À partir de Bourgeons à Fleurs

by Indulgence

Quelques Réponses

For buck’s sake, make up your damn mind!

Despite the smallness of the tented space (its walls created by billowing cream fabric) Fleur still found just enough room to pace, moving back and forth across the square’s diagonal. This was helped by the general lack of stuff filling the area alongside the unicorn, only consisting of a plain dressing table, with full length mirrors at either side of it and a suited mannequin. In contrast to the facsimile she was however bare, unfinished, her mane done in rivulets and set across one eye in a fancier version of its trademark form, but otherwise unready.

Buck buck buck buck!

There was no pavilion, rather a sheer cliff face, at whose precipice she stood desperately willing herself to jump but wavering, withheld at the brink. As the jagged rocky surface had drawn closer it had grown, becoming ever steeper and taller with each movement under her gaze, equally intensifying all thoughts of the potential fall. She did not however recoil from it; she wanted to leap forth, hoping to fly as opposed to plummet, if only her doubts would be still.

Buck buck buck buck!

‘Hey Fleur’ a familiar earth mare’s voice broke in, stopping the unicorn in her tracks but not turning her, ‘I’ve got the thing from Rare, plus she says sorry it took so long to finish. She said something about Sweetie and having to restock her supply of stones, but whatever.’

Fleur remained glued in place, facing away from the other mare.

‘Fleur? Come on, you’ve got to get ready.’

‘I don’t know if I can do this Rox.’

‘What?’

‘I don’t know if I can do this’ the unicorn repeated, finally turning to meet the pale sapphire mare at her back, her wide violet eyes on the cusp of tears meeting a pair in sky blue filled with concern.

‘Come on now’ Roxie returned with immediacy, not skipping a beat as she appraised her friend, dropping a small package she had been carrying and moving to lay a hoof on Fleur’s shoulder. ‘If you cry your makeup’s going to run and then you’ll be pissed off when you get over this. Did somepony say something?’

‘No’ Fleur shook her head, eyes hitting the floor timidly under the spotlight of care.

‘Okay, so what gives?’

‘I don’t know, I…’

‘Come on, you’re not the first pony to get cold hooves, nor are you going to be the last to regret listening to them unless you start talking, so what’s got you spooked?’

‘A bunch of stuff.’

‘Okay’ Roxie coaxed, raising the muttering unicorn’s muzzle so that their gazes came together once more.

‘I don’t know whether this is me’ Fleur began tentatively, ‘in terms of both what it means and what will change.’

‘What do you think it’s going to change?’

‘I dunno.’

‘Exactly. Nothing about today entails an end to anything, and nothing need change if you don’t want it to.’

‘But everypony makes such a big deal out of it, and what of pegasus talking about having their “wings clipped” or that well known phrase “ball and chain”.

‘All that crap is just the refuge of the terminally idiotic’ Roxie stated with a factual air, succeeding in raising a slight corner of a smile on her audience’s face through her directness. ‘Anypony who buys into any of the “last night of freedom” BS and all the other stuff like that, or calls their spouse a fetter, really shouldn’t be getting married, nor do they have any concept of what getting married is about. What about Coco suggests that she’s at all like that?’

‘Nothing’ Fleur admitted, pricked by guilt in the tacit accusation she had put against her marefriend.

‘Again exactly: nothing. Coco doesn’t want to stop you, limit you, tie you down, whatever you want to call it, rather she wants to be beside you whilst you trail the course that makes you happy, just as the two of you already are.’

‘But that’s just it Rox, am I enough to make her happy in return? You know me more than most so, disregarding that I obviously don’t deserve her, surely she deserves so much more than me. I mean I’m far from the perfection that should be hers, even before considering the substandard cloth I’m cut from…’

‘Stop right there!’ Roxie cut the other mare off again, raising her voice in seriousness as opposed to anger. ‘Fleur you’re right about one thing, I do know you far more than most, so trust me when I say that you’re wrong.’ The makeup artist paused to swiftly dab a teardrop at the edge of Fleur’s eye, skilfully catching it before it marred her visage. ‘You’ve already said that the reason you’re here today isn’t about anything, be it opinion, tradition or… rings, beyond you telling her that you’re hers and that’s exactly the same with her. That’s everything; it’s unconditional, including every kink, every scuff and every frayed seam. You’re offering yourself bare, and the point is she doesn’t care about any imperfection, just as you’re incapable of seeing any of hers, she just wants you. Plus do you think she hasn’t had exactly these same doubts as you? The answer is no.’ She now stepped forward bringing the unicorn into a gentle but forceful hug, both mare’s standing to support one another on their hind hooves. ‘Now you need to stop being such a silly filly and get your ass in gear.’

‘There’s one more thing.’

‘Shoot Fleur’ Roxie replied caringly, drawing back just enough so that they returned to staring face to face.

‘We visited my folks.’

‘And? What did they say?’

‘It’s more what they didn’t say, it was mostly silence. They were surprised by our arrival, we went in, there was no easy way to tackle it so I just kind of laid all my cards on the table and then there was quiet, an absolute quiet. Coco was all smiles, she was simply amazing in the face of the two of them, I tried to raise some small talk in the void with limited success, and still there was almost unbroken silence. I hated them, I still hate them, for how they treated her, so gaining nothing except for increasingly angry we left and almost immediately jumped in a cab. I wanted to hold her, to apologise for the way they were, feelings in equal measure to how much I wanted to kill them, seriously kill them Rox, for what they did, but she beat me to it and all she kept saying was that she was sorry for how they were to me. But anyway, the reason that all this matters is because in my rush to leave I dropped their invitation to today, which I foalishly hoped we might’ve been able to give them, so…’

‘They’re not going to be here.’

‘But what if…’

‘If they didn’t have the guts to even talk to you, no matter what they may have wanted to say, they’re not going to show their faces here and if they do it won’t matter. The crowd is secondary, today is just about you and Coco, and don’t try and tell me that you’re eyes are going to be anywhere other than on her in the dress you and Rare put together. We’ll be there for the after party of course’ she grinned, ‘but the moment is really just between the two of you. Even the Princess is really just background.’

‘What?!’

‘Oh buck.’ Roxie’s face turned flushed as it became sheepish. ‘Well I sure bucked up. Sorry to spoil the surprise, but Princess Luna’s here. Coco invited her to conduct the ceremony as she preferred the idea of that to some random pony neither of you knew doing it, plus she wanted to introduce you. So yeah… whoops.’

As her friend concluded her explanation Fleur let her mind refocus from the torrent she had been submerged under. She took a deep breath, previously overwhelmed, but now soothed by the passing current. ‘Okay, you can make up for it by getting my suit off the rack and helping me into it’ she said definitively, lifting up the discarded package with her magical glow as she spoke.

‘Sure thing’ Roxie affirmed in motion, going straight to the still waiting mannequin.

‘And Rox; thank you.’

‘Forget it.’

Fleur meanwhile undid the daintily bow tied ribbon (which Rarity had deemed entirely necessary for the delivery), sliding a box from the parcel’s packaging and lifting its lid. As yet she was no silversmith, so she had left what was contained within in the more capable hooves of the unicorn fashionista. Inside (set within more patterned tissue paper than was either reasonable or seemingly physically possible in the box’s small confines) was a brooch, her little addition to the ensemble which would be set at her buttonhole in place of a faceless bloom. The piece of intricate jewellery did however take the form of a flower in full blossom, but more specifically it was Coco’s flower, so often worn by the designer in her mane adorning a neat clip. The mirror image’s petals though, in two concentric circles of deep outer and pale inner red with a purple centre, were formed from gemstones, eat cut with perfection to accentuate their natural facets and all exceedingly precious. She would wear it as a badge at her breast, alongside her heart as she strode beside her love up the aisle. It was a blatant symbol, a tad on the obvious side in meaning, but it was something she now knew she wanted to shout and shout loud, regardless of all else.

Author's Note:

Title: Some Answers (French)