Lingering Lachrymosity

Arpeggio wandered the streets of Ponyville, his mind still clouded; it had been a good week or so since the incident with Thunderclap and Spring Shower, but the pegasus still couldn't think about either of those two without getting angry, especially Spring. He muttered to himself slightly as he walked.

_{"...Those damned lovebirds... I try to avoid them and I still see them together. ...It hurts... so badly..."}

"Other birds do occupy the air, ma tourterelle," the mare, with ears pricked, interjected.

Victoria, who had been evaluating the sullen Arpeggio, now descended in a soft glide and landed by his shoulder. Clenched between her teeth was a bouquet of thorned flowers, from which she detached a rose and swiftly nestled it behind his ear. Then, she peered directly into his preoccupied eyes and assumed his pace.

"He told 'zat you were tall, and I guess it is so," she observed without prompt. Once by his flank, she stood only to his chin.

" - Arpeggio, yes? You poor dear, so shaken by your affections," Victoria hyperbolized. She proceeded in the ambiguous words, "I have heard so very much and so very little about you."

Arpeggio blinked a few times. "...Ma'am, who might you be? And who told you about me?" He thought for a bit about the 'he told that you were tall', then sighed. "...Thunderclap?" He furrowed his brow.

"Well, yes. I am Arpeggio. Thanks for the rose, I guess..."

"'Tis a pleasure to finally meet you, monsieur. I am Victoria," She replied in turn.

"Yes, I 'ave conversed with this stallion. He and I talked a night through at the Ponyville Tavern. He speaks very liberally of you." Then, calculative of circumstances, the mare began testing boundaries. "Perhaps more so, he praises this new love of his, whom he calls 'Spring Shower'."

No less aware of his dismay, Victoria smiled sympathetically and proceeded in diversion.

"The rose complements 'zat charming face of yours, friend. Why shalln't we see a brighter demeanor?" The mare, expressive of curiosity, moved to nudge his cheek.

His eye twitched a bit at the mention of Spring's name and a flash of anger crossed his face. "...Just what did Thunder say about me?"

He let her nudge his cheek. "Because I don't particularly feel like I could manage anything cheerier than this. I've only really been able to go between incredibly depressed and burning with anger. Anything besides that I've been able to manage is just emptiness."

He sat down on a nearby bench.

The mare joined Arpeggio on the bench, arranging herself to face him. With her hoof, she nonchalantly stirred the surface of the seat.

"Well, as I recall..." Practiced stoicism veiled her mischief. "Hate. Such is how he characterized you. You conduct yourself, said he, with the most precarious temper."

"While you've the right to know, do not ruin yourself," Victoria continued, "when I confess: He told me 'zat you loved, but such love was not reciprocated."

"Awful things," she concluded, impassioned. She received his brewing anger with great interest.

A few tears dripped from his eyes as he hung his head. "...That damned stallion..."

"Let me guess; he had no idea why I hate him and Spring as much as I do?"

He began trembling a little, a mixture of sorrow and anger. "I'd be happy to tell you exactly why if you'd be willing to hear me out."

"He implied 'zat you wanted him to yourself," Victoria replied quite flatly. A handkerchief was drawn from her saddlebag and used gingerly to dry his tears.

"He offered no further rationale."

She touched his shoulder compassionately and felt his muscles quivering; his heart beat, accelerating. If there were deities above, she considered, they were but spectators of a brief comedy in which the pony did strut and fret his hour upon the stage and then was no more. Her smile was consoling in appearance.

"...He really has no clue... It's true. I did... I fell for him hard and grappled with my feelings for a while... He was the first pony I'd ever felt those kinds of feelings for... I confessed my feelings to him after his first date with her..."

"He and that Mary-Sue fillyfriend of his can burn in Tartarus, and if you don't get the name reference, be glad; that was the name of the female lead in one of the worst stories I ever read; a perfect mare who could do no wrong, who the male character threw themselves at, who was just sooooo sweet that you looked like a villain if you didn't like her."

Arpeggio gritted his teeth. "I hate that mare so damn much... She's just 'little miss Perfect' in every way to him, a mare who can do no wrong; like a female lead in a really bad story."

He fought back a yell of anger, though angry tears dripped down his cheeks. "And you know the worst part? After I confessed to Thunder, he said (Arpeggio did a pretty good imitation of Thunder's voice) 'I....I just don't know what to do. I like you, but I like Spring as well. If I choose one, I know I'll make the other sad. And I just can't stand that. I can't bring myself to make another pony sad. I feel stuck, and it's an awful feeling. I...I...just can't do it!'"

Arpeggio lifted his head, taking shuddering angry breaths. "He said he couldn't choose between us 'cause he didn't want to make either of us sad. The bucker lied, right to my face! After I poured my heart out to him, he had the gall to lie to me! That bitch swept him off his hooves after their first bucking date! It was pretty obvious to me that he'd already chosen when she kissed his cheek when the three of us met!"

Arpeggio choked up a bit, crying more. "...S-So there you go... th-that's why I hate them. They can burn in Tartarus for all I care... I hate them both so much..." Arpeggio threw his forelegs around Victoria, hugging her as he cried.

She clutched the broad stallion in his moment of intimacy and caught his tears in her flank. "Weep and be finished, child. 'Zere are things to be done," affirmed a matriarchal voice.

"Oh, you wretched little thing," she lamented."He believes himself at liberty to indulge in lustful interests, all whilst you are denied the pursuit of simple desires. You wretched thing! 'Zey 'ave the audacity to taunt you in your absence. Poor, wretched thing! A demon with a handsome smile has done you wrong, and it is left for you to serve justice. If he and the mare will disallow you 'zat which both 'zemselves practice in the guilty night, and purchase happiness at the expense of yours, retribution is due."

Victoria constricted in her loving embrace. Her magenta eyes burned with the intensity of suns.

"'Tis only fair for an impetuous traitor to taste his or her own wrongdoing."

Arpeggio coughed a bit at the embrace, finishing crying. "...I... I honestly don't know if I could do something like that... Buck me for it, but I still love him... that's probably the only thing that's kept me from breaking his limbs.... well, that and the fact that there are laws against that kind of thing."

"...I'll keep your words in mind, though." He hugged her once more. "Thank you so much for listening to me... and letting me vent."

His thanks were acknowledged with an apprehensive smile.

"Just bear in mind, my love, the dangers of prolonging 'zat which cannot survive. His devotions lie elsewhere; he will only torment you with his imprudence." Victoria clasped his hoof. "Rather, a handsome stallion such as yourself shall do well to find love once more," she assured.

As she said so, the mare began taking note of his figure. How effectively, she pondered, could he wrestle with Thunderclap? He was, indeed, to be smaller in stature than such an opponent. To be fair, it was said that rage predetermined the victor. Yet notwithstanding, he did not quite strike her as any sort of battle machine. In the moment of quiet, she began considering his other possible insufficiencies...

"Love... is something I think I'll be slow-going to find... I'm... kinda afraid of having my heart broken again."

He trembled a little. "...I need to do something, though. Even just thinking about either of them makes me so... angry..."

"...He said he's a martial artist. I've never seen him actually do any of that kinda thing, though. S'not like it'd make that much of a difference, though." He turned to her a little. "Honestly, when that 'meeting' happened and I had my heart broken, I was seriously tempted to pummel them both."

Victoria interpreted his gestures with great care. To his sudden malice, she nodded thoroughly.

"But you did not," reminded she. "Within whatever remains of your heart, he lingers like a cancer, and as a result of such you must have been compelled to disarm." As the mare pressed on, she looked to his eyes as to validate her conjecture.

"He, on the other hoof, uses love to vindicate his evils. Recall, friend, 'zat he was quite eager to cast you into the water if it means he may claim his mare. Insufferable, is it not?" She expressed her next point succinctly. "What if," Victoria began with a smile, "I love you? Perhaps I pray for your deliverance from demons. Would you summon the courage to apprehend?"

She fondled a velvet curl with her hoof.

Arpeggio thought for a while. "I-If you love me? I-I'm afraid you lost me to exactly what you mean there... I'm not afraid of Thunderclap."

He thought for a while more, then got a malicious frown. "Hm. Cast me aside, will you... you'll regret doing that... both you and that bitch... you backstabbing liar. I opened my home up to you... we were best friends... I loved you... and this is how you repaid me."

He snarled a bit. "...Just you wait."

"It is said of a lone stallion 'zat his morals are loose, whereas a stallion with an objective is a driven one indeed." Victoria scrutinized his doubt. "It is not fear, no. Such implies 'zat one of you will be harmed."

As his thoughts turned inward, Victoria had to become more persistent in conversation. It would not be of use for Arpeggio to brood in silence.

"I want my love - you - to be happy. As Thunderclap is driven to infidelity by the smokescreen of love, so will you have it in you to rectify his wrongs, motivated by my faith? I admire you so, and we're only new acquaintances yet. I hate to see you in such pain."

Arpeggio wrapped a hoof around Victoria. "Thank you much, Victoria... that means a lot to me. Thank you so much for focusing me... and letting me vent to you."

He nodded to her. "I will. He shall see the light of his thoughtless actions. See how it feels to have your heart broken."