//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: Never Bet On Chance 
// Story: My Little Lovestruck: Love is Magic 
// by Harmony Charmer 
//------------------------------//

	Lovestruck hated walking long distances. That was one thing she hated about living in Canterlot; the place was just so big. Thankfully, Lovestruck didn't have to walk nearly as much in the Empire, but it didn't take from how much walking bothered her. That, and she was hardly fit enough to go on hour-long walks, much less the four she had spent walking through the streets of Neighagra Falls.

She had to admit that the view was quite lovely, though. The walkway was dotted with green shrubs that gave a sense of life to the atmosphere. The cobblestones were bright and they shimmered in the afternoon sun, which was shining beautifully and serenely above the horizon. Lovestruck looked to her left, where she could see the river that led down to the Falls from afar. The water sparkled and babbled off in the distance, reminding her of the peaceful serenity that came with the Empire.

Lovestruck sighed. She hated feeling homesick.

She looked around, hoping to find some sort of way to navigate her way through the walkway. She had to find a hotel soon or else she'd end up sleeping on a bench, and speaking from past experience, Lovestruck didn't feel like doing that again.

'I really need to learn to stop taking naps when I'm scouting for romances,' Lovestruck thought, slightly annoyed at herself.

Lovestruck stopped looking around when she spotted a stallion nearby and trotted over to him. "Excuse me, sir, do you happen to know where any--" The stallion trotted off, not sparing her a thought. She huffed a bit. "Well, I guess I'm not doing that again."

Nonetheless, she continued on, her annoyance beginning to take its toll on her. She really didn't like it when things didn't go the way she had planned and she had definitely not planned on this. Perhaps she shouldn't have made such a brash decision to come to a place she didn't even bother to learn that much about.

She shook her head. 'I can't afford to doubt my decisions... I'll get through it.'

Lovestruck's wandering eyes paused as they caught sight of a bench off in the distance. A small sense of relief came over her, and for the first time that day, she smiled a bit genuinely. She galloped towards it, her legs aching as she began to reach it. She took small note of the pony sitting there, who was too busy reading their over-sized map to notice her.

Once Lovestruck arrived at the bench, she looked to the pony sitting in the middle of the bench. "Uh, do you happen to know where a hotel is?"

The pony's map rustled a bit and Lovestruck watched as they folded it down to look at her. "Yeah, sure, just let me--"

Lovestruck's eyes widened and she found herself shouting with the pony in synchronization. "What the heck are you doing here?!"

Cherry Fizzy frowned as he put the map down beside him. "This is a public bench. Anypony can sit here if they want."

"Yeah, well, how'd you get here quicker than I did?!" Lovestruck pointed at his map. "Where'd you get that?!"

"Gift shop."

"Where the heck did you find a gift shop?!"

"Keep your voice down," Cherry shushed. "You know, if you're just gonna yell at me, then you should go somewhere else."

"What, I'm not allowed to sit here?" Lovestruck interrogated. "What is this, high school?"

Cherry scoffed. "I bet you'd know, since you look old enough to be in one."

Lovestruck huffed out. "What is your problem?"

"Well, you were rude to me on the train ride, so I feel like I don't have to sit next to you," Cherry replied, glaring at her.

Lovestruck returned his glare. "First of all, you were rude first." She pointed at herself. "Second of all, I'm tired and am in no mood to put up with you and your attitude, so I suggest letting me sit down and not bothering me."

Cherry, after a moment of silence, reluctantly scooted over and picked up his map again to ignore Lovestruck as she sat down next to him. Lovestruck let out a sigh of relief and she allowed herself to relax a bit, thankful she had managed to find a moment of serenity in her chaotic morning.

Then, that serenity was broken through when Cherry spoke. "Why are you even in Neighagra Falls in the first place?"

Lovestruck opened her eyes and glared at him from the corner of her eye. "Why are you even in Neighagra Falls in the first place?"

Cherry huffed and flapped out his map to straighten it up. "I don't think that's any of your business."

"Exactly, so don't ask."

Another moment of silence passed, though since Lovestruck saw that her peace was ruined, she might as well keep talking.

"So you're a writer," she said, looking over at him. "Are you here for 'inspiration'?" She didn't even bother trying to fake sounding sincere.

Cherry rolled his eyes. "Ha, ha, very funny." He looked back at his map. "No, I'm just back on the block. I've been pretty swamped back at home, so I'm just trying to get some rest before I get back to writing."

"And yet it seems you have nothing to write, judging from your notes." Lovestruck rolled her eyes. "Are you doing it to pick up mares?"

Cherry scoffed a bit. "Like you happen to know anything about writing. And no, I'm not doing it to get some tail, if that's what you think." He shook his head a bit. "Why am I even bothering talking to you? I thought I made it clear that I didn't want to be near you."

Lovestruck smirked. "Because I'm probably the most interesting thing you'll see on this trip, Barry." She lifted her head off from the back of the bench to look at him. "And it seems that you do want to be near me, since you're still sitting here, talking to me."

"It's Cherry," he corrected. "And I'm just tired, so don't bother flattering yourself."

Lovestruck waved a hoof dismissively as she blew a light raspberry. "Please, I give myself more flattery than this, cherie. You think this--" She gestured to herself. "--gets only a couple glance overs from passing strangers?"

Cherry grinned at her cheekily. "Probably 'cause of that giant plot you're lugging around."

Lovestruck frowned at him, then sat up and grabbed her saddlebags. "Well, it was nice talking to you. Now pardon me as I try to find a motel to stay in."

Cherry let out a laugh as she stood up. "Ha, try finding one with any vacancies!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lovestruck asked with a glare.

"Heh, looks like I'm not the only oblivious one here!" He laughed a bit. "Don't you know that summertime is when Neighagra Falls gets its most visitors?"

Lovestruck's frown deepened. "Well, I figured, but I honestly doubt that it'll be so bad that they don't have any rooms. I mean, this place has got to have 20 hotels!"

Cherry grinned victoriously. "I said the same thing, except I wrote to them ahead of time and got my room like a smart pony! They told me that they didn't have any rooms left and none of the other hotels did, either."

Lovestruck looked down at the bench. "Yeah, well at least I didn't sit in gum."

Cherry blinked in confusion and looked down at his flank.  "What are you-- Aw, come on!"

Lovestruck laughed as she watched him try to pick at the gum on his flank. "Ha! I'll talk to you later, Larry!"

"Cherry!" he shouted as she trotted off. "My name is Cherry!"

"Whatever! Good luck getting that gum off your butt!" Lovestruck continued on her walk, giggling as Cherry twirled around behind her trying to catch the gum like a dog with its tail. "Besides, I'm sure there's got to be some rooms available."


*	*	*


"What do you mean you don't have any vacancies?!"

Lovestruck was beyond irritated. She had just spent another part of an hour walking on tired legs, her mane was askew and messy, and now, she had only just found out that her journey had been a serious waste of time. That, and Cherry had been right about the hotels, but that was a minor thing. At least, that's what she told herself.

The receptionist looked at her apologetically. "Ma'am, I'm sorry, but we have no rooms available. You can try the hotel next to us, but their situation is probably the same as ours, as it usually is around this time of year."

Lovestruck sighed. "Are you sure you don't have any rooms available?"

The receptionist looked through the data sheets. "Well, there's our honeymoon suite, but--" The receptionist looked her over. "I doubt that you're with anypony on your trip."

Lovestruck glared at the receptionist. "Whatever, I'll go somewhere else then!"

"Have a nice day!" the receptionist called as she left, though Lovestruck cared very little for it.

Lovestruck groaned and she shook out her mane in irritation. "Of all the things that I had to have happen, it had to be this. Oh, why can't I just go fight a serious threat against Equestria like a normal pony?" 

Lovestruck thought about Princess Twilight for a moment, who was probably back at Ponyville with her friends, doing princess things. She was probably finding out more about the magic of friendship and proving herself to be a capable leader, all while being calm and perfectly rational throughout, whereas Lovestruck was still in her beginning stages and was everything but calm and rational.

"Which is why she's a Princess and I'm just a student," Lovestruck muttered to herself.

She looked to the path ahead of her, one going to the site of the Falls and the other back the way she came. Both looked equally daunting and full of potential disappointment to her. If she went down the way she came, she'd end up going to the train station and back to the Empire, where Cadence was probably going to wonder why she had given up so easily.

"I expected more from you," she could hear her say. "I thought you were better than that."

'No wonder I'm not a Princess,' Lovestruck thought. 'I'm not brave like Cadence... Or wise like Celestia... Or understanding like Luna...' She looked to cutie mark. 'Or talented like Princess Twilight.'

Lovestruck knew how powerful her magic was, but she also knew how powerful Twilight's was, too. She had seen Twilight perform magic for Celestia back when she was learning with Cadence. She had seen what Twilight was capable of, if all the times she had saved Equestria was any correlation to that fact. Not to mention that Twilight had natural, magical talent on her side, and that she was destined to become a Princess, whereas Lovestruck was not.

And while Lovestruck was fine with that, it didn't take from how disappointing it was that she could never reach Cadence's expectations like Twilight had Celestia's. Yes, Cadence was not Celestia, and Lovestruck was not Twilight, but the fact still stood that Twilight had something Lovestruck did not: certainty for success.

Twilight never failed. Lovestruck barely passed.

Lovestruck looked to the roads before her once more, this time looking to the road that led to the Falls. A sense of determination overcame Lovestruck as she looked down the path and she took a deep breath.

"I've come too far to give up," she told herself, straightening herself up. She brushed her mane back with a hoof and she narrowed her eyes in focus. "Larry can stick it. I got this."


*	*	*


20 hotels. Lovestruck went to 20 hotels, and yet she still had no luck in finding a room for her to stay in.

"Sorry, we're full!" a couple of them had said. "No vacancies! Try the one next door!"

"Sure, we have a room available, but it's fallen prey to local Parasprite infestation," another few said. "There's gonna be a lot of holes in the furniture. And the walls. Hey, where are ya goin'?"

"Hey, you look like a nice mare!" one of the owners had told her. "Would you like to meet my son? He's a total sweetheart! Stay for lunch, will you?"

Lovestruck shivered at that last one. "Ugh, that lasagna was barely worth it..."

She looked to the buildings ahead and she felt her heart leap a bit in her chest at the sight of another hotel. Granted, while her luck been running low, she wasn't about to give up just yet. It was dark out, and she was hardly in the mood for sleeping on a bench. Besides, she didn't want to risk getting gum on her like Cherry had.

She shook her head at the thought of him. "Ugh, stupid Terry... I hate that he was right..."

Nonetheless, she continued on with her trek to the hotel. She must have looked awful, she realized, and the humidity was probably wreaking havoc on her mane. She put a hoof to her head a bit and sighed as she felt her mane frizz up to the touch.

"Yeesh, I must look like a porcupine..." she murmured to herself. 

She stopped fretting over her appearance as she saw the hotel come up close and dropped her hoof to continue her trot. She passed the doorpony, who gave her a very snippy look as she passed, but she ignored him.

"Alright, now here's to finding a room for me to stay in and--"

"What do you mean my room is no longer vacant?!" a voice exclaimed from in front of her.

Lovestruck blinked in surprise as she looked at the receptionist counter where none other than Cherry was standing there, obviously upset about whatever it was the receptionist had just told him. That, or he could still be a bit irritated that he hadn't gotten all the gum off of his flank.

The receptionist looked at Cherry apologetically. "Sorry, but your room has been given up. You see, there's a wedding going on and it's going to happen tonight, but the father and mother of the bride are divorced, so they had to have separate rooms and it didn't come through until today so--"

"You mean to tell me that I don't have a place to stay?" Cherry interrupted, his eyes narrowing.

Receptionist frowned. "Sorry, but it was a glitch in our system and we're very sorry that you are lost out of our hotel experience." The receptionist bent over from behind the counter and stood up with a basket. "Would you like some complimentary muffins and toiletries?"

Cherry didn't acknowledge the complimentary basket as it was pushed in front of him. "Where am I supposed to stay tonight?"

"You can try the hotels down the street, if you like," the receptionist told him. "I'm sure there are some rooms open!"

Lovestruck let out a laugh. "Ha, good luck with that!" She stepped up to the counter, where she saw Cherry spare her a rude glare that she graciously ignored. "Every hotel here is totally full. There aren't any rooms available and the others that are have been completely ravaged by Parasprites." She took a muffin from the basket and then took a bite from it. "Oooh, blueberry."

Cherry sighed, both in apathy and annoyance. "Great, now what am I supposed to do?"

Lovestruck put her muffin down for a moment. "Well, there's a honeymoon suite a couple hotels down from here, but I doubt you'd want to room with somepony with a giant plot like mine."

Cherry glared at her. "Really? You're making fun of me for being in the same situation as you are and you're eating my muffins? Have you no shame?"

Lovestruck shrugged. "Not really, no." She took a couple more muffins and slid them into her saddlebag. "You can have the banana nut. I'm not a big fan of that."

"I'm allergic to nuts!" Cherry exclaimed.

"Then pick 'em out!" she told him. She looked to the receptionist, who appeared to be a bit perturbed by Lovestruck. "Hey, where's this wedding going on? I kinda wanna see how it's going."

The receptionist shook her head. "Sorry, ma'am, but the wedding is closed to friends and family only."

Lovestruck frowned. "Rats." She shrugged. "Oh, well, see you later! Good luck with your room search, Carrie!"

"Cherry! My name is Cherry!" he cried as she left the hotel.

Lovestruck ignored him on her way out and she slipped through the doors with ease using her magic. She looked around as she got away from the hotel and smiled to herself as she took a bite out of her muffin. "I'll just come in when no one's looking then... After I finish my muffins."