My Little Love Story

by Bubblegum

Love Struck Chapter 1

The wind whistled through my wings as I glided through the air over Ponyville. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and the weather was just right for flying. I just wished that I could take this stupid rain jacket off.

Let me explain a little bit: apparently, my special talent is that mares (and sometimes stallions) will fall madly in love with me, given enough time. It’s not my fault... I don’t think. It just happens.

It started when I was just a colt. I was on the playground, messing around with my bronies, when three little fillies walked up, whispering and talking amongst themselves. Being the kind of outgoing, friendly, awesome all-around guy that I am, I trotted up to say ‘hello.’

The three just... giggled at me. It was totally embarrassing, and I felt... humiliated. I strengthened my resolve, and tried again. Putting on my best macho ‘I’m a tough colt’ persona, I said, “Hey, little fillies. You wanna see a magic trick?”

The three exchanged glances, looked at me, and nodded in unison. With a secretive grin, I glided up into the air. My wings have always been strong, even from a young age. While most pegasi colts and fillies were earthbound, I was already gliding amongst the clouds, tasting the freedom that would soon be mine... after I graduated, of course.

This trick, however, was special. As I glided into the air, my speed increasing, I began to perform a series of straight-ahead barrel rolls. You wouldn’t think so by just looking at me, but at the speeds I was traveling, doing a barrel-roll creates a sort of mini-hurricane behind me. The little mini-vortex will pull in small birds, flying insects, random debris... and clouds. This is what now transpired, as I glided up to the cloud layer and arced across the fluffy, white mounds. A trail started to drag out behind me, and I started sprialing and darting across the sky.

I could hear the fillies below me ‘oohing’ and ‘aahing’ as my cloud-writing kicked their ‘he’s so cool’ drives into high gear. Finishing off with an exclamation point, I landed with a plunk in front of the trio. “There now!” I said, motioning with a hoof to the sky. Written in cloud, being struck with just the right amount of sun to turn them a luscious shade of light pink, were the words, “Hi, Fillies!”

“Love, you are so cool!” the trio had gushed in unison, and I basked in their adoration.

“Say, thanks! You girls wanna come play with me and my friends?” I asked, trying to maintain my cool-guy composure. The fillies giggled and nodded, exchanging bubbly conversation amongst themselves. I won’t lie; I heard my name come up several times. As I turned to lead them back to where my bronies were still doing... whatever it is that young colts did, one of the fillies gasped. I turned quickly and scanned their faces. Three pairs of wide eyes stared back at me.

“What? What is it?” I asked, giving myself a once over. “Did I sit in something?”

“Love, your cutie mark!” one of them squealed. Cutie Mark?

I turned to examine my flank, and lo-and-behold, there she was. A bright red heart wrapped with a ribbon and stamped with a horseshoe. My namesake. My special talent. My forever. Love Struck.

As the wind whistled through my mane, tail, and feathers, I remembered that day fondly. Though it was the day that forever sealed my fate as a mareizer and tail-chaser, it was also the day that I found out what truly made me special. I was suave. I was debonair. I was a charmer. Those were my special talents, and I was proud of it.

Was proud of it. I have to admit, my heart’s been a little achy lately, and not the one emblazoned on either side of my flank (though that one has been achy too, but for entirely different reasons; we won’t go there). I know the reason. I’ve been pondering it for years.

If my special talent is to MAKE mares (and stallions; I keep forgetting about them) fall in love with me, how will I know when ‘the one’ comes along? The one I’ll be with forever? My little muffin? My beautiful pixie? Oh, hang on... I’ve used all those nicknames before for one night stands. I need something... pure, fresh, and new. I need a nickname that conveys the purity of the mare I’ll spend my golden years with. I need...

“Hey, Love!” came a cry from across the sky. I turned to look and saw a cyan streak followed by a prismatic trail. Oh. Celestia. Darn it. Here comes the source of every stallion’s problems. A mare that can’t keep her tail down. The one and only...

“It’s me, Rainbow Dash!” she cried, crashing into me and sending me spiraling through the sky. I mentioned I’m a strong flyer, right? My wings are totally buff? No one can recover from being knocked askew by that prismatic doofus. My vision blacked out as I felt myself go tumbling through the air, slowly falling towards my imminent doom. My eyes finally managed to realign and I realized how close I was to the ground.

“Celestia, save me,” I said nonchalantly. If I was going to die, I might as well go out like a hero. Role playing time. “Curse you, Rainbow Dash!” I cried dramatically, clutching at my chest with both hooves. “Thou hast slain me once and for all time! Thou shalt henceforth be known as the slayer of Love itself! Cuuurse youuuuu!” I finished, closing my eyes and bowing dramatically... well, as dramatically as I could manage while hurtling face first toward the ground. A bubbly laugh followed behind me and I felt rather than heard the whoosh as Rainbow scooped me out of the air and began to carry me in her hooves.

“Nah, I was just playin’!” she said, giving me a playful kiss. “Where you been, stud? Haven’t seen you in, like, a bajillion years!”

“I’ve been around,” I said, folding my forelegs and trying to look totally cool... and failing. Rainbow, of all ponies, could screw up my coolness like nopony’s business. We had a love-hate relationship, Rainbow and I. She had fallen in love with me back in flight camp. As fellow members of the Junior Speedsters, we had shared a bond that went far deeper than mare-stallion relationships (though that had played a significant role in my pursuit of her). We shared a brother-sister bond only broken by ‘occasional’ trysts. Wait, wait, that sounds really nasty...

“Oh, Love,” she said, laughing out loud as the wind blew both of our mane’s askew. “You’re such a bad flank. I love you all the same, though,” she said, planting another kiss right on my lips. Oh, and just after that brother/sister thing had gone through my head, too! Nasty!

“Sorry, Dashie, but could you possibly set me down? I’m headed for the flea market!” I said, angling myself downward to try to drag the fast-flying pegasus down with me. Dash nodded.

“I was actually on my way there too! We can go together!”

Great...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So... many... booths...” Dash gushed, running ahead of me through the gates and onto the PCC campus grounds. The semi-annual Ponyville flea market was in full swing, and I was enjoying the crowd-life. The one place I can blend in is in a crowd. If I can keep my head down (and avoid any ponies I know intimately), I can usually just enjoy myself and have a good time. Crowds are... relaxing for me. I can just mix, mingle, and blend...

“Well, look who it is,” said the snarky, high-society voice of the ONE MARE I had hoped I wouldn’t run into today. Rarity. Celestia. Darn. It.

I turned to her with a cheesy grin. “Hey, there, Rarity. What’s shak--”

She cut me off. With a hoof. To the face. Hard.

Whack.

“How dare you leave a lady hanging like that, Mr. Struck! What was I to do? You left me alone, in that hotel room, with the bill!”

“Hey, I totally paid the bill, babe... those guys just wanted to screw  you over, hear?”

“Oh, I believe darling,” she said. Whew. “I believe you like I believe I have two heads, the second of which I have never seen. It’s invisible. Ghastly, isn’t it?”

Darn it.

“Look, Rarity, I’m sorry I left you hanging, but let’s be honest. It wouldn’t have worked out between us, no matter what you say you felt. I’m sorry I took advantage of you. I said so in... what, like, twenty different letters I sent you? I feel really bad for treating a lady that way, but come on. It’s not like you or I would have been happy.”

Rarity huffed. “Well, you may not have been happy, but I was in love, Love. You broke my heart.”

Now it was my turn to huff. “Rarity, I left a note. You knew, before we ever spent the night, that I wasn’t in love with you. I told you to your face that I was not in love with you. You were... a one time thing.”

Rarity’s eyes filled with tears. Darn it. If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s to see a mare cry. I may not be a gentlecolt, or even ethical, moral, or anything like that, but the tears of a mare cut me to the heart... all three of ‘em. Following my natural smooth-guy instinct, I rose on my hind legs and wrapped Rarity in my forelegs.

“Oh, hey now,” I said soothingly as she began to sob into my shoulder. “Shhh, shhh, it’s okay, babe. You know I don’t mean it. I love you, it’s just... I can’t see myself spending the rest of my life with you. There are a lot of mares out there to trod through... and besides, you don’t have any wings. Are you so selfish that you’re going to make me live on the ground for the rest of my life?”

Rarity placed her forehooves on my chest and gently pushed away. “Of course not, darling. I am the Element of Generosity, after all. But... I don’t like being a one night stand. A courtship... if you could just make me feel like I meant something to you... I could easily move on,” she said, drying the last of her tears with a dainty handkerchief.

It’s like this everywhere I go. That’s not to say that I’ve bedded mares in every city, though in all likelihood I have, but there’s always some mare I’ve been with in the past who firmly believes that we were meant to be together. It’s my curse. It’s my shame. It’s who I am.

Love Struck. Prepare to be struck by love.

With a sigh, I gave Rarity what she wanted. “Okay. We can go on... a few more dates, but not today. I’m in Ponyville on an extended vacation, and we’ll make time to hang out. But Rarity, please understand; I’m here to relax. Don’t make this into a big thing, okay?”

Rarity beamed at me, her pearly white, perfect teeth practically radiating under the gleam of Celestia’s golden sun. “I wouldn’t dream of it, darling! I’ll be in touch. With whom are you staying?” she queried.

I glanced at Dash, who gave me a smirk. “Of course you can stay with me, stud, but you’ve got to *ahem* earn your room and board.”

Rarity looked green at that, and I sighed again, smacking myself in the face with my own hoof. When will I ever learn?

Never. Because that’s who I am. That’s what I do. That’s what makes me special. Love Struck. Hearbreaker. Mareizer.

Prepare to be struck by love, and this time, love’s a freight train.