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// Chapter 3 - A Dowsing Circle 
// Story: The Cards That Bind Us 
// by Parakalo 
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	Colter Avenue: a hustling, bustling nexus of color and taste. Each and every storefront, regardless of its wares, was as bright and cheerful as the sun that peeked over the square at the end of the lane in the mornings. This was the perfect spot for Sweetie Belle to give her two closest friends, Applebloom and Scootaloo, a day they would never forget during their short time in Canterlot.

It had been so very long since the last time she had seen either of them. She still had mixed feelings about her new fancy private school away from Ponyville. Part of her still wished that she could have gone to Ponyville High with her two best friends. Forcing these feelings down, Sweetie Belle was determined to enjoy herself and her time with her friends in these few days that they had.

“This place is amazin’, Sweetie Belle,” Applebloom’s eyes glittered with delight. She had grown much taller than Sweetie Belle over the years. She had the charm and the heart of her older sister, but beneath all of that was the strength and stubbornness of her older brother. She knew it was just hormones talking, but Sweetie Belle was always jealous of Applebloom’s looks after her growth spurt at the end of elementary school.

“I don’t even know where to start...” Scootaloo gawked at the sight before her. The culture was overwhelming. 
Scootaloo had grown even lankier than the last time Sweetie Belle had seen her. As she moved the black stripe in her hair out of the way, Sweetie Belle couldn’t help but chuckle to herself about when Scootaloo first got it. She swore up one side and down the other that it wasn’t grease from the auto shop, but Sweetie Belle and Applebloom didn’t see it until after she had started spending most of her time there. At every chance she got, Scootaloo would talk about some new device she was working on. She would be able to ride it like her motor scooter, but it used a larger vehicle motor and four wheels. A “kwad”, or something like that.
“We have the whole day ahead of us,” Sweetie Belle beamed with glee. “Where do you want to start?”

~





~

“Ah... I can’t eat another bite.” Scootaloo hung herself over a chair at a cafe, stuffed with lunch.
“Ah hope so,” Applebloom shook her head, “Ah’m not entirely sure what ya did with the first two plates.”
“So... what do we want to do next?” Sweetie Belle was eager to get on her feet again.
“The money ah brought didn’t last as long as ah thought...” Applebloom’s coin pouch jingled with only a few coins when she shook it. It was disappointing.
“Yeah... lunch was a bit more expensive than I thought...” Scootaloo patted her stomach, stretching her wings to get more comfortable.
“Hmmm...” So they needed something that would take a few hours, be relatively inexpensive, and still be something fun that they could only do in Canterlot. She had an idea. “Do you guys remember Miss Cupid? The fortune-teller that came to Ponyville when we were little?”
Her friends’ blank stares provided answer enough.

“Well, there is this awesome fortune-teller at the end of the lane that uses tarot cards. It’s pretty cheap, and should be good for a laugh.”
“Why not?” Scootaloo stood up, bending forward to stretch her back.
“Ah’m in.” Applebloom smiled, and the three of them went together.

A red painted building at the end of the street was their destination. Cards dangled about the windows, amongst the flowers, and fluttered around and around the entrance, as if caught in an indecisive breeze. A closer inspection revealed that each card’s peculiar movement was stimulated by a faint magenta aura.
“All of this is done with magic?” Scootaloo was amazed. There had to be dozens of cards outside the building alone that were all moving at the same time.
“Indeed.” A voice inside made the three of them jump. A familiar unicorn, hair in coils about her face, stood in the doorway.
“Afternoon, Mrs. Cupid.”
“Miss Cupid, Sweetie Belle,” her magical studies teacher corrected her. “And I’m not teaching right now, so just Cupid will do. Who are your friends?”
“Applebloom, ma’am,” She gave a small curtsy.
“And I’m Scootaloo.”
“Charmed,” Cupid’s flat voice sounded uninterested, but her small smile inclined the three of them to think otherwise.

“Well, Sweetie Belle, let’s not leave your friends in the sun. Come in and have a seat. The cards have been waiting for you.”
“Wait...” Sweetie Belle shook her head. “Why do I have to get my fortune told?”
“Come now, Sweetie Belle, what manner of fortune teller would I be if I couldn’t see the future?” She looked up at the cards that flitted about above their heads, searching for an explanation. “Applebloom is too embarrassed, and Scootaloo doesn’t appear to have any money at all.”
The friends looked at each other.
“How did she do that?” Scootaloo was amazed.
“Ah wouldn’t be a very interestin’ read anyways, Sweetie Belle...” Applebloom was already turning pink.
“All right, all right.” Sweetie Belle knew she had lost before they had started.

The three of them came in and had a seat at a small table in the center of the busy room, with Sweetie Belle in the middle. It had a deep red tablecloth that hung off the sides, ending in tassels that moved with the breeze from the window. Hoof-reading diagrams and charts of astral symbols lined the walls on all sides, except for a cupboard containing a collection of glass ornaments on the far wall. Within it included the twelve animals of the zodiac, a collection of odd-shaped vials, and a magnificent, opaque, crystal ball. A faint smell of lilac hung in the air; Sweetie Belle observed that it was there in class as well, and most likely was Cupid’s favorite perfume.
Once Cupid started speaking, the cards from all over the house came whisking over to the table in a flash of colors, “The secret of card reading is to be as relaxed as possible.” Cupid appeared before them dressed in a silk robe that almost touched the floor. “My favorite color is red,” she moved about the room, waving over lazier cards that dawdled over to the table, “and lilac has always kept my head clear.”

“How do you manage something like this? It seems really complicated,” Scootaloo was overwhelmed by the performance before her. The cards shuffled and reshuffled over and over, making shapes, patterns, arcs, and loops.
“Well,” The look in Cupid’s eyes suggested she was half-awake, but Sweetie Belle knew that she rarely looked different, “I was raised to speak with the cards.” Cupid’s smile hinted at admiration. “I really don’t have any control over them anymore. I am more so here to interpret what they have to say. Think about it: if I knew what cards were where in the deck, I could choose whatever fortune I want.” She shook her head, “That’s not fortune telling. The cards will show you what they want you to see.”
The three of them were silent with wonder. The deck sat in the middle of the table, occasionally quivering, as if eager.
“My cards can tell you past, present, or future. Love, spirit, wealth, and the mind are all at the whim of the cards. Do you have a question?” With a delicate hoof, Cupid spread the cards in a circle around the edge.

“How about a loooooove fortune?” Scootaloo elbowed Sweetie Belle as a wicked grin curled on her face.
“Wh-what?” Sweetie Belle’s blood shot to her cheeks. “Do I have to?”
“Well, can ya think of anything better?” Applebloom liked the idea of hearing a love reading.
“Is there a Shining Armor in your future?” Scootaloo put her hooves together, kissing at the air.
“Stop it, Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle pushed at her to get her away. After some thought, she came up with a safe compromise: “Is there anything special coming up that I should know about?” Scootaloo pouted that it wasn’t directly about love, but settled for the fact that it very well could be.

The cards rippled to life on the table, spinning around and around in a circle before stopping in front of Cupid, a single card breaking the formation.
“This first card describes the event you are referring to,” Cupid explained before revealing it to anypony. “It will tell us something about the events to come for you.”

The card revealed itself as a swirling torrent of wings. Cupid nodded at it. “This is the Eight of Wings. It means that the event in your future will be difficult to overcome. Perhaps impossible at first. When you first discover it, you will certainly get stuck.”





The air became very thick with Cupid’s words. Sweetie Belle didn’t like the sound of that, but said nothing. The cards moved themselves into a tall, single stack on the table.
“This next card will tell us if this event will come with help. Surely, you wouldn’t try to conquer an impossible task on your own, would you?” Sweetie Belle shook her head.

The card on top was a pony in a feather-topped hat. He carried a light sword and had expectant-looking eyes. A smile curled on the side of Cupid’s face. “This is the Knight of Hooves. He is a good ally to have on your side. He is passionate, romantic, and will defend you until the end of his days.” 





Scootaloo crowed as Sweete Belle’s face turned scarlet. Cupid ignored her, “He could represent a new relationship in the future. A new friend, or someone wanting to become more than friends.” The cards then made a circle with a cross in the middle.
“Before I reveal the third card, is there anything you want to ask the cards to make it more specific?” Sweetie Belle’s arms flapped uselessly as she spouted, “Gobacktotheproblemplease!” Cupid stifled a giggle.

The card Cupid turned depicted a pile of wands. “The Seven of Wands. Unfortunately this is not the best of cards, given your situation. This card means it will take everything you can muster to overcome this problem. It will be no easy feat when this card rears its head.” Sweetie Belle’s look turned even more sour.
“Aw, cheer up, Sweetie Belle. We’ll do whatever we can to help you.” Applebloom put a hoof on her back to try and relax her.





“The final card that I will turn is your incentive. This is the fun part. This card will show us what your reward, your just desserts, so to speak, will be when you complete this task.” The cards, responding to the end of her speaking, began organizing into flurries of shapes and ornaments. Cupid wanted her last card to be particularly flashy to try and pull up Sweetie Belle’s mood. After creatures and symbols made of cards covered the table, the cards all floated up into the air in formation, creating a great chandelier on the ceiling.
Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom were at a lost for words as the magenta glow above them sparkled and slowly gyrated.

After a moment or so, a single card dropped out of the center of the great formation, flitting down to the table by gravity alone. It landed on one corner, did a three-quarter spin, and flopped down on the table face-up. It was completely blank.





All four of the ponies sitting at the table leaned in close to examine the card.
“The Wild card.” Cupid smiled at Sweetie Belle. “The cards can’t tell me what your reward is.”
“Why not?” She didn’t like the sound of that. “Does that mean there is no reward?”
“Quite the contrary,” Cupid held up a hoof to silence the white pony before her. “My cards can tell many things. Enduring love, great knowledge, eternal wealth, and new adventures are all at their beck and call, but what you will receive is something not even my cards can predict.”
The three ponies were fixated on the blank card now, eyes sparkling with imagination.
“I believe it may be best to take your friends back to their hotel, Sweetie Belle,” Cupid gestured outside. “Darkness quickly falls and the chill it brings will be bitter.”

The three friends thanked her for the reading, payed her, and took off into the twilight, laughing in their elevated mood.
Waiting for the three to disappear out of earshot, Cupid beckoned a chair over to the table and sat down, sinking deep into its cushions. She watched the card that lay on the table without blinking, lost in thought. The smile had long since vanished from her features. After a while, a cup of tea floated over and Cupid drank heavily from it.

My deck of cards is one of a kind; passed down for eight generations through the seers in my family to give us insight into the futures to come. I have watched these cards since I could hardly walk, and I know every single one of them better than I know my own mind. I could call all of them, by name, right now, except for this one...

I do not own a blank card.