flim and Flam - Showboating salesponies; often utilizing questionable business tactics. Anti-Honesty (Deceit)
 
Suri Polomare - Smarmy, slick-talking manipulator; excels at exploiting others. Anti-Generosity (Selfishness)
 
I still want an episode where Fluttershy tries to liberate circus animals, whose spirits have been broken by their cruel trainer! Not only would the antagonist be the perfect foil for Flutters, but it would be a great opportunity to portray her as a legitimate badass, once again! Both ‘The Stare Master’ and ‘Keep Calm and Flutter On’ demonstrate her saint-like patience and her potential for courageous behavior, but it feels like forever since we’ve seen an episode that plays towards her strengths, rather than her weaknesses.

@SemiJuggao  
I’d still pick Lightning Dust first. :P

@Scrounge  
Judging by her smarmy, overly-friendly mannerisms, Suri has probably charmed her way into lots of opportunities in the past. Most likely, that’s how she managed to keep Coco by her side for so long.

@SemiJuggao  
…Even in that case, I can’t imagine why Suri would make the team. You’ve got the speed and ruthlessness of Lightning Dust, the slick charm of the Flim-Flam brothers, the raw animal strength and sheer numbers of the Diamond Dogs, and… Suri, who makes clothes. Yeah, I think it’s obvious which one’s not making the cut.

@Scrounge  
Funny you should say that, since I often imagine a scenario where a new enemy brings together past antagonists and unites them against the Mane Six. I know it’s just wishful thinking, but I still would love to see somehting like that happen in the show.

Coco Pommel reminds me of assassin Elena from Yggdra Union. Who eventually betrays her former comrades because she couldn’t take doing horrible things to people anymore.  

 
Elena is reluctant to kill and also had a rather heartless mentor. That would make Suri, Zilva.
 
I’d also imagine Coco’s supposed human counterpart to be a vegetarian.

@HighRollerHydra  
I don’t really expect her to. She’s served her narrative purpose and she’s not a fan favorite.

@Scrounge  
That all depends on what the writers have planned for her, if she ever appears in a future episode.

@SemiJuggao  
In that case, she might as well leave Manehattan, because she won’t even be able to get a job as a waitress in this town any more.

@Scrounge  
True, if the knowledge of Suri’s dishonest practices became public, her fashion career would be as good as finished. That is, assuming Coco actually told Prim Hemline about these things, which I’m pretty sure she did.

@SemiJuggao  
And that’s even if none of the underhanded (underhooved?) things she did to get where she was became public knowledge.

@Scrounge  
Yeah, I seriously doubt she’ll have much of a future in the fashion business, without her precious workhorse to back her up.

@SemiJuggao  
That was never in doubt. That was never my question.
 
My question pertains to Suri, how deep the hole she dug herself into is, and how many different shovels she used doing it.

@Scrounge  
Oh, Coco’s skills are undeniably superior! In fact, Suri probably noticed how talented her eager young protege was and started taking advantage of it, by giving her extra work; which snowballed into making her doing almost ALL of the work!
 
Seriously, the poor girl put together an entire fashion line, IN ONE NIGHT, and Suri–being the selfish, manipulative cunt she is–STILL had the nerve to berate her for taking too long!

@SemiJuggao  
I’ll grant you that, but I still suspect that the more she made Coco do her work for her, the more her own skills got rusty.

@Scrounge  
I believe it was called the “Ponyville Knitting Club.”
 
Also, I like to think that Suri is a passable fashion designer, in her own right, just not anywhere near Rarity’s level, which is why she resorts to cheating, and of course, dumping her workload on Coco.

@Niggoslav_Krawczyk  
I think she used to live in Ponyville and was part of a knitting group or something, so she’s probably able to sew, though how well is an open question. Probably not as well as Coco, given that Coco did most/all of the work, so Suri’s probably out of practice.

@Scrounge That reminds me. Was Suri able to sew at all? I think it was implied but I can’t remember exactly.

“Oh, and Suri? If I were you, I’d practice my stitches.”

@Scrounge  
Moving on.