“How could you do it, Starlight?!”
“How could you not believe me when I tell you I didn’t do it, Jake?!”
“Because you’re the only one that could have taken and lost it!”
“Even if I did, I wouldn't have ‘taken' it but ‘borrowed’ it, and I didn’t ‘borrow’ anything this morning! And why are you so upset anyway? It’s just a brush, and I can get you another one!”
“It’s not just that you ‘borrowed’ it, but it’s that you’re lying about it!”
Not long ago I woke up and looked for my hairbrush to brush my hair, obviously. But it wasn’t in my pack, where I always keep it, and the only one that could’ve taken/borrowed it was one of my two marefriends, Starlight Glimmer, because last night was her turn to cuddle with me.
Starlight can be impulsive and occasionally acts without thinking things through. She loves using my hairbrush for her coat and has "borrowed" it before. She said it felt “different” compared to Equestrian brushes, and she enjoys the different feel, so I never minded her borrowing it. However, this time she lost it and then claimed that she had nothing to do with it!
Before we could continue our argument, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy all walked through one of the library’s green double-doors, Pinkie Pie hopping in with them. I still have no idea how she creates the springing sound effect from her hops. They all understandably gasped at Starlight’s and my yelling, and Pinkie stopped hopping.
Applejack asked, “Whoa, whoa, what in tarnation is goin’ on in here?!”
“Well, Starlight ‘borrowed’ something from me, lost it, and now she’s saying she didn’t do it!” I yelled and glared at Starlight.
Starlight returned the glare and screamed, “And for the hundredth time, I didn’t ‘borrow’ it!”
“Okay, let us calm down and talk this out,” Rarity suggested.
“Yeah, let’s settle this like grown ponies! Er, adults,” Rainbow chimed in.
“Fine!” Starlight and I both exclaimed.
Starlight and I stomped to and each sit in one of two chairs near one of the library’s bookshelves. We usually sit beside each other on a couch, but this time, we weren’t exactly in the mood to sit on the same couch. The others walked to and formed a semicircle in front of us. The tension in the library was chilling, and it's not something I would want to experience again anytime soon; even if half of the tension did come from me.
Applejack asked, “Okay. First, what was ‘borrowed’?”
I explained, “It’s my hairbrush, and when I looked in my pack, it was gone, and now I can’t find it!”
Pinkie asked, “And why does that mean Starlight borrowed it?”
“Because she’s the only one that was in my room last night, she likes using it to brush her coat, and she’s borrowed my brush before. Twilight never used it and Spike doesn’t have hair or fur, so it couldn’t be one of them.”
“I see. So, Starlight, let’s hear your side of the story,” Fluttershy suggested.
“Gladly! When Jake was still asleep, I left his room to eat breakfast, then came to sit in the library. A minute ago, Jake came in and claimed I ‘borrowed’ and lost his brush because he couldn’t find it!”
“Well, could your brush be anywhere else, Jake?” Rarity asked.
”It can’t be, because I always keep it in my pack when I’m not using it.”
Applejack rested a hoof on her cheek. “Okay, so from what Jake said, his brush is gone and only Starlight could’ve taken, er, borrowed it, right?”
“Yep,” I answered.
Rainbow added, “And from what Starlight said, she left his room to eat breakfast, came into the library and saw her, then he said she borrowed and lost it?”
“Yep.”
“Okay, let us figure this out.” Rarity turned her head to look directly at me. “Jake, is there any other place the brush might be? Where were you the last time you had it that wasn’t your room?”
“Well...that would be here in the library. Last night, I relaxed in here while reading books.”
“Where in the library did you ‘relax’?” Fluttershy asked.
I pointed to a purple couch behind where the others stood. “On that couch, but I already searched the library.”
Right after I answered, Spike walked into the library. “Hey, what’s going on?”
We all turned to Spike and Applejack explained, “Well, Starlight and Jake are fightin’ over some brush that Jake thinks Starlight ‘borrowed’, and--”
Spike interrupted, “Wait, you mean a blue brush?”
I responded, “Yeah?”
Spike rubbed the back of his head. “Oh, well...this is awkward. Last night, I saw that brush on the couch.”
“Really, Spike? Where is it?” Rarity asked.
“Yeah, and I wanted to bring it to Jake, but he was in his room with Starlight, and I didn’t think he would want to be...disturbed. So I took it in my room to give to him later.”
Oh, no. I screwed up bad this time. Last night, I was going through the things in my pack and suddenly remembered how late it was, and Starlight would come to my bedroom soon. I picked up my bag in a huge hurry and sped to my room, and the brush must have fallen out as I did. A half-hour later, because of how fast I ran out, I came back to the library to check if anything fell out of my bag. But by that point, Spike must have picked up my brush. Twilight went to bed early and I thought Spike did too, so I didn’t think they saw and picked it up. This is why I suspected Starlight ‘borrowed’ my brush. If I thought Twilight or Spike might have taken it, I wouldn’t have accused Starlight for doing it.
I was screwed. But hoping I could avoid getting an earful from Starlight, I started, “Oh, well that’s a relief! So how about we put this--”
“Jake?” Starlight seethed and glared at me.
“Yes?” I answered sheepishly. So much for hoping to get out of this mess.
“You accused me of borrowing and losing that brush, despite me telling you over and over I didn’t.”
“Yeaaaah, and I was wrong and out of line, and--”
“And not only that, you called me a liar! That really hurt!”
“I-I know, Starlight, and I should have never done it. I’m so sorry.”
“I need some time by myself, and away from you, Jake.”
“Uh, this is probably a dumb question, but I’m not getting any cuddles tonight am I?” I foolishly asked. There are times when I ask dumb questions, and this is one of those times.
Starlight deeply sighed and deadpanned, “What do you think, Jake?”
“I’m not?”
“At least you got something right today!” Starlight shouted, and stormed out of the library.
I just couldn’t believe I could have been so stupid to accuse Starlight of something like that, and I planned to do something big to make it up to her. Trying to hide my shame, with my head down, I covered my face with my hands. “Well, I deserved every bit of that for treating Starlight that bad and I feel horrible.”
But Fluttershy, with a comforting smile, walked to me and sat a hoof on my knee. “It’ll be fine. You made a mistake, but it doesn’t make you a bad guy now.”
Still with my hands on my face, I countered, “Yeah, a ‘mistake’ as in I accused my marefriend of something she didn’t do. Not only that, I refused to listen when she told me she was innocent.”
Applejack said, “But ya realized your mistake and, as Princess Celestia or Twilight might say, ya learned a ‘friendship lesson’ today.”
“Starlight’s mad, but she still loves you and she’ll calm down after a while,” Rainbow explained.
“Yeah, and it’s not like Starlight never makes mistakes, like when she almost destroyed Equestria,” Pinkie pointed out. Though I’d rather that Pinkie would use...other examples to prove that Starlight sometimes makes mistakes.
“And not only that, darling, every couple, or herd in your case, has misunderstandings and arguments sometimes, and yours is no exception. However, when you and Starlight make up, you two will be closer than ever.”
I will admit, I was surprised at what Rarity told me. I uncovered my face and looked directly at Rarity. “Really, Rarity?”
“Really. Fair-weather relationships only last if nothing ever goes wrong. However, relationships which have, and move past, the occasional fights are the ones that grow into the best ones.”
“Hmm, that’s deep, Rarity,” Rainbow admitted. “You know more about relationships than I thought.”
“Yes, well, I do like to think I...wait.” Rarity scowled at Rainbow. “And what does that mean, Rainbow? Is it because I don’t have a special somepony right now? Because I will have you know that--”
But before Rarity and Rainbow could go at it, Applejack interjected, “Calm down, Rarity. We already settled one fight, and we don’t need another one.”
“Well, hopefully, I can become closer to Twilight without fighting with her.”
An angry voice declared, “Well, Jake, I don’t know about the ‘become closer to Twilight’ part, but you might have a fight with her.”
My heart sank and I gasped. We all faced to where the voice came from, and we saw Twilight Sparkle. She was staring daggers in my direction, and I had a feeling why. This was looking to be one of those days I wish I stayed in bed; at least until Spike brought me back my brush.
“Wait, Twilight? What’s wrong?” Rainbow asked. Guess she didn’t figure it out already.
“I just heard that Jake accused Starlight of losing his brush, and she didn’t do it.”
“Uh-oh,” Pinkie muttered, and I’m sure we were all thinking that, save for Twilight.
“Oh, well, yeah, I-I did, but--” I stuttered, hoping to dig out of this hole I buried myself in.
“I can’t believe you! How could you do that to her, Jake?!"
Applejack sighed and facehoofed. “Well, y’all, I guess we got another fight to settle.”
“And even if we do, I wouldn’t count on getting any cuddles from Twilight tomorrow night either, Jake. Let alone any ‘make-out’ sessions,” Spike whispered to me.
“I’d just be happy with not being turned into an orange or something for this.”