I was once told that our imagination is our worst enemy. That the ability to conjure up possibilities, and entire worlds surrounding them, is what will ultimately doom us to unhappiness.
Because some things simply are not meant to be, no matter how much we wish for it, until we realize that we have nowhere else to run to but within ourselves. That comfortable prison where we can create bittersweet realms, where we can achieve that impossible “what if”, despite being doomed to know that they will never come to pass…
I was once told that these “what ifs” can cause the greatest of pains.
But I disagree.
Because I know that even worse than that… is the feeling of regret that haunts us from something that actually was.
For the regret over something brief, yet real, is the kind of regret that will haunt you for the rest of your life.
Every “what if” is mirrored by an imaginary “what if not”, hope balancing our hopelessness.
But a shattered dream is the only thing on the reflection of something that was not meant to be.
I was a normal pony once. An average looking stallion, not as large as an earth pony workhorse, but not small and scrawny either.
A normal unicorn, the kind that can easily fade into the background. Entirely uncapable of calling attention, if not perhaps for a somewhat unusual cutie mark.
A regular pony… the complete opposite of you.
It was impossible to say I didn’t know you. Despite not being a reader of fashion magazines or an avid consumer of tabloids, there was still no way I couldn’t know you.
With your impeccably kept hooves, perfect snow-white coat, silk-like light pink mane, and those captivating violet eyes... It was impossible not to be swept away by the sight of you, especially when that sight was displayed in nearly every billboard and every television screen of Canterlot.
Because of course, what beauty line brand or clothes designer wouldn’t want to use you as their diva?
Who could ever try to speak of elegance and charm without using the image… of Fleur de Lis?
Like I said, we were total opposites.
And how I wish we had been kept at our rightful places…
I will never forget the day I met you.
Of course, many ponies can claim the same. After all, it was a night that will stay in the memory of Canterlot for a long time. The night that shone the brightest in the whole year, where the powerful gathered and the beautiful danced, the Grand Galloping Gala.
A place where a normal unicorn like me was never meant to be. Yet there I was… if only because of the tools of my trade, as divulged by my cutie mark.
And since I was somewhat of a foreigner to that place, with such grandeur and opulence, I couldn’t help but be awestruck by the sights before me.
Priceless statues were used as common decoration, beautiful crystal chandeliers reflected lights in all directions, exquisite glasses were filled with even more exquisite wine.
Even the heavens themselves had been beautified. If a pony was to look out through the window they would see the symbols of Equestria and of Harmony painted in the night sky, with stars and nebulae being used as paint on an infinite dark canvas. No doubt one of the best handiworks of princess Luna herself.
And of course, there was the attendees of the Gala.
Ponies of all colors and kinds filled the main hall, every last one of them wearing something expensively elegant, or elegantly expensive. Magnates from Manehattan, celebrities from Cloudsdale, diplomats from other species, even the royal alicorns themselves.
I was a mortal in the realm of the gods. So it shouldn’t have surprised me when I saw an angel.
When I saw you.
I will never know for sure what caused me to spot you so quickly, but I honestly don’t know how it could have been any different. You were nowhere near the “gravity well” caused by the presence of the princesses, you were not in the civilized ruckus of the dancing area (although by Celestia I wish I had seen you there…), you weren’t even near one of the dozens of tables where food and drinks could be picked up.
And yet I did more than simply notice you. My eyes were drawn to you like a moth was drawn to a flame. I will never forget how beautiful you looked, your slender figure covered in a dazzling dress of diamonds and pearls, your light pink mane adorned with thin gold chains that reminisced an angelic aureola…
In fact, I will also never forget how I literally froze when I saw you, to the point where one of my co-workers had to shake me out of it.
Yes, I was there due to my job. Me and almost twenty other ponies, all wearing matching uniforms for the occasion, who would have to somehow dive into that crowd of celebrities and dignitaries and try to do our very best.
Granted, we had never even worked in an event as large as this, and we knew we wouldn’t be able to properly serve everypony, not with how many we were. But we had to start somewhere.
I think six or seven of my colleagues went straight for the princesses, which made sense considering there was also a large number of nobles near them. The others started spreading out, heading for the places where there were more ponies gathered.
But I… I went straight for you.
I’m sure that must have made some ponies angry. I recall passing next to an important looking pegasus who must have called me three times, and probably resorted to glaring at me after he realized I wasn’t going to give him attention.
I honestly wouldn’t know, I didn’t even look back at him.
In fact, I didn’t look at a lot of ponies as I headed over to you.
“Would you please…?”
“Over here!”
“Excuse me?”
I simply kept walking, one hoof after the other, until I was right before you.
Until I looked straight into your perfect violet eyes.
And until, despite everything that was happening… you smiled for me. Not at me, but for me, a smile that I know was genuinely meant for me alone, even though you didn’t know me. Even though we had never even met before.
Oh, how I wish…
How I wish I could forget the next short moments we had together.
The soft voice in which you told me your name, almost like a whisper.
The perfectly smooth sensation of your mane when I touched you.
The light weight that you had when I lifted you up, to the point where I felt like a brute lifting up the most delicate of dancers.
How I wish I had never met you… never looked into your perfect violet eyes, never been so close to your pure, beautiful smile… because…
Because until the day I die, I will be haunted by the knowledge that I will never be able to see you again.
-Citizens of Equestria, my faithful subjects… I thank you for your presence here today.
I was back where I belonged now, one more pony in the crowd, my presence unnoticed in the sea of ponies that were attending the event being held in castle’s Royal Gardens, and hearing Celestia’s words.
There were at least twenty times more ponies here than there were in the Grand Galloping Gala itself, not to mention that many more times that number of ponies were probably accompanying the event via television or through other means.
Such was the magnitude of the shock that swept over the kingdom after…
-It pains me to say that we still have no conclusive evidence of what caused the explosion of one week ago, during the Grand Galloping Gala. -She continued, her voice strong yet kind despite the subject she was talking about. -And although many were saved by the heroic efforts of the paramedic teams that rushed to the site, we still lost many dear ones during that event…
Celestia’s speech went on and on, but I couldn’t hear any of it anymore.
She had struck all the chords she could have with just those simple words.
I had lost somepony dear…
But I sure didn’t feel heroic at all...
In fact, I had never felt so torn apart.
I didn’t feel a sliver of regret for having ignored all those ponies in need as they called, begged, for me to help them, even though I swore an oath when I graduated. An oath upon my cutie mark, of a Staff of Asclepius over a red cross, that I would “Help those in need”.
And yet I was devastated by the loss of… Her… Even though I knew from the moment I saw her that she wouldn’t make it, she couldn’t possibly make it.
I woke out of my thoughts when the crowd began to move, ordering itself into four lines behind the princesses, as everypony prepared to pay their respects on the great monument that had been built in the Royal Garden.
I walked forward in the line, step by step, carrying nothing but the single violet flower I had bought on my way there.
And when my turn arrived at the front of the line, I simply put the flower on the monument, and walked away.
I walked away from the violet lily, sure that a part of my soul had stayed behind.
Sure that it had been fate’s cruel design that… we simply were not meant to be.
Author's Note
This is my first story posted in this here community, I hope you somehow enjoyed it.
I dedicate this story to my friend, Pedro Hander, with whom I discussed matters of FIM, and who is a ~~shameless~~ great appreciator of Fleur de Lis.
I sincerely hope this has lived up to your expectations!
