Ocean Blues

by TalkingToMyself

School of Friendship - Chapter 1

Blue watched the commotion in town from her perch on a cloud. Everpony was bustling around Princess Twilight’s new ‘School of Friendship’ and a lot of ponies from out of town had arrived. Well, ponies and other creatures. Blue saw a few changelings, a pair of dragons (not the huge kind, the more pony-sized kind like Spike), two hippogryphs and even some griffons. They were all headed to the huge area that Princess Twilight had designed as her new school, and Blue had even been inside for a tour with Starlight once. Starlight was pretty excited about being a guidance counsellor and Blue had to talk her out of a panic attack as well. Since Blue had tons of experience with all kinds of guidance counsellors, she knew Starlight would do a great job, and that panic attack only proved that, since she wouldn’t be so worried if she didn’t care about the students. And from the distance, both Starlight and Twilight looked calm enough, so Blue guessed she had been right.

The others were around as well, they would hold some classes in Twilight’s school and have their own students. Princess Twilight had carefully tested if Blue would be interested in teaching, but Blue had shot that thought down from the start. A (former) delinquent like her wasn’t cut for teaching and she didn’t feel qualified to teach anyone about friendship of all things.

The welcome ceremony came to an end, and everycreature headed inside, so Blue moved on as well. The weather schedule for today wasn’t very busy, but she still had her stuff to do.

A few hours later, she was finished and had even time to squeeze in a bit of flight practice (although she had no interest in becoming a stunt pony like Rainbow Dash, she liked learning new manoeuvres). She was just about to head home, when she heard something she hadn’t heard in a long while, but still recognized instantly. She glanced down and saw a few ponies, mostly pegasi, gathered around a young griffon. The griffon (now that Blue got closer, she saw that he was a boy) had his head held low and his claws dug into the ground. To everypony else, it looked like he might be scared or intimidated, but Blue knew better. She knew he was desperately trying to hold back, or else he’d explode in anger. How did she know? Because she had been in the exact same position before.

The ponies who had closed in on him all had that expression Blue knew very well, that infuriation mix of self-righteousness and arrogance. They all just knew they were right and had every right in the world to push in on the guy.

“We don’t need anyone like you here in our town.” “Yeah! Why don’t you just go back to your beat-down kingdom and leave us alone!” “We don’t want any rude griffons going to school with our children. You’re just a bad influence.”
Just hearing them had Blue’s blood boiling again, but she managed to keep her cool, mostly.
“What the fuck is going on here?”

She dropped down into the middle of the pack, right between the griffon and the unicorn with the biggest smirk, who was clearly riling everypony up. Blue didn’t know him, other than that she had seen him around town before, but he seemed to recognize her.
“Oh, hello Ocean Shore. We were just going to make sure this rude bully here knows his place.”

Blue rose her brow and looked over her shoulder at the mini-dude who hadn’t said anything yet. The unicorn backed away when she hit him with her glare full force.
“He doesn’t seem rude to me, unlike you.”
“Oh please.” The stallion quickly recovered and pointed at him. “He’s a griffon! They are all rude. Just like that Gilda who visited once. Haven’t you heard what she did?”

Blue had not, but some calls from the crowd brought her up to speed.
“She stole apples!” “She roared and yelled at Fluttershy!” “She threw a massive fit at Pinkie Pie’s party!”
Blue just glanced back at the griffon who had his beak clamped shut, and only glared at the others
“So what? The dude clearly isn’t Gilda.”

The unicorn stomped his hoof and had that shit-eating smirk again.
“But he’s a griffon! They are all trouble, and we don’t want them here!”
There were some affirmative calls from the crowd, but they quickly fell silent when Blue pushed in against the unicorn stallion
“So let me get this straight. You had one bad experience with a griffon, and now all griffons are bad. Is that how it is?”
He seemed less certain, but he still nodded anyway.
“Yes?”

The other ponies started mumbling among each other, so at least some of them had turned on their brains again, but Blue would make sure the lesson would stick.
“Hey Mini-Dude!”
She kept glaring at the prick in front of her, but she saw from the corner of her eyes that the griffon boy looked up now.
“Ever met any unicorns before running into this piece of shit?”
The guy in question obviously didn’t take the insult very well, but the crowd backed away from him now, especially when the griffon shook his head.

Blue faked a smile while still glaring daggers at the unicorn
“Congratulations! Going by your logic, every unicorn is a self-righteous prick with their head up their plot from now on. I’m sure Rarity and Starlight Glimmer will appreciate that.”

He stammered, now that more ponies from the crowd started glaring at him, and tried to defend himself.
“That, that’s not how it works…”
“You got that right, you little prick. Now listen up.”
She flared her wings and took one step closer, which had him cower on the ground although he didn’t dare look away from her.
“I see you treat anyone like that again, any creature at all, and the only way you’ll keep your shit-eating grin is in a pouch around your neck, because I will break out all your teeth one by one. Did you get that or do you need a quick demonstration?”

He shook his head almost comically fast, but Blue wasn’t in the mood for laughing. She just shot a glare towards the crowd that was still hovering around them.
“Same goes for all of you. Now scram!”

The jerk ran off the fastest, but most of the others followed close by. Only a few stayed long enough to mumble an apology towards the griffon, but not even a minute later, it was just him and Blue. She waited long enough so they’d all be out of earshot, then she hissed through her teeth.
“Damn I hate jerks like him.”

The griffon boy finally looked up, although Blue still noticed his claws dug into the ground and he looked as pissed as she felt.
“You alright, Mini-Dude?”
“That’s not my name!”
Blue laughed and folded her wings back to her flanks, the same time he pulled back his claws.
“I didn’t ask for your help! I could have taken them.”
“Yeah, I know. Doesn’t mean you should have, though.”

He was still glaring ahead, and Blue could almost tell what he was thinking word by word. She had been in his shoes often enough for that.
“Tough spot, huh? You beat the living shit out of the prick like he deserves it, you only confirm what he’s thinking, and you’ll never change anyone’s mind. You do nothing, and you give the guy a free pass to talk shit about you.”

He looked a bit weirded out that Blue could figure him out, but then he just turned away.
“Oh yeah? Like you would know any of it.”
“You’d be surprised.”

Blue grinned and it finally seemed enough so he would relax a little.
“Hey, word of advice? If that happens again in school, talk to one of the teachers. Or Starlight Glimmer. They’ll get it.”
He clammed up again, as expected and shouted
“I don’t need help from anygriff or anypony.”
“Yeah, I know that. But just because you don’t need it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get it.”
“Huh?”

She grinned and pointed towards the school where more students had gathered to get to know each other.
“Guess what, Mini-Dude. If anyone comes to help you, doesn’t mean you’re weak. It just means you got friends. Isn’t that what this new school is all about?”
He looked like he didn’t really know how to respond to that, so he didn’t. Which was fair.

“My name is Gallus.”
Blue tilted her head as if in thought, then shrugged her wings
“Nah, I like Mini-Dude better.”
She laughed when he shot a way-less threatening glare towards her
“You’re one weird pony.”
“Figured that out pretty fast, huh?”

He rolled his eyes when Blue laughed again.
“Well, I gotta fly. See you around, Mini-Dude.”
“Yeah. Whatever. See ya.”

Blue took off into the sky, but she turned around to look after Gallus once more. She saw him approach one of the other students, a young dragon who stood all by herself, shunned by the mostly pony students so far. He raised his claw for a quick hello, then he leaned against the wall next to the dragon, and it seemed like they were talking.

Blue allowed herself a small grin, before she flew a loop and headed home.

---

Summer had turned into Fall and Blue had the day off. Since the weather outside wasn’t the nicest, that meant she lounged around at home instead. Usually, she’d meet up with Twilight or the others, but their ‘School of Friendship’ thing was still new and took a lot of time, so she didn’t really have any plans for today. Which was just fine as well.

She put on one of her music records and flagged down on the couch with a book. She wasn’t the most avid reader, but through Spring she had found a couple of books she could enjoy occasionally.

She was just about finished with the chapter when she heard a knock on the door. She waited for somepony to walk in uninvited (like most ponies did), but to her surprise that didn’t happen. Curious, she got up and opened the door, and found a familiar face.

“Hey hey, if it isn’t my pal Mini-Dude.”
Gallus rolled his eyes and didn’t respond to Blue’s teasing.
“Professor Rainbow Dash told me I’d probably find you here.”

Blue grinned, just because the fact that somepony would address Rainbow Dash as ‘professor’ still amused her to no end, and she nodded
“Anything Dash needs from me today?”
It wasn’t out of the ordinary for the girls to ask for help with their classes occasionally. Rainbow Dash had mentioned a trip to Cloudsdale at some point, maybe she was asking for pegasi who could chaperone.

Gallus quickly shook his head though
“It’s not like that. I kinda need some help for an assignment.”
Blue just stared at him for a moment
“You want my help for your schoolwork? Are you sure?”

Gallus just nodded and explained
“We’ve got to interview a pony from town and write a report on them.”
“And you want to do that with me, out of everypony?”
Gallus nodded, but kept his eyes cast down
“If that’s okay with you. I can ask somepony else if you don’t want to.”
“No, no, I’m just surprised is all. Um, come on in.”

Blue stepped out of the door to let the young griffon inside the flat, and into the living room. He looked irritated as he walked in, and Blue knew why. Inside the living room, her music was still playing from the record player, much louder that it would be comfortable for most ponies, but just like Blue enjoyed it. She headed to the record player and adjusted the small magic-crystal-thingy Starlight Glimmer had given her, to drop the volume from ear-shattering to background-noise.
“Sorry about that. Don’t stand around, grab a seat, get comfy. You want something to drink?”

Gallus nodded absently and sat down on the couch, while Blue grabbed two cans of soda for them. Blue watched, a little jealous, how Gallus used a claw to pop open the can, while she had to use a tool to do the same, like everpony else with hooves. Gallus didn’t notice at all, he was still hung up on something else.
“How come I didn’t hear the music outside? It was so loud, but I didn’t hear a peep.”
Blue laughed and pointed at the crystal-thingy
“Starlight gave me some enchanted gem for that. Basically makes it so the sound doesn’t travel outside the room, so I can play my record as loud as I want and it won’t bother the neighbours.”
Or anypony who walks past the building she added in her head.

“Oh. Um, cool. I didn’t even know that’s a thing.”
“Yeah, me neither. But Starlight is kinda a genius when it comes to magic, so she figured it out. It’s great to have a friend like her.”
Gallus nodded and asked
“How long have you been friends?”
“Um, less than a year. But it was a pretty turbulent year, so it feels longer. That, and Starlight and the others get drawn into all kind of whacky adventures, so yeah. Good times, though.”

Gallus nodded along and produced a notepad and pen, jolting down a few notes, which made Blue visibly uneasy
“Are you sure you want to write your report about me? I mean, there’s dozens of ponies who are more interesting and have more exciting jobs than me. Like Starlight.”
Gallus just shook his head at Blue’s reasoning and explained
“It’s supposed to be a report on a normal, regular pony, and none of the professors are normal. Regular. Ugh, you know what I mean.”

Blue laughed and nodded, since she could see that trying to write a report about Rainbow Dash might be a tad tricky, even without all of Rainbow’s showboating.
“Okay, I get that. But why me, then?”
Gallus put down his pen, so he could look at Blue as he answered
“You stood up for me, on my first day in town, before you even knew me. Nopony else has done that. That’s why I want to write my report about you.”
Blue rubbed the back of her head, uncharacteristically shy
“Geez, I didn’t know I made that big of an impression that day. Just did what I thought was right.”

Gallus nodded again and picked up the pen again
“So, is it okay if I ask you some questions?”
“Uh, sure kid. Just don’t expect a thrilling story from me.”
“Hey, if your story is boring, that’s less homework for me.”
They both laughed, and Gallus flipped to a page on his notepad where he had already prepared some questions
“How long have you been working as a weather pony?”
“Uh, about half a year now. I joined when we were moving to Ponyville, early spring. Just missed Winter Wrap-up by a few days, actually.”

“So you’ve only been here a couple months longer than me. Who is ‘we’?
“ Huh?”
“You said ‘we were moving to Ponyville’.”
“Oh, right. That’s me and my big sister. Spring Meadow. Works as a nurse in Ponyville hospital.”

Gallus kept writing, his attention on the notepad, so he didn’t notice Blue’s expression getting more and more uneasy. She didn’t want to lie to him, but he’d soon be asking questions she couldn’t answer truthfully. She had a half-baked story that Spring and her used, but it wouldn’t hold if Gallus went into greater detail. She didn’t like lying, but she couldn’t really tell him that she came from another world and wasn’t even a pony until a couple of months ago.

“And where did you live before?”
“Some backwater village. Far west. Outside of Equestria, even. Doesn’t even have a name on any map, as far as I know.”
Lucky for her, he didn’t question that. Unfortunately though, his next question threw Blue completely off loop.
“Are your parents still living there?”

Blue blanched, and looked down at her hooves. Her ears folded back, and even her wings hung down limp now.
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen my mum in years, and I never met my dad.”

Gallus looked up surprised, and when he saw how miserable Blue looked, he panicked
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to… you don’t have to answer if you don’t…”
“No, it’s fine kid. It’s just, not a really happy story.”

Gallus waited for Blue to go on, or to compose herself, but he dared asking another question
“What happened to your dad? An accident?”
Blue laughed joylessly and shook her head
“That would be a nice story, huh? Some tragic bullshit about my dad being ripped away from us way before his days and stuff. Truth is, he just left one day and never came back.”

Gallus eyes opened wide in surprise, and even though he didn’t ask, Blue knew he wanted to hear it.
“My dad never wanted kids. He begrudgingly accepted Spring when she was born, but he wasn’t ever a good dad to her. As soon as he learned that my mum was pregnant with me, he just bailed. Took all the money they had and fucked off. Bastard didn’t even leave a note or anything. Stupid coward.”

Gallus, unsure on how to react, even if Blue could see he clearly had an opinion on this, tried to stay somewhat neutral.
“That must have been difficult.”
“For me? Nah. Can’t miss what you never had. But Spring and mum, they took it pretty hard. Mum started blaming herself. A lot. And she started drinking. A lot. I was too young, so I never really noticed anything, but I was raised by Spring more or less, because she was out of it so much. Stupid bitch.”

Blue didn’t even hide how angry she was. She had not talked about her parents in years, but now that Gallus sat here and asked, everything was back again. Maybe because he didn’t know about all that shit, it was easier to talk to him.

He had stopped taking notes at that point and just listened. He could read her body language well enough, if Blue’s swearing wasn’t a big enough clue, and he asked
“Do you hate them?”
“Of course I fucking hate them. I never met my dad, but he just fucking vanished and left us to pick up the pieces. Maybe he never hurt me, but what he did was worse. And my mum is just a fucking coward. She kept it together for a while, but after a few years, she stopped caring about anyone but herself. She was drunk all the time, weepy drunk, and she’d complain and moan how bad she had it in life, blah, blah, blah. If it hadn’t been for Spring, she would have spent every penny on booze. Spring had to make sure we had food, or clothes, and she still had to make sure I’d go to school. She got cheated out of her childhood because of that weepy cunt. Not that I didn’t do my fair share to make things worse.”

Gallus didn’t say anything, which was probably best with Blue going on an angry rant. She realized how angry she was when she noticed how hard she was breathing again, and her wings were flared out. She forced them down, just like she forced a deep breath.
“Sorry about that.”
“It’s, um, it’s fine. Sounds like you needed a good vent.”

Blue shrugged, acting like she didn’t care
“I never think about them. No reason crying about what’s already long gone, you know? Yeah I hate them, but I can’t change things anyway.”

Gallus had stopped taking notes at some point, but now he glanced back at his notepad, trying to steer the interview back to things that wouldn’t make Blue angry.
“And how did your sister and you end up in Ponyville?”
Blue sighed and shook her head
“Dumb luck. Spring and me, we were bouncing a lot of places, but we never fit in anywhere. I got in trouble in any school I’ve been to. Fights, detention, you name it.”

Blue turned her head towards the record player, off all things.
“I was getting a criminal record as well. Got caught stealing a bunch of times. Got framed for stuff I didn’t do. People never cared, they just knew I was trouble and wanted me gone, and Spring too. Then at that last place, I met a couple of guys who cared. One of them had been as bad as me at some point. They got me, you know? And they wanted to help.”

Gallus, who had been quiet for a while now, the interview almost forgotten, asked without thinking
“How did you know? Why did you believe them?”

Blue laughed, but it didn’t sound as bitter as before
“I didn’t. I was way too stubborn back then. But they kept on trying anyways. Turns out, they were friends of Princess Twilight, and the one who had been bad before, she’d gotten help from Twilight. Help she didn’t think she wanted first, then thought she didn’t deserve, and finally had to accept. She had been through all that stuff, and she could help me get through it too. I’m a slow learner, so it took them ages, but once they got through my thick head, I got it. And for the first time, I had friends, and life didn’t seem so shitty anymore.”
Blue smiled, and Gallus found himself smiling along.
“I know how that feels.”
Blue nodded, allowing herself a grin. She hadn’t been watching too closely, but she had kept an eye on the young griffon whenever she got the chance and had heard about his unusual group of friends.

“I really miss them at times. I don’t get to see them as often anymore now that we moved to Ponyville.”
That, finally, caught Gallus off-guard
“Wait, you didn’t meet them here?”
Blue laughed and shook her head
“Nope. We met in that other place. I was starting to like it, with my friends at my side and all, but then my shitty past caught up on me. The girls helped me get in contact with Princess Twilight, and she helped us move here. For a real new start, this time, no strings attached. I guess you can see that things didn’t turn out too bad this time.”

They both laughed, Blue to get out of her grumpy mood, but from Gallus, it sounded awkward, almost forced. Maybe somepony else might have missed it, but for Blue it was obvious, and she thought she knew the reason why.
“You okay, buddy?”
“Huh? Yeah. Sure. Why? Stop asking already.”

That was way too defensive to be nothing, but Blue knew if she pushed now, she’d never get any answers. Instead, she said nothing and just waited for it to happen naturally.

She didn’t have to wait very long, and Gallus was fidgeting in his seed.
“Do you think about your parents a lot?”
Blue just shook her head
“I don’t think about them at all, really. Yeah I still hate them, and yeah I get angry talking about them, but other than that? They are not a part of my life, so I refuse to let them become an influence on me. Whatever it is they have done in the past or will do in the future. You know what I mean.”
“Yeah…”

Gallus didn’t say more at first, but his expressions told Blue everything. He was struggling really hard to keep it together now, and he was in war with himself if he should just spill, or keep hiding. Blue had been on that spot a lot in her last year at CHS, and she had learned that one way would help him feel a lot better than the other. But she also knew that he had to figure that out from himself, because that was a lesson he could only learn by himself.

Eventually, he caved in, and hesitantly tested how Blue would react.
“I know a thing or two about that from when I grew up…”

It was vague enough for him to back out again if Blue started to pry, or even worse if she started to pity him, but Blue knew there was only one way she could react.
“Fucking sucks, man. Bloody hell.”

Gallus looked up, surprised at first, then relieved. Blue didn’t try to pretend acting like a responsible adult would, because that’s not who she was. She knew she couldn’t change or fix anything, but she could at least acknowledge his problems, and show him that it was okay to be pissed about it.

“In Griffonstone, family is not really something either. Everygriff is kinda nice to you while you’re still a chick, but after that it’s everygriff for themselves. So you either get tough, or get lost. If I didn’t find anything to eat, my mom sure wouldn’t share her food with me.”

Blue nodded, and took a long drag out of her soda can. He still had things to say, and even if she wanted to say something, she knew he needed someone who would listen far more than someone who would give him pointless advice right now.

“… so when they started badgering me, I sometimes hid in the old library. Nogriff was taking care of it anymore because nogriff cared about books, but I started reading stuff. Because I was bored first, but later I’d go there all the time, you know?”
Blue nodded. She had had loud music to get away from stuff, but it wasn’t that different.
“I guess that’s why they picked you to go to Princess Twilight’s school, huh?”
Gallus blushed a bit, but he nodded
“I’m still a griffon, but I kinda liked books. I think most griffons just wanted me out of Griffonstone and if they could score points with Princess Twilight at the same time, they didn’t think twice to sign me over.”

Blue frowned and blew out her breath in an angry snort
“Their fucking loss. You’re one tough dude and you’re smart, and if they can’t see it, screw them.”
Gallus laughed again, far more at ease than when he had started talking
“I guess that’s one way to see it. Too bad I’ll have to deal with them in winter.”
“Huh? How come?”

Gallus pawed at the couch cushion, but this time he didn’t hesitate nearly as long before he spilled what was on his mind.
“Headmare Twilight wants to send us all home for Hearth’s Warming, so we can spend time with our family. I don’t think my family will be thrilled to see me, somehow.”
“Yeah, I guess.”

Blue waited for a moment longer, but Gallus didn’t say anything else, so she felt compelled to do instead.
“Have you told Twi? Or Rainbow Dash, maybe?”
He shook his head, and his wings twitched
“I don’t want to bother them with it.”
“Trust me, they’d want to know. And they won’t think any less of you for it. I know that’s what you’re thinking.”

He looked up, kinda surprised, but the look on Blue’s face was all he needed, and he grinned
“Yeah, you would know, huh? I don’t wanna make a big deal over nothing, still.”
“Hey, this is not nothing. Not every problem has to be threatening Equestria to be important. Besides, it’s important to my buddy Mini-Dude, so I’ll be damned if I’d just sit here and twiddle my hooves.”
For emphasis, she crushed her now empty soda can and chucked it towards the bin. She missed, but the sentiment wasn’t lost on Gallus.

“You think I should tell Professor Rainbow Dash?”
“Tell you what, Gallus. Tomorrow after classes, we’ll go and tell her together. And if she’s not taking it seriously, we’ll dump her into the next trashcan we find.”
Gallus laughed, hard and free, and chucked his can next to Blue’s
“It’s a deal!”
They shared a claw-to-hoof-bump to seal it and Gallus was still grinning, which was all Blue needed to see.

His smile faded when his eyes fell back on his notes.
“I should write this report first, though. Just in case.”
“Oh, right. We got kinda side-tracked during the interview, huh?”

Gallus nodded, but he was no longer insecure about it. In fact, his eyes suddenly burned with drive.
“Don’t worry. I think I know exactly what to write in my report now. Thanks for your help, Miss Ocean Shore.”
Blue just rolled her eyes
“Only pony princesses call my Ocean Shore, dude. My friends just call me Blue.”
Gallus looked up, and grinned back to Blue when he understood
“Okay, um, see you tomorrow then… Blue.”
“I’ll be there, Mini-Dude.”

They bumped their hooves again, and Blue followed him to the door.
“Yo, Gallus. Feel free to drop by anytime. You know, if you wanna talk about stuff.”

Their eyes met, and Blue knew he got the message, that ‘stuff’ included things he wouldn’t necessarily tell his friends, or his teachers.

He raised his claw before he flew off and Blue watched him until he vanished behind some clouds. That wasn’t really what she had expected from her day off work, but she really didn’t mind one bit.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Is this story complete or not?

[TalkingToMyself]

11538402
The main story is complete, ending with chapter 20.
But, while writing this, I had a few ideas on how to expand the story, none of them big enough to warrant a sequel, so I just added those as bonus chapters.

There will be one or two more chapters for this bonus arch and another small arch arch for Spring Meadow as it stands now.