“Oh, I just know you’ll like him, Jinglebell, he’s exactly your type,” Kerito insisted as she swung the cafe door open with a light grasp of green magic.
“Oh, and how could you possibly know that, Keri?” asked the pegasus of her unicorn friend. “Oh, sure, you have a good record for this sort of thing, but you’ve been trying with me for so long now…”
Kerito giggled, her light ‘tee hee’ drawing no real attention from the cafe patrons as they entered. “Hey, now, I just have a talent for it, you know. Crossed horseshoes, crossed lives!” she insisted. That particular cutie mark, of course, was very common, and could be translated as many, many things. Kerito simply saw hers as bringing lives together. It worked for her, and it worked for those she helped. Of course, she didn’t miss out on the benefits, either.
“Hey, Kerito!” shouted an earth pony stallion across the way. He waved the mares to the table he’d procured, two free seats waiting.
“Theeeeeere he is!” Kerito pointed needlessly. Jinglebell laughed
“I suppose that is him. What was his name again?”
“Open Sleigh. He pulls taxis when it’s not snowy, and surprise, sleighs when it is!” Kerito walked up to Open Sleigh. “Sleigh, this is Jingles, Jingles, Sleigh.” Kerito stood back and watched, waiting for that moment…
Jinglebell walked up to Open Sleigh, and their eyes met. To Kerito, the very air in the room clicked as two halves of a whole finally found their corresponding pieces. A wave of love washed out from the two.
Kerito just sat back, smiled… and fed. Kerito had a condition. She was a changeling who was love intolerant. Direct feeding made her ill, and beyond that she couldn’t bear the thought of crassly feeding from her friends. Thankfully, by chance, she found ambient love, neither directed at her nor extracted from a victim, was tolerable, even palatable.
Crossed horseshoes, crossed lives. Kerito wanted to make sure that every friend she had would find their best one. Maybe she’d find one of her own someday, too.