"Mighty proud of ya." Applejack hooked her little and yet not so little sister in a leg and hugged her with one side. "Ya went and became so responsible! Holdin' down a job, arguin' fer a fair share, and in a place like this." She looked around the casino. "Gettin' mighty hard to argue yer not..." She swallowed thickly at the idea. "A mare..."

"I'm still not working in the back." Apple Bloom winked at the idea. "Best they'll get out of me is a cutie mark diagnostic session."

Applejack released her sister as she sank to her haunches. "Ya still do that?!"

"'Course ah do." Apple Bloom sat up tall with obvious pride. "Got plenty of experience. A pony wants to chat about their mark, ah'm ready." She thumped her chest with a hoof. "But most of 'em just wanna snack, and that's alright."

"You just keep it up." Applejack met Apple Bloom's hoof with her own in a clop of solidarity. "Now, ah should get back to mah own work." She rose and started off. "The farm must be so happy."

Elsewhere, at a farm, Granny Smith set down an envelope that jingled on impact, coins spilling out of it. "Don't get it."

"Nope." Big Mac shook his head with shared bafflement.

"Ain't a bad thing." Applejack shrugged softly. "Just wish they wouldn't use our names. Kinda creepy. They must like apples though."

The family nodded in unison, not understanding the mysterious benefactor (possibly more than one?) that kept sending bits to them with cheerful letters as if they were family. That they were signed Applejack or Apple Bloom only made it stranger, seeing as both of those ponies were present and not making any more bits than usual.

"Ain't gonna look a gift in the mouth." Applejack shrugged. "So long as they ain't askin' fer favors back."

A startled squeak told Fleur she had struck well, that the mare giggled and blushed instead of angrily shouting the second, more vital, hint. Fleur walked right on past like she had nothing to do with it, but the mare knew, the way she glanced over, and she was the only one that needed to know she'd been goosed by the graceful unicorn.

"Mind if I join?" She sat at a card table, to the excitement and approval of the ponies already playing there. It was a random thing, which made it a rare opportunity to play alongside Fleur. "Don't steal all of my bits, hm?" She winked at the mare and the stallion she was playing cards with.

Tempest set a few cards down with her magic. "Welcome to the game." She turned one card around just before it hit the table, revealing it. "I won't take it easy on you. Dealer has to treat everypony fair, or it's not a good game."

"I will win or lose with my own hooves." Even if it was her magic that was moving the cards around, not her hooves. "My first wager." She set down a few chips.

One of the guests whistled. "Starting hot. I'll match that." More chips slid forward.

Fleur barely had a moment to realize the pony beside her had reached for her. The hoof had been captured, a belt wrapped around its attached leg, held by Tempest's magic. "Worm," Tempest snarled, teeth exposed in a threat. "You looking to get punished?" She pulled the belt back just to whip it in the air. "That can be arranged."

The caught stallion shrank back, ears falling. "Sorry, mistress."

Tempest's scowl warmed a little. "Good that you remember your place." The two clearly had met and interacted before. "Keep your eyes on your cards."

The game flowed well from there. Fleur won some, and lost some, but that wasn't the goal. It wasn't as if she could even cash out the chips she had. They had been given for her to play and interact with the customers, not try to win bits. They loved it, and she didn't mind doing it. Playing with the customers was a nice clean way to make them happy.

"Bon jeu!" she trilled as she surrendered some of her chips across the table, which bounced across to the winning player. "Such skilled players we have. Bonté moi, a pleasure and a delight." She rose to her hooves, to the applause of the other players. She nodded at Tempest. "Thank you for a fair game."

"Any time." Tempest began shuffling the deck busily. "Now, who's ready to face me?" The game resumed under the dominating gaze of Tempest, to their apparent approval.

Fleur glanced up at the partially concealed watch. It was about time. She had worked a full day of keeping the casino merry and bustling, and felt no guilt slipping off the floor into the back hallways. "This one." She approached the door Octavia had pointed out to her. "With espérer, I move forward." She shook off her hesitation and knocked with a raised hoof on the door. Bonjour?"

The door opened a crack, allowing an eye to peek out. "Fleur?" It was Celestia, opening the door that glowed in her golden magic as she took hold of the entirety of it instead of just the handle, throwing it open. "You've never come before." She raised a hoof to her large chest. "I'm being rude. You must be terribly confused. Please, enter." She waved to go around her.

Fleur did just that. "Merci." She nodded at the large form of Celestia. It clicked a moment later, already half-past Celestia. "You are… shattered as well?"

Celestia's glowing horn shut the door behind Fleur. "Everypony you meet here. I'm Lauren."

"Lauren." Fleur sat to work her forehooves together. "It is a delight to meet you, though you have proven a theory I had wrong."

"That all our firsts were stallions? You're not the first pony I broke that theory of." Celestia quirked a smile. "And who are you, if I may ask? Don't answer if you can't. This is a safe place."

"They are a stallion," admitted Fleur to start. "Should I… This is a group thing, n'est-ce pas?"

"It is." Celestia pointed past Fleur to a ring of pillows and wide bottomed chairs, some of which had ponies on them. "Go on, take a seat. I'm still security. I'll join when time runs out and I lock the door."

Fleur wandered further into the room at a slow walk, unsure steps on the wooden floor. "Bonjour?"

Luna sat perched on a pillow. It was the larger Luna, Announcer Luna. "Well met, Fleur. I had heard you were cracking. That you made it here means you have survived the most immediately trying portion of things." She gestured to a seat beside herself. "Will you join me?"

"Gladly." Fleur stepped up and sank down, sitting on the broad chair in more of a laying herself completely down. "It is beyond me… To think about all of them." She looked from pony to pony, knowing they were all shattered, like her.

"Did you forget me already?" Sunset was waving a hoof eagerly from almost clean across the circle. "I was the one that caught you when you--"

Fleur colored rapidly. "Oui! This I remember. Thank you…"

Celestia joined the circle. "The door is locked. We may proceed. It's nice to see you all. As you've noticed, we have a new face. Welcome Fleur." She gestured as she sank on a large pillow.

Fleur scrambled to her hooves, nodding to the ponies of the circle quickly. "Thank you for having me. We have met before. I am Fleur De Lis." She gestured at herself as her eyes wandered over the circle. "We have all worked together before." No new ponies in sight, which, in some ways, made it all the more uncanny, that her coworkers had been carrying that burden without her knowledge.

Hooves met in light applauding clops. Sunset called from across the circle, "Go on, finish your introduction."

Fleur turned an ear back. "I 'shattered', as it is said, only very recently. It was in that I met him." She took a slow measured breath, eyes closing. "And I found another inside me, a face looking back in the mirror. He is smiling, and I want to meet him properly. Say hello to Eric."

A chorus rose up as the mares welcomed Eric to their circle as warmly as they had Fleur. Both were welcome there. Both were the same pony. Two in one, both made friends.

Luna rose. "You may sit. Now, since you are new, allow me to explain how some of this works. "We meet here to talk, first and foremost. Most ponies have no idea what we endure, and it would confuse and alarm them to share it, so we don't. But to hold that in one's hooves, alone, is quite a task." She shook her head slowly.

"So we share, quietly, with others who have the same secret. We discuss the things we learn about ourselves. We discuss what makes us happy, sad, or just confused. We share, because the burden on two backs is so much less than on any one." She dipped her head. "Most of you know this already, but it is unfair to ask someone to introduce themselves without offering the same. I am Luna. I am James. We are both happy to be here."

Sunset bounced to her hooves. "Sunset Alexander is my full name. We're both happy to be here." She waved with a big grin. "Funny thing about that. Both of us know how to be a human." She clopped a hoof on the ground. "Right! Sorry. Fleur. Human, that's what our firsts are." She tapped at her chest lightly. "But yeah, both sides of me are super comfy with the idea of two legs and hands, no friction there at all. Just that he used to like the idea of things shaped like a mare, and now he is one, and we're both pleased." She shook her rump with a laugh. "Next!" She sank to her haunches.

Celestia raised a hoof. "I mentioned my first's name to Fleur, but to be proper, I am Celestia." She inclined her head. "The other is Lauren, but we are not… It is difficult to explain, but you are speaking to Celestia. Lauren is watching, in here." She tapped at her chest. "Resting. She had a hard time of things, and I am happy to provide a safe place, inside me. Perhaps, in time, she will be ready to stir fully, and I will be there, to welcome her with open arms."

A round of gentle applause rippled, not technically required, but given all the same.

Spitfire leaned forward. "Hey. You've met me before." There wasn't a pony there Fleur hadn't met. "But you didn't. Meet Penn. They're an awesome person, just like me." She snorted with a grin. "Nice to meet you again for the first time." She leaned back a bit. "Not gonna lie. Your transformation was, like, 9/10."

Fleur's ears danced at that. "My transformation? Whatever do you mean?"

Luna set a hoof on her forehead. "We don't know how, or why, but Spitfire can see people who are becoming ponies, and she likes watching." She fixed Spitfire with a reproachful glare. "You could do something about it."

Gamer Luna stuck out her tongue. "I want to see the next one!"

Announcer Luna turned her head sharply at her younger clone. "There shouldn't be a next one."

"Aw." Gamer Luna sank to her belly. "Well, hey! I'm Luna, the real Luna." She stuck out her tongue at the older Luna. "My Player 1 is Justin. We both love videogames, and we both love winning them." She clopped her hooves together. "So if you want to lose to two people at the same time, feel free to stop by the arcade whenever!"

Fleur smiled, a growing expression. They were like her. "I am honored to join you all. Let us… learn each other, and ourselves." The fresh applause her words got were a balm. She had found a new home. A place to be safe in.

Author's Note

This feels like an important chappy on a few fronts. I bet those letters have typos hiding in them...

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!