//------------------------------// // Blue Lies // Story: My Little Caboose: Blue is Magic! // by DarkWing //------------------------------// "I'd say I'm fitting into this job nicely." O'Malley chuckled as he walked out of a store and brushed off some feathers from his back. He looked back into the store and coughed. "So sorry for the trouble, it won't happen again." An old mare said sincerely. "If I hear either you or your pillows owe any more taxes it won't just be a pillow fight again, it will be a pillow slaughter!" O'Malley barked. "Understood." The mare nodded, closing the door behind him. "I hope this day never ends." O'Malley grunted as he readjusted his backpack which was full of coins. "Though I might have to return this bag before it breaks my back." O'Malley arrived at town hall several minutes later, taking longer than he normally would have due to his legs and back being sore. He walked up to the door and kicked it, but to his disappointment it didn't fly off it's hinges, instead it simply flew open and slammed into the wall. O'Malley then stumbled in and sat on the floor, letting the backpack slide off of him. "Ah, you're back!" Gary chuckled, jumping out of his chair to greet him. He saw the bag fall over and watched as bits began pouring out. "Looks like you completed the list in one day." "Hardly. That's probably only a tenth of the list." O'Malley muttered tiredly. "I don't recall them owing that much." Gary noted. "Well they may have given an advance on their next few payments." O'Malley laughed darkly. "There may even be a few bribes in there." "Ah, a rousing success!" "Yes, their fear arouses me as well." O'Malley grinned. "What? I said- never mind that." Gary shook his head, then smiled. "Well it's nice to hear you're doing so well at it." "Out of curiosity... if I damaged property does the city have to pay for it?" O'Malley asked. "Yes, but I wouldn't worry about that." Gary said as he dragged the bag into the next room and poured it on the floor to sort trough later. "The shisnos are scared of you so they most likely would not want to upset you." "Good point." O'Malley said as he got off the floor to stretch his legs. "Going back out already?" Gary inquired. "But you just got back. Take a break." "The wicked get no breaks, so according to that logic I get negative breaks, so I must break others to even it out!" O'Malley boomed, then coughed awkwardly as he put on the bag for cover. "In other words I've got other interrogations to attend to." "Really?" Gary asked contemplatively, watching as O'Malley opened the door. "I thought every shisno you visited in town paid you." "They did. Do you doubt my tax collecting abilities?" O'Malley growled harshly. "Not at all." Gary muttered, walking next to him. "But then who are you interrogating?" "The rainbow fool hired me to talk to the blue fool named Tucker. And as long as I put someone in pain, who am I to judge to what end it achieves?" O'Malley asked. "Tucker." Gary echoed in anger, instantly recalling Tucker stabbing Wyoming through the back with the key. "Very well. Take the rest of the day off and go with my blessing." "I wasn't going to ask for it." O'Malley muttered as he walked outside. "Well tell him Gary says hello." Gary said quietly, then slammed the door shut behind him, much like nearly every pony he collected from did. O'Malley cleared his throat and yelled a warning as he began walking back to the marketplace, priming himself for the interrogation. As he entered the market, gasps came from the nearby merchants and they shrank down, avoiding O'malley as if he was the black plague. Music to O'Malley's ears. He skipped happily, humming a song of violence and bloodshed until he came saw Rainbow Dash standing edgily in front of the furniture store. O'Malley breathed int his hoof and smelled, making sure his breath was minty and murder fresh. Satisfied, he walked next to Rainbow Dash, who was looking the other way, and coughed, making her jump upwards in surprise. "Don't sneak up on me like that." Rainbow Dash groaned. "Sorry. Oh wait, no I'm not." O'Malley chuckled darkly. "Now where is Tucker right now?" "He's, uh, in that alley." Rainbow Dash coughed before pointing to the gap where he had met Vinyl. "What's he doing in there?" O'Malley asked dubiously, looking her over. "I don't know, he just is." Rainbow Dash said testily. "Very well, no need to be angry." O'Malley said. "You're one to talk." O'Malley shrugged and laughed as he walked into the alley. His laughter died when there was no pony in sight. He walked to the middle of the alley, checking behind each box in case he was hiding, but he was nowhere to be found. "There you are." Sarge muttered, coming into the opposite entrance of the alley. "What are you doing here?" O'Malley hissed, backing into Big Mac who had blocked the entrance he had come through. "Luckily this competent Blue told us about you walking around town." Sarge laughed, looking at Rainbow Dash. "You're still trusting Blues I see." O'Malley scoffed. "Seems my words were correct, hm?" "She has red in her hair." Sarge corrected him, then glowered at him. "Now where's Caboose?" "Caboose?" "Yeah, on my way back to the farm I saw a rocket flying through the air coming out of town and instantly thought of you. Low and behold I went to go talk to see Caboose and he didn't answer. Went around out back and saw that the ground had scorch marks on it and you were nowhere to be found." Sarge said, acting surprised. "Simmons was busy, so I went to Dash here instead." "Clever. Well you found me, well done. Now what are you going to do?" "Ask you how you managed to build a rocket in the fifteen seconds after I left." "You think I made that?" O'Malley chuckled, shaking his head. "Then you are more foolish than I originally believed!" "Then why were you running away from Dash when she tried to talk to you?" Sarge asked. "Because I was working." "You were working?" Sarge asked, entirely unconvinced. "Who would hire you? And to do what? Bore people to death?" "No, I work for the city collecting taxes from those that are late with their payments." O'Malley smiled, but it fell slightly when he looked at Big Mac. "Turns out your little family owes a tiny sum as well, but I felt being gracious with the ones who are currently housing me. The only reason they haven't been chased before is because those that live here know that Granny Smith is one of the longest living residents of Ponyville, so they give her a bit of leeway. Hypothetically, since I do not consider her a friend, I could seize her property in the name of Ponyville." "You're lying." Sarge said, but turned to Big Mac and saw a grim look on his face. "Also, if they didn't pay their fees within a certain amount of time the city would be able to tear down their land and build whatever they want here, so if you wish to insult me, go ahead. Just let it be known that you would be the cause of making your family lose their home." O'Malley couched innocently. "I'm good." Sarge said quietly, stepping to the side. "That's good to hear." O'Malley agreed as he walked past Sarge. "Now if you don't mind, since you so willingly wasted my time, I would like to go for a walk. Collected a lot of taxes and broke a lot of woodwork, so now my legs are killing me as much as I'd like to be killing you all right now." The trio watched as O'Malley walked out of the alley, head smugly lifted from his victory. He then turned the corner, leaving the three alone. "Why didn't you tell me you owe money?" Sarge asked Big Mac. "Never came up." Big Mac said truthfully. "Don't mean to sound inconsiderate or anything, but am I done here? Tucker will be kinda annoyed if I don't show up since he's working both of our shifts right now." Rainbow Dash said sheepishly. "Yeah, thanks for the help." Sarge muttered. "No problem." Rainbow Dash smiled as she trotted past him. When she exited the alley she unfurled her wings and flapped once, when something tapped on her shoulder. She turned to see who did it and saw O'Malley glaring at her, sunglasses behind his ears. "I won't forget about your little lie anytime soon." O'Malley said quietly as he began walking away, but kept his sight on her. "Don't think that just because you don't owe any money I can't make your life more difficult. You've made an enemy that won't soon forget."