In the aftermath of the day, Ms Heart Probe, the Doctor, walked Blue home herself after the pegasus got the permission to leave early. He's not sure on what base he's allowed to leave, though, and the Doctor didn't say anything about it. They both had a chat with Blue's mother about his condition, and what happened. Blue's mother is speechless, but is still supportive of her son. Although, through the rest of the day, there's this uneasy silence between their mother and son relation.
During the evening, Blue dared to talk to his mother first. It happened when the pegasus saw his mother sitting by the dinner table, looking sad.
"Mother..." Blue sat next to her. "Are... are you upset?"
The mare simply looked at her son for a moment, before looking back down, sighing.
"Not at you, Blue, not at you..." His mother tried to sound assuring. "I'm just wondering what did my son do to deserve to be bullied to this point?"
"Mom..." Blue pulled a chair next to his mother and they sat together. "Please don't be sad. I... I'm fine."
"If you are, you wouldn't be sent home early, would you?" Blue's mother countered. Okay, she got a point there.
"J-Just don't trouble yourself with it, mom. I don't want you to be sad." Blue pleaded.
"...I'm your mother, Blue. How can I turn a blind eye on my boy's trouble?" The mare locks her eye with her son's. Blue had trouble answering. He knows his own reason, but it sounds rather ridiculous if he says it to his mother. At least, that's what he thinks.
"B-Because, I've troubled you too much, mom..." Blue lowered his head, causing his mother to raise an eyebrow. "You always worked hard for me, and... I almost never give you anything in return... So, I... want to take my troubles out of your mind so you won't be as stressed. I'll handle it myself... I promise."
There's an awkward silence in the room. At the same time, Blue felt so desperate and helpless to make his parents happy. Usually, other ponies would make their parents proud by, say, getting an award, winning some kind of competition, or financially helping them. What did he do? Made his parents worried because he threw a tantrum at his class. Suddenly, he felt his mother's caring hoof stroking his mane.
"Blue, I'm happy that you'll try to fix your... problem. But, if you need help, I'm always here." The mare smiled weakly. "And don't worry about me... Like I said, I'm not upset with you. I always at your back, because... I'm your mother."
"...Mother..." Blue felt tears forming at his eyes. He always gets emotional with things like this. His mother pulled him into a hug, and he gladly accepted it, even returning it. He felt his mother really deserves a hug more then him.
Blue didn't meet his father until the next day because he needed to work overtime. He is rather indifferent about what happened, however. He talked to him about physically attacking another pony, but allows him to take his time to solve the problem.
Unfortunately, Blue still cannot muster his courage to come to school today. He's more scared of his guilt rather of the threat of being bullied again. As a compensation, he studied by himself at home, mostly about the subject he's supposed to learn if he went to school today.
That evening, however, Blue got an unexpected knock on the door...
"Ball Hoops? Royal Suit? What the heck are you two doing here?"
Both ponies scratches the ground with their hooves, keeping their head low. To be honest, it looked kinda depressing since both of them didn't bully him as much as the others.
"We... came to make sure you're okay, Blue." Hoops said, his voice is filled with concern, or seemed like concern.
"Well, what do you think?" Blue looked away after his snark comment. It felt wrong to tell them off, but apparently he still hold some anger towards his classmates.
"Blue, I... We're so sorry." Royal Suit said. "Personally, I thought the surprise would go wrong, but... my friends..."
"Forced you? You're saying you don't want to do it, but you DID it anyway?" Blue asked with a piercing gaze, that soon softens.
"I... We swear to Celestia, we never meant to hurt you yesterday. It was Topaz and Lily's idea to... piss you off at the beginning." Ball Hoops explained.
"And you did." Blue jams his eye shut and shook his head. He can feel something wet in his eyes just by remembering what happened yesterday. "...You know what, I admit that you... wanted to give something to me, and that's nice, but you guys took the 'piss me off' part too far."
Royal and Ball looked at each other, then back to Blue. "So, Blue? W-Will you forgive us?"
Conflicting feeling whipped up a cyclone in the pegasus's heart. It's easy to say yes, but he's not sure doing that will make him feel better, and he doesn't want to lie to his classmates. Thinking back, however, Royal Suit and Ball Hoops did little during their play in his birthday, and did not hurt him directly. They're just two of those who got dragged into peer pressure by Lily and Topaz. Yes, those two ponies are the masterminds, not these two. Sighing, Blue lowers his head.
"Just you two, I can forgive..." Blue said. "But, I can never forget what happened yesterday. I don't hate you, Ball, and Royal. I just... wished you two stopped Topaz before he did this to me..."
"...I understand." Royal lowered his head. "And, thank you for forgiving us. I'll make it up to you one day." A slight smile is visible on Royal's face.
"I guess we should leave..." Ball Hoops turned around, ready to walk away. "We've bothered you long enough."
Without any other words, the duo slowly walked away from Blue's doorsteps, observed by the blue pegasus who haven't moved an inch from his spot. He wonders if he'll get more visitors in the next days, or Ball and Royal are the only ones that cared about what happened in his birthday.
It can't be, there's still them...
Until the weekend comes, Blue still stayed at home. Even his parents started to become worried with him. After much arguing between the family, especially with his father who kept telling him to go to school, Blue promised that he'll return to school at monday. To be honest, self learning all the time gets tedious.
Now that he thought about it, Blue haven't had any of his classmates or friends visit him since Ball and Royal. He guessed that those two ponies relayed his condition to the rest of the class. Not that he hoped his classmates will look for him out of worry. But there are two ponies that he had hoped to meet again...
...At least, one of them did.
"Clear Flask..." Blue stared at the white mare on his doorstep.
"Blue..." Clear's face showed an obvious sadness. "May I come in...?"
"I guess so... My parents are away for a while." Blue moved over to allow Clear Flask enter his home. It's nothing wierd, she often visited Blue's house for study sessions and whatnot. As she walked by, Blue noticed she had a scroll sticking out at the saddlebags she's wearing. Remembering to ask her about it later, Blue followed her and led her into his room, where they usually hang out in his house.
Both ponies sat on Blue's bed and started to talk together. Clear Flask said that most of Blue's classmates are uneasy about him being absent for days, and some teachers had asked her about him. In turn, Blue told her about his feeling about the whole incident since they haven't met again before his birthday.
"Oh, yeah, Clear... I meant to ask..." Blue glanced at the mare's saddlebag, particularly at the scroll sticking out from it. "What's that scroll?"
Clear visibly jolted, as if surprised. Much to Blue's own surprise, the mare's eyes started to become visibly wet as she reached for the scroll. With a shaky hoof, she gives it to Blue, who opened it and started reading.
Blue's own eyes started to become wet as well as he gasped.
"A few days ago... A-Ace got into a serious trouble with Rocket Flare... It seems that Ace is angry to him because he did things to you. As they we're arguing, Rocket socked Ace on the cheek, a-and..." Clear Flask started to cry, no longer trying to hide it. "The fight ended when... Ace smashed Rocket through a classroom window..."
That is something Blue had dreaded to ever happen. At the back of his head, he knows that Ace is the kind of pony who can get into a physical fight in school, whatever the reason is. But there's something worse written at the letter, that turns out to be written by Ace himself.
"He... He's moving to Cloudsdale... To join the Wonderbolt academy..?" Blue dropped the letter in shock.
"Yes... He and Rocket are both expelled because of the fight... He said to me he had planned to enter Wonderbolt next year anyway, but that means... W-We might not see him again..." Clear scooted herself closer to Blue. "I'll miss him... Oh, Blue..."
Out of the blue, Clear Flask suddenly hugged her best friend, crying on his shoulder. Blue did the same thing to her. It's horrible to hear how Ace almost ruined his life 'for his sake', and he might not meet him face to face again. He never got to say goodbye to him as well. Clear and Blue spends a couple of minutes calming down and wipe their tears away.
"I'm sorry that I have to tell you this, Blue... And sorry for taking too long to visit you... Been pretty busy with school." Clear firmly grabbed Blue's shoulder.
"Don't blame yourself..." Blue assured. "Besides, I'm sure Ace doesn't want us to be sad because of him. Because, that's just him, you know?"
Clear Flask snorts, a smile appears on the edge of her mouth. "Yeah, he'll say something that cliche for sure." The mare sighed, dropping her head low, but soon returned making eye contact. "I'm sure gonna miss him."
"Me too, Clear, me too..."
With another quick hug, Clear Flask bids goodbye to Blue, wishing him well, and assured him that returning to school would be for the best, noting the rather solemn atmosphere amongst the students, especially his classmates. Blue must agree with her, he can't avoid school forever. Perhaps it is time to be a stallion.
When Blue returned to school, he's immediately greeted by Clear Flask, Note Books, Camp Trail, and Rocky Path. All members of his small band of friends showed support and promised to help him if needed. But a rather unexpected welcome comes from Focus Sight.
"H~ey, Blue." Blue hears the pegasus called out to him, but his tone is unusually sad. It's very rare to see Focus without his trademark carefree smile that she shows almost twenty four seven.
"Focus, you need help again?" Blue asked.
"Listen, ma~n. Sorry about what I did t~o you." The pegasus said, rubbing the length of one of his forehoof with the other.
Blue cocked his head to the side. "Why are you apologizing? Are you part of the surprise too?" As far as he can tell, Focus didn't play any significant part in the birthday surprise.
Focus lowered his head, but kept eye contact with Blue. "Yeah, I was t~old to disturb you by asking you questions when you're up front, s~o you never had time to finish your problem." The pegasus looked away in shame.
To be honest, Blue didn't think that was an act. It's seemed just like him to keep asking him for solution for a simple math problem. Although, now that he remembered that his classmates had persuaded the teacher, it makes sense that Focus had a hoof in the whole thing. Blue shrugged, at least Focus didn't do anything outrageous, he can see him asking about solutions again in the future.
"I don't think you did anything wrong." Blue assured him, offering him the slightest of smiles. "There's no grudge between us, I swear."
Hearing this, Focus perked up and smiled at Blue. "Really? Thank Ce~lestia, I thought you don't want to be friends with me anymore. Who'll teach me if th~ere's a test?"
Blue shook his head in amusement, looks like Focus Sight will never change. However, he can tell that the pegasus is genuinely happy when he forgives him that he cannot help but smile as well. Focus walks beside Blue and wrapped one of his forehoof around his shoulder.
"But hey, to make it up to you, if you ever got in t~rouble like that again, tell me. I'll help you in any way I ca~n. Promise." Focus stated, giving Blue a firm nod, and Blue nodded back. Maybe he and Focus will be better friends.
Ever since that day, Blue never got bothered by Lily, Rose, or Topaz again. Speaking of Topaz, the yellow earth pony seems to lose his zest lately. Ever since Rocket Flare is gone (Along with Ace, sadly.), Topaz is much more 'passive'. He's less noisy, and when he's usually competitive in sports, he never pushed himself to the limit again. Perhaps the reason he haven't bothered Blue again is because he lost one of his friends. Silently, Blue felt a bit sorry for him.
As for Lily and Rose, nothing of interest happened to any of them other then the fact that they, thankfully, left Blue alone now. However, the shocker came when Blue graduated. Just after the result announcement, he learned that Rose fail to graduate, being the only one to do so. He remembered how she wailed in despair and cried as she ran out of the room. Karma can be very cruel, Blue thought, even more then he wanted to.
Even when they graduated from high school, Clear Flask, Note Books, Camp Trail, and Rocky Path remains friends with Blue Streak. However, he haven't met with Ace Baret since he 'saved' him at school. They do write letters to each other, but Ace took a long time to reply between letters, saying that he's really busy in the academy and aren't always allowed to write or receive letters.
Until now, Blue never celebrates his birthday again, and he does everything to make sure no one else knew about the date of his birthday. His closest friends avoid reminding him of his birthday as well upon his request. Sometimes, everytime the memories of his high school birthday surprise emerges for whatever reason, Blue would silently cry to himself.
"Yeah, if I were his mother, I'll be ashamed to have a son this careless and unresponsible!"
"Heck, you think his parents love him?"
Especially if those sentences pop up, it's not rare for Blue to enter in his room and bawl loudly. As he grew up, he needs to live on his own to make a living. The early years are horrible as kept moving from town to town to find a job and get his own place to live, and the fear of him letting his parents down endlessly creeps in his head. It's not until he arrived in Ponyville that he found a stable job and his new home, but he still felt it's not enough to make his parents proud. He did, however, make new friends, and one of them is Pinkie Pie, who quickly became a good friend with the pegasus.
And thus, this is where they stand now.
Pinkie's eyes seems to be swirling after listening to Blue's entire story. The pink mare shook her head to restore herself to the current timeline.
"I'm... I'm sorry, Pinkie. But please... I... I can't go through another birthday party without feeling sad." Blue said, feeling ashamed. "And, in a party, that's not how you're supposed to feel, right?"
Pinkie opened her mouth to say something, but the stallion is correct. When you throw a party, you're supposed to be happy, and cheerful, and sing happy songs, not having an upside down smile. Pinkie's mane isn't as bubbly as before, is this the first time she won't throw a party for somepony's birthday? Blue mournfully walked pass her, and opened the door.
"I'm going to the market for a while... If you want to leave, please lock the door from the outside, a-and leave the keys under the carpet, okay...?" Blue said as he closed the door, leaving Pinkie in his house.
Pinkie didn't move for a good amount of time. She is busy transmitting power into her cotton candy powered brain to think. Not throwing a birthday party on somepony's birthday is a very weird logic, but Blue said he'll feel sad if she throws a birthday party for him. Why did he feel sad in a birthday party again? What made him feel really happy again? What's Blue favorite cake again? Is there some way to make a birthday party for Blue that won't make him sad? All the tiny Pinkie Pies in her brain are running around collecting all the data written in colorful frosting and collecting them together in one spot. Eventually, all those colorful frosting merged into a big circle shaped pile of frosting colored like a rainbow, and it suddenly erupted like a volcano, sending confetti everywhere.
A loud 'PING!' resonated from Pinkie's head, and the mare jumped as her body inflated briefly before returning to normal. She just got an idea, an amazing idea. Smacking her forehooves together, she declared to the world.
"I'm going to throw the most amazing party for Blue Streak, ever!!"
With that, Pinkie zipped out from the house, returning back again to lock the door and hid the key under the carpet in less then two seconds. A trail of white smoke can be seen towards the direction of Sugarcube Corner.