Luke’s first week at J’adore was quite possibly the most eventful of his life. Learning how to maneuver a three hundred tonne airship over a densely packed highrise city was not something one could achieve in a few days, though he’d been giving it a damn good attempt. It was a task made more difficult due to the fact that without the stunningly pretty, and therefore highly distracting Fleur de Lis aboard, the ship was nothing more than an oversized helium balloon.

“So, you’re saying Fleur herself powers the ship?”

“Eeyup,” croaked Vert. “These old warships usually work off of pegasi power, but as I said—I’m the only pegasus here. I could pull these here levers for three days straight, and the ship wouldn’t move an inch.”

“Why not?”

Vert snorted. “Dear colt—I’m an old stallion. Even thirty years ago, I’d never have had enough power to get her moving by myself. It usually takes a team of at least thirty pegasi to crew a ship of this size.”

Luke frowned. “But, Fleur can power it herself?”

“Well, yes. Fleur is anything but the dainty noblemare the fashion industry has painted her. She’s lived long enough to attain a level of magical ability that most unicorns will never see in their lifetimes. Of course, to her, one of their lifetimes is nothing more than a flash in the pan.”

By the end of Luke’s second week, he’d gotten the hang of it a bit better, Vert only having to intervene once or twice each day. Even Fleur’s ever increasing presence failed to put him off as he slid the ship into port so they could go to lunch, the pretty unicorn beaming by his side.

“We make a good team, you and I, no?” she quipped, deftly brushing a few stray locks from her face as her horn light faded, the hum of the Star Drive engines winding down.

“Now, hey. Don’t go replacing me with a newer model just yet,” Vert croaked, waving his hoof at Fleur. “Ah may not have eternal youth, but I’ve still got a few years left in me.”

Fleur shook her head. “I could never replace you, mon ami,” she said sweetly.

This seemed to mollify the stallion somewhat, and he practically floated along towards that sky lobby with a big dopey smile on his face. Luke followed, his barely repressed snort forgotten in an instant, driven away by Fleur’s sudden proximity to his side.

She’d been doing this a lot, lately—hovering around him like a moth to a flame. It wouldn’t have been that much of a problem if he hadn’t had to keep stopping himself from reaching over to scratch her ear, or give her mane a stroke. She was just so damned cute, it was hard not to. But given the fact she was his boss, it wasn’t really the smartest thing to be doing.

“Why don’t we go out for lunch, no? A friend of mine ‘as just opened up a new restaurant in ze Equinox district,” Fleur said, now trotting slightly ahead of him toward the sky dock elevator.

Luke’s gaze idly followed the gentle swishing of her silky tail, a silky pendulum cascading over her lovely rump, before the realisation of just what she had suggested hit him. “Wait… are you sure that’s a good idea?”

He had many memories of the Equinox district, and none of them were particularly pleasant. It was effectively a large gated community where the royal castle was situated, and home to quite a few of the higher-end establishments of Canterlot that weren’t situated on and around Mane Street.

‘Common’ ponies weren’t allowed in without invitation or appointment, something the nobles took great pride in reminding everyone that was stupid enough to hang around and listen to their entitled drawling. Luke hadn’t set foot in the place since he’d lived in the castle, despite having Princess Celestia’s assurances he could return anytime he liked.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Fleur probed with a look of bewilderment. The elevator doors opened in front of her, despite no one hitting the call button.

Luke frowned, stepping into the lift after her and making room for Vert to follow. Surely she could put two and two together? “I’m not exactly popular in that place. The nobles hate me.”

The revelation was met with a pout, to which Vert raised a questioning eyebrow. Luke was too busy to notice, suddenly very aware how large Fleur’s pretty eyes were. “I don’t hate you, mon cher,” she softly reassured.

Luke shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts. “Yes, well, you’re the odd one out. The rest of them were glad to see the back of me when I moved,” he muttered as Vert stepped into the lift. The doors closed, and they began to descend.

“‘Ow about you, Vert? Would you like to join us, no?”

Vert snorted. “I’d sooner have my wings plucked bare with a pair of rusty fire tongs than set hoof into that place,” he chuckled heartily.

Luke raised his eyebrows, throwing a glance to Fleur. That was… blunt, even for Vert, but the supermodel just rolled her eyes. She gently pressed a hoof to Luke’s leg. “You will come, though, Luc, yes?”

A small shiver ran through him at the way she said his name. That accent certainly wouldn’t be getting old anytime soon. “Yeah, alright,” he muttered, his cheeks reddening.

A small ding signalled the lift had reached the studio, and the doors slid open, revealing-

“Where have you been, Fraulein?” a formidable looking Photo Finish shot at Fleur, before her gaze snapped to Luke. “Ah, of course. I should have known!”

Fleur’s eyes were quick to roll, but she met her manager with a smile regardless. Everypony else had already left for lunch break, it seemed. “Luc and I were just going for a spot of lunch, mon amie. Would you care to join us?”

Photo dismissively waved a hoof. “Nein, I have a mountain of new recruit portfolios to sort, but never mind that—Coloratura vants you to make an appearance at her party tonight, seeing as you didn’t bother to turn up at her Castle Grounds Unplugged event on Tuesday.”

“That was this week?” Fleur squeaked, her cheeks reddening. Her ears flopped somewhat, and Luke had to rather forcefully remind himself it would be highly inappropriate for him to play with them.

“Ja! I told you three times Monday afternoon, but you were too busy playing airtours with your little boy-toy to listen.”

If Fleur gave any indication she’d heard what Photo had said, she hid it quite well, which was considerably more than could be said for Luke. His cheeks suddenly felt as though they were going to ignite. He positively glared at Photo Finish with the intensity of a thousand superheated knives, but she wasn’t even bothering to look at him. How she even got away with half the stuff she said was beyond him.

“Send ‘er my apologies, won’t you? And of course, I will attend ‘er party. Now if you will excuse us, Luc and I ‘ave-”

“Yes, yes, go have your little dinner date. Just remember to show your face at Rara’s mansion tonight. Ve don’t want to upset her. You know how she gets,” Photo said dismissively. She almost sounded like a mother admonishing her child.

Fleur gave a curt nod. “As you wish,” she smiled, trotting through the empty studio without another word. Luke followed, throwing a scathing glance to Photo Finish, who had already busied herself with rearranging a platter of silverware into the shape of a spork.

“Sometimes, I think she forgets ‘ow much older I am than ‘er,” Fleur chuckled, once they were halfway out of earshot.

Luke bit his tongue, the question burning on the tip of it threatening to escape. It was pointless. He knew she wouldn’t tell him. Instead, he compromised: “How come you’re immortal? I thought it was exclusively an alicorn thing?”

Fleur didn’t answer immediately, but her gait slowed a little as she turned to look up at him. Luke spotted a glint in her eyes, mimicked by that gem of hers, the platinum spikes of her collar making it seem all the more menacing. It would have been quite alarming if she wasn’t smiling.

“A lot of ponies over the years ‘ave asked me the very same thing, mon cher. Normally, I would lie to them in an ‘eartbeat,” she claimed, mystically.

Luke waited for her to elaborate as they approached the main lift that would take them to the lobby, but Fleur seemed perfectly content to leave him hanging.

“Sooo?” Luke pressed further. He knew he should probably quit pushing his luck, but curiosity demanded an explanation.

The lift doors sprang open for the supermodel, and she stepped inside, turning on the spot and sitting delicately on her haunches. An ear flicked, and she blew a stray lock of mane out of her face. Her sapphire was glowing. Luke followed her in, the doors snapping shut behind him.

“I do not wish to lie to you, Luc,” she began, her voice suddenly shaky, and laced with a subtle undertone that Luke had never heard before. “Maybe one day you will know the truth, maybe not. But… until then-” she faltered.

Without so much as a scrap of warning, Fleur turned, rearing up on her hind legs to quite a formidable height. Deceptively strong forelegs pinned Luke’s shoulders to the polished metal wall of the elevator, and Fleur’s pretty face was suddenly inches from his own. Holy crap.

Luke’s heart leapt to his throat, his hands shooting to her sides to help steady her—she looked about ready to fall. He watched in silent intrigue as her eyes, wide and piercing, slowly morphed from their usual pale violet to a stunningly deep sapphire blue, the very same shade as the gem in her collar. Only when the whites of her eyes were completely engulfed did he manage to speak.

“Um… What is happening here?” he muttered, his voice quick and shaky, but Fleur didn’t appear to acknowledge a word. She just leaned in closer, her barrel pressing against his chest, her maw slightly open… Wait… Were those fangs?

Holy shit. She had fangs. Ponies weren’t supposed to have fangs! The fuck...

DING.

A blink, and sapphire eyes were pale violet once more.

Fleur was already trotting—firmly planted back on all fours—through the elevator doors before Luke had even realised they’d opened. He attempted to catch his breath, his heart pounding the inside of his ribcage as he scrambled out of the lift after her. Just what the hell had all that been about?

“Ah, Fleur! I was just about to come find you,” said a cheery voice.

Luke recognised it as belonging to Sunfire, the pretty mare that had believed him lost on his first day. “The post arrived,” she said, passing over a small stack of letters addressed directly to the CEO.

“Merci, mon amie,” Fleur said, capturing the letters with her pink aura and idly sorting through them. Some, she made disappear with her magic as soon as she’d opened them. Others, she set on fire with a roll of her pretty eyes. One of them had her smiling as she read it, and another appeared to be a rolled up copy of a newspaper - “Sacrebleu!” With a louder than usual pop, that too disappeared in a flash.

“And, Luke, your identification badge arrived,” Sunny continued, disregarding Fleur’s pyrotechnics entirely and holding up a laminated pink card.

“Sweet! Thanks, Sunny,” Luke exclaimed, taking the badge, which had a picture of his face alongside a hologram of the company logo on it. The company logo, of course, being Fleur’s cutie mark. He barely refrained from holding the card against Fleur’s flank and comparing the two. Somehow, he didn’t think she’d find it funny.

“Come, Luc. We do not ‘ave much time,” Fleur announced, suddenly sounding a tad more annoyed than she had before receiving the post. She trotted for the doors, her long legs carrying her at a fair pace.

Luke had to resort to a half-jog to keep up. Just what the hell had gotten into her? Other than the demon that had presented itself in the lift, that is. He still needed to ask her about that, though it may not have been the best time. Someone, or something had evidently pissed in her cornflakes.

A wave of hot air blasted Luke—the air-conditioning of the lobby becoming quite apparent with its sudden absence. Canterlot was thousands of feet above sea level, but still managed to be swelteringly hot in summertime. Would it kill the pegasi to maybe whip up a small breeze once in a while?

“Er… Is something wrong?” Luke cautiously asked, when Fleur didn’t lessen her breakneck pace. The ponies on the street barely had any time at all to be starstruck by the supermodel before she cantered past them, mane and tail swishing with each graceful step.

The idly muttered question brought her to a stop so quickly Luke had to do a sort of tiptoed off-balance side step in order to avoid pelvis-smashing her rump. That would have been a great way to start lunch. Fleur barely seemed to notice how close she’d come to being involuntarily violated, however. Her anger morphed into concern when her eyes found him, something Luke couldn’t help noticing the locals were paying a rather uncomfortable amount of attention to for his liking.

“It’s… nothing,” was her tepid reply.

There comes a point in every relationship when two acquaintances make the transition to becoming friends, and therefore get to call each other out on their respective bullshit.

Because, this was definitely bullshit.

The only problem was, Luke wasn’t sure if this highly successful, drop-dead gorgeous social butterfly of an uncharacteristically kind and considerate, most-wealthy benevolent noblemare actually considered him a friend.

Did she?

Because, if she did, then he could tell her she was full of it, and get away with it. But if she didn’t, he could potentially be walking his sorry ass back to Gilded Scroll and her often condescending conjectures about his current state of employability.

And seriously, fuck that.

“Um… Are you sure?” he countered, perhaps more tepidly.

Ears at half mast—he was in the clear, for now. “Luc, you do not ‘ave to tip-hoof around me… It is just, ugh. Zese ponies, zey go too far!” she nickered, drawing the attention of a group of passing mares.

All of them stopped dead in their tracks, gawking at Fleur as though she were the pony-Jesus. A thought occurred to Luke. “Uh… Do you usually walk to lunch?” he interjected, hoping the subject change wouldn’t be too glaringly obvious.

“What?” Fleur muttered, apparently lost in her own thoughts. “Oh, no. I usually teleport, but I didn’t know if you would like zat or not.”

“Wait, you can teleport others?” Luke asked, several other questions forming in his mind. Could she teleport humans? What was it like? Before he could get any of them out, however, a familiar voice reached his ears.

“Luke?”

Beige coat, grey mane tied up in a bun, large frame spectacles and a jaw that was practically on the floor in present company. The brown paper bag she’d been levitating fell haphazardly out of her telekinetic grip at the sight of Fleur.

“Gilda! Fancy seeing you here,” Luke greeted, not even trying to keep the smug look off his face. Not so unemployable now, am I? “Fleur and I were just heading out for a spot of lunch,” he added with a grin the size of a bicycle wheel, a hand subconsciously making its way to her withers.

Fleur twitched at the contact, her eyes widening. Shit. Maybe touching her was going a bit too far? She hadn’t minded in the lift, but then again, she hadn’t been herself, had she? Either way, he discreetly withdrew his hand, hoping it didn’t look too awkward.

“You… missed your appointment earlier today,” Gilded Scroll managed to croak, evidently still trying to figure out how one of her job-seeking clients was casually strolling through Canterlot with arguably the most elite of Canterlot’s elite that ever did elite.

“Did I?” Luke chuckled, blissfully aware that he no longer needed to go to the dole house for handouts. “My apologies,” he uttered, holding a hand to his heart.

The look on her face was gold.

Still, he supposed he should have told them. But with everything that had been going on, it had completely slipped his mind to let them know he’d found a job. Well, no time like the present. “I suppose I should have said—I got a job at J’adore,” he boasted, patting the image of Fleur’s cutie mark embroidered into his uniform.

Gilded’s mouth opened and closed a few times, her eyes eventually falling on Fleur as though awaiting confirmation. The supermodel did not disappoint.

“‘Luc is ze new trainee pilot of Le Tesson,” Fleur purred, gazing up at him with half-lidded eyes. “‘Ee is very talented. I only wish I could ‘ave found ‘im sooner.”

Damn… She was laying it on a little thick there. It’s not that Luke didn’t appreciate her efforts to ‘big him up’, as it were, it was just… those eyes—Fuck… I can’t have a crush on my boss. I don’t wanna be that guy! She was his damned boss! Not to mention a different species, and so far out of his league that they were playing entirely different games altogether.

“He flies your… your ship?” The mares accompanying Gilded now switched their attentions to Luke, it seemed, each eyeing him with renewed curiosity. Some of them even took a step or two closer, their inquisitive muzzles quickly gaining proximity.

“Yes, ‘ee does,” Fleur replied shortly, her tone suddenly a lot less accommodating. She turned to Luke, a few her wavy locks whipping with the motion. Her eyes fixed onto him with a resolute finality. “And yes, I can teleport others,” she said with a smile, raising a dainty hoof to wave at Gilded Scroll and her friends. “Au revoir!” she sang.

Three syllables, and it felt like someone had took a taser to the butterflies in Luke’s stomach. Not that he was given much time to think about just why the hell that would happen. Fleur’s horn ignited, and in the blink of an eye, her magical ember had intertwined itself around every fiber of his being and pulled him through a fleeting rip in spacetime. It happened so quickly that he barely had time to even feel the discomfort. It felt as though he'd been plunged into the bottom of a lukewarm lake for a fraction of a second, and then he was suddenly standing, just like that, warm and dry at the large wrought-iron gates of the Equinox district.

“Woah…” Luke muttered, almost losing his balance. So that’s what teleportation feels like. Neat.

The entrance was flanked by a couple of stoic looking guard-mares, their coats as white as the marble pillars in front of which they stood and their golden armour gleaming in the sun. They took one look at Fleur and the gates were swung open so fast Luke barely managed to stumble out of the way before he was punted halfway down the street.

They gave a hasty salute, to which Fleur just smiled and shook her head. “Come, Luc. I ‘ave an errand to run before we go to lunch, if you would be kind enough to accompany me, no?”

Shooting a scathing glance to the two unicorn guards, not that they bothered to acknowledge him, Luke smoothed the creases out of his shirt. “Yeah, sure,” he muttered. Fleur could lead him through the gates of hell and he’d probably still be inclined to follow her.

So, yeah.

I guess this is a little later than expected, but I've had to pick up an extra shift at work in order to pay for another motorcycle tour of Europe coming up in July. This obviously leaves me with less time for writing, so just bear with me.

As usual, let me know if you spot any typos/editing blunders.

Also, special thanks to Riprexe for helping out with the French.