“Mom, please can we skip the love lessons this week?”
“Princesses don’t whine, Flurry,” said Cadance gently. “Or at least, those past the age of five usually don’t.”
“Bullshit,” said Flurry Heart, who had seen the state Aunt Celestia was reduced to that one time the palace confectioner went on strike.
Cadance gave her the look. “They don’t swear, either.”
“If you think that’s swearing, you ought to hear the letter Cozy sent me last week. She met this captain called…I don’t know, maybe Shanty Bob or something like that, and he taught her all these sea-dog oaths – like you scurvy siren-loving son of a donkey or you keelhauled barnacle-eating fuc–”
“--Flurry Heart!” said Cadance sternly. “If your aunts could hear you talking like that–”
“--They’d ask me to introduce them to Shanty Bob, probably,” rejoined Flurry. “He sounds cool.”
Cadance’s nostrils flared as she pulled in a deep breath. Flurry watched with narrowed eyes. Thursdays were a trying day for them both.
“This,” Cadance said dramatically, choosing to ignore everything that Flurry had been talking about, “Is the Orb of Almost.”
Flurry regarded the small glass sphere with a critical eye. “Is that because it’s almost interesting?”
“No!” snapped Cadance. Pulled in another breath. “No. It was crafted by a sorcerer called Almostius the Not-Quite-There-Yet, who never quite managed to meet his own soulmate, yet yearned to do so.”
“He sounds like a real party guy.”
“He’s been dead for six hundred years, so we’ll never know. Concentrate, dear. Almostius wanted to save others from his terrible fate, so he made the Orb of Almost to warn people of the chances they might miss on the day they looked into it.”
“Right.” Flurry peered dubiously into the orb. It just looked like regular glass.
“As today’s love lesson, we’re going to use it.” Cadance lit her horn, and showed Flurry the spell, carefully illuminating each runic component so that Flurry would be able to replicate it.
Flurry just rolled her eyes. Cadance seemed to think she was still a filly who needed giant alphabet cards stuck on the classroom walls. She wrapped her own magical field around the orb and lifted it from her mother’s grasp, and then set the spell in motion.
The Orb of Almost trembled, shivered – and then lit up with a blazing burst of light that pulled Flurry inside.
A white-furred mare with a violently pink-and-green mane. She’s in a…a gymnasium? Lots of equipment and ropes around. She’s stretching. And then, another scene, visible simultaneously as though from two separate eyes – a nurse, blue fur and green-haired, with a cutie mark that perfectly matched the emblem on her uniform. Must be nice to have such a clear-cut destiny.
The gymnast finishes her cool-down stretches and gathers her things. “See you tomorrow, Alphastretch.”
“Bye, Blossomforth.”
The nurse is leaving the hospital. She pats a patient on the head; a skinny foal with shadows under his eyes and blood pumping into him through a tube.
“Night, Tenderheart!” somepony calls.
She waves and trots out the door.
It’s a cold winter night outside. Tenderheart is chilly; her fluffy jacket isn’t enough to keep out the chill. Blossomforth is flying, but she spent too long on her aerial routine today and her wings are tired. Both their eyes fix on a sign swinging on its hinges – a beer tankard, full and foaming.
Blossomforth loops down to the door without a second thought, but Tenderheart hesitates. She needs to get home. Eventually, she turns and trots away.
The scene wavers. If Tenderheart had gone inside, she would have taken the only free seat – the one beside Blossomforth. She would have ordered a hot chocolate, and Blossomforth would have ordered a second cup of the same. They’d arrive at the same moment, and the two mares would have chuckled as they both reached out for their mug at the same moment. The words would begin to flow – they would talk about their favourite drinks, their favourite music – and the future might have changed for them both.
But it was not meant to be.
“Are you kidding me?” said Flurry, the moment the vision ended.
The corners of Cadance’s mouth curled up in a smile. “What?”
“That!” Flurry thrust an outraged hoof at the Orb of Almost. “That was the most depressing shit I’ve ever seen. These two sad-sacks might have met and hit it off, but they didn’t. Why would this dude Almostius even make something like this?”
“Ah,” said Cadance, raising a hoof. “That’s the thing. They haven’t not met – not yet, at least.”
Her mouth working, Flurry tried to parse the triple negative. “What?”
“The Orb shows the chances that are almost going to happen. Almostius intended to show ponies to watch out for those chances. To stop them from passing, perhaps.”
“So…that’s going to happen today?”
“Yes. It shows different ponies every day.”
Flurry’s brain was almost audibly ticking. “So if we can figure out who those two losers are and find them in time, we can fix it?”
“No,” said Cadance. “No, it’s the Orb of Almost. That chance is going to be missed; it’s written. But the lesson is for them to watch out for the next chance.”
“How will they know if we don’t tell them?”
Cadance shrugged. “I think Almostius intended the Orb as more of a public resource. Aunt Celestia had it on display for a while, but it tends to frustrate ponies.”
“Damn right it does,” said Flurry, frustratedly.
“Do you understand the love lesson?” Cadance asked, a serene smile on her face.
“Yes,” said Flurry, a grin spreading over her muzzle. “I’m going to find those two idiots and make the almost into reality.”
“That isn’t how–” began Cadance, but she was interrupted by the sound of smashing glass as Flurry Heart hurled herself from the nearest window.
Cadance sighed and reached for the bell-pull to summon the palace glazier.
Tenderheart is exhausted. She wakes up feeling more tired than she did when she got into bed last night. Mr Alfafa’s broken leg needed multiple surgeries that ran into overtime, and Little Bolto Sickhoof isn’t showing any signs of recovery. He’s such a sweet boy. He doesn’t deserve this. Maybe that’s what’s keeping her up at night.
“I hate mornings,” spits Blossomforth, flailing wildly with her broom at the crows who have taken up residence on her roof and will not shut up for one single minute. “I hate you!” She thrusts desperately at the closest crow, but he just shrieks louder and flaps a few inches out of reach.
Tenderheart heads to the coffeeshop closest to the hospital. Blossomforth stops off at her regular coffee spot, which luckily has just fixed their broken strainer. If it hadn’t have been fixed, she would have walked another block down the street and visited Oats N’ Beans, next door to Ponyville General Infirmary. She would have stood behind Tenderheart in the queue. Their eyes would have met; they would have shared the world-weary smile of the modern working pony, a slave to the grind. Maybe they would have gotten to talking. Maybe Blossomforth would have told her only joke – the one about the watchdog. Tenderheart needed to laugh; she would have laughed. They might have exchanged addresses, hoped to see one another around.
But it wasn’t meant to be.
“Celestia’s balls,” groaned Tenderheart, sitting bolt upright in bed with giant bruise-like shadows beneath her eyes, “I’m so fucking tired.”
Up on the roof, Flurry Heart smiled a small, malicious smile. The pot lids in her hooves were dented and battered. The palace chef wouldn’t thank her for destroying part of his prized copper set, but it was a necessary sacrifice. She could only hope the crows Aunt Fluttershy had lent her had been as successful as she had.
With a small crack of displaced air, she teleported away.
“I don’t understand it,” wailed Bean Counter, tears in his eyes. “I came in this morning and every single grinder was piled over there and they were on fire. The door was locked, and I put them all away yesterday – and who would even break in just to do that?”
“It’s okay, youngin’,” Donut Joe said, with the calmness of thirty years in the business. “I’ve got some spares in the safe.”
The door jingled as one of the regulars walked in.
“Mornin’, Blossomforth,” Joe said.
From the roof there came the faint sound of somepony swearing.
Blossomforth swings back and forth, building up her momentum. She goes faster and faster, fanning her wings to up her speed, until she is looping around a full three-sixty degrees. She grins in exultation – the new routine is working amazingly – and then she leaps for the second of the bars. But she miscalculates – her wing collides with the bar instead of her hoof, and she feels it twist back on itself.
She lands hard. “Damn,” she mutters. The last thing she can afford this close to the championships is another injury. She’d better go get it seen to.
Tenderheart is mopping Bolto’s fevered brow again. “Mommy,” he whimpers, and she has to tell him again that his Mommy isn’t here. She’s away with her new husband, and only Bolto’s daddy waits beside the bed, asleep for the first time in days, his face pale and drawn.
“Got a wing injury!” Nurse Landsakes shouts from the corridor. “Tenderheart, you free?”
“No,” Tenderheart snaps back. “Send Redheart.”
If Bolto hadn’t been so upset, if his mommy had been there, if his daddy have been awake, Tenderheart would have gone. She would have put her hooves on Blossomforth’s shoulder, her ribcage, her neck. They would have shared a small smile, a little laugh as Tenderheart would say, take it easy next time. No promises, Blossomforth would answer.
It wouldn’t happen right away – Tenderheart doesn’t date patients – but Blossomforth is patient, and she wouldn’t have given up.
But it wasn’t meant to be.
“I don’t understand,” snarled Flurry. “I have done everything. I’ve blurred the lines of ethical princess-hood so far they’re more like smudges now. I even loosened the screws on those parallel bars myself. And what do I get? Nothing!”
She threw her hooves into the air, and Cadance put a gentle hoof on her shoulder. “The Orb of Almost shows missed chances, Flurry,” she said softly. “It’s meant to be a teaching moment, not a challenge to be defied.”
Flurry turned her nose up. “Well, it is a challenge. And I’m an alicorn. I should be able to fix this.”
“Not even alicorns can rewrite fate.”
Flurry deflated. “Mom, I don’t know how I’m ever going to be a Princess of Love if I can’t even get two idiot ponies to meet each other.”
Cadance’s eyes softened. “Flurry, what makes you think you need to be a Princess of Love?”
“The love lessons, for a start.” Flurry gave a frustrated flap of her wings. “The stupid Orb. My cutie mark, which has a damn heart on it.”
“A heart on a dice,” Cadance amended. “That could mean a lot of things. We just haven’t worked out what yet.”
Flurry scoffed. “It’s Love. It has to be. I’m your daughter.”
“You’re your own pony.”
But Flurry only reached for the Orb again. “I’m not giving up yet.”
“Where did I leave that stupid book?” Tenderheart is rummaging through every cupboard in her house. Physical Therapy for Overstrained Muscles by Dr. Relaxant Fetlock is the definitive source on physical therapy, and she needs a refresher before she tackles Granny Smith’s rheumatic knees in the morning.
With a sigh, she sits back from the ravaged chest of drawers. Only an hour left before the appointment. Maybe it’s time to visit the library.
“I’m looking for a book on physical therapy,” Blossomforth says, gesturing to the bandage on her wings.
“Oh, I know just the one!” the librarian answers, beaming.
Blossomforth smiles hesitantly back at the purple alicorn who is three times her height. For some inexplicable reason, Princess Twilight Sparkle, autocrat of Equestria, apparently insists on larping as the Ponyville Librarian for one Tuesday a month, and Blossomforth had the bad luck to come in on that day.
Princess Twilight trots off, beaming. Blossomforth drifts after her and is eventually handed a book. Then the Princess’ head snaps up. “Oh! Excuse me. Another customer just came into the entrance hall. I’ll be right back.”
Blossomforth sticks the book into her saddlebag. She doesn’t want a second conversation about book recommendations with the god-emperor of the known world, thank you very much. In the end she crawls out through the vents. Good thing she’s so flexible, because there’s a lot of sharp corners.
If the Princess had stayed in Canterlot that day, the librarian would have told them both what shelf to check. Tenderheart would have found Blossomforth there among the stacks, in search of the same book as her. They would have bent over Dr Relaxant’s crusty old pages together, hooves almost brushing.
But it wasn’t meant to be.
Closing her eyes and pulling hard at the ambient mana to gather the power needed for a long distant teleport, Flurry focused. A snapping sound, and then the air was warm against her skin. The sound of seagulls overhead, and the ocean lapping against wooden planks.
She opened her eyes. A mare in a tricorner hat stood facing her, six pistols strapped to her legs, chest and wings. Her red eyes crinkled as she smiled. “Hey, Flurry.”
“Cozy, I need your help.”
The smile became sharp-toothed and rather feral. “Who are we robbing?”
Flurry drew herself up. “Why do you always assume we’re robbing somepony?”
“Flurry,” said Cozy, rolling her eyes. “We’re always robbing somepony. It’s our thing.”
“Not today,” Flurry answered stiffly. Then deflated. Brushed Cozy’s irritating parrot off her head, and then said, “Only I’m doing the robbing, actually. I need to steal a textbook from a nurse.”
Cozy pouted. “And what am I doing?”
“Actually,” said Flurry, hoping very much she wasn’t about to start off another international incident, “I need you to go up against one of your old nemeses.”
Cozy Glow drew a pistol and cocked it. “Excellent. I love my old nemeses. Which one?”
Flurry Heart cringed. “Aunt Twilight.”
Their eyes would have met across the crowded club. Tenderheart’s hair waving in the breeze from the fog machine, Blossomforth’s eyes shining with the light reflected from the glow sticks. Slowly, they would have moved towards one another, pushing through the sea of sweating, moving bodies, until they were close enough to touch. To dance.
But it wasn’t meant to be.
“Nothing I do works!” Flurry hurled herself into a chair.
Cadance offered her a soothing pat on the shoulder. “There there, dear.” She examined her own hoof. “Why are you wearing quite so much body glitter?”
Flurry shook the glow sticks out of her hair. “Doesn’t matter. Didn’t make any difference. I literally teleported them right next to each other. And still! Nothing!”
“The Orb of Almost doesn’t show soulmates, dear,” said Cadance gently. “Just almosts.”
On the last day before Winter Wrap-Up, Tenderheart plans to attend the Ponyville Celebration to indulge herself on baked goods and sweets, surrounded by her friends and family. Blossomforth is convinced to make the flight down to catch up with her old university classmates, and to get incredibly drunk to stave off the cold. They would have met in line for the potluck, where Cloudkicker would shout Blossomforth’s name from across the square, and Blossomforth would whip her body around to look in that direction. Her motion would knock the plate from Tenderheart’s hooves and send a small pile of cookies and brownies scattering across the snow.
Blossomforth would apologize profusely and bend down to try and pick up a brownie, but the sudden motion would strain her wing again. Concerned, Tenderheart would toss aside her plate and guide Blossomforth to a bench to assess her. She would run her hooves across Blossomforth’s skin before her rational side caught up with her professional side, and they would both pause and blush as they realized the sudden intimacy.
They would sit and stumble through talk until Mayor Mare demanded to know who had spilled cookies over the street, after which they would slink away unnoticed into the night.
But it wasn’t meant to be, for a packed Ponyville Express slid off the rails and into the snowbank nearby, and Tenderheart found herself called to the scene and spent the night treating and triaging ponies instead of treating herself, while Blossomforth decided to play it safe and spend the night relaxing with a warm bath at home rather than risk straining her back further.
It wasn’t meant to be.
Flurry had hoped to sneak back into her room and clean off all the cookie crumbs unnoticed, but her plan was quickly foiled when she saw Cadance sitting on her bed, magazine held aloft in her magic. “Oh! You’re back,” she said cheerfully. “And before your curfew, too!”
With a sigh of defeat, Flurry shook the cookie shards from her mane all over the floor. She’d incinerate them later, if the maids didn’t get to them first.
Cadance sighed, removing her stylish reading glasses and sitting her daughter on the bed. “Oh, Flurry.”
“I know, you told me so,” Flurry muttered.
“I can’t blame you for not believing me,” Cadance mused. “But now you’ve seen it for yourself, huh?”
Flurry didn’t answer, and Cadance rustled her mane.
“Honestly, I really don’t want to say ‘I told you so.’ Honestly? A part of me was hoping you’d prove me wrong.”
“Really?”
Cadance grinned. “You teenagers and your obsessions. I haven’t been that invested into the lives of other random ponies in ages! It almost feels like I know them now. Maybe I should invite them to the next Royal Dinner.”
Flurry giggled, imagining the two awkwardly making small talk beneath the nervous gaze of Cadance as she tried to discreetly push them closer and closer together. “I’m sure that would go over well.”
“Probably not.” Cadance swung her legs off the bed. “Well, you better get yourself some rest. I need you up early for tomorrow’s love lesson!”
“What?! Come on, mom!” Flurry shouted. “Haven’t I had enough of all this crap already?”
“That’s the neat thing about love! You never stop learning.” Cadance winked and left the room, leaving Flurry to groan and stuff her head into her pillow.
She held the position for a few minutes too long before getting up and checking her alarm clock.
“Eh… Why not?” Flurry dragged herself out of her room and headed for the stairs. She and the Orb had one last talk to have.
It is the last day of school for Fillydelphia University. Students are either relaxing or packing, awaiting their graduation ceremonies or their parents to stop by and help them move back home. Nurse Tenderheart is relaxing on the University’s front lawn, waiting for her sister. Sweetheart Sugar has finished all of her final exams, submitted her papers, and said her last goodbyes to classmates she will never see again – and Tenderheart is pretty sure she’s going to be the best accountant Equestria has ever seen. There’s a picnic laid out on the lawn in front of her, one last goodbye to Sweetheart’s alma mater.
Blossomforth is dragging herself back to apartment after a particularly brutal round in the championships. Her mind is still a mess of routines and poses, and she isn’t watching where she’s going. She collides with an over-excited graduate galloping across the middle of the university lawn and comes to a crashing halt, her chin bruised and bleeding. The student doesn’t even stop. Nopony else seems to even notice. Everyone is absorbed in their own crises, so she limps her way onward before her hoof is in too much pain to carry on.
That’s when Tenderheart spots her. She doesn’t say anything at first, but Blossomforth seats herself on the grass close by to take a breather. Tenderheart tries to ignore her, but after Blossomforth hisses in pain from trying to put weight on her right hoof, she stands and offers to walk the pegasus back to wherever she’s going. Sweetheart will understand if she’s a little late.
Blossomforth reluctantly accepts, and the two make the trek all the way back to Blossomforth’s apartment, where they quickly exchange names and find out they are both Ponyville natives. Tenderheart leaves her in her roommate’s care and the two decide to meet up later, with Blossomforth joking that ‘it’s a date.’
But it wasn’t meant to be.
Tenderheart enjoys her sandwiches and falls asleep to the sunset, before sharing an emotional goodbye with her sister.
Blossomforth wins the first round of the championships and goes out drinking to celebrate, never coming near the university campus at all.
It wasn’t meant to be.
“Alright Orb.”
The Orb of Almost didn’t reply, as usual.
Flurry rolled her eyes. “I’m here to tell you that you won, stupid. I couldn’t get them together, so your stupid prophecies were right. You happy?”
The Orb shimmered.
“Well, fine. Go on then. Show me one more of your dumb maybes.” Flurry lit her horn and let the Orb do its work.
It is a warm spring day in the city of Manehattan. Birds nestled in trees are chirping, the wind is scattering loose leaves and branches across the sidewalks, and the sun is barely rising above the skyline. Tenderheart wakes first. She is completely enveloped in Blossomforth’s embrace, the pegasus using all of her limbs to squeeze Tenderheart tightly. Her mouth is wide open and she’s drooling. Tenderheart watches as the sunlight falls upon her wife, her chest rising and falling slowly, until a stray piece of pollen tickles her nose and she sneezes.
The noise wakes Blossomforth, and Tenderheart apologizes for waking her. Blossomforth replies that it’s fine, and they should probably get up anyways, even though it’s the weekend. They’ve already slept in for quite a bit.
Blossomforth untangles herself from Tenderheart and makes her way to the door, shouting that she’ll make breakfast.
Tenderheart heads for the bathroom, pausing by the drawer. There’s a picture sitting on it of the two at their wedding. They’re kissing, eyes closed, with Tenderheart reared on her back legs to carry Blossomforth in her forelegs. She trained hard for the move and Blossomforth’s weight nearly caused her to collapse, but her surprised squeak and the eruption of cheers from the assembled crowd of their friends and families made it so much sweeter.
The smell of eggs fill the room, and Tenderheart moves to the bathroom to clean herself up. A thought occurs to her then: next week will be their anniversary.
But–
“But it wasn’t meant to be,” Flurry finishes. “I know, I know.”
She turned away, but paused when she realized that the oracle was still glowing.
But.
“...But?”
The image shifted, blurry and hazy.
A house in Cloudsdale, night time. The door creaks open and Blossomforth enters, exhausted and still wearing her makeup and glow-in-the-dark clubbing decorations. Night Glider’s foreleg is still slung around her shoulder, her own mane and makeup in complete disarray. Her cheek is still sore from where that random pony hit her.
Randomly getting thrown into someone who was so surprised that they punched her, combined with the fact that Night Glider looked like she was a few drinks away from causing an international incident convinced Blossomforth that the night had gone on long enough and it was time to go home. But given that Night Glider was clearly in no condition to be left alone, Blossomforth figured it was best to force her to crash at her own house until she had composed herself.
Blossomforth sets her down on the couch and moves to the kitchen, pouring out two glasses of water as Night Glider giggles loudly. “What’s so funny?” Blossomforth asks.
“I’m in your house!” Night Glider says. “Isn’t that great?” She tries to point at something but only succeeds in falling off the couch.
“Drink this,” Blossomforth instructs, pushing the glass to her friend’s lips. Night Glider chugs the entire glass and flets her head drop onto the couch cushion. “You need to get some rest, ‘kay?”
“Hey Blossom?”
“What?”
“...You’re cute.”
That makes Blossomforth freeze.
“Like. Really cute,” Night Glider continues. “Gorgeous even. Like you’re so hot, the hottest pony Equestria has ever seen! Hotter than Celestia and Guna. Uh. Luna.”
Blossomforth turns around with a raised eyebrow. “Um. Thanks?”
“We should go out and get food or something.”
“Maybe… later.”
Blossomforth shakes her head. Night Glider is clearly wasted. It isn’t right to try and get anything out of someone that inebriated. “I’m going to take a shower, ‘kay? Shout if you need anything.”
“I need youuuuu!”
“Okay.”
Blossomforth climbs the stairs and turns the shower on, staring up at water falling onto her. She can’t get over what Night Glider just said to her. Obviously she’s drunk, her rational side says, and maybe she’s just a very loving kind of drunk. But the more she thinks about it, the more she starts to think that she missed something.
Because why was Night Glider always hanging out with her? Hadn’t she wanted to move out, to go work somewhere that wasn’t Cloudsdale? What was with that strange look she’d give her after she came home from dates, where she would bite her lip and duck away, with a strange sad look in her eyes?
“...Holy shit,” Blossomforth whispers. “I think she’s in love with me.”
Flurry wrinkled her snout. Glared at the Orb as though it had personally shit in her coffee. “...What?”
The Orb shimmered again and the scene shifted.
The moon bears down onto the street, where Tenderheart is sitting on the curbside. Music is still thumping hard in the club behind her, and her headache is getting worse and worse as the night goes on. She’s mostly just relieved that the pony she punched was cool about it. Tenderheart isn’t really sure what happened, all she knows is that she turned around to an equally-surprised pegasus standing incredibly close to her. She’s about to get up and leave when the doors open. “Nurse Tenderheart!”
“Oh. Hello Miss Cheerilee,” Tenderheart says with a tired smile.
Cheerilee giggles. “Please, just Cheerilee is fine. I was hoping you hadn’t left yet.”
“Did you need something?”
“I only wanted to ask how you were doing.”
“I’m fine,” Tenderheart replied. “Hoof is a little sore, but nothing to it. I still don’t know where she came from…”
“Mm.” Cheerilee clicks her tongue. “Please, Tenderheart. Having worked with fellow teachers, I can spot someone with a migraine from a mile away.” She dug into her bag. “I’ve got some painkillers on me if you’d like?”
“Thank you, but I’m fine, really. You’re not meant to take those on an empty stomach anyways.”
“Well, then let me treat you to something!” Cheerilee replied. “On me.”
“That really isn’t–”
“Please, you deserve it,” Cheerilee insisted.
With a defeated sigh, Tenderheart relented. “Very well, if you insist. Where should we go?”
“Alright, what the fuck is this?” Flurry demanded, grabbing the orb and shaking it vigorously. “Answer me you spherical bastard! What are you trying to pull on me?”
The orb began to glow again, this time splitting into two images.
On the left, Blossomforth answers her door. Night Glider, looking fresh and attentive, is standing there. “Hey Blossom.”
“Oh, hey Night. What’s up.”
“I just wanted to thank you for last night. I… Have never been that wasted before,” Night Glider apologizes. “Thanks for having my back.”
“It’s no problem! We’re friends, that’s what friends are for.”
A strange look washes over Night Glider’s face, but this time Blossomforth catches it.
“Hey, I… wanted to ask.” Blossomforth rubs a foreleg nervously. “You… said some stuff while you were drunk.”
Night Glider’s eyes widen. “Oh Celestia I am so, so sorry–”
“Did you mean it?” They both freeze until Blossomforth speaks again. “Uh. When you said I was gorgeous and that you liked me. Do you… like me?”
Night Glider searches for an answer. “You… are a great friend, the best I’ve had in years, and uh…”
They both know that doesn’t answer the question.
“Yeah,” Night Glider barely gets out.
Blossomforth smiles. “That… Is really sweet of you.”
“Uh… thank you?” Night Glider is clearly out of her element. “Do you… Are you… Uh…”
“Do I… want to go out with you?” Blossomforth suggests. “Like on a date?”
Night Glider’s throat is clearly locked up, so she only nods.
“I’d like that!” Blossomforth replies with genuine excitement. “When are you free?”
On the right: Tenderheart and Cheerilee share a basket of fries. “...and I’m telling you, I’ve never seen that much blood in my life!” Tenderheart blinks, remembering where and who she’s with. “I… am so sorry, I got carried away.”
Cheerilee giggles. “That’s quite alright! I’ve developed a stomach of steel myself. You’d be surprised how unsanitary a classroom may be.”
Tenderheart relaxes a little, knowing she hasn’t creeped out her companion yet. “It’s always the foals that get hurt in the strangest ways.”
“Indeed. I remember a few years ago there were two colts playing tag outside the schoolhouse when one fell down. His leg snapped in half, if you’d believe it. Right in two!” Cheerilee giggled again. “Half the class was crying and screaming, the other half were oddly enamored. I imagine Princess Luna had a lot of nightmares to quell that night.”
They laughed, and Tenderheart reached for a drink when a stray thought occurred to her: she liked the way Cheerilee giggled.
Looking up, they locked eyes, and instinctively Tenderheart froze out of fear. Cheerilee smiled a little bit wider, as if reading her mind.
Maybe tonight wouldn’t be a bust after all.
“... Are you serious?!” Flurry screamed. “After all that… After all that. And you’re telling me they DID hook up, but with someone ELSE?”
The orb’s energy died down.
“I’M GOING TO KICK YOU LIKE A BUCKBALL!”
Flurry was about to hurl the orb into the wall when Shining Armor strode into the room. “Flurry? What are you doing?”
“What does it look like? I’m going to break this stupid thing in half!”
Shining looked from the now-still orb to his daughter. “I… See. Did your mom send you on another love lesson?”
Flurry hung her head in defeat as her father took the orb in his own magic and set it back onto his own pedestal. “It’s not fair! I worked so hard to get those two together and now all of a sudden, they’re just with other ponies!”
“Huh. Life’s funny like that,” Shining said with a shrug. “Don’t tell your mom but that just sounds like love to me. Lots of luck and a bit of chance.”
Flurry tore her glare away from the Orb to look at her dad. “Huh?”
“Luck and chance,” Shining repeated. “That’s how most ponies seem to fall in love nowadays. Random meetings, stuff like that.” He reached down to pat Flurry on the head. “Hey, your mom only pushes you because she loves you. I’m sure you’ll figure out what your cutie mark means soon. Just take luck and chance!” He winked, and strode out of the room.
Flurry looked back at the dice and heart adorning her flank. Then she looked back up at the orb, for once feeling like it wasn’t mocking her. “Chance.” She perked up, realization washing over her. “Hah! Chance! That’s it!”
She looked back at the orb and stuck her tongue out at it before trotting out of the room. Maybe she couldn’t get Blossomforth and Tenderheart to get together…
…But she could still start planning for their weddings!
Flurry smiled. Maybe Cozy would be up for robbing a couple of merchant ships to find the perfect pair of wedding gifts.
