Basically Golden Harvest With Wings And Less Repurposed Farm Equipment
It had taken Fleur a surprisingly long time after her arrival in Ponyville to learn just who all the Bearers were. And even when you factored in all the ways in which the settled zone tried to protect the mares from casual inquires and interruptions, there were probably those who would have found the duration to be ridiculously excessive. They likely would have argued that Fleur could have simply asked Fluttershy for the list, and anypony who held that opinion had rather obviously never tried to question the pegasus about anything.
She knew all of them now. One was her love, another her friend, and the others were at least something more than casual acquaintances. Even those with whom the bonds had initially been weakest did their best to both understand and assist her ongoing presence in Fluttershy's life, because they wanted the pegasus to be happy. And there had been something of a chance to grow a little closer with the group, because Fleur had participated in two missions and very few things brought a miniherd together like having someone going after everypony in it. Very few of the attacks had bothered to discriminate for a temporary.
To some degree, she knew the Bearers. But she didn't understand the Elements. Fleur didn't comprehend why the ancient devices resonated with that exact sextet of virtues. She was still trying to figure out why some of those qualities were seen as virtues at all. And of the six, the one whose presence utterly confused her was Honesty.
This didn't indicate Applejack. Fleur liked the earth pony: fortunately, the feelings went both ways. (Applejack was now aware of where Fleur had grown up, and it gave them an extra level of bonding as former youths who had each done their best to assist in the family business -- but when it came to discussion of methodology, the ranch kid and the farmer had yet to find an intersection.) And she knew that particular Bearer was utterly honest in everything she said --
-- but if you came to know Applejack... then after a while, you would start to pay close attention to the exact wording. So many of the farmer's sentences were constructed of careful choices, and a vow to be fully truthful in all expressed speech eventually raised the question of just what that mare wasn't saying. You never caught Applejack in an open fabrication -- but there was such a thing as a lie of omission, and falsehoods potentially lurked within silences.
Search the world, and there would be but a single room in which Fleur was supposed to be honest.
(It wasn't their bedroom. There were a lot of little lies in a relationship, and they were usually told in the name of avoiding the smaller arguments. Utter travesties of time management fell into that category, because neither mare fully believed the other on just when they'd gone to bed or gotten up again, and Fleur knew Fluttershy was aware that the dirtiest chicken coops hadn't been cleaning themselves.)
One room. Just one. And she hated it.
The space was openly manipulative. Bad enough to have a little nest at the center, especially when it wasn't actually Fleur's nest. It was a nest which rented out by the hour. The prevarication of primal security offered through a time-share plan. And then you had the walls, because they hosted more than carefully-displayed paintings showing familiar images and vistas. The walls themselves were made of certain kinds of wood, every one of which had been imported. They were occasionally sprayed down with a zebra potion to refresh the scent.
There were two windows, and each had thin lines of silver wire running through the glass -- when they were acting as windows alone. The enchantment, when invoked, allowed those inside the room to look out upon scenery which didn't exist -- or rather, it didn't exist in the capital. (This capital.) Fleur had irritably declined the invocation of the sophisticated illusion spells, even after she'd been told about all the work which had gone into making sure the lighting on the false structures changed in time with Sun. The mare was stuck with a certain level of undeniable reality, and that very much included the part which kept putting her into the room. The place where honesty was required.
It was a struggle, and it usually felt like a pointless one.
Also, there were questions. Some of them started as falsely casual topics -- but they all led into a single goal: to eventually bring out truths. Fleur frequently recognized when the other person in the room was starting into such a line of inquiry, because it made her oversized talons tap against the edge of the bench.
"And was that all the ponies you met that day?"
So where is she going with this?
"No," Fleur admitted, and made a point of not curling any deeper into the fabric nest's billowing folds. She'd been an escort, and there were two very important things to remember about any resting place: you didn't know who'd been using it before your arrival, and you probably hadn't gotten a look at their cleaning product supply. "There were only three appointments. But I did see some other people."
There was a clacking sound -- a very brief one, quickly stopped. Fleur had tried to insist that it was simply a normal part of griffon speech, but... they'd talked about clacking, and the other party in the room tried to keep it down.
"So who else?"
When viewed from the outside, the relationship between the tall unicorn mare and the brown earth pony stallion probably looked like friendship, and Fleur was aware that he saw it that way. He just happened to be wrong.
"Hey!" he called out to her, and reasonably-strong legs accelerated. It didn't take him long to catch up, reaching her just as she neared The Store Which Still Had No Reason To Exist and after that, it was just a matter of making his shorter legs keep up with her pace. "Just saw you passing by. How's everything going?"
She glanced down to the right, and her gaze immediately did its best to skid away from the most recent follicle-based incarnation of purest horror.
It's a rockslide.
In reverse.
"You may have to speak up," she sighed. "I had Shaddap earlier."
"Just making the rounds, huh?" he grinned. "I won't be offended that you left me out of them."
"You're supposed to be at work." Fleur did drop in on the shop now and again, but she generally had very little need for candy. Which was something the owners continued to not quite understand, because it had been over a year and to cross the store's threshold still risked having to rent a cart in order to haul all of the free samples back.
"Closed early," he told her. "The kidlet's sick -- no, don't worry: it's a two-day thing. But Bon-Bon and Lyra are new at this. They both wanted to stay with her, and there's only so much stock I can make on my own. So they asked me to just sell until yesterday's leftovers were gone, and then clear down. I locked up about ten minutes ago."
"So you're heading home?" Which, when the stallion was found in this part of town, meant he was taking the long way around.
His head dipped.
"I thought I'd... look around a little," Caramel quietly said. "There's been a lot of new arrivals lately. Because it's spring."
They both heard a pair of large wings pass overhead. Each automatically looked up, and the stallion's gaze lingered just a little longer.
"And..." he continued, "after Aviatrix left..."
She managed to keep the sigh on the subvocal level, and still felt it burn her throat. Because the chain of griffon domination also formed a path of responsibility, and that meant her actual link with Caramel was the one formed between guardian and charge.
Fleur had used Caramel once, because the stallion was attracted to pegasi above all else.
The unicorn didn't have an issue with that. She could examine anyone's puzzle at will: something which let her know Caramel's bedroom desires were common, tame, and utterly safe. But he had a preference, and he did everything possible to make sure he stuck to it. The state of his pieces had initially suggested that Fluttershy had been on his If Only list for years -- but not at the absolute top of it, because that position was reserved for Rainbow.
(For Caramel, Rainbow was The One Who Got Away -- while the weather coordinator saw him as The One Who's Dated Around Way Too Much, and avoided him accordingly. Each understood that the other had a connection with Fleur and, for Rainbow's part, had just about managed to accept it -- but the former escort tried to keep them from occupying the same room, and scheduled appointments for their pets accordingly. Fleur knew Caramel still fantasized about Rainbow, and the stallion checked back once a year to see if she'd changed her mind. Beyond that, the earth pony just stared wistfully. A lot. Usually from a significant distance, because it was Rainbow and the crash zone was everywhere.)
But during her first moons in Ponyville... she'd used him. Fleur had needed to find a first date for Fluttershy: somepony who could be rejected before any second date arose, and thus effectively teach the pegasus about how to carefully push a suitor away. And to that extent, it had worked out: there had been one date. But it had gone especially badly for Caramel, because Discord had been performing his own secret suitability tests. It arguably wouldn't have ended well without that. And in the time since...
There was a certain obligation to make sure Caramel wound up happy. But that also required him to become somepony who was just a little better, because Caramel had a lot of problems.
She almost had his budget under control. There had initially been a tendency to overspend on those he sought, on a scale of 'She likes Prance cuisine? How much is the train ticket?' and that wouldn't be for Canterlot because he would want to impress that mare with the real stuff. And he would be trying to do it on a candy shop assistant's salary. Caramel had a near mark-level talent for getting multiple bank loans to balance off against each other, all while keeping up on the interest payments through holding off on his actual rent until the last possible second. Fleur was sure it had a practical application, and still felt the most practical use would be through making it all stop.
He was a serial dater: find a mare, stay with her until the relationship inevitably failed, then find another mare as quickly as he could and try again. Caramel had to be with somepony, possessed a near-phobia about spending more than a moon alone. And mares gossiped about a stallion whose connections kept falling apart, exaggerated the stories (some of which didn't need too much of it) while spreading the word to the point where he needed Ponyville's constant influx of new residents just to have a fair chance at finding anypony.
Again.
Fleur had taught him about better spending habits. She served as a gift advisor, and had also done her best to update his basic look. The old manestyle, which had turned him into a Type, had been banished....
...the knots are supposed to look like crashing boulders, right? All he needs is a schist pileup between his eyebrows and he'll have gone all the way...
...although he still had yet to truly settle on a new one. But when it came to the relationships...
It was possible to say that Caramel had made a few mistakes, because he had -- but that hadn't been the cause of every breakup. There had been times when the stallion had simply been unlucky in love, along with a few others when 'cursed' could be reasonably invoked and one which had found Fleur actively searching for thaums to dispel.
He longed for the gentle caress of feathers, and Fleur had some sympathy there. But he needed to be with somepony, even after just about every attempt had ended badly. And he was willing to put up with a lot if it meant there was a mare trotting near his flank (or flying just above it), but... there were limits. Fleur's first role as Very Special (But Moderate) Gift Consultant had been when he'd dated a green pegasus mare, and that connection had gotten all the way to the mare's bedroom.
Unfortunately, it had served as nothing more than the primary portal to her actual place of sexual entertainment. And while she was one of the relatively few doms who truly understood that all real power lay with the sub -- she'd both been happy to teach Caramel about safewords and made sure to give him something which could be clearly expressed while gagged...
Fleur still didn't have the full details regarding what had happened after that. Even with a mare whom he saw as a friend, there was only so far Caramel was willing to go in discussing his sex life. But there had definitely been reins involved. And a bit. Which hadn't been a bribe to bring him that much closer to the rest of the equipment: it was the type of bit which went into the mouth. (The safeword could also be spoken while the bit was in place, because the mare was careful.)
The unicorn suspected there had been a saddle. Most first-timers who were willing to experiment a little managed to hold off on the freakout right up until the appearance of the saddle. And that had been the end of it.
And then there had been another mare.
Two moons after that, another.
Another...
She tried to help him. But there was only so much she could do. Trying to make sure Caramel wound up happy was like paying maintenance costs on a fixer-upper property which had something new breaking down every moon. She had mostly repaired his budget and improved the quality of his approaches with mares. Fleur couldn't do anything about his luck.
"Looking around a little," Fleur semi-repeated.
"Maybe a bar. I know it's still early, but --"
"I've got a few things to do," the unicorn noted. "Trot with me."
Almost dryly (because he'd at least come that far), "The bar is easier."
"You're looking for pegasi on a spring day," she reminded him. "Mobile vantage point."
It made him smile, just a little. And then they trotted together.
The relationship was guardian and charge. The guardian's responsibility was to make sure the charge reached the point where he could go on without her. And with Caramel...
Another, larger pair of wings audibly moved over them. Both looked up.
"...what is that?" the stallion finally asked. "Other than 'white with a black face'. I saw that much."
"Whooping crane," Fleur informed him. I'll have to tell Fluttershy. "It's just passing through. It won't stop until it's pretty close to the northern border." And executed a mobile shrug. "It's still migration season, Caramel. A lot of things are just passing through." The problems usually came with the ones who stayed.
She glanced down at him. Forced herself to look at the latest experimental disaster of a mane, and then made a pair of temporal comparisons.
Oh. Right.
"I'm sorry," she belatedly told him.
His brow knit. Several false boulders failed to tumble.
"For what?"
Two more clacks, quickly stopped.
"Anypony else?"
"Can we just get back to Zephyr? You always want to know about disruptions in my life. He qualifies."
"Most of the session has been about Zephyr," the griffon said. "Understandably. We're going to come back to him shortly. I just want to hear about how the day ended. For the Ponyville portion, before you went back to the cottage."
Fine. "We talked about his mane. The original version. I apologized again. Then I stopped by the library. Well, we did. Twilight has a small printing press in the basement. I had to pick up the posters --"
"-- you're smiling."
"I picked them up from Spike. We didn't get much of a chance to talk, though." But at the very least, she'd gotten to see him. "After that, I was mostly just putting up the Adopt-A-Pet announcements on the town's notice boards."
"With Caramel."
Fleur shrugged. "It kept him with me."
"As free labor," the other female said.
The smile was starting to fade.
"I did most of the work. I had the tacks, and it's easier to apply them with a field. And I needed to spend some time with him. He's looking again: I just told you that. I can do some of the initial sorting. That part is getting easier --" and now it was completely gone "-- at least when he listens to me. I know he's willing to experiment in order to keep a partner: some of his pieces almost have a reflective sheen. And I've figured out where a few of the limits on that are. But when he strikes out on his own --"
The oversized talons, a little too big for the tiercel (while being perfectly suitable for the harpy eagle which reflected the avian portion), tapped again. Dark fur rippled along the panther sections.
"As I understand it," the griffon said, "you gave Caramel a chance. And did so when a lot of mares wouldn't. In fact, you did so after a number of them tried to warn you away from him."
Fleur snorted. "Some of the reputation is his fault: I'm not going to deny that. But not all of it. And he's getting better. And --" she didn't want to say it and knew that if she didn't, the other female would "-- I was using him at the start. I told you that. I picked him out because he could be used."
"And then you stayed."
"He needs a guardian." If anyone should understand that...
"You gave him a chance," the griffon reiterated.
"We both know you're going somewhere with this," Fleur irritably declared. "So why don't you skip to it?"
Griffons had considerably more muscles around their eyes than a pure bird. It gave them a significant range of expressions, compensating for the inflexible beak. And Fleur, who had grown up in Protocera, knew how to read every last one.
I'm irritating you again. But when it came to her sessions with Tria Lorem, irritation could be the least of it.
Fleur didn't like seeing her psychiatrist.
It had been one of the conditions attached to her pardon: a requirement for Fleur to enter therapy. And it had turned out to be dual.
Princess Luna had begun to visit her dreams early on -- but the alicorn only worked the night shift, and there were only so many hours she could spare for Fleur. So Celestia had searched for somepony who might be able to manage the sessions under Sun and when that had failed, had readily switched into retaining someone.
Griffon residents within Canterlot made up a noticeable minority. Between permanent residents, the occasional citizen, and embassy employees, there were enough to populate the micro-neighborhood known as the Aviary. They had their own restaurant (singular), some shops which specialized in imported goods -- and, because griffons didn't fully share biology with ponies, there was a medical clinic. Something which very much included a psychiatric center.
Ponies and griffons didn't fully share biology. Ponies who'd grown up in Protocera tended to pick up most of the griffon mindset. And Celestia had checked over the clinic's staff until she'd found the one tiercel who had experience in treating those whose bodies didn't fully match their hearts.
It could be argued that Fleur had been lucky, just in having the Solar Princess locate anyone at all. But she didn't have a particularly high opinion of psychiatrists. Her escort training had included taking one supposedly-crucial class with them, and each group had regarded the alien life form on the other side of the aisle.
There had been a little tentative dating, at least from the third week on. (The psychiatrist group had included marked future professionals, a few students who were taking the course as an elective, and at least seven ponies who'd just shown up because they'd found out the other half of the class would be composed of prospective escorts.) None of that had involved Fleur, because she hadn't been interested. Psychiatrists had access to secrets -- and operated under a code of honor which kept all of them locked away. They wouldn't even talk about their clients after sex, so what was the point? Besides, she'd been able to see their puzzles. Something which had not only invalidated half of the textbook, but also served to teach her that the majority of those ponies were incredibly bland -- while the remainder were presumably entering the profession in an attempt to find some way of reconciling their own tastes.
Everypony in the class was theoretically present to learn about pony sexuality, and Fleur knew how much the textbooks had wrong. So if they couldn't even get that right...
"Have you told him about your talent?"
Fleur blinked.
"What does that have to do with --"
"It relates," Doctor Lorem suggested. "Have you?"
The unicorn tried forcing her most visible muscles to loosen. It didn't help. She had the capacity to use her trick upon herself, but the glowing field was another layer of giveaway.
Psychiatrists. A word which, when expressed within the privacy of her skull, would have needed to gain multiple levels of respect just to reach 'snide'.
Protocera operated by The Great Chain: something which was known to create a few problems. In particular, when it came to medicine, the needs of dominance meant any physician had to establish their temporary authority over those on the highest links -- and do so in something of a hurry. Patients who weren't impressed by their doctor's knowledge or force of personality tended to look elsewhere, and some had been known to rely on a decision from the individual who was assumed to be the ultimate authority on their bodies. The real problems started to crop up when said ultimate authority found the wrong article, completely failed to understand it, and decided to treat their own ringworm with a very long, rather thin, and extremely hot metal rod. This killed the ringworm. It also had a good chance to permanently scar the patient, especially as the beak tended to lose some fine control on the rod's grip when the screaming started.
Griffon physicians tended to specialize: something which made it all the easier to dominate in a limited category, along with allowing them to more readily admit when a problem was outside their range and offer a referral. But when they fell ill, they notoriously became some of the worst patients on the planet. And a psychiatrist, who had to be trusted, needed to have those in their charge treat them as a guardian.
Fleur still wasn't sure. There had been an expected social wrestling match during the first meeting, and the results had only been accepted on a For Now basis. This was accompanied by a hefty side dose of I'm Letting You Believe I Lost.
"My talent is just about a national secret," Fleur darkly reminded the griffon. "I don't go around casually talking about it."
"But you're allowed to decide whether you want to tell somepony," arrived with a shuffle of feathers and slow sway of the dark tail. "You could tell him. If you wanted to."
"And how would he take it?" Fleur's forelegs shifted away from each other, with the hooves approaching the borders of the nest. "To know that the very first time we met, I --"
"-- you could tell him that you've been trying to screen mares on his behalf. You've told me that you've given him hints on how to proceed before this --"
With fast-rising volume, mostly because that was something honest and besides, the griffon couldn't kick her out of the office no matter how much Fleur would have appreciated an early release "-- I told him it was body language. Not looking into somepony's head. Some of the Bearers didn't exactly take that well, and they've been through more than he has! If he found out --"
"-- he might not give you a chance to explain?" the griffon asked. "To tell him how much you've changed? And to apologize, and say how sorry you are -- but he's still your charge, if he'll accept you as his guardian?"
The unicorn's forehooves slammed together. Little pieces of freshly-chipped hoof polish flew in all directions.
"I haven't even told him I'm from Protocera --"
"You've given Caramel a chance," the griffon repeated, because naturally a psychiatrist just couldn't let something go at twice. "Quite a few Ponyville residents have given you one. And now you have Zephyr in town. Somepony who's done at least one bad thing, and your count is likely much higher. But ponies can change, Fleur. Any sapient potentially could." Thoughtfully, "I would have named an exception as recently as last week, but I swear to you that I saw an ibex in the Heart two days ago."
"An ibex..." was as far as Fleur got.
"The poor doe was trying to read a notice board. Looking for a job." The half-crest of feathers atop the head shifted with the slow shake. "And she'd never seen a griffon before. I didn't make a very good first impression when I landed next to her. It took a while to settle her down. I'm not telling you to trust Zephyr, because he may not deserve it. I'm asking you to -- let him talk. Explain, if he wants to. Can you give him that much, while watching to make sure he doesn't hurt her again? Can you offer some degree of chance? Because you rejected him before he could truly talk. The same way you're afraid Caramel would reject you."
The unicorn, making sure all of the muttering stayed within her mind, slowly, carefully settled back into the nest.
"A chance," she tried out, just to see how it tasted on her tongue. "I have a very real reason to believe Caramel's reaction would be -- let's say 'negative'. Her brother had to know she wouldn't be happy to see him. If he has any self-awareness at all." She didn't bother to repress the snort. "I've got some doubts there. And you didn't hear how he spoke to her."
"You repeated the words."
"It's also the tone." Mockingly, "'So anyway.' 'So anyway.' Over and over." The repetition was beginning to make the word choice feel somewhat... off. "He could be a real risk. He could do a lot worse than just trying to rob her again. Miranda hasn't gotten back to me yet --"
"From what you said, it's only been two days."
Two days of half-unfolded wings and her tail just dragging around the cottage while part of her mane falls forward.
Two days where she has to be reminded of how to be happy.
That she's allowed to be happy.
What if it's a week?
A moon?
More?
"-- and that probably just means he doesn't have an active warrant in Canterlot. There's a lot of continent left, and that's assuming he hasn't crossed borders --"
"-- again," the psychiatrist cut in, "I'm not saying to offer him immediate trust." The very tip of the tail twitched. "I think I might know you well enough to not expect that as a real possibility. But you do like to listen, Fleur. You give ponies the opportunity to talk, because that lets you find out what the words are. So screen him. See what he says. If nothing else, it'll give you more to work with."
"She's the guardian," was a natural counter. "She doesn't want him there."
"It doesn't have to be at the cottage," Doctor Lorem calmly stated. "And Fleur... at some point, you will have to start sharing her link."
Because no one can remain a charge forever. Not unless they're completely helpless.
But she's the stronger...
"Will you think about it?" the griffon asked. "About talking to him, in a neutral setting?"
I think it's stupid.
But there was a chance it would give her more information to pass on.
The office temperature was somewhat higher than the outside air. Another reminder of home.
Another falsehood.
She was supposed to be honest while in a room where everything was a lie.
"Yes."
What did being honest with a psychiatrist accomplish? You talked about your life, about all of the pain which had filled the years. Fleur had taken that pain and forged it into a weapon against the world, because that had given it a purpose. Therapy was supposed to be about making the pain actually go away, and...
Honesty apparently required that she talk about her pain. Something which brought it back. Made her relive it.
Why was honesty a virtue? An Element? What did practicing it actually gain anypony?
When was the pain supposed to start fading?
When did it get easier?
What was the point?
"We're almost out of time," the tiercel noted. "And I know you have an air carriage to catch."
Fleur held back the smirk. She'd signed an agreement which required her to enter therapy, on palace orders. Accordingly, she'd told the palace that if the only suitable psychiatrist was in Canterlot, forcing Fleur to lose multiple hours every week to train travel -- then the palace could also bucking well arrange for a faster form of transportation. And pay for it.
She didn't want to be in therapy. But she still relished every chance she found for surgically extracting bits from the national budget.
"So I just want to ask one more question," Doctor Lorem said. "How are your dreams?"
No.
"We've been over this," the unicorn snidely offered. "That's more of a topic for Princess Luna --"
"-- who has an entire nation to worry about," countered the tiercel. "You know she sends me her notes. That's part of my contract." The same paperwork which had sworn Doctor Lorem to a level of secrecy which went beyond the normal doctor-patient relationship, and formed the reason why Fleur could freely speak about her talent -- along with a few select missions.
The personal ones.
"I know about the contract," Fleur tightly said. "And the notes."
"And that's how I know she hasn't been able to visit your nightscape in the last two weeks," the psychiatrist told her. "I also know that even when she does go into a dream, she may not necessarily get the one she wants. And you are the only mare I know who remembers her dreams in exacting detail. You know which ones I'm talking about, Fleur. How are they?"
"It doesn't matter," Fleur quickly said. "I'm in the cottage. Even when Fluttershy isn't there, the nest --"
"There are times when you don't sleep at the cottage -- and before your defense mechanisms get your mouth all the way open, Fleur, that is not what I meant." The beak briefly clacked, and talons tapped all the faster. "I will never imply infidelity with you, and you're fully aware of that. But you see yourself as protected, and there are times when that protection is absent. When you aren't there. You dream when you're away from the cottage. Away from her. There's been multiple opportunities for that, and they may keep coming up..."
The griffon had been cleared for multiple details, and it was the currently-unspoken ones which made the dark grey feathers shudder.
"You've always had trouble with your dreams, and a dream can be your mind trying to send itself a message. Something which can show a change. How are they?"
The former escort took a deep, forced breath, and made herself tell the truth.
"They... have been changing. Here and there."
"How?" was a natural question. Fleur fully understood that. It didn't do anything to mitigate the resentment.
"I'm still going back to when the door collapsed," she slowly, carefully told the griffon. "The zanustraches charging out of the broken pen. But... there's been a few times when Gratia... isn't there. When she doesn't get hurt."
The top and bottom halves of the beak slightly parted, stayed that way. A griffon's smile.
"Which, in one interpretation," the psychiatrist said, "could mean that your subconscious is finally starting to reconcile what you've been told over and over. That the failure of the protective spells wasn't your fault. You're not assigning yourself the same amount of blame for what happened. It's progress, Fleur."
And the former escort let it go at that. Because she'd said all which was needed. All that she wanted to say.
It had been two weeks since Princess Luna's last nightscape visit. The alicorn couldn't be there all the time and when she did arrive, she didn't always get the right dreams. Truths one and all.
When Fleur was in this room, she was supposed to be honest. But if Applejack could theoretically lie by omission and still qualify to hold the Element, then why couldn't Fleur?
The dreams are changing.
They were.
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I think she should applejack about facing truth that we don't even want to think about. Honesty and truth go hand in hand.
Oh no. Why does the bottom fall out of my stomach at that cliffhanger?
You know, I think it is time to for a change of scenery. Maybe Fleur can take Fluttershy to visit her parents in another country. Zephyr can have that be the neutral ground.
She can always leave Harry the Bear in charge of the cottage and you know what they say about Hotel beds....
I think Fleur would understand Hurricane's version of honesty a lot better.
11324594
Because the obvious question is "If Gratia... isn't there. When she doesn't get hurt."
Is "Who is there? A.k.a Who gets hurt?"
My guess:
Took a while before I got to making my comment after reading, so I'm wondering how quickly / if Dr. Lorem figures it out.
----
Lol if the timing of Zephyr, and Caramel's crush on Rainbow, leads to a "Rainbow's taken. By Caramel (LIE for now) plot."
Harem would have such THINGS to say about that oh my.
----
Is that a Lunaverse ref in the chapter title??
Nope, Lunaverse Carrot Top is Generosity: https://tvtropes.org/Characters/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverseTheLunaverseSix
In DELwMG, there were no ibexes in Canterlot (or Equestria) until the very epilogue, which mentions exactly that, a single ibex doe leaving their mountains.
If this is in the same universe with DELwMG then it is happening after that? Or is this another, 3rd AU?
11324656
This is after DELWMG.
Excellent chapter!
Huh. Looks like Fleur's seeing a therapist. At least, I hope that griffon's a therapist.
Ah, I see Half! happened in this timeline.
Consider what it might do for Zephyr.
This is definitely an interesting conundrum. On the one hand, we're coming in with knowledge of Zephyr Breeze both in and out of the setting that suggests nothing good can come of his visit, especially given its effect on Fluttershy's psyche (and has Fleur mentioned that to Doctor Lorem?) But on the other, the trained professional may have a point. This wouldn't the first time Fleur's needlessly dismissed someone because of their profession. I still want to say to throw the bum out, but now you have me wondering if there might be something genuine buried under all the sleaze.
Mind you, there's still the matter of what Fluttershy' friends think. No, there aren't any Psy. D.s among them—not unless Twilight mentions her electives as frequently as her older brother—but I imagine they have a deep interest in Fluttershy's happiness, and they may have some familiarity with Zephyr.
In the end, we'll have to see.
(And for those wondering about the chapter title, see Positions of Authority.)
That's a fun bit of lore development for Griffon and medicine practice.
Could she ask Applejack to check if Zephyr is telling the truth? I am sure, she would do it for Fluttershy if Fleur expressed that she is worried about the Stalion.
And I love how Fleur like Spike. It could be fun for the two to have some screen time together in a story.
IMO, the paparazzi (Italian for "cockroach") would be your first clue.
I get the distinctive feeling Zephyrs going to be...not redeemed as such, but Fluttershys interpretation will be flawed or missing crucial elements. Stubbornness on both sides, resentment, anger, all the family drama bubbling away under the surface. She'll call him a free loader, he'll say she's the favourite etc etc.
I love the scenes with Doctor Lorem, both from a narrative perspective and seeing irl psychotherapy techniques in use (summarising, paraphrasing etc) and Fleurs resentment of them. She sounds like a nightmare patient, but then again as you point out, all Griffons are nightmare patients lol
Finally is that Ibex a new arrival after Cereas outreach ?
But not in a "good" way I gather
11324937 Well, it is often difficult for someone to embrace therapy when its being mandated as part of an "or else" ....
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Oh certainly, but as Estee points out, Griffon culture doesn't make it any easier. The patient/therapist relationship is traditionally built on trust, not on force.
Fleur and therapy is fascinating to read, from her combative viewpoint to her ruminating on Applejack as a justification for holding back.
I wonder, if her sister is no longer in the dreams, who might have taken her place?
And while I’m sure that this is the greater story, I admit to wanting to hear about those missions that Fleur went on as well… especially with enough danger to bond them closer.
Getting to see Spike brings a smile to Fleur’s face, Eh? I hope she gets the chance for some extended time to talk with him this story.
And *can* Caramel’s love life be solved? Sounds like he could do with some therapy himself to learn to spend time alone.
"when the stallion was found this part of town"
"when the stallion was found in this part of town"?
"which let her Caramel's bedroom desires"
"which let her know Caramel's bedroom desires"?
"a little too big for the tiercel"I'd forgotten the meaning of the word and looked it up, and that seemed to indicate it referred to males; was the word meant to be different, or am I missing or still forgetting something?"And Celesta had checked over"
"And Celestia had checked over"?
"tiercel who had experience"
Well, after that, I checked back through your writing and fortunately found fairly quickly that it appears I did indeed forget this was an established Continuum term for a female griffon; sorry about that.
...Does seem a little odd and tiercel and reeve are male and female griffons respectively while apparently in our world, from the research I've now done, tiercels are male falcons and reeves are the males of a type of wading bird... but then, in FiM linguistic flanks are significantly farther back than they are for our horses, and "alicorn" doesn't refer to the horn material. So... eh. Language! English, specifically; we've no National Academy telling you you can't do that. :D
(I mean, not that that stops me getting annoyed at "could of", or more annoyed that it's sometimes hard to tell what a write even meant to say with "nonplussed"... but the ability for multiple users to insist that the other is using the language Wrong with no clear way to resolve the question is also part of the English language. :D)
"psychiatrist, who had be trusted, needed"
"psychiatrist, who had to be trusted, needed"?
"arrived with a result of feathers and slow sway"
Was that "result" meant to be another word?
"with the hooves approaching the borders of the next."
"with the hooves approaching the borders of the nest."?
"from the cottage. Away from here. There's"
"from the cottage. Away from her. There's"?
There was so many interesting things which popped up on this chapter, progress and new characters…
What is my brain hung up on?
Caramel is griffin curious and unattached currently and Dr. Lorem has wings. 🚢
#TeamCarameLorem
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Pretty sure it's a reference to the story "Positions of Authority".
11325089
It has been pointed out multiple times in this chapter that Lorem is a tiercel. Tiercel's are the MALES of hawks and falcons. Pretty sure Carmel's not gay in this fic.
Ooh, I'm intrigued to see what is going on with Fleur's dreams. It was fun to see interactions with the psychiatrist. I thought those were the ones who only dealt medications to clients but according to my research they can do psychotherapy in addition to prescribing medications. So that makes me think about the sleeping potions Fleur had, and whether or not that'll come up. Or if there's been any pharmaceutical interventions to deal with her trauma. That's interesting to me, I doubt we'll go into that much in this story though. I would love, selfishly, if somehow it ends up that Fleur takes the Equestrian equivalent of MDMA and just trips balls and gains love and empathy for herself and others. Fascinating trials are being done on stuff like ketamine and psilocybin to help people deal with their deep-seated pain.
Loving the setup so far, I'm definitely spoiled by all these updates. Thanks Estee! Hope everything goes well for you on your trip and getting the rest of your pieces up this month. I believe in you!
11325737
Reeve and Tiercel are something I consistently reverse. Thanks for the correction. That definitely makes the likelihood of the ship much less plausible. I’ll have to sail on and be a degenerate shipper elsewhere.
I’m just going to have to ship the new griffin with our favorite square-jawed lawpony. #Milorem_Rights
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11325025
For griffons, I'm using 'tiercel' for female and 'reeve' for male. Because that's what I did originally, there's a hundred-degree heatwave outside, and I ain't editin' everything now. Also, I actually get to blame the glossary from which I got the original terms, because those were the words which had been associated with griffons before I used them.
(I trusted information found online. More fool me.)
So Doctor Lorem is female, and is IDed as such during the chapter.
11326156
Thank you! I’m not crazy! I thought I had confusion with the parents back in AF 1, but I had assumed I was just mistaken. Reeve does sound more masculine than tiercel. The clarification is much appreciated. #CarameLorem is back on the menu, boys!
What was the other mission again?
This makes me curious as a psychologist what the level of understanding is in your setting. A psychiatrist from a small community clinic doing talk therapy...small population, active, makes sense. A lot of good things to think about. Though is there a med referral in place or...needs be, I can see a psychiatrist having to do this. Kudos for really making some good work.
11326156
Oh, sorry about the weather; good luck with that.
And no worries. :)
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11326704
Oooooooooh. Please excuse my dumba@# obliviousness for not paying close enough attention to the text. The apology's to both of you for both separate instances of my derp.
👍
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I want to say it was mentioned near the end of the first story that the bearers basically didn't know he existed in the same vein as Twilight's (older) brother. I could be wrong though
Oof, yeah, someone so closly garded would have a hard time doing therapy.
And the small mention of Bon Bon and Lyra´s foal makes me so happy.
Learned On The Internet
In Europe, some bats migrate, some don't. Females need more food & tend to migrate. They mostly go through Gibraltar to get to Africa. Males are more likely to just hibernate. Small as they are, they eat 1000+ bugs a night.
Yay! They've managed to have a child. Oh, wait. That's another reminder for Fleur.
I'm thinking that's not a good thing. Now that Fleur has more ponies to care about, it might not even be Fluttershy all the time.
Depending on how she's thinking/feeling, maybe in a few of the dreams, Fleur is by herself and doesn't get rescued at all.