Promising Reassignment

Fleur de Lis woke slowly, body heavy as it had been the previous morning. Instead of the tell tale headache of a hangover there was a dull throbbing slightly to the left of her horn; with that in mind she didn't have to chastise herself for making the same mistake twice, but now she was wracking her brain with what had brought her to this point.

The sound of hoofsteps slowly approaching put Fleur de Lis instantly on edge. She sat up and quickly realized she'd been blindfolded. There were two ponies, large by the timing of their gaits; they were stallions Fleur de Lis guessed. Panic set in as she took in the rest of her situation. She was blindfolded, but not bound; weakened, but not critically injured, far as she could tell. Fleur de Lis reached out with her telekinisis to find anything to hurl at the approaching ponies; she found a long thin object with several smaller somethings hanging off of it. Without a second thought she threw the unidentified object at the mystery ponies, while working on removing her blindfold.

"Ma'am, please respect hospital property!" A startled stallion cried, with an incredibly deep voice.

"Hospital?" Fleur de Lis said, somewhere between incredulity and relief.

"Perhaps this is a bad time." A mare spoke up, with an unmistakable warmness. Fleur de Lis relaxed back into her bed the instant the mare spoke.

"Princess Celestia?"

"Mmhm." The princess intoned softly.

"Doctor-?"

"Baker." He finished for her, "I am Doctor Baker, and you are a Miss Fleur de Lis; does this sound correct?"

"Yes?" Fleur de Lis answered as surely as possible.

"Well then, the good news is you seemed to have retained your mental faculties. After a nasty blow to the head like that, some memory loss isn't out of the realm of possibility."

"Perhaps you have spoken too soon; what blow to the head?" Fleur de Lis sat up again and put a hoof against the throbbing spot on her head. Pain bloomed in her skull and she cried out, but memories of the previous night crystallized in her thoughts.

"Silver Leaf?" Fleur de Lis hoped the poor colt was here, and just feeling too guilty to speak. She remembered clearly that he'd been arrested on the spot.

"Neither of the two stallions that were brought here with you are named Silver Leaf."

"Those two?" Fleur de Lis said with a scowl. "This is their fault not his! Where's Silver Leaf?"

"I was coming here to sort that out dear." Celestia said, moving closer by the sound of her voice.

"You did? So you know Silver Leaf is innocent, right?" Fleur de Lis said hopefully.

"I'd guessed as much after one of Luna's guards described the scene of the arrest. Needless to say I had to discipline the guards who made the arrest, as well as my sister for allowing such brash guards into her service. I imagine she will be disciplining them as well. The young colt was taken from the dungeon and given a safe place to sleep in the palace for the night, he his quite the apologetic little pony isn't he?"

"What could he have found to apologize for after a wrongful arrest?"

"Doctor Baker, does she really need those bandages over her eyes?" After the doctor began to peel away the bandages on Fleur de Lis's head, Celestia answered her question, "Let's say I wasn't looking as bright and cheery as I do most of the time. I was awakened by one of the late night palace staff who'd seen a pony being taken down to the dungeons. Not the well maintained prison used for the more belligerent of drunks to sleep, but the old dungeons. It was something that was worth my immediate attention, and you know the rest of that story. To answer your question though, he felt the need to apologize to me because his situation woke me up last night. I honestly didn't know what to say to that; not that he gave me much time to think of a response."

"How so?" Fleur de Lis as various shapes began to come into focus. The bandages had been removed, they were likely enchanted and therefore so light she couldn't feel the loss of their weight.

"Well he seemed very afraid of either me or my sister, but once he finished speaking he was already rushing off towards the exit."

Celestia's warm expression was the first thing Fleur de Lis could see clearly about her hospital room. Next was the light brown doctor stallion who was busy disposing of the used bandages. There was a slightly damaged looking IV stand next to her bed, which she was sure she'd be paying for. The room was dimly lit by group of candles and her bed was nearly as soft as the bed in her honeymoon suite had been. As nice as the room was it was still a hospital room, and felt very claustrophobic because of that fact. The hospital equipment, plus the bodies of a stallion and royal alicorn left little room for anything else to be squeezed in.

"How much is my stay here going to cost and how long is that stay, Doctor Baker."

"You're here until you feel better, but I can tell you that your stay for the night will cost you around three-thousand bits." The doctor stallion said the price without batting an eyelash, but she could tell he wasn't happy about saying it to the friend of a princess, while that princess was in the room.

A small flash and a pop from Celestia drew both the other ponies attentions. She was filling out a piece of paper she'd magicked into the room. The back of the paper bore the seal of the Sun Goddesses cutie mark.

"Oh no princess, I can pay for it. Please don't bother yourself with-"

"Far too late my dear it is already done." Celestia said, levitating the piece of paper over to the doctor. He took it and placed it atop a clipboard.

"Are you checking out today then, ma'am?"

Fleur de Lis looked to Celestia, to the note of payment and then back to the doctor patiently awaiting a reply.

"Yes, I should be going my client was expecting me back last night."

Celestia bowed her head slightly to both Fleur de Lis and the doctor, her flowing mane obscuring her face for a moment. She then backed out into the hall as turning around in the room would've been more trouble than it was worth.

Before she left she asked, "What did you do to those two stallions? They were both babbling about their mothers when my sister's guards came to arrest them."

"I may have overcharged a haunting spell. They should be fine in a day or so."

"We'll see." Celestia said ominously.

"Thank you for the visit, Tia." Fleur de Lis said with a grin.

Celestia grinned right back and started down the hall.

The doctor was in a state of disbelief over hearing a pony refer to the Sun Goddess with such familiarity, and getting away with it no less.

"Those discharge papers, doctor? I shouldn't keep Mr. Fancypants waiting." The use of her clients name got the doctor moving. Fleur de Lis needed a little entertainment to keep her mind off the steady thudding in her head. Name dropping just happened to be the quickest way for some minor entertainment, the look of sheer surprise on the supposedly reserved stallions face was all she'd need to get her through the morning.

As Fleur de Lis made her way to Fancypants's home she took some time to think. If her recent behavior was to be any indication, she wasn't in a right state of mind to be protecting anyone. She could hardly have taken care of herself over the past few days if it weren't for meeting Silver Leaf. She was going to have to resign from this job before Fancypants was hurt as a result of her continued carelessness.

She resolved to decline her assignment as she entered the court yard of Fancypants's home. There was a young filly tending to the multi-hued garden. As Fleur de Lis had the previous morning, the little mare was simply entranced by the waves upon waves of color. Fleur de Lis moved hurridely past the flower beds before she fell under their spell too.

When she knocked on the door the response was immediate, but subdued. The door creaked open and a worried looking white stallion poked his head around the door.

"Oh my." Fancypants said slowly when he noticed the stripe of recently healed, light pink skin sticking out from under her equally pink mane.

With a slight grimace Fleur de Lis asked, "Might I come in, there are some things I need to say."

"By all means." Fancypants closed the door for a moment to undo the sliding chain lock.

Fleur de Lis walked in quickly and made her way to the lounge off to the right. The same candles from the previous day's visit still burned strong, they hadn't melted at all since the last time Fleur de Lis saw them.

Fancypants stood next to the seat he'd taken before, instead of sitting he simply looked his bodyguard over. She'd clearly been wounded, and did little to hide it; both her mane and coat were disheveled. All in all she looked to be the definition of tired.

"Would you mind if I asked?" Fancypants said at length.

"I would tell you if you didn't ask." Fleur de Lis had prepared herself for this during her walk from the hospital.

"What happened to you last night? I'm not upset mind you, but I was under the impression you intended to return last night."

Fleur de Lis took a deep breath and began to explain everything from her visit at the palace to the attempted mugging, and her resulting injury.

"In short, I should've retrained myself before accepting another assignment. If you put your life in my hooves you'll end up dead." She concluded her explanation with some reluctance.

Fancypants was silent through her monologue; taking in everything she said with a calm careful expression. When Fleur de Lis got to the part about her hospitalization, he could not suppress his eyes widening in concern; the scanned over the light-pink hairless patch to the left of her horn again.

When at last Fancypants was ready to speak, he prefaced his words with a long deep breath in and out. "I trust you had fun last night up until the incident with the pipe?"

"Yes, Silver Leaf is a interesting colt to spend a few hours with." Fleur de Lis responded automatically, not fully realizing Fancypants had ignored her indirect resignation.

"So now that you've had your fun are you ready to be my bodyguard?"

"What?" She caught on to the dismissal on the second pass, "No, I'm saying you'll have another pony to be your bodyguard, it shouldn't be me."

"What if I were to insist you stay, because a) I know your agency is the best; and b) I know you are the best from your agency."

"If that were the case," Fleur de Lis began with a cautious tone, "then I would still do my best to do my job. I would, of course, also ask you to reconsider regardless."

"Then it's settled." Fancypants proclaimed almost triumphantly.

"What exactly is that?"

"Well, you're staying. At least long enough to give you time to think more. I'd argue that you just needed a wake up call to get you focused again. Last night seems to have shaken you a bit, and I think that did the trick."

Fleur de Lis listened and watched while Fancypants made his way up the stairs, already mulling over his words.

"Let me show you where you'll be staying. I took the liberty of moving your luggage to your room after you stepped out for the evening." He called from the top of the stairs, prompting her to rise and hurry up after him.

While Fleur de Lis was led down several halls, Fancypants attempted to make small talk about the weather and such; a useless attempt to lighten his bodyguard's mood. La Fleur gave muted, non-committal grunts while she tried to piece together why Fancypants was so determined to keep her around. Before she could come to any solid conclusions, she'd missed most of his words and stood before the door to her room; Fancypants standing to one side waiting for her to venture inside.

"Lost in thought are we?" Fancypants said with a half smile when it was clear la Fleur was paying attention again.

"I'm still trying to figure you out, I suppose." The white mare replied peering into the room.

It was a scene straight from an home improvement magazine. A plush four-poster bed of crimson decor sat in the middle of what wasn't really a small room, but more cozy. There was only a few feet of space between each piece of furniture; on the right wall, when looking in from the door, was a fireplace framed by alabaster shelving with gold trim. On the opposite wall was a tall, two foot wide window, below which sat a finely carved wooden desk. A handle comprised of three golden crowns with amethyst gems stood out on the deep red, polished wood.

Looking around Fleur de Lis noticed this same symbol placed on various things about the room. It was Fancypants's cutie mark.

"This is the guest bedroom, correct?" She asked with minor concern.

"Well, it was my room when I was a colt. Now it's a room to keep memories in. You're more than welcome to pick another room, if you'd like."

Fleur de Lis made a point of briskly walking into the room, climbing onto the bed and stretching out. It was meant to be a silly gesture to show she didn't mind at all. She was surprised to find that, at her full length, no part of her hung off the bed.

"You were a rather large colt weren't you."

"My parents wanted something I could grow into."

Fleur de Lis hummed in understanding.

The room was more than large enough for her needs.

She gave her thanks and began unpaking her luggage that Fancypants had left in a corner. She would do her best to accomadate his wishes for as long as was possible.

An half hour later, Fleur de Lis was all unpacked. Before leaving to inspect the house she stopped to fix her mane. The scar on her head could have easily been covered with cosmetic spells; spells which she knew very well. Instead she let it be as a reminder of what being unfocused would bring on her and those near to her. It wouldn't stay forever of course, she laughed at the idea of keeping a permanent scar as she walked down the hall.

Downstairs Fancypants raised a questioning eyebrow over the sudden outburst of laughter that'd filled his otherwise silent house.

"It's nothing." La Fleur said with a smile. "Now show me all your windows, I can't go to sleep tonight until you do."

"Is this where the work starts?" Fancypants asked, feigning sudden weariness.

Fleur de Lis simply nodded as he started around the ground floor; she instantly grateful that Fancypants had taken her upon her word and shown her the windows she had already seen. To many, it would seem a very unnecessary thing, but with that sort of attitude working with him would be very simple. Already she felt the confidence in herself rekindling; she just needed to get back to what she'd known for so long.