"You ruined my streak!" Luna was glaring at… Luna. "I don't need you announcing my moves as I do them!"

"We are the announcer." The other Luna inclined her head. "That includes what you are doing, especially when you begin to gather attention."

"Break it up, my little ponies." Celestia spread her wings as she moved between them, pushing the two Lunas a few inches further apart. "We don't need to come to arms about this."

The announcing Luna nodded at Celestia. "Truly you speak, sister mine. You can settle this with but a few words." She pointed at herself, then the gaming Luna. "Which of us is the true Luna, and why is it not that one?"

Gaming Luna scowled at Celestia. "That's a trick question! Your real sister can tan your hide at Trot Trot Solution!"

"Your true sister has proper manners." Announcing Luna drew herself taller. "And is but one head smaller than you, sister mine. Not a head and a half like this delinquent."

"I am not shorter than you!" Gaming Luna charged up to Announcing Luna, only to discover no matter how hard she tried to stretch herself straight and tall, she was actually a bit shorter. A younger Luna, perhaps? "That doesn't matter!" She leveled a hoof at her larger doppelganger. "The better Luna can win. Name your game, any game. You're going down!"

Celestia sat, hooves raising in placating gestures, not that it seemed to be working. The crowd was cheering on the conflict, eager to see the two butt heads. "You're both wonderful sisters."

Announcing Luna nodded. "But only one of us is best. And we already know that we are. We do not need a meaningless game to prove that."

Celestia suddenly smiled. "I know exactly the game." Both Lunas were looking at her, uneasy quiet between them. "My best sister would surely know how to serve me tea."

Announcing Luna's smile was quite wide. "That is not a game. That is a duty, and one we will perform well." She turned in place. "Let us retire to the food court, where we can fetch your tea and your favorite cake, sister mine."

"That's not a game," agreed Gamer Luna, scowling as the two walked off. "Cheater." And yet, Celestia had succeeded. The confrontation had ended. "That doesn't even count," grumbled the smaller Luna as she turned back to the game. "I'm in the mood for some revenge. Who is ready to have their flank tanned by royalty?!"

The crowd began to shift. A few, perhaps foolish, souls moving to accept Luna's offer for a beat down. Others gathered around to watch the carnage.

Fleur walked past it in no special hurry. Her target was past all the noise. There, that hat, that shirt. Flim, one of the owners of the very casino she worked in. "Pardon me."

Flim looked up with a smile. "Well, if it isn't one of my prize mares! How can I help?"

"It is about the paperwork of mienne." Her horn glowing, she drew up a card that floated there, announcing her payment. It was criminally small, but she didn't know better, and she didn't bring it up. "It says I was employée here for just a week, but haven't I been here longer than that?"

"Nope, just a week." He patted her on the shoulder lightly. "Seven days, what you were paid for, hm? Now you keep up the good work. The crowd adores you!"

Fleur wandered away from Flim, frowning faintly. Ah, a familiar attire. His brother. She hastened towards him. "Flam, Un moment s'il vous plaît."

"We can play after hours." Flam turned to see the concerned Fleur. "Something wrong?"

She brought the card closer. "I remember clearly more than a week, but this says only a week. Pourquoi?"

Flam gave a soft huh of thought. "Must have been a mistake in the office. You should be being paid for the last two weeks. We pay every two weeks, you know that."

"I do." She smiled a little. This was a more encouraging reply. "Thank you."

"Not a problem at all for one of our darling mares." He passed the card back to her. "Keep an eye out for the fix."

Fleur had been giving an agreeable outcome, business speaking. And yet, her heart did not sit quite right. She made her way across the floor, ducking into the workers halls behind everything. Not the one that led to the, hm, customer privacy rooms. No, their rooms, where they lived.

Where she lived specifically. She willed the door open as she tucked the card away. "Octavia, are you here?"

"Hm?" A refined mare, much like herself but in very different shades and not quite so tall, looked up from her book. "Hello, Fleur. I trust my performance was acceptable?"

Fleur's left ear skewed. "Hm?" she echoed back before it hit her. Octavia had played as she had danced the day before. "Ah, magnifique! As it always the case when they allow your hooves on your cello. You are, as they say, jouer à l'ange?"

The two met, nose first, gently rubbing one to the other. The two gazed into the other's eye, a gentle smile worn. "I am bothered," broke Fleur as she turned partly away. "I am ill at ease. Perhaps you can help. You are a master of such things, of keeping a quiet thought."

"I will certainly try." Octavia sat up, watching Fleur intently. "What is the problem?"

"This." Fleur produced the card and showed it towards Octavia. "It says I only worked 7 days, but I remember it being longer. One of the brothers, he says this is correct, the other, he says this is le tort. And I am left with promises of bits, but no less confused."

Octavia frowned at the letter. "Hm." Her eyes wandered over Fleur. "You are the newest of us."

"I am happy to be a part of things. Grande soeur, when was it I arrived?" She set a hoof down near Octavia, looking to her for answers.

"I first saw you… about a week ago…" She rubbed at her chin softly. "You were… making the rounds, I recall. You were smiling. You have such a lovely smile."

That just made Fleur smile all the more. "You flatteuse! Your smile is so much more rare, but you capture such charms with every movement. I will not deny, I am jalouse at times."

"I do no such thing." Octavia waved the returned flattery away. "I play my cello. I try to do a good job of it, nothing more. But that is when I first saw you. Does that help?"

Fleur nodded, but sat on her bed with thoughts still tumbling. A week prior… A week… "I remember many days before then…"

Octavia raised a refined brow. "I don't remember seeing you. It is a busy casino, were we missing one another?"

But Fleur struggled to imagine she had somehow entirely missed Octavia, or been missed in kind. The source of the inconsistency was without an answer...

She could remember being in the game hall. She was being presented with her favorite dress. Pants. No, a dress. She… wore that… "Perhaps I should ask if I could take a day off."

"You work hard enough." Octavia stepped down from her own bed. "You look… harried. Can I help?"

"You have already been a perfect friend." The two met in a soft embrace. "That you are here is a burden lifted from my chest. I will try to get myself back in shape, hm?"

"Don't hurt yourself."

Elsewhere, on the casino floor, a fiery maned and orange furred mare set down a card in her horn's glow with a look of finality. "If this card is a jack, you lose. If it's a heart, you win." She trailed a hoof slowly around the still concealed card, facedown as it was. "It all comes down to this."

The stallion seated across from her swallowed heavily. "I'm ready to take that risk."

"I thought the same thing." With a sharp flick, she turned it about, revealing a 3 of spades. "That isn't the card you needed."

The stallion swore, just to go red. "Uh, another round?" He mouthed up a few more chips, tossing them down.

"Always a pleasure." Sunset began shuffling the cards held up in her magic. "Lady Luck is a fickle mare. If you can catch her eye, she'll shower you in all the riches you ever wanted."

"Or be ignored and lose it all," chuckled the stallion. "Let's see which way she's looking today."

"That's the spirit." She caught a glimpse of a pony glancing. "Come on over," she called to the mare. "This game works with more than one. You're against me." She set the shuffled and folded deck down with a smile. "Having someone to win or lose with makes it more fun."

The mare sat down with an uncertain noise. A bit hit the table, it was time to play.

"I have this." Another mare approached with a broken horn, casually nudging Sunset aside. "Are your eyes closed? Your shift at the table was over some time ago." Tempest grinned at the two players at what was then her table. "Let's play."

"Phew." Sunset seemed just as happy to get away, trotting off to let Tempest fleece the guests of their bits. "Back to the bar." She quickly swung around and her magic began grabbing glasses and bottles, setting things up just the way she liked it. "I see some thirsty faces. Let's fix that."

She began dispensing drinks, both plain and colorful to those who wanted it. The bar's offering were not terribly costly. A tipsy pony was just the sort of pony they wanted. "Long John!" She saluted a stallion she had seen come in many a time. "Your usual?"

"The usual," agreed the tallish earth pony. "You know just the way I like it."

"Just the way." And she got to mixing. Long John was very particular. But he also tipped if you got it right. He was a reliable source of extra bits, which Sunset was not shy about earning it as she plunked down the glass, not a drop of the drink spilling. "Just the way you like it."

Long leaned in with a sniffing. "Hm, yeah…" He'd tip that day…

A clear note rang out over the area as the curtains lifted, revealing a new performer. Spitfire's gaze wandered over the crowd as she continued, "At this moment, you mean everything." She reached out a hoof slowly in tune with her words, continuing the song that didn't exist in Equestria.

Not that any pony there knew, thinking they'd just never heard of it before. A true enough fact as their heads slowly bobbed along with the melody Spitfire was producing. A tale of love, lust, and loss, much of the context being missed on the merry casino goers.

It was far more interesting to them to see the pretty mare singing an emotional song, the specific emotions so easily forgotten in the noise and activity of the gaming floor. It was already out of sync, to have a Wonderbolt singing them a song, the rest was almost meaningless.

Even as Fleur emerged from the back tunnels, the life of the casino was a throbbing and living thing. It went on despite her worries, despite her confusion. "Flim, Flam? Frères."

A pony she was passing pointed the way with an extended wing. There, across the floor. But they were busy, talking animatedly to other ponies. They got upset when the ladies, Fleur included, barged in on them during such conversations. "Mince," Fleur muttered under her breath. Both a dirty and clean word, used for Prench speakers who wish to avoid actual profanities.

She would have to wait.

"Ma'am." A foal was standing before her, grinning at her. "What's your name?"

Fleur smiled at the little colt. "I am Fleur de lis." For the moment, she could treat the child kindly. That was a job she felt confident in.

Author's Note

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