With a quivering wing, she reached out and gently ran a few mildly-aged feathers across the painting, barely touching it. "She is quite a creature, isn't she?" She glanced over at its creator. "But you know that. You know that or you wouldn't have made this."
She let out a shuddering breath. "You have a scrap of talent--"
He raised a hoof. "I work hard, and I try to do the right thing. That should be enough."
The matron of the Word family frowned. "You do realize she has a father, a sire, do you not?"
Intellectually, of course, he did. How could a pony exist without one? "Yes, of course?"
"But you don't know him." She glanced back at the painting, going quiet a moment to reflect on it. "He claimed to be a good pony. He came with a jewel, one for my neck, and another for my heart." She put a hoof over her chest. "One I still own, the other... broken."
Color's ears pinned. He was in dangerous territory. "I... am sorry. Do you want to share that story?"
"No." She slowly brought her forehooves together. "But I will anyway. Being an adult is doing things you would rather not."
She looked past him, into the past itself. "He was a handsome stallion, likely still is. I was a fool for ever falling for it." She gestured at Color's suit. "He knew how to dress himself, and he knew how to talk. Yes, ma'am, no, ma'am. Can I get your things for you?" She smirked softly. "He whispered sweet things when we were alone, and I fell for it so very completely."
She set her hooves down on the table. "If this appears in a tabloid, I will end you, Little Splash. That would be a sad thing to do, but..."
"Of course." He dipped his head quickly. "This is between us."
"Until death. Yours, specifically." She huffed lightly. "As I was saying... By the time Libelous spilled into the world, he had found better things to do. Our wedding vows were meaningless to him. Our promises so much vapor on the wind." She snarled softly. "And you?"
"I... already... Whatever I say, it will sound like a little colt defending himself."
Her expression eased a little. "Because that is what it would be..."
"But I am not a colt. I am a stallion, and I like Libelous a good deal. Even if we never... married, I would want to be her friend."
"Stallions are just fine," sighed out Libel, poking at her ice cream sullenly. "They just aren't..."
"There."
Libel looked across at Bottom. "There?"
"You've wasted no time speaking about your mother." She rolled a hoof softly. "I've heard no shortage of stories concerning her. What about your father?"
Libel's teeth clenched a bit. "I was... the..." Her thoughts sputtered and she sank. "By Celestia, I was the father of the house..."
"I should imagine you were the most adorable little tomcolt there was, Libelous."
Libel blushed, glaring at her friend who had the nerve to calmly take a bite of her bagel.
"Am I wrong?" She perked an ear, but didn't bother looking up. "Correct me if--"
"--No, that will not be required." Libel pushed her ice cream away. "So I'm a mare with a stallion complex, hirrah! Come and laugh at me."
"I will do no such thing." She floated the bagel and gently tapped Libel's snout with it. "You've become a wonderful pony, and one I am not ashamed to work for, or be friends with. Now... Have you any... history with your father?"
Libel frowned, snapping a chunk from the bagel the next time it bumped against her. "How can I have history with somepony that ran away before I said my first word?"
"Oh..."
"Yes, 'oh'." Libel rolled her eyes. "Loser ditched my mother and skipped town, never to be seen again, at least by me."
"Is that perhaps why she was encouraging you?"
"Hm?" Libel frowned a little. "Encouraging me to do what?"
"Find a partner in a way that has a higher chance for long term stability." She rolled a hoof softly. "She was hoping you wouldn't have to go through that."
Libel thought of the room full of well-to-do strangers, all judging her fiercely. She imagined their sour faces when she... "It didn't work..."
"She tried." Bottom shrugged gently. "Do you think Color will stick around?"
Libel shrank at that. "I thought he would. I thought... he was... you know. He didn't forget me in how long? I figured... if he... you know?"
"I don't know." She sipped from a floating glass of water. "Tell me."
"He was obsessed with me. I figured he'd be stuck to me like glue. If I... got him where he needed to be, I.."
"Would have a stallion with no reason to leave you."
Libel shrank back, scowling. "You are really holding nothing back today. I'm not sure I like this side of you."
"It is fortunate we are not involved then." Bottom smiled a little. "We are friends, and friends sometimes have to be harsh in order to make their point. I care for you, Libelous. You know that."
"Yes, right." Libel stuck her spoon into the half-melted mass and drew her hoof free of the clasp. "Alright, you've cut me apart and spread the pieces all over the table like a fine display. What's next, my painful doctor of friendship?"
"I like that one." Bottom nodded softly. "I will keep it if you don't mind. Now that you understand what you are doing, I feel, and hope, I have equipped you to make your own decisions. If I tell you what to do, you will either do it, or not do it, but you will resent me either way, and that would be sad." She snapped up the last of the bagel, her glow fading as she chewed
Libel tilted her head. "So... that's it? It's up to me now."
"Up to you," agreed Bottom. "I have faith in you."
"That makes one of us," half laughed out Libel. "He likes writing."
"Hm?"
"He talked to me... about the one book I wrote. He liked it. He... asked questions. He started getting into character motivations and asked what was going to happen next..." She smiled crookedly. "I never planned past that first book. It was... a flight of fancy, but he loved it. He... said I should continue it."
Bottom smiled gently. "Is that bad?"
"No! No, of course not... It's flattering... Not a lot of ponies crowd around me for my original writing, and even less for the stuff I make up, rather than non-fiction." Libel smiled a little. "When I was a little filly... I dreamed about that. I imagined becoming the next A K Yearling..."
"How delightful." Bottom nodded, blissfully unaware of A K's full life. "But that isn't what you did."
"Nope. Instead of writing, I fixed other people's words. I jumped on any mistake I could find and punched them until they were fixed..." She inclined her head at Bottom. "Did I make the right decision?"
"You made a decision, Libel. We all do. I had different dreams when I was younger too." She put a hoof at her chest. "I wanted to be a doctor for a while. I dreamed of saving lives and being a hero..."
"Did you go to school?" Libel peered at Bottom with newfound curiosity.
"Turns out, I hated the sight of blood... I didn't last long. I was so depressed, you couldn't believe it." She sighed gently. "I was despondent for almost a year before my mother just walked in one day. 'Bottom, stop organizing all my papers! I love the help, but you have to do something else with your life!'" Bottom rolled a hoof. "So I didn't listen to her, of course. I kept right on organizing papers, and here we are."
"Wouldn't," corrected Libel.
Bottom grabbed the dropped spoon in her magic and gently bopped Libel on the nose. "Don't grammar check your friend as she admits old secrets. It's rude."
"Yes'm." Libel smiled a little. "Thank you... I feel... a little better. You know, just... I thought I was alone, but I guess I'm not entirely."
"Not at all." Bottom reached out and laid a hoof on Libelous' shoulder. "You have to make the decision on your own, but I'm not leaving. We're girlfriends, and I will obey the girl code."
"Is that really a thing? Where can I get a copy?" Libel shook her head softly. "You're just making it up as you go, I imagine."
"As if I would tell you." She waggled the still-held spoon at Libel. "Be good and perhaps I will reveal further secrets."
"I care for her. I always did." He put a hoof on his chest. "Since we were little foals."
She smiled gently. "I know that... It's why you're still here."
"Hm?"
"If I thought you were... like him, I would have enjoyed... Let's not go down that road." She let out a slow hiss of air. "You pine for her, but you won't take her away from me in the middle of the night. That's nice at least... Little Splash, you were always a kind little thing."
"My name is Color Splash..." His mouth worked wordlessly a moment. "You know, I never learned your full name."
She smiled a little at him. "Perhaps 'mother' some day?" When he began to change colors, she laughed at his discomfort. "Succinct. Succinct Word. Born of the Words, mother of a Word. I'll die one too." She pointed at him. "What does that mean to you?"
"Ma'am?"
"Hm? You have a question."
"I do. May I... see your work? I'd like to read it."
She blinked at him softly. "Well... Fair is fair. You've brought me a present of your abilities; I will return the favor. She reached a wing to gently brush the painting he had delivered. "I'll have the butler drop a few books at her house. I know you're staying there... in separate rooms?"
He could hear the accusing question there. "Of course!" he squeaked. "We haven't even... done much more than a little kiss, Succinct."
"Already using my name? Bold little colt." She snorted softly. "Entering our world will be filled with challenges, Little Splash. If you want, this is your last chance. Leave her with kind words and never look back. On the other hoof... If you wish to proceed, then you must swear to me, swear by your mother in turn that you will never abandon her."
He went rigid. They weren't even married! That was a lot of commitment that Succinct was dumping on him. "We're still learning... If things don't work out, we'll decide it, together. Hopefully... it means we go back to being 'just friends', and I'd like that a lot more than not at all." He nodded firmly. "I promise to never just vanish."
She sighed, a slow long release of air. "Would that he had done the same. Don't make me regret this, Little Splash. Don't hurt my Libel. She deserves the world, and I would deliver it to her, if she would take it."
He smiled a little. "Have you ever tried... visiting her and... I dunno... not bringing up anything you want her to do?"
She arched a brow. "You're a few decades too young to give me advice, Little Splash. You'd best be on your way home before you play too many of your cards."
He cleared his throat as he slipped to his hooves. "While I never was very good at writing, I do like to read."
"A good trait in any partner of a Word." She nodded softly. "Draw some lovely covers for her books. They get judged on those, you know. They are judged cruelly. Be certain to make them nice."
He wished her a good evening and slipped away. He had judged her on her cover, on the stories told to him.
It was a bad habit.