Fleur sank onto the silky bed, her form indenting it around herself as the sheets rose to embrace her, curled on her side, eyes on that door. "Come to me, mon petit poney." She knew nothing about who would be her client that day. She rarely did. So long as they had the magic ticket, she was to be their companion. Simple as that.

With a glowing horn, she set a record player to produce soft music, Octavia's. It had taken some beseeching to get that recorded, but she thought it worth every bit of effort that had gone into it as it filled the room with the simulacrum of the cellist's performance, other instruments playing alongside it, but as supporting characters in that unseen play.

Her head began to softly bob along with the beat, swaying left and right slowly. She didn't even notice when a pony knocked, quiet as it was. A pony with great goggles poked into the room. Vinyl Scratch had located her, a ticket floating near her head, wreathed in Vinyl's magic. "Oh, music time. I dig it." She turned just enough to will the door closed behind her, but didn't move to interrupt Fleur's musical enjoyment. "You like Octavia? She's a real class act."

"Yes." Fleur was recovering from the surprise of Vinyl's entrance. The glow around the ticket shifted as she pulled it and Vinyl released it, allowing Fleur to have a look at it. It was all valid. It had Fleur's name and on the proper backing. It had the day's date and Flim's hoofprint freshly applied. "Are you as well? I thought you liked… electronic était-ce?"

Vinyl began a casual walk towards the bed. "Ooo, yeah. Lay down those crazy Prench vibes." Her horn glowed as she plucked her headphones free and set them aside. She would live without the musical company she normally had. "I like all kinds of music. Electronic is a fave." She reared up, forehooves resting on the edge of the mattress. "What's your favorite? Classic?" She angled her head at the playing record.

"Oui." Fleur rolled over, exposing her belly to Vinyl. "Now, you have paid for my time, not to watch me listen to music."

"What if I want to watch you listen to music?" Vinyl scrambled up onto the bed with a wild grin. "Talking is actually something I want to do, if that doesn't bother you?"

Fleur tapped the bed with her tail. "Then sit with me. Parle-moi." She spoke the last a bit strongly, leaning into the prench sounds the way Vinyl seemed to favor. "I must have made a good impression. Most do not return to me so swiftly." It had barely been any time since they had met in the hallway. "Were you already a fan?"

"Totally." Vinyl leaned in, nose twitching in taking in the aroma of the pony she was so close to. "You're usually draped over Fancy Pants. A chance to just talk to you, pony a pony? How could I say no? What's up with that, anyway? Fancy into poly?"

Fluer flipped an ear back. "He allowed this."

"So he's free to be with anypony he wants, right?" Vinyl's ears lifted straight. "Only fair, right? Shoot, if my +1 was working in a place like this, it'd be really hard to return the loyalty you aren't showing."

Fleur trembled as the thoughts tumbled in discord. "What? Non! No… Moi…" But the words were failing to come. The logic was failing. "He…" What was her relationship to Fancy Pants? She had none! No, she had a deep one. She knew nothing of Fancy Pants. They were a thing.

"Wow." Vinyl was watching Fleur struggle with contradictory thoughts. "Sorry…" She reached out a hoof to the trembling unicorn. "But this is for your own good, trust me."

"My own good?!" Fleur blurted, scrambling to her hooves, only to collapse, the sheet under her sliding with the sudden motion and sending her collapsing roughly. "My own good!" Her head ached. Her heart ached. Nothing made sense. "When I get… tired… I will return to Fancy Pants."

"What's his address?" asked Vinyl as if asking for the time of day, a question with no weight.

But it landed on Fleur like a set of bricks, forcing her air from her. His address. Of course she knew that! She had to… "He, we… live at…"

Vinyl flicked up her ears at the address that emerged. "American, huh?"

Fleur felt something shatter. She scrambled off the bed in a loud tumble, scrambling for the door. "I have to go, pardon. I will tell them to refund you. Bonsoir madame."

She fled. She didn't even close the door behind her, stumbling and crashing against the walls as she ran as quickly as she could, tears streaking her makeup and her limbs trembling.

Vinyl emerged at a more sedate walk. "Sick bastard…" But her bile didn't seem aimed at the fleeing unicorn. "If they don't kick me out forever…" She started for the exit, her headphones settling down on her ears. "I'll check in on you."

Fleur did not go to her room. A small dark closet in which her inconsolable sniffles could echo off the walls was far more what she wanted just at that moment. Eric. Where did that name come from? It was not a name that would leave her alone. Eric. Eric… Eric… was a humble worker. Customer service.

Like Fleur! But far less… physical. Eric…

She was F--Eric. Eric? She frowned, thoughts swirling. "She… had hands. She typed on a thing that needed all those fingers. She worked very hard to make people happy." But was she? She… Fleur shook her head violently, the thoughts somehow tossed about with the movement. "Impossible à croire," she grunted out, fussing over her appearance for a moment, trying desperately to regather herself. "This is not yourself." But what was herself? She was increasingly unsure. "I am en service. I will… put this aside, for the moment." She forced herself out of the closet.

"Everythin' alright?" Applejack noticed the disheveled mess that was Fleur. "Ya gonna take a break?"

"Non." Fleur straightened herself out. "If you would, a hoof please." And soon she had helped puffing up and looking presentable again. "Apologies for the display. I will get back to work, oui?" And off she trotted.

Applejack, free of any such troubling thought, shook her head. "Hope she's alright." And she went back about her own business.

"What's wrong with her?" Tempest cut off Applejack's retreat. "She looks awful."

"Ah just told her that." Applejack shrugged expansively. "But she didn't want to chat about it none. Saw her come out of there." She pointed to the closed door Fleur had passed through. "Yer guess is as good as anypony else's, sugar cube."

"I don't like it." Tempest scowled in the direction Fleur had gone to. "Not that you'd know."

"Know what?"

"Exactly." She patted AJ's shoulder. "Hey, I think I heard Flim calling for you."

"Shoot!" AJ scrambled off to find her employer, far more worried about that than self-identity questions.

Tempest's horn sparked softly with a grumble. "Not good." She turned to a new direction, emerging onto the floor to slide up to the busy Sunset. She waited patiently for Shimmer to have a lapse in customers. "I think Fleur is cracking."

Sunset's ears danced. "More than the line?"

"Way more." Tempest glanced across the floor, as if any of the attendees were a suspicion. "Didn't get a chance to talk to her. She has that look though." It was almost impossible to miss that haunted look when a mare cracked the first time. "We should--"

"--Yeah," cut in Sunset. "Let's make sure she doesn't fall apart." She ducked down and came up with a little sign, floating in her magic that declared the bar temporarily closed. "Where is she?"

Tempest directed with her horn. "Looks like she's trying to shake her bit maker, but…"

"Yeah…" Sunset could see that look. Fleur's eyes moved only in fits and starts. She was easily startled, and she was speaking quietly enough that it was causing problems. Not that Fleur was extremely loud to begin with. "Points for trying."

"The ones that try the hardest can break the most messily." Tempest sank to her haunches. "I'm not good at coaching ponies, I swear to god."

"Do not use the G word," cautioned Sunset, ears flipping back. "But yeah, I get it."

She slipped around Tempest. "Now shoo. If ponies see you standing here, they are going to ask you for a drink, and do you even know how to mix a drink?"

"I can if I wanted!" Tempest stood at her full height, a haughty expression displayed.

"Good luck with that." Sunset ducked under the bar and set off towards her target with a confident smile. "Fleur!" She waved as she approached, not doing so even slightly subtly. Her loud approach scared off customers, which was the goal. "There you are." She threw a leg right over the slow-to-react Fleur that looked more like an oncoming truck had her in its headlights.

"S-Sunet! Mon ami… What… brings you here?" Fleur pulled back, but didn't get very far. "We should be attending the guests, non?"

"They can wait a moment." Sunset wrestled Fleur away towards a corner. "They'll be there tomorrow. I just want to be sure you will be."

"Whyever would I not be?" Fleur squinted at Sunset with a new confusion. "I am right here, non? I am going nowhere, mon ami. You worry for nothing."

"I worry because you're worth it." Sunset squeezed the rattled unicorn. "And I just want you to know, you're not alone. Tell me, who do you trust the most?"

"Trust the most? Confiant…" She licked over her dry lips, a tremble escaping her. "You!"

Sunset jerked back in surprise. "Me? I… well, thanks. I appreciate the vote of confidence, but are we that close? I'm ready to hear what you have to say, but…"

"No, no… You… Mon ami… You are also… You…" She danced from hoof to hoof in a silent moment. "You see hands?"

"Oh! Oh. Yeah, yes." She leaned in against Fleur. "Yes. I can't say yes enough times. Now, tell me who to lead you to, so you can share--"

But Fleur was shoving Sunset in a sudden turn about, forcing her into a narrow alleyway, a corridor made for employees trying to hurry about. "What is your name? Ton nom est…?"

"Uh… Sunset--"

"Non!" Fleur shoved Sunset back against the wall. "Ton nom est…?"

Things grew quiet, though tense, the two gazing into one another's eyes, Fleur's breath hard and ragged. "I… Alex."

"Alex…" Fleur released Sunset, looking ready to collapse herself. "Bonjour, Alex. Je m'appelle Eric." She sank miserably. "My name is Fleur… Fleur De Lis. I am… I help ponies." Tears began to run down her face. "I work on, how do you say, a computer?"

Sunset flipped an ear back at the mention of that word, a low hiss escaping her. "I got lucky… Look, Fleur. First, I believe you."

"You do?!" Fleur wasn't even sure if she believed herself. It was all coming apart. "How can this be? Who am I? Who are you? Who are any of us? Que Dieu nous aide." She deflated, sniffling and trying desperately to hold onto the fragments of her thought.

"Shhh." Sunset pressed her nose to Fleur's forehead just beside her horn. "Shhh… You're alright. We're here, you're here. Relax… Try… Take the day off. I'll explain to the brothers you need some time to yourself, alright? We'll make it through this." She sat back. "You don't room alone, do you?"

"Non! No no… Octavia, Miss Melody. What is her name? Will she tell me if I ask?" Fleur rubbed below her wildly contracted eyes that darted in an unhealthy way.

"She might?" Sunset quirked a little smile. "If you ask, politely, and privately. Go on and just tell her what put you in this state. I feel certain she'll just give you a big hug."

A big hug sounded rather tempting at that moment. Fleur rose to collect that promise.

Author's Note

Heavy topics are dropped, and realities shatter as a result. This is where typos are born, I think.

Join the special community of folks who like my stories and/or get your own here at atreon!

Don't want to do an ongoing thing? You could

Join my discord to chat!