Valentine

Dear diary,

I can't wait anymore to tell you about this afternoon. As we were out in the streets of Canterlot, I managed to escape the Governess' attention and as "he" had promised, "he" was waiting for me near the fountain which is on the square. You will never guess what he gave me... Lily flowers ! We barely know each other, yet he already knows what my favourite flowers are !

When he rested his head against mine, I felt my heart beating at the rate of a galloping horse. I think... Dear diary, I think I fell in love. How wonderful ! My heart bleeds at the thought of having to wait a whole week to see him again.

I must leave you now, dear diary and confident. The Governess is calling us for dinner.

Your faithful penholder,

VALENTINE.

"Did you write that, Valentine ?" asked the Governess calmly, walking slowly and noisily around the young white and pink mare who was called Valentine. Were those texts born from your quill?"

"They were written by me", she replied, lowering her head; she was standing alone at the center of the dim and cold room which was the Governess'. "Those are my thoughts alright, that I have written down in this diary, day by day."

The Governess, an old unicorn grey like a rock, chose pages from the little notebook at random and read them absently, making comments about what she was seeing. "And you saw a stallion, my dear little Valentine. You saw a stallion by escaping from our attention, when you knew it was forbidden, didn't you ?"

"But I..."

"SILENCE !" the Governess cut her short. She threw the diary in the roaring fire of the chimney; out of the corner of her eye, Valentine witnessed her faithful confident, whole months of her own life, disintegrate to become stardust and fly to the skies. "You will not need it anymore; after all, you are not a filly anymore. Only fillies do such futilities, don't you agree ?"

The young and white unicorn nodded sadly, remaining silent; the Governess took a long and thin bamboo cane on her desk, and got closer to her resident. "You disobeyed, Valentine, she said while grazing the white and tender flank with the tip of her stick; at the contact, Valentine jumped. "You disobeyed, and and you deserve a correction for that. Lift your tail."

Valentine swallowed and clenched her teeth; she had better obey without discussing, she thought while exposing the bottom of her frail body.

"I hope it will teach you a lesson for the future", the Governess lectured her while rising the stick with her magic; the first blow banged, making the white filly cry out in pain and it left an ugly red mark on her pale bottom. A naughty filly is condemned to end up in the street. And you would not want to end up in the street, would you ?"

An other wave of hurtful pain tensed Valentine up when the second bang came, exactly at the same place as the first one; tears in her eyes, the young mare bit her lips in order not to scream, and put up with the assaults of the cane on her posterior, one after the other.

The Governess had hit her hard, with sharp-cut thwacks, where the flesh was already cut into; thin flows of blood drew red streams all along the tearful Valentine's shivering legs. She was downcast with pain and shame. "I hope I taught you a lesson, dear Valentine. Now, go; it is time you get washed and get back to your room. Take care not to wander from the straight and narrow, for you know what will await you if you ramble again."

Valentine got out of the Governess' room, staring silently at the ground at her feet; her bottom was in pain, and she was now limping. She got back to her fillies' boarding school's room in this poor state. She shared the room with three other residents; it was late, and all of her roommates already seemed soundly asleep.

Pretty Clouds boarding school was as old an institution as Canterlot, which owed it a large proportion of his inhabitants' education. This building had a great history and was immense, pierced through with tiny windows. The entrance was blocked with a gigantic gate, or rather the exit, which was only opened for the start of the new school year and for Christmas, which was the only day when the well-off fillies could eat dinner anywhere out of the common room with their family. Education followed proven principles which were known to be very effective, such as the carrot, the lack of carrot and blowing pupils with a stick. Benefits of classic literature cultivated the minds, recipes got the dextrous hooves ready for their wives' lives to come and heavy rules books carried with the tip of the leg during hours while kneeling down upon the old stones of the yard taught those soft muscles the strength necessary to sweep in an honorable household. That's how this century's mares were shaped, thus making the lost fillies disappear. They became soft wives, letting their childhood get forgotten forever.

Valentine Plot opened the door to her room with extreme care so she wouldn't risk waking up her roommates and undergoing their mockeries. Her four hooves barely touched the ground, and she walked with the grace of a feather brushing paper while she was heading towards her bead. Valentine Plot was beautiful. Her light figure gleamed in the moonbeam that went through the bars, following the curves of her hips. She stopped a moment to take a peek outside, watching the slow fall of the snowflakes on the other side of the window and the lights of Canterlot which broke through the winter's mist. Perhaps He was there and was watching her. But if it was the case, in such a cold, he wouldn't stay there for long. Why did the rules have to be so sharp ? Christmas was coming already, the last one she would spend at the boarding school where she had already stayed for too long. Only one more year, and she would be free at last. Free to be together with someone she wouldn't like, someone her family would choose for her, free to end up her life as a submitted wive, or to end up in the street, the choice was hers to make. She held back a tear and in the dark, cleaned her hurt thighs with an old piece of rag that was lying on the ground, and finally, got herself up into her bed painfully.

"Hey ! Psst ! Hey !"

Valentine made her snorings noiser in order not to have to answer back to the troublesome person bothering her, whoever that might be.

"Hey, frog eater ! Hey, psst ! *cough cough* *snrrrrrt* Heeeey !"

It was the prick. Oh no, not her. A light appeared in the dark, made dim by the gigantic walls of the room. The white mare closed her eyes, but it was too late. The one who had lit up the candle had seen Valentine was awoken.

"Turn this off, or we'll both be punished", whispered Valentine.

The other mare was blue-coated and sluggishly slumped on the top of her bunk bed. She looked Valentine up and down with an amused stare. Whistle Wishes, for it was her name, slowly let herself flow to one of the bed's feet and got closer to Valentine with light steps.

"How are you, Plot? I told you that romantic relationships always begin with passionate letters and always ends up with a pain inside your ass, hahaha!"

"Let her be, Whistle Wishes, said Misty form under her sheets. Nobody has ever wanted you and nobody has ever written to you. You're just jealous, that's all."

The blue unicorn gazed at where the voice came from, taken aback. Then she went with a feline discretion to a bed, where someone quickly hid herself under the sheets, and she gave a few hooves shot at random.

"And you, Sluthooves... she said as she was heading back towards the white unicorn. You have nothing to do here. You are a pain for this boarding school, for its residents, for the whole society. You will end up in the street, like a peasant, and nobody will ever want you. You're not even pretty", she spat out of anger. Valentine's back leg ended the conversation, under the shocked stare of the Governess, who was finishing her patrol. Their eyes met, Valentine, panicked, yelled something nobody understood, and the bamboo stick fell again onto her, with an amazing strength.

"This dirty filly is a pain."

The Governess was finishing her tea while one of the boarding school's employees was sweeping the polished wood, nodding absently.

"She's dreaming, she's not listening. She is seeing a stallion. But good grace, what did we do to deserve that?! Let the dogs out tonight. This filthy little fanatic filly. If that was to be known, what a scandal it would be!

She's just like a weed growing between the stones in this yard. Such old and aged stones... and she's corrupting them. She's growing more and more and will carry the others along with her. She's only to be cut off, and thrown away."

The Governess stopped. She thought she had seen something walk before the half-closed door, something as light as cotton.

It was the end of her pause. She finished drinking her tea, took the bell and headed towards the exit.

At the end of the corridor, a white unicorn was watching her, sitting on the ground.

You spinster. I'm not a weed.

I am a flower.

Fleur de Lys.