The next patient to be sent to Lyra came with a scrap of paper describing what other ponies had noticed. The patient spoke a bit peculiarly, with a bit of a Prench accent, and with especially formal but antiquated mannerisms. When she mentioned humans a few times, she was referred gently to Lyra's care.
Lyra nodded lightly to herself as she put the paper aside and smiled gently, ready to greet her new patient warmly. As confused as they may be, everypony, and human, deserved genuine empathy. She thought back to her training. Empathy, attention, and action, in that order. She would find out how her patient feels, make her feel welcome and loved, and then move to improve her situation. It had yet to fail her, even if Sam's condition was a sore test and a questionable victory. Hopefully it wouldn't be that bad. With a glance at the clock on the wall, she nodded to herself and sat back, knowing her patient would arrive any moment.
Amour Ardour was going to be late. Her mother had warned her against rushing in preparation for an outing, but even so, everything took twice as long without fingers. Any pegasus racing the clock would have flown over the rooftops and the market stalls, but Amour contented herself with a brisk trot, skirting patches of muddier ground to avoid dirtying the hem of her dress. She didn’t know how to fly, and even if she could, she was uncertain if it was a ladylike thing to do.
There was nopony to open the door for her. The pegasus stood awkwardly outside the house for a few seconds before remembering that hardly anypony had guards or servants at all in Equestria. She raised her hoof, and recoiled a little to see just how much soil she had picked up along the way. It was still difficult for her to think not of her forelegs as arms. Amour tapped on the door, the sound barely carrying to her ears.
Lyra's ears flickered. Did she hear something? Growing restless, she slipped from her chair and trotted to the door, rearing up to peek out through the wi--Oh! She spotted the pegasus standing there awkwardly and smiled. "Hi there!" She reached with her magic and pulled open the door for her guest. "I didn't hear you knocking, very sorry about that. Do come in."
The forward manner of the pony that greeted her told Amour that this was indeed the very same pony she had come to pay a visit. Her wings fluttered of their own accord, and the colour rose in her cheeks. She instinctively curtseyed, and winced as the hem of the dress once again brushed the ground. She was a mess already, worth a scolding from her mother.
“Madame,” Amour mumbled, catching herself before she broke out into French. English, they all spoke English, though they never called it that. English or Equestrian, it gave her a headache if she had to listen to it too much. “Er, thank you, Madam Heartstrings.”
Lyra closed the door once Amour entered, moving off towards a small tea set and pouring out a glass. "Do you have a preference? Let's get comfortable before we begin. I'm Lyra Heartstrings, though it sounds like somepony already introduced me to you." She had a bright smile on, hoping to relax her patient, though she couldn't help but notice all the little nervous cues. "I should say that everything you share and do here is between us. I'm not here to judge or accuse, just to help. I hope we can be friends."
“It is most kind of you to offer,” Amour answered, trying not to move her lips as she repeated back the unicorn’s words in her head. “It would be my pleasure to consider you a friend, madam, sadly my social circle has dwindled these past few years.”
Amour paused, her ears drooping. She seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, as if trying to recall something from long ago. She blinked, suddenly self-conscious again. “Ah, pardon! I er… yes. The physician mentioned your name, after I became distraught at the hospital. He said you could help me. You have a lot of experience with… humans.”
Lyra turned around, wielding two cups with tea. Floating in them were two mixing straws with bright candy-cane stripes. A sweet treat to be certain. "Well, let me say that, to start, I believe you. I believe everything you say about your past. We're not here to question that or correct it, only to look at the present, and how we can make you happier with it." She floated over one of the cups towards Amour gently. "Can you tell me more about you? Who were you before you came here?"
Amour considered the straw in her cup of tea. It afforded her some form of dignity, even if the mental image of two ladies sucking tea through straws made her stifle a giggle. She supposed she was lucky the ponies didn’t drink out of troughs instead.
“My real name is… or was Jeanne Alexandrine D’Harcourt. My family owned… oh, well, perhaps that is not important. If I answer one question, I simply raise three more, no? We were fortunate and blessed many times over.” Amour stopped to lean forward suck her straw as daintily as she could. Her wings flared and she suppressed a cough. Hot! She covered her mouth with one hoof, to muffle her spluttering. “Ahem! Er, it is a most pleasant brew.”
After Amour had coaxed her wings neatly back to nestle against the fabrics of her dress, she continued her story. Her mood turned sober, and her voice became halting and quiet. “There was discontent in our country, and discontent led to rebellion. I thought I could stay, for a time, that it would be safe enough for me. I wanted to believe the best of people -er, you would say, humans. I made a mistake, and that led to my execution.”
Lyra blinked, cutting in suddenly. "You were executed?!" She caught hold of herself mentally, coughing into a hoof. "I mean, sorry. You're not the first to… arrive so violently, but it never fails to rattle me a little." Internally, she decided that Amour was not from the same sub-world… little bubble… whatever they were called! She wasn't from the same one as the others. "Uh, changing the topic a little. I see you have some nice clothes for yourself." She smiled at Amour lightly. "Very nice really, but how are you feeling in your new body?" She rolled a hoof. "It's very common to feel disoriented, especially around the hooves." She held one hoof out, as if for Amour to examine it.
“Of course, one’s own demise is not a fit subject for teatime.” Amour said. “Forgive me. If it’s any consolation, I remember nothing of it.”
She swallowed and broke eye contact with Mme. Heartstrings. She wasn’t a very good liar. An awkward silence punctuated the conversation, broken by Amour tapping her front hooves together. She ignored Mme. Heartstrings’ extended hoof, as if too timid to even look at it.
Amour slowly spread her wings, and looked up at Lyra, her face full of disappointment. “When I first awoke here, I thought I was an angel. Yet my wings will not carry me. I am fortunate I did myself no more harm than scraped knees and wounded pride. I should be grateful to be given a second vessel to carry my soul, but… this body mocks me.”
Lyra set her tea aside after a slurp. "I'm sorry to pry, but what exactly is an angel?" She advanced on Amour, inspecting her for harms and defects. "As for carrying you, it's a matter of practice. They look like fine wings from here, and if you're interested, I'd be delighted to hook you up with one of the local pegasi and you'll be soaring through the sky gracefully in no time at all." She tapped her chin softly. "But only if you want. I think you'd enjoy it. There's only one pegasus I've ever met that hasn't enjoyed it."
The pegasus’s wings stiffened as Mme. Heartstrings made a study of her. An explanation of an angel might take more words than her grasp of English would permit. Chatter over tea was all very well and good, but Amour could already feel that headache coming where angels were concerned. The fact that Mme. Heartstrings had never heard of one bode ill for her theological musings on Equestria.
“An angel is… is…” Amour struggled. “Perfect, whereas I am flawed. In all things good and righteous, whereas I am weak and easily tempted by evil. I thought I would see them when I, er, passed on. Perhaps I shall see them yet, if you were to… hook me up?”
The mental image of a pegasus dangling her from a hook sprang unbidden to Amour’s mind, and she couldn’t help but giggle, breaking her stoic poise. “Hook me up! The very idea, madam! You must at least introduce me to your, er, pegasi friends first.”
Lyra gave a warm smile at the explanation. "Nopony's perfect, Amour. We all do the best we can, and that best includes you flying, with practice." She tapped at her chin. "Oh, I didn't mean romantically, uh. I expect you'll wander into that when you're ready. I just meant introductions and arrangements for flying lessons." Lyra sat on her haunches, tilting her head. "That makes me wonder though… Are you alright with the pony in the mirror?" Her horn glowed as she pulled out the full-sized mirror to wheel in front of Amour. "You seem to be alright with being a pony so far, but I'd rather hear it from your mouth. It's OK if you feel a little strange right now, be honest."
Amour became still again as she gazed at herself in the mirror. At first she was inclined to concentrate on different parts of her body. Her pointed ears, her snout in place of a human nose, her wings and her tail. Even her eyes were strange to her. Amour took a breath, and looked again. Her body was more than a collection of animal parts. That was her now, it was her soul in the form of a pony. She could still see the same fussy Jeanne.
“I invented the name Amour Ardour because I thought I had something to hide,” Amour said quietly. “I was mistaken. I am still who I was before, and it is plain for all to see, from the manner in which I conduct myself. I am proud of who I am. My old life may not have had a happy end, Madam Heartstrings, but it would be a great tragedy if I did not embrace my new one.”
Amour turned from the mirror to beam at Mme. Heartstrings. “I shall keep my pony name. It has a lyrical quality that fits me. Besides, who in her youth has not at least once imagined for herself a secret identity only her closest friends may know?”
Lyra's expression brightened as she gave a firm nod. "I couldn't have said that better myself, Amour, and that's a lovely name you picked for yourself." She glanced out the window. "While some… are a little more problematic, maybe this really was the way it was supposed to be for you?" She rolled a hoof, "Did I mention most ponies are pretty strong believers in destiny and harmony? Things happen for a reason, but sometimes they're not very obvious ones." She settled down, calming herself from the momentary delight at her patient coming around so well. "Tell me, what do you see yourself doing? As a profession that is. Not for bits, mind, just, what do you like doing?"
“My friends often remarked upon my talent for the piano,” Amour said. She held up her hooves and smiled weakly. “I am not sure how popular the instrument is in Equestria. Besides of which, I certainly have never played it as an occupation. I… er, wasn’t permitted to have a job by my station in the ancien reg-... my old society.”
Lyra pointed back at her own flank, where a lyre rested in plain view. "There's nothing wrong with a musical talent, and I can see it in your eyes 'How can I play a piano with these big ole' hooves!'." She tapped a hoof on the desk beside her. "Practice. They're a lot more agile than they look after you've gotten used to them. I've played with an earth pony that loved the cello, and her music is simply sublime. This is your chance to explore what… inspires you. Do what you like and what you feel good doing. The bits'll sort themselves out afterwards."
“I have never had a physician prescribe me with responsibility,” Amour mused, glancing at Lyra’s cutie mark. It had not taken her very long to comprehend the concept behind them. When one wakes with two extra limbs and a tail, magic adornments that proclaim one’s destiny are mere icing on the cake. “I am unaccustomed to it, but the road to discovering my place in this world begins with a single step, does it not?”
Lyra bobbed her head. "And you'll be happy to know it's not a race. You just got here anyway." She sat down in front of her new friend/client. "Awkward question time, maybe, but what do you miss, you know, from where you came from?" She's had a few well-adjusted souls in almost a row, and Lyra wondered if they were just hiding the little things that bothered them.
Amour hesitated. She leaned forward to sip at her tea through the straw, her gaze growing distant. The question perturbed her, and her answer came reluctantly. “I longed for past times well before my arrival in Equestria, madam. The country I left was beset by war, terror, and injustice. What use is pining for my old world, when it was being engulfed by flames?”
She looked up at the green unicorn, finding some comfort in her open, understanding eyes. Amour gave her a small smile back. “I think I shall miss the music most of all. I can play, but transcribing the works of Monsieur Mozart from memory is beyond me. I can barely use a quill as it is!”
Lyra seemed to consider. "Wednesday, you, me, my marefriend, and a trip to Canterlot. We'll go visit the philharmonic there and their library. It won't be the same music, but good music goes beyond little things like species and worlds." The words may sound sappy, even to her, but she seemed to believe them. "For now, take this." She produced a small scrap of paper and scribbled quickly on it. "Look for a bright blue pegasus and hand her this note. She'll fetch somepony who'll show you how to spread those wings of yours and soar like… the angel you are." She still wasn't entirely sure what an angel was, but it sounded like a good thing. Lyra was best at compliments.