Change the Heart

by FatesWinds

Chapter 3: The Letter

“It’s a tempting offer, Rarity, but I’m going to be late to Sweet Apple Acres if I don’t get there soon,” protested the pegasus she was dragging into the boutique with her.
“Oh never you mind that, dear Applejack will understand if you’re just a few minutes late,” she replied and placed him in the center of the room, gathering measuring tape, a notepad and pen, various spools of thread, and several swatches of different colored fabric. “Besides, you’ve been putting off your visit here long enough.”
“I-I haven’t been putting it off,” he whimpered as she approached, “I said I’d c-come by when I had a day off, and-.”
“And you’ve been working yourself senseless,” she interrupted. “Now stand up straight, no slouching or your outfit will end up all crooked.”
“Outfit?”
“Why of course Heart Shield. Somepony with wings as elegant as yours should have an equally elegant look to accompany them. Now then, let’s get your measurements.”

“Will you stop squirming already? I am trying to get this to fit you properly.”
“Rarity, honest, I have to go.”
“After I finish this; I’m nearly done.”
Heart Shield huffed and muttered under his breath, “You’ve been saying that for the last three hours…”
“What was that?”
Rarity looked up at him with a smile, one that sent a chill down his spine; even though she sounded cheerful and looked happy, it felt, to him at least, like he was treading on thin ice now.
“N-nothing!”
“Good, now stretch your wings out again, getting this to fit around them without restricting mobility is difficult.”
He let out a sigh and did as she told him. This had better end soon; he didn’t want Applejack to get upset at him. He looked up as the bell over the door to Carousel Boutique rang as somepony walked in.
“Just give me a few moments to finish up and I’ll be with you shortly,” Rarity called, not looking up from her work.
“That’s okay Rarity, I’m actually here to ask if you’ve seen-,” came Applejack’s voice as she walked over. She stopped midsentence as she saw them, and struggled to hold in a laugh. “Mind if I ask why y’all have Heart Shield in that getup?”
Rarity pulled herself away from Heart Shield and gave him a once-over. She’d dressed him in a marine blue mohair jacket, a dark blue bowtie, and, against his vehement protests, a red and black checkered belt which she’d said would complement both his mane and his wristband. All in all, he found the outfit tacky, though he’d never admit so out loud.
“I’ve been trying to get him in here for months so that I could make it for him. What do you think?” Rarity asked, smiling at her handiwork.
“I think it seems a tad much,” Applejack admitted, unable to restrain a chuckle. “What occasion would he be needin’ it for anyway? I’m guessin’ it’s not something he’d be wearing around the farm.”
“Certainly not.” Rarity shuddered at the thought. “No, I’d think it’d be much more suited for a Gala, or the next dinner you two have together.”
“It’s not like that!” both Heart Shield and Applejack cried, cheeks turning red.
“For the last time, it was just as friends!” Heart Shield said. “Why does everypony keep trying to make it something more than that?”
“Oh do relax,” Rarity said, “it’s not as if it were some kind of scandal, and hold still, you’re going to tear the stitching apart.”
“Yeah,” he grumbled to himself, “that’d be a real shame if that happened…”

He was a little sore the next day, mostly from a few “accidental” pokes from pins when he’d gotten a little impatient, and was glad that he had the day off. It was his first day off in several weeks and he had no idea what he wanted to do. He lay in the loft, staring at the ceiling, for a long time as he tried to decide what to do with this day. Eventually he decided that he’d pay a visit to the library; he wanted to see if Dash had returned the only Daring Do book he hadn’t read yet. He grabbed a quick breakfast before heading out.
“Hello?” he called when as he stepped inside the library. “Is anypony home?”
“In here!” came Twilight’s voice from down the hall.
Heart Shield walked over and stared at the mess. Books were lying everywhere on the ground and Twilight was replacing them one by one onto the shelves.
“Did something happen?”
“Twilight’s reorganizing,” Spike said from the stairs. “It’s the third time today.”
“I’m just making sure that we have everything before I ask Princess Celestia if she can send me copies of what we’re missing,” Twilight said.
“But you’ve already made a list. Can’t you just put them all up at once like you did the other day?”
“I know, I know. But that damaged some of the books last time; I don’t want to do that again.”
“If you already have a list of everything that you need, I can put things away while you send the letter to Lady Celestia,” Heart Shield offered.
“Or you can let Owlowiscious do it,” Spike suggested.
“Owlowiscious is at Fluttershy’s with a broken wing,” Twilight reminded him. She looked at Heart Shield for a moment. “If you’re sure you want to help-.”
“I am, besides I can see if you have the Daring Do book I was looking for while I reshelve.”
She smiled and thanked him. He flew over and looked through all the books on the floor, putting them on the shelves by alphabetical order and call number while Twilight dictated her letter –reading from the list she’d made– to Spike, who wrote it all down. He was just about to place the last book on the shelf when she finished.
“Um, Heart Shield?”
“Yeah?” He looked at her over his shoulder, the book held between his hooves.
“I’m sorry about this since you were helping, but I had wanted these arranged differently.”
He blinked. “Differently?”
“Here, let me show you.” She pulled the books off the shelves and began to replace them, with the fiction arranged by target audience age and series on the top, magical history volumes on the lowest shelf near the stairs, and so on and so forth. “See?”
He looked at the books, studying their places and nodded. “Would you mind if I tried again?”
“Come again?”
“I’d like to try putting them back again, the right way this time.”
She looked at him, confused by his request but nodded and pulled them all off the shelves again. It took him three tries before he had the books in the exact positions she’d imagined; he reshelved them two more times to make sure he had gotten it correctly, without her instructing him. After he was certain that he’d memorized it correctly, he sat down, smiling at his work.
“Whoa-oa-oh!” Rainbow Dash crashed through Twilight’s window and slammed into the shelves, knocking the books to the ground with Heart Shield beneath them. She rubbed her head, landing on the floor as she tried to clear the stars she saw. “Ow…”
“Rainbow Dash! How many times have I told you to come in through the front door like everypony else?” Twilight scolded, lifting the books piled over Heart Shield away. “Look at the mess you made.”
“Sorry Twilight,” Dash replied, clearing her head, “just had a mishap with my new trick to impress the Wonderbolts. Oh, while I’m here, can I have another Daring-?” She stopped when she saw the mess on the floor. “Oops.”
“What book did you want to read?” Heart Shield asked, sticking his head back into the pile of books.
“The um, The Curse of the Crystal Crown. Sorry for knocking all of those on you.”
“Not a problem,” he said cheerfully, popping back up with the book the moment she’d finished saying the title. “I’ve had heavier things dropped on my head before. Usually it's just barrels of hay that slip off of piles when I walk past.” He handed the book over to her. “And don’t worry about the mess, I’ve figured out how Twilight wants them shelved.”
Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked at him, blinking in surprise.
“How… did you find that so fast?” Twilight asked.
“I saw where it fell,” he said simply. “Right underneath the book on the Elements of Harmony.”
“You memorized the exact location of where it fell while all of the books toppled over?”
“That and all of the others. I’ve put them up enough times to know where they were.”
He busied himself with putting all the books back in their proper places while his friends stood there astonished for a few minutes. Eventually, they gathered themselves. Dash apologized again for causing the mess and left with the book. Twilight turned to Heart Shield and studied him for a little bit.
“You found that book pretty quickly,” she said, “and managed to see where all of the others landed in less than a second.”
“Lucky mishap?” he laughed.
“Maybe…” She looked at him as he placed the last book in its place. “I don’t think even Owlowiscious would have seen all of that, and memorized all of it, in that short a time. Certainly neither Spike nor I could have.”
“Hey!” Spike cried. “I could have done that too.”
Heart Shield landed on the ground and rubbed the dragon’s head. “I’m sure you could have,” he said. “How about I let you handle it next time, okay?”
Spike huffed, thinking the pegasus was making fun of him.
“Heart Shield,” Twilight said, “I know you’re busy with working for Applejack and Fluttershy, but how would you feel about taking care of things in the library when Spike and I aren’t here? Owlowiscious could help you.”
He smiled at her and nodded. “Sure, I don’t mind. It sounds kind of fun.”

A few weeks passed and he found himself with a monthly schedule working with Twilight, Applejack and Fluttershy. It meant he had less free time, but he enjoyed the work and the time he got to spend with his friends. The library work was especially fun, because he got to see plenty of other ponies who came in to get one book or another. He’d often work past dusk, reorganizing things and making sure everything was in order before heading back to Applejack’s to sleep, almost collapsing on a bench a few times when he’d stayed behind extra late. Twilight, after one particular night where he dozed off while saying goodnight, eventually told him that he could use her extra room to stay in whenever he worked or came over. He didn’t put up much protest, falling asleep twice midsentence, and agreed in the end. Rainbow Dash, aware of how easily flustered he would get, would joke about how he was sleeping with three of his friends now and then; eventually he, like everypony else, would laugh too whenever she did, after clearing the blushes from his face.
A month or so later, when Heart Shield was fast asleep in her extra room, Twilight was busy finishing off her nightly checklist when the sound of hooves landing gently on her balcony grabbed her attention. She looked up and was surprised to see Celestia waiting outside.
“Princess Celestia!” she said, opening the door to let the Princess inside. “What are you doing here?”
“Good evening Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia said with a smile. “I wanted to ask how Heart Shield was getting along in Ponyville, and your friends told me that he was over here tonight. Is he available to talk?”
“He’s asleep at the moment, I can wake him if you-.”
“No, let him rest. Could you let him know I asked after him when he wakes, and pass on an invitation for him to come to Canterlot at the end of the week?”
Twilight blinked, but nodded. “O-of course Princess.”
“Thank you. How are you doing, if I might ask?”

Heart Shield awoke the next morning to find a note next to his bed.
Heart Shield, Spike and I went out to get some breakfast. Would you come meet us when you wake up? There’s something I need to tell you.
–Twilight
“What could that be about?” He hurried to get ready for the day before rushing to the shop Twilight had mentioned on the other side of the note. She and Spike were already finishing their meals when he arrived; the baby dragon had tossed the last sapphire from his plate into his mouth as he stopped before them. “Morning,” he said.
“Good morning Heart Shield,” said Twilight with a smile, motioning for him to sit with them.
“Your note said there was something you wanted to talk about?” he asked, sitting down.
She chuckled. “Straight to the point then, huh? Princess Celestia came by last night and asked me to pass on an invitation for you to come to Canterlot at the end of the week.”
“Lady Celestia was here?”
Twilight nodded. “Mhm.”
“Did… did she say why?”
“Not particularly.” She looked at him; there was worry and confusion on his face as clear as day. “Would you like me to come with, or one of the others?”
“N-no,” he replied, shaking his head. “I think I can manage. I’m just trying to figure out why Lady Celestia would want me to come to Canterlot all of a sudden.” He sat in silence for a while, trying to come up with a reason for this sudden request. “You… you don’t think she’s wanting me to come so that she can tell me that I’m going to be moving somewhere else do you?”
“I doubt it,” Spike said. “Princess Celestia just wanted to know how you were doing, and she didn’t sound like there was anything wrong. It’s nothing but a visit I’m sure, nothing to worry about. Trust me on this. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen?”