//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: Ocean Blues // by TalkingToMyself //------------------------------// Blue walked out of the school building late on Friday afternoon, as she did often. This time though, it wasn't because of detention. She had offered to help Vice-Principal Luna handling the mess from the Friendship Games earlier this week. Although Sunset had repaired most of the damage when she had turned into that angel-form with the help of magic, there was still more than enough work to do. Blue didn't mind losing a few hours of her weekend and Miss Luna also enjoyed having a bit of company when she had to deal with sensitive, magic-related information. Since Blue was in the loop, she was the only one who could help Miss Luna with that, other than the Rainbooms of course. Blue made her way towards the bus stop, she was going to meet up with the girls in town later tonight, but then she saw a figure standing at the plinth of the former Wondercolt statue. For a moment, Blue thought that the girl must have come through the magic portal that was hidden inside the plinth, but as she walked closer, she realized who was really standing there. Although the girl looked like Princess Twilight, it wasn't the pony princess. The glasses were a good giveaway, but even without Blue could tell the difference. She had only met Princess Twilight during the aftermath of Anon-A-Miss, but the princess had never looked like the girl in front of her. This Twilight looked like she could barely stand on her feet, she was hunched over, and her hair hidden under a hoodie. She stared at the plinth and didn't even notice Blue coming closer to her. Blue got a better look at Twilight Sparkle, the genius from Crystal Prep Academy. After all that had happened to her during the Friendship Games, Blue had guessed that Twilight Sparkle probably would need some time to recover, the way she was standing there, she looked so out of it. Blue saw trails of tears on the girl's face and an expression she knew far too well, guilty and desperate. Blue watched as Twilight Sparkle carefully stretched out her right hand towards the plinth, but she didn't dare to touch it in the end. Taking her hesitation as the sign she'd been waiting for, Blue closed the distance to the girl and spoke up “Guess the portal is still down, huh?” Twilight Sparkle backed away from the plinth with a shriek. When she turned towards Blue, she looked downright terrified, so Blue held up her hands defensively “Whoa, chill. I didn't mean to scare you, Twilight.” The girl took a step backwards and looked more closely at her “You're a student here, right? I think I saw you at the Friendship Games.” “Yep. I was also in the crowd when that happened.” Blue pointed at the empty plinth, but immediately regretted mentioning it as Twilight looked even more guilty now. “Sorry Twilight. I didn't mean to...” At this, Twilight's head snapped up and she almost glared at her “You seem to know me and act all familiar, but I have no idea who you are!” “Whoops, sorry. Guess it never came up during the games. I'm Ocean Shore, but you can call me Blue, everyone does.” That seemed enough for Twilight to calm down, at least a little “Sunset Shimmer mentioned your name. That must be why you know about the portal and how it functions!” Blue chuckled a little when the nerdy side glanced back through behind the nervous facade “Yeah, I know about the pony magic stuff, even if I don't have much to do with it. But I've met the princess at least.” “The... princess?” “You know. Princess Twilight. Your pony counterpart from over there.” Blue pointed at the portal with what she hoped was a disarming smile, but it didn't really put the girl in front of her much at ease. “Something wrong?” Twilight shook her head, which was not very convincing. Luckily, Blue had an idea what might be bothering her “Pretty weird thought, right? Last week, the world was normal, and you thought you had a pretty good idea of how it works, and suddenly bam! There's magic, portals to other worlds and different versions of you running around in that worlds. That's some crazy shit for sure.” Twilight kept staring at her, but more surprised now “That, um... that actually sums it up pretty well. A few days ago, I would have never believed in any of this, but now...” “Now you can't deny it. Not after all you've seen and felt. But that doesn't make it any easier to just accept all this magic stuff.” Twilight nodded along, watching Blue with more interest now “You sound like you know what you're talking about.” Blue shrugged and sighed “I guess. I've only been at CHS for a couple months. I wasn't around for the Fall Formal or the Battle of the Bands. But I've seen the girls transform often enough by now, and I've seen Princess Twilight walk right out there once.” She pointed at the plinth and laughed at Twilight's bedazzled expression “Yeah, I suppose that's how I looked like back then.” Although she meant to lighten the mood a bit, Blue only managed the opposite. Twilight Sparkle tried her best not to look directly at her, or the portal, or just anything. At the same time, her fingers gripped on the hem of her jacket like her life depended on it. In a completely stab-in-the-dark attempt to save the situation, Blue addressed her calmly “So, um, you'll transfer next week, right? Did you come to check out the school a bit more?” Twilight's hands only clenched tighter and she shook her head “I wasn't! I was only... I mean... I was going to...” Blue rolled her eyes and called over the rambling “Hey Sparkle!” That worked, and Twilight's head snapped up to look at her, clearly nervous if she had said something wrong, but Blue just waved that notion right off “If you wanna know something, just ask, okay? I'm not gonna bite or stuff.” Twilight nodded and Blue could see that she really tried to relax. In the end, her curiosity won over and she pressed out a question “You mentioned that Princess Twilight came for a visit. Does that happen a lot?” Blue shook her head “Only saw her once. She was only here for two days, and not for the best of reasons. I don't really wanna talk about it.” Twilight had perked up a little as Blue explained and her mouth opened for another question, but as Blue said those last words, she lowered her gaze back to the ground and bit her tongue. Blue noticed of course “Hey Sparkle!” Again, this did the trick and had Twilight look back at her once more “Just ‘cause I don't wanna talk about it today doesn't mean I'll never tell you about it, okay? Just, give a little time to prepare.” Twilight Sparkle obviously didn't really get that, Blue could see it in her eyes, but she understood at least that Blue hadn't just blown her off with this. Because of that, she had a small, thankful smile. Blue had her usual grin back as well “Anything else you wanna know?” “Oh, lots of things! But, um, since you said you don't really know about magic...” Blue chuckled and nodded “Yeah, you'd be better off with Sunset for that kind of stuff.” Twilight nodded eagerly “Yes, Sunset Shimmer has told me so much already! She told me all about the school and her friends and a bit about the portal. Oh, and about you of course!” Blue tilted her head to the side and changed her weight to the other foot. Something about the way Twilight said that didn't really feel right “Like what?” “Well, you know, how you got here and that you had some troubles making friends because of your past transgressions and that you've been arrested before and...” This time, Blue didn't have to stop Twilight's rambling, as the girl suddenly realized what she had just blurted out, right in front of Blue. She covered her mouth with both hands and Blue could tell she was close to a panic attack. Just as close as Blue was to blowing a fuse. She hated it when people brought up this stuff before they even tried to get to know her. And she was pissed that Sunset would just talk about this to a girl she's just met. Forcing herself to a deep breath, Blue did her best to keep that anger in check. She was getting better at it, and Twilight clearly didn't mean to hurt her, which helped “Twilight, relax. I'm not gonna beat you up or anything.” Blue's attempt to calm Twilight Sparkle down didn't really work yet, so Blue kept going “I get it, okay? You and Sunset are friends. That's why she trusts you with, um, sensible information. I bet the girls are just the same. That's just how they swing.” A small nod from Twilight told her she was right “But, you know, I'm not like them. I'm Sunset's friend, but that doesn't mean you're my best friend just because of it. I'm gonna need some time to get used to the idea. Heck, I needed weeks to get used to Rainbow Dash.” As she had hoped, that lured a small smile out of Twilight “So, what I'm trying to say is... it might be a bit awkward at the start. I'm willing to give this friendship a try, but I can't just force it. So, a little patience, maybe?” Twilight's smile grew and she nodded eagerly “Of course! I'm not very familiar with friendship as a concept either, but I'm usually a fast learner!” Blue chuckled again and held her fist out towards Twilight, who just stared at her completely dumbfounded. After a minute, she realized what to do and bumped her fist against Blue's. “So, I was gonna meet the girls tonight. You coming or what?” Twilight blushed and looked around nervously, probably for a reason to skip out “Oh, um, don't you think that's a bit soon? I mean, you just said you need your time and...” “Sparkle!” Just like before, that was enough to make Twilight flinch and focus on Blue, who could barely hold back a chuckle. Okay, I have to ask her what's up with that. Later though. Instead, she grinned at Twilight “Just because we're not best friends yet doesn't mean we can't hang. And if it gets too awkward, you just tell me and we'll fix it, no big deal. What do you say?” Twilight was still hesitating, but Blue just waited and smiled at her, not unlike another girl had done for her just a couple months ago. “Oh, sure, why not?” Blue nodded and they both chuckled, until a third voice suddenly came out of Twilight's backpack “Sweet! Does that mean I can come out now?” Twilight immediately went into panic mode again, but Blue just laughed when a dog poked its head out of Twilight's backpack “Spike! I told you to stay hidden! We can't let anyone hear you talk!” “Nope, you said I'm only allowed to talk around friends! And you just made a friend!” The small purple dog turned to stare at Blue “Hi! I'm Spike!” Twilight looked like she just wanted to run away and hide from embarrassment, but Blue just laughed more “Nice to meet ya, Spike. Are we ready to go now or what?” Twilight sighed defeated and let Spike out of her bag so he could run around while she followed Blue “How come you're so calm about this?” “What, talking dog? That's far from the weirdest thing I've seen last week. I mean, those holes to that other world were a thing and then Sunset hit me with one of her magic beams as well.” “Really? You came in direct contact with magic?” Immediately, Twilight when back from shy and scared to curious and excited. She's different, but she's still at least a bit like Princess Twilight. As they made their way to town, Blue tried to explain to Twilight how it felt to have magic pass through her body, all while Spike ran around them. Long before they reached their destination though, they were sharing stories just like any normal teenager would. Yeah, I think we can make this work. Lab class was contained chaos, as usual. On their bank in the back, Sunset, Blue and their newest addition Twilight Sparkle were ahead of the rest of class. That wasn’t very unusual either, since Chemistry was Blue’s best subject and Sunset was a straight-A student overall. What was unusual and therefore getting on Blue’s nerves was that Twilight kept on babbling. On one hand, it was great that Twilight fit in so well at CHS and with the girls and how much happier she was overall, after just a couple of weeks. On the other hand, Twilight still had some annoying habits she couldn’t let go, like how she had to explain everything to everyone around her, like they were all dumb as fuck. So Blue wasn’t a genius like Twilight or Sunset, but that didn’t give Twilight the right to ‘educate her’ every single second of the day. Especially not when she clearly knew her stuff for once, at least as well as Sunset. That didn’t stop Twilight from babbling about every single tiny little detail of their experiment, despite the fact that Blue had set up their aperture perfectly without her input. Sunset wasn’t much of a help either, she kept throwing facts back and forth with Nerd Queen Sparkle. They didn’t care at all that they were blowing this simple high school lab class up to university-standard levels of ‘who the hell gives a fuck?’ Even the teacher left them alone, Mr Vial knew better than to get between Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer when they were in brain bug mode. Too bad for Blue, she was stuck with them. She didn’t have much to distract her either, since it was impossible to focus on anything else with Twilight going a mile a minute with some obscure theory. So Blue just gritted her teeth and tried to stay calm. Since she didn’t have any alternative, she decided to check the aperture once more to see how their experiment was going. It was really simple, mix in a few substances and then add a reagent. When the reaction was over, just distillate the new product and determine the purity of the product, easy as one-two-three. Blue noticed that the solution was clear and transparent now, so they were ready for distillation. Since Twilight was still in full nerd-mode, she could start it and tell them after. As soon as she so much as reached out for the burner though, Blue suddenly heard a shriek behind her and Twilight shoved her away from the aperture “What are you doing? It’s not ready yet! You can’t just do whatever you want!” Blue had already been at the edge of her patience, but somehow, she managed to not just slap Twilight right then and there “The fuck are you talking about? It’s ready for the next step and…” “No it’s not! The book says we need to wait at least five more minutes! You’re just going to mess this up!” Blue gritted her teeth and balled her hand to fists “The solution is ready. We don’t have to fucking wait, we can just…” “NO! We’re going to do this right, like the book says! This is too important to let you waste all our effort just because you don’t understand what we’re doing.” Sunset Shimmer had by now noticed Blue’s expression of barely held-back rage and tried to intervene, but by then it was too late for Blue already. With burning anger in her voice, she just snapped at the Nerd Queen “The fuck did you just say? You’ve done nothing but yap the entire class. I know what I’m doing, and I don’t need someone like you to tell me how to pass a fucking lab class.” Twilight backed away and wilted down when Blue just yelled at her, so loud that everybody was staring at them by now. Gone was any confidence from before and now she looked like she was about to cry “I… I’m sorry… I just want us to succeed at this class.” Blue was past the point where she could hold back, so she just kept on yelling “So you say I can’t do it without your help, huh? Are you fucking real? I’ve done great without your fucking input and if you’d just get your head out of your ass for one fucking minute, you’d see that I’m right, but that’s not how you do it, right? You don’t listen to people like me, because after all I’m just a dumb brick compared to you, isn’t that what you think? Twilight Fucking Sparkle doesn’t make mistakes after all, so obviously whatever I do must be worth shit! Is that how you see me?” Twilight shrunk down into herself even further, her eyes locked on the floor in front of her feet as she nervously clutched the hem of her lab coat “But… but the book says…” “I DON’T FUCKING CARE WHAT THE BOOK SAYS!” Blue tried to get closer to Twilight, but Sunset was faster and stepped between them. Blue only now noticed that she was breathing hard from all the yelling, and that she was so angry that her hands were balled to fists. She also noticed that Twilight was scared of her, and everyone was staring. Blue met Sunset’s eyes and nodded once, then took a step backward, trying to calm herself down. Sunset understood right away and focused on Twilight instead “You okay?” “I… I didn’t mean to… I was just trying to save the experiment and…” “Blue was right, you know?” Twilight’s head snapped up to Sunset as if she had been slapped “What?” “When the solution is clear, it means the reaction is over and you can go on with the next step. Even the book says so.” Twilight now really looked like crying, even though for a completely different reason “Oh no, I didn’t mean… I never meant… I’m sorry!” She turned to Blue, who was still too angry to face her right now, so she just stayed quiet. By now, the teacher had reached them and glanced between the three girls “What seems to be the problem here?” Blue left it to Sunset to sum things up for Mr Vial, who ended up frowning at Twilight “Miss Sparkle, I know Crystal Prep focuses more on individual studies, but you’re working as groups in my class. For that reason, you need to learn to work together and not just dismiss your partners’ opinions.” Twilight let her head hang down and nodded. Blue could see that she was not used having a teacher talk down on her. “Not only that, but you also disturbed everyone else with this ruckus. I believe one hour of detention will give you enough time to think about this, Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight stared up at the teacher with her eyes nearly bulging out of her head “But… but… I never got detention ever before!” “As they say, there is a first time for everything, Miss Sparkle.” Sunset jumped into action right away and tried to reason with the teacher, but Blue got his attention when she grabbed his arm “Sir, Twilight didn’t cause the ruckus, I did.” Mr Vial turned around and looked at her expectantly as he raised his brow “Did you now?” “Well, yeah. I was the one who started screaming, right? I overreacted.” “Are you sure that's what happened, Miss Shore?” “Are you fucking kidding me? Everybody knows I have a fuse that’s shorter than Pinkie Pie’s attention span.” The guys from the class started chuckling and even Mr Vial had a hint of a smile “Well, if you’re so eager to take responsibility for this… you’ll report in with Vice-Principal Luna right after this class, Ocean Shore.” Blue groaned over-dramatically and everybody in class giggled. Detention was bad enough, but Vice-Principal Luna always had ‘creative’ ideas on what detention should really look like. “Sounds like you can kiss your afternoon goodbye, Blue.” Everybody, except Twilight Sparkle, laughed at this, especially when Blue flipped the bird at Lyra Heartstrings for that comment. That seemed enough to break the tension, and everybody turned back to their experiments. Twilight stayed in her corner of the room and watched as Sunset and Blue finished up as if nothing had happened, even though Blue refused to look at her direction. In Crystal Prep, nobody had ever questioned Twilight. Even the few times she had been forced to work in a group with other students, they had all just expected her to do all the work, which was fine by her since that meant they wouldn’t mess anything up. As long as she got a high mark from it, Twilight didn’t really care about her partners. Nobody had ever questioned that. And nobody had ever blown up at her like Blue before. Then again, nobody had ever taken a fall for her like Blue either. Twilight just didn’t know what to think about her anymore. Blue sighed when she walked out of the office and to her locker. All things considered Miss Luna had been lenient with her this time. All she did was extend their weekly counselling session for an hour, but that was okay. They talked about the incident in lab class and how Blue had lost her temper, but Miss Luna didn’t berate her for it. That was just not how she did things during their sessions. And as always, Blue felt a lot better, a lot more balanced after talking things through with Miss Luna. Which was the whole point of the counselling sessions, after all. Blue walked down the empty school building, but then she noticed someone else was still around. A single girl stood by her locker, obviously waiting for her. Not in the mood for games tonight, she just called her out “Twilight, what are you doing here this late?” As soon as she heard Blue, Twilight stood straight and started stammering “H-hello, I’ve been waiting for you. Ocean Shore, I wanted to apologize and…” “Only judges and parole officers call me that.” “Huh?” Blue grinned and rummaged in her locker “Only judges and parole officers say my full name every fucking time. My friends just call me Blue.” “Your friends? But I… and you… and then I…” Blue laughed and shook her head “Yeah, I know. Sorry for blowing up on you like that. It’s something I’m working on.” Even though I’m not very successful at it… Twilight looked at her like she’d just grown an extra set of arms “But you were right to blow up on me! I… I talked with Sunset and… I’m sorry! I mean, I was sorry before I talked with Sunset, but after I talked with Sunset, I understand why you would react like you did. Which is not wrong, I didn’t mean to say that you were! I just didn’t know! But even if I didn’t know, I shouldn’t have said what I said when I said that…” “Yo Twilight!” Blue snapped her fingers in front of Twilight’s face to get her attention “Twilight, you filled your quote for rambling today. So whatever you want to say, you only have ten words left! Make them count!” Twilight blinked at stared at Blue for a whole minute “I just wanted to say I’m sorry and… here!” She held out a stack of papers for Blue who now frowned confused “What’s that?” “It’s… it’s today's homework.” “What?” Blue’s frown turned into a glare “Why?” “Because… you lost your afternoon because of me. I just want to make up for that.” Blue kept glaring at her and Twilight quickly fell into panicked rambling “I didn’t mean to imply that you’re dumb! I know you’re not! I just wanted to do something nice, but I didn’t know what you would like, and I didn’t have time to research for a fitting gift and so I thought maybe this would be…” “Sparkle!” Twilight flinched back at that word and instinctively held up her arms to cover her face "I’m sorry!” Twilight waited for a minute, but when nothing happened, she dared to open her eyes again. Blue was still watching her, but she hadn’t moved at all. She also wasn’t glaring anymore, even if she was still watching Twilight very attentively “That’s what the bullies at your old school called you, right?” “Wha… What do you mean?” “Sparkle!” Twilight flinched again and when Blue frowned, she nodded hesitantly “It… it happened a few times.” “Right. And they also told you that you had to do their homework.” Biting her lip, Twilight looked down at the floor “Yes.” Blue sighed and leaned against her locker “So when you thought you had to make it up to me, you could only think of homework because that’s what a bully like me would want, right?” “Right… No! I mean… you’re not a bully! I don’t think so.” Blue rolled her eyes “That doesn’t sound very convincing, you know?” “I… I didn’t mean to…” “Twilight. Listen.” Blue sighed and took a step towards Twilight, trying to find her eyes “You know why you can’t tell me apart from any bully? Because bullies are often angry for no good reason. And then they start picking on people. Especially people who are weak and make an easy target.” Twilight shrunk back from her, but Blue reached out to hold her arm, which made Twilight look at her again “You’re not weak Twilight. You just gotta stop thinking you are. You slipped in at CHS with no trouble at all and you got the girls to back you up when you need it. There’s no way any bully is ever gonna pick on you again. You just need to get that confidence back up.” Twilight almost smiled, but another thought had it fall apart again “But, what about you? You’re no bully, but you got angry.” “And it’s gonna happen again.” Twilight’s eyes opened wide in fear, so Blue let her go. When Twilight didn’t run away, Blue tried to explain “I told you, I have a short fuse. It’s something I’m working on. But I’m pretty sure I’ll get angry again. Maybe at you, maybe not. Probably about something that’s not worth it. It’s just how I tick.” Blue could see Twilight wanted to ask something, so she stayed quiet until Twilight had worked up enough courage to do so “Have you… did you ever get so angry that you hurt someone?” “Yeah.” Twilight backed away in fear again, but Blue only had a bitter laugh “Sunset didn’t tell you that, did she? Can’t say I blame her.” Again, Twilight needed a minute to gather her courage “If… if you know it’s wrong, why do you keep doing it?” Blue just sighed and shrugged “I dunno. In the moment when it happens, I usually don’t think what I do is wrong.” She looked back at Twilight “Sounds familiar?” Twilight thought about it for a couple more moments. When she had talked down Blue during lab class, she really believed what she said was right. It was only until later that she started to feel bad about it. She didn’t think that more rambling would help make her point, so she just nodded silently. “And just for the record, if I was a bully, I’d be cashing in your lunch money. I can do my homework just fine, thank you very much.” Just as Blue expected, Twilight was totally thrown off loop by this and Blue couldn't help but laugh at her baffled expression, so much that she even had tears in her eyes. Before long, Twilight caught up and joined right in. “Oh man, I think I’ve been stuck in school for long enough today. Come on, let’s go to Sugarcube Corner and get some shakes. Your treat!” Twilight, still giggling, followed along “Okay fine, but only because I still feel a little guilty for getting you into detention.” Blue grinned as they left the school grounds “Sounds fair. How about this: Your treat today and next time, it’s your turn to pay!” “Hey!” Twilight smiled and put her hands to her hips “You better not think you can push me around like that.” “Meh, can’t blame a girl for trying.” Twilight threw a fake-glare towards Blue, which just had them laughing again as they made their way down the street. Blue waved after Rarity and Fluttershy as they drove off together. Fluttershy had offered her a lift too, but Blue wasn't in a hurry to get home today. Her sister was doing the late shift again, so it'd be almost midnight before she got back, meaning that Blue would sit around in her room and get bored anyway. Might as well waste some time by walking home. She walked around the school building towards the street when she noticed that she wasn't the only one left. Twilight Sparkle was sitting at the steps near the empty plinth, waiting for her brother to pick her up. At least, that's what she told them earlier. As Blue got closer, she noticed the faint purple glowing from Twilight's hand. A book lifted up from her bag and floated in a brighter version of that glow and when Twilight waved her hand from side to side, the book followed the motion with only a slight delay. Twilight's other hand was holding on her necklace, and Blue knew the geode from the necklace would be glowing as well right now. She'd seen it enough times already. Blue slowly walked up to Twilight who was so lost in her magic trick that she didn't notice her until Blue spoke up “You're getting better with it.” Twilight jumped up with a start but immediately relaxed when she recognized Blue. The book was lifted up by the magic glow again and weaved through the air “I think so, too. Sunset Shimmer had a lot of useful advice for me. Apparently, levitation is a very basic skill where she's from. I doubt the others or me would be able to handle these new powers very well if it wasn't for her help.” Blue nodded and leaned against the plinth, trying not to stare at the floating book “Yeah, Sunset grew up with this shit, so it's all natural for her. Everybody is losing their shit over it, but it's like Sunset couldn't give less of a fuck. For her it's just normal and to us, it's the craziest shit ever.” Blue hadn't noticed that Twilight was staring at her, but she did notice that the glowing suddenly stopped. She turned her head just in time to see the book drop back into the bag, and that Twilight was watching her very closely “Are you... I mean, is there something bothering you, Ocean Shore?” Usually, Blue would roll her eyes now and tell Twilight to stop saying her full name, but something about the way Twilight looked at her got under her skin. Not in a good way “Why are you asking?” “You said 'shit' three times in less than a minute.” Blue glared at Twilight for that. She hated it when people could figure her out just like that, even if they were her friends. But most of all, she hated how little control she had over herself. She didn't pretend she was an angel, but at least she had toned down her swearing a lot over the last few weeks. So when she slipped up like this, people immediately knew she was angry. Even Twilight could pick up on it. In a way, it had been easier when she had been angry all the time. She didn't have to worry about anything she said back then. But at the same time, Blue knew she didn't want to go back there. Life wasn't all rainbows and butterflies, but things had picked up for her still. Less fights, less detention, less jerks pushing her buttons. Ever since she spent time with the girls, even her grades had gone up a little. Life at home was still shitty, but with the girls around, she felt good enough to forget about it for a while. She felt like she belonged. But then, of course, some magic shenanigan reminded her that she never really belonged with them. Twilight kept watching her closely, and when Blue wouldn't speak for a minute, she took a guess instead “Are you worried about our new magic?” Blue still didn't look at her, but shook her head “No. I know you guys can handle that stuff.” “Then what is it, Ocean Shore?” Blue frowned and shot a glare towards Twilight “Stop calling me that! And you know damn well what it is. You wouldn't ask that question if you didn't.” Twilight blushed and suddenly, she couldn't look at Blue anymore, so she stared at her feet instead “If you're not worried, then I suppose the only logical solution is that our magic bothers you. Most likely because we got new magic, but you, um... you didn't.” Blue blew out an angry sigh “When you say it like that, it really makes me sound like a whiny bitch. I'm fucking jealous because I didn't get a glowing stone as well. How shitty is that, even for me?” Twilight turned her attention back at Blue “But the girls had magic before we found the geodes. You never seemed as bothered by that. What has changed that makes you feel like this?” Blue turned her head to look at Twilight, but for once she wasn’t glaring “Can’t you tell?” By the way Twilight suddenly gripped the hem of her shirt, Blue knew she could “The only thing that changed since was… it’s me, isn’t it?” “No!” Blue jumped to her feet and her hands balled to fists “Twilight, it’s not you, okay? You’ve got nothing to do with it! It’s not you, it’s just… it’s not me either.” Blue clenched her fists together so tightly that her knuckles turned white. She turned away from Twilight so she wouldn’t have to see that look on her face any longer. Twilight now got on her feet as well and after a moment of hesitation, she put her hand on Blue's shoulder “What... what do you mean it's not you either?” Blue shrugged off Twilight's hand, but at least she calmed down again. She let out a long sigh “That magic you all got, it's the magic of friendship, right?” “Yes. That's what Princess Twilight says.” “So if your magic got stronger, it means you're great friends. All of you. And once you stopped being scared of yourself, you can now even control it.” Twilight just nodded, since she didn't know where Blue was going with this “Don't you see, Twilight? You've only been around for a couple of weeks, but you're already best friends, so much that you even levelled up your magic. I've been around for longer than you, and I thought the girls and I were good friends too. You guys are the first real friends I ever had. But I guess the friendship magic says I'm still not worth a fuck.” She looked back at Twilight “You girls... you belong together. I don't belong. I thought I would, but I've just been fooling myself. No way someone like me would ever belong anywhere.” Twilight instinctively backed away when she saw the look on Blue’s face. Blue couldn’t really blame her for that, she usually wasn’t ever emotional like this, but the last week had been wearing her down somehow. Now she just felt pathetic. She had never wanted friends to begin with. She was okay with being alone. When she was alone, nobody could trick her or betray her. Nobody could hurt her. But the others didn’t betray her. They didn’t trick her into a trap. They never meant to hurt her, but Blue still felt it. While everybody around her grew stronger and closer, Blue just felt left out. The magic of friendship had dejected her. In a way, she felt like she was just wrong, as if a fundamental law of nature like gravity just decided she wasn’t worth bothering with anymore. On the other hand, she was angry at herself. She’d been getting along fine without flashy lights, without superpowers and without cheap accessories, and she hated herself for being jealous of her friends. It was just so pathetic. She was so pathetic. “Well, I think you’re wrong.” Blue snapped out of her thoughts when Twilight put her hand back on her shoulder “I don’t know why the girls got magic and you didn’t. I don’t know how magic is supposed to work. Why it transformed me into an evil witch the first time and into a pony-human-hybrid when I use it now. But I know that if it’s friendship that turns this magic into something good, then you’re responsible for it like the rest of us. Or anyone at CHS, really.” Blue turned her head so she could glance back at Twilight “What do you mean, I’m responsible?” “When I came to CHS, I didn’t know the first thing about friendship. I had so much to learn, and I learned a lot. Not only from the girls, but from you, too. I can’t explain why I got magic and you didn’t, but I know I wouldn’t be the friend I am today without your help, Blue.” Blue laughed harshly, without any joy “Yeah, I guess if nothing else, you get to see how to not friendship from me.” “That’s not true!” Blue looked up at Twilight who sounded, almost angry, for whatever reason “You stood up for me when I was getting into trouble in my first week! And you weren’t even angry at me when you got detention for it. In fact, you had to cheer me up in the end. Does that sound like a bad friend to you?” “Twi, I appreciate the effort, but…” “But what? You think your friendship is worth less, why? Because you swear a lot? Because you got a temper? Because you didn’t get a magic geode? I don’t care about any of these things! You’re my friend and you’re important to me. Period!” Twilight had talked herself into some kind of rage on Blue’s behalf, but Blue could just stare at her, first annoyed but that turned more and more into wonder the longer Twilight talked. Now where’s that shy, insecure girl I met here just a couple weeks ago? Blue just couldn’t help but grin at some point. She didn’t even listen to what Twilight was saying anymore, in fact she just interrupted her once she realized why this felt so familiar “You know, you almost sound like her right now.” “Huh?” Twilight, thrown off loop, blinked a couple of times in confusion “I sound like who exactly?” “Like the princess. You know, Princess Twilight.” Blue pointed to the portal-plinth and grinned even more when Twilight suddenly blushed furiously “I’m not. I’m not her.” “Yeah, I know. But some things are the same.” Twilight turned her lips into an angry pout, which wasn’t better than the blushing but at least she was talking normal again “You’re still comparing me to her.” Blue just rolled her eyes at that “Seriously? Twi, I’ve met her once and spent a couple hours with her. I know you for far longer than her. If anything, I’m comparing her to you. And I can’t help when you both happen to say the same thing to me.” “The same thing? What do you mean by that?” Blue sighed, parts relieved that Twilight didn’t seem angry anymore, parts frustrated about how pathetic and whiny this would make her sound “When we talked, after Sunset… after that whole Anon-A-Miss mess, she told me she thinks I’m not a lost cause when it comes to the whole ‘friendship is magic’-stuff… but that me being a friend looks different than Sunset, or Rarity, or her. Or, you know, you.” Blue looked away from Twilight, mostly to hide how embarrassed she probably looked right now. Twilight didn’t seem to notice at all, and what she said pulled Blue’s attention back to her “But isn’t that a good thing?” Blue didn’t know what to say, really. She was used to being a problem, a troublemaker or a loner at the very least, and all kinds of adults telling her she should be ‘more like other kids’. In fact, she was pretty sure that she wouldn’t be in detention so much if she was more like Rarity or Applejack or… well, maybe not Rainbow Dash. Still, she couldn’t see what made Twilight say stuff like that. Before she had the chance to ask, Twilight started explaining all by herself “All of our friends are different, to the point they even start arguing over unimportant, little things. Like Applejack and Rainbow Dash, they always have to compete and butt heads with each other. But that’s the whole point. They are all friends because they are so different. It’s the fact that they are so different from me that makes them my best friends. I can learn so much from them, and they from me, and when either of us faces a problem we can’t solve on our own, we’ll have a friend who can help. Because we’re all different. Like you and me.” Twilight reached for her geode and held it up for Blue to see “This thing? Maybe it’s something new that makes us different, but that doesn’t mean it has to be something that separates us.” Blue stared at her for a whole minute, until she couldn’t hold back her laughter any longer “Nice speech, Princess. Now all you need is a crown and a sceptre.” Twilight started to pout as soon as Blue laughed, but she could tell that Blue was just teasing her “I’m serious!” “So am I. Hey, I bet Rarity would make you a dress that goes with your crown, too.” Blue laughed even more, and Twilight turned away so she could roll her eyes, but also hide her smile “That’s what I get for trying to have a serious talk with you. I should have known.” “Should have known that I’m allergic to serious talks.” That was enough to have them both laugh this time, which they did. A few moments later, Twilight turned towards the street as a familiar car drove up “That’s my brother, I better go now. See you on Monday?” “Yeah, sure. Have a nice weekend.” Twilight nodded with a smile and walked towards the car, but turned around when Blue called after her “Hey Twilight? Thanks for… just thanks!” Thanks for cheering me up. Thanks for listening to me. Thanks for understanding. Thank you for being my friend when I needed one. Blue never said any of those things, but Twilight’s smile turned a bit brighter still. Blue was never good with words, but she knew Twilight got what she wanted to say. They waved goodbye, then Twilight climbed into the car and drove away with her brother. Blue turned around and took the street that, eventually, would take her home as well. She still lived in a dump. She still barely saw her sister because she had to work her arse off to cover the bills. She still had a temper and struggled keeping her anger in check sometimes. And she was never going to be ‘good enough’ to get a magic friendship necklace. But for the first time in a while, she didn’t feel one bit pathetic.