Oh, Cake, we hardly knew ya'.
You've probably seen me around. I'm the one who always is running unknowingly towards the danger. I'm the one who, if something falls, it falls upon. I'm the one who is the first pony in line for something horrible, and the first one be told "Sorry kid, all sold out!" when waiting for something good.
Painted blue.
A My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfic by The Descendant. It focuses on the background character Blues, a blue earth stallion with a talent for music.
Blues, narrating, tells of his life of misery, hope, disappointment, love, ups and downs. As he tries to find his place in life all around Equestria, it is blues music and the life lessons from his old mentor that help him face each new day and reforge his misfortunes into something soothing, hopefully so that he can eventually reach happiness.
Can be read here
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The story contains the following tropes:
- A Day in the Limelight: The entire fic is basically giving an overarching story to all of Blues's appearances as a background pony in the show.I had found that I had blended into the scenery of Ponyville, it seemed as though I was part of the very background of the city.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Midnight Runner shows up at Blues' club one of his band members tries to subtlety point it out to Blues, only for him to see that they're almost out of toothpicks.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Taffy. Averted with Cherry, whom Blues tries but fails to defrost, much to his anguish.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The chapters are all titled "The [something] Blues".
- Floating Water: Seafoam does this to demonstrate her unicorn magic.
- Fluffy the Terrible: Pink Bunny, a manly bouncer.
- Moment Killer: Just as Blues and Taffy share a moment, Taffy's daughter comes rushing back from a party, yelling aloud how a pal of her was "throwing up all over the place."
- Old Master: The old jazzman Moody Blues, living in a cottage, acts as a mentor to Blues, before finally dying like every proper mentor should.
- Running Gag: Every single mare is "the most beautiful filly I've ever seen".
- From chapter three, Blues tends to get a lot of ponies telling him his accent is ridiculous.
- Rags to Riches: Blues goes from being a pony with no money to even spend on a decent apartment, to having a super successful club and being recognized by an old blues master.
- Self-Sacrifice Scheme: Blues believes this was Moody's gambit—though it did not involve sacrificing a life, just his fame and fortune, so that he could one day become a mentor to some young pony in need of guidance.
- Shout-Out: "There are those (...) who think Celestia is a trickster... that she makes our lives miserable for her amusement." Doesn't it remind you of the fandom's "Trollestia" meme?
- Talking to the Dead: Blues to Moody in the last chapters.
- Title Drop: Several times.
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: Due to a "magical condition", foals in one generation in Taffy's family happen to be identical. It's a humorous justification for the abundance of duplicate background ponies in the original show. Also used to justify Blues' name (canonically, it's "Noteworthy", according to the toys); Noteworthy is merely somepony who happens to look just like him.
