Blue Days

Chapters

Honest to the Core
The Kindness of Strangers
Reading is Magic
Loyalty to Misfortune
The Rainbow After the Storm
Collateral Damage
The Generosity of Words
Of Blue Notes and Pink Surprises + Epilogue
Prologue
A Hearty Dose of Laughter

Honest to the Core

Honest to the Core

The blue stallion had decided to rest at one of the tables provided by a nearby eatery. The customers didn’t seem to notice him and the workers didn’t mind his presence as their tables were free sitting to any pony who needed them. That or they didn’t really want to do much with Blues. Blues would have gone with the latter reason.

The stallion sighed, head slumped on a table with the roses laying to his side. Petals were strewn across the table surface like the crime scene of a flower homicide. It was what was left of the flowers Blues had bought after his failed attempt to ask out Rarity. The flowers in question were being grinded up in Blues mouth, chewing away his melancholy in thought of what could have been. No money, no lunch, and a whining stomach drove Blues to behead the flowers to satisfy his hunger. Roses weren’t eaten regularly like most plants in pony society, as they were symbols of love and eating them was like the equivalent of stomping on one’s ‘I love you’ gift. To Blues, that might as well have happened if he had actually talked to Rarity, and his sadness now wouldn’t have been all that different if he hadn’t gotten that date.

No, not really. Actually talking to the mare was an accomplishment, regardless of the outcome.

Today couldn’t possibly get worse. Strangely enough, something opposite of that happened, as if by some whim of the universe to throw him a bone in sheer pity. The sight of Blues eating roses by himself attracted the attention of a pony, a mare to be exact, which was an unexpected turn of events in what usually happens in the life of Blues. And if that weren’t enough, this very pony was one of the most well known mares in Ponyville, identifiable by her orange coat, blonde mane, and cowboy hat.

“Ain’t you a sad sight?” she spoke, walking towards the stallion.

Blues looked up in curiosity, seeing that the mare in front of him was talking to him, at least he thought she was. Maybe she was talking to somepony behind him? He thought that as he turned his head to see if any such pony existed. Confused, Blues looked back to the mare and modestly pointed a hoof at himself.

“Yes, ah’m talkin’ t’ you,” Applejack chuckled.

Blues was astonished. Some pony actually cared to talk to him? Under normal circumstances, it would’ve been a kind gesture to move out of their way or asking him what the time was, but here he was, actually of interest to a pony. Either the mare was oblivious to his reputation of disaster, or she really did want to talk to the poor colt.

Applejack helped herself to a seat across from Blues and blew away a lone petal close to her, “D’you like sittin’ here eatin’ roses all day? Yer a sorry sight fer the heartbrok’n.”

Blues looked away in shame, ears fallen and shoulders shrugged. That pretty much defined his entire existence in one sentence. Of course, he knew the mare hadn’t meant it, not as an insult at least, but she was paying him her full attention so the least he could owe her was a conversation.

“Uhh, these were supposed to be for…a mare…” he managed to speak.

Applejack’s ears perked up. Now she was interested, “Oh really? And here you are, chewin’ away roses like a box o’ chocolates?”

“Uhh…yeah…” Blues cared to say. He didn’t exactly want to relay the entire memory to the pony, so Blues thought it was better to remain cryptic if not a little vague.

“An’ what happened? She said no?” she asked. Applejack didn’t need to hear the whole story. A bouquet of roses in the stallion’s mouth pretty much told her everything.

“…not exactly… I…chickened out,” Blues admitted.

Disappointed, Applejack clicked her tongue as she shook her head.

“Tsk tsk. You need to have a li’l more incentive than that if ya want the mare of yer dreams,” she explained.

Blues wasn’t sure about this, but he replied, “What do you mean…?”

“You gotta have power in yer posture. Be brave, don’t be afraid of rejection,” she explained.

Blues knew all of this, of course, but the one issue he hadn’t resolved was his fear of rejection. Rarity was a prized mare in a town of pretty fillies and she was well aware of this too. She didn’t mind her status among the stallion community and she’s not shy to flaunting to have her way with colts, but if she says no once, she’ll only say it once. She’s a fine mare with class, but she’s not a unicorn you would want to cross.

“…” Blues remained silent. He wasn’t sure if he had it in him to overcome his fear of rejection. He acknowledged the earth mare’s desire to help, but he was pretty sure not even she could help.

Of course, this was Applejack we’re talking about. She’s not one to give up on a lost cause.

“Tell ya what,” she started, “Why don’t I help you practice?”

Blues’ head shot up with a blush on his face, “Uh, wha?”

The pony giggled, “Practice you askin’ out that mare? I’ll be glad to help ya, you seem honest enough.”

Blues’ blush faded, but a pink tint was still left in his face. Would she really help him practice his opening speech to Rarity? He still wasn’t so sure, but this was the most any pony has ever done for him. Perhaps today wasn’t going to suck so bad after all.

“Uhh…s-sure Applejack. I would appreciate that,” Blues managed to say.

“Anything for a fellow pony,” she said. “Now let’s start. First, tell me what you were goin’ with.”

Blues nodded and thought back to what he had originally practiced in the mirror earlier that morning. He cleared his throat and looked to Applejack as he started.

“Would you like to go on a date with me?” he spoke clearly and openly, with bland feeling.

Applejack blinked and shook her head. Blues raised a brow at this reaction. He had said it perfectly only because the mare in front of him wasn’t a white unicorn, and he had practiced all morning in the mirror in his bathroom, the whole hour and a half of it.

“No, no, no. That’s too direct,” Applejack said, “If you want the mare to have even an ounce of interest in ya, you need to be more casual. And also, you need to speak more like you actually want to go on a date with her. Don’t be bland like a robot, be more emotional.”

Blues thought about her advice. He originally thought a quick question would suffice in earning a yes or no from Rarity. Also, due to Blues natural shyness, he didn’t want to waste more than a minute of Rarity’s time with a question she was going to say no to. But as it turns out, one needs to devote a little more time into asking another pony out on a date if one wants to do it the right way. Blues, being pessimistic, still believed it wasn’t worth the time to learn how to properly say ‘would you go on a date with me?’ if Rarity might still say no.

But it was worth a shot.

“So, how do I start then?” he asked.

Applejack hummed, “You’d want to start like you would a casual conversation. Something like ‘Fine day we’re havin’, huh?’ or something else relevant to that. You don’t want to give away your intentions.”

Blues still wasn’t sure if that was the right way to start his plea, but he wasn’t going to question Applejack. She was a mare; she knew more about mares than he or any colt would.

One would think…

“So…I just talk about the weather first?” he asked.

“Sure, somethin’ like that,” the pony gleamed. Her teachings were getting through to him; she was glad. “You’d also want to make sure that the mare yer askin’ has free time. Sometimes, if a pony says no to your offer, it’s not because of you, usually,” Blues grimaced at this, “It’s usually because they’re too busy to go out on any dates.”

“And how do I ask that?” Blues questioned.

“You can say that whenever you want to her when you feel that she’s comfortable holdin’ a normal conversation wit’ you. Chances are, she’ll be excited to have another such conversation wit’ you.”

Blues pondered this even more. He couldn’t help but think that it all made perfect sense in luring a mare on a date. Approaching while hiding your intent, lead her into a sense of security, then ask the question. It was flawless. Although in that context, it made any stallion whose ever done so sound more like a hunter than a gentlecolt. Easy analogy, unfortunately.

“…yeah, I think I got it…” Blues said.

“Great! Why don’t we practice again?” Applejack asked.

The blue stallion shrugged and cleared his throat again, thinking of how to lead his conversation depending on where it would go.

“Fine day we’re having, huh?” he started.

Applejack, trying to sound like a proper filly, spoke in a high tone in mimicry of her life back in Manehattan, “Lovely day, I would say.”

“The clouds are always so passive, moving on the whim of the wind and any pegasus who flies by them,” Blues spoke, turning his head to the sky to eye the very things he was talking about, “Their actions never noticed, never adhered to. The only time some pony would bother to look up at them would be to measure the weather and how it will be for the day, or if one happens to be blocking the sun, shading the world underneath, bringing all heads below up in curiosity of who would do such a thing.”

The earth pony, long astray from the mood of the conversation, looked back and forth wondering what the hell just happened to the stallion’s lack of confidence. She wasn’t even sure how to reply after his poetic autobiography on clouds.

“Uh, y-yes. We do take those things for granted, for that they are always in the sky, their home plane…” Applejack replied.

Blues head tilted down, “Like us. Bound to the earth we were born on. In more ways than one do we envy each other…”

Applejack didn’t know how much more she could take of his passionate words. If she couldn’t measure up to his style of talking, she’d be the one having to learn how to talk to colts.

“Say, are you busy tonight?” Blues asked, to Applejack’s relief that the practice would soon end, “Maybe we can watch clouds for an afternoon if you don’t have time for tonight.”

“Oh, why yes. I would love to. Tomorrow is just perfect for me as I have had so much free time recently.”

“Be careful how you spend it. Every second doing nothing is a second of wasted potency.”

“…” Applejack couldn’t keep her charade any longer. She was just so impressed with this stallion’s way with words, unlike anything she’s ever heard of before. If he could impress her with sheer words, Blues could have any mare he wanted with that power. “Wow Blues, I didn’t know you were a poet!”

Blues, snapping out of his trance, returned to his modest demeanor and shyly replied, “Uh, yeah. I work at a bar as a musician. I write my own music…”

“Heh. It’s amazin’ you don’t have fillies fawnin’ over you with such talent. I’m sure you’ll get that date with whichever mare you set your heart on.”

Blues bashfully looked away. It wasn’t talent that helped him speak such words. He had spent a long time wallowing in his misfortunes that he had a different view of the world others did not see. Through his melancholy, he noticed things others had not and admired even mundane things of the world around him. It was his only way of remaining optimistic despite misfortunes.

“Thanks. Also, thank you for the help Applejack,” Blues said, getting up from his seat.

“Yer leavin’?” the mare asked.

“Yeah, I’m gonna try asking out that mare again later today,” he said as his eyes looked down at the murder scene of roses, “…right after I go home and fetch a few bits.”

“Well, if yer gonna go home, you may want to wash up. Fillies like a clean stallion they can touch,” Applejack chuckled. As far as she could tell, it was only a muse as to why mares liked nice looking clean smelling stallion, far different from her attractions to an ideal male. Her impression of a casual female’s taste in colts was more of a joke than anything else, but she wasn’t far from the truth.

Oh well. It sounded true.

“Uhh, good idea, except…”

“…oh you’re not gonna tell me you don’t bathe now, are you?”

“What? No! I was gonna say I don’t exactly have brand name shampoos at home. I just use bar soap…”

Applejack scoffed. “Can’t help you there. All I got is bar soap back home too. If this mare is anything like an ettiket…eti…pretty frou-frou filly,” She had no idea how right on the money she was, “a good bath is yer top priority. There’s a spa house a few blocks from the Carrousel Boutique-” Blues cringed a little at the thought of passing by Rarity’s home, “-and I heard that they have refreshing baths or something. I dunno, never been there and that’ll never change.”

Blues nodded in response. It sounded like a good deal. He already perfected his opening and the mare’s kind words invigorated his confidence in his asking out Rarity. But if having a good smelling body would increase his chances of the unicorn saying yes to him, even marginally, it was good enough for him.

“Alright, I guess I’ll go down there then,” he spoke, “Thank you for helping me, Miss Applejack.”

Applejack bashfully chuckled at being called a lady, “Anytime mister…”

“Blues,” he relayed.

“Blues. It was my pleasure speaking to you, good sir,” Applejack spoke in her fancy accent.

“The pleasure is all mine, milady,” he bowed.

Today, today probably wasn’t going to be as bad as he thought.

The Kindness of Strangers

The Kindness of Strangers

“Sweet Celestia, those prices are high.”

Blues had arrived at the spa Applejack was talking about and was now looking through their pamphlets to see their services and prices. He sat on one of the chairs in the lounge and read the prices as the clerk clacked away on a typewriter. Every now and then, one of the workers at the spa would walk in and whisper something to the clerk, and occasionally give the stallion an odd glance as she walked out. Blues figured since he was a new customer and an odd sight in a place like this, the workers were eyeing him like that. That or they were aware about Blues reputation.

If it was the former, they wouldn’t have to worry about him being here any longer. These prices were way too high for a poor pony like him…

“Twenty four bits for a pedicure? Thirty bits for a mud bath? Where’s the simple baths? Can’t a guy just have a regular bathing in here?” he spoke lowly, but audibly.

“Umm, you’d go bathe at home for a regular bath…” a soft voice spoke to him.

Blues looked up at the sound of the voice. There was no one in the lounge aside from him and the clerk and she was busy typing away on her typewriter. He thought he was the only one in the room, until his peripherals caught a pink colored mane to his left. Shyly peeking through the entrance was a pale yellow coated pony with a long flowing pink mane, eyeing him back with blue eyes that seemed to glisten like she was about to cry. As soon as he laid eyes on her, she retreated a little behind the door, almost afraid of him.

Blues was a little skeptical. There was another mare talking to him and giving him her attention. And it wasn’t just any mare. It was the town’s esteemed veterinarian who owned the cottage near the Everfree Forest.

“Uh…come again?” Blues asked, making sure the pegasus was talking to him.

“Oh, umm,” Fluttershy uttered as she opened the door further and stepped inside, letting ring the bell as it closed, “I heard you complaining about the services of this place…”

“Oh, yeah…” Blues replied, “I just came here looking for a good bath. A fr- acquaintance told me to come here.”

“Is this your first time here?” she asked, “You don’t seem to know how spas work…”

“Ehh…not really…” Blues modestly answered, rubbing a hoof behind his head, “I just came here for a good bath, not some million dollar shower.”

Fluttershy chuckled a little. “This place is really popular among mares. I guess it’d make sense for a colt like you to have no idea on how spas work.”

“Ehehe, yeah,” Blues set aside the pamphlet he was reading. The stallion then decided to change the subject, “You come here often?”

“Oh, not by myself,” she answered, “I actually came here to book a spot for two for a friend of mine. We’re going to have our usual afternoon girl time together.”

“Oh. And, what do girls usually do in a bathtub together?” he asked.

Fluttershy blushed at the question. It was an honest question, but it sounded out of context and she was uncomfortable with the thoughts in her head. One wouldn’t peg her for having a mind dirtier than pure, but growing up around a certain tomboy pegasus made her more aware of the mature aspects of the world, with some unexpected consequences as demonstrated. The benefit of the experience, in a situation like this, was that she knew the stallion would take any answer she would say and turn it into some perverted thought.

Sort of like what she did right now.

“Um…girl stuff…” she answered, shying her head away to peek at the stallion through her bangs, “…confidential…”

Her intentions to prevent such thoughts seemed to have failed, as Blues tried to process the answer to his understanding. Of course, Blues wasn’t really the kind to think of that kind of stuff. Fluttershy assuming he would was a matter of her lack of experience around stallions.

If anypony was having dirty thoughts in this conversation, it was her.

“Uhh…huh,” he said, finally prompting himself to get to the most important question on his mind, “So, what would you recommend?”

“Um, sorry?” Fluttershy replied.

“If I’m going to spend my bits on a good simple bathing,” he picked up the pamphlet he had set aside earlier, “which one should I go with? The herbal tea bath, the mud bath, the…fish bath?”

Blues read the description of the last bath he listed. Whatever it was, it sounded nasty if one was to bathe in fishes.

“Would they be alive or dead?” he asked.

Fluttershy bit her lip seeing the colt go through his deductions of spa baths, which were really poor. Each bath was for specific purposes of cleansing the skin, and each also cost a little over the average pony’s salary. Her mind then thought back to her first question to the stallion; if he wanted a bath, he’d go home for one. Why would he come here for a complex bathing if his home’s shower was good enough?

“Umm, pardon me for asking, but…” she started, “Why do you want to pay for a bath here? Wouldn’t a bath at home suffice?”

Blues blinked at the mare. He never really did give a proper explanation to her question. He didn’t want to; he was still shy about letting others know of his date-that-has-yet-to-be today. Although, he only told one other pony, a certain orange mare to be exact. And here he was with a new resolve to get a good bathing. He may as well try his luck again. He might learn something new about how to appeal to Rarity.

“Well…if you want to know, I actually want to get a good bath here to prepare for a date later today,” he answered lowly, but not low enough for Fluttershy, or the clerk, to miss.

“Oh? I see…” she replied. That would make sense. Any stallion would obviously want a good cleaning in preparation for a date, but not many come to a spa to freshen up. Still, a spa’s just as good as any home bathroom with the right products to use.

Feeling generous, the pegasus walked over to the clerk.

“Uh, ahem,” she spoke low enough to get her attention, “A bath for two please.”

His ears perked up at this.

“Yes, me and him.”

“Uh, what?!”

Fluttershy turned to the blue colt, not sure what his reaction was for. Irises shrunken, pink shading on his cheeks, mouth agape… Oh dear, did he think they were going to bathe together?

“Umm, there’s a tub that divides colts and fillies…” she said, trying to clear his confusion, “they use it for groups of friends and families.”

“Oh…and, that’s our tub…?” he asked, the blush dying on his face.

She nodded, “What were you thinking when I said a bath for two?”

“Uhh…” Blues blush began to grow a shade or two as thoughts raced his mind, “…nothing…”

Fluttershy chuckled a little. At least she wasn’t the only one with thoughts she couldn’t help.

“By the way, I’m Fluttershy.”

“Oh. Uh, Blues.”

…

“So, who’s the lucky mare?”

“Hm?”

Blues sat neck deep in water, relaxing his back against the wooden wall dividing the huge tub. The voice from the other side belonged to Fluttershy, who also sounded like she was leaning against the wall. Apparently, she wanted a conversation with him if she couldn’t bring herself to raise her voice across the waters.

“The pony you’re gonna ask out?” she relayed.

Blues still wasn’t sure if he wanted to speak about Rarity to this pony. Or, more specifically, his attempt to ask her out that failed earlier today. He was still ashamed of how he had chickened out before he could ask the big question, even though she wasn’t even there in person. That was one memory he wanted to avoid until he could try again later today.

“…um, but you don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want to…” the pony behind the wall retracted her question.

Now Blues felt guilty. The pony had gone through the trouble of buying the both of them a bath so that they could make conversation. And she seemed like the very modest kind of mare who wouldn’t do such a thing for a stranger. She was betraying her shy demeanor just so that she could talk to him. The least he could do was give her a conversation to pass the time.

“No, that’s fine,” he answered, “I’ll tattle a little bit.”

Blues sighed, feeling that the mare behind the wall was waiting for him to start.

“Well, she’s a very pretty pony. Very sophisticated, lovely body…” he went on about her features, “basically, she’s the kind of pony any stallion would sacrifice a lot to have her under their arms.”

Blues waited for a response from the filly on the other side of the wall. She was probably thinking about how typical a stallion like him was for wanting to date a mare like that.

“Sounds like one of my friends,” she spoke in a jovial tone, happy at the similarity, “Sophisticated, you said?”

“Yeah. She has this accent that drives colts crazy,” he commented.

“Like she came from some rich family?”

“Yeah, like she should be spending her life in a city full of hoity ponies rather than a low profile village like here.”

“I wouldn’t say low profile,” Fluttershy said, “We’re an hour walk from Canterlot.”

“That’s true,” Blues replied.

Fluttershy couldn’t help but think of her friend Rarity at the description of this mare Blues was talking about. Sophisticated, classy, the eye of every male in the village, if she didn’t know any better, she’d think Blues was going to ask out Rarity. The only thing suppressing that deduction was that book club Rarity was a part of, which was full of hoity ponies like her. She only thought to Rarity because she was the only member of the club she knew personally. For all Fluttershy knew, he could’ve been talking about any one of those mares.

“Well, if she’s anything like the mares in the book club,” she started, “Maybe you should work on your sense of class.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” he asked.

“Sometimes, those mares are rather uptight and keep to themselves in crowds and around stallions,” Fluttershy spoke, thinking about how Rarity wasn’t as hoity as the other classy mares were, but she was defining the group altogether, “They’d only ever want to go out with a colt as classy as them.”

Blues hummed as he thought. Only classy stallions? Blues wasn’t very refined in terms of appearance. No monocle, no fancy hat, no collar cuff, if he had managed to ask for Rarity earlier today, there was a good chance she’d have turned him down anyway because he wasn’t classy.

“Well, I’m not a gentleman by appearance…” he said, splashing the water with his hoof, “The fanciest clothing I’ve ever worn in my life is a tie.”

“Oh, that’s no good…” Fluttershy spoke from her mind, “If you really want to appeal to a classy mare, you need to look fancy.”

“Do you think you can teach me?” Blues asked.

Fluttershy was surprised at the question. She didn’t know the first thing about having class and everything she ever knew about sophisticated lifestyles were from her friend Rarity. Everything she told Blues just now was her impression of a pony like Rarity, and her observant nature helped out with some on the spot deductions concerning one mare’s taste in stallions. That and what she’s heard of Celestia’s nephew from the Grand Galloping Gala. They weren’t pleasant things…

“Oh, sorry. I’m afraid I can’t tell you anything about being classy,” she could hear Blues silent groan from behind the wall, “…but if I were you, I’d do some research.”

“Research?” Blues parroted.

“Yeah. The library near the edge of town would be a good place to do some research.”

“Didn’t the librarian move out of that place years ago?” he asked. Blues may have been out of the loop of things, but an absent librarian was pretty hard to miss.

“Oh, she did, but there’s a new pony working there. She happens to be a friend of mine.”

“Really? That’s convenient,” Blues mused.

“Yes. Her name’s Twilight Sparkle. She spends a lot of her time in there studying magic so she should be there.”

Blues thought to himself as he crossed his arms. Should he go? Would they really have books on how ponies in highly sophisticated cultures act and how to blend in with them? There wasn’t a lot to lose by paying the library a visit, and the librarian happened to be a friend of Fluttershy, the nicest pony he’s ever met. Not to mention, studying up a bit on etiquette would increase his chances of appealing to Rarity and her saying yes. Even if it was a slight increase in his odds of scoring the date, he’d gladly take the chance.

“Alright. I’ll go there after I’m done with this bath,” he said.

“Tell Twilight I sent you there,” Fluttershy said, “You’ll be treated like a house guest. Since, um, that is her house…”

Blues chuckled, “A true librarian, huh? Must really love those books…”

“Yeah, that’s Twilight…” Fluttershy laughed silently.

“By the way, thanks for paying for this bath,” Blues said, “I mean, it must’ve taken a lot out of your wallet, what with those crazy prices.”

“Oh, no. Subscribers get discount prices on this spa’s services. It only cost four bits for this bath…from thirty.”

“…” Blues sat there in silence. What kind of membership did she have?

“…one per pony, you know.”

“Oh, right.” Still didn’t explain the huge reduction.

“Um…I only paid for my half of this bath…” she uttered, afraid to admit the minor tidbit of the bath’s price.

“…of course,” he sighed. Either way, Blues still had to pay out of his wallet.

Today, his wallet was going to feel extra empty.

Reading is Magic

Reading is Magic

Blues stood under the shadow of the town’s library, a large tree retrofitted to become the building it was today. Doors and windows fabricated into its wood, balconies jutting out the exterior, a lone beehive hanging under one of the lower branches, probably recent, and used candles visible behind the windows. Basically, the whole thing looked like a pimped out tree house designed by a pony with a cutie mark in architecture. Not only was this a library, but also some pony’s home. Whoever lived here ought to be grateful for living in such a crafty abode. Not many ponies older than seven could say that they live in a tree house.

It reminded him of how his own house paled in comparison to this building…

…

Enough thinking about the apartment. He had a book to rent.

“Hello?” he spoke after he knocked on the door. He could hear some clamor inside as a pony’s footsteps rapped back and forth. This Twilight pony sounded like she was trying to clean up some mess inside or something. Was she expecting him?

Blues heard the pony speak to him as she walked towards the door, “Geez, Applejack. You weren’t supposed to come around this early. I haven’t even found the proper…” her voice slowed to a pause when she opened the door, seeing that her newest visitor wasn’t the pony she was expecting. “…hat.”

Both ponies took a moment to observe the other. Twilight was unfamiliar with the blue stallion before her, and Blues had never taken a closer look at the purple coated unicorn since she moved into PonyVille. Right now she was wearing a blue bandana around her neck and a pair of snakeskin boots on her hind legs, not the casual attire of a librarian. Despite never visiting a library before, Blues thought of the way she was dressed as odd, since not many ponies, even the farmers at Sweet Apple Acres, dressed like her.

This was a common encounter between the librarian and visitors. Since the librarian made her home here, she would often forget that ponies come by to rent books, and it tends to happen during some household shenanigans. The villagers didn’t use the library very often, but more often than not was there that awkward moment when a visitor walks in on some odd business of the librarian.

Sort of like right now.

“Uhh…were you expecting somepony else?” Blues modestly asked.

The unicorn shook her head lightly and chuckled nervously, “Uh, eheheh, sort of…”

Blues blinked as he observed the unicorn’s get up once again, “Why are you dressed like you’re getting ready for a rodeo?”

Twilight looked down at her bandana as if wondering that as well. She looked back up at the stallion and chuckled again, “Well, I was…getting ready for a party…”

Blues thought this scenario odd. He couldn’t help but think of himself in Twilight’s position, acting just like she would if he was caught in a strange get up and had to explain himself to a stranger. Although where Blues would’ve heaved sweat, breathe nervously, and stuttered as he spoke, the unicorn was more strategic in her explanation. She would already know what to say on the spot to explain herself, and she wasn’t too hasty with her words. Blues could easily tell she was a pro at this.

She’s probably done this before, and very often.

“…o…kay…” Blues uttered, trying to change the subject, “Well, I’m here to rent a book, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh! Of course,” the unicorn backed into her house, “this way, please.”

Blues walked in following the purple unicorn as she used her magic to unwrap the bandana around her neck. As the door behind them closed, Blues took in the mess that was the library. Piles of books lay in every corner, organized in categorical groups. There were many empty spots plaguing the bookshelves of the library, giving the place the feel that the owner was being evicted. On a table where the unicorn left her bandana and boots lay a mess of papers, each one a diagram of the bookcases in her library. Twilight began sifting through these papers, organizing them for reference. For a library, it was a very messy abode.

It reminded him of his own home.

“What happened here?” Blues asked, still looking around the place.

“Oh, I got a new bookshelf I ordered from Canterlot, so I’m doing some reshelving of the books,” she answered, looking up at the stallion, “You came by in the middle of some renovation.”

“Oh, uh, sorry,” Blues apologized.

Twilight waved her hoof, “No no, it’s fine. It’s not the first time some pony walked in on me doing some redecorating.”

Blues chuckled, ‘I’m sure it’s the first time some pony’s walked in on you in a cowboy suit.’

The unicorn chuckled nervously before asking, “So, what kind of book are you looking for?”.

Blues hummed to himself, trying to summarize the exact subject of the book or books he needed to study up on.

“Do you have anything on sophisticated manners, or ‘How to be a Gentlecolt,’?” he said.

Twilight blinked at the stallion; not many ponies requested such a specific category, even in past rentals from before she moved in. In fact, she wasn’t even she sure she had such books in her library, which Twilight hoped was not the case.

“Hmm, give me a moment…” she said, looking through the papers of her library.

As the unicorn searched, Blues took the liberty of exploring more of the library. Straying from the obvious home décor, Blues was attracted to a wall nailed with photos. The first that caught his eye was of a field of apple trees and a familiar orange pony toting a cart of apples. Next to that was a blue rainbow maned pegasus wearing some kind of thunderbolt crown in front of a cloud coliseum. Blues knew who this pony was, but before he could think of it, his eye went straight to the next photo and took him by surprise. It was a group picture and the purple unicorn was in the center, but around her were familiar mares Blues had seen earlier that day. Applejack, the orange pony, Fluttershy under Twilight, and…Rarity. The other two he hadn’t met yet, but he already knew their names due to their notoriety in Ponyville.

What a coincidence this was! This one unicorn was associated with five of the most well known ponies of Ponyville, one of which was the very mare he tried to ask out earlier today. And not only that, the two ponies he met earlier, Applejack and Fluttershy as well as the unicorn Twilight, were all part of the renowned group of ponies responsible for the major events in Ponyville. Blues was actually surprised he hadn’t recognized the first two before. Applejack for saving the village from a cow stampede, and, more memorably, the ‘baked bads’ incident, and Fluttershy for the parasprite swarm that occurred while he was away. At least Twilight had not directly caused any kind of chaotic mess, not to Blues recollection.

“Like the pictures?”

Blues turned to see the unicorn next him, a piece of paper levitating to her side.

“Uh, yeah. You sure have a lot of pictures here,” he commented, looking back to the wall.

“Keepsakes of my time here in Ponyville,” she said, walking closer to observe her captured memories, “They remind me of all the good times I’ve had here, as well as some minor repercussions on my part.”

Blues noted that one side of the picture wall was taken during some of Ponyville’s less fortunate times. One such picture was taken after the parasprite swarm, depicting the town a complete mess. Another picture was taken at night, showing a house with huge bite marks on its roof, bringing to mind the Ursa Minor incident when that illusionist unicorn visited the town. One other pinned picture was actually a cut out from a newspaper, detailing the recent Grand Galloping Gala and the disaster that befell there.

But the one picture Blues was familiar with was the one depicting a field of snow halfway cleared. It was from last year’s winter wrap up, as the workers in the picture were wearing their team vests from that day. He remembered that day fondly, working in the fields plowing away snow, actually feeling like a part of the community. Quite fun. He also remembered being buried in snow and going missing for an hour. Less fun.

Why was it on her wall, though?

“That one was one of my more embarrassing blunders,” Twilight spoke, seeing the stallion stare at the picture hard, “I tried helping out with clearing the snow, and it didn’t work out so well…”

Blues looked at Twilight for a moment before looking back at the picture. Then he looked back at the unicorn. She was starting to look familiar…

“Then I tried using magic to help my cause. Didn’t end well either…” she said modestly, her voice lowering as she went on her embarrassing memory, “Not surprisingly, I ended up burying half the field in an avalanche.”

“Wait…” Blues spoke up as he turned to her, “You were the one without a vest that day?”

“Oh…uh, I didn’t have one until we finished wrapping up winter,” she said.

“Hmm, I remember that…” Blues said, turning back to the picture with an unhappy face, “I also remember being buried in snow that day.”

There was an awkward silence as the two stood there, the faint sound of Twilight silently gasping being the only noise in the library. Twilight never meant to hurt any pony that day and she only recalled ever bringing harm to Applejack, resulting in that avalanche. Meeting a stallion she had inadvertently buried in snow so long after the incident brought out penitent feelings in the unicorn.

“Um, oh my…” Twilight uttered, “This is awkward…um…”

The unicorn began scratching the floor with one hoof as Blues resumed looking at the pictures. Any mild anger he had felt in the previous moment was gone, discarded in favor of apathy he was so accustomed to. And besides, Blues wasn’t one to hold a grudge.

“You’re not mad about it, are you?” Twilight managed to ask.

Blues turned to the unicorn with a neutral face, one that expressed no such grudge for past actions, “Mad? Nah, not really.”

Blues turned back to the wall, looking at a picture depicting a western town torn up in a few places and pie splattered here and there.

“I’ve learned over time that there are some things in the universe that happen out of your control,” he said, feeling like relaying his life a little, “You don’t get anywhere staying in one spot lamenting your woes, but moving on doesn’t lower the odds of bad things happening again either. The best you can do is just suck it up and move on with your life, braving disappointments and disasters whenever they happen…”

The two ponies stood there for a while. Twilight absorbed the stallion’s words and wondered how one pony could ever come to this conclusion about bad luck and life’s misfortunes. Unless they happened often, he shouldn’t be so pessimistic, she thought.

“Wow, sounds like you’ve had some bad luck, huh?” she commented.

“I guess you could say that…” Blues said. He turned away from the wall and faced the unicorn, decidedly done with his sight seeing. “Now, about that book I wanted…”

“Oh! I forgot about that,” Twilight said as she walked towards a staircase, “Spike! Can you fix us some tea? We have a guest here!”

“I’m on it!” replied a strange voice. It was a little rough sounding, unlike any pony Blues has ever heard of.

“It might take a while to find the books you’re looking for,” the unicorn said, bringing his attention back to her, “You’re not busy, are you?”

Blues thought about his later attempt to try asking out Rarity again and how he was taking all day preparing for his second try. Then again, reading the books would take a while and putting their knowledge to use would take even longer. He figured he could spare a few minutes of chatter with this unicorn.

“I can waste some time here,” he replied, “But I can’t be here forever.”

“Sounds fine to me. Have a seat please,” she ushered him to a table in the center of the room, “I’m actually a little interested in your psychology, if you don’t mind me saying…”

Blues huffed gloatingly. What are the odds? Not only had he caught the interest of another mare, but she was also a well known mare in Ponyville, responsible for half of its disasters and catastrophes.

Blues himself was responsible for the other half.

“Um, what was your name again?” The unicorn asked as she sat at the table.

Blues mentally face hoofed himself. Where were his manners today? “Sorry, I never told you. My name is Blues,” he answered.

Twilight chuckled, “Fitting name you have there. It’s actually quite nice.”

Blues face flustered a little. No one ever commented that his name was nice, even though it matched his image perfectly and his career even more so. This unicorn was the only pony as far as he knew to actually acknowledge his name.

“Thanks.”

“So, why do you need these books anyhow?”

The two ponies had had a nice long conversation about the blue stallion and views of life, often hopping back to past events of Blues memory that weren’t particularly fond for him. Tea was served and a few books of his specific interest were found and open in front of him. He was reading a book entitled ‘Higher Living: The Merits of Investments’ with two other books on his side queued for reading, one titled ‘So you were invited to a Fancy Party?’ and the other reading ‘Eggheads Guide to Sophistication’; this one was out of Twilight’s personal collection.

“I mean, I don’t usually ask this of my visitors,” Twilight justified her previous question, “But you’re not a regular here and this was a specific set of books you wanted.”

Blues sighed a little. This was the third time he had had to remind himself about the earlier event with Rarity, or her sister to be more accurate, and explain himself to another pony. It was getting a little tiring, but Blues didn’t mind the attention a pony had when they asked this of him.

“I want to prepare myself for…a date,” he answered, not willing to completely elaborate his plans to the unicorn, “And I want it to be fancy.”

“Ohh, that makes sense,” Twilight said, levitating a teacup towards her mouth and taking a sip.

Blues decided to take another sip out of his cup as well, seeing the unicorn drink hers. The tea had cooled down to lukewarm since their talk had started, but it still retained its delicious flavor; a mild sweetness and an aftertaste that reminded him of nuts. He had never had tea before, but he might just become a fan after this little tea time.

“Mmm,” he said, gulping the tea in his mouth, “What is this stuff?”

“Rooibos tea. I see that you like it?” Twilight asked, receiving a nod from the stallion, “A good friend of mine gave me several bags for home use. You know about the zebra who lives in the Everfree Forest, right?”

Blues ceased drinking at the mention of the place. He gulped, “Yeah?”

“That’s her. That zebra who comes into town once a month.”

“And she lives there? The Everfree Forest?” Blues asked, skeptical.

“Hard to believe, I know, but I think she’s more accustomed to the forest than she could be in our little village,” Twilight said of her impression of her striped friend, “I actually used to come over once a week for tea time, but after a certain…incident…,” the unicorn didn’t have very nice memories of her time with the cockatrice, “We decided I should just take home a box of the stuff and stop by every often to restock.”

“Huh…well, I guess this stuff is to die for, in that case?” Blues joked.

The humor sailed over Twilight’s head as grim feelings swept over her. There was a certain reason the unicorn wanted to avoid that memory as much as she could. The petrifying had still left her conscious, only disabling her senses and living apparatuses. When she got home after the incident, she thought about it in detail and became afraid of what could have been. She then started thinking about the other times their lives had been in danger and what could’ve happened had things gone awry. It made her uncomfortably aware of death and the thought had made her uneasy. Twilight became slightly thanatophobic in recalling the events, but before she let the fear get to her, she eventually came to the conclusion to not think about the event ever again and move on in her life, dealing with danger when it came.

It was strange. She was almost like Blues in that sense.

“Uhh…” Blues could see the eerily discomforted unicorn dwelling on thoughts of death at his joke. He wasn’t exactly the kind of pony to cheer somepony up, and this was one of those reasons why, “My bad.”

“I found another one!” a voice from upstairs shouted.

Blues and Twilight were relieved at a convenient change in subject for them. The two turned their heads to the top of the stairs to see a purple scaled, green spines dragon holding a book in his hands as he walked down the stairs. Blues had never seen a dragon before, only full grown adults in the books he read as a foal, so he was very surprised to see a young one serving the two tea and delivering books. Apparently his name is Spike, loyal assistant to Twilight Sparkle, and has practically been with her since he was born.

“This one’s called ‘Top of the Pancake: Living the Sweet Life’. Sounds more like a dining book if you ask me,” the dragon said as he placed the book on the table.

Twilight chuckled, “Thanks for your input, Spike, but I think it’s supposed to reference the well known Trickle Down theory in other highly economical countries.”

“Either way, I could go for some pancakes right about now,” Spike said as he took a seat next to Twilight, “Actually, it’s almost lunchtime, don’t you think, Twilight?”

“Ohh, you’re right. We’ve been working on the library all morning, haven’t we?” she said, bringing a hoof to her chin in thought, “Want to stop by the diner for lunch today?”

“Sounds good,” Spike replied.

Blues took this as his cue to leave.

“Well, I believe I should get going then,” he said as he stood up, taking one last look at his empty teacup, “I have the books I wanted and I should prepare for my date later this evening.”

“Oh, you don’t want to come with us for lunch?” Twilight asked.

Blues kindly shook his head, “I have to go home and read up on these books for my date. Can you put these books on my tab?”

Twilight, and Spike, blinked at the stallion at his question, then looked at each other. He was joking, right? Sure, this was his first time in a library, but even first time visitors knew that libraries had a rental system. Although registering for a card actually took some money and a bit of registration time.

“You know, you need a library card to rent those books…” Spike commented.

“Oh…” Blues uttered, “Uh, is it too late to sign up for one?”

“All you have to do is pay a little fee and sign some papers, that’s all,” the dragon said as he walked towards a drawer where the registration papers were.

Twilight, however, felt a little generous today.

“No, Spike. That’s fine,” the dragon stopped as he opened a drawer, “This one’s on the house.”

“What?” both Blues and Spike questioned in surprise.

“You can return them to me after your date,” she said, her horn beginning to glow and levitating a paper out of the drawer near Spike, “In fact, I’ll loan you some saddlebags to take them home with you.”

“Wow, really?” Blues spoke in awe at this generosity.

A cupboard by the table they drank at opened and out levitated a saddlebag. Blues’ books were also lifted by the magic and were placed in the sacks, as well as the paper. Full, the saddlebag levitated towards Blues and tightened itself around the stallion.

“It’s not too tight, is it?” the unicorn asked, not seeing Blues show any discomfort, “Anyways, you can return the books and the saddlebag tomorrow after your date. I packed the registration paper in there as well if you decide to make another rental here at the library.”

“Wow, thanks Twilight,” Blues said as he looked at the bags hanging beside him, “I’m very grateful for this…”

Twilight chuckled, “That’s what friends are for, right?”

Blues widened his eyes at the word, then frowned. Friend? Him and Twilight? He wasn’t sure about this. He didn’t want to be a bother to her, after all she had done for him. At most, they were acquaintances. He didn’t like imposing the title ‘friend’ to any pony lest he look like an annoying and desperate colt.

Still, if she was willing to call him a friend, by all means, he’d welcome it.

“Sure! I’ll be sure to return the favor someday,” Blues said.

“You don’t have to. Friends help out other friends,” she said.

Was that how it works? The act was foreign to Blues, but it didn’t surprise him how little he knew of friendship without, you know, friends.

Blues nodded, “I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you, again, for the books.”

“It was my pleasure.”

Loyalty to Misfortune

Loyalty to Misfortune

An hour had passed since Blues last looked at the clock. It was two fourteen and he had yet to move from his spot at his kitchen table. He was already into his second book as he already read most of the first book prior to leaving the library. An empty cup with traces of milk stood to his left along with a small plate where he ate his donuts from, evident from the crumbs still left on it. The bag lay on its side near the dishes, bearing one last donut and a few complimentary napkins. On his right lay a short pile of books he was to read next, with the previous book carelessly pushed aside to distinguish it from the unread ones.

Blues decided to take a break as he leaned backwards against his chair and stretched his arms out, exhausting a much needed sigh as his muscles felt refreshed. He smacked his mouth his tongue, reliving the taste of milk and sweet pastries that made up much of his lunch; at least the milk in his fridge was still fresh. The stallion took a moment to look around his home and acknowledged how quiet it was, save for the ticking of a healthy clock.

The kitchen consisted of the basic stove, sink, and fridge combo of any home. The sink was right behind Blues and the fridge stood next to it. The stove was cut off by these appliances by the countertop and cabinets, giving room for toasters and breadboxes to be placed. All of this was separated by the rest of the house by a quarter cut wall leading into his bedroom slash living room. A single bed sat in its center with a TV against the window and by the door, and a double door cabinet and drawers on the other side. And by the pathetic doorway to the kitchen was the bathroom shielded off by half a wall. Cream colored tiles and a bathtub could be seen from the doorway, with a toilet just out of sight around the corner.

It wasn’t really much of a living if you could call it more than a room cut into three boxes. But to Blues, it was better than nothing.

Blues sighed a relaxingly. It was relatively calm and soothing in his home at the moment, and a full stomach and cool temperatures brought about sleepiness within him. But he knew he couldn’t nap now. He had books to read.

He looked back into his book and continued from where he left off. He was reading a page that detailed the clothing of the fancily clad and described what each one represented.

“Hmm, ‘Monocles are the classic apparel of stallions well older than thirty. It is a defining trait of those who have long been in resource of money and defines wisdom, experience, and utter disapproval of symmetry as if to say, ‘I say, I could care less about wearing a glass for both eyes’.’…” Blues quoted as he read, “…where do I find a monocle shop in Ponyville?”

It suddenly hit Blues a minor detail he overlooked when he rented these books. Where was he going to find a store in the village that sold all these fancy clothes?

“Well, they have a Quills and Sofa shop,” he said to himself, “It shouldn’t be too hard find a specific-”

KRRRRAAACKKKKK!

Blues jumped at the harsh boom, so much that his empty cup fell over.

“The heck was that?” he asked no one in particular.

Blues lifted himself from his seat and looked around the room for a window. It sounded like lightning, he thought as he observed through a window over the sink. The stallion leaned over the sink to get a better look outside. There were only a few small clouds in the sky and none were dark enough to make even a big thunderbolt. Was it some childish pegasus prank?

“Not many flyers in Ponyville…” he said to himself as he stepped back.

The stallion grunted as he rubbed his ear with a hoof. Prank or not, the noise left an annoying ring in his ear that reverberated in its own volume. It would be a while before it went away, he thought.

Ah well. He had to get back to reading. At least the crack of thunder killed any sleep he had.

“Back to reading,” he said, “…‘A top hat is your most important article of clothing you could wear to a fancy party. Top hats are infamous for making any pony who wears it to look incredibly high fashioned and demonstrating of class. It is popularly worn by dancers, magicians, ring leaders, and others who are in charge of certain programs. The top hat defines experienced control and a sense of affability, meaning the wearer not only has skill in his art, but also…”

Blues stopped himself as his nose picked up a foreboding scent in the air. It smelled dank, like burning coal, only it had traces of other chemicals unfamiliar to him.

“…is Dinky playing with the matches again?” Blues said to himself.

Living next to the pony who delivered mail, there was also her even stranger niece unicorn named Dinky. Despite being her guardian, Ditzy Doo couldn’t be around as often as she’d like to keep Dinky out of trouble. There was usually a babysitter or her older sister there, or some helpful neighbors that kept an eye on her. But more often than not, the filly would go outside and explore on her own. Dinky enjoyed discovering new things and finding curious gadgets and items and learned what she could about them with a hooves-on experience. Though a nobly curious mindset, this brought about dire consequences depending on what she found.

He still shuddered at the fireworks incident.

Nevertheless, this was for the filly’s safety, the stallion thought as he stood from his chair. Blues abandoned his books and headed out the door in search of the unicorn who may have found something combustible, again.

At first, there was no pony at ground level, as well as no one he could see in the distance. Maybe she was around the apartment? Blues climbed down the stairs at a calm pace, despite the danger of a filly playing with fire. Once down, he circled around the building and still saw no sight of the filly, or any other pony who may have seen her. Maybe some pony was having a barbecue nearby? Blues thought on that for a while as he gave the building another look around. No barbecue, not even from the nearby houses. No Dinky either. Maybe she wasn’t around?

Blues sighed. It seems like he wasted his time. As he climbed the stairs, he could still smell the faint air of smoke. It was probably from some pony’s chimney and the apartments happened to be downwind. He wondered why he hadn’t ever caught the scent before, living in the apartment for a few years now, but he couldn’t waste his time thinking as he had some reading to do.

He walked into his apartment and sighed disappointingly. The clock read two thirty-three. He needed to find time to look for a store that sold him the clothes he needed to wear and somehow spend the rest of the day with Rarity, if he were to succeed. Even if she were to deny him still, at least he’d be prepared to woo the next mare of his interest, once he recovers from the inevitable depression.

It was a depressing thought, but he already had so much planned for today, all at his expense. He wasn’t going to quit now, especially when he had so much help today from strangers, strangers who helped him practice how to ask out a mare on a date, strangers who taught him about the mare of his dreams, strangers who loaned him books free of charge. He didn’t want to make all of their efforts in vain. He wanted to repay them with success, or fail trying.

For the first time in his life, Blues felt confident about himself.

But now was not the time to feel cocky, he thought as he sat back down at his table. He decided he would spend another hour on these books before using what he’s learned to find the appropriate clothing before the date. He already had a few places in mind if he could not find everything in one store.

As Blues read through the pages, he couldn’t help but notice that his once comfortable abode was beginning to stifle from an unknown increase in heat. He tried to ignore it as he read on, but a loose drip of sweat landing on the page before him brought to his attention the increase in temperature. He groaned frustratingly. Just great, he thought. He hoped that wouldn’t leave a stain in the paper. Wiping his forehead of sweat, the stallion decided to get off of his lazy rump and open a window to let some cool air flow in.

But as he did, he noticed a crowd of ponies below looking at his apartment in awe. Curious, he leaned over to see just what the crowd was there for and saw a few of his neighbors in it as well. They all seemed to be murmuring at something, but whatever it was, it wasn’t about him.

Curiosity got the better of Blues as he walked out of his kitchen and out the door to greet the sudden crowd of ponies outside the apartment. He looked down expecting something like a choir or a protest, but they still weren’t looking at him. And for some odd reason, the smell of smoke was stronger in the air now that he was outside.

It finally clicked in Blues’ mind just what the commotion was about.

“Fire!! There’s a fire in there!!” a pony from the crowd shouted

Well, that and the sound of a ceiling collapsing behind him as well.

Looking back, to his horror, Blues saw that the kitchen of his home was under flames as the roof caved in on it. Panicked, Blues ran back inside despite the pleas of the crowd behind him. He rushed to the kitchen where the fire was and looked for the books he was reading. His heart sank as he saw one such book under attack by a burning stake. Hurriedly, the stallion tipped the table over, dropping the rest of the books away from the flames, and kicked the currently burning stake away from the books. As fast as he could, the stallion stomped out the flames, trying to preserve what he could of the book from the fire. As the flames died, he could hear ominous cracking from the ceiling above him. It wasn’t safe to stay there any longer.

Blues had one more object to fetch from his home before he could escape. Thinking quickly, the stallion threw all four of his books out the window, not caring if they were to strike any pony below. The kitchen cleared, Blues galloped to his drawer by the bed and opened it, looking for something precious to him. He sifted through each one until he remembered where he left it. Abandoning the furniture, he dived under the bed and found what he was looking for.

His saxophone, safely locked in its black case.

He grabbed the case with his teeth and retreated from under the bed as swiftly as he dove down. Seeing the fire swarming the kitchen, he ran for the exit, but stopped as the roof caved in again. He narrowly avoided the flames and the burning wood from falling on him, but now it had trapped him in his own house as it blocked the exit.

‘Not really trapped, I have a clear way to my right,’ Blues thought.

Err…yeah. But, that’s not very exciting…

Blues groaned as he ignored the words in his head, running under the flaming wood and bolting out the door. The flames had swallowed most of the building that made up his apartment, evident by the fire spilling out his window. Thankfully, the stairs were free of flames, allowing him to escape to ground level and safety.

When he arrived, there was already a fire truck and a few of their workers in the sky, gathering clouds to use their rain water for the fire. One of the fireponies, a deep brown coat and grey mane and mustache on his face, approached him with a serious look on his face.

“Were you the only one in that room?” he asked quickly, urging a quick answer.

Blues left his saxophone on the ground to speak, “Yeah, it was just me. What the heck happened?”

The worker sighed, apparently not sure either, “There was a thunderbolt that struck the building, shorted out the electricity and caused a fire.”

Blues pondered that. So a lightning bolt struck his house? He didn’t have any electrical devices on when it struck, at least none he would have noticed had they have turned off. It also explained the smell of smoke from earlier. Something was still off to him, though.

“But where’d that thunderbolt come from?” Blues asked.

“That’s what we’re wondering too. Only a pegasus could’ve made that lightning bolt in this weather if they tried hard enough, but no one saw any in the sky,” he explained.

Blues groaned as he looked to the pegasi stomping rain water into his room. Just his luck. A lightning bolt from out of nowhere just had to strike his apartment. And it just had to set fire to his part of the building. Hopefully the landlord won’t make him pay for the damage. Most of the furniture in there came with the rent.

He was reminded of the books he tossed out of the window to save from the fire. Looking around quickly, he saw them lying on the ground with a horribly burnt one being inspect by a firepony. He trotted over hoping to recollect them, but he had little hope for the one he couldn’t save.

“Um, those books are mine,” he spoke up modestly as the worker turned to him.

“Oh are they?” he said as he closed the book like a lost cause, “You were the one who threw them out the window?”

“Err, yeah. They’re not really mine’s…” Blues answered as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Hmph. You were lucky I was wearing a hard hat,” the stallion tapped his helmet a few times for emphasis.

Blues gulped. He didn’t mean to hurt another pony like that, at least not intentionally. But he wasn’t thinking about it, he only had saving the books on his mind since he hadn’t paid for them, or rather the subscription to a library card. But it was just plain unfortunate that a single harmless day of renting a free book wounded up destroying it in a fire. It wasn’t his fault at the very least, but excuses excuses, this book was going to cost him dearly.

The firepony walked away, leaving Blues to collect the books strewn on the floor. He sighed as he trotted closer to the destroyed book, wondering how much it was going to cost. His eyes widened. He gulped. The stallion’s heart sank as he read the title.

Eggheads Guide to Sophistication.

The librarian was going to have his wallet on a platter.

The Rainbow After the Storm

The Rainbow After the Storm

It had been an hour after the fire and Blues was by himself in the park. He sat under a lone tree with the books by his side, including the burnt one, and his precious saxophone on his other side. He had been reading more of the books as he relaxed under the tree’s shade to pass time, and to make up for time lost from the chaos. It’d be odd to consider going back to calmly reading after escaping from your house on fire, but Blues wasn’t one to dwell on a misfortune like this. Sure, he wasn’t able to return to his house until repairs were made, and his apartment was the only part of the building damaged from the fire, but at least he was alive and well, along with his sax.

The stallion sighed as he closed the book, not really finished but not feeling like finishing it either. He had to stop reading and relax his mind. He lost his house in a fire from a lightning bolt that struck from out of nowhere. That was a pretty big loss compared to past misfortunes. He needed to think about where to stay, how to replace what he lost in that fire, as well as working overtime to pay all of it off. He was still calm about his losses, apathetic even, but he knew what costs were at hand from that fire. He just couldn’t help but feel glummer than ever now since here he was, under a tree with a burned book for proof of his escapade, and the only thing he really had worth saving was his sax, which made him realize what little he possessions of value he had.

Oh well. Blues thought it was better to complain about his woes through music rather than through words.

Now, Blues’ cutie mark weren’t of musical notes for no reason. As they displayed what his greatest talent is, it wouldn’t do the stallion justice to say what he was about to perform was a testament to his ability.

The stallion opened the case and took out the saxophone, letting it glimmer in the sunlight for a bit. Pushing aside the box, he let his sax rest on the ground as he brought the mouthpiece to his lips. Hooves on the keys, he licked his lips and started playing.

And what melodious sounds they were.

The sounds that played from his instrument were humble tunes yet sharp enough to pierce all sound nearby. It was a characteristic of the saxophone, the way its sounds played in your ears, but the way Blues played the instrument made you anxious of what keys he was going to play next. Shifting notes while maintaining his tempo, the noise his saxophone made wasn’t just the tunes of a woodwind instrument anymore. The sound of the saxophone, the music it made, it made you feel sympathetic for those less fortunate than you, but his beats were uplifting, hopeful. They told you that there was always a bright side to things, a silver lining in every cloud, a hidden happiness in every sadness. It wasn’t just music you were hearing anymore, it was a story of sad times, how there was light at the end of the tunnel, how after every storm there was only sunshine waiting for you. The sounds were so full of spirit, Blues’ spirit, they defined the pony who was playing it in a way that only his music could. Granted, it was similar but not like the genre of the same name, but one wouldn’t care. It was his own style. It was the music of Blues, the pony who could play a saxophone.

The only bad part about his music was when it would end.

The stallion inhaled deeply as he parted from the mouthpiece, having finished exercising the woes out of his system. He looked around the area to see no pony in the vicinity. What a shame. He thought that performance was rather exceptional, one of the best he’s ever done if he were to say so. Oh well. The music was more for him than for others. At least he had the privacy to work up a solo.

Or so he thought.

“Hey, that was pretty good.”

Blues looked behind him in search of the voice, a little tired that this was the third time it has happened today. No pony was there behind the tree he was sitting under and he was sure they weren’t hiding from him if the owner of that voice was making itself known. A quiet rustle of leaves above, however, revealed to Blues the mystery mare as he looked up.

“Hey there. Name’s Rainbow Dash,” the pegasus introduced herself as she hopped down from the branch, “I mean, of course you’d know my name, right?”

“Err, yeah I do,” Blues replied uneasily. This couldn’t be happening again. This was the fourth mare he’s attracted the attention of who also happens to be in Rarity’s group of friends.

“What’s yours? I don’t think I’ve seen you around,” she asked.

“Uh, Blues,” he answered. Just play it cool, he thought, he didn’t have anything else to lose anyway.

“Blues? Fitting name,” the rainbow maned pegasus freely sat on the spot where she stood, “You play a really mean sex.”

“Uh. What?” Blues asked, a blush creeping on his face.

“That’s what they call it, right? A sex phone?” she repeated, placing a hoof on her chin, “Though, I don’t get why they’d call it that. Sounds more like something you’d buy at one of those erotic stores. I always thought they were like walkie talkies, you know?”

“…” Blues stared at the mare with a strange face, unable to believe how badly the pegasus could misperceive the instrument. Feeling like defending his music maker of choice, Blues spoke. “No no. It’s called a SAXaphone,” he said, stressing the vital syllables of the word, “invented by Adolpon Sax. SAX, you know? Not that…other thing you called it.”

Dash gave an epiphanic “Ohhhhh,” at Blues’ explanation, “that makes sense. I’ve been calling it a sex phone all this time. No one’s corrected me though.”

Blues chuckled nervously at her. His first impression of the renowned Rainbow Dash wasn’t a very good one in terms of education and naivety, but her notoriety in athleticism more than made up for whatever respect one had for her. That and Blues was cautious not to say the wrong thing. The wrath of a mare was something you couldn’t retaliate against unless you were a mare yourself.

“Well, now you know, right?” Blues asked.

“Sure do. Hey, can I hear some more?” Dash asked as she stood from her spot.

“Uhh, why do you want to?” he sheepishly asked.

“Well, because you play really well, duh! I know good music when I hear it, even though all I listen to is rock and roll,” the pegasus rocketed into the sky without warning as she finished, leaving Blues sitting there by himself. The rainbow pony came back into view toting a small cloud, and let it float a short distance from the tree. She then reclined on it in a relaxed position and continued, “And for me to like something different means it’s gotta be good. So come on! Play some more!”

Blues groaned reluctantly, unsure if he should do this mare a personal concert. He still needed more time to read his books and prepare for that date later today. He couldn’t be wasting it serenading a mare; he was hoping he could do that to the mare he actually liked. On the other hand, the normally inconsiderate Rainbow Dash commented on his solo and wanted to hear more from him. Perhaps he could do an encore for an honored fan.

Blues licked his lips again and started playing another tune, this time one recited from memory rather than a manifestation of inspiration. It was a slow tempo, calming and relaxing, yet able to maintain your attention the way the sax permeated the noise around. It was his usual gig he would play at the bar when no requests came around, so very often he took the liberty of altering the beats to one that fancied him. He had done this so many times he’s never played the original sheet in such a long time. Of course he still had it, though. It, and the rest of the music sheets he’s ever written, was also in the saxophone case hidden under the casing.

As he slowed to an end, the pegasus sat up from her cloud and looked down.

“That was nice,” she said.

“Thank you. It’s nothing special, though,” Blues modestly replied.

“Can you play more then?” Dash asked, “I want to hear some of your more exciting tunes. Like, maybe something upbeat or something I can dance to?”

Blues reeled back from the request. He didn’t feel like playing again and he didn’t have the energy to play any dance beats. Not to mention, he still needed to finish reading his books. He was only halfway into the third book up until he had stopped to play some of his saxophone.

“Err, not right now…” he said, trying to talk a reasonable no, “I have some reading I’ve been meaning to do all day…”

“Reading? Tch, alright,” the pegasus said as she fully stood up and stretched, “You’re like my friend Twilight. She’d choose reading over any fun activity if there was a book on it.”

Blues chuckled, “Uh, heheh, I can see why. I mean, I got these books from her and she seemed like quite a shut in.”

“What exactly does a saxophonian need to read anyway?” she asked.

“Uhh, it’s ‘saxophonist’.”

“Saxophony, yeah,” Blues uttered a silent growl, “What are you reading anyway?”

Dash jumped down from her cloud and landed close to one stray book as she intended. A smile cracked on her lips as she donned a sassy face.

“'So you were invited to a fancy party?' eh?” the mare quoted, “It figures some pony who plays a sax as good as you would be invited to some regal, classy dinner or something like that.”

Blues bashfully rubbed the back of his head in response. It wasn’t the exact reason he was reading these books, but if it spared him from relaying the entire incident from that morning, he’d take it.

“Uhh, yeah let’s go with that.”

Dash walked over to one book that was in noticeably bad condition. She noticed the cover was singed on its side and it had a faint smell of smoke around it. Without permission, she picked it up and opened it, revealing the massacre that was the charred pages of a book that barely survived a fire.

“Holy horse apples, what happened to this one?” she asked as she blew into it, letting fly some charred paper, “Twilight would never let you leave with a ruined book like this.”

Blues sighed melancholically, “My house was on fire. I couldn’t save that book.”

Dash looked at Blues in more surprise than a normal pony should be, “A fire? How?”

The stallion shrugged as he decided to put away his saxophone, “Beats me. By dumb luck, my house had been struck by lightning from out of nowhere. I barely made it out alive.”

“Oh…” the mare said depressingly as she looked back at the book in remorse.

Blues locked the case of his saxophone and set it aside, feeling like reading again and finishing his book. Hopefully he didn’t lose the page…

“I’m sorry.”

Blues turned to the pegasus in confusion.

“Uh, what?”

Dash wasn’t looking at the stallion. She had her eyes closed, facing the charred remains of the book.

“I’m sorry…for…setting your house on fire.”

“…”

Blues took a moment to process the mare’s apology. But what really confused him was how and why.

“Wait, what? What did you do?”

Dash sighed and looked to the stallion, “Just bear with me, but…I’m the one who made that lightning bolt.”

The stallion looked at the pegasus in disbelief. He still couldn’t understand why the rainbow pony would do such a thing, or how for that matter.

“But…how? I mean, the fireponies said a pegasi couldn’t make a lightning bolt that big what with what little clouds there were in the sky,” Blues said.

“Yeah, they were right,” Dash explained as she set the book down, “It actually happened because of a new trick I was trying out.”

“A new trick? One that made lightning out of nothing?” Blues asked.

“Not really. You see…” Dash took off from the ground and hovered near the cloud she was just laying on, “I take one harmless cloud and I start flying around it.”

The pegasus spun around the cloud to demonstrate, causing the cloud to rotate along with her. Blues felt uneasy about being in close proximity of the trick that was supposed to create a lightning bolt as violent as the one that burned his house down.

Rainbow Dash stopped and resumed hovering near the cloud, leaving it to rotate on its own from the momentum. “Then I spin around it in a different direction,” she said as she demonstrated by circulating the cloud in a different angle. She stopped again, leaving the cloud a whirling mesh of fluff moving in two different directions, “I repeat this until the cloud is completely smushed up and folding in on itself and stuff.”

The pegasus proceeded with her demonstration, leaving a trail of rainbow ribbons wrapped around the cloud reminiscent of an atom. Blues was in awe at the practice but at the same time scared for his life, anticipating when the supposed lightning bolt was supposed to happen. However, excitement enticed him more than fear as he was eager to know what was supposed to happen next.

The pegasus flew out of the loops, a little dizzy, and hovered near the unidentifiable mess that was a cloud, “Now the cloud is charged with energy. Well, it would be but I had to slow things down so that I could show you,” Blues nodded slowly, “This is where I shoot into the center of the cloud…”

The pegasus zoomed away from the cloud and turned back in a sharp arc, aiming right for the cloud maelstrom. The cloud then suddenly exploded, letting fly a wave of charged mist everywhere. She arched upwards from the wave and back down to the ground, landing with a slightly electrified trail waving behind her.

“…and let off a huge electrical discharge for all to see. I call it ‘The Atomic Bolt Wave!’” she exclaimed happily, waving her arms up in enthusiasm.

“…wow. I would’ve loved to see that,” Blues said.

“Heh, thanks,” Dash replied, returning to a penitent mood, “But…I screwed it up. I accidently shot a lightning bolt through it and I saw it hit your house.”

“Ohhh, it was an accident?” the blue stallion asked.

“Yeah. But, I didn’t see the fire, just a black spot on the building,” Dash looked away and rubbed the back of her head, “I fled before anypony could see me, though. That was wrong of me…”

Blues huffed a sigh. He didn’t see any reason to be mad at her, not like he ever had a reason to hold a grudge. After all, she was sorry and it was an accident, and at least she came clean about it. Although, had it not been for him playing his sax, she wouldn’t have ever come clean on her own. She may have never done it at all. Regardless, she was worthy of forgiveness, according to Blues.

“It’s okay. You’re forgiven,” the stallion said.

Dash looked at the colt in surprise, astounded that she wasn’t getting any punishment for her actions.

“What? You’re letting me off the hook just like that?” she asked, “No reporting to the authorities or anything? I don’t get it. You lost your house because of me.”

“Eh, at least I’m not gonna have to repair it,” he replied with a shrug, “The landlord has that covered. I just have to worry about some furniture to buy again, some of it wasn’t even mine. And believe me, it could’ve been worse.”

Dash couldn’t believe how easily this stallion was taking it. Had it been her, she’d have been less forgiving and more violent if she was facing a pony responsible for such catastrophe. He seemed really lax and collected over this tragedy of his. Maybe it was a trait of saxophonists? That would explain a lot about the famous players she’s heard about.

“…well, ok. If you insist…” the pegasus looked down at the book near her as she thought about how his loss was her fault. There had to be something she could do to make it up to him…

“Hey, while you’re here,” Blues asked, feeling that the pegasus would be leaving soon, “Do you know any place where they sell fancy clothing?”

“Hm?” Dash perked up at the question.

“I, uh, lost some of my clothes in the fire, but I need formal attire for this…uh, fancy dinner I’m going to tonight,” he lied through his teeth, “Do you know any place where they might sell just what I need?”

Dash placed a hoof on her chin and thought hard about such a place. The one store that sold such clothing would be at Rarity’s boutique, but even though it was an easy service, free if she played her cards right, it would take a while to make under all of her orders for Hoity Toity.

However, she had an alternate idea of where she might find some clothes like that.

“Stay right there,” the pegasus said before taking off at breathtaking speeds.

Blues watched as the pegasus disappeared into the sky. Maybe she was checking the store’s location for his reference? Either way, Blues was relieved to know that he wouldn’t have to look hard for the store. Confident in how his day was going to turn out, Blues returned facing the book and resumed reading where he left off.

It had been a few minutes since the pony flew off, and, after some skimming and page flipping, Rainbow Dash returned with a box in her hand containing some unknown contents. To Blues surprise, the pegasus had an overly pleased look on her face as she descended. She pushed the box forward with a leg, signifying that the box belonged to him now.

“There you go. All the clothes you need for that fancy party,” she said smugly.

Blues, skeptical, stood up and walked over to the box. With an affirmative nod from Dash, Blues opened the box and gasped at the contents. A red ribbon top hat, a monocle, and a collar cuff with a folded suit underneath it were displayed in front of him.

“Where did you get this stuff from?” he asked.

“I got it from a friend,” she answered, “Let’s just say we made a deal and leave it at that.”

Blues was bewildered. Here was another mare doing him a grand favor, saving him bits from being spent at some fancy clothing store, at the expense of nothing? It was all too good to be true, but he couldn’t say he didn’t enjoy it anymore. In fact, it had been nice receiving random favors from ponies he had never met, and the concept of good will and honest intentions were the kind of things he wasn’t used to. By now, Blues had learned to go with it and just accept these kinds of gifts, as they wouldn’t take no for an answer. And besides, not paying for anything was a nice bonus too.

“I…thank you, Rainbow Dash…” Blues said as he closed the box.

“Don’t mention it,” Dash said, “…no seriously. Don’t mention it. I have to talk to some journalists later today and they can take this the wrong way.”

“Oh. Uhh, okay…” Blues said confused. Curiosity got the better of him as he decided to ask, “What exactly did you do?”

Dash thought for a moment if she should tell the stallion what had really happened.

“Caesar! Hey! Haven’t seen you since the Gala.”

“Hm? Oh no…”

“Yeah yeah, I know. You’re not exactly happy to see me, aren’t you?”

“Sigh. Yes, I am very discomforted by your presence here. Let’s pray none of those photographers are about this time.”

“Yeah, I’m actually here to talk about that.”

“Let me guess, another exhilarating article about how the infamous Caesar the Third was not able to control his hormones at the sight of a rainbow adorned pegasus mare?”

“Wow, you’re taking it hard. I haven’t heard anything like that over in Ponyville.”

“Well of course. No pony from that suburban village was there when you decided to knock me into the air and catch me on your back in a suggestive position.”

“Hey, I got desperate, okay?”

“Desperate? And I thought Fetlocker mares were easy courting.”

“Hey, watch it! I’m actually here to help clear your reputation.”

“How? By going up to them and telling them what really happened?”

“Well, yeah. Kinda. But I need you to do something for me in return.”

“I don’t like where this is going, but if I must…”

“I need to borrow your hat.”

“My hat?”

“And your eye glass thing too. You know what? I need the complete set.”

“You want my clothes?”

“Your fanciest ones.”

“My finest attire?! For what reason?”

“Stuff. Just give me your clothes, and I’ll clear your name.”

“Even if I do give you all of my attire, I can’t stand the chance that they’ll be lost or stolen or, even worse, ruined. Just why do you specifically need my wardrobe?”

“Can’t say. Too complicated. I burned a guy’s house down, blah blah blah. Now give me your clothes!”

“You set fire to a stallion’s house?! You’re worth more trouble than you look.”

“I get that a lot. Now, enough stalling! Either give me your clothes or live with the rumor that you are Touchy McGrabby Hooves.”

“But that’s not a rumor.”

“Oh…I can make it one.”

“Ack! Fine! I’ll hand over my attire, but you need to clear my name to them, alright?”

“Sure, whatever. Just hurry with the clothes.”

“Can you make sure that they don’t get ruined for whatever schemes you may have?”

“Can’t make any promises. Sorry.”

Ultimately, the pegasus decided it was better confidential and safer to be vague about it.

“Like I said. We made a deal. A really quiet one,” she smiled smugly, “Oh, and uh, try to keep those clothes from getting too dirty, ok? They’re ‘rentals’.”

“Uh, sure. I can do that,” the stallion agreed.

Dash breathed a sigh of relief as she looked back down to the book that had been burnt. She knew damaged books were punishable by fees, which was how Twilight made an income, and boy, did they cost a lot. She knew the ruined book was her fault and the stallion had to return that book sooner or later. Feeling generous today, Rainbow Dash closed the book and looked at the stallion.

“Hey. Do you mind if I pay for this?” she asked, earning another shocked look from the stallion, “I mean, it was my fault that this book got burned, and it’s better if I told Twilight what happened. I’m her friend, after all.”

Blues thought about it logically and knew the mare was right. At least he wouldn’t have to pay for something that wasn’t his fault, and the mare was being a good sport about it. Not only that, without a home anymore, he didn’t have anywhere else to store the books safely. He might as well return them now.

“Well, sure. I’d appreciate that,” the stallion said as the mare smiled, “Uh, if it’s not too much to ask, can you return these other books as well?”

Dash nodded approvingly, “Of course! You can count on me. Are you done with those books as well?”

Blues looked to the book he was reading, then to the books in a pile to his left. Most of what he was reading had been repeated in the previous books, which made him skim through pages for information he hadn’t already known. He actually skipped the book Higher Living: The Merits of Investments since the contents page listed almost everything he already learned about from the previous books. The stallion decided he had learned enough and that he should start preparing for his date with Rarity as soon as he could.

“Ehh, sure. I have to get ready for that da-…dinner,” he said as he closed his book and stood up.

“Where are you gonna get ready, by the way? Your house was burned down,” the pegasus asked.

Blues hummed in thought. She was right. No home, no private place to freshen up. Although, all he needed was some privacy, a mirror, and some water. But where would he get all that?

“I can always go to the lake near here,” he suggested.

Satisfied with the answer, Dash chuckled, “Heheh, alright then. I’m sure that’ll be some story to tell your fellow dinner ponies.”

“Eheheh, yeah…” the stallion chuckled nervously.

The pegasus took the book from him and set it in a pile among the rest. She placed the charred book on top and picked up the stack from below.

“I’ll just carry these back to the library now. It’ll be quite a story for me too, because Twilight’s going to flip out when she sees this…” Dash said as she stared at the ruined book before her.

Blues chuckled nervously, “Err, yeah. Hopefully she doesn’t faint.

Dash cracked up a little at this, “Ha! Imagine that. Well! See ya later!”

Before Blues could say farewell, the rainbow pegasus had already flown off in the direction of the library. Blues sighed contentedly as he picked up his saxophone case. The lake wasn’t too far from his location and not many ponies hung around the lake unless it was summer. There, he’d have peace and quiet as he dressed and prepared himself for the date.

He looked down at his saxophone and wondered where he was going to store it for today. Come to think of it, without a home, he was going to need a place to sleep at until the apartment was repaired. Blues didn’t have many friends to ask them for a place to stay, and he wouldn’t bring himself to ask the mares from earlier; that’d be too awkward.

“Guess I’ll pay ol’ Caramel a visit, then,” Blues said as he placed the case in his mouth to free his hoof for walking.

Today was going rather well for him, Blues would admit. Well, aside from the fire, but otherwise he was feeling good about today. Perhaps his bad luck was finally turning around, at least he hoped it was. He would need it to successfully ask out the most beautiful mare in all of Ponyville. Not to mention, getting acquainted with her circle of friends had been a refreshing experience, particularly the one with Pinkie Pie, the notorious party mare; how she could always stay so happy was beyond him.

No matter. He was confident it was uphill from here. Even if Rarity still denied his offer…well, that wasn’t a possibility, a very small one at least. After all, he had learned everything to impress her through her friends, a convenient benefit from meeting them. He was thankful that he never revealed the intention to her friends, another fortunate coincidence from meeting them. Had they discovered he was benefitting from their conversations and the knowledge he was obtaining from them, they’d have dejected him completely, and he’d feel terrible about it. It was ridiculous to believe that, but Blues wouldn’t take his chances. It was easier on his conscious as he thought about it. And he did not regret it.

“Alright Rarity,” Blues said to himself, “Time to meet the classiest stallion you’ve ever seen.”

Collateral Damage

Collateral Damage

“Hey Twilight!”

An assertive knock rapped on the library door, bringing attention to the unicorn and two earth mares sitting at the table. Twilight was unsure about letting her friend in at a time like this, but she didn’t want to be rude. Hesitantly, the unicorn opened the door with her magic.

“Uh, Dash. Now’s not a really good time…” Twilight uttered as the pegasus walked into the library.

The library was still a mess from the earlier reorganization. Books were still stacked in clutters all over the place, in the corners, on tables, and even on the stairs. Papers also littered the tables, detailing charts of specific categories of the books Twilight had. Some were even tacked to the walls next to the bookshelves. It reminded Rainbow Dash of a busy journalist, organizing notes to tell the perfect story for the papers.

But that wasn’t why Twilight was nervous about letting her in at this time.

“Why no- …uhh, why are you dressed like a cowboy?” Dash asked as she observed the unicorn behind the table.

From Dash’s view, she could see that Twilight was wearing a brown mariachi hat and a red bandana around her neck. Applejack, who was sitting at the table with her, was wearing similar hat different from her regular one. It seemed to be some kind of costume party because Apple Bloom was also there, her hair tied into a ponytail with a bow at the end. Dash was focused on Twilight though, restraining laughter even though the other two ponies in the room weren’t any different. It was just Twilight who seemed out of place in her outfit; the other two seemed to wear them naturally.

“Umm, well, it has to do with Applejack’s family reunion,” Twilight explained.

Applejack spoke up, “Our cousins over at Austallion are comin’ over for the rodeo show in a week, an’ Twilight wanted to get to know ‘em better.”

“Last time we had the family over was at the Summer Sun Celebration,” Apple Bloom spoke up, “But Twilight was busy at the time and couldn’t stay for the whole thing.”

“And there was the whole ‘NightMare Moon’ thing and all…” Twilight finished.

“Oh, right…” Dash understood as she looked away. Remembering what she was here for, she kicked her front legs modestly, trying to figure out how to deliver the bad news, “Um…”

“Do you need something?” Twilight asked, deciding to leave her spot at the table and approach the pegasus. It seemed that whatever she had on her mind, it was private.

“Well, I met this stallion a while ago. He was nice and…” she started.

Twilight gasped, “Are you telling me you have a crush on some pony?” she was more eccentric than she should be at the revelation. Applejack and Apple Bloom were both interested in the conversation at this point, but the pegasus was quick to correct her before they could speak.

“What? No! That’s not what I meant!” she said angrily, the unicorn looking upset. Dash sighed as she continued, “You see, I think he was here earlier today.”

“He?” Twilight parroted. The only pony who had visited his library today was… “…oh! You mean Blues?”

“Yeah, him,” Applejack’s ears perked up at the sound of the familiar name.

“Hold on. Blues was here?” she said, leaving the table to talk with the two, “I met him earlier this mornin’. Poor colt was mullin’ over half eaten roses over some hogwash about a date he had.”

“Date? The guy told me he was going to a fancy dinner,” Rainbow Dash explained, growing suspicious.

“Maybe he wanted to make his date a fancy dinner?” Twilight suggested, “I mean, Blues rented one book about that. Whatever he was preparing for, he wanted to make it special. I mean, he sure is a strange colt, the way his mind works.”

“Yer telling me,” Applejack agreed, thinking back to her time talking with the pony, “Feller’s quite a nice colt to talk to. He has this way with words that just makes you think…”

“Well, I don’t know about words,” Dash spoke up, “But the guy knows how to play a mean saxophone. Seriously. You guys need to hear him play sometime. He’s awesome at it.”

“I’m sure he is. He mentioned it before when he was here earlier,” Twilight then remembered Dash’s inquiry, “Oh right. Before we got off topic, you wanted to tell me something, Rainbow Dash?”

“Oh. Well, uh…” Dash said as she looked back to the doorway. She wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible, “I don’t know how to explain it, Twilight, but there’s something I need to show you…”

“Oh? What is it?” the unicorn asked as Rainbow Dash walked towards the door.

“Promise you won’t get mad, but…” she opened the door as Twilight walked closer to get a better view of whatever it was the mare wanted to show her.

On the porch of the library lay a pile of books familiar to the librarian. But as she got a closer look at them, the first thing she noticed was that one of them was smoldering and smelt of smoke. When she made out the fine print of the book, she realized what book it was, and what had happened to it.

“It wasn’t his fault,” Dash quickly explained.

Twilight’s eye twitched, her front leg quivering nervously as she stared at the unidentifiable mess that was her book, the same one she loaned to Blues earlier that day.

“…i-is that…?”

“It’s a long story,” the rainbow mare said.

PLOP!

And like that, Twilight fainted on the floor, out like a light from sheer surprise.

The room was quiet as they stared at the unconscious unicorn on the floor. Her mouth hung open as a small puddle of drool started to collect. Eventually, the silence was broken by an insensitive laugh belonging to the only flyer in the room.

“Hah! He was right! She would faint!”

Trotting down the road of Ponyville, the ever eccentric pink mare hummed to herself a happy tune. She was feeling a little happier than normal today thanks to a certain stallion she had met earlier. Pinkie Pie was always excited at the thought of making new friends, and today she had befriended an old pony she had met when she first moved into town. The encounter alone resurfaced old memories of her first days in Ponyville, and that made her extra grateful for meeting Blues again. Of course, there was also the birthday party she was planning for him in the future. She could just imagine the look on his face full of happiness and gratitude.

Or sheer confusion. He seemed to be the type to deny goodhearted attempts at happiness, just like Twilight had when she first moved into town. He just needed some pony to show him how to be happy. Pinkie made a mental note to add more circles to January the thirteenth on her calendar, after a quick trip to the convenience store for another pen.

The mare ceased her walking as she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. At the door to Rarity’s shop stood that blue stallion she had met earlier, fancily clad in a black suit, top hat, and a monocle over one eye. He stood there, taking deep breathes, before finally knocking on the door with a hoof.

Pinkie Pie cracked a smile at this. He did look very fancy in that suit of his and she knew that Rarity would adore his appearance. The mare restrained herself from approaching the stallion and decided she was to leave him and Rarity alone. It wasn’t her position to intervene and she knew better than to spoil a moment. And besides, she had to look for Applejack as per Mrs. Cake’s request. She wasn’t at the Apple farm, she checked, and she had wasted enough time bothering Big Macintosh there.

The mare walked away to the next place she thought Applejack would be. According to her brother, she was with Apple Bloom discussing plans for a party with their family in the future. As Pinkie was aware of every party in the village, she knew for a fact that Twilight was involved in these plans. And where else would the unicorn be? The library, of course. It’s not like the poor girl ever had much of a social life, anyways.

That silly unicorn…

But as she thought to herself, the mare’s trotting slowed to a walk. She thought back to Blues at Rarity’s door, dressed so well with a prideful posture. That was probably why he had those books in his saddlebags; he was preparing for a date with Rarity. Perhaps he wasn’t as shy as he thought. For him to boldly knock on Rarity’s door, dressed like he came right out of a fancy store, it probably meant he was looking to change his life by taking a shot at romance. Figures. The only thing that can get a stallion like him out of his woes was another mare to share it with.

‘I wanted to be that mare…’ Pinkie thought as she sighed, ‘I mean, not romantically. I wanted to show him how to have fun and how to not be sad all the time…’

Love wasn’t Pinkie Pie’s strong suit, but she knew it to be a completely different field of happiness from her usual methods. She wanted to show Blues joy, how to laugh over misfortunes, how to not be afraid of fun. If she had accomplished that, she could have changed his life for the better, to be more positive and social. But Blues had chosen to look for love for happiness. Pinkie couldn’t compete with that.

The mare shook her head. There wasn’t much she could do about it. If Blues succeeded, all of his troubles would be over. He’d be able to share his life with a mare, to support him and make him happy whenever he wasn’t. She wasn’t happy about losing her chance to share happiness with a stallion who needed it, but she had no say in another pony’s life.
Her only hope was that Rarity wouldn’t let him down.

“Gotta find Applejack…” Pinkie said to herself as she galloped her way towards Twilight library.

The sooner she could get the stallion off of her mind, the better.

Since Twilight awoke from unconsciousness, she had been bombarding the cyan pegasus with questions about the conditions of her book. The Apple sisters were silently listening to the rainbow mare explain herself as best as she could, but they were making it hard for her, interrupting every time she finished a sentence.

“You set his house on fire?!”

“It was an accident! Okay?!”

Like that.

The orange earth pony shook her head as Rainbow Dash gave an annoyed sigh. “Haven’t we told you before to stop performing yer tricks over town?” she pointed out, “Half ‘f the busted roofs in Ponyville are on yer tab.”

“Yeah, yeah, you told me,” Dash replied, sitting down and folding her arms, “I just thought practicing at a higher elevation might give me enough time to recover if I slipped up.”

“That didn’t save this book…” Twilight expressed sadly as she stared at her burnt book.

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. But I told you I’d pay for it,” the pegasus said as she rubbed the back of her head.

Twilight sighed and closed the book, “I need to go and file an order form. When I get a reply, I’ll tell you how much the fare will be.”

“Wait, can’t you just repair the book with your magic?” Dash asked curiously.

“Maybe if I had written this book myself and memorized every word and picture,” the unicorn sounded far more upset than she looked, “Maybe if there was a tear in the cover or a ripped page, I could fix it. But I can’t fix fire damage, especially since the words and images are lost. I’ll just have to buy a new one.”

Rainbow Dash was now remorsefully drawing circles in the floor. The unicorn was dishing out a major guilt trip on her now.

Twilight sighed, “Just don’t let it happen again. You’re lucky all you have to worry about is the damaged book fee.”

“Sounds fair,” Dash replied with a shrug, “At least I don’t have to pay right away.”

“The book originally cost forty three bits. It was a collector’s edition,” Twilight said sternly as she levitated a paper from her desk, “I hope you have that sort of money on hand when the order comes back.”

Dash couldn’t help but chuckle nervously. The unicorn was scary to deal with when it involved her business, and she took it seriously. Books are her life, after all, and she always made sure that the fines and infractions were paid for or else. She remembered that one colt, Caramel, who had borrowed a thesaurus once and was late to return it. When he did, it was in terrible condition not excluding the nibble marks on the corner.

Needless to say, no one dared return a book late after that.

“Ya know Dash,” Applejack spoke up, “I’m not too surprised that you set a colt’s house on fire. Heck, if it were any of us, I’d have expected Pinkie Pie to be the first. You know how unpredictable she can be.”

“Hey, that’s my cue!” Pinkie Pie called out, bringing attention to all the ponies in the library, “Hey Twilight! Is Applejack here?”

Twilight restrained a sigh. She was already dealing with enough frustrating things as it were and didn’t want to deal with the party pony today. She opened the door with her magic, letting bounce in the pink mare. Pinkie Pie ceased her hopping upon seeing Applejack and her sister present along with Rainbow Dash.

“Oh! Goodie! Applejack is here!” she exclaimed happily, “Oh, and Dash too.”

“And Dash too?” the mare in question repeated, almost offended that she didn’t sound as important.

Pinkie ignored her as she trotted towards the earth mare, “Hey AJ, Mrs. Cake wanted to know how that order of apples was coming along,” Pinkie Pie explained.

“Oh!” Applejack perked up at the memory of the order, “Right, the Galas. Well, the trees are due t’ harvest within a month or so,” she said, placing a hoof on her chin, “I reckon they’ll be ripe in time for the bake sale.”

The pink mare gave her signature smile and replied, “That’s great to hear! We’re counting on your awesome apples to make that bake sale!”

Pinkie Pie then noticed Twilight writing into a paper to her left. Naturally, the mare got curious as she had only ever seen her writing reports to Princess Celestia. Materializing next to the unicorn, Pinkie read what she could of her writing from over her shoulder, to the annoyance of Twilight. As the two mares looked at the paper, Dash decided to make small talk with AJ, particularly about their clothing.

“What’cha writing?” she asked, preening the paper with her eyes.

Twilight gave a small sigh and explained, “Just an order form for a book.”

The pink mare noticed a book on the desk next to Twilight, looking a bit out of place with its slightly charred cover. Curious yet again, she opened the book and was stunned to find the nearly incinerated pages open before her.

“Holy guacamole!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, combing the paper with her hoof. The cry brought the attention of the room to her, “What happened to this one?”

“I believe Rainbow Dash can answer that one for ya,” Applejack said slyly, pointing to the cyan pegasus silently groaning.

“It’s a long story. I set a pony’s house on fire,” she simplified.

“You what?! Is the pony okay?” Pinkie asked, fearing more for the victim than being surprised at the pegasi’s actions.

“Yeah, he’s fine. He actually has a party to go to later tonight and I helped him get a suit for it,” Dash said proudly.

“You think that’ll be enough to make up for the house fire?” Applejack joked.

“Hey, it was the least I could do to make up for it.”

“At least he didn’t make you rebuild it,” Apple Bloom pointed out.

“Trust me, the guy was very mellow about it,” the mare said, still perplexed by that conversation.

Pinkie looked back to the back and stared at the cover. How strange. The text was starting to look familiar to her…

“Wait a minute, I saw Blues carrying these to his house earlier today at lunch,” Pinkie said out loud, bringing the attention to her.

“You met him too?” Twilight said, rolling up the order form and setting it aside.

“Yeah. I just saw him at Rarity’s shop,” the pink mare explained.

“Hold up,” Apple Bloom spoke up, “Sweetie Belle mentioned somethin’ about a weird stallion that came by that place this morning.”

“She did?” Applejack asked. She didn’t like where this was going, “What was he doing there?”

“She said something about the pony holdin’ roses in his arm an’ lookin’ all fancy. He was shakin’ like a pony outside a locked bathroom. It was weird.”

It didn’t take long for the group to add up the clues in their heads. And if the conclusion was as they feared, their blue friend was in for some harsh heartbreak.

“…why’s everypony silent?” Pinkie asked.

Fluttershy couldn’t help but hum a happy tune as she trotted her way out of her cottage. The clock had struck three in the afternoon and the heat of the day was beginning to recede from the town. The pegasus was heading towards the Carousel Boutique, were Rarity, her unicorn friend, was waiting for her. It was time for their weekly get-together at the spa and she had booked a slot for the two earlier that day. The pair had done this since their first encounter, after Rarity had kindly shown her how to style her mane into the look it was now. The spa day was a sort of ritual for the two, as it was something they enjoyed.

Although Fluttershy did not show it, she was very interested in clothing and make up and how to look good, and Rarity was a great outlet for that interest. It was what got her into knitting in the first place, after watching the mare create some clothes from scratch. It was slower than using a sewing machine, but she liked working at her own pace and it was more of a hobby than anything else.

Today, though, she was going to have to pass on the bath. Earlier, she had just spent a bath with a stallion she had met there, a fellow by the name of Blues who seemed inept in the ways of spa care and baths. In a way, he sort of reminded her of herself when she was new to the world of cosmetics and hair. Like Rarity had done for her, she introduced the male to the inner depths of spas, and she was feeling good about herself because of that.

The walk into Ponyville had been mostly quiet, since the road to her home ran through a peaceful excerpt of nature and wilderness. Noise and activity usually picked up by the time she entered Ponyville, but the bulk of it all was closer to the center. Fluttershy preferred the peace and quiet and was thankful that the route to Rarity’s boutique and the spa ran through the more silent parts of Ponyville. That way, she could enjoy the sounds of wind and birds whistling right before enjoying a massage at the spa with Rarity.

That’s why she knew something was amiss when she heard the stampede of hooves approaching her.

Fluttershy saw in the distance the colorful cast of ponies running and kicking up dust as they ran. She recognized them as some of her friends, Twilight, Applejack, both of whom were wearing odd clothing, and Pinkie Pie, who was galloping instead of running, a sure sign that something was wrong. Twilight noticed the pegasus up ahead and brightened up from her previously worried expression. The others saw her and their worries began to ease as they approached her.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight exclaimed as the group slowed towards her, “Quickly! Have you seen Rarity?”

The timid pegasus took a moment to scan over her friends, who were a little exhausted from running but worried more so.

“Um, no,” she answered, “I was about to go meet up with her, though. Did something happen?”

Applejack raised her forelegs to resume running, “C’mon y’all! We ain’t got much time left!”

As the group rushed towards their destination, Fluttershy couldn’t help but feel the urgency of the situation overtake her. She began to run with the group in curiosity and in peril as she soon caught up to her friends. Oddly enough, the group was running in the same direction as the Carousel Boutique, which concerned the pegasus more as the group had asked about Rarity. She approached Pinkie Pie, who was the closest she could reach, and asked the question.

“What’s going on? Why are we running?” she asked over the rattle of hooves.

“A friend of ours is going to ask Rarity on a date,” Pinkie replied quickly.

“Huh? I don’t see what’s so bad about that,” Fluttershy replied.

“But he’s a blue pony who’s such a saddy waddy colt. He’s going to get his heart broken.”

“Blue pony?” Fluttershy thought back to the stallion she had spent a bath with earlier that day. When she understood the severity of the situation, how Rarity had sworn off of males after the Gala, her eyes widened and panic swept over her. “Oh no…”

Of all the mares in Ponyville, it had to be Rarity…

Rainbow Dash groaned painfully as she covered her mouth to remain quiet. The sting of rejection was so painful, and the sadness in his body was great enough that she could feel it from the distance. The woes of the stallion radiated as he turned around and walked away slowly, leaving the mares with a guilty expression. Dash slumped on the roof of the house she had been spying from, and cursed herself for arriving too late to stop the heartbreak. She looked to Rarity, who stared at the stallion as he slumped away in depression and disappointment, and couldn’t help but feel a little angry at her. Sure, she understood how Rarity was no longer interested in dating, especially after what happened at the Grand Galloping Gala, but the colt didn’t have to suffer for it. Regardless, Rarity apparently made herself clear to the stallion that she was not interested in dating anypony for the time being, but it was natural of Blues to have taken it as a personal insult.

To have been denied love by the prettiest mare of Ponyville. Blues must have been feeling pretty low right now, perhaps the lowest he’s ever felt in his entire life.

Not like he could have been blamed. He had spent his entire life mulling in disappointment, but he braved on believing in the light at the end of the tunnel. He had channeled his woes through that philosophy, that no matter how bad things got, it was necessary to keep a chin up. It was what made his music identifiable and relatable, how his tunes cheered up the sad and the melancholic into looking forward to the next day, despite setbacks. It was how Blues lived, as an example of that way of life.

But to have been denied happiness with the prettiest unicorn of Ponyville, he was at an all time low. He didn’t understand why the world tortured him so, or how fate was so malevolent. But he resolved his depression the same way he did with all of his other problems. He remembers that he was meant to live in blues, to embody the sadness so that others can be happy. He never questioned it, it never bothered him, but Blues was sometimes irked as to how he couldn’t have a break every once in a while.

Oh well, it couldn’t get any worse…

The herd of ponies were just around the corner to Rarity’s boutique. Blues could hear their loud stampede from the distance, but he disregarded it; loud commotion like that occurred every day in the village. Rainbow Dash noticed the incoming group and was quick to stop them from running into Blues’ line of sight. She flew downward and halted the herd before they managed to reach the corner.

“What happened?” Twilight quickly asked, “Are we too late?”

Dash said nothing and shook her head pitifully. Her sympathetic expression of disappointment told her friends all that they needed to know to understand what had happened. Like a contagion, the pony friends became saddened at the blue stallion’s misfortunes.

“We were too late…” Applejack uttered, “…where’s Blues now?”

Dash turned around and pointed to the lone stallion walking away in the distance. The group stared at the sad pony for a while before Dash became energetic again.

“I’m gonna go get Rarity,” she said as she spread her wings.

Before she could take off, the cowgirl pony snatched her tail within her mouth and held her down, “Hold on, there. Where do you think you’re goin’?”

“To make Rarity take the guy on that date, duh,” she replied.

“You can’t just make ponies go out with each other,” Twilight shot up, “It needs to be a mutual consent.”

“Well, somepony broke that guy’s heart, and I’m not gonna let him mope around when there’s a way to fix it,” Dash spoke up before attempting to fly off again.

Once again, Applejack stopped her, pressing a hoof on the rainbow pegasus’s tail. She anchored the mare to the ground as she spoke.

“You think that’s goin’ to fix everything?” Applejack asked, “I was wit’ the guy earlier this mornin’, so I know how he’s like. He’s not goin’ to get better with a forced date.”

“Oh yeah? Why don’t you date him?” the pegasus shot with a question, “You seem to know him so well.”

“Uh. Me?” Applejack replied in a surprised manner. She thought about it as she tapped her hooves together, but couldn’t come up with a valid reason to, “Uhh, I’d love to, but he’s not really my type. Plus, I’m busy wit’ all the apple buckin’ and farm maintenance.”

“Why don’t you date him, Dash?” Twilight spoke up, “You said you liked his music.”

“Me?” Dash responded curiously, but was quick to answer, “No thanks. He’s a great musician, but a really sad tart. Besides, I’m not looking for a date at the moment.”

“How about Twilight?” Applejack turned to the unicorn, “You two seem to like each other already.”

“Uhh, me?” Twilight said. She chuckled nervously before replying, “Um, he’s quite the introvert, but I like smart handsome colts that share an interest in learning. He’d make for a good friend, though.”

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie watched as the group bantered back and forth with each other. Fluttershy was thankful to have not been directly involved with the conversation as the subject was uncomfortable to her. It wasn’t that she didn’t like colts, she was just very shy in sharing her tastes in the opposite sex with her friends, no matter how close they were. Pinkie Pie, however, felt resilient to being excluded from the conversation. Not that she had anything to say, but she hated feeling left out of things. She just wanted to say something. Feeling like she was going to explode with anxiety, she opened her mouth.

“I know!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, bringing all attention to her, “Let’s all marry him!”

The group stared at the mare in shocked and confused silence as Pinkie held her stance upright. Feeling the silence getting to her, she looked around and saw that the others weren’t as certain of the idea as she was. Even though she only said it to be random, there was a minor truth to it if there was no visible solution to their problems.

“…what? Haven’t you girls heard of polygamy before?” Pinkie Pie asked.

While the girls uttered disgust at the concept, Fluttershy decided to take the opportunity to speak up.

“Umm, maybe we should go talk to Blues first,” she suggested, “And comfort him.”

The ponies snapped out of their thoughts and remembered the pony they were originally here for.

“Oh, right. Good idea,” Twilight said, “Rainbow Dash, you and Fluttershy try to get Rarity to come with us to speak to Blues. Me, Applejack, and Pinkie are gonna go comfort him in the meantime.”

“Where should we meet up?” Rainbow Dash questioned.

“If Ah know Blues, he’ll probably be at the Horte Cuisine,” Applejack said, “He was there this mornin’ when I found ‘im.”

“Then we’ll meet there,” Twilight said as she began her way to the diner, “C’mon girls. He’s gonna need our help more than ever.”

As the group split up, Twilight couldn’t help but worry about the stallion. She had known him the best of the five friends who met him that day, so she knew how his mind worked with disappointment. However, he had been building up a lot of expectations for that date with Rarity, and to be rejected after all that promise, it might be the last disappointment he could take.

‘I just hope that’s not the case,’ Twilight thought.

Today, Blues was going to need all the help he could get to recover from this disappointment.

The Generosity of Words

The Generosity of Words

“Gee, I wonder why they left in such a hurry.”

Spike examined a puzzle piece carefully and hovered it over the nearly complete board. It was difficult to tell where the piece belonged because of its simple coloring and lack of notable lines.

“Big pony stuff you don’t know about yet,” the dragon replied as he set the piece down for the moment.

The filly groaned at this answer, looking back at the dragon from the bookcase. If there was one thing she hated more than anything, it was being reminded that she was still little, and that automatically excluded her from the business of ponies like her sister. So what if she was young? That didn’t mean she wasn’t entitled to know what the grown ups were doing, or what channels she’s not supposed to watch. It just wasn’t fair.

“But Ah hate bein’ left out of these kinds of things,” Apple Bloom groaned as she sat across the reptilian, “Like how AJ never explained t’ me those magazines in her room, tellin’ me that I wasn’t old enough yet.”

Spike stared blankly at the filly, surprised to hear that Applejack was the kind of mare to look at those kinds of things. It reminded him of the one copy he had found in Twilight’s pillow a few weeks ago. The dragon suddenly found himself uncomfortable to be near the unicorn’s bed. He had yet to confront her about this, but he was too embarrassed by it. Plus, she’d scorn him for looking through her stuff, even though he had meant to find a book the unicorn had sent him to fetch.

Apple Bloom then realized what she had just said, looking at Spike with a pleading face, “Please don’t tell her Ah said that. She made me swore.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell…” Spike considered telling the filly about Twilight’s own copy, but thought against it, knowing Twilight would find out somehow. Plus, Apple Bloom tends to gossip.

“Phew. Anyways, Spike, can’t you tell me anything?” Apple Bloom said with a hint of frustration, “I’d like to know what this ‘big pony’ stuff is all about.”

Spike groaned sympathetically as he picked up another jigsaw piece, “I’d like to know too. All Twilight said was to keep an eye on you while they fetched Blues. Must be important.”

“Who is this Blues pony anyway?” Apple Bloom asked, honestly curious.

The dragon hummed as he thought back to the tea time Twilight had with the stallion that afternoon. He was busy at the time, looking for the books Blues wanted, but he tried his best to remember what he managed to overhear.

“Well, for starters, Blues isn’t your average pony,” he said as he looked at the puzzle piece in his claw, “The guy tends to get nothing but bad luck. Not like a curse or anything, but something that keeps him from finding true happiness.”

“Wow. That’s sad,” Apple Bloom remarked.

“I know. You can’t help but feel sorry for him,” Spike placed the piece in its appropriate spot on the table, “But amazingly, the guy has learned to suck it up and move on.”

“Huh. I know if Ah had nothin’ but bad luck, I’d be miserable to the core,” the filly thought, “At least I’m thankful Ah have mah friends to cheer me up.”

“Blues doesn’t have friends, though,” Spike pointed out, looking at a clutter of connected pieces, “He’s been by himself for most of his life, and he’s had to endure disappointment to get to where he is now.”

“No kiddin’!” Apple Bloom couldn’t believe her ears, “Why, if Ah knew a pony like that in mah classroom, I’d try to make friends wit’ him just to see him smilin’.”

“Well, that’s what the others are trying to do,” Spike connected a few more pieces to the group of pieces before him, “They really want to help the guy out of his sadness because they genuinely care for him. Maybe because he’s a special case, but those ponies aren’t the kind to turn down another in need.”

Spike connected another jigsaw to the clutter, the one that he couldn’t find a spot for. He looked it over, the stray colors beginning to align with the image of the complete puzzle.

“It’s like this jigsaw puzzle here,” Apple Bloom walked closer to observe the metaphor, “Blues is the center piece of the clutter here, and all of us are the ones around him.”

“I don’t get it,” the filly said.

“You see, Blues almost never keeps his chin up. He just shrugs things off and moves forward with his head down. The others want to help him see the bright side of things.”

Spike carefully took the cluster over to the nearly complete jigsaw puzzle.

“They know that happiness is accessible to everypony, so they want to help him see that,” he connected the pieces to the rest of the puzzle, “Friends like them can help other ponies see the big picture, that true joy is there, you just have to look up for once.”

Apple Bloom stared at the jigsaw as Spike waited for her to understand the concept. The completed jigsaw puzzle depicted a drawing of Celestia in the sphere of the sun, casting a shine all over a crowd of ponies underneath. Many of them were looking up at her while others were playing, chasing each other, and laughing. It was a simple puzzle with only a hundred pieces, but the notable thing about the picture was that no pony was by themselves.

And the clutter of jigsaw pieces was of a few ponies circled around a pony, smiling and happy.

“That makes little sense,” she said with a half lidded stare.

Spike sighed, expecting that, “Well, I tried. I’m not some poetic mastermind or something.”

“I think Ah get it, though,” Apple Bloom said, Spike becoming interested, “They’re tryin’ really hard to cheer him up, and they’re careful ‘bout losin’ him.”

“Well, it’s sorta like that, yeah,” Spike agreed.

Apple Bloom looked back to the door, wondering when her sister and friends were going to return.

“I wonder what was so bad that they all had to run, though…”

‘I should have known better…’ the stallion thought.

There he was once again, by his lonesome, sitting at one of the free tables of Horte Cuisine, without money, without food, and without a date. All his effort and practice for that date with Rarity, gone to waste. That engaging conversation he had with her? Meant little. His clean face and fresh mane? No effect. The fancy clothes he wore and sophistication he practiced? She didn’t want anything to do with him.

Not even the help of five great friends could break his bad luck streak, disregarding the fire caused by one. He had paid a lot for that date with Rarity. He spent money, he loaned books, and he even lost his house in a fire. And yet, he still remained hopeful, that despite these downsides, he had a shot at happiness. It was like the universe was testing him, throwing misfortune his way just to see if he could quit. If it weren’t for the generous support of those five mares, he probably would have. He probably would have just stayed home and focus on making a living. But in the end, none of it mattered.

She didn’t want anything to do with him, no matter how fancy he looked or how much he tried.

Now, he had nothing.

He sighed depressingly as the sound of stampeding hooves came his way. At first, Blues paid no mind to it, thinking they were some racing foals or something, until they stopped and three figures stood across the table from him. Looking up, he was surprised to see three familiar faces staring at him, putting on their best smiles to alleviate the mood. He could tell they weren’t real smiles, though. He saw that look too often in himself. They were hiding disappointment and sadness, trying to cheer him up.

It wasn’t going to work, though.

“Hey Blues,” Twilight was the first to speak, “Uh, how’d it go?”

Blues sighed, folded his arms, and looked away from the three mares. That pretty much was his answer.

“I reckon it didn’t go too well…” Applejack said, thinking about her next words, “Listen Blues, you need to understand somethin’ ‘bout Rarity.”

“No,” he quickly cut her off, surprising the group, “I know how it is. I’m just probably not her type, that’s all.”

“Hold on, Blues,” Twilight spoke up, “Rarity isn’t that close-minded. She acknowledges effort and attention to detail.”

“So I just wasn’t trying hard enough?” he said, setting down his hat, “I read books for it, I wore these clothes, I even practiced sophisticated conversation for her. And you’re telling me that it wasn’t enough?”

“It’s not that,” Applejack defended, “It’s just-”

He sighed loudly, “I shouldn’t have even bothered. Rarity’s too good for me, and I’m not good enough for any pony…”

The three ponies shared a long silence with each other. For a sad pony, Blues was stubborn at being unable to see the bright side of things. But it wasn’t like they could make him see the light. He was convinced that there was no bright side, that there was no silver lining or sunrise after the night. Blues actually believed it was his destiny to be perpetually sad and unhappy, and it was hard convincing him otherwise given his cutie mark and talent. Sure, he had three pretty mares telling him to cheer up, but considering his day, and how he’s met failure and disappointment after a lucky break, he wasn’t going to bother anymore. There wasn’t a point in trying for happiness anymore.

Blues just wanted to give up, go home, and stay in bed for the rest of his life.

“Hey Blues,” Pinkie Pie spoke up as she placed a hoof over his shoulder, “Would a party cheer you up?”

The stallion looked up from the table and into the mare’s concerned face. She had her smile on, her infectious smile, and her eyes were sympathetic. She was still that happy pony he met earlier, but this time she had an honest look in her eyes that wanted to share that happiness with him. Blues turned away and huffed an apathetic sigh, free of sadness and disappointment. Maybe he could use a party. Maybe he could do with some socialization. Maybe he could spend some time with his new friends.

Blues shook his head at these thoughts, looking like a no to Pinkie Pie’s request.

Where did all of these ‘maybe’s’ come from?

“Blues? Blues, are you there?” a pristine voice called out.

The stallion looked up at his name being called. In the distance trotted a beautiful unicorn of unrivaled grace, accompanied by two pegasi friends of hers. At first, he thought himself lucky once again to receive such concerned words by a mare like her; she rarely acknowledged stallions she rejected. Blues wanted to stare into those magnificent sympathetic eyes of hers, but recalling the denial from earlier, the stallion shyly looked away as the unicorn approached.

“There you are,” Rarity said as she reached the table, “Listen, hon. I heard everything, and I want to explain myself to you.”

The stallion stubbornly shied as the mare talked, earning an impatient groan from a rainbow pegasus.

Rarity frowned at this but continued, “Look, I want you to know that it wasn’t you. I didn’t know about your house being burned down,” She shot a quick glance at Rainbow Dash but continued just as quickly, “And, quite frankly, I didn’t know how much effort you put into your interest in me. Had I known any better, I would have spared you the rejection and…”

Blues stopped her with the raise of a hoof. He didn’t like where this was going.

“I appreciate the sympathy, really, I do,” he said, bringing it down, “But the last thing I need is attention for my misfortune. It’s nothing any of you need to be concerned about.”

“Nothing we need to be concerned about?” Dash parroted, “Dude, you lost your house because of me. Do you have any idea how badly I feel? And we’re here cutting you some slack, trying to cheer you up. And you tell us to not bother you about it?”

Blues sighed a little angrily this time, “Think of it this way. Imagine yourself as a little puppy in a pet store,” the ponies followed along, “For some reason or another, nopony notices you, because you’re nothing spectacular. Every other pet has something interesting about them, maybe they can do a trick or two, or because they have an interesting color scheme. Buyers just look at you and go on to the next, more interesting, pet.”

The group followed Blues example as best as they could, because they could sympathize with this situation. All of them, at one point or another, had been in such a situation, and they all earned their reputation through their talents or abilities.

“Now,” Blues continued, using his hooves for emphasis, “Imagine that the most attention you’ve ever gotten was because of some bad luck. Maybe you tripped and stubbed your muzzle or you accidentally trip over your bowl of water. What happens then?”

“Umm,” Fluttershy spoke up, “Ponies notice you?”

“Yes. They pat your head, lift your chin up and smile. And it feels good, that ponies look at you and cheer you up, and be nice to you. You feel safe and cared for, like you have friends to count on,” Blues looked down, “And then they leave and never come back. And you’re left with the withdrawal of happiness, and you kid yourself thinking ponies actually liked you for your self.”

The group exchanged glances at each other, understanding what he was talking about.

“And this continues for the rest of your life,” he continued, giving a small sigh, “You’re an uninteresting pony in a town of talented citizens, but you’re the one getting mistreated by destiny. Not only do you become uninteresting, lowly, and unhappy, you’re eternally known as that one pony who always needs a shoulder to cry on. You’re some pony who always needs a pick me up, who needs some friends because he’s so unfortunate. Because even if the things that happen to you aren’t your fault,” Blues slumped onto the table again, “Sooner or later, ponies give up on you. They get tired of you. You always have some sad story to tell, and ponies may be interested, for the time being. But when they realize that all you ever have are sad times, they leave before they get to know me more…”

The six friends remained quiet at this as Blues finished.

“…so I’ve given up on making friends. I’ve only had myself to count on, and frankly,” he tapped the table uninterestingly, “Even that’s working out poorly for me.”

“Wow,” Applejack spoke up, “I had no idea you were like that, Blues.”

“You didn’t mention any of this before,” Twilight said, “I thought you were a brave soul who endured the hardships of bad luck, but…”

“You’ve been without hope for such a long time,” Fluttershy continued, “It’s a miracle you aren’t eternally depressed or something.”

“Darling, there’s something I want you to know,” Rarity said as she took the spot left of Blues, “We aren’t like those ponies. We would never turn our rumps on you just because you’re being yourself. You must understand that me rejecting you has nothing to do with you, so you shouldn’t take it personally.”

“Oh, really?” Blues muffled through his sleeves.

“Hey, let the lady explain herself,” Rainbow Dash said as she zoomed in and stared down his face. Blues reeled back in surprise at this close up, and Dash followed, “She’s offering you her side of the story, so the least you could do is pay attention to her.”

Applejack would have held her back, but the pegasus was making a point. She herself would have personally made sure the stallion was listening to Rarity, because it was something he needed to hear. And besides, Dash was a better persuader than her.

Blues coughed his hesitation away and gave a nod to Rarity, who continued.

“Well, I was in your position once,” she began, “I once had my eyes on a dream stallion, the one colt that every mare wanted their hooves on.”

Blues became curious as he relaxed in his seat, interested in hearing more.

“His name was Prince Blueblood. I believe you know him as the nephew of Princess Celestia herself,” Blues nodded, somewhat familiar with the name, “It all started when I began my business at the Carousel Boutique, when I became more involved in things like town gossip and fashion. I needed to know things, like what my customers needed, what the popular trends were, and I didn’t want to be out of the loop.”

By this time, the other four friends decided to seat themselves at the table of interest, despite what little space there was for them. Rainbow Dash took her spot in a nearby cloud, thankfully giving the rest of her friends what little personal space they could salvage.

“Well, sooner or later,” Rarity continued, “I heard about Prince Blueblood. Interested, I looked him up in a magazine dedicated to the latest news concerning celebrities like him. It talked about everything about him, how he kept his hair cleaned and combed, how he kept his coat pristine and pure, and he had an admirable figure too, as the photos did not spare the detail of.”

The other ponies expected Rarity to start trailing off in her listing the prince’s features, but she kept her posture as she explained. Her apathy may have had to do with her previous encounter with Blueblood, and her shunning him entirely in her mind, so that she could keep a straight face.

“So, that’s when I decided to chase a foolhardy dream of wanting to marry the prince…” Rarity said, Blues noticing a tinge of disappointment in her eyes as she said this, “I want you to know that…you may have sacrificed a lot for your interest in me, and in that way, we are the same. But I sacrificed much more of myself for that prince. I forsook dates with other stallions, because I wanted to save myself for him. I worked hard at my job, because I wanted to look good for the stallion, while also advancing my business. I forced myself a brutal and strict diet, just so I could look good enough for him, for one stallion…”

Blues, for once in his life, felt sympathy for another pony. He always thought he was the unfortunate one, prone to losing out on good things and having bad luck fall on him. But compared to today, what he lost in attempting to impress Rarity couldn’t hold a candle to her years of self imposed torture, just for one stallion.

“So…what happened?” he asked, worried that the unicorn was going to break into tears.

“Well,” she brought out a cloth from nowhere and dabbed her eye with it, “One day, my good friend Twilight got us tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala,” she looked to the unicorn across of her and gave her a smile, who smiled in return, “And we were all on our way to the castle. When we arrived, we had all went our different directions, because we all had our hearts set on that place. My heart was set on Prince Blueblood, who was at the party, and I was more than excited to meet him. But then…”

“Take it from us, Blues,” Applejack intervened, sparing Rarity an embarrassing return to her memories, “He wasn’t all that hyped up to be.”

“Oh, he was less than that,” Rarity said, annoyance rising in her voice, “He was an embarrassment to the Royal Family! The stallion was only concerned with himself. He was spoiled. He made himself out to be too good for anypony. And on top of all that, he used me as a shield for flying cake! I may be a fashionista, but at least I’m not a selfish, ill mannered, brat!”

Rarity let out a deep sigh as she slumped in her seat as well. Blues had backed away from the unicorn as she complained about the prince, not paying attention to the mare behind him, and relaxed in his spot when Rarity had cooled down.

“So, I take it that it wasn’t the best night ever?” Blues asked.

“Well, you could say that…” Rarity said as she straightened herself up, “Thankfully I had my friends to help me cope with the disappointment that was Blueblood,” she gave them all a pleasant smile as they all returned the affection, “But the recoil of the incident left me rather…empty.”

“This leads us back to today,” Twilight spoke up, “You see, Rarity had put a lot of effort into Blueblood, like you did, Blues.”

“Yeah. And you can see how horrifying it was for her,” Applejack said.

“Rarity had sworn off dating ever again, because Blueblood, well…” Fluttershy spoke up, but didn’t know how to finish her sentence.

“Blueblood was an inconsiderate poopiehead,” Pinkie Pie chimed in, “I wanted to cheer her up, but every time I brought him up, she just stared at me scarily, and made me pinkie swear to never speak of him again.”

“Yeah. She spent the next few weeks churning out dress after dress, almost never leaving her house,” Dash said, “It hit her that hard.”

“It’s true that my experience with Blueblood had been…worse than bad,” Rarity said, placing a hoof on the stallion’s shoulder, “But I want you to understand that me denying your offer had nothing to do with you. I’ve just been recovering from that night and I have been committed to seeing no more dates since then. So, no hard feelings.”

Blues breathed a much needed sigh when the mares finished. It all seemed clear to him now. Rarity had gone through much worse with that Prince Blueblood she had been admiring for years, and the incident kept her from seeking relations with other stallions for comfort. Perhaps that’s why it was so hard for the other ponies to score a date with her. She wasn’t interested in dating. She just needed more time to cope with her own disappointment. It’s a miracle that the event hadn’t ruined her, still sewing dresses, still making orders for Hoity Toity, and still being successful. She had a lot of hope riding on that dream prince of hers, but to be shattered so unceremoniously, Blues could fully relate to her.

He couldn’t blame her anymore.

“Hey, Blues,” Rarity said, tapping his shoulder, “I still feel bad about today. How’s about I take you up on that date?”

The other ponies were surprised at this, seeing Rarity wanting to try dating again, even after six months since the Grand Galloping Gala. For Blues, he thought he was about to have a lucky break once again. This time, the mare was reconsidering taking him up on his offer, to finally have a chance at happiness to share with another pony. The other fives mares leaned in as they anticipated his answer, hoping that Blues would agree to the offer he earlier proposed.

However, despite Blues’ tendency to take whatever he could get when it came to luck, he had to be more honest with himself. It wouldn’t be right.

“Thanks for the offer, Rarity,” he said, “But I’m gonna have to say no on this one.”

The group resounded with a quiet “Huh?”, with Rarity being more surprised than the rest of them.

“But I thought you wanted to get to know me better?” she inquired.

“I did, but…” he looked out to the mares before him, “It wouldn’t be right. I have to earn it. I have to earn my happy ending, so that I can keep it longer. Besides, I see us more as friends now rather than an ideal couple.”

“Well, if that’s how you really feel, then,” Rarity seemed slightly disappointed, but she eventually came to understand his motives, “I trust you will find the right mare for you one day.”

“Thanks,” Blues said with a smile, then became optimistic for once, “And, I think I finally get what it means to really be happy.”

The mares became excited again as the stallion may have finally understood the meaning of friendship they had been trying to teach him. Pinkie, in particular, leaned in hoping it was what she wanted to hear of Blues.

“It’s not really about the romance when it comes to happiness. That’s a different kind of happiness entirely,” Blues straightened his back as he spoke, “It’s about having friends who you can depend on, and friends who will listen to you when you are down. We all have our sad times, and real friends help us up when we’re down. That’s why we have to share our happiness with each other, whenever happiness is had. And we can’t hide our sadness from them either, or else it’ll hurt them even more. You can’t be afraid to be sad, not when you have great friends, because you can count on them to make you happy again. Real friends stand by with you, no matter who you are or how bad things can get. You all taught me that, and I can’t thank you enou-“

Pinkie didn’t let the stallion finish as she had him wrapped tightly in a big hug.

“Aww! You’re welcome, Blues! You should be so happy to have friends like us,” she finally let go, giving the colt a chance breathe.

“Yeah, well…” Blues cleared his throat, “That’s something I’m going to have to get used to.”

“So, you’re feeling better now?” Twilight asked.

Blues breathed before answering, “Well, yeah. I mean, I don’t have anywhere to sleep tonight,” he continued before the mares could grimace at this, “But a work buddy of mine is going to let me stay over at his place while they’re rebuilding my apartment.”

The group sighed at this as Pinkie Pie was the first to get up from her seat.

“You know what this calls for?” she exclaimed happily, “A party! We should have a special party for Blues to celebrate him joining our circle of friends,” the mare then excitedly looked in the direction of Sugar Cube Corner, “Oh! I should go and make preparations for it. I should also ask Mr. and Mrs. Cake permission for it. But I know they’re going to say yes anyway, but you can never be too sure.”

“Uhh, that’s great and all, Pinkie,” Twilight spoke up, “But I’m kinda-”

Before she could finish, the pink mare sped off towards the bakery, more excited than ever at the thought of having another party so soon.

“-busy…” Twilight finished, “Sheesh, that pony will party for any reason nowadays.”

“That’s Pinkie Pie, fer ya,” Applejack said, “It wouldn’t be like her to have no reason to party. Makes me think she runs on partyin’.”

“Heheh, that’d explain a lot,” Dash joined in as she landed, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her sleep even.”

Rarity playfully raised a brow at this, “Oh? And how would you know, Dash?”

The rainbow mare looked at the unicorn quizzically until it hit her what the question implied, “Oh ha ha ha. Very funny. Ask the tomboy that question.”

“Sorry dear,” Rarity chuckled, “You left yourself open for that. You really need to be more careful with what you say.”

The mare groaned and looked away, “Yeah, whatever.”

Blues couldn’t help but chuckle at this exchange. He didn’t know if real friends acted like this or not. Or maybe this was a uniqueness of this circle of friends. All of them just acted as themselves, and they didn’t degrade or mock the other for it. It was a nice and welcomed change of pace for Blues to start his socializing skills with. And if these friends could learn to accept him for himself, maybe he’d start liking himself more.

Maybe having friends wasn’t so bad after all.

“But really, though,” Twilight spoke up, “Am I the only one who finds Pinkie’s parties a bit tiring?”

“Not really,” Applejack spoke up, “But she always wants to have a party everyday, and I can’t go them all the time. I got work.”

“I’m always down with a party or two,” Dash spoke up, “But remember that one week? When Pinkie was throwing four of them in a row? Yeah, I was barely able to fly after the third one. Too tiring.”

“I know she means well,” Rarity said, “But I always somehow get cake in my hair after each one. And cleaning it out can be very troublesome.”

“Umm…” Even Fluttershy had something to object about the pink mare’s parties, “I’m still sore from the last one…”

“Maybe we should talk to Pinkie about taking it easy?” Twilight suggested, “Her parties are fun and all, but we can’t always be wasting our time having fun. Work is important too.”

As the group spoke, Blues found himself appalled at their behavior. How could they talk down Pinkie Pie’s party like this? Sure, maybe it would be tiring to have them consecutively, but have they ever thought of saying no before? It wasn’t like they had to go, and Pinkie didn’t seem like the kind of mare to eternally hate them for it. Did they even understand the point of her parties?

“It’s not like she parties for no reason,” Blues spoke up.

The group looked to him, almost forgetting he was there.

“You know, you really shouldn’t take her for granted,” he said, “I mean, can you throw a party like her?”

“Uhh…” Twilight was the first to speak for the group, but couldn’t give a proper answer that wasn’t ‘yes’.

“Thought so. And it’s not like all she ever wants to do is party with you guys,” Blues continued, “She makes those parties so that you can all have fun and smile. And she only makes special exceptions for you girls.”

“But,” Dash tried to defend their points, “She parties all the time. We know that she means well, but what are we supposed to do about it?”

“You could just say no,” he suggested, “It’s not like she’ll get angry or anything. Do you really think she won’t understand? She parties all the time. It’s not like missing one party will hurt her feelings forever. And I’m pretty sure she can wait until the next time you’re ready for a party.”

The five ponies looked at each other, unsure of how to reply to that.

“We didn’t want to turn down her generosity,” Applejack said, “We really do like her parties, but I guess we forgot what it means to share a party with Pinkie.”

“All she ever wants out of you is for her friends to have the time of her life,” the stallion continued, “And you should be a little more grateful for her efforts.”

Rarity intervened before he could go on, “We get it, darling,” she placed a hoof on his shoulder, “We didn’t mean to undermine our friend and her behavior. We were just expressing how tiring it can be around Pinkie Pie. You wouldn’t know, though.”

“Yeah, you were kinda dragging the whole guilt trip,” Rainbow Dash said, “Not cool, man.”

The blue stallion realized this and slumped back down onto the table, “Sorry. I just…she’s throwing this party for me, and I think it’s nice of her. And then you all started talking about how you don’t enjoy her parties much…”

“Oh no, it’s not that,” Fluttershy said, “We’d gladly have a party in your honor. We were just contributing to the conversation.”

“Yeah. We have nothing against Pinkie,” Twilight said, “But you’re right. We shouldn’t take her parties for granted, and we should learn to say no sometimes.”

“I usually do,” Applejack said, earning a bit of surprise from the others, “But then I feel guilty and I end up going anyways.”

“And you leave the extra work to Big Mac?” Rainbow Dash said with a smirk.

“…well, when you remind me o’ that, I end up feelin’ even more guilty,” she said with a chuckle.

“Yeah. Sometimes we’re too busy to party with her, and it can intervene with work. We should speak our mind the next time she throws one,” Twilight suggested, “I can only hope Pinkie understands.”

“I hear my name again!” Pinkie said as she sped back to the table. She toted a large sack full of unknown items, but from the shape, it looked like a lot of paper, “Okay guys. The Cakes gave me the ok for the party. But I’ll need help to pass out the invitations before sunset.”

Blues hadn’t noticed it, but the sun was already on its way towards the horizon. It looked to be about four in the afternoon, maybe later. The long talk with his new friends had been an enjoyable waste of his time, he could say that much.

“We’ll help, for sure,” Applejack said, “I just need to make a quick trip to the farm to tell Mac about the party.”

“Maybe he’ll want to come?” the purple unicorn suggested.

“Yeah. I bet the guy could definitely use some time off,” Dash forwarded the idea.

“I’ll ask him about it,” the farmer agreed.

“Great!” Pinkie exclaimed as she dropped the sack onto the table, “The party starts at seven, so I’ll need everyone to drop off one invitation at each house.”

“Wait,” Blues spoke up, “How many ponies are coming over?”

“Everypony, silly!” Pinkie gave a short stack to Blues, “Tell all your frie- well, tell every pony you know!”

“Oh…” he couldn’t help but smile fondly at the gesture. To see what lengths the mare was going for just for him. It had been a long time since he had received such kindness.

Rarity, on the other hand, had noticed something other than joy in the stallion. An all too familiar feeling.

“You can count on us, Pinkie,” the rainbow pegasus said, taking the most invitations she could gather in both arms.

“Thanks again guys,” she abandoned the sack to her friends and walked onwards towards the bakery again, “I’ll be at the Sugar Cube Corner setting up everything, so come back when you’re all done.”

Blues took the pink letters and stood from his seat, feeling helpful all of a sudden as the others took their respective batches. The six ponies split up from the table of the diner, but before Rarity left off to her duty, she closed in on the blue stallion to sneak a word with him.

“Blues,” she said, surprising the colt, “I understand what you really meant when you were defending Pinkie back there.”

“Huh?” he didn’t get it.

“I know that act. I’ve seen it before,” Rarity let herself smile, “And quite frankly, I know she’ll appreciate your words too, if you told her yourself.”

“Uhh, I don’t follow,” Blues said honestly.

“Talk to her at the party,” Rarity said as she took her own direction, “Because I think you’re special to her too.”

Blues wanted to ask what she meant, but the unicorn had already walked off into town to pass out the invitations. Disregarding it, the stallion looked at the letters and admired the writing. Blue and pink hearts pasted onto the envelope. Pink ink on pink paper. Illegible, but so impractical the recipient would know it could only have been from Pinkie Pie.

But in these invitations was just about everything the stallion had ever wanted. Friends, joy, happiness, and promise. And he had a special mare to thank for that.

“Pinkie…” he pressed them onto his chest, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” the mare randomly said in the living room of Sugar Cube Corner.

“Uhh, what was that?” Mr. Cake asked from the kitchen.

“What was what?” she asked back, earning a confused stare from the shop owner.

“Uhh…never mind,” he retreated back into the kitchen as Pinkie resumed hanging the streamers over the railings.

‘I’ll make this the best night you’ve ever had Blues,’ the mare thought, ‘Because you’re right. I do want to share my happiness with everypony, in the only way I know how. And I want to make ponies smile, all of them, especially the special ones close to me.’

Blues may have not succeeded in finding happiness the way he wanted to, but at least happiness found him.

‘I’ll be that mare, to keep you smiling.’

Of Blue Notes and Pink Surprises + Epilogue

Of Blue Notes and Pink Surprises

Blues had never felt so appreciated in his life before.

True to Pinkie’s word, she had invited every pony in Ponyville for the party. Well, almost every pony. A few were missing out since they were either too busy or too sleepy to engage in the party. The Mayor was noticeably absent, but her assistant managed to make an appearance, at least. She was trying to make chat with Big Macintosh, whom had miraculously decided to spare tonight for the party. Apple Bloom was there too, as well as several foals accompanied by their parents or siblings.

The bulk of the party was inside the Sugar Cube Corner, and the guests made themselves at home in the living quarters of the building. The dining area and foyer was filled with ponies having a good time, but the kitchen and upstairs were off limits. Pinkie Pie was occupied in the kitchen along with Mrs. Cake to make snacks and drinks for the party guests, and the upstairs was were the family slept. They didn’t want any pony sneaking up there for whatever reason.

Tables and chairs surrounded the bakery since the building could not house every pony at once. Several of the town’s farmers had their own stands set up out there to sell there own goods for hungry partiers. Carrots, lemons, apples courtesy of Big Macintosh, hay, bags of oats, grapes, candies, and all sorts of foods were featured at the party thanks to the sheer variety of produce the farmers made.

The party would have been bigger had absolutely every villager attended the party. Pinkie Pie tried to get Mayor Mare to come, but she had late night paperwork to do. Others like Silver Platter, Lyra, and Sepia were too busy to attend the party, something to do with early morning business. But still, she tried her best, and that mattered the most to a pony like Blues.

Streamers lined every wall of the house wherever a nail was, and there were a lot of nails everywhere suspiciously. Balloons hung in bunches in every corner of the building, although a few of them had been popped courtesy of the daycare stallion, whom Pinkie promptly scolded. And the tables had been topped with all sorts of sweets and drinks, so much so that the sheets were barely visible underneath. And the music had been provided by the town’s DJ Vinyl Scratch, an old acquaintance of Blues back in Music Academy but had lost contact with each other after graduation. Blues was grateful that she still showed up; at least she remembered him.

Needless to say, the party was magical. It was as if the entire town had forgotten about his bad reputation and came to share their happiness with him. Either that or they knew about the free food.

But this time, Blues pretended it was just the former.

“So you play the saxophone?” BonBon, homeowner and occasional baker, asked Blues.

“Well, yeah. I do a few tunes over at Hoofington’s Pub,” he felt rather glorious over his talents tonight.

“Can you play something for us, then?” Carrot Top asked.

“Uhh,” he wasn’t however, prepared to prove himself, though.

“Yeah! Play us something!” Another mare asked. Was her name Linky or Shoeshine? He couldn’t remember.

Blues dug into his mind for an excuse, “But, the DJ is still playing.”

“Oh. Hey DJ!” Carrot Top shouted across the room.

Vinyl managed to hear the mare’s call over the pounding waves of the music. The gardener made a few motions with her arms, which Vinyl understood, nodded, and promptly lowered the music to mute.

“Ok, you have the floor,” the orange mare said as she turned to him, “Go show us your stuff.”

The crowd began to murmur at the disappearance of the music. Blues didn’t want to get on stage and perform, but the mares he was talking to beckoned, pushing him through the crowd. He shyly walked up on stage next to Vinyl’s turntable, drawing the attention of all of the ponies in the room.

“But,” he nearly whispered, “I don’t have my sa-”

Before he could finish, the DJ handed him a black case, which Blues knew was his saxophone. He looked at the mare curiously, who tilted her head to the stallion nearby, who waved his hoof at him with an innocent smile.

‘Caramel, I’m going to kill you,’ he thought.

He took the case from Vinyl, uttering silent thanks, and opened it to retrieve his instrument. He set it next to him and reached for the secret compartment, looking through his sheets for some impressionable music to play for his sudden crowd. Nervousness got to him as he breathed anxiously, his heart pounding loudly, as he found no suitable tunes to play for the crowd, at least none that weren’t depressing or blue. He feared he’d have to makeup something original just for them.

Blues hated performing in front of audiences, especially a packed room like this. It wasn’t anything like the crowd at Hoofington’s Pub, as it was only a fraction of the audience before him. Maybe if half of the crowd didn’t know he existed, he might have stirred up the courage to play a tune or two. But he had the whole room’s undivided attention, silently waiting for him to start playing his music.

He took a glance up at the crowd, the majority of them eyeing him in anticipation, a few of them taking a moment to admire the food table. He could see Applejack and Twilight in the room, just as anxious to see him play, with a few more ponies walking in from outside to see what happened to the music. Blues was extremely nervous now, as the crowd was only going to grow bigger if the outside group joined with the inside for this concert, and he really didn’t want to disappoint.

But then he noticed something pink in the corner of the room. Peeking out from the kitchen, looking out into the crowd before seeing Blues, she smiled at him with her usual smile, and stared with her own blue eyes. And then she gave him a wink of confidence, earning a quick blush on the musician before the mare retreated into the kitchen.

Suddenly, the notes before Blues didn’t matter anymore. He pushed them all back and closed the case. The stallion placed the saxophone before him and licked his lips. He knew what kind of sounds he wanted to play.

‘This one’s for you, Pinkie,’ he thought.

And what melodious sounds they were.

The song started with an ominous feeling of nothingness, even though a beat was present. It was low, silent, and moldable like a fresh block of marble. But as he played, the tunes picked up in pitch. It was like a seedling sprouting from coldness and barrenness, the way the tunes rose. The audience had become captivated by these noises, anxious to hear how the beat continued, anxious to see what this sprout would grow into. As Blues played, suspenseful notes sounded off besides the beat, a build up of trouble and anxiety alongside this plant, ready to swallow it again in nothingness. But then those ominous notes rose again, as if that sprout was growing higher and higher, to the heavens to pierce the shadowy clouds.

The audience could only hold their breath at the apex of the song.

The sprout had pierced the sky and bloomed in the open sun, widening its petals to absorb its rays. The tunes had dramatically shifted to a march like step of triumph, still being consistent with the earlier beat. The audience could feel it, that happiness resonating from those notes. Those victorious tunes playing were feelings of joy hard earned and fought. It was the emotion of success and vigor playing from his saxophone, as if they were staring at the very sprout that had transformed to become a tree that overtook the heavens. It was the kind of happiness that was contagious, seeing something so grand and victorious, you couldn’t help but feel happy hearing those tunes.

The end of the solo came and Blues slowed down to a gentle but sad beat. It emanated envy and realization, that you couldn’t be like that flower high over the sky. It made you feel like a sprout yourself, and how you’d never be able to grow as big as the flower. It felt hopeless to try…

The song ended with a final uplifting beat. The sounds were almost motivational, as if anyone could seek the light of happiness like the one who tried. It made all the plants rise up in hope, that happiness is always possible and always within reach. A sort of pep talk in musical form, it was inspirational in that you could reach that level of happiness if you tried. But you’d never find out if you didn’t grow.

For many ponies like Blues, he didn’t have happiness. He wasn’t able to be happy until he tried. It may have not happened the way he tried, but a certain pony had helped show him the way. This song was dedicated to the one pony who helped him realize this.

The light of happiness was accessible to any pony. You just have to stand up and reach for it.

“That was amazing!” the crowd resounded as cheers and applause sounded off.

Blues bashfully rubbed the back off his head as the crowd walked up on stage to congratulate him. As the ponies crowded him with applause, he quickly placed the saxophone away in his case and closed it. He was still wary of would be thieves stealing his most precious item, especially in crowds like this, so he gave it back to Vinyl who he knew would keep it safe. Call him paranoid if you will, but knowing his luck, he took no chances.

With his sax put away safely, he freely took in the praise of the audience. Many mares asked him to play some more or inquired about how busy he was the following day. Blues just nodded to the crowd, unable to discern the ponies from their questions. However, he was very grateful for the praise he got here. The bar he worked at barely had this amount of customers to listen to him, and only a fraction of them appreciated his music. This was a very welcomed change of reception, though.

‘That reminds me,’ Blues thought.

“If you want to hear more of that,” Blues shouted over the crowd, the ponies silencing to better hear him, “Stop by Hoofington’s Pub at eight o’ clock in the night, Tuesdays and Thursday through Saturday. I’ll be there.”

The crowd only cheered at this. Blues couldn’t help but smile.

‘You’re welcome, House,’ he thought.

“…and then PLOP! Twilight goes out like a light.”

The table laughed at the retelling of the mare’s tale, hooves pounding, Twilight chuckling embarrassingly, and good times being had.

Blues was now seated outside on a large table, accompanied by his new friends. This time the table was large enough to seat all seven of them, with an extra spot to spare. There used to be a cake in the center, but Pinkie thought it obscured everyone’s view too much and volunteered to ‘slay’ it. Thankfully, Twilight suggested that it’d be divided into seven equal pieces, one for each of them. The slices were on their way of being eaten as the group talked, Pinkie’s own slice disappeared as soon as she got her hooves on it.

“Don’t forget, you’re still going to have to pay it off,” the unicorn reminded her.

“I know, I know,” Dash replied as she took another bite of her cake.

“It still amazes me how emotional you get over books, Twi,” Applejack said, wiping a tear from her eye.

“Don’t blame me. I take books very seriously,” she defended, “Like how you take apples seriously, or how Rarity takes fashion seriously.”

“I must sympathize with Twilight here,” the other unicorn spoke up, “Why, if my favorite dress ever got ruined somehow, I’d probably faint too.”

“You do a lot of fainting, now that you’ve mentioned it,” Dash said as she swallowed, “Think that’s healthy for you?”

Rarity was about to answer, but found herself short of evidence, “…you know, I’m not sure. I should check with Nurse Redheart. It might be bad for my complexion.”

“Yeah,” Pinkie spoke up from her plate, face covered in chocolate cake, “Like those white hairs of yours.”

At this, Rarity was quick to panic and brought out her mirror, “White hairs?! Where?!”

After a minute or so of scanning the mirror frantically, the unicorn realized that she was already covered in white ‘hairs’.

“Pinkieeeee…” she said in annoyance.

The group laughed again at this, with Rarity pouting but soon joined in on the laughter.

“So Blues!” Pinkie quickly said to the stallion next to her, “How are you enjoying the party?”

The pony took a moment to look at his plate. He had half finished his chocolate cake doused in frosting, but it wasn’t because he wasn’t hungry, he was enjoying the conversation with the six mares before him. Speaking of whom, he looked over them and thought about what made them such great friends. Applejack, the farmer who quickly befriended him over an exchange of words, is a great listener and pony who could offer him great advice to brave insecurities and failure. Twilight Sparkle, the librarian whom he chatted with over tea and books, is a great intellectual and a wonderful pony to share his thoughts with. Fluttershy, the pegasus that shared a bath with him in absolutely no suggestive manner, is a very kind pony who is not afraid to speak her thoughts in order to help him understand things he didn’t know. Rainbow Dash, the mare who set his house on fire, is a very strong pony who could be depended on for tasks no matter how major. Rarity, the unicorn who denied him the date he had been working for, is a very generous pony with an honest career who knows just how others are feeling with just a glance.

And Pinkie Pie…

Pinkie Pie. She was an odd one, perhaps the best of the six if he were to choose a favorite. All she did for him was give him a free lunch, but Blues found it hard to forget about her. She had this strange ability to make others smile no matter how down they were, and if her normal efforts didn’t work, a party was in order.

And the party…

“I’m enjoying it very much,” Blues happily answered, earning a wide smile from the mare.

“Glad you like it! We haven’t had a party like this since Twilight moved into town,” Pinkie said, taking another dive into her cake.

“Really? How was it like?” he asked.

“You wouldn’t know it, but Twilight was very antisocial back then,” the mare said as she cleaned off her face in one quick wipe of her tongue.

“Huh. How’d she turn around?” Blues asked.

“It’s a long story,” Pinkie quickly cleaned off her plate before setting it down.

As the two talked, Rarity could only smile and take a sly sip of her milk. She watched the two converse with each other, with Pinkie emphasizing certain parts of her story with waving arms and Blues chuckling at her childishness.

Blues was laughing.

‘Of course, she’s the only mare who could make somepony like him happy,’ Rarity thought as she shifted her attention away from the two ponies.

She had noticed it for a while now. She saw how deeply he cared about that mare, and how she had made him genuinely happy through her antics and motives. Of course, Pinkie acted like that to every pony she met and threw a party for, but when it came to this stallion, the pony who went by the name Blues, she swore she saw those feelings returned. As if she owed him happiness. Pinkie genuinely cared for the stallion as well, and on a deeper level than the rest of her friends.

All he had to do now was to realize those feelings.

‘Good luck, Blues.’

The party continued well into the late hours of the night, the clock ticking past eleven. Confetti and a few slices of cake had littered the floor, with a few fresh stains on the couch and rug apparent. It was an hour ago when party guests began to leave the party to hit the hay for the night, most of them were early nighters and others were parents or siblings going home to lay their young to sleep. With the minors gone, the alcohol was introduced to lighten up the mood of the place and to refresh the tired partiers. A smaller crowd was easier to maintain should the majority of them become intoxicated, so the alcohol was saved until guests started leaving. Half of the original crowd had already gone home to rest, with only one forced escort courtesy of Pinkie Pie. Apparently Pierce couldn’t help himself to those balloons again.

Nevertheless, the party maintained a calm atmosphere thanks to the alcohol, as the drinks helped the guests relax after being tired from the music and the dancing. Vinyl was now just leaving a chill beat to play throughout the house, the tunes somewhat inspired by a certain saxophonist. She never left her turntable, keeping an eye on his saxophone and getting her sustenance from the party mare should she ever become hungry. Otherwise, she was enjoying herself in this party made for Blues.

Speaking of whom, that very stallion was now idly leaning on the windowsill of the living room, elbows rested on the ledge as he stared out at Luna’s moon and stars. The other ponies he had been talking to had already left for their own reasons. Applejack had to leave with her brother because they had to wake up early for work the next morning. Twilight left so that she could get an early start on cleaning up the library the next day. Rainbow Dash left, saying something about visiting a news press or something, and took back Blues fancy clothing he had worn earlier that day. And Rarity had gone home early to escort Fluttershy to her cottage, who was otherwise too scared to brave the dark. The only mare of those six left was Pinkie Pie, who happened to be standing right next to him.

“Hm?” the stallion looked to the party mare, looking casual as ever, “Oh Pinkie. Hey.”

“Hey,” she responded with another smile, “Still enjoying the party?”

“Yeah. I mean, I don’t drink, really,” Blues said, addressing the introduction of alcohol to the party.

“That’s ok, I don’t drink either,” she said as she took a spot next to Blues and stared out into the night sky.

Blues shuffled a bit, not recalling the last time he’d been this close to a mare before. Discounting crowded schoolrooms and coincidental positions, he’s never made contact like this before. There had been a few dates before back in school, but they were mostly awkward times and the mares were usually uninterested in him. Some of them had left him for other colts or for personal reasons, memories he’d rather not remember. But as far as Blues remembered, no mare had ever willingly got this close to him.

“Hey Blues,” the mare spoke up, “I heard what you said to my friends.”

“Heard what?” he asked.

“About my parties,” she looked to him with a sly face.

The stallion looked away embarrassingly, “Uh, you heard all that?”

“No, I reread it,” Pinkie said with a smile, earning a confused glance from Blues, “But I thought it was nice of you to say that about my parties. Nopony ever really wonders what my parties actually mean.”

“Err, yeah, I figured,” he commented, “I mean, who could object to a party? It’s more like, hey guys! A party! Buck yeah!”

“I know, right?!” she beamed, “I mean, I don’t always have a party just to have a party.”

“You throw parties to spread joy and good times,” Blues finished.

The pink mare smiled back at him, “Exactly. I haven’t heard anypony figure that out, though.”

“When you live your life full of disappointment and misery,” Blues said, “I tend to make a habit of finding happiness in the littlest of things. Since, you know, I don’t usually have a good day, I make the most out of what I can get. So I genuinely knew how good a party was when there was one to be had. It’s kinda weird to say that considering, well, my lack of parties…”

“See, that’s what I meant,” she responded, “I knew a poor stallion like you hasn’t ever had a party for him. I could tell by how sad and pessimistic you were. That’s why I made sure to make this party extra special for you.”

“I wonder,” the stallion remarked, “How are you going to top this for my birthday?”

The question was dripping with competitiveness, as if he were wondering how Pinkie was going to make his birthday party be better than this one. Although the pink mare had a habit of missing tones, she seemed to catch this one immediately.

“Just you wait and see,” Pinkie said in her usual happy tone, “It’ll be a birthday you won’t forget. I can promise you that.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Blues said, unable to hold back a sassy smile.

It was strange. The earlier day he had resented the thought of such a party. But after the turn of events from today, and growing to befriend the six infamous ponies of Ponyville, he was actually looking forward to such a party, especially if Pinkie Pie was going to be there. If it was anything like this party, he couldn’t wait to see wait the mare in store for him.

“By the way, I came to say thanks,” she said to the stallion.

“For what?”Blues asked.

“For doing this party thing,” Pinkie smiled again, as if the answer was obvious, “And you played a wonderful saxophone too.”

“Heheh, thanks.”

“I’ve never heard you play before, but I’m glad I did,” she said, thinking back on the music, “It was really wonderful.”

“Well, I had some inspiration…” Blues couldn’t help but look at the mare for this.

“Well, I hope you continue to have this inspiration streaming into your head, because I can’t wait to hear it again,” she beamed again.

Blues caught himself staring at the mare and turn to look away. He hoped she didn’t notice.

“Well, I’m going back to tend to the party,” Pinkie said, “I’ll see you around?”

“Of course,” Blues said calmly, hiding his nervousness.

“Okie dokie lokie,” she said before leaving her spot from the windowsill.

Blues didn’t watch her walk away. He was too shy to. He worried that the feelings he was having for that party mare were more than what friends should have for each other. He wanted to believe it was just a phase, a temporary feeling of affection and attachment for her just because of what she had done for him. Sure, she had thrown this great party for him. Yeah, she cared about his thoughts and feelings. Of course, she was the only mare he felt happy around. But that didn’t mean anything special. It didn’t mean that she liked her. And even if it did…well, he banished those thoughts from his head. He worried that it might ruin their relationship if he ever assumed it. Maybe she wasn’t interested in dating. Maybe she does these kinds of things for everypony. Maybe she didn’t really like him as much as she let on. He couldn’t let himself be disappointed like this, not again.

Because unless she gave him a hint or something, there wasn’t any way he could-

SMOOCH!

Blues turned his head to see the pink mare smiling fondly at him. His face heated up. He rubbed the spot on his face. And just as quickly as she appeared, Pinkie Pie walked away again back to the party. Or was she always there? It was hard to tell with her anymore.

This time, he watched her walk away.

And before she walked out of sight, she looked back.

And winked.

‘Okay. That’s a good enough hint…’ Blues said as she walked away.

The stallion went back to the windowsill, looking up at Luna’s moon once again.

“Maybe…maybe romance isn’t a lost cause just yet,” Blues uttered.

The faint sounds of balloons popping could be heard in the house, followed by an irritated cry.

“Pierce! I told you to go home! I have to pay for those, you know!”

Blues chuckled.

Today wasn’t such a bad day after all.

Epilogue

“Dear Princess Celestia.”

Blues had had the most comfortable sleep he could ever remember. Caramel’s couch was old, but it was one of the first buys from Quills and Sofas, back when they were cheap, and it was far better than his old bed. The air also lingered with the nostalgic smell of home cooking, as Caramel had some family over the previous day and he was a pretty good cook. It beat the musty smell of his apartment any day. And best of all, there wasn’t any distracting sounds from the rooms nearby. Blues hardly slept much because of his job working at the bar, even worse because of the neighbor’s habit of, well, being luckier than him if that was understood.

But all in all, Blues was having a good morning so far. Sure, Caramel refused to cook for him due to awkward implications, whatever that meant, so he was free to the leftovers from the family dinner. Best breakfast he’s ever had, regardless.

“Yesterday, I had the fortune of meeting a unique pony who goes by the name of Blues. You wouldn’t believe it if I told you, but there are some ponies in this world who are deprived of happiness. That’s pretty much who Blues was, an unhappy individual without friends and without luck. It’s a miracle he persevered in life without becoming eternally depressed. That alone represents the strength one can have when it comes to braving disappointment and misfortunes. And that’s what made Blues a very unique stallion.”

It could be said that things were finally looking up for the saxophonist, and so was he. He strode into town with his chin up high, walking past the citizens who remembered his concert from the previous night. They would occasionally give him a wave or greet him hello, to which he would reply with a nod or a wave.

It felt great to be noticed and admired for his talents.

“But sometimes it isn’t enough. Blues may have managed for so long without the support of friends, but we all need a helping hoof to get through or darkest times. Yesterday, me and the others formed a friendship with this pony to help him see the light. Friends are never a bad thing to have, and you shouldn’t be afraid of making great friends. No matter who you are or what you do, everyone deserves friends, because friends don’t judge others. They accept their shortcomings and help them up whenever they are down. And yesterday, we had succeeded in helping Blues open up and socialize, a great achievement on our part.”

Speaking of the previous night, Blues couldn’t remember the last time he had had such fun. Half of the town was still asleep from the party, probably sleeping off their hangovers or whatever, so the stroll into town was quiet and relaxing. It was a great party nonetheless, and he could enjoy the fact that the town had enjoyed it as much as he did. The music, the food, the entertainment, it was a great social gig, and the town now knew him better. Well, better than ‘that frequently sad pony’.

On the bright side, the town was more aware of his musical talent. Hopefully business would improve for Hoofington’s Pub.

“Friends help us keep our chin up. They help us see the light. The light of friendship is free to anypony who needs it, no matter how blue they may be. Sometimes friends keep us smiling to take in the light of happiness. Sometimes, friends are the light, and are the reason we may smile. For whatever reason, friends are always there for us, to shine and brighten up our day. And you shouldn’t be afraid to seek those friends, or be that light. And I’m happy to report that we helped Blues see just that.”

Up ahead, he noticed something pink walking down in his direction. It was Pinkie Pie, no doubt, merrily trotting through Ponyville without a care in the world.

“Your faithful student, and friend, Twilight Sparkle.”

His expression changed, his face heated up, and his heart started to jog. Blues stopped and wondered what he should say to her as she passes by. Would a simple hello do? How about a thank you? Blues had to think quickly because she was already there.

The stallion lifted his arm to say something, even though it probably wasn’t going to be a real word in the dictionary. He was too nervous to say anything properly. He still didn’t forget about that peck on the cheek from the previous night, so he was extra nervous about making contact with the very mare who gave him that. He was loss for words as the mare passed by him, not noticing him standing there dumbfounded.

The stallion watched as she walked away, losing the smile from his face and frowning his characteristic frown. He set his arm down and drooped his head, looking a little more like the old Blues from before.

What a loser. Once again, he had failed to make the proper words to greet a special mare. Cursed by this insecurity, Blues couldn’t help but ponder if he would ever find love in another mare. It was clear, however, that he wasn’t going to ever find true love if he wasn’t such a scaredy cat. It was his fault for not braving rejection and staying quiet in the one moment that mattered, the one moment that decided whether he and she were meant to be. And now he’ll never know, because he was too much of a chicken to-

“Oh hey Blues.”

He looked back to see the pink mare smiling at him. She gave him a nod. He nodded back. She resumed her trot to her own business, leaving Blues to recollect his smile.

Blues thought, ‘You were saying?’

…

I really should stop mocking these characters when they’re aware…

THE END

Prologue

Prologue

There’s a pony who goes by the name of Blues.

Not hard to miss him. Blue coat, dark blue mane, blue notes cutie mark, he sticks out like a sore thumb in a crowd, and that’s hard to do in a village of multicolored citizens. He doesn’t speak much, usually doesn’t have much to say, and he’s usually by himself, preferring to be away from large crowds. He doesn’t have any favorite places, his only hobby is playing the sax, and he has a low profile job at a bar that barely garners more than a few customers.

Still not ringing any bells? That’s alright. Blues wouldn’t be disappointed if you told him that. It’s the usual reply from anyone outside, and inside, Ponyville. The first impression of him would be that there isn’t a whole lot to his character, with some curious incentive that there’s a little more to simple Blues. Don’t get your hopes up if you actually think that.

Between any two ponies in Ponyville, Blues isn’t a very well known stallion. He’s modest, quiet, and is never seen in any remotely popular place. The only ponies who knew about him were the mail pony, his own mother, and a few ponies in the workforce. Despite this mild socialization, Blues didn’t have many friends. Nopony approached him for a conversation, no pony cared to share with him some town gossip, and the only mail he ever got was bills, ads, and a letter from his mother once a month. He never actively sought for friends and he could never hold anypony’s interest for more than a minute. Not to mention, he’s not much of a talker. He’d nod and deafly agree with whatever you were saying while he thought about less relevant things. He never meant to ignore anypony. No, quite the opposite, actually. He’s usually grateful for anypony who would bother to be around him. It’s just that, usually ponies forget about the guy due to what little interest they have in him. That or he brings them down with sad or depressing stories of his past usually relevant to the subject. This one tidbit is probably the reason he isn’t invited to parties, more so than his invisibility.

The other piece of his character is that he is a walking bad luck charm.

Mostly everything Blues does results in some humble chaos, with Blues receiving the blunt end of the misfortune. The average pony would rotate their face at this, but persistent mishaps were hard to debunk. A year ago, at a carnival, one of the low elevated coaster rides derailed and trashed a tavern Blues was working at that night. Four months ago, from the previous year’s winter wrap up, an avalanche had buried most of the land the stallions had cleared, postponing work for hours and burying a few workers; Blues wasn’t found until an hour later. And a few weeks ago, let’s just say a ditch on the outskirts of Ponyville had something to do with a concert, a tractor, and a very upset rhino.

Of course, there’s always the weird influx of karma. On the one week Blues decided to leave Ponyville to visit his mother in a distant town, the village was decimated by a swarm of parasprites. Needless to say, Blues decided to postpone his next visit for a while.

Either way, it didn’t take long for ponies to start ignoring Blues because of this. It’s not like they could prove it was his fault for all of the chaotic happenings in Ponyville. In fact, he would make the argument that such things have only started happening when a certain unicorn moved in. But that didn’t stop ponies from wanting to be around Blues less and less.

Yes, it’s sad being Blues. One pony should not have to deal with his bad luck. But despite his outcast nature, he doesn’t mind. He would tell you that he takes the world’s misfortunes so that no one else would have to, that he would be the universe’s chew toy if it meant no pony else had to suffer. You’d think of that as a noble cause if not a misperceived complex.

But it’s just the way Blues is.

However, if anyone knew Blues well enough, they’d be surprised at what he‘s planning to do today. You see, there’s this beautiful mare who lives in the Carrousel Boutique. Purple, long combed mane, glistening white coat, beautiful sapphire eyes, diamonds cutie mark. Among the stallion community, she’s considerably the most prized unicorn mare in a town of pretty fillies. No one gathering of colts goes on without the mention of the pony named Rarity. All personal opinion, really, but no one could deny that she was one of the more beautiful of mares in town. Not that the rest weren’t as pretty, but Rarity fit the analogy as their diamond in the rough, in more ways than one. The other meaning to that was that no stallion had ever managed to get a date with this mare.

And here he was, bouquet of roses in hoof, hoping to change that.

“Uhh, is…Rarity here?” he timidly asked.

Blues had arrived at the shop a few minutes ago, but only now did he work up the courage to knock at her door. Blues wasn’t known as a bold stallion, but anyone would have rolled their eyes as he quivered at the front door, stalling to knock. The first knock was discreetly silent, barely impacting the ears of anyone inside. He’d have given up then if he had thought no one was home. The second time, he knocked a little louder, his heart nearly jumping out of place at the voice of a filly saying “Coming!” It was an unnerving wait in between the call and the door opening, but he did not expect a pink and purple maned filly answering the door instead of Rarity.

Sweetie Belle eyed the stallion up and down. He didn’t look like anyone Rarity might’ve known. The only friends of hers she knew were the colorful cast of mares every pony knew and a few clients. Maybe he was a customer, or maybe she was oblivious to the romantic gesture of a rose bouquet in the stallion’s arm.

“Yeah, she’s busy working on a dress upstairs,” she answered, “Do you need her for something?”

Blues began to stammer. His knees were shaking with anticipation as beads of sweat formed on his head. He tried to ask for Rarity, but his words halted halfway up his throat, resulting in an odd gulping sound. The rose bouquet rattled in his arm, making noise like a tree assaulted by wind. The pony shook his head and bit his lip, trying to muster up the courage to ask for the gem loving mare.

“I…I-I wanted…to…” Blues stuttered.

‘Come on, man! You can do it! She’s here at the house! Don’t mess up!’

Sweetie Belle stared at the stallion oddly, wondering why he was shaking so hard. Her mind thought back to Rarity as she left her with the mannequin. She couldn’t dawdle for too long, Rarity only had two hooves and one horn. She was going to call for her soon…

“Yeah…?” Sweetie Belle encouraged.

“…I…”

Blues could feel himself about to cave in from pressure. He had never dealt with pressure like this, especially of this degree. He had no problem playing in front of crowds, even though usually only a handful of ponies cared to hear him play. And even then, only a fraction of them were giving him their full attention. Here, it was just one pony, a filly for that matter, and he couldn’t even muster a proper word of his intent to her.

“…nothing…”

The overpowering stress won him over and receded, letting in flow waves of disappointment as the stallion turned around, away from the Carrousel Boutique. The roses would have fallen from his grip had he not decided to tote them in his mouth. Sweetie Belle, thinking nothing much of the strange male’s actions, closed the door and returned to her sister upstairs.

‘I blew it,’ the stallion thought as his head hung limply.

There he was, so close to asking out the mare of every stallion’s dream and he blew it. He was too much of a coward to act on a modest notion he had today to change his life for the better, in hopes of achieving some happiness. He knew that, years later, some other stallion would work up the courage to ask her out and get that date, maybe even marry her. He would regret this for years to come, disappointed with himself in his sheer cowardice that he was too afraid to act against. A truly pathetic example of the stallion standard in the pony community. Today, he would be less of a stallion by male standards. If only he had grown a pair-

“I get it!” he said annoyed.

Erhem! Uhh…

Blues sighed, ignoring the looks of other ponies nearby after his outburst. He looked at the roses he bought, then remembered buying them with what was supposed to be his money for lunch. What a waste of gold bits. Now here he was without money, without food, and without a date.

Blues was always a sad individual, but today, today just sucked even more.

A Hearty Dose of Laughter

A Hearty Dose of Laughter

“It sure is empty out here.”

The sun was halfway into the sky as Blues strolled through the village. It was lunch time and most of the ponies in the village were either in their homes eating or going to home to eat. The most commotion outside was either at the diners, like the one Twilight was talking about, or at the Apple family’s farm, where ponies were lining up for lunch. It was that rare moment in the village where every pony would rather prefer to stay inside and relax with a bowl of veggies to munch on rather than stay outside to play under the sun. Certainly, Celestia wouldn’t mind every pony taking this time off during the day; she was probably having lunch herself.

Speaking of lunch…

“Ugh, those roses weren’t enough…” Blues mumbled as his stomach bellowed.

He ignored his howling stomach. He had food back home at the apartment. He’ll fix himself a snack while he reads and studies sophistication.

“I hope I still have a few fresh carrots left…” he said, thinking about how most of the food in his fridge had already started to decompose. Sighing in disappointment, he spoke in a sad muse, “I should have gone to lunch with Twilight…”

“You know Twilight?”

Blues turned to his right in the direction of the voice. All he saw was the side of Sugar Cube Corner he hadn’t noticed he was passing by. Looking around, there weren’t any ponies in sight that looked like they wanted his attention. It was odd; he swore he heard some pony talk to him.

“Over here!”

Blues turned to his other side, seeing only nothingness and a few stray ponies in the distance minding their own business. He hoped it wasn’t another occurrence where some pony was addressing another and he just happened to be in between. Blues had had his hope dashed each time it happened followed by an embarrassing trot away from other ponies. It was the primary reason he didn’t like crowds.

“Yoo hoo!”

Blues finally met the owner of the voice, in an encounter that completely caught him off guard. From out of nowhere was a pink mare’s pair of blue eyes, staring into his tan eyes with an apathetic look. It wasn’t just how she managed to appear out of nowhere, without a sound, that surprised him. It was also how close she stood to him, face to face, muzzles nearly touching each other in an uncomfortable way. It would elicit a severe infraction for invasion of personal space if such were a law, and this pony would have been an outlaw in a matter of weeks.

His reaction was the norm for any pony who had their first encounter with Pinkie Pie. Shout in surprise.

“GAH!”

Fall backwards.

“Oof!”

Receive an oblivious comment from the mare after she giggled, “You fell.”

And reply with a deadpan remark as you recover from the shock, “I can see that.”

The stallion shook himself of dirt as he stood, shedding a little dust cloud that disappeared into the wind. He turned to the pink pony, absentmindedly staring at him, and tried to give his best glare he could. As he got a better look at the mare’s features, it suddenly came to him who this pony was. No pony could forget that pink and hot pink color scheme, her puffy uncombed mane and tail, and her energetic expression that had never seen a sad day in her life. Not to mention, her iconic blue and yellow balloons cutie mark was a dead giveaway.

“Wait a minute,” he spoke, holding a hoof up for euphemism, “You’re that party pony, Pinkie Pie, right?”

“And you’re that lowly blue stallion who plays at Hoofington’s Pub, Blues. The one with the sax, right?”

Blues stood there with his hoof held in the air as Pinkie delivered a brief description of his very self. He was surprised to hear that one pony had known so much about him for an indefinite amount of time, and he hadn’t even met her. Actually, he recalled having a short talk with her back in his teenage years in Ponyville, consisting of a quick introduction, personal info rundown, and a hasty goodbye so that she could have done the same for the next pony. It was the day Pinkie Pie had moved into PonyVille and started working at Sugar Cube Corner; also the day every birthday party became a signature Pinkie Pie party.

But he had never become personally acquainted with the pink mare, until now.

“How…did you-”

“I know every pony in PonyVille,” she said, cutting him off as she strolled a little with swagger, “I keep check of town gossip as well as who comes and goes in and out of town.”

The brief stun wore off as the pony explained herself, encouraging interest in the pink mare as Blues decided to ask her a little more about her job.

“Every pony?” he repeated, “That’s a lot of ponies to keep count of.”

“Not really,” she said, stopping to face the blue stallion, “Once you get the names down and birthdays memorized, it’s not much of a hassle from then on.”

“Birthdays?” he repeated again, “Why would you want to memorize every pony’s birthday?”

“Birthday parties, of course!” Pinkie exclaimed happily, arms held in the air as a random cloud of confetti exploded.

Blues mentally slapped himself. What other motive could this partier have for knowing birthdays? It was so obvious.

“So, you go to each one?” he asked.

“Well, actually, I set up the parties. Well, I used to,” she said in a less joyful feeling, “My partying started to get in the way of my work at the Sugar Cube Corner,” at this, her speaking pace began to pick up as she went on, “which makes me sad because I can’t handle thinking if some pony out there isn’t having the best birthday like they should. They might be sad or lonely or having a bad day or some pony didn’t get them the presents they wanted, and that just makes me feel terrible. For the ones I do manage to go to, I try to make the parties especially wonderful and joyous to make up for years of absence. Of course, every party I throw is super wonderful and joyous, but I try hard to make up for parties unhad over the years and make every birthday party super spectacular.”

Blues tried to keep up with the pony’s rambling as her paragraph seemed to run even faster than her own mouth. Thankfully, Blues was a good listener, not being one to talk much, but a pony like Pinkie Pie was the sort of mare who simply talked too much. Or too fast. Or both. Regardless, Blues was patient enough to wait for the mare to finish her explanation, but decided for himself when he was to intervene with a question.

“You certainly are a party animal Pinkie,” he commented, the mare grinning in response, “but birthday parties aren’t that different from regular parties.”

“Not that different?” Pinkie repeated.

Blues gulped. He could feel another onslaught of words coming from the pink mare.

“Birthday’s are the most important parties you could ever have! It’s not just any party, it celebrates the day you were born! The day every pony around you acknowledge your very existence! The day your entire family and your friends set aside any plans and spend their bits to have a party to celebrate your birth! Saying birthday parties are not that different from regular parties would be like saying bicycles are not so different from tricycles, or unicycles! Or bagels aren’t that different from donuts! Or apples aren’t that different from pears, and I have a friend who would greatly disagree with you there! A birthday party is only had once a year, and it has to be the best party you would ever have all year to show you how important you are to the ponies who are there! Too long, didn’t read, birthday parties are not different from regular parties!”

Blues and Pinkie Pie stood there, the stallion physically pushing against the ground and the mare heaving a little to catch her breath from her long explanation. Both ponies were silent as the two stared at each other, Pinkie Pie’s breathing easing as time went on. Finally, Blues blinked and smiled embarrassingly as he chuckled apologetically.

“Uhh, eheheh…sorry about that,” he said, rubbing the back of his head modestly, “I just, never saw the difference, actually…”

Pinkie Pie smiled, already forgiven of the colt, as she reached an arm to the stallion and gave him a quick hug, Blues flushing slightly from it.

“Aww, it’s okay,” she said as she pulled away, “…you’ve never had a real birthday party, have you?”

Blues scratched at the ground before him. He looked down in memory of his past birthdays; they weren’t much to remember.

“Ehh, not really,” he said, “The most I would get for my birthday would be a birthday card from my dad, and my mom coming over and making me pea soup. If I’m lucky, my dad gives me a good hundred bits, but that was shortly after I had moved out of the house. I never got any real presents from my family and no pony really bothers to visit me, much less remember what the day was, if they even knew.”

Pinkie stared and frowned at Blues as he relayed his lame birthdays. This was what usually happened to any pony who took the time to speak to Blues. Everything he had to say or every story he had to tell were depressing and brought down jovial moods, which was why most ponies tended to avoid speaking with Blues if given the choice. Now, Blues had hoped that his story hadn’t permanently turned off the mare from future talks with him. It wouldn’t bother him, though. One less pony that cared about him was one more pony that wouldn’t miss him.

The mare sighed, a norm reaction for Blues, “This is what I’m talking about. Some pony may be having an unspectacular totally NOT happy birthday party, and I wouldn’t even know of it. But now I know that some ponies don’t even have birthday parties at all! You must be so sad.”

Blues was a little impressed with himself that the normally happy Pinkie Pie had been depressed by his story, if it was anything to be proud of. It proved a few things; his meager birthday retellings were his lightest downers yet they still brought down sad feelings, and that not even a perpetually happy pony like Pinkie Pie could stay immune to his depressing stories. It was a no brainer why no one liked talking to Blues.

As quickly as the pink mare became saddened, she became cheerful and energetic again, much to Blues surprise.

“Don’t worry! When your birthday comes around, I’ll make sure you have a super duper specTACular birthday party to make up for the ones you didn’t have!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she began to fidget at the thought, “You’ve never had a real birthday party until you’ve experienced one of my signature Super Spectacular Pinkie Pie Party Extravaganza parties!”

Blues felt touched by the mare’s motive to throw him a party upon hearing he hadn’t had one for his past birthdays. Well, he would feel grateful if it weren’t for the pony’s strange overzealousness for a total stranger like him.

That, and he’s heard things about what happens at Pinkie Pie’s parties. Ponies get hurt.

“Uhh, thanks for the offer, Pinkie, but…” Blues said as he thought of a kinder way to say no to the mare.

As he did, his stomach let out a conspicuous rumble for all within the vicinity to hear, diverting the subject of the conversation to the noise of hunger. Pinkie Pie only giggled in response to the rumbling, even though she only found it humorous and didn’t mean it in an insulting way. It was a sort of involuntary response to chuckle at hunger when it was loud. Nevertheless, Blues was embarrassed with himself.

“Uhh, sorry about that,” he apologized, looking away, “I didn’t exactly have a full breakfast today…”

Pinkie Pie only giggled at his modesty, “Well then, I’ve got some doughnuts in the pantry that’ll fill you right up. You can’t have a happy day without a happy stomach.”

Before Blues could object to her kindness, the pony had disappeared in a flash, a faint trail of pink zooming into the bakery nearby. He looked to the swaying doors of Sugar Cube Corner to the spot Pinkie Pie was standing in, then back to the bakery in disbelief. Blues scratched his head as he pondered how the mare could move so fast, until his thoughts were cut short when a pink flash zoomed out of the building and stopped right in front of him, surprised the stallion once again.

“…please don’t that again,” he said in a deadpan tone.

“Do what?” Pinkie Pie asked obliviously.

Blues was about to repeat himself when he realized he couldn’t explain what the pink pony had just done. Whatever she did, he was certain it violated a few laws of physics. This was Pinkie Pie after all, so confusion was the norm for any pony associating with her.

Blues looked down near the mare’s feet to see a bag with two candy canes printed on it, a signature product of Sugar Cube Corner. It emanated a sweet scent like that of the bakery it came from, causing his stomach to echo louder with a rumble like a dog beckoning for food.

“Are those for me?” he asked, the mare nodding approvingly, “I can’t…”

“Why not?”

“Well, I don’t have any money on me right now-”

“It’s on the house.”

“Really?” he said in disbelief, the mare nodded again, “Still, I don’t know…”

“Just take it,” she said, pushing the bag towards him with her muzzle, “I give free stuff to customers all the time. Well, I used to until Mr. and Mrs. Cake told me it was bad business so I had to stop doing that or else I’d get fired. But I know they’d never fire me because I am their best apprentice, but it was sill a scary feeling when they first told me. But I still manage to sneak a few free doughnuts for good friends of mine, and you’d have to be a really good friend of mine for me to sneak a free pastry for you, because I consider everyone my friend, so only my closest friends get free doughnuts. Of course, that would make me prone to giving them free stuff all the time, but a good friend would never take advantage of that. That’s why they’re called good friends, because you can trust them to-”

“Alright! I’ll take your free doughnuts!” Blues almost shouted, patience worn thin from the mare’s third run on tangent.

The pink pony stared at the stallion for a short while to process the interruption. At this, Blues was afraid he may have hurt the mare’s feelings by hastily interrupting her word storm. He had never raised his voice at another pony, he was too shy for that, and now he regretted it as he stared into those blue eyes, hoping to be able to plead for forgiveness after the moment was over.

However, the mare smiled, to Blues surprised, at his decision to take the doughnuts despite his denial. If Blues didn’t know any better, his outburst was probably a scheme of hers.

It was Pinkie Pie, after all.

“Yay! You’ll love them, I’m sure you will,” she said before taking the bag in her mouth and walking over to Blues saddlebags to place them there herself. Blues would have done it himself, but the mare was so insistent and she had done it so quickly, he couldn’t get a word in before she had already fastened the bags closed.

“Uhh, thanks,” Blues said, unsure how to wrap up this encounter with the pony. He had somewhere to go and not a lot of time left…

“No problem,” the mare replied with a bright smile.

“Uhh, I have to get going now…” he said, hoping the mare wouldn’t take his words as an excuse to get away from her. He didn’t mind his time spent with Pinkie Pie, in all honesty. He just didn’t want to waste too much time talking to her when he could be reading.

“Oh, alright,” Pinkie Pie said, “If you ever get a sweet tooth, you know where to stop by,” she finished with a wink.

“Yeah, uhh, this place right?”

The mare nodded, “And I’ll have your birthday marked on my calendar too, for that special Super Spectacular Pinkie Pie Party Extravaganza! It’s January the thirteenth, right?”

Blues could only pretend to smile at this. He didn’t like the idea of such a huge party being thrown on his behalf. That and he didn’t like the idea of some pony knowing his birthday by memory; it was eerie in thought. But there was little he could do against the party being thrown for him. Pinkie Pie made parties happened, whether you liked it or not.

“Uhh, yeah. That’s the day…” Blues said as he began trotting his way back home, “Umm, see you later?”

The pink mare waved, “Sure! I’ll see you in seven months!”

Blues put on an uncomfortable smile again. Seven months was in January.

Oh well. At least it was seven long months until he had to take an earful of Pinkie Pie again.

…

Or just a few minutes.

“So, I couldn’t help but notice you had some books in your bags. You were just at the library, right? That means you know Twilight. That’s what you were talking about before, right?”

It only took a few minutes of silence before the pink mare decided to catch up to him and speak about what had slipped her mind in their previous conversation. At first, he thought the mare’s voice had ringed in his mind enough to start repeating itself and speaking to him; he thought he was hearing things. It wasn’t until he started hearing a strange springing sound approach him that he started getting delirious. He feared the pink mare had left a permanent impression on his psyche and it’d take a while to recover from her effect. As it turns out, Pinkie Pie had been following him just to discuss this exact subject, about his previous visit to the library.

“Yeah. I rented a few books,” he quickly replied.

“You also mentioned something about lunch,” she said.

“Uhh, yeah. Twilight had invited me to lunch with her.”

“Oh? And was that where you were going?”

“Uhh, no. I actually turned her down because I wanted to get home and read these books,” he turned to Pinkie Pie as he spoke, “You know, read all these books, in the privacy of my home, alone, as soon as possible.”

Pinkie Pie seemed to have missed the tone in his words as she replied sadly, “Aww, I bet Twilight was sad that you couldn’t join her.”

At this point, Blues had given up. There was no losing her when she became attached to you. You either had to make up an excuse for leaving in a hurry or you had to wait until she lost interest in you. Blues was hoping if he stayed quiet enough, he’d get on with his life through the latter option.

“She was mildly upset,” he answered, “But it’s fine. I was gonna have myself some lunch at my house. Besides, I didn’t want to impose.”

“I’m sure Twilight would’ve loved having you for lunch though,” Pinkie Pie said as positively as ever, “Maybe the next time we have lunch, we can invite you over. It’ll be loads of fun!”

Blues only rolled his eyes at this. He knew a lunch like that would only go downhill if not depressing should he relay his stories to the group. Although, Pinkie Pie would most likely bring the mood back with her vigor, and maybe try to cheer him up after each tale. Still, it wasn’t something he’d want to be a part of.

“Uhh, sure,” he said, “We’ll see about that…”

In the back of his head, however, Blues was actually hoping for it to happen. He’s never had any true friends before, as most ponies would leave him alone before they let that happen. His time spent with those mares earlier made him realize that real friendships happen naturally and by coincidence. He enjoyed speaking to the farmer, the vet, and the librarian very much, and he’d even stretch that feeling to the party mare right next to him.

It was strange how she always had such a positive outlook on life. She was almost the exact opposite of him in every way. Where his mere presence could bring the mood of a room down by twenty percent, she could brighten the place up like the surface of the sun. He almost envied her in that sense, how easy it was for her to make friends, how perpetually happy she was. Not to mention how committed she was to the parties she made. He almost found her silly antics humorous and heartwarming.

Almost.

“Oh! That reminds me,” Blues restrained a tired sigh at this, “I remembered why I was following you.”

Blues humored the thought. Since when did she need a reason to do anything? She seemed quite happy doing things on her own accord, to the dismay of others.

“I wanted to ask you were your house was,” she asked.

At this, Blues shot up and stopped walking in realization of the mare’s true motives.

“What? Wait, why?” he asked. He dreaded the sheer thought of such a party at his house, well, apartment. It wasn’t even that big of a living, and her party’s were unpredictable. Any catastrophe that would happen would surely cause some lasting damage at his expense.

Pinkie giggled, “I’m throwing the birthday party at your house, silly. But that’s fine. I remembered where it was.”

The weird feeling from before, when the mare quoted his exact birth date, welled up inside him again. She knew where he lived? Did she know where every pony lived? Then again, she said she knew every pony, and every pony’s birth date. But even so, one pony shouldn’t have all that information at memory’s resource. It was far too creepy.

“Oh…really?” he resumed walking as he tried on his best smile to avoid looking uncomfortable at this revelation. He failed.

“Yeah. It’s those apartments, isn’t it?” she pointed to a white building sporting a few balconies and ladders to the second floor. It looked to house about eight residents with an office jutting out from the side.

“Uhh…” Blues was considering lying to her, that those apartments weren’t where he lived. But he feared that her vast number of contacts would quickly debunk his lie, and he was afraid of the consequences of lying to this pony. The mare was a dreadful one to face if she was crossed, and her friends were well aware of that after a certain incident a few months ago.

“Yeah,” Pinkie Pie said, “like that one episode with my birthday.”

Uh…Erhem! Yeah…

Decidedly, Blues had to admit the location of his living.

“…yeah. That’s where I live,” he said defeatedly.

“Next to the mailpony, right?” she said, confirming her information.

“Yeah, her…”

“Great!” Pinkie Pie turned around in the other direction, “So, this time, for reals. I’ll see you later.”

“Huh? You’re leaving? Just like that?” Blues queried as the mare stopped and looked back to him.

“I have to get back to work. I only needed to ask you where you lived,” she explained, “…or do you want me to keep you company?”

“NO!” he quickly said, “I mean, no, that’s alright. I have some business to attend to anyway…like lunch.”

Pinkie Pie could hear the faint rumbling of Blues stomach and giggled, “Alright. Well, you know where to get more of those doughnuts.”

“Yeah…thanks again, by the way,” Blues said, turning around to enter the grounds of the apartments.

“Oh, and one more thing,” the mare quickly said as the stallion looked back, “Don’t tell Mr. and Mrs. Cake about those doughnuts. They’d make me take them out of my salary.”

The mare had a pleading face as she asked this of him, giving Blues a surprised look. He’d never take Pinkie Pie for a pony who needed a favor done for her. But when she needed one, she didn’t seem as imposing as she normally was. In fact, she looked like a normal pony asking for an innocent favor, knowing the fear of being denied it. Keeping this favor was something he could easily do, without even trying. But she was leaving the risk of her job working at the Sugar Cube Corner, at the very least her income, to him. It really was no big deal, but in this moment, with her pleading face to an almost stranger, she really was just an ordinary pony in the village of Ponyville.

Blues smiled as he traced a hoof over his mouth, “My lips are sealed.”

The mare smiled happily at the promise as she clapped her hooves, “Thanks!”

Watching the pink mare walk away, Blues sighed. Finally, some peace and quiet to himself, a tasty lunch to enjoy, and books to read at his leisure. This afternoon was looking to be his most relaxing one yet.

He knew this solace wouldn’t last long, but he would cross that bridge when he came to it.