C'est la vie

“Come on, mon cher. Put a pep in that step.”

“I’m coming, I’m coming.”

“It doesn’t seem like it to me.”

“I’m moving as fast as I can, woman. It’s not my fault I have two legs and you have four!”

“Four shorter legs.”

“It’s not my fault that you’re walking like you have ants in your pants.”

“I’m not wearing any pants, cher.”

It had been a week since the fiasco at the restaurant, and the news had spread like wildfire. Every mare and stallion, from the princesses themselves to the garbage collectors, had heard what had happened, and each of them reacted differently to the news.

The upper-crust of Canterlot society had been horrified of the news. Many sent their condolences to Hoity and Sapphire, both whom had hidden from the public eye to try and save face. There were mutters that the human should have known better, alien or not, and should have gotten far more than a lifetime ban from the restaurant.

The lower-class mares and stallions, meanwhile, had gotten a kick out of the story. Many shook their heads and chuckled good-naturedly at Sam’s ignorance and the noble’s overaction over something so insignificant.

This, in many ways, helped calm some of the city’s fears of these aliens. Instead of them being something bigger than life or other, they were no different from any pony. In fact, they might have even been a little sillier.

For Fleur, that afternoon in the restaurant had been one of the better meals of her entire life.

Hoity and Sapphire desperately trying to compose themselves as Sam shoveled his ketchup-drowned fish into his mouth. Sam trying his hardest to eat with dignity and grace and failing at it spectacularly. Fleur herself trying to nudge her photographer in the right direction wherever she could while trying to keep herself from laughing every few moments. It had been wonderful for the unicorn—far more interesting than what things like these usually were. She hadn’t even minded when their group had been thrown out when one of the chefs came out to see what Sam was doing to her food.

Many of her colleagues had urged her to drop the human to save some face as well. Her manager in particular was insistent upon this idea, badgering her about it whenever he could, but Fleur wouldn’t hear any of it. She was going to keep this giant, adorable, quirky stallion until the season was over. In fact, if he kept it up, she had a mind of hiring him onto her staff permanently.

She enjoyed listening to him talk about himself. She liked hearing that accent of his every single time he got too excited and let it slip. She loved learning about his technology and seeing him smile or his eyes lighting up always put her in a good mood. He was the thing that helped make her busy, glamor-filled days more enjoyable, and there were no words she could convey that could describe how much that meant to her.

Her photographer was so talented in making her giggle and smile in fact, that she wanted to see if his talents could brighten somepony else’s day. And now, after doing her best to work around her hectic schedule and finishing all of the world needed to see to today, she was going to do just that.

“Just a few more blocks, mon cher,” she said, weaving in and out of crowds of ponies.

Usually, all eyes would be on her, but today she may as well have been invisible. Everypony within eyeshot was staring at Sam’s towering figure. Some of them were openly gawking, while others were a bit stealthier in their approach, but no matter where they went, eyes were upon him.

Sam, not used to the attention, did his best to keep his head low and navigate through the crowds as quietly as possible. Fleur made sure to stick close to his side, chatting with him to keep his mind off the eyes and gossip.

“You said that like five blocks ago,” Sam said, staring at group of giggling mares out of the corner of his eye.

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll last for a little while longer, mon bébé,” Fleur replied, sticking her tongue out at him.

Sam, ever the adult, stuck his tongue out right back at her. Fleur giggled, giving his hip a playful bump.

“So, what is this place called again? This kid’s hospital?”

“It’s called Lionheart’s Foals’ Hospital.”

“Lionheart’s Foals’ Hospital? That’s kind of a weird name, ain’t it?

“Doctor Lionheart was a very sweet, caring stallion, but he wasn’t the type that had an ear for names.” Fleur smiled as she recalled the old stallion, who had passed some years ago. “His hospital is a jewel in this city, however—one of the best facilities of its kind in the world.”

“Really?” Sam asked, scratching his chin. “We got the same kind of thing back home.”

“Oh?”

“Yep. We just call ours Children’s Hospital, since we seem to be a lot better at naming things than you ponies.”

Sam’s remarked earned him another playful bump, which had him chuckling.

Though ponies continued to whisper and stare at them, they made their way toward the foals’ hospital without much of a hassle. A tourist or two came up to Sam asking for a picture, and one of Fleur’s die-hard fans rushed up to her professing his love, but mostly they were left alone.

Apparently, one had no need of bodyguards when one’s companion towered over even minotaurs.

All in all, the two made remarkably good time, arriving at the hospital earlier than expected. The moment Fleur saw the giant, white, multistory building, a smile came to her face. For many years, she had been coming here to play with the foals, and each time she looked upon this hospital, all of the memories, both good and bad, but mostly good, would come flooding back to her.

“See? I told you that the walk wasn’t that bad,” the unicorn said.

Sam ignored the jab, instead letting out a low whistle. “Well, that’s a big ‘un, huh?”

Fleur nodded. “Yes. A few years ago the hospital was renovated and enlarged. Now it not only has an in-house laboratory, but a care center and rehabilitation center.”

Grabbing Sam’s hand with her magic, Fleur began leading him toward the entrance, eager to show her photographer one of her most beloved places. “Come, the receptionist is no doubt waiting for us.”

The main lobby of the hospital was, as always, neat and tidy. A few ponies were walking around, some doctors and staff, others parents and their children. A young stallion sat behind a service desk at the end of the lobby, his glasses hanging down on his nose as he looked through a stack of papers.

“Good afternoon, Monsieur Notepad!” Fleur called, trotting toward him.

The stallion looked up from his papers. Seeing Fleur, a small, tired smile came to his face.

“Hello Fleur. Are you here for another play date with the kids?” he asked.

“Oui. Is there a floor that needs some help watching the little ones?”

“Well, give me a second and let me see,” Notepad murmured, grabbing a file and opening it. “Hmm… It looks like B Wing is running a little short on staff. They could probably use some help.”

Looking up from the file, Notepad’s gaze flicked to Sam for the first time. The stallion twitched in startlement, just now noticing him.

“Sweet Sun above are you a big one,” he said, pushing his glasses up his nose and leaning forward. “Wait… Are you that hyoo-man that everypony’s been talking about?”

“I am, sir,” Sam said, taking a step forward and offering a hand. “My name’s Sam. It’s very nice to meet you.”

“I heard that you’ve caused a bit of a ruckus at some fancy restaurant,” Notepad said, taking his hand and giving it a shake.

Sam flinched. “Hey… I heard something like that too.”

“Sam here was kind enough to offer his services in helping keep the little ones entertained, so I decided to bring him with me today,” Fleur said. “I hope it’s alright.”

Notepad looked between the unicorn and human for a moment before looking back down at his papers. “I trust you enough to know that you’re not going to bring in somepony that will hurt the foals, Fleur. He’ll be fine.”

“Merci, Notepad, Merci,” Fleur said with a happy little hop, once again grabbing Sam’s hand with her magic. “Come on, Sam. I’ll take you B Wing.”

The hospital, though state of the art and groundbreaking in numerous ways, was a bit of a labyrinth. But Fleur had been coming to this place for years. She knew every floor and every hall nearly by heart. If she had wanted, she and Sam could have gotten there in ten minutes, but the supermodel made a few side trips to say hello to a few of the foals.

There was Cherry Pie on the third floor, who had come in because of a bad case of pneumonia. There was also Cream Puff, who been brought in last week because of a pair of broken legs. And she couldn’t forget little Pork Pie, who was having a bit of trouble with his intestinal tract.

Each child had squealed in delight when they saw her walk into their room, and even the foal’s parents, if they were there, would perk up at the sight of her. She’d talk to a filly or colt, ask them how they were doing and if they missed her. She’d talk to them and the parents for a few minutes, give the filly or colt a nuzzle and the parents a hug, and make her way out the door, happy to see that the foal was doing better.

Sam, of course, was roped into coming into each room. The foals seemed in awe about meeting with a real life human, staring up at him with wide eyes and opened mouths. The parents were usually a bit leery about having him in the room at first, but reassurances by Fleur and Sam’s natural politeness eventually warmed them to the giant of a stallion, so by the time that they left the room, Sam and the parents were more often than not joking and laughing with each other.

Each time Fleur left a room, she found herself smiling more and more. This was the best part of her week: to come here and bring a bit of joy to ponies that truly needed it. What made it even better was that she had someone else to share the joy, satisfaction, and contentment that she felt coming here and doing this.

Eventually, the human and unicorn made their way to B Wing. This was one of the smaller wings of the hospital, only housing fifty beds. It was the wing where foals recovering from surgeries would more often than not find themselves, and as such was usually one of the more active places in the hospital.

“Here we are!” Fleur chirped, looking around. “Nice, isn’t it?”

“It looks like every other hall we’ve walked down,” Sam replied, eyeing a few of the paper flowers that had been taped to the walls. “Those are a change though. Real nice lookin’.”

“The foals and I made them a few weeks ago,” Fleur said, giving his hand a tug to help lead him down the hall.

“So, you helped make all of these then?”

“Yes. A young filly named Star Strip was complaining that the walls were too white, so I went out a got some craft paper and we all sat down and made these.”

A smile came to Sam’s face. “Really?

Fleur nodded. “Yes, and we all had a blast doing it.”

Sam’s smile widened just a hair.“You must really love these kids then, huh?”

Fleur’s smile diminished somewhat.

“When I was young I spent a few years in and out of places like this,” she said, looking over her shoulder at him. “I know what it feels like to be in a place like this every day. So I come here once a week to try and make the endless hours of lying in a bed a little more bearable.”

She shrugged.

“I may be only one mare, but I hope that it helps, even if it’s just by making somepony smile.”

“That’s real sweet of you, Fleur. Not a lot of people wanna come here and do stuff like this.”

Fleur flashed her photographer a warm smile before turning back around. “The nurses probably have most of the foals in the play area. Let’s see if we can give them a bit, d’accord?”

Sam nodded. “Yes ma’am.”

As always, Fleur heard the foals before she could see them. Colts and fillies, laughing, playing, yelling, with a stern voice breaking through the endless tide of chaos to call a warning or encouragement. The voices caused her to pick up the pace, eager to begin.

She and Sam had made it halfway down the hall when a stallion wearing a nurse’s cap shuffled out of a room. His eyes were half-lidded and his head was hung low. If one looked closely enough they would have been able to see the dark rings under his bloodshot, tired eyes.

“Bonjour, Coffee Cream,” Fleur called.

The stallion jumped, his head snapping over to stare at her. When he saw that it was just her however, he visibly relaxed. In fact, he seemed relieved to see her.

“Fleur? Oh thank Celestia that Notepad sent you up here,” he said, trotting toward her. “Band Aid called off, so we’ve been short all morning.”

“I’ll be happy to help where I can,” Fleur replied. “The foals are in the play area, yes?”

“Yes, and they’re antsy. Somepony was stupid enough to give them chocolate cake and ice cream for lunch and now they’re jumping off the walls.”

Smiling, Fleur placed a hoof on the stallion’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, mon chere. I’ll keep the little ones entertained for a few hours. Why don’t you go and get some rest?”

The stallion answered her smile with a smile of his own. “I was just about to go and get some coffee. Apple Balm and Moon Skipper are sitting with the kids now. If you want to go into the play area, I’m sure they’d love the help.”

Nodding, Fleur took a step to the side and allowed Coffee Cream to brush past, making his way down the hall.

“I don’t think he even saw me,” Sam commented after the stallion had disappeared around a corner.

“He has a very difficult job, as do the rest of the ponies working here,” Fleur replied. “I don’t doubt that he has been working double shifts for the last few days.”

“I can see why I never wanted to get into medicine. I’d be tearing my hair out if I was that guy.”

“Oui. Now let’s get down to the play area then,” Fleur said, bumping Sam’s side.

She was able to make it three steps before Sam loudly cleared his throat. The sound made her stop and look at him with an eyebrow raise. To her confusion, she saw Sam standing there uncomfortably, his hands behind his back.

“Hey… Fleur,” he began. “Before we go in there, is there anything that I should or shouldn’t be doin’?”

“Just listen to the nursing staff. They’ll tell you what you’re able to do and not do. I’m sure the foals themselves will also be very helpful. They always are.”

Sam bit his lip, rocking back and forth on his heels. “Is that it? Because I don’t want to get kicked out of this place like that restaurant.”

“You won’t, mon chere. The foals are going to love you.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive.”

“When I’m five times their size and all big and scary?”

Fleur couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, I don’t think you have anything to worry about, you big, scary man.”

A flash of indignation crossed Sam’s face, causing him to puff up like a pigeon. This only caused Fleur to laugh again as she grabbed his hand with her magic and nudged him toward her.

“You have nothing to worry about. I’ll be right next to you the whole time. Now come along chéri”

It took a bit of coaxing, but Fleur eventually managed to get her photographer moving again. With each step they took, the foals became louder and louder until they turned a corner and saw a large, sun-lit room.

The room was crowded with fillies and colts, in various states of healing, playing and laughing and having a good time. What space that wasn’t filled with foals was occupied with toys or a watchful adult. Fleur looked around—at the kids making hoof paintings, at the group of fillies playing with blocks, and at the colts that were rough housing just a little too much.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could also see her photographer scanning the room. She could still see a bit of reservation and caution on his face, but with each passing second, she could see a smile forming. Not able to help herself, her rump gave a little happy wiggle in anticipation.

“Look! It’s Ms. Fleur!”

All around the room, fillies and colts stopped what they were doing. They all perked up, looking over toward Fleur herself, who was wearing a smile a mile wide. For a few moments, there was silence as they looked at her, a silence that was only disturbed by the relieved sounds of the nurses and caretakers. And with that, all Tartarus broke loose.

“Ms. Fleur! Ms. Fleur!”

“It’s Ms. Fleur!”

“Hiya, Ms. Fleur!”

“Bon… bon…. bonj… hiya, Ms. Fleur!”

The foals rushed over toward her as quickly as they were able, their eyes bright and their smiles wide. Fleur helped some of the little ones by closing the distance between her and them with a few quick steps.

As the foals descended, she was given hugs, nuzzles, and greetings in both Equish and adorable, awkward Prench. Fleur acclimated to the chaos quickly, hugging and nuzzling each and every filly and colt that was within hooves length. She said hello to every single one, asked how they were doing, asked if they had missed her as she had with the other foals that she had seen. Sam did his best to stick to the background, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed, but it was only inevitable that one of the kids saw him.

“What the heck is that?” A colt said, pointing at the man.

The foals stopped bombarding Fleur with affection, questions, and chatter to look over.

“Wow! Look how big it is!”

“Did you bring somepony else for us to play with, Ms. Fleur?”

“Is that some kind of monkey?”

Sam tensed as a group of foals broke off from the main group and made their way over toward him. His gaze flicked over to Fleur, who gave him an encouraging nod even as a filly made herself comfortable on her lap the moment the supermodel sat down onto the floor.

One of the foals, a tiny earth pony missing her two front teeth, trotted over so that she was just standing a few feet from him.

“Are you a misther, mishter? Are or you some kind of manial?”

“It’s animal, you dummy,” another filly said.

The filly, without missing a beat, turned around and stuck her tongue out before turning back toward the human, looking up at him expectantly.

Sam, clearing his throat, squatted down. “I’m a mister, little girl.”

The filly cocked her head to the side. “What’s a girl, mister?”

Sam blinked. “It’s what you are.”

The filly’s nose scrunched up. “Naha! I’m not a girl! I’m an earhth pony!”

Sam, looking just a bit thrown off balance, tried to rally. “No, I know that you’re an earth pony, but you’re also a girl.”

“Naha!” the filly said stomping her hoof.

The photographer frowned. “How do you know? You don’t even know what a girl is!” He made some vague hand motions that had Fleur and a few of the other adults chuckling to themselves. “There’s boys and there’s girls, and you’re a girl.”

“No, I’m not!” the little filly insisted, staring up at the giant of a man with all of the fury in her tiny little body. “You’re a girl!”

Sam opened his mouth as the filly stared up at him fiercely. He was silent for several seconds before his mouth slowly closed shut. He then lifted his gaze back up to the supermodel, staring over at her in bafflement.

Fleur had to beat back her laughter with a cough. “I believe he’s calling you a filly, little one,” she said.

The filly looked back at her, then back up at Sam. She let out a thoughtful hum, her eyes narrowing slightly before a great big smile came to her face.

“Well, why didn’t ya just say that, misther?” she asked.

“Because you were being too ornery,” Sam dryly replied.

The filly cocked her head to the side once again. “What’s ornery mean?”

One of the nurses guffawed, and even Fleur couldn’t quite hold back a chuckle or two. Still though, she decided to save her poor, outmatched photographer.

“The stallion behind me is Sam, my garçons et filles. He was kind enough to come here with me so that we might spent a few hours with you all.”

The colts and fillies perked up, more and more of them breaking off and trotting over to Sam. Fleur could see a foal’s curiosity in their eyes, and could practically see the questions forming in their little heads. When more than half of the foals were now surrounding Sam, they began an interrogation that would have made a Royal Guard green with envy.

“What the heck are you, mister?”

“How come you’re so tall?”

“What’s wrong with your hooves? Why are they all split up like that?”

“Why’s your muzzle so flat?”

“Are you Ms. Fleur’s pet? Can my mommy and daddy buy one of you at the store?”

“Are you some kind of minotaur? ‘Cause my pappy doesn’t like minotaurs. He says that they’re tryin’ to steal all of our gems and mares.”

As Fleur watched the barrage of questions, one of the nurses trotted over with a book in hoof. “Fleur, we were just about to read a story to the foals before we took them to dinner. If you’d want to do the honors we’d be more than happy to let you.”

“Merci,” Fleur said, taking the book out with her magic before looking at the remanding foals sitting around her. “How about it, little ones? Would you like me to read you a story?”

“Yeah!” the foals cried, nodding their heads.

Fleur giggled in delight. She was about to open the book and start reading when an idea came to mind.

“Sam? How about you come sit next to me so that we can read to the foals?”

A quick glance over showed that the foals had wasted little time in climbing up Sam’s frame. A pair of pegasi were perched on his shoulders, giggling to themselves. A young unicorn was helping an earth pony climb up onto his back. Even the little ornery little earth pony filly was doing her best to climb up his shirt, looking absolutely thrilled with herself.

Sam himself seemed a little more at ease, doing his very best to make sure that none of the foals fell off, so focused on this task that he didn’t seem to hear Fleur. He was as gentle as could be, making sure that none of them hurt themselves while talking to each and every one of them.

Seeing all of this, the warmth in Fleur’s stomach nearly boiled over. For a minute or two she didn’t have the heart to call out to him again, afraid that doing so would ruin what she was witnessing.

“Sam? Sam, mon chere? Sam?”

Sam finally perked up, looking up from a colt in his arms. “Yeah? Whatcha need?”

“I was wondering if you’d like to come over here and help me do a bit of reading?” the supermodel asked, waving the book about.

“Oh yeah, sure,” Sam replied, reaching around his back to grab the colt that was trying to climb onto his head. “Come on you little munchkins. Let me get up so I can go over and do some readin’.”

The foals loudly awwed at this, but relented, allowing the photographer to grab each one of them and set them down. He then stood to his fully height and walked over to Fleur, who patted the space right beside her. With some shuffling, he sat next to the supermodel, his legs neatly folding together.

The moment he sat down a group of foals rushed over and sat in his lap. Fleur let out a laugh at his surprised expression, leaning over and pressing her side against his. To her pleasant surprise, there was a pleasant warmth emanating from her photographer. Without realizing it, her nostrils flared, taking in his scent.

The filly with the missing teeth, who was now making herself comfortable in the middle of Sam’s lap, snatched the book from Fleur’s magic and gave it to the human.

“Read the one about the dragon and the parasprite!” she chirped.

“Read the one about the dragon and the parasprite, please,” Fleur corrected, gently booping the filly on the nose.

The filly nodded. “Yeah! What she said!”

Chuckling to herself, Fleur leaned over and whispered in her photographer’s ear. “It’s on page fifty. I’ll trade off with you if you need a break, mon chere.”

“Alright. Thanks,” Sam said, clearing his throat as he opened the book and flipped through its pages until he found the story. “Let’s see… Aw, there ya are, ‘The Parasprite and the Drake’, by Noteworthy.”

A small colt crawled into Fleur’s lap with the young filly. Fleur, not taking her eyes off Sam, leaned down and gave him a nuzzle.

“Once upon a time, there was a dragon. He was a mighty beast, whose wings could eclipse the very sun itself…”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~

In the end, a single story wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy the children. Each time either Sam or Fleur tried to put the book down, one of the foals would snatch it right back up and put it back in their hands or hooves. This would always be accompanied by begging and such adorable, pleading looks that neither the unicorn or human could say no. It wasn’t until the fourth or fifth story, when half of the colts and fillies couldn’t keep their eyes open anymore, when the nurses and caretakers had stepped in and carted them off to see if they could get something in their bellies before bedtime.

By the time that Fleur and Sam left the hospital Luna’s moon hung high in the sky. Both of them were tired, their throats were sore, and they were a bit stiff from sitting as long as they had. Nevertheless, both of them looked like they wanted nothing more than to go back in there and read just a few more stories.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the foals warm up to somepony like that before,” Fleur said.

Sam shrugged. “Kids like to be around weird stuff,” he replied.

“Absurde!” Fleur said, bumping his side. “They loved you because you, mon amie, are wonderful with foals.”

“I don’t think so,” Sam said, with a snort and a roll of his eyes.

“You might not think so, but I know so,” Fleur replied, giving his ribs a poke. “You’re going to make some lucky mare very happy someday.”

Sam rolled his eyes again, reaching over and flicking Fleur’s ear. Fleur responded by messing up his hair with her magic.

“Quit it,” Sam said, waving his arms around his head to try to slap away her magical aura.

“Non, Fleur smartly replied, getting a boop for her troubles.

As they walked, the back and forth escalated to pokes and tugs and mussing up fur. Somewhere during the silly little battle, there was even an ear tug or two. But the roughhouse unfortunately had to come to an end as the two reached the point where they’d have to make their separate ways.

“Well, I guess this is goodnight then, huh?” Sam asked.

“Yes, I suppose it is,” Fleur said, booping his nose with her magic.

Sam’s face scrunched up, causing the supermodel to grin. Turning to face him, she gestured for him to kneel down. He did so and was immediately hugged.

“Thank you very much for coming today, Sam,” Fleur said, rubbing her cheek against his. “It meant a lot to both myself and the foals.”

Sam tensed at the unicorn’s touch for a few moments, before he returned the hug. Fleur let out a sigh, tightening her grip on him while wiggling closer.

“You’re welcome,” he said. “It was actually pretty fun. We’ll need to do it again sometime.”

Fleur nodded, rubbing the side of Sam’s face in the process. “I’m sure that the little ones would love to see you again.”

“It’s a date then.”

Minutes ticked by as the human and pony continued to hug each other. Eventually, Sam was the one to break it, much to Fleur’s disappointment.

Alright, I’ll see you in the morning then.”

“Oui. I’ll see you then.”

Fleur was about to turn around, when an idea came to mind. Just as Sam was about to climb to his feet, she darted forward, planting two quick pecks on his cheek. Sam, surprised, nearly fell over as she jumped back with a giggle.

“We also kiss cheeks when we’re about to part in Canterlot, mon chere.”

Sam reddened as she, laughing to herself, turned around and trotted down the road. “That’s not how you’re supposed to do it though!”

“It’s how we’ll do it until you stop blushing like that!” Fleur called over her shoulder.