Collateral Damage
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“Hey Twilight!”
An assertive knock rapped on the library door, bringing attention to the unicorn and two earth mares sitting at the table. Twilight was unsure about letting her friend in at a time like this, but she didn’t want to be rude. Hesitantly, the unicorn opened the door with her magic.
“Uh, Dash. Now’s not a really good time…” Twilight uttered as the pegasus walked into the library.
The library was still a mess from the earlier reorganization. Books were still stacked in clutters all over the place, in the corners, on tables, and even on the stairs. Papers also littered the tables, detailing charts of specific categories of the books Twilight had. Some were even tacked to the walls next to the bookshelves. It reminded Rainbow Dash of a busy journalist, organizing notes to tell the perfect story for the papers.
But that wasn’t why Twilight was nervous about letting her in at this time.
“Why no- …uhh, why are you dressed like a cowboy?” Dash asked as she observed the unicorn behind the table.
From Dash’s view, she could see that Twilight was wearing a brown mariachi hat and a red bandana around her neck. Applejack, who was sitting at the table with her, was wearing similar hat different from her regular one. It seemed to be some kind of costume party because Apple Bloom was also there, her hair tied into a ponytail with a bow at the end. Dash was focused on Twilight though, restraining laughter even though the other two ponies in the room weren’t any different. It was just Twilight who seemed out of place in her outfit; the other two seemed to wear them naturally.
“Umm, well, it has to do with Applejack’s family reunion,” Twilight explained.
Applejack spoke up, “Our cousins over at Austallion are comin’ over for the rodeo show in a week, an’ Twilight wanted to get to know ‘em better.”
“Last time we had the family over was at the Summer Sun Celebration,” Apple Bloom spoke up, “But Twilight was busy at the time and couldn’t stay for the whole thing.”
“And there was the whole ‘NightMare Moon’ thing and all…” Twilight finished.
“Oh, right…” Dash understood as she looked away. Remembering what she was here for, she kicked her front legs modestly, trying to figure out how to deliver the bad news, “Um…”
“Do you need something?” Twilight asked, deciding to leave her spot at the table and approach the pegasus. It seemed that whatever she had on her mind, it was private.
“Well, I met this stallion a while ago. He was nice and…” she started.
Twilight gasped, “Are you telling me you have a crush on some pony?” she was more eccentric than she should be at the revelation. Applejack and Apple Bloom were both interested in the conversation at this point, but the pegasus was quick to correct her before they could speak.
“What? No! That’s not what I meant!” she said angrily, the unicorn looking upset. Dash sighed as she continued, “You see, I think he was here earlier today.”
“He?” Twilight parroted. The only pony who had visited his library today was… “…oh! You mean Blues?”
“Yeah, him,” Applejack’s ears perked up at the sound of the familiar name.
“Hold on. Blues was here?” she said, leaving the table to talk with the two, “I met him earlier this mornin’. Poor colt was mullin’ over half eaten roses over some hogwash about a date he had.”
“Date? The guy told me he was going to a fancy dinner,” Rainbow Dash explained, growing suspicious.
“Maybe he wanted to make his date a fancy dinner?” Twilight suggested, “I mean, Blues rented one book about that. Whatever he was preparing for, he wanted to make it special. I mean, he sure is a strange colt, the way his mind works.”
“Yer telling me,” Applejack agreed, thinking back to her time talking with the pony, “Feller’s quite a nice colt to talk to. He has this way with words that just makes you think…”
“Well, I don’t know about words,” Dash spoke up, “But the guy knows how to play a mean saxophone. Seriously. You guys need to hear him play sometime. He’s awesome at it.”
“I’m sure he is. He mentioned it before when he was here earlier,” Twilight then remembered Dash’s inquiry, “Oh right. Before we got off topic, you wanted to tell me something, Rainbow Dash?”
“Oh. Well, uh…” Dash said as she looked back to the doorway. She wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible, “I don’t know how to explain it, Twilight, but there’s something I need to show you…”
“Oh? What is it?” the unicorn asked as Rainbow Dash walked towards the door.
“Promise you won’t get mad, but…” she opened the door as Twilight walked closer to get a better view of whatever it was the mare wanted to show her.
On the porch of the library lay a pile of books familiar to the librarian. But as she got a closer look at them, the first thing she noticed was that one of them was smoldering and smelt of smoke. When she made out the fine print of the book, she realized what book it was, and what had happened to it.
“It wasn’t his fault,” Dash quickly explained.
Twilight’s eye twitched, her front leg quivering nervously as she stared at the unidentifiable mess that was her book, the same one she loaned to Blues earlier that day.
“…i-is that…?”
“It’s a long story,” the rainbow mare said.
PLOP!
And like that, Twilight fainted on the floor, out like a light from sheer surprise.
The room was quiet as they stared at the unconscious unicorn on the floor. Her mouth hung open as a small puddle of drool started to collect. Eventually, the silence was broken by an insensitive laugh belonging to the only flyer in the room.
“Hah! He was right! She would faint!”
Trotting down the road of Ponyville, the ever eccentric pink mare hummed to herself a happy tune. She was feeling a little happier than normal today thanks to a certain stallion she had met earlier. Pinkie Pie was always excited at the thought of making new friends, and today she had befriended an old pony she had met when she first moved into town. The encounter alone resurfaced old memories of her first days in Ponyville, and that made her extra grateful for meeting Blues again. Of course, there was also the birthday party she was planning for him in the future. She could just imagine the look on his face full of happiness and gratitude.
Or sheer confusion. He seemed to be the type to deny goodhearted attempts at happiness, just like Twilight had when she first moved into town. He just needed some pony to show him how to be happy. Pinkie made a mental note to add more circles to January the thirteenth on her calendar, after a quick trip to the convenience store for another pen.
The mare ceased her walking as she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. At the door to Rarity’s shop stood that blue stallion she had met earlier, fancily clad in a black suit, top hat, and a monocle over one eye. He stood there, taking deep breathes, before finally knocking on the door with a hoof.
Pinkie Pie cracked a smile at this. He did look very fancy in that suit of his and she knew that Rarity would adore his appearance. The mare restrained herself from approaching the stallion and decided she was to leave him and Rarity alone. It wasn’t her position to intervene and she knew better than to spoil a moment. And besides, she had to look for Applejack as per Mrs. Cake’s request. She wasn’t at the Apple farm, she checked, and she had wasted enough time bothering Big Macintosh there.
The mare walked away to the next place she thought Applejack would be. According to her brother, she was with Apple Bloom discussing plans for a party with their family in the future. As Pinkie was aware of every party in the village, she knew for a fact that Twilight was involved in these plans. And where else would the unicorn be? The library, of course. It’s not like the poor girl ever had much of a social life, anyways.
That silly unicorn…
But as she thought to herself, the mare’s trotting slowed to a walk. She thought back to Blues at Rarity’s door, dressed so well with a prideful posture. That was probably why he had those books in his saddlebags; he was preparing for a date with Rarity. Perhaps he wasn’t as shy as he thought. For him to boldly knock on Rarity’s door, dressed like he came right out of a fancy store, it probably meant he was looking to change his life by taking a shot at romance. Figures. The only thing that can get a stallion like him out of his woes was another mare to share it with.
‘I wanted to be that mare…’ Pinkie thought as she sighed, ‘I mean, not romantically. I wanted to show him how to have fun and how to not be sad all the time…’
Love wasn’t Pinkie Pie’s strong suit, but she knew it to be a completely different field of happiness from her usual methods. She wanted to show Blues joy, how to laugh over misfortunes, how to not be afraid of fun. If she had accomplished that, she could have changed his life for the better, to be more positive and social. But Blues had chosen to look for love for happiness. Pinkie couldn’t compete with that.
The mare shook her head. There wasn’t much she could do about it. If Blues succeeded, all of his troubles would be over. He’d be able to share his life with a mare, to support him and make him happy whenever he wasn’t. She wasn’t happy about losing her chance to share happiness with a stallion who needed it, but she had no say in another pony’s life.
Her only hope was that Rarity wouldn’t let him down.
“Gotta find Applejack…” Pinkie said to herself as she galloped her way towards Twilight library.
The sooner she could get the stallion off of her mind, the better.
Since Twilight awoke from unconsciousness, she had been bombarding the cyan pegasus with questions about the conditions of her book. The Apple sisters were silently listening to the rainbow mare explain herself as best as she could, but they were making it hard for her, interrupting every time she finished a sentence.
“You set his house on fire?!”
“It was an accident! Okay?!”
Like that.
The orange earth pony shook her head as Rainbow Dash gave an annoyed sigh. “Haven’t we told you before to stop performing yer tricks over town?” she pointed out, “Half ‘f the busted roofs in Ponyville are on yer tab.”
“Yeah, yeah, you told me,” Dash replied, sitting down and folding her arms, “I just thought practicing at a higher elevation might give me enough time to recover if I slipped up.”
“That didn’t save this book…” Twilight expressed sadly as she stared at her burnt book.
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. But I told you I’d pay for it,” the pegasus said as she rubbed the back of her head.
Twilight sighed and closed the book, “I need to go and file an order form. When I get a reply, I’ll tell you how much the fare will be.”
“Wait, can’t you just repair the book with your magic?” Dash asked curiously.
“Maybe if I had written this book myself and memorized every word and picture,” the unicorn sounded far more upset than she looked, “Maybe if there was a tear in the cover or a ripped page, I could fix it. But I can’t fix fire damage, especially since the words and images are lost. I’ll just have to buy a new one.”
Rainbow Dash was now remorsefully drawing circles in the floor. The unicorn was dishing out a major guilt trip on her now.
Twilight sighed, “Just don’t let it happen again. You’re lucky all you have to worry about is the damaged book fee.”
“Sounds fair,” Dash replied with a shrug, “At least I don’t have to pay right away.”
“The book originally cost forty three bits. It was a collector’s edition,” Twilight said sternly as she levitated a paper from her desk, “I hope you have that sort of money on hand when the order comes back.”
Dash couldn’t help but chuckle nervously. The unicorn was scary to deal with when it involved her business, and she took it seriously. Books are her life, after all, and she always made sure that the fines and infractions were paid for or else. She remembered that one colt, Caramel, who had borrowed a thesaurus once and was late to return it. When he did, it was in terrible condition not excluding the nibble marks on the corner.
Needless to say, no one dared return a book late after that.
“Ya know Dash,” Applejack spoke up, “I’m not too surprised that you set a colt’s house on fire. Heck, if it were any of us, I’d have expected Pinkie Pie to be the first. You know how unpredictable she can be.”
“Hey, that’s my cue!” Pinkie Pie called out, bringing attention to all the ponies in the library, “Hey Twilight! Is Applejack here?”
Twilight restrained a sigh. She was already dealing with enough frustrating things as it were and didn’t want to deal with the party pony today. She opened the door with her magic, letting bounce in the pink mare. Pinkie Pie ceased her hopping upon seeing Applejack and her sister present along with Rainbow Dash.
“Oh! Goodie! Applejack is here!” she exclaimed happily, “Oh, and Dash too.”
“And Dash too?” the mare in question repeated, almost offended that she didn’t sound as important.
Pinkie ignored her as she trotted towards the earth mare, “Hey AJ, Mrs. Cake wanted to know how that order of apples was coming along,” Pinkie Pie explained.
“Oh!” Applejack perked up at the memory of the order, “Right, the Galas. Well, the trees are due t’ harvest within a month or so,” she said, placing a hoof on her chin, “I reckon they’ll be ripe in time for the bake sale.”
The pink mare gave her signature smile and replied, “That’s great to hear! We’re counting on your awesome apples to make that bake sale!”
Pinkie Pie then noticed Twilight writing into a paper to her left. Naturally, the mare got curious as she had only ever seen her writing reports to Princess Celestia. Materializing next to the unicorn, Pinkie read what she could of her writing from over her shoulder, to the annoyance of Twilight. As the two mares looked at the paper, Dash decided to make small talk with AJ, particularly about their clothing.
“What’cha writing?” she asked, preening the paper with her eyes.
Twilight gave a small sigh and explained, “Just an order form for a book.”
The pink mare noticed a book on the desk next to Twilight, looking a bit out of place with its slightly charred cover. Curious yet again, she opened the book and was stunned to find the nearly incinerated pages open before her.
“Holy guacamole!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, combing the paper with her hoof. The cry brought the attention of the room to her, “What happened to this one?”
“I believe Rainbow Dash can answer that one for ya,” Applejack said slyly, pointing to the cyan pegasus silently groaning.
“It’s a long story. I set a pony’s house on fire,” she simplified.
“You what?! Is the pony okay?” Pinkie asked, fearing more for the victim than being surprised at the pegasi’s actions.
“Yeah, he’s fine. He actually has a party to go to later tonight and I helped him get a suit for it,” Dash said proudly.
“You think that’ll be enough to make up for the house fire?” Applejack joked.
“Hey, it was the least I could do to make up for it.”
“At least he didn’t make you rebuild it,” Apple Bloom pointed out.
“Trust me, the guy was very mellow about it,” the mare said, still perplexed by that conversation.
Pinkie looked back to the back and stared at the cover. How strange. The text was starting to look familiar to her…
“Wait a minute, I saw Blues carrying these to his house earlier today at lunch,” Pinkie said out loud, bringing the attention to her.
“You met him too?” Twilight said, rolling up the order form and setting it aside.
“Yeah. I just saw him at Rarity’s shop,” the pink mare explained.
“Hold up,” Apple Bloom spoke up, “Sweetie Belle mentioned somethin’ about a weird stallion that came by that place this morning.”
“She did?” Applejack asked. She didn’t like where this was going, “What was he doing there?”
“She said something about the pony holdin’ roses in his arm an’ lookin’ all fancy. He was shakin’ like a pony outside a locked bathroom. It was weird.”
It didn’t take long for the group to add up the clues in their heads. And if the conclusion was as they feared, their blue friend was in for some harsh heartbreak.
“…why’s everypony silent?” Pinkie asked.
Fluttershy couldn’t help but hum a happy tune as she trotted her way out of her cottage. The clock had struck three in the afternoon and the heat of the day was beginning to recede from the town. The pegasus was heading towards the Carousel Boutique, were Rarity, her unicorn friend, was waiting for her. It was time for their weekly get-together at the spa and she had booked a slot for the two earlier that day. The pair had done this since their first encounter, after Rarity had kindly shown her how to style her mane into the look it was now. The spa day was a sort of ritual for the two, as it was something they enjoyed.
Although Fluttershy did not show it, she was very interested in clothing and make up and how to look good, and Rarity was a great outlet for that interest. It was what got her into knitting in the first place, after watching the mare create some clothes from scratch. It was slower than using a sewing machine, but she liked working at her own pace and it was more of a hobby than anything else.
Today, though, she was going to have to pass on the bath. Earlier, she had just spent a bath with a stallion she had met there, a fellow by the name of Blues who seemed inept in the ways of spa care and baths. In a way, he sort of reminded her of herself when she was new to the world of cosmetics and hair. Like Rarity had done for her, she introduced the male to the inner depths of spas, and she was feeling good about herself because of that.
The walk into Ponyville had been mostly quiet, since the road to her home ran through a peaceful excerpt of nature and wilderness. Noise and activity usually picked up by the time she entered Ponyville, but the bulk of it all was closer to the center. Fluttershy preferred the peace and quiet and was thankful that the route to Rarity’s boutique and the spa ran through the more silent parts of Ponyville. That way, she could enjoy the sounds of wind and birds whistling right before enjoying a massage at the spa with Rarity.
That’s why she knew something was amiss when she heard the stampede of hooves approaching her.
Fluttershy saw in the distance the colorful cast of ponies running and kicking up dust as they ran. She recognized them as some of her friends, Twilight, Applejack, both of whom were wearing odd clothing, and Pinkie Pie, who was galloping instead of running, a sure sign that something was wrong. Twilight noticed the pegasus up ahead and brightened up from her previously worried expression. The others saw her and their worries began to ease as they approached her.
“Fluttershy!” Twilight exclaimed as the group slowed towards her, “Quickly! Have you seen Rarity?”
The timid pegasus took a moment to scan over her friends, who were a little exhausted from running but worried more so.
“Um, no,” she answered, “I was about to go meet up with her, though. Did something happen?”
Applejack raised her forelegs to resume running, “C’mon y’all! We ain’t got much time left!”
As the group rushed towards their destination, Fluttershy couldn’t help but feel the urgency of the situation overtake her. She began to run with the group in curiosity and in peril as she soon caught up to her friends. Oddly enough, the group was running in the same direction as the Carousel Boutique, which concerned the pegasus more as the group had asked about Rarity. She approached Pinkie Pie, who was the closest she could reach, and asked the question.
“What’s going on? Why are we running?” she asked over the rattle of hooves.
“A friend of ours is going to ask Rarity on a date,” Pinkie replied quickly.
“Huh? I don’t see what’s so bad about that,” Fluttershy replied.
“But he’s a blue pony who’s such a saddy waddy colt. He’s going to get his heart broken.”
“Blue pony?” Fluttershy thought back to the stallion she had spent a bath with earlier that day. When she understood the severity of the situation, how Rarity had sworn off of males after the Gala, her eyes widened and panic swept over her. “Oh no…”
Of all the mares in Ponyville, it had to be Rarity…
Rainbow Dash groaned painfully as she covered her mouth to remain quiet. The sting of rejection was so painful, and the sadness in his body was great enough that she could feel it from the distance. The woes of the stallion radiated as he turned around and walked away slowly, leaving the mares with a guilty expression. Dash slumped on the roof of the house she had been spying from, and cursed herself for arriving too late to stop the heartbreak. She looked to Rarity, who stared at the stallion as he slumped away in depression and disappointment, and couldn’t help but feel a little angry at her. Sure, she understood how Rarity was no longer interested in dating, especially after what happened at the Grand Galloping Gala, but the colt didn’t have to suffer for it. Regardless, Rarity apparently made herself clear to the stallion that she was not interested in dating anypony for the time being, but it was natural of Blues to have taken it as a personal insult.
To have been denied love by the prettiest mare of Ponyville. Blues must have been feeling pretty low right now, perhaps the lowest he’s ever felt in his entire life.
Not like he could have been blamed. He had spent his entire life mulling in disappointment, but he braved on believing in the light at the end of the tunnel. He had channeled his woes through that philosophy, that no matter how bad things got, it was necessary to keep a chin up. It was what made his music identifiable and relatable, how his tunes cheered up the sad and the melancholic into looking forward to the next day, despite setbacks. It was how Blues lived, as an example of that way of life.
But to have been denied happiness with the prettiest unicorn of Ponyville, he was at an all time low. He didn’t understand why the world tortured him so, or how fate was so malevolent. But he resolved his depression the same way he did with all of his other problems. He remembers that he was meant to live in blues, to embody the sadness so that others can be happy. He never questioned it, it never bothered him, but Blues was sometimes irked as to how he couldn’t have a break every once in a while.
Oh well, it couldn’t get any worse…
The herd of ponies were just around the corner to Rarity’s boutique. Blues could hear their loud stampede from the distance, but he disregarded it; loud commotion like that occurred every day in the village. Rainbow Dash noticed the incoming group and was quick to stop them from running into Blues’ line of sight. She flew downward and halted the herd before they managed to reach the corner.
“What happened?” Twilight quickly asked, “Are we too late?”
Dash said nothing and shook her head pitifully. Her sympathetic expression of disappointment told her friends all that they needed to know to understand what had happened. Like a contagion, the pony friends became saddened at the blue stallion’s misfortunes.
“We were too late…” Applejack uttered, “…where’s Blues now?”
Dash turned around and pointed to the lone stallion walking away in the distance. The group stared at the sad pony for a while before Dash became energetic again.
“I’m gonna go get Rarity,” she said as she spread her wings.
Before she could take off, the cowgirl pony snatched her tail within her mouth and held her down, “Hold on, there. Where do you think you’re goin’?”
“To make Rarity take the guy on that date, duh,” she replied.
“You can’t just make ponies go out with each other,” Twilight shot up, “It needs to be a mutual consent.”
“Well, somepony broke that guy’s heart, and I’m not gonna let him mope around when there’s a way to fix it,” Dash spoke up before attempting to fly off again.
Once again, Applejack stopped her, pressing a hoof on the rainbow pegasus’s tail. She anchored the mare to the ground as she spoke.
“You think that’s goin’ to fix everything?” Applejack asked, “I was wit’ the guy earlier this mornin’, so I know how he’s like. He’s not goin’ to get better with a forced date.”
“Oh yeah? Why don’t you date him?” the pegasus shot with a question, “You seem to know him so well.”
“Uh. Me?” Applejack replied in a surprised manner. She thought about it as she tapped her hooves together, but couldn’t come up with a valid reason to, “Uhh, I’d love to, but he’s not really my type. Plus, I’m busy wit’ all the apple buckin’ and farm maintenance.”
“Why don’t you date him, Dash?” Twilight spoke up, “You said you liked his music.”
“Me?” Dash responded curiously, but was quick to answer, “No thanks. He’s a great musician, but a really sad tart. Besides, I’m not looking for a date at the moment.”
“How about Twilight?” Applejack turned to the unicorn, “You two seem to like each other already.”
“Uhh, me?” Twilight said. She chuckled nervously before replying, “Um, he’s quite the introvert, but I like smart handsome colts that share an interest in learning. He’d make for a good friend, though.”
Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie watched as the group bantered back and forth with each other. Fluttershy was thankful to have not been directly involved with the conversation as the subject was uncomfortable to her. It wasn’t that she didn’t like colts, she was just very shy in sharing her tastes in the opposite sex with her friends, no matter how close they were. Pinkie Pie, however, felt resilient to being excluded from the conversation. Not that she had anything to say, but she hated feeling left out of things. She just wanted to say something. Feeling like she was going to explode with anxiety, she opened her mouth.
“I know!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, bringing all attention to her, “Let’s all marry him!”
The group stared at the mare in shocked and confused silence as Pinkie held her stance upright. Feeling the silence getting to her, she looked around and saw that the others weren’t as certain of the idea as she was. Even though she only said it to be random, there was a minor truth to it if there was no visible solution to their problems.
“…what? Haven’t you girls heard of polygamy before?” Pinkie Pie asked.
While the girls uttered disgust at the concept, Fluttershy decided to take the opportunity to speak up.
“Umm, maybe we should go talk to Blues first,” she suggested, “And comfort him.”
The ponies snapped out of their thoughts and remembered the pony they were originally here for.
“Oh, right. Good idea,” Twilight said, “Rainbow Dash, you and Fluttershy try to get Rarity to come with us to speak to Blues. Me, Applejack, and Pinkie are gonna go comfort him in the meantime.”
“Where should we meet up?” Rainbow Dash questioned.
“If Ah know Blues, he’ll probably be at the Horte Cuisine,” Applejack said, “He was there this mornin’ when I found ‘im.”
“Then we’ll meet there,” Twilight said as she began her way to the diner, “C’mon girls. He’s gonna need our help more than ever.”
As the group split up, Twilight couldn’t help but worry about the stallion. She had known him the best of the five friends who met him that day, so she knew how his mind worked with disappointment. However, he had been building up a lot of expectations for that date with Rarity, and to be rejected after all that promise, it might be the last disappointment he could take.
‘I just hope that’s not the case,’ Twilight thought.
Today, Blues was going to need all the help he could get to recover from this disappointment.