Fleur de Lis' train arrived back in Ponyville at 4pm on Wednesday, after her week in Prance and, as much as she loved her home country, she was glad to be back home. When the doors opened on the train cars, Fleur quickly exited from her mostly empty car, where she had sat bored for the last hour, and found herself face to face with six ponies of varying familiarity and a baby dragon.
One of them, a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane, said, “How did you score such a hot flank, Fluttershy?”
“We're not together at the moment, Rainbow Dash,” Fleur said, noting that Fluttershy's response was to glare at Rarity. Who else would Rainbow Dash get that idea from? she thought.
“So that means you're available?”
“Yes.”
“Wanna go on a date with me, then?” Rainbow asked.
“How about this? I will go on a date with you if, and only if, Fluttershy gets a week alone with Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadance.”
Rainbow opened her mouth to respond, but shut it again without letting out a single sound.
“Well, now that that's taken care of, I have to ask about the big welcome party.”
The purple unicorn Fleur knew as Twilight simply gestured to her right and when Fleur looked she saw a tall, dark blue pony wearing black regalia and silver horseshoes approaching the group. When she realized who she was looking at, she hurriedly went into a bow.
Luna watched Fleur's sudden, violent bow in bemusement, but said, “greetings, my friends.”
The six ponies and one dragon who were waiting for her warmly returned her greeting and she turned her attention to the unicorn they had been speaking to not ten seconds prior and who looked like she could be seriously hurt if she stayed put.
She tapped the white unicorn's foreleg and said, “you may want to move your tail.”
It took a second for Fleur to realize that the princess was speaking to her. When she did, she looked back to see why she would make such a suggestion and saw that her tail was still in the train car, along with part of her luggage. Feeling embarrassed, she sidled over a few steps and, seeing that none of the six ponies waiting to welcome the princess were bowing (though Fluttershy did seem a bit uncomfortable), decided to see if she could get away with not bowing down to her either despite being very nervous about it. She also asked, “If I may ask, what is one of the rulers of Equestria doing in a little town like Ponyville?”
Luna didn't seem at all bothered by the sudden lack of reverence from the tall unicorn if her body language was anything to go by, and her tone was even when she responded. “I am simply here to ensure that Ponyville is adequately prepared for a potential disaster after seeing what happened in San Bermaredino as well as take the time to get to know the local citizenry better.”
Despite being in Prance at the time, Fleur was well aware of the earthquake that leveled half the city and the wholly inadequate contingency and relief plans being implemented in response. Still, something bugged her. “Why send a princess when you could send lower level officials to do this for you?”
“Because it is nice to get out of Canterlot every once in a while, and if it involves helping Equestria, all the better.”
Fleur, still nervous, said nothing. Speaking up instead was Twilight, who asked, “You know your way around town right, Luna?”
“For the most part, yes, though if I need directions, I can ask one of the locals for help.”
“Assuming they don't run off screaming again,” Rainbow said.
Fleur, taking advantage of Luna's unhappy pause, said, “Anyway, I think I'll be going. Fluttershy, could you bring Jacques to my house around seven?”
“Of course. He'll be happy to see you.”
“And I him. I should have your bits ready then as well,” Fleur said, before quickly slipping off.
“Jacques?” Luna asked.
“Her cat. She asked me to take care of him while she was in Prance.”
“I see.”
An hour later Fleur was mostly unpacked, and decided to take a break and return her books to the Golden Oaks Library. As she passed through downtown Ponyville, she saw Luna exiting a candy shop with a good sized bag of what she assumed to be sweets. She quickened her pace, hoping the ruler of the night wouldn't catch sight of her, or, if she did, deign to speak with her.
Much to her, frustration, however, Luna did catch sight of and start walking towards the pink maned unicorn. Resigned to her fate, Fleur slowed her pace and put a neutral expression on her face, praying that she didn't say anything stupid to the Princess of the Night.
“Greetings. I believe we met at the station?” Luna asked.
“Yes we did, your highness.”
“But I don't believe I caught your name.”
“I'm Fleur de Lis,” Fleur said.
Luna took a second to note the triple fleur de lis adorning Fleur's flank, then said, “Ah, I remember you now. I believe I heard that you had divorced your husband recently?”
Fleur didn't question how Luna had figured this out, since their divorce had become the talk of the whole city before she left and she was sure that it would even get back to the princesses eventually. “Yes. The reason given, as I recall, was irreconcilable differences, but the real reason was he had had an affair, which he really wanted to cover up.”
“I see. Have you thought about trying to correct the record?”
“No. I'm past that now, and I doubt that such a request would go anywhere anyway.”
Luna, deciding that it would be best to leave it at that, remained silent.
“By the way, what's in the bag?” Fleur asked, noting that it was almost as big as Luna's head.
“Gumdrops,” Luna said tilting the bag towards Fleur, “would you like some?”
“No thank you, but I must admit, I never thought you would be a sweet tooth,” Fleur admitted.
Luna popped a few of the candies into her mouth before saying, “We have our weaknesses. 'Tia's is pastries, and mine is candies.”
“Does Princess Cadance have one?”
“Beauty products,” Luna said.
“Something she and I have in common, I guess.”
“So you are trying to look like my sister then?”
“Trying to look like...huh?” Fleur asked, thinking she had misheard the princess.
“You look like 'Tia did before she became a goddess. Just lighten your eyes a few shades, dye the streak of white in your mane pink, and change your cutie mark and you would look just like her. Actually that gives me a great idea for a prank.”
“Does this prank end with me being executed?”
“Do not worry, I know 'Tia would not punish you for pretending to be her for a bit for the sake of harmless fun. If you do not mind coming to Canterlot for a day, I could fill you in on all the details on Saturday,” Luna said.
“I'll consider it. By the way, shouldn't you be checking on disaster preparedness, instead of following some random pony to the library?”
“I am also here to get to know the citizenry if you will recall. Also, note please item two,” Luna said as she took out and unrolled a long scroll.
“Check on Twilight Sparkle's mental health and take necessary precautions to avoid a repeat of the 'Smartypants incident.' I don't get it. What was the 'Smartypants incident'?”
“I do not have all the details but she apparently enchanted an old doll with a 'want it, need it' spell and caused a riot over it in an attempt to create a friendship report for my sister. 'Tia was not pleased.”
“Wait. So Twilight really is Princess Celestia's student?” Fleur asked.
“Indeed she is.”
“And is she really a bearer of an element of harmony?”
“Yes, along with, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie.”
Fleur was too surprised by the revelation that she was friends with three of the six greatest heroes of Equestria to respond, which Luna seemed not at all bothered by. When the unicorn felt a force a force gently trying to override her hold on her books, which she assumed was Luna. She let the force take over and watched as the princess took the books and looked at the blurbs on the back.
Luna, slightly surprised that all of the books, despite all being romance novels, each had a completely different theme, gave them back to Fleur and asked, “Why did you pick those novels in particular?”
“I wasn't being particularly picky about what I read. I just wanted a way to pass the time on the train,” Fleur half-lied. She was also trying to make sure that there wasn't a uniting theme somepony could pick up on and use to make assumptions about her aside from “reads romance novels,” though she had thrown in a stallion on stallion novel just to muddle things a bit.
“I see. I must ask, though, how long of a train ride is it to Prance?”
“18 hours, which is why I was in the sleeper car,” Fleur said, seeing that they were only a minute's walk from the library and she might be able to just drop off her books and worm her way away from the apparently very social Princess of The Night.
Meanwhile, in her cottage, Fluttershy was restlessly pacing about the living room wondering what to do about Luna coming by the next day. The princess still scared her a lot, but she could deal with that, if she wasn't around for too long. However, Luna was probably going to be around for hours judging how prepared the city was for something aggressive and/or hungry coming out of the Everfree Forest, and, seeing as Fluttershy was one of the first lines of defense, Luna would probably need to do an extensive interview with her about said preparations, which suited Fluttershy not at all well.
Because of all this, Fluttershy was almost looking forward to returning Jacques to Fleur, despite having a sneaking suspicion that the tall unicorn wanted her to come over for other reasons than just returning the cat. They had corresponded by mail while Fleur was in Prance, and the exchange had made her consider Fleur a friend, but that didn't necessarily mean she wanted a relationship with the other mare. Not while she remained unsure of her own sexuality.
She briefly wondered why it was so hard to identify exactly where she was sexually. She guessed that it was partly the fact that during her time at Flight camp many students were bullied by students and teachers alike if they were perceived as being gay. Since she didn't want to draw any more attention of that sort to herself, she thought she might have suppressed anything to do with homosexuality, and only now was it resurfacing. However, since she barely remembered her time at flight camp, and what she did remember (aside from the memories of meeting Rainbow and getting her cutie mark) made her think she didn't want to remember the rest, she had no way of knowing if this was the truth or a giant pile of horseapples.
Breaking her out of her troubled thoughts was a knock on the door. When she opened it she found a yellow earth pony filly with a red mane and tail standing on her doorstep. “Hi, Fluttershy.”
“Oh, hi Apple Bloom. What brings you here?”
“Applejack asked me to come get you. Some varmints have invaded the apple fields again and we need your help to drive them out.”
Fluttershy was relieved when she heard this. This sort of thing happened a few times a year, and never took more than an hour or two a day for about a week to fix, meaning she could keep herself busy for a while and still have time to get Jacques back to Fleur's place on time. She said, “Of course. Just give me one second and we'll be on our way.”
“Alright.”
As Fluttershy worked her way through de-bunnifying Sweet Apple Acres, Fleur had been bribed into staying with the princess who had a slight reputation for being hotblooded, and, it was rumored, tried to cancel Nightmare Night forever due to a personal affront towards her.
Of course, Fleur was now wondering whether that pony and the pony that Fleur was actually dealing with were the same one. Having been offered a large meal of salad and soup, she decided to stay a while. When we pick up with them, Luna and Twilight have just finished a discussion about whether Twilight's mental health actually needed checking, to the satisfaction of neither pony, and now silence hung over the table.
Fleur broke the lull by asking Twilight, “So, what is it like to live with a baby dragon?”
“Spike's great to have around once you get past his laziness and eating habits, and he's quite handy, but he has caused a few issues here and there.”
“Like his greed-induced growth?” Luna asked.
“You heard about that?”
“Of course. It is not every day that a greedy dragon rampages through Ponyville, after all.”
Fleur had also heard about it, but didn't quite believe that something so bizarre could actually happen. Now that it had been confirmed by the roommate of the dragon who had apparently gone on the rampage (roommate simply being the word she settled on to describe their relationship), she now wondered how many of the other wild events that had supposedly happened in Ponyville were true. She wasn't going to ask about that right now, however, preferring to sate other aspects of her curiosity. “And yet, despite that, Spike seems fine,” she said.
“Spike reverted back to his baby self when he saw he was holding Rarity in his tail, and Fluttershy and Rainbow saved them from falling to their deaths,” Twilight explained.
Fleur asked the obvious question. “Why was the realization that he was holding Rarity cause him to transform back?”
“Simple, he has a crush on her.”
Ignoring the fact that a simple crush wasn't quite enough elaboration on why Spike transformed back when he realized he who was holding, Fleur asked, “Wait, a dragon has a crush on a pony?”
“Yeah. It doesn't seem any more unusual than a mare having one on an another mare half her age, if you ask me,” Twilight said.
“If you are referring to me, Twilight Sparkle, I'll have you know that I am only 24 years old.”
Fleur was annoyed when she said that, but the look that came over Twilight's face when she heard this was almost too much for the white unicorn. Doing her best to keep herself from laughing, she took a long sip of her tea and awaited the purple unicorn's response.
“Oh. Sorry. It's just you're so tall, I thought that...”
“Don't worry about it. I'm just tired of everypony assuming I'm in my thirties or forties. So, who spilled the beans?”
“Rainbow said Rarity told her something to that effect.”
Unseen by either unicorn was that Luna's horn had ignited and the door to the kitchen was moving about when she asked, “So who do you have a... what is it a crush?”
“Yeah. Basically a romantic attraction that isn't quite love,” Twilight explained.
“So who do you have a...crush on?”
“...Fluttershy.” Fleur had temporarily forgotten that Luna was present when she was dealing with Twilight's insinuation that she was older than she was, and was now resigned to any punishment that the princess might issue for wanting to fillyfool with an element bearer.
If Luna was at all bothered by the idea of two mares being romantically involved, she wasn't showing it. She asked, “Does she know?”
“I think she figured it out after I made some rather, ah, inappropriate remarks about a part of her anatomy when I thought she was out of earshot.”
“And how do you know she heard you?” Twilight asked.
Fleur described the encounter in as little detail as possible while still giving them an idea of what happened, as she did agree never to speak of that incident again, even though she knew that Rarity had already broken that agreement.
Before either other pony could comment on this, however, a loud crash could be heard from the kitchen doorway. All three ponies turned to look, seeing Spike soaking wet and with a bucket on his head. “Luna!” he said, sounding distinctly displeased at the now laughing princess. Twilight and Fleur both couldn't help but giggle at the prank that Luna had pulled on the hapless dragon.
“What? Did you really expect me not to do something after your little stunt during my last visit?”
“But that was six months ago!”
“What is six months for a pony who has lived for twelve hundred years? Regardless, I must have some fun while I am here, no matter how serious the visit,” Luna said.
“And the princess has a funny side. Okay, this is not what I had expected out of my day,” Fleur said, speaking before thinking again.
“Well, I can't be serious all the time. It would drive me insane!”
“So, on the subject of sanity, how did you stay sane while you were trapped in the moon?” Twilight asked.
“Ah, I was only conscious a few hours every couple years, I believe as a safeguard against that. Still it was not very easy to endure, I must admit.” Twilight and Fleur gave no response, Twilight because she was now planning to ask a question of Celestia, and Fleur now processing the idea that Luna really did spend 1,000 years in the moon.
Spike, taking advantage of the break in conversation as he dried himself off, now asked, “Anyway, what do you three want to drink?”
Fleur, snapping out of her confused reverie briefly considered asking for red wine, but realized that Twilight probably wouldn't have any with a baby dragon in the house, so she let the other two make their choices first to get an idea of what Twilight did have.
“Apple juice, please,” Luna said.
“Tea for me,” Twilight said.
Fleur decided to follow Twilight's lead, and picked tea as well, though she wondered why Luna would pick something like apple juice. Slowly, she realized that the longer she spent with Luna, the more she found that her assumptions about the princess were way off.
Lunch went by with no more soaked dragons or anything of the sort, though a few tales of Twilight's adventures were told, and soon Fleur was home, finishing her unpacking then relaxing for a while, having no more commitments for the day other than Fluttershy coming by with Jacques. She counted out 28 bits and put them in a bag, knowing full well that Fluttershy was only charging her 14. This was, in part, because her divorce settlement had left her a reasonably rich mare, which is how she owned her house outright, and could plan on opening a Prench restaurant down the line. However, her attraction to Fluttershy didn't hurt either.
Relaxing did leave her bored and fidgety after a while however, causing her mind to inevitably wander back to the yellow mare coming by soon. She considered what a relationship with her might be like, and thought of various activities they could pursue together. This did have the effect of making her realize how the size difference between them could affect things. Certain activities were going to be impractical to pursue, and others like hugging and dancing could be a bit problematic. There were other activities, however, that probably wouldn't be too difficult, though there was only one that Fleur thought the size difference would make easier: pony-back rides.
She suddenly found herself imagining Fluttershy straddling her back like a foal would do their parent during a pony-back ride, and yelling, “Onwards my steed!” Shaking that bizarre and disturbing image from her head, she stood up and headed for the kitchen, wanting to try the wine Bordeaux had given her.
As she moved to the kitchen, she glanced at the clock and realized that Fluttershy would be arriving any minute. She pulled out a wine glass, popped the cork on one of the dozen bottles she managed to talk her sister out of, and poured herself a tall glass. As she moved back to the living room to relax with her wine, a knock came at the door. “Coming!” she said, setting the wine glass on the coffee table.
She opened the door to reveal Fluttershy with a basket in her mouth. The same basket, in fact, that Fluttershy typically used to take Opal back to the boutique. She said, “Oh, come in, Fluttershy,” she said, standing aside to let the shorter mare in.
Fluttershy walked in and deposited the basket on the floor, and not five seconds later a short haired tuxedo cat jumped out of the basket and looked around.
Fleur asked,”Were you a good boy, Jacques? Were you?” to which the cat started purring in response.
“He was very well behaved. Didn't cause a single problem,” Fluttershy said with a smile.
Fleur then turned to Fluttershy and said, “Thank you for taking care of Jacques for me, though I should admit that I also asked you to come over because I wanted to tell you how I feel, but, since I realized that words haven't been my strong suit as of late, I've decided a more direct approach would be better.”
Even as Fleur moved towards her, Fluttershy knew what was coming, but her curiosity about what it would be like kept her from stopping it outright, and her trepidation kept her from hurrying it along.
Fleur noticed the conflicted look on Fluttershy's face, but decided to press on, putting a hoof under Fluttershy's chin and maneuvering her face to face her own, before pressing her lips against Fluttershy's in a tender kiss. Holding the kiss as long as she dared, she savored every sensation, and noticed with silent glee that, while the pegasus wasn't kissing back, she also wasn't pulling away either.
When Fleur did break the kiss, it was with a loving smile on her face, and, just under the surface, both hope and nervousness. She watched Fluttershy's face as it slowly transitioned from the conflicted state from before to an expression of confusion and nervousness. After several long seconds, the yellow mare asked, “why me?”
Fleur took it as a good sign that Fluttershy hadn't rejected her outright but wasn't prepared to let her guard down. Keeping the loving smile on her face, she asked, “why not?”
“Well, you're a beautiful high class mare and I'm just some country pon-”
“Fluttershy, really. First, as far as I'm concerned you easily rival me in terms of looks, and secondly, I'm not all that high class anymore, in case you couldn't tell,” she said, gesturing to her somewhat modest accommodations.
“I guess.”
“And thirdly, how could I turn down such a nice pony? I mean you gave me Jacques for free even though I had blatantly, if accidentally, insulted your special talent, and thoroughly embarrassed both of us, and never seemed to charge Rarity for grooming Opal."
Fluttershy said nothing more, but the nervousness etching her face stayed put, even as the confusion evaporated.
Fleur noticed this but decided to stick to her plan, thinking it wouldn't to any harm. She asked, “So, how about a date?”
Fluttershy didn't answer, and, in fact, had basically shut down in response to the question. In fact, if one were to walk into the room right at this moment, and was told that she was a statue, one would almost believe it, if not for the slowly unfurling wings. Wings that had been unfurling since their lips met no more than a minute before.
Fleur, who was still paying attention to every detail and every move from Fluttershy, saw this and made a quick decision. “You know what, while you think about that, I'll go get your bits for you,” she said, quickly turning around and heading for the kitchen.
Right when Fleur left her sight, Fluttershy looked around the room. For what she didn't know, but she needed to find something. Soon, her eyes fell on the glass of red wine Fleur had left on the coffee table and she quickly rushed over and drank the whole thing down in a few quick gulps.
It wasn't quickly enough, however, to keep Fleur from seeing this little spectacle. Rather than get angry, however, she simply asked, “I came on a bit too fast for you?” while moving the gift she had intended to give the other mare back to the counter.
Gasping a bit after chugging down the beverage, she said, “Yeah.”
“Okay, I'll tell you what. Think about my offer for a date tonight, and come by tomorrow with your decision. Also, bring your saddlebags. I'll have a little gift for you,” Fleur said, depositing the bag of bits in Fluttershy's basket.
“Okay.”
Princess Luna was spending the night taking care of her inspection duties, and, at the moment, looking over a curved cliff-side road that had no guardrail. Silently cursing whoever thought that was a good idea, she made some notes while scanning the dreams of the ponies of Ponyville, finding a few troubled sleepers, including that white unicorn she had met earlier in the day. Curious, she entered said pony's dream.
Quickly transforming into her mist-like state upon arrival into Fleur de Lis' dream, Luna pressed herself against the ceiling and took stock of her surroundings. She was in a hallway behind the mare in question and surrounded by plush carpets and lavish fixtures. Despite this, a sense of dread permeated the atmosphere as Fleur walked forward, her gaze never wavering from the door in front of her.
As Luna followed the unicorn, she started hearing voices moaning and cooing with obvious pleasure. She thought why would she dread walking in on two ponies having sex so much?
When Fleur reached the door, she opened it, revealing a stallion and a mare in bed, obviously having sex. She recoiled with shock, before yelling Fancypants' name and something in a language Luna didn't recognize, though she assumed it was Prench. Apparently Fancypants had no trouble understanding her, however, as he said, “Listen, I can explain!”
More Prench yelling followed, along with few bolts of magical energy directed at the two lovebirds, before the world dissolved into chaos.
When it reformed, the unicorn found herself being insulted and berated by a number of obviously high class ponies who were steadily closing in on her. When they reached her, everything dissolved to black, and Luna was brought back to reality, the dreamer having awoken. Luna, now a bit shaken up, made a mental note to ask Cadance how best to approach this particular dreamer's issue.
The next morning, around nine, the door to the Carousel Boutique opened and shut, causing Rarity to start welcoming whoever had entered into her shop before seeing who it was. “Oh, hi Fluttershy.”
“Hi. I just stopped by to drop off a gift Fleur wanted me to give you when I went by her house,” Fluttershy said, before pulling out two bottles of wine, while leaving two more in her bag.
“Oh, give her my thanks, will you? And thank you for bringing-wait. What were you doing at Fleur's place?”
“Um, she asked me on a date last night, then, when I couldn't give an answer, said to get back to her today with my decision.”
“And what did you tell her?” Rarity asked, her anticipation rising.
“That I would go.”