Promising Reassignment

Sandbag was the first thought la Fleur had when her sense slowly came back to her. She was fairly sure she’d been conscious for a while, but had been swimming in some kind of waking limbo where she couldn’t move.

As soon as feeling in her body and limbs came back a headache exploded from the deepest reaches of her skull all the way to the tip of her horn and back again. This was a feeling only for when alcohol was involved; before meeting a new employer was not a time she would ever drink, or so she thought.

At length she unsealed her eyelids and looked about the room. Her discomfort steadily grew as she took stock of just how nice this place was.

I couldn’t have been drinking yesterday. If I was, I wouldn’t have my new employer. Mild panic spread through la Fleur’s mind as these thoughts came to her. “If I did, then I’m probably fired. Sitting up she rubbed her eyes, anticipating the wave of dizziness soon to come. As it washed over her she took it like the professional she was, and didn’t let it stop her from getting out of the very plush bed.

Fleur de Lis trotted around the room looking at the various pieces of art and testing the furniture. The decor seemed tacky considering what she’d heard of Mr. Fancy Pants. All of her belongings had been put in a neat pile, which helped her to continue the lie that she hadn’t been drunk. It was far too neatly organized for a drunken unicorn to arrange.

A knock on the door made her turn, a bit too quickly at that. This time she wasn’t ready for the dizziness and stumbled a bit as she headed for the door. Opening the door with magic was out of the question and she knew it. Last time she felt this way she had applied force in the wrong direction on a pull door. The knob and lock mechanism were forced through the door and there was a considerable amount of apologizing.

Fleur de Lis opened the door and was greeted by a smiling green coated unicorn mare with a curly blue mane.

The green unicorn, upon seeing the beautiful white creature on the other side of the door, forgot her prepared introduction for new guests. The effect upon the stunned mare vanished when she saw the disheveled white and pink mane. There were also the light purple orbs hidden behind half shut eyelids. There was obvious reluctance to keep her eyes open in the light. All of these things were clear signs of a hangover. It wasn’t so unexpected from someone who had spent the night in a honeymoon suite but it still detracted from the overall effect of the white mare’s stunning appearance.

“Ma’am, would you like a complimentary fruit bowl?” The inn’s service mare magically pulled a cart of assorted fruits into view.

Fleur de Lis eyed the fruit hungrily, but there were questions she needed to ask first.

“Complimentary?” La Fleur inquired, squinting at the mare that stood in a sun bathed hall.

“Yes ma’am, it comes with the honeymoon suite.” She lost herself in thought for a moment, missing the dark expression that passed over Fleur de Lis’s face. Returning to her task she continued, “Do you need any extra towels or soap while I’m at it?”

Although her face had regained its out of sorts look, Fleur de Lis’s thoughts had remained in dark places. They stayed that way longer than was probably healthy at this point, but for some reason la Fleur couldn’t explain she couldn’t stay mad. Soon she was back to barely listening to the other unicorn while most of her mind was being filled by her impressive headache. Fleur de Lis even felt a strange confidence in her ability to not cry when this conversation was over, even though she’d yet again been reminded of her late husband. Somehow those tears were gone, and while the feeling of loss remained there was now a warmth left by something she couldn’t remember encountering.

“No,” la Fleur began when she realized the service mare had stopped talking, “I think I have enough towels. That fruit though...” She eyed the cart with her hungry eyes.

“Very well then.” The green unicorn said politely. As she began levitating fruit into a nicely engraved wooden bowl, she felt a second magic aura that was pulling the fruit between her and the tall white guest.

Fleur de Lis had forgotten the fact she’d been offered a bowl of fruit. As the first apple reached her waiting mouth she saw the look the green mare was giving her. Fleur de Lis then spotted the bowl partially filled with fruit.

“Oh, of course.” She said sheepishly placing the apple in the bowl and waiting with an awkward half-smile. This was a face that felt wrong to la Fleur. Normally being so composed and professional, this was an extremely rare occurrence, where she lacked the ability to take control of the situation with a few well-placed words.

The service mare quickly finished piling fruit into the bowl and levitated it to a table just inside the room.

With a light bow she said, “Have a nice day.” After that she was gone down the hallway.

For a short while Fleur de Lis stood in the doorway until a monstrous growl from her stomach reminded her just how hungry she was.

At the moment her plan was to: Eat, wash quickly, meet with Mr. Fancy Pants, and then hoof it to the palace to receive some amount of comfort from Princess Celestia. The only comfort she would likely receive from anyone, as far as she knew.

Fleur de Lis happened to walk by a mirror on her way to a couch. She nearly dropped the bowl when she saw the state of her upper features. Her face was covered in tear stains; her mane had knotted itself in several places, as if she’d been rolling on the ground. And to top all of this off, her eye shadow had been partially rubbed off and was smeared down to her cheeks in some places. How the service mare had managed not to make a face was beyond la Fleur’s realm of speculation at this moment.

Slowly la Fleur placed the bowl on the table and took a deep breath to prevent a freak out that she felt exceptionally vulnerable to this morning.

A comb and brush floated up next to her while the bath tub simultaneously began to fill up.

Fleur de Lis was no longer in denial. Alcohol had become a part of yesterday at some point. She was annoyed that all of yesterday’s bad experiences led to this morning’s ruin. Getting the honeymoon suite felt like some sort of cruel joke, and was likely going to sour the graceful and normally composed mare’s mood for the rest of the day.

In her own private display of levitation prowess, la Fleur got to work on her mane with comb and brush while holding an apple up to her mouth. She forced herself to focus through what she now accepted as a hangover, using it as a punishment for letting it happen in the first place.

The white mare winced as she tugged at a knot. With a long sigh she worked the knot out slowly and carefully. This was going to take a while.

==========

Fleur de Lis had recovered quite well after breakfast and the hot bath. Her mane was still slightly damp, but she couldn’t care less now that it was neat and in order.

After leaving a tip that was likely larger than anybody who had to clean such a small mess deserved, la Fleur was on her way to the front desk. Bits were something she wasn’t in the business of caring about at this point in her life.

It only took a few turns to reach the front desk of the inn. Fleur de Lis had always thought that a honeymoon suite was always supposed to be located at the very top of a building. She shrugged this thought away as she trotted up to the front desk, intending to inform some staff member of the vacated room.

Nobody was at the front desk, and Fleur de Lis’s hoof was touching the bell; a voice from the doorway that went to the back room caught her attention before she rang it.

Somepony was using a very defensive tone as they spoke. The speaking pony’s voice sounded very familiar to Fleur de Lis, even though she was unable to put a face to it.

“... I’m not making it up! She was this tall, with a slender body, and this pink and white striped mane.” A moment of silence followed then the speaker, a colt by the sound of his voice, continued, “And she cried, so I held her till she felt better.” His voice trailed off in slight disbelief of his own words.

“Uh huh, sure you did. Now why don’t you go and get some sleep, you look like you need it.” A much deeper voice chided, “You probably just fell asleep and had a dream about this filly you wish you could have.”

“Maybe.” The younger pony admitted sadly, “It was a little too incredible to be true. She was so pretty though and it felt so real.” Whoever he was, Fleur de Lis was convinced they had met last night. From the sound of things he’d given her an extended hug after some kind of alcohol related breakdown. If that was all that had happened she was going to need to thank him for being such a gentlecolt.

That opportunity was literally right around the corner as hoof falls approached the open doorway. A few moments later a light grey colt with a black mane came around the corner with a red vest draped around his neck. He was very very familiar to Fleur de Lis.

When the colt saw the white unicorn looking at him expectantly his mouth fell open and his throat produced a choked squeak; he’d just learned that trying to say ‘Oh my gosh you’re real!’ After your throat suddenly dried and without actually being able to move your mouth, was basically impossible.

Since reacquiring her ability to hold a good deal of power in conversations, and the astonished colt’s complete lack of said power, she spoke first.

“You were talking about me, yes?”

All Silver Leaf had left was the ability to nod and breathe at this moment in time. Both of which required conscious effort.

“Silver! I said get home. Did you fall asleep on your hooves or something?” Somepony said gruffly, his voice growing closer.

An orange stallion came around to stand alongside the gawking, grey colt. The stallion’s annoyed expression turned to one of curiosity as he followed Silver Leaf’s gaze to the white mare on the other side of the counter. It took several seconds for the orange pony, whose nametag designated him a manager, to put together that this mare was the one that was supposed to be part of his employee’s lonely dreams.

He hastily pushed past his slack jawed employee to take care of the strikingly beautiful customer.

Fleur de Lis detected an attempt at schmooze coming on by the poorly concealed sly smile on the stallions face. She was not very interested in him. Her eyes stayed set on Silver Leaf as she waited for an answer to her question.

“How may I help you ma’am?” The stallion used tried to use his smooth talk voice.

“Get him to answer me question please.” Fleur de Lis still hadn’t taken her eyes off of Silver Leaf. Now, she went as far as to look straight into his eyes, and the grey colt was in no state of mind to look away.

Out of jealousy, Silver Leaf received a dirty look from his boss. Fleur de Lis took this opportunity to cast a spell. Her horn glowed softly for an instant, and Silver Leaf’s eyes went wide while the spell tried to bring up any recent events that could have left guilt behind. The spell took less than a second to do its job and it brought Silver Leaf out of his catatonic state.

Fleur de Lis was very pleased when the grey colt didn’t instantly break eye contact, which would have been a sign of guilt in her presence.

“Silver! Answer the lady.” The boss pony barked.

“Hmm?” Silver Leaf looked around like someone who had just regained their sight.

“A guest of our inn asked you a question.” The stallion said grudgingly.

“I’m sorry misse- Miss, um... What did you ask?”

“Fleur de Lis,” she began, pointing a hoof at herself, “I asked if I was the mare you were referring to. The one who was drunk and crying, and the one you were holding?”

“I- Everypony thought you weren’t real; I started to believe it too.” Silver Leaf wasn’t avoiding the question. He was simply somewhere between shying away from the mare he’d convinced himself he wasn’t worthy of even knowing, and being ecstatic about the fact she was real.

“Well, I only ask because, and this is the opinion other ponies, I am considered ‘pretty.’ Last I checked I was a mare. White and pink mane?” She flourished her mane, it momentarily concealed her face before falling back into place. “That all sounds like me. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Yes! Yes it does.” Silver Leaf shifted to “ecstatic about the situation,” and forgot to control the volume of his voice.

Fleur de Lis dropped her interrogation face and replaced it with a warmer expression. Silver Leaf received her kind look as well as a ‘What the buck?” look from his boss.

“Then thank you. For comforting me when I had nopony else to go to; also for having enough decency not to take advantage of a drunk mare. I truly do not believe some spare bits are an adequate thank you, but I don’t exactly know what you would like.” Fleur de Lis paused hoping he would make a request.

Silver Leaf was no worried that he was dreaming again. A beautiful mare was asking him how she could show her gratitude for his actions. Of course being who he was, sex was not a form of currency in the least. Being that the last time a mare had offered him anything was a year or so ago, when his mother had volunteered to help him move to Canterlot, he wasn’t sure what to do. So he went with the first thing that came to mind.

“Food is nice.” He said awkwardly.

“What the buck?” The orange stallion grumbled.

“Umm,” Fleur de Lis intoned while she interpreted Silver Leaf’s statement, “Lunch?” She looked at the clock, 11:07 AM There were several things she needed to do. “Dinner perhaps?”

“Sure, it’s a date! Er- an event that is scheduled at a later point in time.” Again Silver Leaf’s last “date” consisted of lunch with his mother and a filly she was trying to set him up with, he’d figured out that he had more in common with a brick wall than with his mother’s choice in fillies.

“Right, dinner it is. Where do you live so I can find you tonight?” She levitated paper and pencil to the counter from one of her bags.

Somewhere in the back of his mind Silver Leaf realized this was completely backwards as far as male-female interactions were supposed to go. He tried to shut out these thoughts while writing down his address for la Fleur. It took him several tries to get something better than scribbles onto the piece of paper.

Fleur de Lis pulled the piece of paper up to eye-level and looked it over, she would have to get directions later.

“Glad that is all in order then.” Fleur de Lis smiled at Silver Leaf, who gave a goofy smile in response. “Thank you again.” She bowed and started trotting to the door.

Silver Leaf suddenly caught on to the jealousy radiating from his superior. A feeling in the pit of his stomach told him getting off of work was going to be hard. He quickly checked to make sure the white mare wasn’t quite out the door yet.

“Uh sir, can you have somepony cover my schedule tonight.” The grey colt said rather loudly. He then cringed as if expecting physical retaliation.

Fleur de Lis heard this and paused with her hoof still on the door.

“I don’t-” The orange stallion began, but was cut off by a sideways semi-glare from the white mare who managed to remain imposing even at this distance.

“Yeah I think I can find somepony to do that.” He patted Silver Leaf on the back acting friendly under Fleur de Lis’s gaze. As he nudged Silver Leaf out from behind the counter he said, “Now go home and get that sleep. I mean it. You wouldn’t want to fall asleep while having dinner with the nice mare now would you?” He put on the fakest smile in the history of Equestria.

“No sir, no I wouldn’t.” Silver Leaf said as he took charge of his own movement and headed to the door where Fleur de Lis still stood.

At the moment her hoof was on the floor, but as she reached up to push the door open Silver Leaf instinctively rushed over and touched the door first. La Fleur was at the very least impressed by his speed; when he pushed the door open for her, she felt doubly impressed.

Accepting his chivalrous gesture she went through the door. He followed quickly behind her, and found that she was waiting for him with a knowing look in her eyes.

Silver Leaf misread her expression. “What?” He asked hesitantly, “Oh, please don’t tell me it was a joke.” He felt despair coming on already, the despair of being right about not being worth the beautiful mare’s time.

“No no no. That isn’t it at all. I was just marveling at how much of a gentlecolt you are, in addition to being able to think ahead fairly well.” By the look on his face Fleur de Lis could tell he wasn’t quite tracking. “You knew your manager would do something petty like make you work all night, so you spoke up before I left. If nothing else I could have asked nicely, but he seemed to have caved on his own.” She chuckled quietly to herself, because she knew full well what had happened.

“Uh, yeah I guess so.” He smiled with a bit of confidence.

“While I’m thinking about it-” Fleur de Lis happened to see the clock tower out of the corner of her eye.

11: 32

“I have to go. We can talk at dinner.” She was galloping quickly as she spoke, “Expect me sort of late-ish!” Then she was gone, leaving Silver Leaf with a dreamy-eyed stare.

==========

It was decent exercise getting to Mr. Fancy Pants’ estate. Fleur de Lis was currently catching her breath on his doorstep. Or rather, she was catching her breath in front of the gate that led to small courtyard where his front door was. The door did still have a step up to it.

As soon as Fleur de Lis caught her breath she began moving forward, pushing the gate open with magic. The courtyard Fleur de Lis found was more of a series of small gardens. Each section had a pony rearing up; the sections opposite each other had the same kind of pony. The first set was pegasai, growing in their patches were trees that had leaves like clouds. The second were a pair of earth ponies, one of the patches had rows of vegetables, and the other earth pony patch had ground fruits. All of which looked tantalizing.

The last set was, by process of elimination, unicorn ponies. Their patches were beds of flowers of all sorts of vibrant colors. Another thing that set the two patches apart was that the statues were at the back of their sections, and water was flowing from their tips into a reservoir that trickled into a waterway. The water, presumably, was recycled if it wasn’t absorbed by the soil.

Fleur de Lis paused by one of the flower beds mesmerized by the colors. Wherever a red and yellow flower grew near each other, a third orange colored flower seemed to exist. Where blue and red flowers grew together purple flowers also seemed to grow. When two of the imaginary flowers grew together they made yet another color of flower appear. The longer someone were to look at the bed the more and more they became a sea of ever changing hypnotic colors.

As Fleur de Lis came back to the present, the infinite number of new flowers began to separate out into their original colors. When she came back to reality she la Fleur felt relaxed and content, there wasn’t a thing wrong with life. She nearly danced up to the front door. With a cheerful smile she tapped the door with a hoof. Colors that had no name were being used to paint beautiful scenes in her mind.

As hoofsteps came for the door the colors began to fade. Eventually they were gone altogether, leaving behind a lasting smile and a much more focused mare.

Magical

The door opened to reveal , a white unicorn buck with a wavy deep blue mane. Fleur de Lis resisted the urge to raise a questioning eyebrow when she saw his thin, equally blue moustache. The monocle did suit him however, as did his suit.

The male unicorn did not suppress a quizzical look when he saw an attractive smiling unicorn mare, who evidently had business with him.

In the moment of silence they share they studied each other, being careful to keep as neutral an expression as possible.

In the time it took for Fleur de Lis to decide whether or not she was going to like her new employer, her smile faded. She then began to go through her much more professional routine.

“You know,” she began dryly, “if I were trying to harm you, you would have just made it easy for me.”

“If?” Fancy Pants’ normally respectful and indifferent look was lost for a moment as he looked around nervously. “So then, that must make you miss la Fleur, right?”

“Fleur de Lis.” She nodded and bowed.

He bowed lower and said in an apologetic tone, “Sorry miss Fleur de Lis, I’m not used to having enemies who wish me physical harm.” He stood aside, “Please, come in.”

Fleur de Lis nodded gratefully, and trotted past him into the foyer.

“It’s perfectly alright, most of our clients are in similar situations. That is of course, why they contact us.” Fleur de Lis’s sharpened senses picked up on the distinct lack of anything else happening in the house. “No butlers or maids?”

“I don’t make much of a mess myself.” He stated inviting her to a lounge area where she set her things down. “Whenever I have guests a catering company is called for food and servers. Afterwards I hire a cleaning company to tidy up.”

“Ah yes, you do live by yourself. Single, no children, and now I know you live fairly well below your means. I can respect that.” She realized she came across as judgmental, and smiled apologetically. As she settled down she looked around the room noting that the color theme for this room was a deep chestnut red, most of the pieces had gold embroidery. A few pristine looking, lit candles sat on coffee table. They must have been enchanted by the strength of their scent throughout the room.

Fancy Pants chose to carry on with the conversation, “You know things about me already?” His voice told of a few reservations about that.

“Only a little more than most. Most wouldn’t bother looking back to your colthood in order to make a few inferences about your preferences. Personalities you’re more likely to work well with and such. It wouldn’t do much good if somepony hired to protect you couldn’t stand being around you. It’d be a very short contract one way or another.” Fleur de Lis grinned slightly remembering a joke about: a bodyguard, a cliff, and his charge, who was a pain in the rump.

Fancy Pants, at the very least was able to infer what she was getting at with her last statement. He managed a small laugh.

Fleur de Lis cleared her throat. “I’d like to apologize for being so late. There was an incident yesterday that led to a very interesting morning. It won’t happen again.”

Fancy Pants checked his pocket watch.

12:13

“You know you’re seventeen minutes early, don’t you?” He asked, not trying to sound rude.

“I didn’t have an exact number. I knew I was early, but that is much less early than I had wanted to be here. I’m going to the palace in about an hour to meet with Princess Celestia. Before that can happen I need to inspect your property to make sure it isn’t too easy for an intruder to get in.”

“I do try to keep my doors and windows locked at night.” Fancy Pants said tucking his watch back into his suit pocket.

“Yes, but how many glass doors do you have?” She tested.

“Five.” He promptly responded. “I was informed by mail that I had a number of things to take stock of myself. To make your initial tasks easier.”

“Thank you.” She replied, bringing out a manila folder from one of her bags. “I have a couple questions that weren’t in the letter you received. First off, Since you have lived alone for a good deal of time, would you like me to find a different place to stay that’s nearby?”

“That hardly seems necessary.” He waved a hoof dismissively, “I don’t live alone by choice, I just haven’t made time to get to know somepony well enough that they could move into my home.”

“I see. About getting to know other ponies, what is your sexual preference? If you have one.”

“Pardon?” Fancy Pants sat up a little in his chair.

“You don’t have to answer at all, it is just a thing that I have to attempt to cover. If somepony were to approach you at a party and have some deep meaningful conversation with you for an hour or so, that you then brought home for some ‘romance;’ only to find that that somepony was hired to get you into a vulnerable position where they could harm you, that could be a problem. I ask so that I can watch for that sort of thing. If you’re uncomfortable telling somepony who is mostly a stranger that is understandable.” Her example was more than enough to get the point across.

“I wish I could answer that question better then. It has been quite some time since I’ve been intimate with anypony, I don’t know what else to say. I’ve sort of lost interest I suppose.”

Oh my. la Fleur thought to herself.

“Oh my.” Her eyes widened as her thoughts slipped past her lips. She brought a hoof to her mouth in a vain attempt to recapture her words.

“Oh my?” Fancy Pants raised an eyebrow. Fleur de Lis noticed that the questioning look fit him very well.

Clearing her throat she said, “I’m sorry I shouldn’t judge like that.”

“Oh no, it’s quite alright. It surprises me sometimes too.” His tone assured the ashamed mare he held no grudges.

“You know Mr. Fancy Pants, you’re much more- How should I put it?” Fleur de Lis brought a hoof to her chin, “Tolerable than some of the aristocrats of Canterlot. I mean no offense to any friends you may have, but some of them have their noses in the clouds for no reason.”

Fancy Pants knew exactly what she was referring to. The way some of the wealthier ponies would refuse to look at any they deemed to be lesser was an appalling gesture, and one he avoided as much as possible.

“You don’t need to address me as Mister. I understand the need for professionalism, but I’d still like this to be a somewhat informal arrangement.” He said settling back into his chair.

“Because the rest of your life is always formal? I think I can manage that.” Fleur de Lis said with a smile.

“You seem to be a rather opinionated mare if you don’t mind me saying. Opinionated but thoughtful, and task oriented too, perhaps.”

Fleur de Lis nodded thoughtfully, considering his words. “That seems fairly accurate, but it doesn’t cover everything about me I don’t think. A discussion for another time?”

“It would certainly be an interesting conversation.” Fancy Pants gave her a scrutinizing stare for a moment, “You- Are you the widow of Mr. Staples by chance?” There was a certain amount of hesitation in his voice.

“I am. Why?” Fleur de Lis asked shortly. She wasn’t going to let the question ruin this day, but it still wasn’t a question she liked hearing.

“I just was surprised by how well you seem to be holding up. I was at your wedding, and the look in your eyes was simply ‘Love’ and nothing else. I can’t begin to imagine how much that loss must’ve hurt you.”

“Well, yes I was hurting. I still am as a matter of fact, but I finally allowed myself to cry I think. I’ll always miss him, but I feel like I can at least keep going now.” She grimaced, “Thank you for being the second pony to have any interest in my emotional wellbeing. It’s surprising how hard it is for someponies to have any empathy when their own wallets are hurting so much.”

Fleur de Lis gained a menacing glare and unintentionally aimed it at the concerned buck. “I’m sorry to hear that your husband’s business partners behaved like they weren’t ponies at all. Truly it is a saddening concept.” Fancy Pants took all of the negative feelings channeled through her gaze in stride. He knew it wasn’t directed at him.

It didn’t take la Fleur long to catch herself staring angrily at Fancy Pants for no reason, and corrected herself.

“Sorry about that.” She looked away from him.

“I brought the subject up. I could have done better about asking more delicately.”

“You may be too forgiving for your own good. Still, it’s an admirable trait.” la Fleur was very glad to have his forgiveness.

“Thank you.” Fancy Pants nodded in approval.

At this point, Fleur de Lis spotted a clock on the wall. It was noon.

“Do you have a way to protect yourself, until I get back?” Fleur de Lis asked, getting to her hooves.

“I do, sort of.” la Fleur raised an eyebrow. “I have fairly heavy doors for my bedroom. They have sturdy locks in case I would need to retreat behind them.”

“Satisfactory for now.” Fleur de Lis was already at the door. “I’m sorry our first meeting had to be like this. After meeting with Princess Celestia, I’ll try to return. I’ll be out again late this evening, but tomorrow I’ll be able to give you my full attention.” She opened the door and stepped outside, “Oh! When I get back I would like to know more about this new enemy you’ve made. I’ll need details on exactly what you did to piss him off.” She called as the door closed behind her.

An interesting mare to be sure. Fancy Pants thought as he levitated her luggage to a spare room.