He wants me to keep writing. Tartarus is going to break loose in the slums tomorrow. The most important mission of the Order’s entire collective existence, and he wants me to keep writing. Writing, while Octavia is

No. I shouldn’t let this get the better of me. Fine taught me better than that.

I don’t feel like writing. What would I write about? How bucked up this whole situation is? I wish I knew why he felt the need to take on all the responsibility for himself. Fine doesn’t deserve that. Maybe he’s wrong about all of this. Perhaps Trixie can do the job without

By the Sun, I can’t focus.

Surprise. I find myself thinking more and more about her. Of all the ponies involved in this battle, she is the only one who has a stake as high as Fine’s. We all know what could happen, including her. I think she wants it, although it’s hard to tell. It’s funny, I once thought that losing her would have been a blessing. It was tough, when the only other filly I could confide in was… her. But I think that, in a way, I’d miss her.

Curses. Now everypony will see the stains. I’m far too emotional for all this. Why does winning require so much pain?

Buck it, this is pointless. I’m sorry, Fine. I just can’t right now.

—Fleur de Lis, Book of Shadows XLVIII,

June 12, 1007

Fleur sat before the pouring water, her heartbeat steady and her breathing slow. She focused on the drops before her, trying to make out the individuals. Her hoof itched, but she paid it no mind. She needed to focus, to be swift, to be prepared. And calm. Calm like the water.

Her hoof shot forward.

She raised it before her face, but didn’t focus on it. Calm. She needed…

She focused her gaze. The hoof was wet.

“By Celestia’s bucking mane!”

So much for calm.

She swung her hoof through the water with a snarl and turned away. Teeth grinding, she stomped a few times before bucking the fountain hard enough to make her knees hurt. “Why can’t I figure this out? Why? Bucking why?”

“Oh, are you playing a guessing game? Can I try?”

Fleur mentally recoiled from that familiar, frustrating voice that somehow spoke perfect griffon. She turned to find herself muzzle-to-muzzle with a white face. Startlingly purple eyes filled her vision. She jumped back with a yelp, leading to a fit of giggles from the hovering Surprise.

Fleur glowered at the pegasus. “What are you doing here?”

The much younger filly buzzed to one side of the room— “Well, I jut got back from playing this fun game of chase with this minotaur in the Neighderlands—” Then to another part of the room. “—then I had to travel aaaaalllll the way back to Equestria—” Then she was above the fountain. “—so when I got here I was real hungry and Canterlot has some of the yummiest food ever so I went to the dungeons—” She had zoomed to another corner. “—and had me a snack because Uncle Fine says it’s okay to have snacks in the dungeons but then I thought—” And she was in Fleur’s face again. “—hey, maybe I can finally play with Fleurry! So here I am.”

Fleur shook her head to straighten her thoughts from all the movement, then pushed Surprise away by the chest. “Don’t call me Fleurry. I’m not made of snow.”

Surprise landed, her wings flapping lazily before folding in. “Yeah, but wouldn’t that be neato? Oh I bet I could make a snowmare I could just stuff snow into a pony until she’s so cold, she looks all blue like a popsickle! Hmm…” She looked around the room, then tapped her chin. “I guess I’d have to go north to do that, though. Hey, you think Uncle Fine will send me to the Frozen North anytime soon?”

Fleur rubbed both hooves over her eyes and repressed the urge to moan. With a snort, she turned back to the water and sat once more. “I don’t have time for you. I’m busy.”

“Oh, right, guessing game. Let me try!” Surprise trotted next to Fleur, sat, and looked at the water intently. Her presence made Fleur bristle, but she worked to keep her temper in check.

Silence reigned.

For all of two seconds.

“So… what are we guessing?”

Grinding her teeth and refusing to look at her perky companion, Fleur growled, “I’m not guessing, I’m training.”

“Oooooooh.” Surprised bobbed up and down, perhaps to release some pent up energy. “How?”

With a sigh, Fleur punched at the water. Her hoof came back wet, not that she’d expected anything else. “That.”

“Oh, I get it!”

White blurs passed through Fleur’s vision. The movement had been so fast she couldn’t be certain it was real. She looked from Surprise to the water and back. “Wha… Do that again.”

“Okie dokie lokie!”

Fleur watched intently as Surprise attacked the water with both forehooves several times. When she finished, Fleur took the pony’s hooves in her own and gaped: they were perfectly dry. “What? You can— But you’re only— Fine already taught you that?”

“Taught me?” Surprise laughed. “Uncle Fine didn’t teach me anything.”

Fleur gaped. For some time, that was all she could do. Those incessant, horrible giggles flooded her conscience, mocking her inadequacy. That cute little face, all smiles and pleasantness and hideous, foul charm. Fleur’s legs began to shake, her breathing quickened. She could hear her blood pulsing in her eardrums.

Surprise merely cocked her head. “Fleurry?”

With a scream, Fleur turned and banged her hooves on the fountain. And again. She lashed out at the water, sending it spraying all over, then fired a few beams that ricocheted wildly around the room. “My. Name. Is. Fleur!”

With one last snarl, she slammed her hooves on top of the fountain. She shook and panted, staring wide-eyed at the water, which continued to drip as if her outburst had been a mere wind. She’d not even scratched the polish on the stonework.

“Umm… I think it’s warded, Fleur.”

Surprise’s tone had changed. It was quieter, and lacking in energy. Fleur turned to the foal. With a weary sigh, she said, “You’re still smiling.”

Surprise nodded, but it was a lethargic motion. “It’s hard.”

“What is?”

“Not smiling.”

Fleur blinked, her anger fading with the pain in her hooves. “How can it be hard?”

“I don’t know. It just is?” Surprise shrugged, her wings giving an errant flap. “How do you not smile? I don’t see many ponies, but I know they don’t smile like I do. They make it look so easy.”

Now the anger had gone entirely, replaced by a burning curiosity. “Don’t you ever feel sad? Or angry or confused?”

“I don’t know.” The younger filly rubbed the side of her head, her smile firmly in place. “What are they supposed to feel like?” She gestured to the fountain. “Like, just now. You were playing with the fountain, but you weren’t smiling. Why?”

Fleur’s hackles rose. “I wasn’t playing, I was—” She caught herself upon realizing that Surprise was watching her intently with big, curious eyes. “You really don’t understand?”

“If you weren’t playing then what were you doing? Oh, oh, do you not know how to play? Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen you—” Surprise let out a dramatic gasp and dropped to a low stance, her tail swishing about and her smile broadening. “I know, I can teach you! You wanna play with me, Fleurry, huhhuhhuh?”

“Playing?” Fleur threw her hooves high. “How the hay do you define—”

A new voice, speaking Equestrian this time, drowned her out. “Stop. Right. There.”

Surprise was gone before Fleur even had time to turn her head. “Uncle Fine!”

By the time Fleur had turned, Surprise was hovering at Fine’s side and rubbing her cheek to his with a silly smile. Fine returned the gesture with a smile of his own, one that looked disturbingly genuine. Fleur bristled and wondered why he never nuzzled her that way. Was she not cute enough?

Fine broke contact with Surprise. He raised a hoof before her face and spoke chastizingly, “Surprise, I warned you. You do not play with Fleur.”

“Butbutbut,” Surprise buzzed about Fine’s head like a filly-sized bee. “Fleurry doesn’t know how to play! I was gonna teach her and we could have all sorts of fun together and whywouldn’tyouwanthertohavefunthatdoesn’tmake—”

It took three tries for Fine’s hoof to find her mouth and silence the rambling. “Fleur doesn’t play in the same way you do. And why are you speaking in griffon?”

Despite her misgivings, Fleur tentatively raised her hoof. “I’m a little curious, now. About se playing, sat is.”

Surprise floated out of range with a giggle. “I’m just speaking, silly. Fleur understands, don’t you, Fleurry?”

Still facing Fleur, Fine raised both forehooves towards Surprise. “Okay, I’m not gonna worry about the whole language thing.” He then turned those hooves towards Fleur. “And why would you be curious about how she plays?”

“Because I… She can…” Fleur groaned. She both looked and pointed at Surprise, then pointed at the water behind her.

“Oh, I get it!” Surprise darted to the water and repeated her earlier feat, legs flying unhindered through the stream of droplets. “But that’s not playing, silly.”

Fleur gestured at the pegasus even as she raised her eyebrows at Fine. “You see sat? She can do it so easily, visout any training! Maybe if I can study her—”

Fine raised his hooves in a silencing gesture. “Whoa, whoa! First off, studying Surprise isn’t going to get you much of anything. Second, I don’t think you have even a remote idea what you’re getting yourself into with this line of thinking.”

Surprise hopped to Fleur’s side, smile unphased. “But Uncle Fine, I want friends! Right now I just got you and the princess. Please? Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasewithcherryontop?”

“I was going to send you home, Surprise.”

“Aww, but that place is boring.” The filly started pronking in place, the flutter of her wings letting her jump high enough to reach Fleur’s head. “I know, we can play together. Instead of with each other. That’s in the rules, right?”

Fleur offered Fine a smile of her own. “It’s just playing. Right?”

Fine opened his mouth to reply, but then looked at each of them in turn. With a sigh, he gestured to the door. “Surprise, do me a favor and stand outside for a moment. I need to have a private conversation with my apprentice.”

“Okie dokie lokie!” Surprise leaned over, raised her hoof before her lips as if to hide what she was going to say, then proceed to ‘whisper’ in a voice that could almost certainly be heard by everypony in the room. “Don’t worry, he’ll be a pushover ‘cause we’re cute.”

Then she was gone, humming and bouncing her way out of the room. Fleur was too busy blushing at the comment to react beyond staring at her hooves.

The door closed. Hoofsteps announced Fine’s approach. Her mind became frantic with thoughts and ideas that had been swirling within her ever since her birthday. Surprise surely didn't mean it that way, but—

“Fleur?”

“Do you sink I’m cute?”

She slapped her hooves over her mouth and gave a muffled yelp. How could she have possibly asked that? Stupid thoughts. Stupid mouth. Stupid Surprise! She looked up at Fine with wide eyes, half hoping he’d not heard it. She’d been quiet, right?

Fine chuckled with a incredulous but wry smile. “We’ve been through this before. If you weren’t an attractive pony, would you be modeling for Cayenne every other weekend?”

That didn’t answer the question! It wasn’t enough to be attractive to everypony else, she wanted to be attractive to… She forced the thought aside even as her cheeks burned. “R-right. So vat did you vant to talk to me about?”

His smile faded in a flash. “You really, really shouldn’t entertain this idea, Fleur. You didn’t see what my quarters looked like when we got back from the dungeons.”

Fleur tried to put some encouragement into her expression. “I know you said she’s pure Bloodmane, but she just… ahem, ‘fed.’ How bad could it be?”

“Bad.” Fine rubbed his forehead with a groan. “I know she looks like a cute little foal. I know she’s all smiles and bouncing happiness. I also know that she has zero concept of the consequences of her actions. If she hurt you, the worst she’d feel about it is a worry that I’d be mad.”

She considered this quietly. “You mean to say she’s some emotionless machine?”

“Not at all, she’s certainly got emotions. She just…” He rubbed his chin and examined the ceiling through peering, contemplative eyes. “…doesn’t see them through the same lens we do. Her entire method of comprehension is different.” He pressed a hoof to Fleur’s chest, making her blush. “Do you even know what she means when she says she wants to play?”

“I imagine it involves somesing violent.”

“Imagine.” He huffed the word in a sardonic laugh. “What you imagine isn’t even close.”

Fleur gave a dejected sniff. “She’s an Archon, isn’t she? And I’m your apprentice. Don’t you sink I should learn to deal vis her?”

He leaned forward, looking as if he were about to say something snide, but paused. “Hmm… Point. But you’re still not going to beat the water trial just because you watched her. It’s up to you to overcome that hurdle.”

“I know it is. It’s just…” She looked over her shoulder at the ever-cascading water. Her words took on a bitter tone. “I am tired of failing at it.”

He placed a hoof on her shoulder. “I told you, two years minimum. How long has it been?”

“Not two years,” she grumbled.

“Exactly.”

She shoved his hoof away. “Vell, maybe if I do somesing else for a little vile I’ll have better focus ven I get back to it.”

He turned his head to study her with a lone eye. “I thought you didn’t even like Surprise.”

Fleur sighed and shook her head. “I admit, she rubs me se vrong vay every time I see her, but I’ve only seen her, vat, four times? You have to spend some time vis somepony before you start to really not like sem.”

Fine sighed, looked to the door, then back to her. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Absolutely.” She stood tall and held her head high. “I’m not afraid.”

“We’ll see. Surprise!”

The door slammed open and Surprise was at his side in an instant, nuzzling his cheek once more. Fine let her do that for a second or two, then gently pushed her away. “Okay, Surprise, you two will spend some time together.”

Surprise let out a cheer and started for Fleur as if to hug her, but stopped short when Fine caught her tail via magic. “On one condition.”

“Aww, there’s always a condition.”

“And this is an important one.” He caught her by the shoulders and pushed her to the ground. She looked up at him expectantly, tail wagging back and forth in a way Fleur wasn’t sure ponies were supposed to be capable of. “You are not allowed to touch Fleur.”

“Touch. Touch?” Surprise cocked her head one way, then another. She leaned backwards to look at Fleur upside down. “You mean I can’t touch her at all?”

“You can’t touch her at all.”

“Pooey, you’re no fun.” Surprise bounced to her hooves, wings buzzing. “Alrighty, then. I, Surprise the Pegasus, do solemnly swear not to touch Fleur with hoof, mane, tail or tongue!”

Fine leaned over her with an exaggerated expression of lecturing. “Or knives, or axes, or bats, or other creatures, or any other item, be they sharp, blunt or of a generally physical constitution.”

Surprise winced. “You’re really tying my hooves behind my back.”

“You’ll live.” He turned to leave, but paused to cast one last glance between the two fillies.

“Both of you.”

In hindsight, Fleur should have known better than to doubt Fine’s word.

There had been a mare chained to the wall by her leg, an earth pony. When they’d walked in, that mare had looked at them as if they were dirt beneath her hooves. Now that same pony lay on her back, sobbing as a filly of perhaps no more than nine years of age – in appearance, at least – pounded at her skull and chest with reckless abandon. The mare’s forelegs were broken, her ribs had probably been cracked, and her face was a bloody mess.

And Surprise? She was humming. Even as the blood splattered on her hooves, she just kept smiling and giggling.

“Hey, Fleurry, don’t you wanna join in? Come on, there’s plenty of room for two!”

Fleur opened her mouth to respond, only to feel something foul rising up. She press a hoof to her lips and fought to recover. She couldn’t take her eyes off the scene.

“No? Come on, I thought wanted to learn how to play.” Surprise paused in her assault to peer at the trembling filly, then shrugged. “Oh well, more for me.”

Then she dropped down and bit the mare’s ear. As the pony screamed and jerked beneath her, Surprise twisted her head back and forth, pulling and chewing, until at last her head whipped back, the bloody ear still lodged between her teeth. Her victim’s pleas were little more than indecipherable blubbering by this point.

Surprise spat the ear out before turning to grin at Fleur, the blood caking her chin and teeth. “Y’know, I’m glad we got to spend some time together. You’ve been with the Archons for almost a year and we hardly ever talked! I think that’s a real shame, don’t you?”

Fleur swallowed the acid in her throat and nodded weakly. “Y-yes. A… shame.”

“Well, now we can have fun together.” She turned to punch the mare in the face a couple times, then turned back to Fleur. “And be best friends.” Another two hits. “Forever!”

The only thing Fleur wanted to do was take a hot shower. She didn’t dare run away from this scene, though. For one, she had no idea how this miniature maniac would respond to rejection. For another, she didn’t want to appear weak. Was she not gifted in illusion? She always had a few gems on her as well, just in case. If she had to, she could defend herself against the filly.

Besides, Surprise wouldn’t disobey ‘Uncle’ Fine’s orders. Surely.

Surprise was busy using a serrated knife – where did she get that? – to saw open a portion of the mare’s belly. That combined with the mare’s feeble sobbing almost made Fleur turn away, and she was sure she’d lose her lunch before this was over. But she had to stay. She was supposed to be an Archon now. She needed to be able to handle monsters of this sort.

Surprise slipped the knife into her mane and, attention still set on the mare beneath her, spoke cheerfully. “Oh, by the way, there’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you: I’m not jealous.”

Her gaze set on the corner of the room, Fleur took a few deep breaths before asking, “Jealous?”

“Yeah.” There was a wet plop. Fleur didn’t dare look. “I call Fine ‘Uncle’ all the time, but he’s far more important to me than that, y’know? He’s more like a father than anything else.”

“I… see.”

“But I don’t get to spend as much time with him as I’d like. I know he likes me, and he’s really nice to me, but I’m always off having fun. When I’m not doing that, I’m back at home, being bored out of my mind.”

More wet sounds. Fleur was sweating with the effort to not satisfy her morbid curiosity. The mare’s sobs grew weaker.

“But Uncle Fine gets to spend a lot of time with you. He likes you more. It’s just how it is. So I want you to know, I’m not jealous.”

Fleur swallowed again and closed her eyes. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have that filly legitimately upset with her. “I’m glad to hear it.”

“Me too! Say, you ever seen a lung? It’s pretty neato.”

“I sink I’m fine, sank you.” Fleur couldn’t resist the quickest glance out of the corner of her eye. She didn’t get the details, but what she saw was enough to nearly make her heave. “S-Surprise, vy do you enjoy sis?”

“I dunno. Why does anypony enjoy anything? Oh, it’s time.”

Fleur’s ears perked. She noticed that the sobs had stopped. Now there was only a frail, raspy breathing. Carefully, with a hoof to her stomach, she tilted her head just enough to see what was going on.

Surprise had been systematically removing the pony’s organs. They were laid beside the mare in neat rows. Fleur didn’t recognize half the things she saw, but she suspected none of them were necessary for living in the short term. There was surprisingly little blood, not that this did Fleur’s stomach any favors. She almost turned away, but paused when she saw something that distracted from the gruesome scene entirely.

Surprise stood over the mare, her eyes gradually gaining a white glow. She bent over the mare, lips curled in that eternal smile, and opened her mouth wide as the glow turned brighter. Just as the mare’s last breath left her, something pale like a wisp of cloud floated from her mouth. The fog-like substance rushed up and into Surprise’s waiting lips, moving in a continuous, quiet stream.

Then, just as suddenly, it was gone, and Surprise’s mouth closed with a click of teeth. She licked her lips, sat back and rubbed her belly. “Mmm, this one tasted like chocolate!”

“Tasted?” Fleur’s vision blurred. She began to wobble as the world spun. “T-tasted?”

“Fleurry, are you okay?”

She wasn’t okay. She was very far away from okay.

She didn’t feel it when she hit the floor.

Fleur awoke to a strange scent in her nostrils. She blinked lazily, her vision gradually coming into place. At first, the world was nothing but blurry shapes. Then they righted into more distinct forms, until at last she recognized Fine Crime and the small bottle floating beneath her muzzle. He pulled it away and tucked it into his vest.

“Hey, Fleur. You alright?”

“I… I sink so.” She tried to get up, but her legs wobbled. “Vat happened?”

“I’m so sorry!” Surprise was rocking on her hooves near the wall, panic in her eyes. For the first time ever, she wasn’t smiling. “I don’t know what happened! We were talking and you just… just fell! I wanted to bring you to Uncle Fine but he said I couldn’t touch youandIwasallscaredI’ddonesomethingwronganywaybutIwenttogethimandhehurrieddownhereandmademecleanupbeforehewokeyouandI’msosorryFleurryIdidn’tmeantodowhateverIdidtohurtyouIswear!”

Fleur shook her head groggily, barely able to grasp the lightning-fast stream of words. “It’s okay. You didn’t do… anything…”

Her memory came back in sharp contrast, and her eyes widened. “Y-you… you ate sat pony’s soul.”

Surprise blinked and cocked her head. “Yes?”

Fine set a hoof to Fleur’s back, rubbing it gently as he whispered in her ear. “It’s okay, Fleur. It’s not her fault. She can’t help what Celestia made her to be.”

Fleur gaped at him. “You condone sis?”

He cringed. Had he gone just a little pale? “No, but I am partially responsible for Surprise’s existence. I won’t condemn her for existing.”

Surprise flapped her wings for a couple beats. “What’s the big deal? Uncle Fine says they’re all bad guys, anyway.”

That made Fleur wince; she knew as well as Fine did that not all of the ponies down here were ‘bad guys.’ Probably not half of them. She looked to Fine for answers as he helped her up. When Surprise tried to approach, she jerked away.

“It’s okay,” Fine assured her, hoof still on her back. “Surprise won’t hurt you.”

Surprise looked between the two of them curiously. “Hurt? I don’t hurt ponies.”

“Is she serious?”

“Of course I am. I’m just having fun.”

“Fun?”

“Alright, Little Miss.” Fine pulled Fleur's leg and pointed to the door. “You’ve had enough fun for today. Let’s get you upstairs.”

Fleur wasn’t about to argue. She’d have given anything to get away from that foul… thing. She turned for the door, took a step—

A low, quiet voice met her ears. “What did you call her?”

Fine and Fleur shared an uncertain expression, then glanced back. Surprise was staring at Fine with wide, unbelieving eyes.

He frowned. “I called her Little—”

Fleur had no idea what happened. One minute she was standing at Fine’s side, the next her back was pressed against the wall and pain lanced through her chest. When she opened her eyes, she found two furious violet ones taking up her entire vision.

“How dare you? You can’t be his Little Miss, that’s me!” A hoof slammed into Fleur’s jaw. The words were nothing less than a screech. “Me! I’m Little Miss, not you! He’s my Uncle Fine and you can’t take him from me!” Several more blows connected. The back of her head cracked against the wall, causing stars to explode in her vision. “I’m Little Miss! I’m Little Miss! I’m—”

Just as suddenly, Surprise disappeared, and Fleur collapsed to her side. Her head and chest felt as if they were on fire. For a moment her vision had doubled. It righted by the time she managed to look up.

Surprise’s wings were caught in a red aura. She kicked wildly at the air, screaming and spitting and hissing, all her age aimed at Fleur.

“That’s enough, Surprise!”

The filly didn’t seem to hear. Fleur pressed herself against the corner of the wall, trying to make herself small as the little monster continued to reach for her.

Then, abruptly, Surprise’s wings twisted. There came two simultaneous snaps, and the filly shrieked. The auras faded and she landed hard on the floor. She picked herself up on shaking legs and looked back to see the sorry state of her white wings, now bent at improper angles in places where joints weren’t supposed to be. Panting and sobbing, she looked around… then locked eyes with Fleur.

Pain turned to fury in a heartbeat, and Surprise broke into a gallop. Fleur scrambled along the wall, a scream on her lips and panic taking root.

Fine appeared between them. “I said that’s enough!”

“No!” Surprise kept going, trying to move around her ‘uncle.’ “I’m Little Miss, only me! Nopony else can be Little Miss!”

Fleur winced as Fine’s hoof came down on the filly’s head with frightening force. She hit the ground with a pronounced crack, and then the same hoof was atop her head, pinning the little pony. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and still she squirmed and struggled to get to the her target.

Fine lowered his head so it was above Surprise’s. His words came out in an ominous growl. “Don’t make me tell Celestia you were a bad filly.”

The change was instantaneous; all rage left Surprise’s gaze in a heartbeat. She screamed and clutched at the leg pinning her head to the floor. “No I’ll be good I promise I’ll be a good filly please don’t tell Celestia I don’t wanna be sealed in the pool!”

Fine’s voice lost none of its edge. “You gonna leave Fleur alone?”

“Yes! She can be Little Miss, just pleasepleaseplease don’t tell Celestia I was a bad filly!”

“Apologize to Fleur.”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it!” Fine’s hoof ground against her skull. “I m-mean, yes! I meant it, and I’m sorry! It won’t happen again, I promise! Don’t tell Celestia. D-don’t.”

The energy left Surprise, who broke down in sobs and stopped trying to get away. Fine held her down for a few seconds longer, but finally stepped back. He turned and crouched by Fleur, holding her by the chin. “Are you okay? Look me in the eyes, Fleur. Tell me you’re okay.”

“I’m… okay.” Why was she speaking so slowly? She couldn’t stop looking at the weeping filly. “Vat just… Vy did she—”

“Hush.” Fine touched at her chest gently. She yelped on contact. “You’ve a concussion. Looks like a fractured rib or two. I’ll take you to the infirmary. If anypony asks, one of our training sessions got a little too rough.”

Fleur stared at him blankly for a few seconds. Her mind worked just enough to get something out. “You’re still… protecting her?”

His expression remained like stone. “Like I said, what she is is not her fault.” He looked over his shoulder. “Surprise? Go to your room and stay there. I’ll meet you later and we’ll get your wings fixed up, okay?”

Surprise raised her head, revealing bloodshot eyes. She rubbed her muzzle and nodded, her gaze on the floor. “Y-yes, sir.” She slowly climbed to her hooves and hobbled for the exit, wings dragging along the floor. She didn’t look to either of them as she departed.

“Alright, on your hooves.” Fine gently helped Fleur up, one leg wrapped around her shoulder for support. She wondered why, until her hooves slipped out from under her. “Easy there. Take it slow.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, tears dripping down her cheeks. Why was it so hard to think? “I… I should have defended myself. I should have… have been ready.”

Fine sighed and shook his head. “Nopony’s ready to get broadsided by a force of nature. Don’t let it get to you; that filly was created for brutality’s sake.”

Fleur didn’t argue. She couldn’t think straight enough to recall what she’d already said. Her thoughts began to wander. A glance up made her aware of how everything looked off. Now why would that be? She risked a tumble to feel at her face and realized that her left eye had swollen shut.

Her lip trembled. “I… I von’t be able to model for Cayenne sis veek.”

“Don’t worry about that.”

“But I promised…” What? She had promised Cayenne something, hadn’t she?

“Don’t worry about it.”

She hung her head, too weary to hold it up anymore. Minutes passed in silence. She drifted in and out of awareness, her legs moving on autopilot. She kept seeing the moment in slow motion; the blur of white and blonde, the pain, the hooves smashing against her body too quickly. And the rage; the pure, indescribable fury of those eyes.

She raised her head. “Is… Is Surprise evil?”

It was some time before Fine responded.

“She’s just a filly who got all the wrong rolls of the dice.”

Fleur let her head sink once more.

She couldn’t wait to go back to punching at water droplets.

Author's Notes:

Character Ages:
Fleur de Lis: 14
Fine Crime: 20
Surprise: 2 (Physically 8)