At around seven the next day, Fleur woke up and showered, before heading down to the kitchen for breakfast. She saw Rarity putting hay waffles on one plate and a few fruits on another.
“Oh, hi, Fleur. I thought I was going to have to wake you for breakfast,” Rarity said.
“Non. I've woken up at seven sharp all my life,” Fleur said as she sat down to her breakfast of apples and oranges.
“Oh. I just thought that, with the amount of tossing and turning I heard you doing last night, you would have wanted to sleep in. I'm guessing you're still trying to get over Fluttershy's revelation?”
“Maybe a bit, but uncle Fancy did say 'never meet your heroes.' I guess when I met Fluttershy and she acted mostly like I expected I just stopped expecting any wild revelations like 'I hated being a model.'”
“Do you think you can face her at the party today? I think you wanted to ask her out, or something,” Rarity said.
“I'll be fine. She's still a sweet, adorable mare even if she hates the limelight. I just focus on that and I shouldn't have a problem.”
“Before I forget, while we're on the subject of the party, please don't call yourself 'the most beautiful unicorn in Equestria' while we're there. My friend Twilight has a baby dragon for an assistant who thinks that I am 'the most beautiful creature in the world', his words not mine, and I don't want to start an argument over that.”
“Uh, sure I can do that, but would you mind explaining to me why your friend has a baby dragon as an assistant?” Fleur asked.
“He was a gift from Princess Celestia herself, as I recall. You can ask her for all the details.”
“Wait, really?”
“Well, as far as I know,” Rarity said, “I haven't actually asked Celestia about the truth of it. Not that I have any reason to think she's lying.”
“Speaking of Celestia, I was curious. You say you know her.”
“I do. Why?”
“Does Fluttershy know her too?” Fleur asked.
“Yes. I'd say she's as close to Celestia as I am.”
“I see,” Fleur said, finishing her breakfast and not bothering to ask how close that was. “Anyway, I think I'll go pick my dress for the party.”
“Well, if you insist on wearing a dress, I won't stop you. However, I would recommend you not choose anything you want to wear again. Pinkie's parties are silly, messy, and a whole lot of fun and your dress will probably be ruined.”
“Oh. Well, never mind then.”
Fluttershy arrived at Sugarcube Corner at eight thirty, wanting to be early, and found Pinkie firing off the last of the decorations for the party from her party cannon. Applejack was already there, as were Twilight and Spike. Pinkie asked, “Did you bring him?”
“Yes,” Fluttershy said, taking Mr. Bun out of her saddle bag and giving him to Pinkie, who put him on the table in the middle of the room.
Applejack said, “So, he is back. How did you get him back?”
“Fleur de Lis gave him back to me?”
“Who?”
“She's a famous model and a big fan of mine. She should be coming with Rarity,” Fluttershy said.
“How did a famous model end up with your stuffed rabbit?” Twilight asked.
“Well, what happened was...” Fluttershy said before describing the loss and eventual regaining of Mr. Bun as she took off her saddlebag and hung it by the door.
The other three listened intently and when Fluttershy finished, Twilight said, “Wow. That's...something. Though I don't know how I missed him backstage. I was back there with you, after all.”
“By the way, what's she like? I mean, you do know her, right?” Applejack asked.
“Yes. She's really nice but also really touchy-feely. I think she said that's normal behavior in Prance, though,” Fluttershy said.
“First time I've heard that.”
“I don't find it surprising. According to my books, Prench ponies are really big on touching as a show of affection, even amongst ponies who have just met. Supposedly it started out as a way to let one's feelings be known during more prudish times and became an integral part of Prench culture,” Twilight said, “By the way, you said she was coming to the party?”
“I think so. Pinkie did invite her, after all.”
As if by coincidence, the front door opened at this point, revealing Rarity and Fleur, the former saying, “Here we are. Sugarcube Corner. Just mind the sweets if you value your figure.”
Fleur didn't respond to Rarity upon entering, instead scanning the room, noting the other guests present, especially the baby dragon, who made her very curious indeed. Still, she was focused on finding the right time to ask Fluttershy out. Everything else was secondary at the moment.
After a few seconds of silence, Twilight asked, “You're Fleur de Lis, I presume?”
Fleur snapped out of her reverie and said, “Sorry, yes. I was just a bit distracted by the decorations. Pinkie Pie must have worked hard on them.”
“I sure did!” the pink mare said, “I spent all morning on them!”
“I can tell," Fleur said approvingly, "Anyway, is everyone here?”
“No. We're still missing Rainbow Dash and there were a few others who said they couldn't make it,” Applejack said.
“Well, while we're waiting, I think I would like to learn your names. I already know Fluttershy and Rarity but this is the first time I've met the rest of you.”
“Certainly. I'm Twilight Sparkle, this is Pinkie Pie. The one who's throwing the party.”
“Hello!” Pinkie said.
“Hello.”
“I'm Applejack, and the baby dragon is Spike. And Twilight said you're Fleur de Lis?”
“Oui. Fleur Elizabeth de Lis. One of Equestria's top models, thanks to the timing of Fluttershy ending her own modeling career,” Fleur said.
“What do you mean 'thanks to the timing of Fluttershy ending her modeling career?'” Twilight asked, confused.
"To put it simply, when Fluttershy quit and her star fell, mine rose to unbelievable heights. I'm convinced that the timing of her quitting was responsible for that, since I was the last model on before her at her last fashion show.”
“Oh, now I remember seeing you there.”
“You were there?” Fleur asked.
“Yeah. I was talking to Fluttershy when you were out on the runway.”
“Oh, sorry. I must have missed you.”
“Don't worry about it. I'm sure you were busy,” Twilight said
At this point Rainbow entered Sugarcube Corner and, with her excess momentum, crashed into Fleur's rear, causing the tall unicorn to stumble.
Fleur turned to look at the blue pegasus and asked, “could you watch where you're going?”
“Sorry, Fleur. I wasn't paying attention. I just didn't want to be late.”
“Late? But you're ten minutes early,” Fluttershy said.
“I am?” Rainbow asked.
“Yeah,” Twilight said, pointing to the clock.
“Oh, heh.”
“Anyway, I think that's everyone who could make it,” Twilight said.
“Yep! Let's get this party started!” Pinkie said as she turned on the music. Fleur watched as three of the six other ponies present started dancing, specifically Pinkie, Twilight (badly), and Fluttershy.
Rarity, who herself wasn't on the dance floor, but was obviously considering it, asked Fleur, “why don't you join them? There's plenty of party to be had.”
“In a minute. I just want to see the dance first. Don't want to make a foal of myself out there, after all.”
“I guess. Just don't wait too long. This is a rather short record,” Rarity said, before joining the trio in dancing.
Fleur watched them for a few more seconds before deciding to throw caution to the wind and joining them as well.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash, who had been bobbing for apples, as was tradition at Pinkie's parties, turned to watch the newcomer strut her stuff. Applejack said, “she's not bad. Not as good as Pinkie or Fluttershy, but far better than Twilight.”
“Of course, most ponies are better dancers than Twilight,” Rainbow said.
“True, but she doesn't need to know that.”
When the song ended, Fluttershy left the dance area and head to the bathroom. Everyone else stayed put, waiting for the next song to begin, though Rainbow noticed that Fleur had watched Fluttershy closely as the latter headed for the bathroom. She wondered about this, but didn't comment on it.
Fluttershy, meanwhile, was getting some aspirin and making a mental note not to stand so close to Pinkie when they were dancing, as their bonking heads, though unseen by everypony else, had given her a headache. As she filled a cup for herself and took out two pills, she thought I hope Fleur is enjoying herself.
Fleur had to say she was, though she wondered why Fluttershy went to the little fillies room mere minutes after arriving. She assumed she would take care of her bladder before leaving unless she was going to be late. She put it out of mind as Pinkie asked, “Having fun?”
“Oui. It's great to have the chance to drop the whole refined act and act a bit silly every once in a while. I have to ask, though, do you have anything more low fat? I must watch my figure after all.”
“I can get some fruit for you, if you want, but other than that all we have is punch.”
“Fruit will be fine. I just have to stay away from the sweets,” Fleur said.
Pinkie disappeared into the back of the store and Fluttershy reappeared from the bathroom and stood near the punch bowl as the third song started, watching the other ponies dancing, Applejack and Rainbow having joined the others after the first song.
Fleur thought this is working better than I thought. Just have to hope that Fluttershy stays on the sidelines for the next song as well, before increasing the intensity of her moves, and nearly accidentally knocking her flank into Applejack's side. She put a bit more space between herself and the others to make sure that wouldn't happen again, and listened to the music, waiting for an opportunity to make an exit.
When the song finally wound down, she walked off to the sidelines, panting a bit, and poured herself a bit of punch. Fluttershy, she noticed, hadn't gone back out to the dance floor, and in fact had refilled her own punch.
She moved to Fluttershy's side and said, “I thought you would be back out there.”
“No, I'm still a bit dizzy after I bonked heads with Pinkie.”
“Oh. Do you need an aspirin?”
“No, I went and got one already,” Fluttershy said.
“Oh. I see. Anyway, I was hoping to get a chance to talk to you alone, because I wanted to ask you something.”
“Yes?”
“Would you like to go on a date with me?” Fleur asked.
“A date? Like a date date?”
“Oui,” Fleur said, putting on her most winning smile. Inwardly she was wondering what the difference between a “date date” and a “not-date date” was, which was doing a wonderful job of distracting her from her nervousness.
“Um, sure. If you want,” Fluttershy said.
“Mervellioux! I'll leave the details up to you, unless you want to go all the way to Canterlot?”
“No, that's okay,” Fluttershy said, then, thinking of a way to buy herself some time to figure out where to take Fleur, added, “I can come by the Carousel Boutique to meet you tomorrow at six. Is that okay?”
“That works for me,” Fleur said as Fluttershy noticed the slightly scary look in the Prench pony's eye of a filly waking up on Hearths Warming Day had returned, along with her own trepidation.
“Who wants to play 'pin the tail on the pony?” Pinkie yelled as soon as the record ended. The other six ponies and one dragon present moved to the picture of a tailless pony, and Fleur moved next to Rarity.
Rarity, noting Fleur's rather large smile, which she thought would have extended from ear to ear if not for her small muzzle,, asked, “I assume Fluttershy said yes?”
“Oui. She said she'll come by the boutique tomorrow at six. I can't wait!”
“I'm sure. For now, though, let's focus on the party, Okay? Pinkie might be bothered if it looks like you're distracted.”
“Okay, I'll try.”
Fluttershy, meanwhile, said to her old friend Rainbow Dash, “Fleur asked me out on a date.”
“Really? And what did you say?”
“I said yes.”
As a grin spread across her face, Rainbow said, “Good on you for not missing the chance to date a beautiful model. By the way, why didn't you ever tell me you were a fillyfooler? I mean, everyone know I'm one, myself.”
“I was scared to.”
Rainbow facehoofed, but said nothing as Applejack made the first attempt to pin the tail on the pony.
As the game progressed, word about Fluttershy's date spread amongst the other partiers, surprising all of them, though all were supportive of it, aside from Spike, who was confused about why two mares would get romantically involved with each other, though he didn't seem to have any issue with it. Twilight said to him, “I'll explain when we get back to the library.”
“Okay.”
At the end of the game, which Pinkie won, and Fleur got last in (she blamed the fact that the fake pony was at the height of the other six ponies and not her. This didn't explain why the tail had ended up over its head, though), Twilight asked the tall unicorn, “So, I heard you and Fluttershy are going on a date?”
“Oui. Tomorrow night,” the still grinning prench mare said.
“Out of curiosity, did you ask Fluttershy out, or did she ask you out?”
“I asked her out. Why?”
“So, did you give Mr. Bun back as a way to get close to her and ask her out or...?”
The grin disappreared from Fleur's face as she said, “I gave back Mr. Bun because it was a good way to befriend one of my favorite former models of all time, and I'm sure it was important to her. My asking her out was because Rarity told me she was single and I decided to take a chance. Why?”
“Curious as to why you held on to him for so long is all.”
Fleur said nothing, instead moving back towards the party. Twilight wondered how well her date with Fluttershy would go, making a mental note to ask her about it the day after tomorrow.
An hour later the festivities ended and everyone headed home. As Fleur and Rarity walked back to the boutique, the former said, “Even if things don't work out with Fluttershy, I'd love to come by every once in a while just to attend Pinkie's parties.”
“So I assume you had fun?”
“Oh, yes. I had a great time, even if I have some pink frosting in my coat and mane now.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. Rainbow has been starting cake fights at Pinkie's last few parties for some reason,” Rarity said.
“Don't worry about it. I'll just need a long shower.”
“By the way, did Fluttershy say where she was taking you?”
“Non, she just said she'd come by the boutique tomorrow at six to meet me. That's it,” Fleur said.
“Okay, then I'll let you know when she comes by.”
“Please do. And do let me know what she's wearing. I must dress appropriately for my first date with her.”
“Of course,” Rarity said.