It Must be Fate

“Go on!” “She’s right there!” “Go up to her and ask already!” came the enthusiastic voices of his friends. Clutching something to his grey chest, the pegasus was pushed across the ground against his will by a gathering of hooves.

After ensuring that he had been pushed uncomfortably close to his target, Shady Point’s friends let go and scampered back to watch the show. Shady stared at the back of the mare’s head for a few moments, before getting up off the floor and giving his ruffled wings a flap to make them neat again.

The mare the young colt had his eyes on was an unusual target: A changeling. A very odd changeling at that. Sparkfree was her name, of the Lady of the Sun’s Shining Paladins, serving under Shining Armor and as a personal aide to Princess Celestia herself. Sparkfree’s duty clearly showed in her appearance, what with the white and gold theme she had to her and the orange markings painted onto her carapace, including a lesser version of the princess’ cutie mark tattooed on each flank.

Shady Point, in contrast, was a dire affair of grey and more grey, save for his jade eyes. This, coupled with his thick dreadlocks and hood-like fringe, made him look extremely untrustworthy. He would have looked rather dangerous, too, if not for the bewildered look on his face.

Without a word, he pushed the small, pink envelope into the air before him, quickly throwing his gaze to the floor in an odd mixture of a bow of respect and utter embarrassment.

Sparkfree finished what she was doing and walked away.

“BrrraAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!” came a cacophonous laughter from behind the pegasus. Shady’s shock instantly turned into pure, unbound hatred. He looked back at his “friends” with a scowl so deep it could freeze a cockatrice if it stared too long. They didn’t care, of course. The timing had been perfect, and the fact that the normally closed-up pegasus had finally plucked up the courage to, not only buy a floofy pink card, but to actually ask out a mare, only made the showers of humiliation all the more golden.

He tossed the card to the floor, watching with his signature scowl as it drifted a few inches further across the marble.

“You have to make sure she knows you’re there first!” one of Shady’s friends called over. This sent the rest of them back into the throes of laughter, and Shady Point further into the pits. “Maybe you should think about-”

“-About going back to flight school!” another interrupted. He was the largest of the group by far. “Maybe you’ll find a mare who shares a common interest in flying! That’s all you’re good at!” as well as the meanest. The bronze guard armour that had to be custom made for his size only served to bulk him up further.

Shady Point didn’t even look at him. “Buck you, Flat Drop,” he replied bitterly.

“That’s more likely than you ever scoring!” Flat Drop was also rather stupid. He burst out laughing again, but the rest had gone fairly quiet. They were smart enough not to interrupt him.

Shady Point was not a smart colt. He gritted his teeth and looked at the group. “You know what? Buck you all!” he shouted. “I don’t care what you think!” With that, he turned and galloped away, unintentionally heading the same direction Sparkfree had gone.

Upon seeing her up ahead, Shady Point’s eyes went wide and he skidded to a halt. “Hey you!” he shouted, the anger still fresh in his tone.

Sparkfree stopped. She turned to face him, her strange yellow eyes, a mix between those of a pony and a changeling, seemed to judge him for a moment. “What?” she asked, her voice noticeably lacking an insectoid hiss.

“Why didn’t you notice me? I was right there in front of you, holding a stupid card out for you, and you just walked away!”

“No you weren’t,” Sparkfree replied in a passive tone.

Shady leaned back, his brow now furrowed in confusion instead of anger. “What?”

Sparkfree turned around again and continued trotting. “You were behind me. Not in front.”

‘You have to make sure she knows you’re there first!’ his friend repeated inside his head. Shady Point mentally slapped himself for being such a fool. What do I do now? he thought. Do I just go “yes, you’re right” and end it there? I have her right in front of me. I may as well try to start a conversation or something.

He brought himself back into the moment to see Sparkfree’s flank disappearing up a stairwell, putting his plans to a premature end. “Shit,” Shady cursed and galloped to keep up with her. He stopped at the entrance to the stairwell; it was one meant only for the higher divisions, not the Regular Guard. Still, though, he’d come this far, and like a switch from purple to gold wall décor was going to stop him. He meekly placed a grey hoof on the first step and began to climb.

“Uh, wait up!” he called, feeling calmer than before.

The yellow tail in front of him stopped in place, Shady having met Sparkfree half-way up the stairs. Sparkfree looked over her shoulder in the narrow passageway, her eyes once again judging him. “What are you doing?” she asked sternly.

“I’m sorry, I just want to talk for a while, ok?” Shady replied, holding one of his hooves against the wall, just in case.

“If you want to talk, then you will have to wait until I come back down. I am on my way to an important meeting with my Captain.”

“Look, I know… I-it’s just…”

Sparkfree regarded him with a stare that was growing crueller by the second. “Hearts and Hooves Day?” she asked. Shady Point nodded. The changeling stayed silent for a few moments. “Go away,” she said. “Every year I have many ponies and Changelings wanting after me. I don’t care about you creatures or your love.”

Shady Point’s heart sunk. Then a question arose, in what felt like nothing more than a vain attempt to salvage what couldn’t even be called a conversation. “Huh? But s-surely you want our love. You’re a-”

Sparkfree’s face turned dark. “I. Don’t. Want. Your. Love.” She turned her gaze back to the top of the stairwell, and gave the quartet of orange insect wings on her back a short flutter. “I am above such things. In case you hadn’t noticed, I am not a normal Changeling. Just one of the many gifts my mother has given to me.”

Shady Point searched his mind for something to say, but came up empty. With nothing more to say, Sparkfree raised her back legs and landed a pair of monstrous blows to the pegasus’ chest. Shady yelped in pain and he was tossed backwards down the steps. The hoof he had been using to keep himself steady in case of just such an event proved no help.

Sparkfree glanced back to make sure he ended up back where he was allowed to be. A short string of painful cries met her ears, then a slump as Shady Point came to a stop at the bottom of the stairwell. Feeling annoyed, but content, Sparkfree continued on up.

Shady Point wheezed and held his chest in pain. Two of his legs, his back and forehead, as well as the spot on his chest where Sparkfree had kicked the wind out of him were all bruising.

And then a shadow fell over him. The shadow of a darkish-purple earth-pony who stood taller than almost all others in the Royal Guard. “Oh, did things not work out for you?” asked Flat Drop. Shady Point stared up in terror and tried to stand, only for the giant to hold him in place with one of his hooves. “No, you’re not going. Not yet. Not until everyone knows just how much you suck!”

Flat Drop wore a terrifying scowl on his face, but it switched to a smile as he lifted up a small, pink and white card. Shady’s eyes went wide, but he soon let out a cry of pain as Flat Drop was forced to put all his weight on the hoof holding him down, using the other to read the card. A small crowd had gathered, keeping their distance from the brute.

“You flutter by everyday life like it is nothing, flying free without a care in the world. Without bumps in the road or stormy skies overhead. Everything is calmer when you are around, but nothing can calm the fire... in-... ugh.” Flat Drop stopped reading and tossed the card away in disgust.

He leant down. “The last mare you tried to buck with words didn’t like them too much. I figured you’d come up with something more interesting for your Changeling freak of a marefriend.” The giant pony removed his hoof and took a few steps back, before kicking Shady Point in his side. “Fetishist!” he spat.