Chapter 12
“Hey Blue! Customers for you!”
Blue leaned back from the sink so she could glance through the kitchen door, just in time to see Milk Tea point at one of the tables in the back. She also heard familiar laughter and a pink hand waving to her, even if the person that belonged to the hand couldn’t possibly see her.
Blue grinned and dried her hands before she put on a server’s apron. The diner wasn’t really busy this time of day, so she wasn’t swamped in work either. Usually she was just cleaning tables and doing dishes, sometimes she played gofer for the cook. Grilled Cheese was a quirky guy but in a good way, and even though him and Blue got along great, he wouldn’t let her near his food if he could help it. Blue wasn’t a total failure when it came to cooking, but he had a reputation to keep up. So, cleaning it was. Blue didn’t really care too much. She was just happy she got this job in the first place.
Milk Tea’s little diner was the same place Miss Luna had brought her back during her first week at CHS, after the fight with Score and his brother. Miss Luna had also helped her get this job. Normally, people didn’t hire high school students with a criminal record like hers, but Milk Tea didn’t have her head in her ass and valued Luna’s recommendation more than some file, so she gave Blue a chance. And Blue made sure she didn’t regret it.
At first, Milk Tea had her do only cleaning work, but when the diner wasn’t too crowded, she had tried Blue as a waitress. It hadn’t gone that smoothly. Blue wasn’t very patient to begin with and sometimes clients could just be jerks. In the end, Blue stuck with cleaning and doing dishes and the occasional serving job when Milk Tea was busy.
These customers were the only exception of the rule. While a diner like this wasn’t a typical hangout-spot for teenagers, Sunset and the girls visited at least once a week, while Blue was working. The mall where the others worked wasn’t too far away and the diner was quieter than the food court, so the girls sometimes ended up here instead. And when that happened, Milk Tea usually let Blue handle taking their orders, just like today.
Blue walked over to their usual table and smiled at her friends. Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Rarity laughed at some story when Blue arrived to take their orders. Blue glanced through the diner and saw only four other tables were occupied tonight. She talked a bit with the girls, but she was still at work so she made sure she wouldn’t slack off too much. Milk Tea was rather lenient with her, but Blue wasn’t going to push the limits.
After the usual routine (“Rainbow Dash, you’re ordering too much, Darling” “Get off my back, Rarity! I’m really hungry!” “You always say that, and then you don’t even eat half the things you order!” “Oh yeah? What about you? …”) Blue made her way back to the kitchen. Only halfway there though, somebody grabbed her arm very roughly. Before she could react, that person pulled her around with so much force she stumbled
“Get me a coffee and make it snappy. I ain’t got all day.”
Normally, this would be enough to tick Blue off mayorly, raging fit included, but right now she just stared at the asshole in front of her
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
Blue was staring at Bitter Leaves, her former social worker and the asshole who always claimed he’d get her behind bars where she belonged. He had never been much of an appearance, but even Blue could see his clothes were messy and in need of a washing, in fact he could go with a shave and a shower himself. Bitter Leaves clearly had seen better days.
What didn’t change was his jerk attitude. He slammed his fist on the table and immediately went from grumbling to yelling
“What are you waiting for? Do as your told already! You should be lucky you’re still allowed in my town, so make yourself useful at least.”
Blue’s hand balled to fist and she gritted her teeth. By now, nearly all of the diner was staring at them, including her friends and Milk Tea. Blue bit any response she had down with force. She was still at work and she didn’t want to make things awkward for Milk Tea, so she answered calmly in a forced-polite voice
“I’ll get my order to the kitchen, and then I’ll take care of your coffee. Just give me a minute.”
Blue couldn’t even finish because Bitter Leaves shoved her mid-sentence
“Don’t you dare talk back to me like that! Who do you think you are?”
Blue stumbled backwards, right into a table, and lost her balance. She grabbed the closest thing she could reach, which unfortunately was a chair that landed right next to her on the floor with a loud clatter. Now everybody was staring at her and Blue’s face was red from rage
“Motherfucker!”
Blue glared up at Bitter Leaves only to see his smug grin, and a moment later she knew why because Milk Tea ran over to them
“What’s going on here? What happened?”
Bitter Leaves shot a glare at Blue, then completely ignored her while he talked to Milk Tea, like she was just some trash on the floor
“Your waitress is not only a klutz, she is also rude and refused to serve me. I want her fired. Now.”
Blue jumped back on her feet immediately
“You shoved me, you asshole!”
She was about to charge at him and do way worse than that, but Milk Tea was faster and stepped between him and her
“Blue, kitchen. Now.”
“But he…”
“NOW!”
Blue gritted her teeth and stomped away, too furious to care that everybody was staring at her or to notice what Bitter Fucking Leaves was shouting at her. She slammed the door shut behind her and let out a long scream of rage. Grilled Cheese was nowhere to be seen, he did the smart thing and probably left for his own safety while Blue was going nuclear.
A nearby box received a rage-filled kick that made it crash into the nearest wall with the sound of something breaking. If nothing else, it was enough to snap Blue out of it so she could force herself to calm down. She hadn’t seen Bitter Leaves in months, but all the trouble and snide she got from him quickly bubbled up again after just a few words. He just acted like a dick to her with no reason, and Blue wasn’t the girl who would take shit from anyone.
“He really is a meanie-old grumpy-pants like you said.”
Blue bolted around when a hand touched her shoulder, and stared right at the intruder
“Pinkie Pie? What are you… how did you even get in here when… you know what? Nevermind.”
Pinkie Pie had a smile for Blue, even if she didn’t carry her usual happy-go-lucky self
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Just peachy.”
Pinkie didn’t say anything, but the way her smile changed into sad was enough for Blue to get the message
“Okay, so I’m pissed. But why wouldn’t I be? Things are working out at school, I got an awesome set of friends, and I even got a job for the first time in forever. And suddenly that guy shows up and ruins everything!”
Pinkie, who had smiled when her friends were mentioned, now softly shook her head
“You don’t know that. Maybe it was just a coincidence. Like in the park. Or at the museum. Or at Black Belt’s school. Or at Sugarcube Corner.”
Blue blinked, her anger dimmed down by confusion
“Um Pinkie, why did you just list up all the places we hung out last week?”
“Well, I wasn’t going to say anything, I just thought it was funny we’d see the same guy every time we meet, I mean once or twice, okay, but now he’s here and it turns out he knows you? I mean, what are the chances, right?”
Blue stared at Pinkie who had her usual, oblivious smile
“Are you saying… did he follow us? All week long?”
“Huh. I guess that would explain why I saw him. And why I got a shaky knee. Shaky knee usually means someone’s in a hurry.”
Blue’s frown turned into her typical glare
“Why didn’t you tell me that he was following us?”
“I thought it was just a coincidence.”
Blue gritted her teeth, but she was angry at Bitter Leaves, not at Pinkie Pie, so she swallowed it down. Just in time, as Milk Tea entered the kitchen with a deep frown on her face
“Pinkie, the kitchen is for employees. Please leave.”
Pinkie nodded and skipped out with a wave, but Blue was busy squirming under the glare from her boss. Milk Tea waited for something, but when it didn’t happen, she just sighed and started talking
“Okay, so what was that out there?”
“He grabbed me and then he shoved me. I tripped and fell. That’s all.”
“Bull.”
Blue flinched and Milk Tea’s glare intensified
“What happened really out there?”
Blue turned away so she wouldn’t have to look at her
“That guy was my former social worker. He’s a dick. He’s been a dick since the first minute and he hates me. I tried to be polite, but then he shoved me, and I just snapped.”
Milk Tea glared at her for another minute, but then she shook her head
“Alright. Lucky for you there aren’t many people in the diner. The only ones who really noticed him were your friends anyway. I showed him the door once he started yelling at me that I should fire you or get you arrested. Anything I should know about that?”
Blue let out an angry sigh
“He’s been trying to get me back into juvie from the first time we met. That’s why Miss Luna took over. Luna told you what happened, right?”
Milk Tea nodded and Blue continued
“I guess he still hates me, even though I haven’t seen him in months. And Pinkie says he might be following me around as well.”
Milk Tea frowned even more at that
“You think he might be coming back?”
“I don’t know. I guess not. Why would he?”
“If he hates you enough, he might. He might come back and cause a scene and he might chase away customers. I can’t afford that, you know.”
Blue just shook her head
“I barely even knew him more than a month. He’s an asshole, but who would go that far just because he doesn’t like me?”
Milk Tea waited for a couple of minutes, then she sighed and shrugged
“I don’t know. All I know is that dinner rush is setting in, and I need you tonight. Can you keep it together in front of the customers?”
“Yeah. I’ll try my best, boss.”
“Okay then. Cheese, you can come out of hiding now. We got orders!”
“Yes Ma’am!”
Grilled Cheese poked his head out from the storage room and shot a wink to Blue before he manned the stove again. Blue got another stern look from Milk Tea, but then she also went back to work and headed into the diner. Blue took a deep breath and pushed away that boiling anger she felt in her tummy. Instead of venting, she just threw herself back into cleaning dirty dishes.
Blue’s mood improved as the night went on. She was still peeved about earlier, but she could tone it down to her usual ‘Whatever, who cares?’-mood. Also, the diner was packed, and she barely had a chance to take a break and really think about it anymore.
“Blue! I need you for a moment!”
Blue turned her head, but Milk Tea was already back in the diner, so she just shrugged. She dried her hands and put on her waitress apron and headed after her boss into the diner.
She immediately knew shit was going to hit the fan when she saw two police officers next to Milk Tea at the counter. Then she heard a voice she had hoped she wouldn’t hear again. Bitter Leaves was standing next to the police and pointed at her
“That’s her. Arrest her immediately!”
Blue glared at him but bit her tongue before any obscenities made it out. Instead, she looked at Milk Tea and the officers
“What’s going on?”
One of the officers cleared his throat and explained
“Mister Leaves just reported his wallet missing. He had it when he visited this place earlier, then suddenly it was gone. He also mentioned you assaulting him.”
Blue gritted her teeth, but Milk Tea was faster
“That’s not what happened, officer. He shoved her and she fell to the floor, that’s all that happened. When he wouldn’t calm down, I asked him to leave. He didn’t even mention his wallet.”
Apparently, that was enough for Bitter Leaves to lose his shit because he started screaming like a madman
“I only noticed when I was trying to pay for the bus. I bet you’re in it as well! You’ve set me up, and who knows how many customers you already robbed! Why else would you hire a convicted criminal like her?”
He was screaming and kept pointing at Blue, who could only stand there and try not to explode. Many of the customers stared at her by now, most of them mumbling as they watched the scene unfold.
Fortunately, Milk Tea stayed calm through it all
“You’re the one who attacked her and then demanded I get her fired. And now you’re back with holdless claims. Sounds to me like you’re just trying to throw shade on my employee. Or did you take his wallet, Blue?”
Blue shook her head and pressed out through her gritted teeth
“No Ma’am. I spent most of the time on the floor, I wouldn’t even get the chance to take the wallet if I ever wanted.”
Bitter Leaves only screamed louder
“Don’t act like a smartass! You’re a criminal and a thief! Arrest her!”
The officer now stepped in. He ignored the screaming maniac and focused on Blue
“Do you mind if I take a look at your things real quick?”
“Go ahead.”
Blue emptied her pockets and even brought her school bag. Of course there was no wallet, but Bitter Leaves just kept going
“I’m telling you, her boss is in on it. She’s as crooked as her. They’ve probably hidden it somewhere in the kitchen.”
The officer rolled his eyes and focused back on Milk Tea
“Has anyone else ever mentioned something missing after they’ve been here?”
“No, of course not. Do you want to search the kitchen next?”
The officer shook his head and turned to Bitter Leaves
“I don’t think that will be necessary. Sir, maybe you just lost your wallet somewhere on the way?”
Bitter Leaves shook his head and screamed
“It was her! I felt her hand slipping in my pocket when she stumbled!”
“I didn’t even touch you, asshole!”
Blue shouted back angrily, but Milk Tea stepped between her and him. The officer looked at Blue and tried to ignore Bitter Leaves
“Do you know if anyone has seen you falling?”
“Yeah. My friends were around that time. They’ve seen everything.”
Bitter Leaves pushed away the officer so he could scream at Blue again
“There you have it! She’s in a gang, she just admitted everything! Arrest her already!”
Blue was about to blow a fuse, but the second officer was faster than her
“Sir, we’ve been listening to your rambling since we left the station. Would you please just shut up while we talk to Miss Tea and her employee?”
“You can’t trust her! She’s a liar and a thief!”
“Sir, that’s enough!”
The second officer tried to get Bitter Leaves towards the door, but he just kept screaming all the way
“You don’t believe me? Just check her file! You’ll find all you need!”
The other officer, who had stayed with them, looked unsure for a moment
“What was your name again, Miss?”
Blue gritted her teeth. She knew how this was going to end, but she answered anyways
“Ocean Shore.”
“That’s not what your boss called you.”
“I like my nickname better, big deal.”
The officer nodded and took out his phone. He took a step back, but Blue could understand enough to hear that he was asking someone to look her up. Milk Tea looked between him and Blue, only to see the officer frown and Blue to look more and more frustrated. After a couple of minutes, he put the phone away and walked up to Blue
“I need you to come to the station with me, Miss Shore.”
“What? Why? She didn’t do anything.”
Milk Tea tried to reason, but the officer insisted
“Just a standard check, Ma’am. We have just a few more questions for Miss Shore. We’ll phone you tomorrow if we have any more questions for you, Miss Tea.”
The officer waved for Blue to follow, and she knew better than to resist, so she picked up her bag and walked towards the door. She heard Milk Tea call after them
“Wait, doesn’t she have the right for a lawyer or something?”
“We’re not arresting her, Miss Tea. We’re just taking her to the station so she can be questioned. Don’t worry, we’ll inform her parents as soon as we get there.”
Blue frowned and shook her head. Yeah, good luck with that, genius. Didn’t even take time to properly read my file, asshole.
She said nothing, of course. Bitter Leaves wasn’t around when she left the diner, but a lot of people were staring at her when she climbed into the police car and they drove off.
Blue felt a very unwelcome déjà-vu sitting in some office in the police station. The officer had been polite so far and nobody acted like she was actually dangerous, but still just being here made Blue's blood boil, especially since she hadn't done anything to deserve it.
Finally, the officer returned and took a seat behind the desk. Blue just glared at him, and he forced an awkward smile
“So, um, we tried to contact your legal guardian, but she didn't answer the phone. Any guesses why?”
Blue's glare only intensified
“My sister works at the hospital. She's not allowed to have her phone on her while she's treating patients.”
The officer looked surprised that Blue actually said something, since she had been dead-silent during the ride
“Oh. I guess that makes sense. But that puts us in an awkward situation. You're still a minor, and I can't do an official questioning for the record without any adult on your end.”
Blue just rolled her eyes as the officer just kept yapping on
“So instead, you called my social worker, Miss Luna. And now you're trying to buy time until she gets here.”
The officer blinked once, confused, but decided to humour her
“That's right. I wonder how you would know that.”
“You've read my file. This isn't my first rodeo, Officer...?”
“Oh, I guess I never introduced myself to you. My name is Officer Bright Badge.”
“And everything you want to know about me, you'll read in my file, so what's the point anyway?”
Officer Badge leaned forward so he could rest his elbows on his desk
“Listen kid, you can make your life a lot easier if you just confess. You'll save me, you and your social worker a lot of trouble.”
“I haven't done shit! That asshole just accused me because he's a dick, I did nothing wrong.”
The officer took her bout of rage surprisingly well
“In that case, you have nothing to worry about. Although flinging insults at Mister Leaves doesn't really make you less suspicious.”
“Whatever.”
Officer Badge stared at her and Blue glared back. He waited for a few more minutes, but he was obviously uncomfortable with the silence and pulled up a notebook soon
“Those friends you mentioned, the ones who saw the incident? What are their names?”
“I thought you're not allowed to question me before Miss Luna arrives.”
The officer just shrugged
“This is non-critical information. It will be fine.”
Blue never stopped glaring, but she replied reluctantly
“Sunset Shimmer, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.”
The officer nodded and wrote down the names while Blue rolled her eyes
“Are you going to call them in as well?”
“That depends entirely on what you're telling me tonight.”
“I can't tell you anything because I haven't done shit. I didn't steal his wallet.”
The officer abruptly stopped to write and looked at her
“So you stole something else?”
“What? No. That’s not what I said.”
“Come on girl, don’t make this harder than it has to be. You almost slipped up right now, you can’t keep this façade up forever. Just tell me what you did.”
“I didn’t steal anything!”
Blue was screaming at the top of her voice, and the door flew open as Luna rushed in
“What’s going on in here?”
Officer Badge looked displeased, as did the cop from the front desk who ran after Luna with some form she probably had to fill out. Luna meanwhile just glared at Blue, which cooled her anger down as effectively as a bucket of ice water.
Blue slumped back into her chair and looked at the floor, acting like she didn’t care, even if Luna could see right through her. The woman sat down next to her and took over glaring at the officer
“You told me you couldn’t start questioning her until I arrived.”
“We were just talking. We didn’t start the real questioning yet.”
“I see. So you tried to pressure my charge into a confession, instead of getting all the facts first. Is that it?”
Officer Bright Badge shook his had and held up his hands
“You got this all wrong. Miss Shore here was about to admit what she’s done by her own device. Isn’t that right, Miss Shore?”
Blue kept her head low and grumbled “I didn’t do anything” to which Miss Luna nodded
“That’s what it sounded like to me as well. So perhaps you shouldn’t jump at premature conclusions, Officer Badge.”
The officer just shook his head and grumbled something
“Fine, and since your social worker is here now, why don’t you tell me exactly what happened with Mister Leaves tonight?”
Blue glanced over at Luna who just nodded, so Blue explained everything for the third time that evening. She was about finished when the door opened, and another officer poked his head in. Blue recognized him as the other officer who had been at the diner.
“Sir? I got the report from Sunset Shimmer, I thought you wanted to get this right away?”
Officer Badge frowned and looked at the file his colleague handed him
“How on earth did you get this already?”
“She’s here, Sir. I just finished talking with her.”
Bright Badge looked even more confused, so Luna explained
“Sunset Shimmer is my niece. I brought her with me to the station, she got called soon after you informed me about Ocean Shore. She insisted coming right away to ‘get this over with’, as she phrased it.”
“Wait wait wait… you’re Miss Shore’s social worker, you’re the Vice-Principal at her high school and she’s friends with your niece as well? How does that all fit together?”
Bright Badge was clearly suspicious, but Miss Luna just took it with a calm smile
“None of these are connected, if that’s what you’re wondering. It’s just how things turned out. Now, I believe my niece has told you the same as Miss Shore just did?”
Bright Badge glanced over the report and nodded, but with a frown
“I guess. But it doesn’t match with what Bitter Leaves told us at all.”
“It matches perfectly with what the owner of the diner told us, though.”
Bright Badge shot a glare at his colleague
“The owner was in the kitchen when it happened, and these girls were sitting at the other end of the diner. The only ones who really know what happened are Miss Shore and Mister Leaves.”
The younger officer nodded again, although he clearly hesitated a bit now
“Right. But Mister Leaves changed his statement a couple times over the course of the night, while they didn’t. And he tried to accuse the owner and the girls along with Ocean Shore when we couldn’t immediately arrest her, like he demanded multiple times. It makes more sense to trust the information that actually matches up, Sir. Even you didn’t want to look deeper into it until Bitter Leaves mentioned that file.”
Bright Badge now stood up from behind his desk
“Listen here, you’ve just transferred to our city, but I’ve been here for more than a decade. I know Bitter Leaves has worked for Children Protective Service even longer. If he tells me something is wrong, I know better than to just ignore that. And as you’ve seen in her file, Ocean Shore has pulled off worse than this before.”
The young officer nodded and took a step backwards, but he didn’t just keel over
“Right. But she hasn’t done anything since she came to Canterlot. She might have learned her lesson. People can change.”
Bright Badge slumped back in his chair with a long sigh
“Sure. People can change.”
The way he stared at Blue made clear that he didn’t really believe it, but in the end, he just shook his head
“Well, there’s no clear evidence Ocean Shore broke the law, so I guess you can take her home now, Miss Luna. Thank you for your time. And sorry for any inconvenience.”
The way he said it didn’t sound very honest, more like something he had practiced saying, but Blue wasn’t going to stay longer here than she had to.
Miss Luna exchanged a few papers with the officer, but Blue was already at the door with her things and impatiently waited for her to finish. The younger officer at least had a smile for her as he let them out, and Blue just headed straight for the door. Miss Luna called after her to wait, but Blue only did so once she was outside. She just couldn’t stand police stations.
Fortunately, she didn’t have to wait long for Luna to leave as well, with Sunset Shimmer in tow. Sunset’s expression told Blue she didn’t like dealing with the police any more than her, but they didn’t talk about it. Luna just herded them to her car, and they climbed in silently.
They had been driving for maybe five minutes when Blue finally broke the silence
“Sorry I crashed your afternoon with that shit.”
Miss Luna just rolled her eyes but stayed calm
“You don’t have to apologize. This is literally my job. I knew what I signed up for.”
Blue nodded and sank back into the backseat
“Um, okay. Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it. Now, did you have supper yet?”
Blue shook her head, she usually would have eaten at the diner, but by now it was so late that her shift was over, and she wasn’t really sure if Milk Tea would be too happy to see her again tonight. Wordlessly, Luna pulled into some place with a drive-through.
When Blue arrived home, with food, her sister still wasn’t back yet. She wondered how she would explain this whole mess to Spring Meadow. She went to her room to finish up some homework, and by the time her sister returned, she had already fallen asleep.
Two days later, Blue walked into the diner for her next shift. She had tried to call Milk Tea, but hadn’t managed to talk with her, so she arrived earlier today so they could say what they had to say.
Blue nodded when she passed a couple of regulars, but they stared at her as if she was an alien, and one of them quickly reached out for his bag. Blue tried her hardest to keep from glaring at him.
As soon as she saw her, Milk Tea pointed to the kitchen door and Blue headed in after her boss. She turned around to explain, but Milk Tea never gave her a chance
“You never told me.”
Blue frowned and tilted her head
“Never told you what?”
“You never told me you’re a thief.”
Blue gritted her teeth, but tried to stay calm
“I didn’t steal that guy’s wallet.”
“Maybe not, but you’ve been shoplifting, and you’ve been arrested for it. The officer told me, it’s in your file.”
Blue looked down at the floor and just said nothing. There was nothing to say.
“I asked you when you started working here. But you didn’t tell me.”
Blue shook her head desperately
“I thought you knew. You said you had talked with Miss Luna and… I thought you knew.”
“Luna told me that you’ve been in juvie on a false premise. But she didn’t tell me you’ve been stealing even before that.”
“That’s years ago! I haven’t done anything like that since I got to Canterlot.”
“Really? And what about that fight, when two young men got arrested?”
Blue’s hands balled to fists
“I didn’t do anything! They ganged up on me and beat me up.”
“And you’re completely innocent? Like that guy just shows up in my diner and accuses you? That’s not something that happens when you’ve done nothing.”
Blue gritted her teeth
“What do you want from me? That guy just acted like a dick, I didn’t ask him to come here and cause a lot of trouble! I didn’t beg the cops to take me to the station! It’s not my fault!”
Milk Tea sighed and shrugged
“Maybe it isn’t. But it still happened. The police came back the other day and pestered my customers. A whole bunch of people saw you getting arrested the night before.”
“They didn’t arrest me! They just took me to the station, that’s all.”
“People don’t care! They saw you getting taken away by the police, after some lunatic screamed something about criminal organisations in my diner. A dozen regulars haven’t shown up since then. And the one’s who show up act all weirded out.”
Milk Tea opened the kitchen door and pointed at the now empty table where the other customers had just been sitting five minutes ago
“Point in case. I’m losing customers over this, and I can’t afford it. This diner is my livelihood, if the customers stay away, I can’t pay my bills. Or Grilled Cheese and you. Do you understand what I’m saying, Ocean Shore?”
Blue gritted her teeth so much it hurt, especially when she heard her full name, but she forced a nod. Milk Tea looked at her all serious now
“I’m asking you one last time, is there anything going on that I should be aware of? Anything that might involve the police again?”
Blue shook her head violently, and Milk Tea sighed relieved.
“Good. Now I hope we can just move past this. I know it’s hard for people like you, but I’m willing to try.”
Blue’s head snapped up instantly
“People like me?”
Milk Tea nodded with her typical smile. Blue had never noticed before how fake it looked
“You know, people with a criminal past. I know there’s a lot of social stigma, but I’m willing to do my part and help you through this.”
Milk Tea walked back towards the door and Blue just stared at her back, unwilling to believe what she just heard.
“Fuck you!”
Milk Tea flinched and span around
“Excuse me?”
“FUCK YOU!”
Blue rammed her fist into the nearest thing, which happened to be a metal cupboard that gave of a loud bang
“Is that all I am for you? Just a fucking pity case?”
Blue was screaming at the top of her voice and she noticed Milk Tea looked worried, but her rage was just burning in her tummy and she only felt the bile taste in her mouth
“Didn’t I do my fucking job good enough? I worked all my hours, I even filled in on short notice. I earned every fucking dollar you paid me! Did anyone complain that the tables weren’t clean enough? Or that I poisoned the food?”
Blue just screamed and banged her fist against the metal again and again
“Is this all there is? You just hired me because you think I couldn’t make it on my own? That I’d be wasting away if you didn’t come and save me? Did anything I do ever really matter to you?”
Milk Tea walked up to her, but Blue just pushed her away, too angry to reason with anyone right now
“Whenever I came here, I worked as hard as I could! I didn’t slack off, I didn’t mess things up, I didn’t cause any trouble. But that’s not enough for you, is it? Because one guy decides to be a dick about me, and suddenly I’m nothing more than a fucking criminal who needs to be saved. Is that it?”
“Blue, stop it this instant!”
“FUCK YOU! You don’t give a shit about me! You just care about your fucking diner! You’re just waiting for a chance to kick me out!”
“And you just gave me all the reason I need. You’re fired. Get out.”
“FUCK YOU! I QUIT!”
Blue reached out for something and threw it to the floor, she didn’t even care what it was, she just wanted to hear that satisfying smash, then she stormed out. Once outside, she just started running. She didn’t even know which direction she was going, she just ran until her anger stopped burning.
Blue was still seething with anger the next day. It was plain to see and everybody stayed out of her way. Fluttershy and Applejack tried to calm her down, but in the end none of the girls could get through to her.
It just wasn’t fair! She knew that she didn’t do herself any favours by exploding in front of her boss, but it just wasn’t fair that Milk Tea acted like that from one little slip-up. Though after Blue heard her reasoning, it was more likely that Milk Tea always thought of her as a waste of space and only tolerated her out of the goodness of her heart, or whatever bullshit stuck-up bitches like her told themselves to stroke their ego.
Blue was almost relieved when she was called into the principal’s office through the intercom. The guys from her class mumbled and whispered as she walked out, but this was better than sitting around and glaring at the teacher all day.
When she arrived at the office, Miss Inkwell just pointed at Miss Luna’s door. Blue sighed and tried to get her anger out of her face before she walked in. It didn’t work too well.
Luna sat behind her desk and Blue slumped into her usual chair and they glared at each other. Nobody said anything for a while, until Luna broke the silence
“A had a very long and very annoying talk with Milk Tea last night.”
Blue frowned and her glare only intensified
“Let me guess, she complained that she did so much for me, and I dared to yell at her and that I’m an ungrateful brat and that she never wants to see me again.”
Luna shook her head with a bitter smile
“That’s how it started, but in the end, she realized she has not been all fair to you as well. She’s willing to give you another chance.”
“That bitch can go fuck herself.”
Luna smiled sincerely now
“I told her you’d say something like that. Maybe we can bring this up again after both of you had a chance to calm down some.”
Blue kept glaring and didn’t say anything. She wanted a job. It was nice to have a little extra money, but she wanted to earn it. She wanted to get paid because she was doing something productive, not just because some bitch took pity on her.
Luna waited for a moment, but when Blue didn’t reply, she went back to business
“As you can imagine, this is not why I pulled you out of class. I was contacted by Children Protective Service yesterday, considering your case.”
Blue frowned even more
“What do you mean by that?”
“To be honest, I don’t know. They were intentionally vague. However, we were called into the office for today.”
Blue rolled her eyes and let out an angry sigh
“That’s just what I wanted. Sitting in a waiting room all day so some guy with a stick in their ass can preach their bullshit about me.”
“I’m not thrilled either, Blue. But we got an appointment on short notice, so it would be unwise if we’d just ignore it. They seem to think it’s important.”
Blue noticed that Miss Luna seemed a bit more tense than usual, and she didn’t really like it
“You think we’re in trouble?”
“I don’t know, Blue. I honestly have no clue.”
Blue groaned and balled her hands to fists
“Great. That’s just what I need. I hate surprises.”
They didn’t have to wait for hours in the office, since they had an official appointment. Miss Luna greeted a few people along the way, but Blue just kept her head low and glared at the floor. She didn’t like being here any more than she liked being at the police station.
They were sent to an office with some old geezer. Judging from the diplomas on the wall, he probably thought he was a bigshot. Blue just knew he was big enough of a jerk that he didn’t even introduce himself. Since Luna was there to be polite, Blue just slumped on the seat next to her and kept glaring at the floor.
Since introductions were pointless, the geezer got right to the point
“Miss Luna, I’ve been informed of your… let’s call it ‘unusual’ arrangement between you and Miss Shore. And now that I have looked into it, I can’t help but feel rather worried of the whole situation.”
Blue’s glare intensified, but Luna kept calm
“I don’t see what’s so unusual about the arrangement. I am Ocean’s social worker and so far, there’s been nothing out of the ordinary. I’ve merely made some reports that will benefit my charge, as a social worker is supposed to do. And as her former social worker failed to do, might I add.”
The geezer nodded and waved with his hands
“Yes, yes, I agree that Bitter Leaves didn’t fulfil his obligations at all, and it was very unfortunate that Miss Shore had to suffer from it. I didn’t mean to criticise your work so far, either. But you must admit that the whole thing is very unusual.”
Blue gritted her teeth, her usual reaction when Bitter Leaves was as much as mentioned, and again Miss Luna took over
“I’m afraid I don’t understand what you mean. Maybe you could explain what you mean when you say that ‘this whole situation’ is difficult.”
“Miss Luna, you’re her Vice-Principal at school and her social worker. That’s a conflict of interests, and I’m sure you’re aware of it.”
Miss Luna shook her head, but Blue could tell she wasn’t as calm anymore
“I disagree. As her Vice-Principal, I’m not directly involved in Ocean’s education. I don’t teach her personally, I’m not responsible for her grades and I don’t oversee any of her after-school activities.”
The geezer leaned forward on his desk and stopped waving
“But you are responsible as head of discipline at your school, whenever Miss Shore misbehaves or breaks school rules.”
Miss Luna nodded, hesitantly
“Yes, I am. But I don’t see how this affects Ocean negatively in any way.”
The geezer opened a file and Blue groaned. Nothing good ever came when somebody opened a file about her
“From what I’ve seen, Miss Shore has quite a lot of detention. Two fights in her first week, tardiness, sleeping in class, unruly behaviour…”
Blue balled her hand to a fist, but Miss Luna just put her hand on her shoulder an answered instead
“I can’t name you one student who’s never been tardy or unruly in class. And those fights you mentioned were not initiated by Ocean Shore. Also, as I’m sure you’re aware of, Blue’s behaviour improved greatly over the last couple of weeks.”
The geezer suddenly perked up, like a buzzard who suddenly found prey
“You call her Blue? That’s interesting. According to my files, only her sister ever called her that. Would you say you’ve become familiar with each other, Miss Luna?”
Luna hesitated, but in the end, she nodded
“Yes, we have. I think it’s natural to happen, since I’m involved in Ocean’s personal life to a certain degree.”
The geezer nodded, but he still had a glint in his eye
“Yes, yes, it’s not unusual for that to happen. And don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to see that Miss Shore is behaving better and getting less detention time. I just want to make sure it’s for the right reasons.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, Miss Luna, one has to wonder: Is Miss Shore really behaving better or is it merely that you have grown soft on her, and therefore don’t punish her accordingly anymore.”
Blue couldn’t help but bark out a laugh
“Oh boy, you have no idea what you’re talking about. Miss Luna is hard as nails to everyone. She doesn’t even know what the word ‘soft’ means.”
The geezer threw an annoyed look at her
“Miss Shore, I would appreciate if you’d keep quiet while I discuss this matter with your vice-principal.”
Blue rolled her eyes and slumped back, but Luna jumped right back in
“Why should Ocean stay quiet? This concerns her more than anyone else, shouldn’t we take her opinion into consideration?”
The geezer forced a slim smile
“Miss Shore is a teenager. She doesn’t know what’s best for her.”
“Ocean is sixteen years old. She’s old enough to drive a car, and she’s old enough to make decisions for herself.”
He rolled his eyes, but turned to Blue
“Very well. Miss Shore, what is your opinion on this matter?”
Blue sat up and glared at him
“Nobody else really cared before, but Miss Luna does care. She’s doing her job and she still takes the time to help me when I need it, and she helps me help myself. That’s more than any other guy from the office ever did. So why can’t we just keep it as it is?”
He rolled his eyes more and dismissed her with a wave of his hand
“Thank you very much, Miss Shore. I knew you would be biased about this, of course.”
“How do you call this biased? It’s her life, of course she has her own opinion. That has nothing to do with her age.”
The geezer turned back to Miss Luna and ignored Blue’s nodding
“That would be true for a normal teenager, but with Miss Shore’s unique background, she has proven that she’s not capable to pick the best life-choices. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have acted against the law several times.”
“But that is not who she is anymore! Ocean has changed, and it’s not fair to judge her by the person she was a year ago. She’s made so much progress already and she’s on the best way to keep going, I see it every week during our counselling sessions.”
“Which brings us to my next point.”
The geezer interrupted Luna’s outburst with a cold smile, and suddenly Miss Luna seemed worried
“Canterlot High School does not have a school counsellor, is that right?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“And is it also correct that Principal Celestia and you share the work that would usually fall to the school counsellor?”
“That is also correct.”
The geezer shook his head
“And who is doing the sessions with Miss Shore?”
“At first my sister and I took turns with Ocean, but recently it’s been me. Ocean and I have built up a good rapport, which is important for counselling.”
“Oh, I agree. But, Miss Luna, can you see the problem?”
Luna didn’t say anything, and the geezer now had a fat, satisfied smile plastered on his face
“You’re her vice-principal, her social worker, and now her counsellor as well? Miss Luna, that’s simply not how it’s done. It is highly unusual and…”
“But it works!”
Luna jumped out of her chair when even her patience finally ran out
“Blue is doing well, she has some set-backs of course, but she has improved so much already! You can’t deny this!”
“I am not, Miss Luna, but you have to admit, it is highly unusual…”
"But it’s working! It’s unusual, but it’s working for Blue! She had tried the usual way to no success, but right here, right now, we got something she can relate with! If you take this away from her, you risk losing all the progress we made ever since she came to Canterlot.”
The geezer stared as Luna talked herself into rage, but in the end, he just had his smug smile
“We have regulations and we have them for good reasons. I can see now that you’ve become far too attached to Miss Shore already, and that you’re not capable to judge the situation objectively anymore. Therefore, Miss Luna, I am going to assign someone else to Miss Shore as her new social worker. I will also find a neutral therapist in town for her.”
Luna fumed, just like Blue, but there wasn’t really anything she could do. Blue gritted her teeth and balled her hand to fists, so hard that her fingernails dug into her palms, but she somehow managed to stay quiet. She understood that she already caused a lot of trouble for Miss Luna, she couldn’t make it even worse.
Miss Luna kept glaring at the jerk for a minute longer, but then she sat back down with an angry frown. The geezer kept his smug smile
“Of course, you may continue to assist Miss Shore in your position of vice-principal at Canterlot High School.”
“How very generous of you.”
The geezer was smart enough to stop smiling now, at least. He gave them some paperwork and told Blue that she would have someone new assigned to her by next week. Just before they left, Miss Luna shot one last glare at him
“I hope your friend Bitter Leaves is happy now that he got his cheap revenge.”
“Miss Luna, Bitter Leaves doesn’t even work for me anymore. Why would you think he is involved? I have never even mentioned him.”
“You didn’t have to. This has his name written all over.”
With that, Luna turned around and just left without another word. Blue only took a moment to flip off the geezer, then she headed out and slammed the door shut behind her.
They didn’t say anything until they were back in the car and already a good distance away from the office. Blue was just glaring at the dashboard which was the only safe outlet for her anger she had right now, but Luna addressed her after a few minutes of driving
“Listen, no matter what CPS says, they can’t keep me from helping you. If you ever get into any kind of trouble, you can still come to me, even if I’m no longer your social worker.”
Blue just blew out an angry snort
“Why would they suddenly care? We’ve been doing this for months and nobody gives a fuck, and suddenly it’s a problem.”
“I believe Officer Bright Badge might have forwarded a message to the director. Most likely as a favour to his old friend Bitter Leaves.”
Blue gritted her teeth so loud that even Luna could hear it
“Why can’t he just leave me alone? He’s an asshole.”
“Worse. He’s a well-connected asshole, so he can stir up trouble if he tries hard enough.”
“And he still thinks he’s saving the world from people like me.”
Luna didn’t laugh, so Blue just went back to glaring, although with a little less force now
“I’m going to miss our weekly talks.”
“Blue, we can still talk. Maybe I’m not your counsellor anymore, but they can’t decide what I do in my private time.”
“But, if they find out, won’t you get pestered at your job?”
Luna laughed and shrugged
“That depends on how petty they really want this to get. But some things worth the hassle. Some things are more important.”
“But not more important than your job!”
At Blue’s sudden outburst, Luna slowed the car down to a halt, so she could turn around and look at the girl who seemed torn between frustration and anger
“Blue, listen, I know it might sound bad right now, but…”
“But nothing! I’m not more important than your job. And I don’t want to be the reason you get into any more trouble, like with Milk Tea.”
While Luna was trying to find the right things to say, Blue turned around to look at her, and Luna could have sworn that Blue blinked away some tears
“Besides, there might be another student sometime who needs an awesome vice-principal to help her out. Someone who sticks out for her and doesn’t just write her off. And when that happens, I want you to be around.”
Blue deliberately turned to look the other way, so Luna couldn’t see her expression. Once again, she couldn’t help but notice all the differences between the girl today and the one who had walked into her office back in fall. No matter how much Blue was trying to hide it.
“Besides, I can take care of myself. I can deal with a jerk from the office and if everything fails, I still got my friends, right?”
That was enough to make Luna laugh, despite the unpleasant situation
“Right. And I hope you know that includes me as well. And my sister.”
Blue now turned around and glared at Luna, but without any of her usual fire
“Don’t say that out loud. Geez, people already think I’m weird, if they find out that I’m friends with my principals at high school… I’d have to beat up a month’s worth of detention just to make them stop laughing.”
Luna only laughed harder, and after a while Blue joined in. Blue was still a teenager, but with the right kind of help, she might get through all the changes just fine.
Friday couldn’t come soon enough. Bad enough that Blue lost her job and didn’t have anything to fill her suddenly free afternoons, but she couldn’t let anyone at school notice how pissed she really was. If Miss Luna found out, she’d do something and that would mean more trouble for her, which was the last thing Blue wanted. It also meant that Blue needed to be careful around her friends, especially Sunset, because if Sunset knew how angry Blue was, Luna would find out sooner than later.
And Blue was majorly pissed. She had gotten a call from the office and some jerk had just barked a time and a warning that she’d better be punctual, before Blue could even say as much as ‘Hello’ or ‘Fuck you’. She didn’t really have a chance to vent, since her weekly session with Miss Luna didn’t happen either. Her sister was doing double-shifts as well, so she sat alone at home when she wasn’t with the girls, which didn’t really help either.
Her last hope was Friday night, when she could train with Black Belt. He didn’t care if she was pissed, and she could just punch out all her anger and frustration. After that, she would hopefully be calm enough to deal with the jerk from the office on Monday.
She arrived earlier than usual, since she had done her best to avoid detention this week, but she knew Black Belt didn’t mind that much. He had a class before their sessions and even though they were more advanced than her, Blue had sparred with them a couple times. She ran up the stairs, hoping that she might join in again today.
But when she opened the door to the training room, it was empty. Nobody was around, nobody was training and from the looks of it, nobody had used the room all day. Blue didn’t know what to think about it and walked inside
“Hello? Anybody here?”
Her voice echoed through the empty room, but she heard steps behind her and turned around. Black Belt stood at the door, not in his karate outfit but in normal clothes that looked kinda wrong on him
“Blue. You’re early. I didn’t expect you for another hour.”
Blue just stared at him, then waved at the empty room
“What’s going on? Where is everybody?”
Black Belt sighed and his shoulders slumped down. Blue had never seen him like this, and she didn’t like it one bit
“There was some guy here earlier this week. Said a whole lot of nonsense. I told him to get lost and not bother me anymore, but some people listened.”
Oh no Blue thought, please no. Not again. Not here.
“Suddenly people stop coming to my classes. Said they don’t want to get involved in any crime syndicate or gang wars. I don’t even know where they picked that up.”
“Bitter Leaves.”
Blue gritted her teeth and Black Belt noticed
“That’s his name? He never introduced himself to me. Or rather, I chased him off before he had a chance. Why does he run around and spread stories like that?”
Blue sighed angrily
“He hates me and he kinda lost his job because of me. He called the police to the diner and told them I stole his wallet, just so I’d get fired.”
Black Belt shook his head in disbelief
“Some people. How you’re dealing with all that?”
“Don’t worry about me. Why is nobody here today?”
Black Belt rolled his eyes and leaned against the door
“Cancelled the whole week. Told them to get their heads out of their asses. If they think somebody should not be allowed to learn how to fight because they’ve made a mistake once, they shouldn’t learn it either. I’m sure most of them will show up again next week.”
Blue balled her hands to fists and almost didn’t dare to ask
“And, if not?”
Black Belt just shrugged
“I’ll live. I’ve had meagre years before. Some things are more important.”
Not again. Not him too.
“Now come on, since you’re already here, we can get started. Just let me change real quick and then…”
“SHUT UP!”
Black Belt looked up, surprised at Blue’s sudden outburst
“What the fuck, man? You would just give up your school, your job, everything just because… because…”
“Blue!”
He walked up to her and gripped her shoulder
“This isn’t giving up. If I’d give that guy what he wants, then I’d be giving up. But I’m not gonna do that. I’m not giving up on you.”
Blue screamed and pulled away from him
“Well maybe you should! Maybe he’s right! Maybe I’m really just messing up everything around me.”
“Blue, that’s not…”
“SHUT UP! I don’t want to be responsible that Milk Tea has to close her diner! Or that Luna loses her job! Or that you can’t run your school! I don’t want any of that!”
Blue screamed and hot, angry tears ran down her face
“Bitter Leaves hates me, so nobody of you should get involved! It’s not fair that he goes after you when it’s me he wants! It’s not your fault!”
“Blue, it’s not yours either. It’s that person. He decided to act this way, and some people decided they want to listen to him. None of this is your fault, and I don’t blame you. Neither does Luna, I’m sure.”
Blue backed away from Black Belt even more, to the far wall where she slumped down onto the training mats
“Nobody has a good reason to trust me over him. Not with all the shit I did before.”
Black Belt took a few steps towards Blue, but he knew better than to get too close to her right now
“Do you regret those things today?”
“Yes! I do, now.”
Black Belt tilted his head and Blue could guess why. It wasn’t like she’d shown a lot of remorse ever before.
“Why now? What changed?”
Blue gritted her teeth, but she knew she wasn’t getting out of this right now, not when she was sitting on the floor and crying like a whiny baby
“Because of you! You, and Miss Luna, and Milk Tea and Sunset Shimmer and… and… all that shit never bothered me before. Who cares if I got caught shoplifting? Who cares if I beat up guys at my old school? Who cares if I went to juvie, who gives a shit if I wasn’t guilty at all? Nobody gives a shit about me and that was fine! I don’t need fucking people getting involved in my fucking piece of shit life!”
Black Belt put a hand on Blue’s shoulder
“People care about you now. That’s something you need to get used to. You’re one of the toughest girls I’ve ever met, but now that the guy targets the people close to you instead, none of it really matters. You can take all the abuse, but if they get hurt, you feel helpless.”
Blue forced herself to stop crying and pulled away from him
“What are you, a fucking shrink?”
Black Belt shook his head, but he didn’t have it in him to smile at Blue’s sarcasm
“You can’t stop people from caring, you know.”
Blue slammed her fist into the mats
“But I can make sure they don’t have to suffer because of me.”
“Come on, who says we’re suffering? I think your melodramatic friend got through to you.”
Blue didn’t feel like laughing. She hadn’t felt it all week.
“Miss Luna got threatened by CPS, Milk Tea got pestered by the police, and you had to cancel your classes. None of that would have happened if it wasn’t for me.”
“You don’t know that.”
Blue glared at him
“Bitter Leaves didn’t even know you before he followed me around.”
“Sounds like a ‘me’-problem, not a ‘you’-problem.”
Blue shook her head as her glare only intensified
“But I can deal with it. Bitter Leaves doesn’t want me coming here, right? So I won’t. I already lost my job, so Milk Tea should be fine now as well.”
Black Belt crossed his arms in front of his bulky chest
“That’s sounds to me like you’re giving up. You’re letting him win.”
Blue let out a bitter laugh
“The one time I don’t fight back and try to be clever, and you still complain. I’ll just never be good enough for you, for any of you, am I?”
Black Belt didn’t move a muscle, while Blue was scrambling back to her feet
“Is this really what you want?”
Blue nodded and sighed, angry
“I don’t love the idea. But I can deal with it. If it means less trouble for you.”
Black Belt watched her for a minute, but then relaxed again
“I can’t talk you out of this anymore. But this doesn’t have to be forever, okay? That guy will give up eventually, and when he does, I expect to see you back for training.”
This time, Blue managed a small smile
“You betcha.”
Black Belt put her hand on her shoulder as she walked to the door
“You’re not all by yourself, right? You don’t have to deal with this all alone, you know.”
“Don’t worry. I got my friends at school. I got my big sister. Spring and I have been through so much shit, we can handle another asshole.”
Blue tried her hardest to keep her confident smile up for Black Belt, until she was out of the building. She kept in in until she made it a few blocks away, but then it just all boiled over, and she let out a loud, almost feral scream.
Everybody around stopped for a moment to stare at her, which only made Blue more angry
“What the fuck are you looking at?”
She yelled and everybody hurried away as she glared at them. She just started shouting random insults into the sky, mostly about Bitter Leaves but after a while, she was just screaming for the heck of it.
It didn’t make her feel any better, or any less angry. Everything she touched just turned into shit, every single time. Every time she found something she could enjoy, it turned into a fucking disaster. Her job, school, her friends, even sports. Whenever it seemed like things were turning around, the whole world just turned into another pisshole instead.
There wasn’t anything she could do. She’d already caused trouble to Miss Luna just by existing, and she didn’t want Miss Celestia or the whole school to get dragged in as well. She couldn’t go to her friends. The police had already pestered them, and she couldn’t risk that they would get into trouble just by being around her.
In the end, she just went home. She was still fuming, and her stomach was burning like a furnace the whole time. At least at home she could vent without anybody seeing her, so nobody would care. It was a small comfort, but it was better than just running through the streets all night long. At least at home, she was safe from all this bullshit that happened.
She walked into the run-down apartment, and to her surprise, Spring Meadow was home. Blue thought she was supposed to work the night shift this week, but then again, she was home earlier than expected as well. Maybe it was just a coincidence.
Spring Meadow looked up at her and Blue knew it wasn’t a coincidence. Her sister was crying. Blue hadn’t seen her sister cry since she had been a little girl, and even then, she had never looked as desperate as right now.
Oh no. Please no. Not again. Not her. NOT HER!
“What’s wrong?”
Blue managed to press out with her voice even breaking on those two words, but Spring Meadow wouldn’t stop crying and all she could do was sob
“They fired me. Without any warning. I don’t know why. They just let me go.”
“They fired you from the hospital?”
Spring nodded and Blue couldn’t say anything, she gritted her teeth so she wouldn’t just scream in rage, but her sister wasn’t finished yet
“I couldn’t find another job, not on such short notice, and now I don’t know how to pay the rent. They’re going to kick us out of this place.”
“WHAT?”
Blue’s hands balled into fists and her whole body shook violently. The place was a dump, but at least it was a dump with heating and running water. If they couldn’t afford a shitty apartment like this anymore, how could they ever hope to find another place to live?
“And that’s not even the worst.”
Spring pushed a letter from the table towards Blue. She read the words, but they turned blurry after just a few lines.
… under the given circumstance, we have decided to withdraw your guardianship over Miss Ocean Shore, effective immediately. Miss Shore will be placed in a juvenile institution as soon as possible…
Blue didn’t even read the rest. She wouldn’t be able to even if she wanted. But she couldn’t. All that rage from this shitty day, shitty week, the whole fucking shitty month came back with the force of an erupting volcano, and she just saw red.
She grabbed the closest thing, which was one of the cheap plastic chairs, and just smashed it against the wall. Again and again. She heard the plastic break, she heard her sister scream, but she couldn’t stop. Again and again and again, the remains of the chair smashed against the wall.
FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!
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She admits to them not only being friends, but awesome friends? Now that’s character development.
At that very moment I would check my pockets just incase he snuck it in there.
Oh boy, that must’ve been annoying.
Something tells me she smashed something important.
Ok, now thinking about it that does sounds suspicious.
Oh snap.
Really?
I don’t think so. It would basically be like talking to a friend.
Is it me or are they parallel to celestia and sunset shimmer?
I love this! Cant wait for the next chapter.
God damn it! Why is he so obsessed with Blue except for losing his job? Can't Blue wear a wire to record him confessing his intentions?
10920359
Um, yes, in that scene, maybe a little. As you said, Blue did go through a couple of changes.
10921113
Glad you enjoy it. The next chapter will be a while still. But I hope the wait will be worth.
10921284
Yes, he is obsessive about this. But that's his last appearance in this story. He might get mentioned again, but that was it from him. This isn't his story, it's Blue's story.
10921508
I may have said a lot of things so I don’t know exactly what your responding to.
10921691
The last thing about Blue and Luna acting a bit like Sunset and Celestia
10922002
Oh ok.
10921508
His last appearance?! Not even if he gets taser, arrested for the false accusations he said about Blue and has to pay compensation for his actions, along with his accomplices for getting Blue’s sister fired from the Hospital and her guardianship and the harassment to their employers?
Okay, I have to say I've really enjoyed this story so far but this chapter feels very contrived, while these things happening can occur there's a vanishingly small chance that all of them would occur at once. Luna actually has a rather good complaint to take to the HR department for her supervisor's choice to remove her from a case in this maner, as he would for one not be allowed to do so in front of the individual like this. He also has no basis to call this a conflict of interest as many principles in schools are also guidance counselors, also isn't this the same individual that Luna called earlier in the story to get this position? Did he forget that he was the one that approved of her appointment?
Milk Tea kind of comes across as an idiot in this chapter, she hired a minor with a record, if course it was for theft what did she think Blue got pinched for? That's about the only thing that would get her charges but still have her released before she was an adult.
Black Belt I still can't decide if I like or not, I find him a bit to confrontational for my tastes but I can see why others would like him, that said I do like his response to his clients being morons in this chapter, telling them to all take a week to retrieve their heads, feels both in character and like a good response to have.
I also really have a problem with the last part of this chapter as from what I remember Spring Breeze is an LPN, which pretty much anywhere means she's part of a union and most likely a rather powerful one at that, so a termination without cause would be met with some rather significant backlash to her employer.
Not sure if you live in the US or not but I can tell you that here renters have at least one month up to three in most places before eviction proceedings can even begin, which by themselves can take from three months to over a year to finish.
Though the most unbelievable part to me is that the Department of Childrens Services found out that she lost her job that day and already reached a decision on the case as a result, no bureaucracy moves that fast even in fiction, it would be at least a week before they finishedtheir investigationand reached a decision on what the next step would be, which would be almost guaranteedto be an ultimatum of having to find a new job in thirty days or we will begin the court proceedingsto removeyour guardianship. The departmentdoes not have the ability to issue a legal proclamationlike that it would have to be decided by a judge in Family Court.
One last thing the letter physically could not have been delivered the same day, three days is the minimum turnaround for official mail as it has to go to the buildings mail room, ten be picked-up, and then brought to the post office, then be sorted, and then put on a vehicle for delivery, and then delivered, these are not going to be fast steps the absolute earliest it could be delivered is the next day.
With all that said I have really enjoyed this story up to this point, it just feels like you wanted to get somewhere for the next chapter and rushed through the build up and conflict to get right to the fallout. So it all feels very rushed it honestly would have been more realistic to have these issues building in the background for the last few chapters.
Now for something I very much did like, your exploration of Blue's thoughts and feelings still feel very real and ver well done, her reactions to these issue felt very real and fit her personality well.
I don't expect all this to result in your rewriting the whole chapter I just want to explain why I highly disliked this last chapter. I don't know if I'll keep reading this fic past the next chapter but I wanted to make sure I let you know why you lost me if I don't.
10927285
Okay, that's a lot of points, let me try to clear some things up for you, at least:
Yes, this is a breaking point for the story. I want to go into a different direction in the next chapter. Yes, it feels rushed. It's supposed to feel rushed, because I wanted it to feel rushed. And yes, at some points, it's exaggerated because of that.
First point, Luna and CPS: No, Luna did not make this arrangement concerning Blue directly with this person. The director has been made aware of Blue's and Luna's situation and while it would be fine, for some reason he decided to be a dick about it and insist of following all the regulations to the last dot. That reason being that he has worked long years with Bitter Leaves and that he thinks he can do his old friend some justice by doing that.
Second, Milk Tea. Milk Tea's situation is clear, but she didn't do a very good job of phrasing it. Blue took it the wrong way because hello, that's what she always does and what she did in the past, and she just overreacted, so everything escalated between them. Yes, Milk Tea acted a bit dumb, but just as much blame goes to Blue, in my opinion.
Same goes for Black Belt. He was clearly not trying to push Blue away, but at this point she just overreacted, like she did before. The prior events have worn her out, and she's used to blaming herself, so in a stressful situation, she falls back to a familiar way to cope with things. It's not the healthiest way, but it's what many people do: Cling on something familiar in hope of some sort of safety and stability.
Now, this is going to be a bit of a spoiler for the next chapters, but let's talk about Spring Meadow. We barely see anything from her as the story is focused mainly on Blue, but we know she's dedicated to her sister, to a fault. She's doing all the financial stuff and she has been handling everything for Blue concerning CPS, law stuff, etc. We just never saw it because Blue doesn't even know how much Spring Meadow does in the background. Fact is, she lost her job weeks ago, but didn't tell Blue, in an attempt to shield her. Don't tell me that doesn't happen. I've had a friend who went to 'work' for two months every day, before we found out he had lost his job. Spring Meadow knows that Blue is unstable and prone to overreaction, and prone to blaming herself, so she tries to keep everything away from her. Of course, when everything comes out in the end (which it usually does), the blow is much harder.
About Spring Meadow being in a union, I admit that thought never even crossed my mind. Where I live, you need to pay to be a part of any union, and if you're not a member you don't get the benefits like legal assistance or talks with your employer. In my head, Spring Meadow would not have the money to join a union, or she would rather spend it on Blue instead.
And to your last point: Yes. Everything is working way too fast. Even if more time has passed since things started going south than the story makes you think (about a month, while we only see Blue's experiences of a week), it's still way too fast. That's where I rushed to get a sense of urgency into the story. There are some reasons for why it's this fast, one being that the director of CPS is directly involved and, in my experience, if a higher-up gets involved things tend to move faster than usual, a few other reasons will get mentioned in the next two chapters, but overall I have to agree with what you said.
I tried to be realistic with this story, but I don't want to be hyper-realistic. Not in a world with magical girls and pony-dimensions existing. I completely understand everything you said, but I'm not going to change this chapter because it serves the part I wanted from it. If that's the breaking point for you, I have to respect this and I hope you had some enjoyment from Blue up to this point.
Thank you very much for your feedback, it is very much appreciated! I'm always trying to improve and this helps me out a lot.
10926997
Nothing of that is going to happen. Sorry to disappoint.
10927497
I have to say that your response does explain at least the reasons behind the points I took issue with in this chapter, I still wish that they had been handled better, but as I said I don't expect or even really want you to rewrite this chapter. I just wanted to explain what I took issue with and why.
In all honesty it's probably because thus chapter hit me a bit closer to home than I was expecting, I have been in Spring Rain's position myself, still am as far as the being the guardian part, so I probably overreacted a bit to how it played out. While I agree that the director being involved would move things along faster, it would only be in a court appointments occur on the scheduled days and don't constantly get moved due to a higher priority case coming in, nothing is quite as rage inducing as clearing the necessary time and then being told the morning of that the appointment has been moved to next month now.
Just FYI you do have to pay to be a member of the unions for nurses, it's just that they are so pervasive and powerful that almost any nursing position in the US and most of Canada requires your membership. The dues are taken out of your pay like taxes though so some people don't even realize that they are paying them. Again just a bit of information for you.
For one last bit if hopefully constructive criticism, having Bitter Root exist just to punt in a conflict ball and then disappear will annoy a lot of readers, yes it is unrealistic to expect him to get his comeuppance but that is part of why people read fictional stories, to get the catharsis of the jerk being put in their place.
I do just want to reiterate that I have very much enjoyed this story so far, and I will at the very least read the next chapter, as I do very much like Blue and how you have written her. I am just a bit worried at the new direction the story is heading in. It kind of feels like your abandoning CHS at this point, which again it is your story. That just feels to me like it will result in Blue backsliding to how she was at the beginning of the story as her hard-won support network is pulled away. Now again it's your story, you can do as you please, I just wanted to let you know my feelings at the apparent new direction.
10927498
Aww... Man! I want that dick to pay for his actions to get what he wants and making others suffer. He can't get away with his actions and his accomplices
10927642
Sounds like nurse unions work a lot different then the ones I've been a member of (and currently still am). I don't think I will get to use this information in a meaningful way for this story any more, but I'll definitely keep it in mind.
Also, I know about the court appointments and all the hassle around that. Again, it was a conscious decision to speed it up.
Thank you again for all your feedback. It's given me a lot to think about and consider. I hope that you give the next two chapters (one mini-chapter and a 'normal sized' one) a chance and decide if the way I plan to go with the story finds your liking. If not, feel free to tell me why: I might not change 'my' story retroactively, but any kind of feedback will help me grow as a writer.
And I understand your feedback on Bitter Leaves, but I don't want this to be a revenge story. I want this story to focus on Blue and how she is dealing with it. I don't want to give him more attention than he deserves.
10927653
I hope this answers your question too.
10929036
Okay... But I can't understand why people like that guy can corrupt his way to get what he wants to make someone like Blue suffer along with her family and friends?
As an educator myself, this chapter (specifically the part where Luna is told she's too close to Blue to continue acting as her social worker) really hits close to home. It's been the policy of every school I've worked at that when students like blue confide in teachers or seek personal advice, we are not to engage in anything resembling counseling or give any non-school-related advice. Instead, we're supposed to just direct them to the school counselor. It's incredibly frustrating to be unable to help these students who trust you and might actually listen to your advice, and instead tell them to talk to someone who's basically a stranger to them (few students know the school counselor well before they need them).
What's even more frustrating is the knowledge that these policies are there for good reason, to protect both us and our students. Objectively speaking, Luna was too emotionally close to Blue to be acting as her social worker or therapist by professional standards, especially since she's unlicensed.
What happens next in this story will come down to who her new social worker and therapist are. I doubt they'll be as accommodating as Luna, but hopefully they won't be actively antagonistic like Bitter Leaves.
(PS: This is what you get for not joining the nurse's union, Spring Meadow.)