It was a warm summer's evening in Canterlot, Equestria. Canterlot was home to the most elegant and regal ponies in Equestria. That was true, as both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna reigned Equestria in peace and harmony there. But really, Equestria's true heroes were six best friends--Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Applejack.
Fleur de Lis was sitting in the middle of the gardens that surrounded the Grand Galloping Gala. Sitting across from her was Fancypants, dressed in one of his best suits.The couple were the only ponies at the table, with stool-like, frilly, purple pillows to set their flanks on.
The two classy unicorns had gotten together almost three years ago. They weren't in an "on-off" relationship, neither went out with other mares or stallions without the other knowing, and most importantly, they were planning their wedding.
They agreed to try having foals a few days after their official marriage; Fleur and Fancypants had split up the name choosing-female names were chosen by the graceful mare, and male names were chosen by the good-looking stallion. Little did anypony else know about the couple's secret desires of starting a family. Oh, how classy and elegant their foals would be!
Princess Celestia had even decided to start a very frequent event--royal Canterlot tea-time. It took place every evening in the royal Canterlot gardens, when the sun was beginning to set; every evening except the nights that held important events, that is, like the Gala and the Summer Sun Celebration. The regal princess of the sun had set the new event in honor of Fleur de Lis's and Fancypants' wedding.
So, each afternoon, round, small, snow-white tables were set out, each with a different number of purple pillow-stools, which acted as very comfortable chairs. Yes, the Princess didn't go wrong with this one. Such a peaceful, high-class event.
Fleur de Lis and Fancypants had spoken to Princess Celestia and had the table in the middle of the garden reserved. Why the middle? Why not at the edge, where the flowers were in bloom and the trees provided just the right amount of shade? The high-class couple weren't very keen on just looks. No, Fleur and Fancypants were solely seeking attention.
Every high-class mare dreamed of sitting in the middle of the garden, because all the good-looking, rich stallions asked if they could sit with them-if the mare was alone, of course. Only the amateurs would ask out a pony if they were sitting with their significant other. Unfortunately for Fleur, when newcomers arrived for evening tea, the stallions would always flirt with her.
But today was different. Today, there were two newcomers. And they were both mares-unicorns too. Not to mention they were glaring in the direction of Fleur and Fancypants.
The first of the two unicorns had a light pink coat that complimented her long, flowing, wavy blonde mane. She wore a frilly, hot-pink, short dress and pink heels. Her friend had a light blue coat, but bore a nearly identical mane; bubblegum pink streaks had been added. Her outfit was also exactly the same, but only in design; the color was a dark blue. They were strutting about like they were Photo Finish's new fashionistas. Fleur de Lis found this to be hilarious; everything from their mane to their outfits were something somepony would wear to a six-year-old's birthday party.
The first whispered something to her friend. They both giggled. High-pitched, girly, look-at-me-I'm-a-snob kind of giggles. Then they approached Fleur and Fancypants' tea table. The waiter was once again late; that wasn't a means of escape. Fleur de Lis braced herself. Whatever was coming, it could not be good.
The trouble could have all been avoided if the pair had taken a sharp turn to the right or left. Of course, that didn't happen. Instead, they waltzed up right to the middle table. Both Fleur de Lis and Fancypants looked up. The pink-coated unicorn spoke.
"Hey there, handsome. We just wanted to know if you'd like to join us at our table?"
Ignorant, snobbish, girly. Ugh. Who did these bitches think they were, prancing around like leprechauns?
"So sorry to interrupt," Fleur cut in impatiently, all the while forcing herself to smile, "This table is reserved. In other words, it is private. I suggest you leave before you make a complete fool of yourselves."
At that, Fancypants nodded. "I agree completely. I do not appreciate you flirting with me, nor do I find your appearance and attitudes to fit the classy theme."
The mares gaped at him. "Please. Class is for foals. Swag is for the mature ponies."
Great. The sass was back. Luckily, Fleur's coltfriend was not amused.
"Another pair of amateurs, I see. Guards," the attractive stallion called, raising the volume in his voice the slightest bit, "will you please escort these young fillies to the exit. They are distracting my dear marefriend and I from our romance, and, quite frankly, making a fool of themselves."
Two white-coated royal pegasus guards approached the table from where they were standing at the north side of the garden. The one nearest to Fleur smiled. The other grinned. They had also heard word of the two unicorns' marriage and were attempting to show their utmost respect and hapiness for them. The classy couple noticed this and smiled back not only in gratefulness, but also in greeting. Then Princess Celestia's royal guards turned to the non-welcomed mares.
"Please begin walking over there." The one who smiled earlier pointed to the garden exit with his right wing. "We will escort you out of the royal garden."
His voice was deep, compared to the other guard's, which was higher, yet equally calming. If the amateur mares were fazed by it, they did not show it.
They may not have perfect poker faces, Fleur de Lis thought, but maybe only words have affect on them, not the voice tone of the pony who's speaking.
When neither of the mares even flinched, his voice became more stern. "Young ladies, I demand you walk towards the exit."
The other looked over his shoulder at Fleur and Fancypants. His expression was apologetic. The pair nodded in sympathy and understanding. The unicorns may be high-class and obsessed with fashion, but they were also very caring and understanding to their friends. They happened to know both the guards for about seven years, always making sure to stay in touch so their friendship bond wouldn't break. In result, it had only grown stronger.
In the few moments the three friends had exchanged glances and silent words, the prissy, wanna-be unicorns still hadn't moved. Great Celestia, were they persistent. The other royal guard turned his head back towards them. The guards exchanged a quick nod, then flanked the sassy "guests." Instinctively, the prissy unicorns began running towards the far side of the garden, away from the exit. The two guards chased after them, both opening their wings.
Fleur de Lis and her coltfriend watched for over five minutes as the guards flew around, trying to stop the mares from completely destroying everything. It was true; there was tea spilled onto the ground, tables flipped over, and none of the other ponies took the time to set their fallen chairs back up as they fled either to the side of the garden or out the exit. The soon-to-be married unicorn couple, however, stayed seated. They could block out surrounding events easily, a result of years of accidental practice.
"So, my dear," Fancypants began, speaking to his marefriend, "when shall we set our wedding date?"
"Hmm." Fleur hesitated for a moment, thinking; she had to calculate everything, from what they had planned separately to making sure the date wasn't too soon, so the ponies participating in the wedding wouldn't be filled to the brim with stress. "How about April twenty-fifth? That's about two days from now, and I know everypony has been preparing for the wedding for weeks. The two days until our marriage will give both them and us the time we need to do last-minute checks and all."
The unicorn stallion nodded, smiling. "That sounds like a perfect day for all of us."
The pair turned their heads as another table was kicked over. By now, all of the royal guards in the garden had flown into the mini-war. The two amateur mares leaped onto the couple's table, spilling tea onto Fleur's coat and Fancypants' new suit.
Finally, the guards were able to capture the runaways. One of them had gotten a fold-able cloth net out of his helmet-Fleur and Fancypants had learned that this was one of many of the royal guards' defense tactics-and they had thrown it over the table, trapping the ignorant mares under it.
It took eight full-grown royal guards to drag the mares off the table-which fell on its left side due to the unbalance in the weight-and out the exit gates of the garden. After the unwelcomed guests were thrown out, Princess Luna's royal unicorn guards charmed the gate so they couldn't get back inside the garden, yet so everypony else could. By the time that was all done, it was well past midnight. Fleur de Lis and Fancypants decided to stay in the garden and help fix it up a little before heading to their three-story mansion a few houses down.
Tables and chairs were flying, surrounded by purple and blue auras, as Fleur, Fancypants, and the unicorn guards began to organize the now-disastrous Canterlot garden. The graceful unicorn mare had to admit that cleaning up the gardens was more amusing than she expected. The guards occasionally cracked jokes, and soon the couple were joining in. Recalled past times were also discussed, including that night with the prissy, sassy unicorns.
The sun was beginning to rise when the garden finally appeared as it could pass the test for always being that way. Fleur and her coltfriend gave grateful farewells to the guards, then walked home. The dawn promised a refreshing, overcast day with the possibility of light rain showers. No words were spoken on the trip back to the couple's house.
They finally reached it, opening the double oak-wood doors. The inside of the house was amazing. Right away from entering, there was a hallway that branched out into what seemed like hundreds of rooms-bathrooms, kitchens, and even rooms with their own theme, like a music room and art room.
The hall continued forward, eventually widening out into a living room. All sorts of expensive, high-class furniture sat in this room-including leather sofas and marble coffee tables-that was complete with a brick fireplace. Past the living room were two sets of marble stairs, each leading to the same place on the second floor. The railings were made of pure gold.
The couple walked down the hallway and into the living room. Fancypants sat down; Fleur remained standing and yawned.
"I'm going to get some sleep," Fleur de Lis stated drowsily to her coltfriend.
He nodded. They both wished the other a good night, and the mare trekked up the pearly white marble stairs. Once at the landing, she turned right, then walked forward into a room at the end of the hallway.
The walls were painted a rose pink on one side, and navy blue on the other; it was a symbol of Fleur's and Fancypants' love. The king-sized canopy bed against the right wall was also split up into the same colors as the walls. The floor was carpeted, the color a pure white like newly fallen, undisturbed snow on a calm winter's night.
There were also nightstands on each side of the bed. The drawers contained accessories, brushes, and the occasional dress or suit. Sitting innocently above was a bedside lamp that cast golden light when turned on. Next to those were picture frames.
The frames contained pictures of Fleur on the blue side, Fancypants on the pink side. Both sides also owned photos of the two together. Fleur de Lis could recall the memories the pictures told: when the couple first met in their youth, their first Grand Galloping Gala together... There were even photos of the two kissing. The elegant unicorn glanced at them then turned away, smiling and blushing.
She yawned again. Great Celestia. Yes, she had experienced major amateurs before that all threw tantrums, but never had Fleur seen two distasteful, ignorant mares like that. All the insignificant ponies with all talk and no brains or style had been tiring her out.
As Fleur pulled back the covers of the bed on the right side where she slept, she began thinking about her upcoming wedding. She got into bed and pulled up the covers, turning out the light with her unicorn magic. After the marriage, she would finally get to start a family with her soul mate. One last, comforting thought, her head hitting the soft satin pillow; her eyes immediately closed, and her breathing evened out into a sign of sleep.
Nothing could go wrong.
About an hour later, Fleur de Lis jerked up in bed into a sitting position. She looked to the left of her; Fancypants wasn't there. It was still dark outside. Everything was silent, and she didn't have any nightmares. So what had woken her up?
Crash!
Fleur flinched, startled. The noise had come from downstairs. It sounded like one of the plates in the kitchen had shattered.
What in the name of Celestia is Fancypants doing? Fleur wondered, getting out of bed quickly and walking towards the door.
Before she had even walked out of the room, there was another crash. It was definitely coming from the kitchen. Enough time had been wasted walking.
Fleur ran down the hall, down the stairs, stumbling multiple times but not falling or stopping. When she flew past the living room, she made out a shape in the dark that she quickly identified as her coltfriend. She stopped and hesitated. Another crash from the kitchen got her running again.
No wonder our unwelcomed guest keeps breaking things, Fleur thought irritably as she bumped her foreleg on the edge of a table. They didn't even bother turning on the lights. Well... neither did I.
As she approached the kitchen, she managed to-but barely-make out a pony, its face and all features drowned in darkness. It appeared to be a unicorn, and female, trying to escape the maze of rooms. It was true the pony had almost succeeded; there was a back door in the kitchen that led to the freedom outside.
Fleur de Lis turned on the single light switch in the room with her magic. What she saw, she had not expected but was not surprised by the pony's visit.
It was the snobby mare with the pink streaks in her mane, the ringleader of the chaos in the Canterlot gardens.
She squinted against the unexpected light source, then spotted an angry and irritated-looking Fleur and grinned insanely.
"What in the name of Celestia are you doing here, especially at three in the morning?" the model-like mare demanded with less than a second's hesitation.
"Oh, you don't know yet?" The mare smirked. "Your lovely fiance is going to be the father of my foals."
Fleur gaped. She didn't want to believe this insignificant mare had broken into her-and Fancypants'-private mansion, just to get this horrible revenge that made the elegant mare sick to her stomach.
"You what?!"
"I heard news around town you and him were getting married in a few days' time. You got me kicked out of the exclusive Canterlot evening tea for all eternity, so I followed you here and waited until the right moment. The lovely, unconscious stallion downstairs was still sitting on the couch in your living room when I used a tricky charm my best friend taught me to get inside quickly and efficiently. He was just about to go upstairs, but I stopped that from happening. Quite easy with your poor security measures."
"So, in short, you cast an illegal charm on the front door to break in, you found my fiance and decided to get revenge on us by having foals with him, then you break a few plates trying to get out without being caught, being stopped by myself and saying the house has poor security measures?"
The entire plan sounded ridiculous, especially when you added in "was amateur and ignorant in the royal gardens" and "followed us home". The mare nodded as if it was the greatest plan in the world, yet there were many flaws to it. The flaws included being caught and not being prepared for the very high security measures.
Fleur de Lis let her eyes wander upwards to the security cameras hovering at all angles. The mare followed her gaze, then froze. Her face was in a total panic.
"Did you even bother to check by the doors for the cameras?" Fleur asked innocently. When she received no answer, she added, "The Canterlot police force, FBI, and the royal guards saw everything you did. Well, except for seducing my fiance, that is."
The mare gulped. A great plan gone wrong once again. Forever failing. She knew her prissy life and aptitude for pointless revenge would come to an end when she heard the sirens' wailing in a sick crescendo.
"This is the Canterlot police force," a male voice shouted. "All subjects inside, please respond immediately." It sounded like he was speaking through a megaphone.
Fleur unlocked the back door with her magic, then opened it. About thirty ponies from the police force filed into the large kitchen. Ten of them trotted out of sight. Fleur de Lis theorized they were going to find any evidence they could in the living room.
The mare always left the cameras on during the night and while she and Fancypants were away. That way, if anyone tried to break in, all Canterlot anti-crime forces would get a live view of what was happening, therefore responding quickly.
Five of the ponies left in the kitchen attempted to hoof-cuff the ignorant revenge junkie, but she was quick to react. She had obviously had many encounters like this, not hesitating to levitate a pile of about ten plates in a green aura, letting them fall and break onto many of the police officers' heads. They all fell to the floor, in a sick and twisted unison.
In the few moments the police still awake were distracted, the mare raced for the door. It was still flung open, letting in cool, refreshing dawn air. Fleur threw herself in front of the door in a feeble attempt to stop the abuser.. The two unicorn enemies were now horn-to-horn. The graceful unicorn's pure white horn was longer, and she drew it back in a form of attack.
The other wasn't expecting it, and Fleur de Lis's horn plunged deep into her left foreleg, hitting the bone. The pink-coated mare shrieked, detaching her leg from her attacker's horn, which dripped blood onto the tile flooring. She then pushed the pink-and-white maned unicorn out of her pathway, half-running, half-limping out the door. Unfortunately, she teleported away before the police or Fleur could do anything to stop her in her tracks.
Not bothering to do anything more, let alone close the door, Fleur de Lis ran into the living room despite the police officers' calls. She couldn't do anything to stop the ignorant mare, but she could still help Fancypants.
"Fleur, my dear," Fancypants gasped as his marefriend ran up to him. At least he was now awake and standing. "I am deeply sorry. I beg your forgiveness and hope you aren't ma-"
Fleur cut him off. "Fancypants, my love, I could never be angry with you. It isn't your fault. We can only blame the mare for this. Hopefully she will die bleeding."
They embraced, then kissed. In that moment, they both remembered why they were so perfect for each other. They understood each other completely, not getting angry over ninety-nine percent of things. Fancypants didn't even seem to mind the blood dripping onto his mane-that's how much he cared for Fleur. The police from the kitchen walked into the living room and surrounded them both.
"You, Fleur de Lis, are under arrest for attempting murder. Do not resist."
The couple stopped kissing and embracing, looking at each of the officers in turn. All had the same dull, aggressive expression. Not one had sympathy or pity in their eyes.
"Attempted murder?" The fiances exclaimed in unison.
"Yes. You have turned a criminal into a victim by stabbing almost completely through her leg. She could now possibly die."
Fancypants muttered something into his marefriend's ear. She nodded, sighing, then swept through the officers' features. Luckily, not one was a unicorn. Even better, all of them were Earth ponies.
Fancypants clutched onto Fleur's foreleg. The mare's horn was beginning to glow in a purple-pink aura. A blinding flash of light made the police shield their eyes; when they turned back, both Fleur de Lis and Fancypants were gone.