The WIsdom and Trust of a Stranger
The Wisdom and Trust of a Stranger
A: My Little Pony; Friendship is Magic Fan fiction
By: RoflLuxRay
The town park in Ponyville is always a quiet place to rest, the ideal spot to sit down in a bench and enjoy the sounds of the surroundings that blend with silence and bring peace to anypony who were to listen. And just that day, that sunny evening, a middle aged colt rested upon one of the many benches that stood next to the stone path, staring at the fountain intensely with blank eyes. Some of the strands of his light blue mane fell to the sides of his black top hat as his large dark leather coat waved with the current of air that struck the deep blue music notes on his flank.
He was having a quiet evening so far, just a couple of fillies playing with a ball thirty minutes ago and some mares passing by to attend a lunch date. But something met his ears suddenly, the screeching sound of a mare screaming with an already high pitched voice made him snap out of his trance. The colt slowly tilted his head to a side; just enough for his eyes to see over the edge of his hat, and recognized a pink coated mare dashing through the park covering her eyes with a hoof. Her straight light green mane moved as one with the wind as her sobbing and crying became audible, and rather annoying.
“Why?” she shouted with desperation, “Why me?”
The silent colt moved his head back to its original position and continued to stare the fountain blankly with his deep blue eyes, while the mare stopped her race and banged her head against the hard wood of the bench with violence, constantly repeating her mantra.
“I gave you everything you asked and ¿how do you pay me?” the mare rose her eyes up to the sky with tears pouring down her face, “You toss me out of your life like an useless… ¡something that’s useless!”
He tilted his head again to the side in a similar fashion as before to look at the pink mare with a somewhat arrogant smirk. Oblivious, she continued her thunderous rant by stomping the floor like a spoiled filly that failed to convince her parents to buy her a new toy.
“Is something troubling you?” he asked with indifference, keeping the confident smirk on his face and his eyes hid behind the hat.
“Oh,” the mare straightened up her pose and challenged him stomping a hoof next to him, “and what makes you think that?”
“I wasn’t inquiring whatever just happened to you, I was asking why you act that way”
“And why on the wide, wide world of Equestria do you care?” she asked with indignation.
“You were disturbing the quiet evening I was enjoying with your crying and whining,” he removed the hat of his head and placed it on the arm stand, shaking his head to extend his entire blue mane that was crushed under it, “but more importantly, you were banging your head against hard wood. You could hurt yourself like that.”
“I still don’t get why you care,” she placed her hoof back at the ground and stared at him with anger.
“A filly would ignore you, a random bystander mare would pity you, a cop would take you into custody for breaking a couple of local laws by making so much noise,” he paused for a second to stare a couple of birds that passed flying by in front of him, “but a gentlecolt would care about such beautiful mare as yourself, mercilessly banging her head against the bench and complaining the way you do.”
“Oh, I see,” she took a few steps back and chuckled, “you´re just trying to take advantage of a suffering mare, shame on you!”
The colt rose his head to the sky and sighed with disappointment, “If I was trying to take advantage I would have taken you in my arms already and spoken a few golden words that would make anypony want to go home with me, but instead, here I am trying to justify the actions I consider correct to a stubborn pony that acts like she’s the centre of the world.”
His word fell like a hammer on her head, the expression on her face changed to one of awe and surprise.
“I…” she said hesitantly, struggling to find the correct words for the moment.
“The curiosity of a stranger can be offensive, I understand,” he said calmly, “but believe me, sometimes a stranger can be just the right pony you need to lend you a friendly ear.”
“How do I know you’re not taking advantage on me?” she asked with a frown, her skepticism still endured the colt’s words.
“As I said, I have no interest in you, though I find you to be beautiful. A gentlecolt treats a mare like he would treat a flower, with delicacy and tenderness,” his eyes then turned to the rocks below his feet, “but lately that has been taken as a cheap strategy to take mares straight to bed.”
“You… sure know what you’re talking about,” she approached him with the frown gone from her face, “I’ve seen that happen, because I…”
“It takes more than one try to see through somepony’s intentions, do not be afraid to admit your errors anytime, that’s how we grow,” he turned his face to meet her eyes with a happy grin, “my name is Blues.”
“I’m Daisy,” she finally greeted the colt with a grin, “looks like you’re not a bad pony after all.”
“No I’m not,” he said with a slight chuckle, “I try not to be it.”
“You sure try hard to,” Daisy said with a hint of sarcasm, “what brings you out here?”
“I always find peace in this bench.”
“Don’t you have a job or something?” she asked with a curious look.
“I do have a job, and a family to look after,” he said with a smile, “but that doesn’t keeps me from coming out here to enjoy myself every once in a while.”
A brief silence fell between them, a gust shook the branches and leaves of the oaks in the park, giving the moment a tranquilizing background to enjoy. It was that particular sound that brought Blues the peace he sought in that bench, in that park.
“Will you tell me why were you acting like that?” Blues asked as he stared at the fountain with his eyes, once again, lost somewhere in the distance.
“I…” she paused with lots of doubts in her face, “it’s personal.”
“One of the many wonders of trusting in a stranger is the vow of silence he takes,” he said with a mystical sense in his voice, without even taking his eyes away from whatever he was looking at, “this is probably the first time you see me, and it is likely that this will also be the last. You don’t have to worry about me spreading a gossip about you wherever I go; after all, a gentlecolt has no memory.”
“Wow,” she said with amazement, “such eloquence.”
“Thanks,” he said with a subtle nod, “will you answer my question now?”
“I suppose I could tell you…” she stared at the rocks on the ground for a second, “but you have to promise me you will not tell anypony about it.”
“You have my word,” Blues turned his head to see her straight in the eyes as he spoke seriously. The pink mare blushed for a second and cleared her throat to continue.
“I guess it is okay…” she took a deep breath to calm her nervousness and cease the shudders on her body, caused by her crying and sobbing, “my coltfriend broke up with me.”
“Is that so?” he asked with a scowl.
“Well, yeah,” she remarked with anger, “we had been together for two years.”
“Ah… a long lasting relationship that broke, tsk, tsk, tsk…” the blue colt shifted his sight to the blue sky again, “that’s gonna need a little more than just a few words.”
“¿What are you talking about?” she asked with another frown.
“I know what you’re talking about; I once broke up with a marefriend after three years of a stable relationship. And why did you two break up exactly?”
“He cheated on me,” she replied blatantly, almost throwing the answer straight to Blues’ face.
“Cheating is the ultimate demonstration of lack compromise and offense to a partner, after two years of relationship, and since you seem to show affection; if not love, towards him, I’d say you are in character when you flip out like you just did.”
“I loved him; I have no doubts in that,” she straightened immediately, “two years are two years after all.”
“Love does not flourishes naturally over time, ‘I love you’ is not a phrase that is meant to be said after a certain time of ‘dating’ has been met,” Blues kept his sight away from the mare to avoid any unwanted eye contact, “Love is a feeling, a sensation that is born from the interactions and the actions of both persons involved, and thus, is a feeling of two.”
“He said he loved me, and I believed in him, he even gave me my favorite cologne for my birthday,” she argued passionately, it was clear that Daisy was not letting Blues stain the name of his colt.
“Hollow words can be spoken; the correct gift can be bought for the correct occasion. Love has no measure but the one you give to it, and there is no way to quantify it on somepony else. When engaged, you have to believe in the other pony feels the same way you do, that’s the catch in the game.”
“You’re saying he never loved me?” she asked with worry, with a expression that matched the tone in her voice.
“No,” he replied instantly, “but it’s an option. As I was telling you before, I broke up with a marefriend a few years back for the exact same reason you did. I cheated on her.”
“Why would a gentlecolt cheat on her marefriend?” she asked sarcastically with a devilish grin slowly drawing on her lips
“I was a fool, I let such a fine mare like her slip through my hooves like water…” he sighed and continued, “She was a musician, a fine cello player, one of the best around. We met at the Canterlot conservatory and I fell for her almost instantly, she was a top student and I was just a fool trying to play the piano. At first she was reluctant to talk to me, being sociable was not one of her virtues but I eventually broke through one day when we got left alone practicing in the hall. Getting her to date me was a challenge, but by the time she began talking to me constantly and trusting me, it was only a matter of time. Our dates were always filled with joy and great moments, I will always cherish her for the love I once felt for such fine mare like her…”
“What happened?”
“As I stated before, I was a fool,” his expression began displaying disappointment, “I fell to my own prejudices and lack of intelligence to maintain myself attached. I disliked her way of stalking me all the time and how jealous she was of me, it made me sick… But in the end, that was her way of showing interest, the way she displayed her love towards me.”
“My colt cheated on me with my best friend, you didn’t cheat on her best friend, ¿did you?”
“No, I cheated with another mare that was a lot more permissive and less… suffocating,” Blues faced her again with a clear smile on his face, “my mistake, because behaving like that was the way she displayed her love and affection towards me, misunderstanding attitudes and actions is the fastest way of breaking up.”
“Wait, I didn’t do anything to startle him or anything,” she said hastily, “don’t assume I’ve done stuff without knowing what I did.”
“And that’s rule number one,” Blues chuckled, “don’t take anything for granted. Even though it seems that you ponies will break up, it doesn’t means you folks will end up breaking up. I felt horrible for cheating on Octavia, but she didn’t believe me when I said I was sorry and that I was an idiot, I wanted her back. Cheating is the ultimate offense in a relationship, but it’s up to who cheats to recognize its mistake and try to make up for it. So if your colt returns begging for forgiveness, it will be up to you to forgive him, to believe in his words, on your actions and everything you went through; ultimately, it is to believe in what he claims to feel for you.”
Daisy stared at him thoughtful for a second, before bursting into laughter suddenly.
“It’s all clear now,” she said with relief, “I can’t believe how right you are.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” Blues smiled and stared back at the sky, “don’t think the worst of everypony because the situation demands to. There is always more than meets the eye, beyond the prejudices and social regulations.”
“But what if I don’t love him?” she asked with a sudden burst of concern, “What if he doesn’t love me at all?”
“Doubting about such crucial things is a symptom of breaking up, and it is reasonable. I can’t tell you that you love him, it’s something you’ll have to figure out on your own,” Blues took his hat and stood up with a single movement from his hip, “but for now, I have to go.”
“Wait,” Daisy stretched his arm to grab his shoulder in an attempt to stop his departure, “I still want to talk some more to you.”
“I’m afraid that my time is due, I have a train to catch,” Blues continued to stare at the sky intensely; his intention had always been to keep track of time with the position of the sun.
“But where can I find somepony like you?” she asked with resignation and a hint of sadness.
“I have faith that chivalry is not dead yet,” Blues placed his hat on the top of his mane and spun his head wryly to see Daisy with a grin, “you are a beautiful mare with feelings that are worth gold, if things do not turn out the best for you, I’m sure somepony will come along…”
“Just let me ask you one last thing,” she hopped down the bench and trotted to catch up to him, “What happened to you and Octavia?”
Blues smiled slowly and tilted his hat a little, “Let’s just say that… what doesn’t kill a relationship, only makes it stronger,” the blue colt turned around and walked down the stone path, “it was a pleasure meeting you, Daisy.”
“The pleasure was all mine, Blues,” Daisy blushed a little as she stretched a hoof, “I’m sorry I disturbed your evening like I did.”
“Not a problem,” Blues reached the mare’s hoof and shook it vigorously, “believe in ponies and in you. It’s the best we can do for now.”
“I hope I find such a fine colt as you!” she shouted as the colt silently walked down the road marked by stones. Daisy then stood alone in the middle of the road, staring at the black silhouette slowly becoming smaller in the distance. She never knew much about him, but one thing was certain. Daisy will now think twice before speaking to his coltfriend again.
“I’m sure you will… I hope society wasn’t this messed up. Sometimes I just wish that douchebaggery and lack of manners would not exist, that chivalry and respect for mares would rule over the usual interactions between ponies. I wish, no, not wish, I want this whole world to be different, but I’m just one colt… This doesn’t mean, however, that I should stop trying. The world changes little by little, and I leave this town with a small candle of hope lit on Daisy’s heart. For now, I can rest my head in peace next to my wife knowing I touched somepony’s heart, and hopefully, changed a few things in her.”
