//------------------------------//
// 39 - I'm Sorry 
// Story: Lost Muse 
// by David Silver 
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Libel sat in a chair as a human might, not that she knew what one of those were. She tapped a hindhoof on the ground with her arms folded on the table, half to support her body, half to have a place for them. She was seated in a small cafe; her target just across the street.

She eyed it warily, waiting for her quarry to emerge. A glance at the clock over the head of a dining unicorn revealed it to be about the right time. She had to approach quickly, but not aggressively. She practiced her words quietly under her breath. The flower rested on the tiny table she was leaning on, the card propped against it. They would be her sword and shield in the battle ahead.

She had to not mess it up.

Movement. Her eyes darted to the sight of different ponies emerging from the building. Some of them looked tired, some looked empowered. Some were talking and others were scurrying away. Some were burdened with instruments, and others wore dance outfits.

But only one was the singer she had to see. There she was, chatting with a stallion with a smile. She looked happy. Good...

Libelous slipped from her chair back to a more comfortable four-legged stance. Why did that cafe have such strange seats, she did not know, but it had served its purpose. She abandoned the cup of untouched coffee. She had only purchased it so she had bought something and they wouldn't bother her for loitering.

"Excuse me, Tall Chief?" she called as she hurried across the street at a hurried but still walking gait.

Tall arched a fine brow. "Oh, look who darkens my step. Perhaps it is she there is here to cause mischief!"

Libelous dipped her head. "Well deserved. That was my fault entirely."

"At least she admits it." She waved Libelous away. "Now, off with you. My associate and I need to practice."

The stallion she was with nodded softly. "Are you the one that wrote that piece that has our star so upset? You should be ashamed!"

"Mortified," she agreed easily. "I want to make amends." She extended a wing burdened with the flowers. "Though even their delightful shade doesn't hold a candle to how badly I messed up, I hope you won't hold it against them."

The unicorn opera singer eyes the vase and the flowers it contained. "It is not their fault who presents them." With a glowing horn, she lifted them away from Libel's wing. "It is easy to speak platitudes and offer empty gifts."

"That is why I am here." Libel dipped her head. "We are addressing the error at the paper, but even that would scarcely express how deeply sorry I am, so I had to come here personally."

Tall Chief smiled a little wickedly. "And this has nothing to do with my not accepting any calls?"

"Are ponies really harassing you?" asked Libelous. "Terrible. You'd think people would have better manners than to attack a respectable citizen like that."

"You'd think!" Tall stomped down a hoof. "And yet, there they are. I only had peace when I stopped the calls entirely." The same hoof leveled with Libelous. "And who do I have to thank for this, on the week of the greatest premiere of my life!"

The stallion nudged Tall away from Libelous. "You're just upsetting her. If you'll excuse us..."

Libel set her teeth before, with a deft flick of a wing, she produced the card in the envelope she had prepared. "I'm not here to poke at the wounds I had a hoof in making. Is there any way I can help?"

Tall paused, about to withdraw but pausing at the sight of the envelope. Her magic wrapped around it and pulled it open easily, drawing the card into view. She eyed the front a moment before casually willing it open. Her stern expression softened a little. "Did you pick out this card?"

"With my own hooves," assured Libel, a slight lie, seeing as she ordered it over the phone. "I can only hope it conveys a small portion of how I feel."

"Don't fib," spoke Tall Chief in a teasing tone. "They misspelled your name in a fit of sublime perfection." She flipped the card around in her magic, revealing where it said 'Libeled Word'. "It seems this is a habit not limited to you."

Libel felt her cheeks burning. She should have checked that, but who edits greeting cards?!

Tall laughed at Libel's reaction. "Now you have a taste of things. You just don't have somepony yelling in your ear to go with it."

"Wait." Libel took a step forward. "It was one specific pony?"

"It may as well have been a crowd of them with how frequently and loudly she kept calling." Tall put a hoof to her head, sighing dramatically. "There was no peace, not even a moment."

Libel set a hoof on her chest. "Then consider it resolved. I'll track down this rude mare and get her off your back. It's the least I can do." She felt hope, real hope. "I really do like your work. I didn't mean to... this." She rolled a hoof. "Allow me to make it right."

"Hmm, I doubt you can do much, but you're welcome to try." She turned away, starting to walk away with her friend. "Her name is Long Gaze. She said that quite clearly. Tell me if she agrees to never bother me again, and we'll consider this... terrible business over and done with."

Libel resisted the urge to pump a hoof, and the big grin. She smiled more reservedly. "I'm on the case, Tall Chief. We'll get that mare onto more productive affairs."

"Like a long walk," grumbled Tall, most of her statement lost as she departed with her unnamed stallion friend.

"Long Gaze..." Libel hurried to the closest public phone, diving in just ahead of someone else trying to get to it. She slapped the door shut and quickly dialed the office. "This is Libelous Word, get Bottom Line on here."

"Oh, hello Libel!" It was the mare from public relations. "How are you and your stallion doing?"

"We're doing great." She forced a smile. "Fantastic, but I really need to talk to Bottom. It's urgent."

"Right right." She heard things being shuffled around. "Here you are."

The line went dead a moment, then a soft ring. It was picked up before it even finished. "Libelous Word's office, how may I help you?"

"Bottom! Good news!"

"Thank goodness." Libel could hear the smile on Bottom's face. "Did she forgive you?"

"Conditionally." Libel nodded lightly as she glanced around out the windows of the small phone booth. "I need to find a 'Long Gaze', mare, was the one harassing Tall Chief. If I can find and shut her up, then this is over."

"Long Gaze, possible connection to opera, hmm." There came the sound of books being shuffled around. "I'll get to searching. While I do that, what are you doing?"

"I'm coming back to the office, but I wanted you to start as soon as possible. Thank you. Did I mention you're a peach?"

"Thrice today," sang Bottom cheerfully before she hung up.

Libel set the receiver down carefully and let out a soft sigh. A knock brought her attention to a stallion just outside. It was the pony she had cut off. "Oh." She slipped from the booth and waved the way inside. The stallion slipped in with a relieved sigh, making whatever call was so important to him.

Filled with determination, Libel took flight.

"Eek!" Another pegasus crashed into her, not obeying the traffic lanes at all. Both went crashing to the ground in a pile.

"I'm so sorry," came the soft voice of the mare that had collided with Libel. She climbed to her hooves and offered one towards Libelous. "I was thinking about something."

Libelous accepted the hoof, looking over the grey-furred wall-eyed mare she had crashed into. "Derpy?"

"My friends call me Muffins!" she chimed, but then tilted her head, eyes going in different directions. "But you got the stallion I wanted, so are we friends?" She answered the question internally quite quickly. "I'd like to be friends."

Libelous smiled awkwardly. "If only all arguments were solved that easily. I really should... wait, you're a mailmare, aren't you?"

"One of the best," chimed Derpy, bouncing in place. "I get the mail where it needs to be, usually in one piece."

"Have you ever met a 'Long Gaze', mare?"

Derpy shrugged her shoulders. "A few. There was one that wouldn't let me deliver my mail! She kept talking at me all loud and followed me and it was kinda scary." She shook her head. "But it's my job, so she got her mail and everypony else too!"

Libel's ears perked, hope building. "Where... is she? I'd gladly give her a little talk. It may not help..."

"Really?!" Derpy leaned forward. "You're way nicer than I thought!" She pointed with a wing. "She lives in the old pony's home right there at the top of the hill. When she isn't yelling at me, she likes to play shuffleboard."

Shuffleboard... A retired mare? Could it be the right one? Maybe not, but it was worth a try... "Thank you. Say, do they call you muffin for a reason, say a baked reason?"

Muffins smiled brightly. "Maybe!"

"Then come with me." She led Derpy to the same cafe she had been camping at. She only left with a big blueberry muffin set in Derpy's happy hooves. While the mailmare began to chew happily, Libelous took a more safe launch, soaring towards her quarry.

Even if it was a dead end, at least Bottom was already digging. She figured no real time was being lost. She landed lightly in front of the retirement home. 'Peaceful Bench' was its name. It had several benches in front with different elderly ponies perched on them, looking peaceful enough to qualify for the name.

She nodded at them as she strolled purposefully for the door. The door swung out towards her just before she could get to it. A large female nurse stood in the doorway. "I'm sorry, miss? Only residents and family are permitted here."

"I was hoping to visit one of the residents." Libel dipped her head lightly. "A quick visit, then I'll be on my way."

"Who are you looking for and what is your relationship to them?" She produced a clipboard, held in her magic.

Libel hesitated a moment. She had no relation to this mysterious mare... "Long Gaze." If she didn't say what the relationship was, she wasn't lying. "Is she awake?"

"Long Gaze..." The nurse's eyes flitted back and forth over the paper. Long... here we are." She pointed at the line that held the name, not that she let Libel see it. "She has no living relations. All her friends already live here. I'm afraid you have to go."

"It'll just be a moment." Libel smiled as harmlessly as she could manage. "I won't be a bother, promise."

"What is this about?" asked the nurse in a deadpan, her eyes falling halfway closed as she peered at Libelous suspiciously.

Libel huffed. "If I have the correct pony, she may have made some phone calls that upset another pony. I just wanted to put it to rest."

The nurse's eyes squinted practically shut. "Phone calls you say. What did Long Gaze say?"

"Something about mischief?" ventured Libelous. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She felt so close, but stood on perilous thin ice.

"I thought she was making that up." The nurse clopped a hoof over her face. "Is Miss Chief a real person?"

Libelous felt relief rush through her. "Actually, no. I let a typo through in the paper, misidentifying 'Tall Chief' for 'Miss Chief'. She received no end of phone calls from Long Gaze about it."