A Chance Meeting

Lucky's eyes snapped open, and abruptly, he sat up in bed. Sweat was pouring down his brow, and he realized he was breathing hard. He forced himself to calm down, and started to bring his breathing down to a more natural pace. The same nightmare again, he thought. He wiped the sweat of his brow, pulling the sheets off of his body. He rubbed his eyes, trying to overcome the weariness that had been plaguing him lately, but it was a futile effort.

Lucky had been suffering from restless nights, troubled by the nightmares that had interrupted his sleep so many times. He had wished several times that they would go away, and they did, only to return again another time. He was stuck in yet another cycle of the nightmares, and he couldn't do much about them but to wait for them to leave and return his usually uninterrupted sleep back to him.

His alarm clock then went off at that moment, and Lucky wasn't expecting it. Acting solely on instinct, he lashed out at the clock, smashing it against the wall. As soon as he realized what he'd done, Lucky let out a silent curse. He could always get another clock, but it would cost him, and he wasn't exactly the wealthiest stallion around.

Lucky sighed dejectedly, pulling himself lazily out of the bed, and across his apartment into the bathroom. He completed his morning routine, and felt somewhat rejuvenated to face the day. He stopped at the mirror, where he would normally brush his teeth, and looked at the rack beneath it. There was a razor there, and it had been used in a very low point in his life. He had once come close to taking his own life with the razor, because of an excuse that he now found extremely unjustified. "I can't take it anymore, and I have nothing to live for."

He grimaced, and cast the razor into the almost full trash bin. It wasn't something he wanted to remember, but it was always a sobering fact to him; that if he had taken that route, he would not have been standing there that day. He finished up his routine, and headed out of the bathroom, flicking the lamps in the apartment on with just a touch of magic. He opened up his dresser, and picked out a casual vest that he would be wearing to work. However, before he closed the dresser, something on the upper shelf caught his eye.

It was a photo that was contained within a thin, black frame. He floated it down with magic, and gazed at it. It was an item which he cherished from a time that was long ago, when his parents were still alive. There he was in the picture, wearing the vest that his mother had painstakingly sown for him. His mother was next to him, as was his father in his Royal Guards armor. The three ponies were smiling in the picture, and they didn't know it at the time, but it was going to be the last time they could have such a moment with one another. A few days later, Lucky's father was involved in a run-in with a group of thugs that were fleeing from a crime scene. One of them managed to land a mortal blow on his father, leading to his death later on. In time, the grief became too much for Lucky's mother, and she followed her husband's footsteps. Since then, Lucky was left to live on by himself.

He was jolted out of his reverie when a drop of water suddenly fell onto the frame. The stallion sniffed, and he realized that he had started to cry. He smiled as he briefly remembered the good times he had with his parents, and replaced the photo where it was. He wiped the tears in his eyes away as he proceeded to exit the apartment.

Lucky made sure that he had locked the door to the apartment, then turned to descend the stairs when he missed his step. He fell face first into the ground, yelping as he did so. He immediately got up, and checked for any wounds. He was glad that there was no sign of bleeding, which was a good sign. He shook off the pain, and made his way to his workplace.

He was working for a florist who's name was Flora. She was a very good florist, and had a good reputation among the Canterlot folk. Almost everyday, she would have plenty of customers and orders to satisfy. As an employer, she also treated her staff well. Lucky was the cashier, and he also helped with some of the less intricate flower arrangements, while there was another employee who was in charge of satisfying the deliveries, mostly the ones within Canterlot itself. There was hardly a day that Flora would get angry at her staff, and she normally did it when she herself was going through a difficult or stressful time.

Lucky arrived at the shop, and was surprised to find that the shutters were already open. He was usually the earliest one, and would clean up the shop before they started their work for the day. He entered the shop to find Flora fussing over a floral arrangement. The florist spared a glance at the stallion, who responded with a nod. Flora herself responded with a brief smile, before continuing her floral arrangement.

Lucky headed to the storeroom, and returned out with a broom. He began to sweep the entire store, careful not to disturb the busy florist. By the time he was finished, Flora was wrapping up her floral arrangement, which meant that it was supposed to be a delivery. Lucky guessed that it was for Fancypants, who was going to be throwing a garden party soon. He was a frequent patron at the floral boutique; he preferred the floral arrangements that they had over others'. Lucky had come to like his dealings with Fancypants, because unlike other snobbish unicorns that resided in Canterlot, Fancypants was among the few that treated him with respect and dignity.

He returned the broom that he was using, and he came out to see Flora looking over some bills. She was hammering away at the calculator in frustration. He walked up, and discovered that it was out of battery power. The florist turned to look at him. "Lucky, where are all the spare batteries?"

Lucky pointed at a drawer beneath the cashier counter, but before Flora could get it opened, he said, "We don't have any replacements for the calculator, though. Different sizes."

Flora looked back at him with a scowl. "I need to get these bills properly counted, and I can't do it without a calculator!" she moaned.

Lucky took a glance at the bills. "Can I try to help?" he asked.

Flora looked at the stallion skeptically. But without a word, she placed the bills, her notebook, quill and inkwell in front of him. Lucky floated the bills towards him, and he dipped the quill's tip into the inkwell. He started to read through the bills, calmly writing the totals of each bill into the notebook. He did this for each bill that was in front of him, and when he was done, he returned the items to Flora.

The florist looked through his results. "My word, Lucky!" she exclaimed. "How did you manage to get these totals so quickly?" She turned back to look at the stallion in awe.

Lucky smiled. "My dad forced me to go through several lessons without the use of a calculator," he explained to her. "So, I've gotten used to doing these mental sums quickly."

Flora looked at him amused. "No wonder you've always been able to give our customers the correct change every time," she said. She returned to her small office, to work on the bills that Lucky had helped her total up.

Lucky stood behind the cashier counter, ready to begin his shift. However, instead of the usual enthusiasm that he displayed when it came to starting his shift, he was deep in thought. He had just lied to his employer about how he had gotten the ability to do mental sums to that extent.

While he was still a colt that was going through school, Lucky had impressed his parents, teachers and friends alike with his academic prowess. He constantly excelled at the lessons that was taught to him in school, and he was called a prodigy by many. His father berated him whenever Lucky allowed it to stoke his ego. His father always told him to be humble regardless of how well he did in school, and in time, Lucky learnt not to show off his abilities just for quick recognition.

However, this academic ability of his had brought trouble to Lucky and his father. Because he was doing well in school, Lucky's father had wished for his son to enter college, and afterwards, a university to become a doctor or something of equal or more repute. Lucky, however, had always wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and join the Royal Guard, and his father never endorsed this dream of his. In fact, it was the cause of many an argument between father and son. However, after his father was found dead on the job, Lucky decided to shelve his aspirations to become a Royal Guard indefinitely. He allowed himself to flunk all the lessons he was taking in college even though it was his final year, and as a result, he was kicked out. He was having a hard time finding a job to keep him afloat, until by chance, he bumped into Flora, who offered him the job as cashier.

The workday was slow going. There were few customers who entered, and by lunch, only a total of four customers had patronized the store. Lucky closed up the store for lunch, and left to a nearby eatery for a meal. Flora had gone out with a few other unicorns to an arts exhibition, and she would not be back anytime soon.

Lucky finished his lunch up quickly, and promptly returned to work at the cashier counter. Just as he was ready to start work, an unicorn entered the shop. He was wearing a monocle, and he walked with an over-exaggerated poise. He went and browsed through the selection of flowers, before making his way to the counter.

Lucky greeted him with a smile. "Good morning, sir!" he greeted. "Would you care to purchase any of our fine selections today?"

"This selection of arrangements are hardly worth even perusing," he scoffed. "Might you be the florist here?"

Lucky really wanted to roll his eyes. He had gotten another one of the snobbish unicorns in Canterlot as a customer, and he wasn't too pleased about it. "So, sir, I am not the florist of this store," he explained. "She's currently occupied at present. Are you looking for anything in particular?"

The unicorn adjusted his monocle before he replied. "I was hoping that the florist would be here," he replied, his tone biting. "But it appears that I have to contend with a mere cashier that probably knows nothing about floral arrangements. I can spare no time for such inconveniences."

With that, the unicorn turned around and made his way out of the store. Lucky forced himself to smile and made his voice sound as jubilant as possible. "Well then, have a good day to you as well, sir!" He didn't get a response, and afterwards, he rolled his eyes and exhaled sharply. He never liked dealing with snobs, but he had to put up with them with an amicable demeanor lest he lose a potential customer, no matter how obnoxious they could get.

Lucky then heard a high pitched laughter coming from outside the store. He was wondering who that could have been, when in walked a group of 6 friends whom he had met just a few days earlier. Shocked, he ducked under the counter, and he thanked his luck when he realized that the 6 mares had not known that he was there in the first place.

"Hello? Is anypony there?" came Twilight's voice over the counter.

Lucky started to get slightly nervous. Quickly, he thought of a way he could get out of the situation. After all, he had left them abruptly after his day off in Ponyville, and he was sure that the impression he had left for them wasn't an entirely good one.

While he was crouched behind the counter, Lucky found a pair of dusty glasses. He immediately tried them on, and to his delight, found out that they fit. It blurred his vision somewhat, but it was not enough to make him giddy, and was enough to suit his purpose.

He rose up, wiping the dust off the lenses and put on the glasses before he reached his full height. "I'm sorry about that, but I dropped my glasses, and I was picking them up," he lied.

Twilight looked at him incredulously. "But, you're a unicorn!" she exclaimed. "You could have picked it up easily with magic!"

Lucky let out a nervous chuckle. "Uh, well, silly me. Well, is there anything I can help you mares with, today?"

Rarity pointed at a bouquet that was on display. "I was wondering how much that bouquet went for," she said.

Lucky went over and took a look at the bouquet she was talking about. He would have been able to see it from the counter, had he not been wearing the glasses. "This one goes for fifteen bits, miss," he told her without looking back at the group.

The friends started to whisper to one another, but Pinkie's voice was loud enough for Lucky to piece together what they were talking about. When they were done, Rarity approached the stallion. "My friends and I were wondering if you could, uhm, lower the price to twelve bits?" With the last few words after the pause, Rarity smiled at him.

Lucky had been expecting that. "I'm sorry, miss, but I'm afraid that's not up to me to decide. The florist, and owner of the shop would decide that," he replied. Based off how the conversation was going, Lucky was expecting Rarity to come up with another way to charm him into giving her a discount.

To his dismay, however, Rarity did no such thing. Instead, she broke out into a frown. "You seem very familiar," she started. "I just can't seem to place my hoof on it." She turned back to her friends. "Girls, do any of you find this stallion familiar?"

The 5 other friends then came up to Lucky and began to scrutinize him. They concurred with each other; he seemed familiar to them, but they couldn't remember where they had seen him before.

The stallion was starting to get even more nervous. He didn't want to be recognized by any of the mares with him at present. "Fine, you can have it at twelve bits," he blurted out.

Rarity turned back to face him. "Come again?"

Lucky floated the bouquet next to him, and proceeded to the counter. "I said, you can have it a twelve bits," he repeated. "So, do you or do you not want it?"

"Of course I, uh- I mean, we want it," she replied hurriedly. She forked out two bits, as did each of the other 5 mares. Lucky handed over the bouquet, which Rarity gingerly took from his possession. The mares headed out of the shop in an excited chatter, none of which was about the stallion that was standing behind the counter with sweat starting to pour down his brow.

Hours after the 6 mares left, Lucky began to close the shop. Flora had returned briefly and had told him that she was going to take the rest of the day off and had left just as quickly as she had arrived. There weren't any more customers after the 6 friends, which resulted in Lucky being bored out of his mind during that period.

Somewhat exhausted after a day's work, Lucky returned back to his apartment, bringing in the two pieces of mail that he found in his mailbox, and the newspaper that accompanied them. He slammed the door shut behind him and locked it, then set the items that he had, which included his dinner, onto the table.

After he had gotten out of the clothes which had caused him great discomfort, he opened up his meal and the letters, reading as he ate. The first letter was a note from the Royal Guards. They were seeking new ponies to add to their numbers, and were inviting the interested ones to come down to the castle to showcase their talents and see of they had what it took to be a royal guard. The other letter was from a widely reputable university within Canterlot grounds, issuing a notice that applications for entry were now being accepted.

He set the letters aside and focused on finishing his meal. When he was done, he cleared the table. After taking a shower, he sat down and skimmed through the day's newspaper. There wasn't really anything interesting in it, and he chucked it into the trash. His eyes returned to the letters that now lay on his bed. He remembered how he had aspired to be a Royal Guard, which had been his biggest ambition back then. At other times, he had also wanted to pursue his education to the highest level possible, that one day he might be able to somehow help other ponies with maybe a new discovery.

He sighed dejectedly. He was no longer in good physical condition after so long, and he hadn't done much critical thinking, or practiced the stuff that he had learnt in school. He decided that both of them just dreams that he could not achieve anymore. He picked up the letters and dropped them into the bin almost without conscious effort. He had been in the prime of his life, and he squandered all his opportunities. It was no longer his time. All he could do now was to keep his head down, and go through each day to the best that he could with whatever he had now.

Lucky's thoughts wondered towards the 6 friends that he had met in Ponyville. He admired how each of them so energetically went about doing the things that they had liked. They were still young, and they would have plenty more of opportunities down the road for them. He had no idea what it was that had led him to meet the 6 friends, but he didn't regret meeting them. If anything, he was envious of them and their passions.

Wearily, he made his way to bed, and remembered that he had brought home the glasses he had found at the store. He made a mental note to do something about them the next day. His last thought, before he drifted off to sleep, was why his name had nothing to do with the luck he had in reality.