Velvet couldn't breathe. She was going to die. This would be the end of her.
"I'm so, so, so happy for you!" Nightingale exclaimed, somehow squeezing her even tighter.
"'Kay," Velvet wheezed. "Got it!"
Laughing, Nightingale finally let go and clapped her hooves. "You really did it! Look at you. All of your worry wrinkles are gone!"
"Worry wrinkles?" Velvet scrunched up her nose. "I don't have worry wrinkles."
One of Nightingale's hooves reached out to boop her. "You don't right now!" She laughed and shook her head. "But, no, seriously, good for you. It's about time you stopped trying to hide who you are, especially from your best friend. That's just not healthy."
Velvet's scrunch faded away as a smile took hold of her lips and she bobbed her head. "Yeah." She allowed her gaze to wander the ballroom that hosted Crystal's wedding reception. It was totally fitting for a princess, but Velvet was having trouble focusing on the details.
All she could see were happy couples. Ponies with their special someponies.
Crystal and Silent were sharing some sweet nothings, lost in their own world of roses and romance.
Savoir was doting on Horsey, who was super pregnant and crying about how she looked in the bridesmaid's dress.
Painted Wave was also in a bridesmaid's dress, but she still very much carried an aura of zen-powered authority as Verdant Wellspring's magic held a fruit kebab for her.
Raven squirmed in her seat and did her very best not to blush while Moore told the ponies at their table stories about her.
Sunbeam kept dabbing at her eyes with a kerchief and telling Pepper how beautiful Crystal looked.
Azurite sat happily between Sunny and Soarin, both looping a foreleg around her while she enjoyed a strawberry that looked oversized compared to her little frame.
And, lastly, there was Dawn and Thunder Tumble. They sat side by side, Dawn wearing a simple, cute yellow dress, and Tumble in his ceremonial uniform.
The details were still a little fuzzy to Velvet, but somehow the two of them had ended up together after that unfortunate dinner. Really, it was a perfect match: the sweet, straw-colored stallion paired with the sweet, straw-loving mare. It was straight out of one of Crystal's novels or something.
Crystal... Velvet's gaze returned to the glowing mare as she beamed at Silent. Her best friend. Always and forever.
"If I don't hate you, then are you happy with who you are?"
Smiling, she looked down at Red, who sat in her lap. He gurgled happily while he half-sucked and half-chewed on a lollipop.
"If I can be me and still keep you as a friend, then, yeah, I'm happy," Velvet had replied.
After so many years of being friends, Velvet thought she had heard everything Crystal could possibly say. She'd heard the silly rants, the serious monologues, the romantic sighs, the lonely whines... But the response that followed was not what Velvet ever expected to hear.
"Then, please. Sleep with all the ponies you want. You have my blessing."
Almost unbidden, Velvet burst into laughter all over again at hearing those words in her mind's ear.
"Velvet?" Nightingale asked, amusement in her curled grin. "What's so funny?"
Velvet snickered and waved a hoof. "Nothing, sorry, nothing. You'd have to have been there." She bounced Red on her knee. "So how are things with you and your new coltfriend?"
Nightingale's ears wiggled as she turned her head to look at the stallion sitting on her other side, mingling with the other ponies at the table. "Great! Really great." She lowered her voice to a more private level and added, "I'm going to try to sneak away with him before the night's over so we can do it in the castle."
Velvet had to slap a hoof over her mouth to keep from cackling gleefully. Nightingale returned the effort with a wicked grin. Crystal may be her very best friend, but Nightingale was her kindred spirit. A definite close second on the best friend list.
"Actually." Nightingale's grin turned into a coy smile as she rose from her seat. "I think now's a good time. They're going to be doing the cake cutting soon, right? Yeah..." Her tail flicked as she turned and tapped her coltfriend on the shoulder. "Sweetie? Can you help me to the fillies' room?"
"What?" His face turned red and he glanced around, then whispered with an utmost lack of subtlety, "Now? You want to go now?"
As Nightingale walked past him, one of her wings stretched out to trail a feather along his side and back. "Yes, sweetie, now."
He hopped up from his seat to follow after her, his walking a little stiff-legged and his tail perked upright. "All right! Okay!"
Velvet watched the two of them sneak off, waiting until they were out of sight before she started laughing again. "Oh, Red, sweet pea..." She leaned forward to look at him upside-down and kissed his forehead. "Auntie Nightingale is what we call an adventurous mare. Can you say adventurous?"
Red wiggled his nose and pulled the lollipop out of his mouth. "A-ben-twu-us!"
"Exactly!" She wrapped her forelegs around him and hugged him close. "Aww, you're just the cutest, aren't you? Yes, you—"
"Velvet?" a stallion's voice interrupted.
Her body stiffened. That voice sent a shiver down her spine and froze her blood cold. Slowly, she lifted her head to see Dawn and Tumble standing there.
"Uh." Velvet sat up straight. "Hi."
Tumble smiled and nudged his shoulder against Dawn's. "I think the two of you need to talk."
"Okay." Velvet patted the seat Nightingale had occupied. "All right."
Dawn looked up at Tumble, her eyes seeking reassurance. He just nuzzled her cheek and whispered, "You'll be fine."
Reluctantly, Dawn nodded and sat down. She fidgeted and waited until Tumble had walked away before glancing to meet Velvet's gaze briefly. "Hi."
"Hi." Velvet lightly bounced Red on her knee. "Um, hey, this is Red. My baby brother."
The tension in the air lightened as Dawn looked down at him and her expression melted. "Aww, he's adorable! Just like you said!"
Velvet took a breath in, then lifted him up and held him out. "Do you wanna hold him?"
"Can I?" A bright smile lit up her face as she very gently took Red into her embrace and held him to her chest.
"And, uh, these are my parents." Velvet gestured at them. They were staring. Of course they were. She had just handed over their son to a stranger. "Mom, Dad, this is Dawn Walker."
"Dawn?" Sunbeam's lips pursed, realization flickering across her face. "Oh. Oooh. Honey, I think I need to stand. And walk for a bit. Over there?"
Pepper nodded. "Right. Me, too. In fact, we should walk around and mingle for a good conversation's length!"
Dawn just sat there, blinking a few times as the two of them stood, excused themselves, and walked away. "This..." She sighed. "This is awkward. I'm sorry. This was Tumble's idea. He said—" She giggled as Red reached out with a free hoof to tug on her braid. "He said it's not good to leave things like this."
"Oh." Velvet looked over to see the stallion in question back at his seat. He had his head inclined to watch them out of the corner of one eye, engaged in conversation to not look too obvious. "He's a really sweet guy, isn't he?"
Dawn's cheeks turned pink and she focused her gaze on Red. "H-He is. At first, I hated him because of... well, you. You and him. I yelled at him and told him that it was his fault that I was all alone. He just kept trying to comfort me, and it just made me more and more angry!" She sighed. "He started checking in on me. He said he was worried about me being alone. And then, I don't know, a week went by, and seeing him every day..."
Velvet smiled and nudged Dawn's shoulder with a hoof. "Hard to resist a stallion with the body of a stud and the heart of a sweetie, huh?"
"Mmhm." The flush darkened to a shade of red. "So, I guess, I want to thank you. For him. Even if you didn't mean for that to happen."
"Hey, I'll take it! If something good came out of all this, then I can't feel too bad about it." Velvet winced and bit her tongue, then mumbled, "Sorry. I—"
Dawn shook her head and held Red out, setting him in Velvet's lap. "No, it's okay. It's not... completely your fault." She wrung her hooves, then offered a half-smile. "I-I'm to blame, too. We both are. I just... I thought I was in love with you, but it wasn't really love, I don't think. Now that I know what that's supposed to feel like..." Her ears flicked back and she hurriedly added, "I-I mean, I don't—don't know if I love Tumble!" She sighed and slumped in her seat. "But I like him. I like him a lot. And he likes me, which feels different from just liking a pony..."
Idly stroking Red's mane, Velvet snickered. "It's okay. You don't have to justify anything to me. If you're happy, then I'm glad. That's all I ever wanted for you, I swear."
"I know. I know that now. You were just doing an awful job of trying to make that happen." Dawn glanced at her with a small, teasing smile on her lips.
Velvet tossed her head back, laughing. "I know! Like, in hindsight? I'm the worst! Literal worst!"
Dawn giggled at first, then clamped a hoof over her mouth as it ramped up into a laugh. "Y-You really are! I mean, were!" She cleared her throat, trying to settle down. "I, um." She shifted in her seat. "I met Azurite."
And there went the good mood. Not this again. Seriously, what was the big deal? Velvet tried not to change her tone as she stared at Red. "Oh yeah?"
"She's... not what I thought she was at all." Embarrassment was clear in her voice as she added, "I really blew that out of proportion, didn't I?"
"Kinda, yeah." Velvet glanced at her. "What did you think was going on there?"
Dawn's nose scrunched up. "I... Well, um, I thought she was a sexy Canterlot mare that was showering you with gifts and bits and s-sex. And I was just so jealous because I could never compare to that..."
Velvet couldn't help it. She absolutely, totally lost all self-control and started laughing so hard that she had to shove Red back over to Dawn so she was free to clutch her aching sides.
Azurite? Dawn thought little, cute, strange, odd, but overall endearing Azurite was a big, tall, sexy, voluptuous, rich Canterlot elite?
She couldn't breathe. She really was going to die. This time was definitely going to be the end of her!
Dawn hugged Red to her chest and whined, "It's not that funny."
"It—" Velvet wheezed as she gasped for air. "It so is if you—if you know Azu!"
Dawn said nothing for a while, idly playing with Red's hooves while she waited for Velvet's laughter to calm down. When it did, she said quietly, "Maybe I'd like to."
"Huh?" Velvet wiped the tears from her eyes, breathing still uneven and ragged. "What?"
Dawn glanced at her. "Maybe I'd like to. Get to know her. And you. Actually get to know you, instead of... the you I wanted you to be. You were the first friend I made here in Canterlot, so maybe we could all... I don't know... go on a picnic? You, Azurite, Tumble, and me? And... maybe Red, too?"
A picnic? Velvet blinked a few times, saying nothing at first. Slowly, Velvet started to smile. "Yeah, sure. That sounds like fun."
"Great!" Dawn gave Red back to her and stood. "I'll, um, we'll figure out a date and time later." She started to walk away, then stopped and looked over her shoulder. "I'm glad you were the pony I met at the bar that night. Somepony else might have walked out that morning and not stayed and tried to help me. I don't know what I would have done if that happened. So... um... thank you for that."
Velvet just nodded. What could she say? She couldn't think of anything, so she just watched Dawn cross the room and return to Tumble's side. They really were a cute couple... They made each other smile just by looking at one another.
"Si-Si?" Red poked her nose with what remained of his lollipop. "Lolli?"
"Aww, thanks." She laughed softly and shook her head. "But it's your lolli, Redcakes."
Red huffed, sticking the end of the lollipop in her mouth. "Lolli!"
It was uncomfortably sticky, and all the flavors had melded together into one. He had been chewing on it for just a little too long. Carefully, Velvet leaned her head back to get out of his range. "I don't need a lolli, Red! I'm not sad."
He just stared at her, his ears folded back. For such a little foal, his eyes sure said a lot. They didn't believe her.
"I'm not! I mean... Yeah, okay, I feel out of place here. Everypony has somepony. Everypony wants somepony. So what's wrong with me?"
Slowly, Red returned the lollipop to his mouth, but he continued to stare intently at her.
Velvet sputtered into laughter. "Okay, okay, you're right! I do have somepony. I've got Mom and Dad, and Crystal, and Horsey, and Nightingale, Azurite, Sandy, Painted, Runic, Silent, Moony..." She swooped in to kiss his forehead, smiling when he giggled. "And most importantly, I've got you, my very specialest little somepony of all."
Looking out across the reception hall full of happy faces, Velvet spied one in particular. A mare with a slinky purple dress that seemed entirely out of place with how much of her light green coat it revealed. Even at a distance, she could see the sparkle of coat glitter. Their eyes met, the mare winked, and Velvet grinned.
"And if I'm lucky, I'll have a different kind of special somepony tonight." She wiggled Red's forelegs. "Red, can you say: getting lucky?"
"Lu-cky!"
"Exactly!" Velvet clapped his hooves together. "I am lucky. A really lucky pony. Maybe I am weird, but I can't change who I am, so you're gonna have to accept me anyway, all right, little stallion?"
Red beamed up at her. "Si-Si!"
"That's right." She nuzzled his fluffy frosting-like mane and sighed contentedly. "And if you grow up weird like me, that's okay. Just don't try to hide who you are." Her eyes closed and she sighed again, less contented this time. "It's just not a good idea."
After a quiet moment, Red squeaked softly, "Lo-vu."
Velvet giggled. "Si-Si loves you, too."