“I knew it would be a perfect fit for you,” Blueberry clapped her hooves as Bud finished lacing a dress onto Raven Inkwell. The two mares had garnered the filly in a bright frilly yellow dress with floral embroideries. “I honestly a bit surprised it was still in my old closet. I would’ve thought my daughter had moved in here by now.”
“Mrs. Swirl,” Raven started as she rubbed her hoof on the dress. “Are you sure it’s okay for me to wear something so important? I do have my own in my luggage.”
“I’m afraid it won’t do,” Blueberry declined. “My daughter specifically demanded that every pony wears bright colors for the wedding. The purple dress you showed me is far too dark for the occasion.” Blueberry picked up a flower-like pin from a nearby dresser and attached it upon
Raven’s mane. “Besides, I think this is a better look for you. Anypony would see you as an innocent fairy in this dress.”
“A fairy,” Raven mumbled as a tinge of red came upon her cheeks. Raven looked at herself in the mirror and looked dazed at the filly before her. As Bud recalls, most of Raven’s garments always had a sense of professionalism in them. So, to be garnered in something unlike what she is used to is probably a new experience for her.
“I see you’re taking a liking to it, aren’t you?” Blueberry grinned. “Why not keep it?”
“What?” Raven widened. “I can’t take this. Shouldn’t it be hoofed down to your Ms. Chiffon?”
“My daughter and I have different views of fashion, which is why it’s here instead of in her closet; which should’ve been here by now.”
“It’s okay Raven,” Bud stroked Raven’s mane with a brush. “She doesn’t mind.”
Raven glanced at herself again before resigning, “Yes ma’am.” Bud was perplexed about why her aunt’s gift didn’t earn a smile from her student, but she continued to groom her student’s mane. She’ll find some time to talk to her later.
“Mrs. Swirl,” Raven started. “If possible, could I wear a mane pin I brought with me?”
“Oh, you have one of your own? Well, that’s perfectly fine. What does it look like?”
“It’s shaped like a feather pen; it was a birthday gift from a mother.”
“Got it, I’ll just skim through your luggage and I’ll be back in a jiffy.” Blueberry chuckled. “Oh, I love using that word, ‘jiffy”.”
“Wait,” Bud said. “Raven’s luggage complex with many pockets inside. You’ll spend half an hour trying to find it. Let me get it.”
“Now Bud,” Blue held her hoof up. “Our dear Raven asked me specifically to bring the pin. You should have more confidence if your aunt to handle a simple task.”
“I didn’t mean it like that Aunt Blue,” Bud said.
“I know,” Blueberry grinned. “But while I’m out, you should attend to your student. I think half an hour should be enough time.” Blueberry winked at her niece and then exited the room.
Bud raised a brow at her aunt’s exchange. Looking back at Raven, she sighed and mumbled, “Always wanting to do everything her way.” She then resumed grooming her student’s mane and said, “It must be nice to be a flower filly for the wedding. I always hoped to be one someday, though I never had the chance.” A moment passed without a response from Raven, which halted Bud’s hoof on the brush. “Is everything alright Raven?”
“Ms. Bud,” Raven started, but then said nothing afterward.
“You know you can speak to me about anything Raven,” Bud assured her. “Please, tell me what’s troubling you.”
“I…” Raven took a deep breath and then exhaled. “Do you think I’m intruding by having a role in the wedding?”
“What makes you say that?”
“For less than a day, I’ve become acquainted with the Swirl family. To have so much trust as to have a significant part in the wedding should not be possible. It shouldn’t just be any foal that comes to a flower filly for this wedding. That’s why I had no qualms with sitting on the seats like everypony else. But this...I just feel that I didn’t earn this. And worse yet, I think I’m taking advantage of you because of this.”
Bud paused on her student’s words and then proceeded to brush her student’s mane again. “Raven, I don’t believe it’s a matter of who deserves to be the flower filly. And in no way are you taking advantage of me. I want you to be here and so do the Swirls. You shouldn’t feel bad about it.”
Bud looked at the mirror to get visual on Raven’s reaction, but there was still gloom looming over her face. Raven then spoke, “Even for my dad’s lie about a relative living here?”
“Oh…,” Bud was still unsure about how to approach this. Who would’ve thought that Hawk would blatantly lie to her about a resident in Ponyville? No doubt it was another ploy of his to keep Raven close to her, which she is finding difficulty to be angry about. But to go so far as to group his own daughter with ponies that he himself hardly knows is ludicrous.
“I understand that you’re upset with me and my father. We shouldn’t have misused your trust as we did. B-but he did say you had a trustworthy character and he did look into the Swirl family before coming to the hospital.” Bud frowned at Raven’s excuse. She didn’t like to put Raven in this predicament.
“Raven,” Bud hugged Raven from behind which earned perky ears from her student. “I won’t say I’m not disheartened that you lied to me, but I would never hold a grudge against you because you were simply listening to your father.”
“Are you sure?” Bud felt her student shaking. “You’re not just saying to protect my own feelings, are you?”
Bud tightened her hold on Raven. “I don’t blame you for lying to me. But from henceforth, I would like for you to be honest with me. No matter what it is, I won’t shun you away. So don’t ever think I will.”
Bud’s ear perked from a sniffle she heard from her student. “I’m sorry for keeping a secret from you,” Raven’s voice quivered. “I was so scared that you would look at me differently when you found out.”
“There’s no need to cry,” Bud used the reflection of the mirror to brushed trails of tears off of Raven’s face. “Today is a day to be happy. So I want you to enjoy yourself.”
Raven raised a hoof to clear out any remaining tear from herself. “Does that mean you forgive my father too?”
“I’ll talk to him later when we return to Manehattan, but you don’t have to worry about that.”
“Please don’t be mad at my father,” Raven pleaded. “He was only doing what’s best for me.”
“Now Raven, I told you not to worry about that. You should be more focused on the rehearsal the flower fillies are going to do in an hour from now at the town hall. I want you to go to practice, make new friends, and most importantly, have fun. Can you do that?”
“Yes ma’am,” Raven resigned.
“Good,” Bud smiled. “And I’ll be sure that my mother gets good pictures of you. Who knows, she may post them at her house. I think I might do the same.”
“P-please don’t Ms. Bud.”
An hour had passed since Bud left Raven with Gossamer, who went to the town hall for their rehearsal. Bud was happy that Gossamer recruited Raven for a spot as flower filly, though he appeared oblivious to Raven’s shaky hesitance. Hopefully, Bud’s talk with her cleansed any concern she had, but the nervousness her student espoused felt a bit discouraging. Bud could only hope that is was only due to stage fright.
After attending to her student, Bud returned to her guest room and garnered a light red dress with white embroideries of polka dots. It was a dress she meant to wear regularly at school but was unaware of the strict dress code her job had. And she spent a lot of hours at Baltimare picking out the ideal dress for herself.
When she descended the stairs, she half-expected for her foals to be dressed. Bud’s mother and Lazuli offered to dress them while she helped Raven, but knowing her daughter, she predicted to be some complications.
Her mother had apparently bought dresses for her foals and waited until today to tell her daughter about this. She must’ve planned this since Bud had not considered clothing for her foals yet. As much as Bud want to lash out for yet another ploy, she had to thank her mother for at least having something for her foals to wear.
However, Bud took issue with the dress for Artemis. Did she not know that her son was a colt when she bought this? as cute as the sky-blue dress was, she didn’t like the idea of her mother treating her son like some kind of doll. But again, she had nothing to spare for Artemis, so she had to relinquish to her mother’s terrible fetish desire. Bud can only hope that her son will find it in himself to forgive his ill-prepared mother for this in the future.
Nebula was another issue altogether, but Bud had expected that. Her daughter had taken her stand to never garner a diaper as every foal should, and today, her resolve had not faltered an inch.
Lazuli had donned Artemis in the sky-blue dress while Hope struggled to slide a diaper onto Nebula. Nebula had displayed her fangs to deter Hope, but Hope sways her reach in and out waiting for the right opportunity to slip through her granddaughter’s defenses It was as if the two were having a duel despite how ridiculous it appeared.
Hope was smart to put the matching sky-blue dress on Nebula before moving to the diaper, but the two were now having a stare-down with Nebula glaring at Hope from atop a table. Bud observed the scene from another room for precaution of what may occur.
Lazuli sat uncomfortably on a couch with a dressed Nebula between her hind legs as she observed the battle between grandmother and granddaughter. Unnerved by the strange scene, Lazuli voiced, “You know, I could help you out.”
“No Lazuli,” Hope kept her sights on Nebula. “This is a matter that a grandmother must deal with. I have trained nearly half of my life to be the perfect caretaker, and it was all to prepare me for moments like this.”
“You truly have the gall to think you can tame me,” Nebula spat. “I am Nightmare Moon you oafish hag and I refuse to become a toy to your sick games. I don’t care if this body is small, I shall smite you here if you do not yield.”
Hope did not falter a step by Nebula’s threat that sounded more like incessant barking to the grandmother. Instead, Hope extended her hoof close to Nebula again which made her granddaughter widen her mouth to attempt another bite.
There was no way that Hope was going to back away from this any longer. Sure, Nebula has managed to avoid having any accidents so far, but she can’t assume that will always be the case. Besides, a small infant filly like herself shouldn’t be making an effort to contain her bladder at this young of an age. There’s bound to be repercussions if her granddaughter continues this behavior.
Nebula was the first to make a move and she chose to spread her wings out, alerting Hope to maker her swift response. Hope lunged for Nebula, but a single flap from Nebula’s wings was all it took to ascend above Hope’s reach. Hope quickly picked herself from the table to give chase to her granddaughter, but Nebula was already near the entrance to the next room.
“You were a fool to ever think you could ever catch m—,” Nebula was only able to savor her victory for a moment until she entered the next room. As soon as she was within reach, Bud snatched her daughter from the air and then nibbled her sensitive ear before Nebula could make sense of what just happened. Bud continued to overwhelm Nebula until she heard the squeaking noise she was waiting for. With her daughter now still and tuckered out, sliding the diaper onto her was foal’s play.
Plenty of ponies gathered inside the town hall alongside Bud and her party. All of the seats were nearly filled by the time they had arrived. Bud was mesmerized by a large number of ponies that came to see ‘Chiffon’s special day. The Swirl family had certainly established a bond with so many of them.
“Loving Bud,” Bud heard a familiar voice through the maelstrom of others inside the large room. A pink-maned mare approached Bud’s party at the entrance and said, “I’m so glad to see you and your mother are back in town. And I see you have brought company.”
At that mention, Lazuli stepped before the mare and said, “Hey, you must be another friend of Bud’s, right? The name’s Summer Lazuli, nice to meet ya.”
“Wait,” the pink-maned mare furrowed her brow. “You’re the…Well, it’s good to know that you and Bud are now getting along.”
“Oh,” Lazuli faltered back and then averted her gaze from the mare. “Yeah…”
“G-good afternoon Mayor Mare,” Bud tried to shift away from the sudden awkward atmosphere. “Would you like to meet my foals/ Their name are—”
“Nebula and Artemis,” Mayor Mare answered. “Correct? Chiffon and Blueberry had mentioned them to me. Congratulations, I know you must be thrilled to enter your motherhood. May I?” Mayor Mare, at Bud’s approval, stepped beside Bud and peered into a stroller where Bud’s foal lied. “Oh my, what they said were true. Your daughter is a rare sight.”
Artemis perked at the new face before him as he wasted no time trying to climb out of the stroller to reach Mayor Mare. However, her son would be going nowhere as long as he was strapped to the stroller.
Her daughter on the other hoof was quiet and avoiding eye contact with everypony. Bud could hear Nebula brooding in her mumbles but couldn’t make out all of her words. Best to let her vent it out instead of more fuel to her anger.
“Say,” Bud started. “Would you happen to be the officiant for this wedding?”
“Do you even have to ask,” Mayor Mare grinned. “More than half of the residents of Ponyville had enrolled me to speakk at their altar. I take pride in my ponies that gave me the honor to contribute to their matrimony.”
“That’s all well and good,” Hope joined the conversation. “But we hope that we visit yours one day.”
Mayor Mare chuckled and said, “Ms. Hope, always playing the cupid, aren’t you?” Bud, I’m afraid that I’m far too married to my job to be looking for somepony.”
“Nonsense,” Hope happily retorted. “There’s always somepony for all of us. You’ve just haven’t met the one yet.”
“Careful with that optimism,” Mayor Mare chuckled. “It tends to be infectious. But right now I should really check on the bride. The event is close to starting. I hope to receive copies from you later Hope, I’d like to post this in my office.” Mayor Mare gave her regards and then exited the large room through another door.
“Can we hurry and get this along already,” Bud heard her daughter. Nebula still sulked and refrained from eye contact, using tufts of her growing mane to mask her face.
“Still in a sulky mood,” Hope said. “Is she?”
“Hey,” Lazuli voiced. “Shouldn’t we be taking our seats?”
Bud nodded and then picked Nebula out of the stroller. Bud nuzzled the bitter filly’s nose and then whispered, “It’s okay, nopony will laugh at you.”
“Save your maternal instincts for Luna,” Nebula retorted. “I have no need for your pity. Especially form the mare that did this to me.”
“Trust me Nebula, at some point, you’ll thank me for this.”
“I’d rather bite that encroaching mouth of yours,” Nebula threatened, but instead of reacting shockingly, Bud kissed her daughter’s forehead and cradled her with a single hoof.
Hope retrieved Artemis from the stroller, who was near throwing a tantrum after Bud picked out Nebula. Hope calmed him with a streak of kisses that he shut his eyes from.
Lazuli folded the stroller and set it beside a table near the entrance. Chiffon and Carrot have a mountain of presents they would have to go through atop the table.
On the second row of seats, Bud discovered Bright Mac and Granny Smith in their seats. Bud had never thought Bright could look even more dashing in a tux, but the world proved her wrong, and she was happy to be. She didn’t move from her spot until her mother poked her from behind.
Bud took her seat beside Bright and then he tipped his hoof to her when he finally noticed her, “You look mighty nice in that dress.”
“Th-thank you,” Bud blushed. “This is actually my first time wearing this out.”
“Now isn’t this a scandalous development,” Hope grinned. Bud’s head lit red as she glared at her chuckling mother.
‘Nice to see you too, mam,” Bright said. “How’s the daycare center been? Have them city foals been giving you a ruckus?”
“You know I have it down pat.”
“Shoot,” Granny Smith voiced. “With all the energy she has, you know she has them all tuckered out.” Smith and Hope laughed at her remark, but she continued, “So how long you plan on staying in town?”
“Not long, unfortunately,” Hope answered. “We’re heading back tomorrow.”
“Guess we’ll have to make the best of today then,” Smith begun rocking her hooves where she held Little Mac wrapped in a bib. “Blue and I are gonna head to my place and drink a cold stash of cider. You should come with us.”
“I would never pass on you cider.”
Bud observed the red colt who woke up and careened his head up to stare at Bud. She only had a few moments to play with yesterday. He’s a quiet little colt, but she was certain she made a good impression on him. “Hi Little Mac,” Bud cooed. “Did you sleep well?” Before Bud could get a reaction from Little Mac, a hard thud upon her chin snatched her attention. “Ow!”
Bud lowered her sights to Nebula, who was glaring her from between her hind legs. “Cease your wasteful use of love on that plebe,” Nebula demanded. “If you’re going to espouse your affections, I expect you to address them to Luna.”
Bright held out a hoof and asked, “Are you alright? That sounded like it hurt.”
Bud rubbed her chin and gave a weak smile, “No, we’re fine.”
“I think Neb is a tad jealous,” Bright chuckled. “Don’t think she likes the idea of sharing her mother’s attention.”
“Do not spout such baseless nonsense,” Nebula retorted. “Everything I do is for the sake of Luna. How dare you state I could be possessive of a nobody mare.” Despite her argument, to everypony else but Bud, Nebula only appeared to make a temper tantrum that only warranted Bright’s deduction. Bud sighed and cradled Nebula again in her hooves. “What are you doing? I told I don—”
Bud picked a pacifier from a small saddlebag she carried on her side and before her daughter could continue her tirade, Bud slipped the pacifier inside Nebula’s mouth. “Please calm yourself,” Bud whispered in Nebula’s ear. “The wedding is about to start.”
The room silenced of conversations when a pony began to play a piano in the room. The door of the entrance opened and a slim stallion through the aisle. Bud gazed in awe at this stallion, for this pony is no doubt the groom, Carrot Cake.
Her mother had mentioned that Carrot was lanky, but to be so borderline close to bony was nowhere within her expectations; especially for a baker. His body looked so fragile that it may not take much effort to snap his limbs. Will he be safe around Chiffon? N-not that she was insinuating anything about her weight. Bud could likely do the same if she isn’t careful herself.
Later to arrive elated Bud so much that Bright and Hope had to remind her to keep her voice down. Along with a group of fillies going down the aisle, Raven trailed along with them as she littered the floor with flowers she held within a small bucket.
Bud urged her mother to hurry and take shots of Raven with her camera, but her filly-dressed son made it difficult for Hope to make steady shots with him moving about to lunge his mouth for the camera. Hope had to receive help from Lazuli, who picked Artemis from Hope.
As Raven made her way through the aisle, Bud happened to notice a tinge of blush on her face. She must have felt embarrassed by Bud’s uncontainable excitement, but Bud couldn’t help herself and Raven’s reaction only goaded Bud to want more pictures.
Later, at last, came the bride, the pony everypony was waiting for. The thrill for Chffon's reveal made Bud realize again that her cousin was really getting married. This was real. Despite hearing it thorough a letter less than a week ago, it was really about to happen before her eyes. Somehow, Bud was unsure how to process this.
Chiffon entered the room with Gossamer at her side. She garnered a pure white dress that was fit for angels to wear. It would have been breathtaking if not for Chiffon’s mane. The mane style she recommended was a blatant snap from the immersion. It held so many folds in her bun so meticulously that it actually appeared that Chiffon had a large cupcake atop her head.
Honestly, Bud did not know how she should react to it. It certainly did not compliment her enchanting dress, but she didn’t want to hurt her cousin’s feelings on one of her most important day. Beauty is subjective to everypony after all. Well, nopony made any ganders about it, so she guessed it was fine.
Bud was, however, a slight peeved that Chiffon had Pear at the altar as her bridesmaid. She’s been so forgetful of Bud this year, hasn’t she? However, her jealous fit stopped when she noted Pear strangely staring at Gossamer instead of the bride. Wonder what’s going through her mind?
The wedding pressed on the important moment, where Carrot and Chiffon looked intently at each other. It was as though nopony else existed around them. They espoused such genuine joy as Mayor Mare gave them moments to profess their love for each other.
Is this what it looks like to be in love? A desire for that pony’s company so strongly, so desperately that it usurps the wants and needs for everything else. A solace that nopony else could grant? Did Bud ever want something like this? Or was it just a means to an end to her?
“You may now kiss the bride,” Mayor Mare said as the audience cheered at the climax of the event. Bud wondered back to her mother’s word about there being a special somepony for everpony. She wondered who that pony could possibly be and if she may still want it now after already obtaining what she truly wanted most.