The Challenge of Fleur

by PaulAsaran

Texture & Detail

Fancy smiled at Luna, despite his growing frustration. She was trying to be encouraging, and he appreciated it. He rubbed his ear once more, that infernal hissing noise growing steadily louder. “I think it would be appropriate if we both went after her, this time,” he claimed.

He glanced around at the dismal hallway, noting how the lights above kept the walls and floor and fog in a constant state of shadow. The only real light came from Luna’s mane, the sparkling stars within keeping the gloom away from her face. The urge to stare was irresistible; her pretty face seemed almost like a beacon in the gloom.

The Princess tilted her head at him. “Are you alright?”

Fancy blinked and shook his head; what was he doing, ogling the Princess? “I’m fine,” he muttered, turning away. He began to walk through the dim halls, glad the darkness was hiding his blush. By the Moon, could he possibly have been more obvious?

He paused, noting how the hissing noise had grown even louder. It seemed so much more…intense. It was almost threatening in its volume. He wasn’t one to be frightened of a little noise, but he couldn’t deny the anxiety filling him. He closed his eyes, rubbed his ears with a sneer, opened them again.

That was when he noticed. The fog was no longer just drifting. It was moving, flowing before him like a veritable river of smoke. He glanced around, then looked back at Luna. She was observing the cloud, too, thick waves of the stuff drifting swiftly around and between her tall legs. Had it been water, they would surely have been knocked over by the current! Yet there was no…

He winced at the sudden emergence of wind, which struck him so hard he nearly fell to his haunches. “W-what is this?!” he shouted over the hissing and blowing in his ears.

“I do not know,” Luna admitted, her mane billowing about her face, “but I would prefer it stopped right now!”

Fancy took a step back, fighting not to lose his balance against the buffeting wind. He felt it change direction as he did, and noted that the fog was roiling into a side hallway. He glanced that way, the merest passing look, but did a double take; the fog was gathering at a spot a few feet within. He stared with wide eyes as the great cloud that was forming seemed to grow more dense. It filled up the entire hallway, a chaotic mess of smoke and wind.

“Fancy, we must find a way out of this wind,” Luna told him, abruptly appearing before him. He gazed up at her glorious face, and saw that she’d not noticed the great cloud.

The wind died. As quickly as it had come, it was gone. They looked about them, Fancy noting how the fog was all gone. No, not gone. It was-

The howling hit their ears with such volume that they both collapsed to their knees and covered their ears! But it was more than just noise; Fancy felt a very real fear in his mind, as if something had tapped into his brain and opened his reception to horror! Was it the noise? The frustration? The anger? He didn’t know why he was afraid, he just knew that he was.

He struggled to raise his head, had to fight to open his eyes. He at last was able to look out over Luna. Why it scared him, he couldn’t imagine, but somehow he knew that the cloud was the source. It churned, it spread, it steadily moved towards them. And just within the confines of the fog, he thought he could see something. It had no distinct shape, but it was tall and thin.

He couldn’t help thinking that it was looking right at them.

“Luna!” Somehow, despite his fear and the cacophonous noise that seemed to paralyze, he found himself literally leaping over her to confront the thing. He dropped to an aggressive pose, heart pounding in his chest as the thing crept closer. “Luna, go! I will stop it!”

“S-stop it?” Luna called over the noise from behind him. “St-stop… Oh… Oh no…”

“Go!” He pawed the soft, molding floor, his horn flashing as a few whispy tendrils began to drift towards them. “You will not have my Princess, you fiend!”

The hissing and howling seemed to intensify. His head was pounding from the volume of it! What he thought was a head shifted forward in the fog, and Fancy felt such revulsion from the mere presence of this…this…thing! But he stood his ground, he stared it down. He would not retreat, even as those smoky tendrils…

“NO!” Fancy found himself flying through the hallway, Luna carrying him by the shoulders as she flew away from the creature.

“H-hey!” He sucked in a deep breath as they rocketed past open doors and dim lights. “L-Luna, stop! You can’t see the… wall… wall… Luna, wall!”

He braced himself, bringing his hooves before his face and curling up just in time to smack the wall. He dropped to the floor, all four legs aching from the impact. He let out a long, low moan and tested himself by climbing to his hooves. He was a bit woozy, but nothing seemed to be broken… “Next time, I get the forest…”

He looked at the wall, waited. Luna did not answer. He frowned, sat, waited a bit more. Still, there was nothing. “Luna?”

Fancy glanced around at the gloomy, quiet halls. Nothing. There was nopony. He was alone. “L…Luna, are you there?”

By the Goddess, had she even noticed that she’d dropped him? Surely the thing hadn’t frightened her that much, even if it had been terrifying. Not that it hadn’t scared him. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was that he was alone.

Fancy hated being alone.

---

Luna had been flying so fast that when Fancy hit the wall she was jerked into a flip, smacking her back against the ground. It had knocked the air from her lungs, so all she could do was lay there and gasp. But her mind was focused on one thing; they had to get away. Her eyes shifted beyond Fancy, barely noticing his agitation as she scanned the forest for any signs of the fog.

Nothing. They were safe, for the time being.

But she was still in a state of alarm. Fleur was using that, of all things! It was an abomination, never to be spoken of, never to be thought of, and certainly never to be used! She had read Fine Crime’s reports, she knew what it was capable of. No, that was incorrect; she had no idea. Nopony did. That was why it scared her; what if it wasn’t part of Fleur’s plan?

What if it was the real thing?

There was no way to know, because it was beyond comprehension. She had to treat it as real, as lethal. Anything less could be suicide.

Her breath was back to normal. She turned onto her stomach, disturbing leaves that now looked very real. The moon shined down upon her through the snaking branches, no longer false, but round and detailed and curiously ominous. Fleur’s world had become akin to reality…but wasn’t quite there. There was something off about everything, like the edges weren’t quite crisp enough. Luna felt more like she was in a dream than in the real world. Still, the illusion was near-perfect.

“Don’t leave me alone…”

Luna blinked, realizing she’d forgotten Fancy. She looked down and was surprised to see him lying on his belly in the grass, chin set to the floor as he stared unseeing. From his deep frown to his slumped shoulders, his sorrow was blatant. “I hate being alone…”

Sympathy swelled within the Princess at the sight of the stallion. This was twice now that he’d fretted over isolation, and Luna was not one to miss such cues. She glanced about, just to make sure there was no fog in the vicinity, before approaching. “Fancy.”

His head jerked up with a smile so full of relief and joy it made her pause. “P-Princess?”

She shook off her momentary surprise and stood over him. His eyes lit up as they locked upon her face. “I am here. I apologize for the-”

He wrapped his hooves about her neck, the sudden motion rendering her speechless. “I thought you’d left me,” he admitted, voice thick with emotion. “Please, don’t do that to me!”

She pushed him back gently, blushing from a level of physical contact she was in no way accustomed to. “Fancy… Why…” She paused to consider her words. “Why does the idea of being along disturb you so?”

His pleasure faded to uncertainty as he studied her, a frown set to his lips. After a time, he turned away in shame. “If any other pony were to ask that, I’d have dismissed the question,” he confessed, voice quiet. “I am always alone, Princess.”

She blinked. “You? Fancy Pants, the most prestigious pony in Canterlot? You are always surrounded by-”

“Sycophants,” he interrupted, a grimace coming to his face. “Yes-mares and freeloaders, all trying to ride my coattails to the top of the pile.” He shook his head, a disgusted sneer on his lips. “When I first entered high-society, I had real friends. The ones who made me what I am. Some passed on, other moved away. Fleur aside, none remain in Canterlot. I’m not just a flashing billboard on the road to success! I fought in the Dragon War, I lost friends, I sacrificed to become what I am!

“Nopony appreciates me, anymore,” he concluded with head bowed. “I’m no longer a veteran; I’m an elite.” He spat the word as if it were poison. “There was a time when I longed to be called that. Now I find myself wishing I was back in the barracks, among the ponies who understand what it is to sweat and toil and suffer for something greater than themselves. I maintain the image, I go through the motions, I do my part. But when it comes down to it, I am alone in a sea of self-righteous, cowardly parasites.”

Luna only stared. This was Fancy Pants? The greatest of that worthless, unproductive class? She was…stunned.

“But now there’s you,” he said, turning to give her a focused look. “You give me hope.”

She leaned back, not at all certain how to take that statement. “I do?”

He nodded. “I’ve been watching. When you returned from exile, you were reviled. Yet you have forged a place among us, despite everything. I see you standing up to the criticisms, going your own way, rejecting the established order! You do not cater to the whims of others, and in the past few years the elites have been forced to accept you, to appreciate you, because you demand nothing less.

“I see you, and I wish I was more like you,” he confessed. “I admire you. Perhaps if I was more dynamic, I could get them to appreciate more than my status. Perhaps I could find some real companions…” His head bowed, ears tucking down as he turned away. “Companions who actually care.”

Luna was touched. To think that she could affect somepony she hardly knew just by being herself! She was speechless, and could only gaze at him through the whisps of fog and try to comprehend the possibility. She’d not felt so important to any one pony in over a thousand years.

She’d forgotten what that was like. It felt good. She found herself smiling, and even blushing a little. She opened her mouth to respond-

The howling hit them, and her blood ran cold.

Author's Note:

Just one more...

Comments

[caboose69]

Hmm...interesting. I'd like to see this story continue. It's very well written