Color sat and raised his forehooves. "I'm not running any--"
"--I know that, Little Splash." Succinct Word sank to her haunches. "I know that... You're a sweet little thing, more likely to get hurt in all of this." Her eyes focused on Libel. "I am trying to protect my daughter from the same traps I blundered into when I was too young to listen to my own parents."
"I will not give up writing this book." Libelous drew herself tall, sitting up straight. "Even if it... never comes out the way I want it to, it needs to come out. There are ponies, just like me, who need to hear they aren't alone, and they shouldn't be ashamed of living."
Succinct pointed at Libel. "Have you thought? Have you even considered? You will indelibly bind your name to... this." She gestured vaguely towards Libel's back end. "If you wanted it to be secret, you can forget any such lofty ideals."
"I already tried that!" Libel hissed, stomping her own forehoof. "Ponies know, and more will know. I'll publish this, and we can stop pretending it's a secret. I... have a boyfriend that's willing to love me despite my... problem... I have a work assistant that respects me deeply, and she knows about it. My former boss? Yeah he knew about it. My entire workplace was running a betting circle on when I'd figure out they all knew about it!"
Color leaned towards Libel, not touching. "This... affects me too. I mean, everypony will know..."
"That you sleep with a bedwetter," sighed out Succinct. "Who sometimes doesn't even wait for bed." She rose to her hooves. "Enough. You have made... your stance clear. You will ignore me, as usual... as I did. The cycle, I suppose, will not end that easily." She turned to face Color directly. "Welcome, Color Splash, suitor of my foolish daughter."
Libel's ears perked. "You're alright with him?"
"He asked my permission beforehoof, like the good little colt he is." She circled the desk and planted a kiss on either of his stunned cheeks. "He has a good heart, and I trust he will treat you properly. I already gave up on getting you... to look towards ponies with better blood."
Libel shook her head slowly. "I'm... glad to hear that."
"For a change." Succinct turned to Libel. "Don't think I haven't seen what you're doing."
"What am I... doing?"
Succinct raised a brow. "You're pushing the poor boy, trying to make new blood out of him. Well, I can't argue the results, he is part of our world, like it or not." she snorted softly. "Have you taught him how to respond to solicitations?"
Color blinked softly in confusion. "Like somepony trying to get me to subscribe to a paper?"
Succinct raised a hoof for quiet from him, her eyes still on Libel. "The accountants say you're already funnelling his money away; good, the least you can do."
Libel directed an ear towards her boyfriend. "She's talking about ponies with ideas and schemes and sad stories."
"Precisely so." Succinct turned to him, raising a hoof to rest on one of his recently smooched cheeks. "When a pony spins a sob story, as tragic as a moonless night, and gazes deep into your eyes, begging for reprieve... what will you do?"
Color backed a half-step. "I mean... try to help?"
"And they will take it, and take it, and continue taking." She snorted softly. "You have too much money for that to be a good idea; and I would wager good money you haven't budgeted for such acts of charity."
"You budget those?!"
Succinct raised a brow at Libel.
Libel's cheeks began to darken. "We haven't gone over some of the... finer points. I've been a little occupied. I figured if we got the bits away from day-to-day access, that was a good start."
"And it is just that; a start." Succinct nodded as she began to walk past both of them. "Poor little thing. If it helps, I was once just as confused. It seems so easy, on the outside, to have bits. Once my parents trusted me with my first real allowance... I became poor."
Libel and Color began to follow her as they entered the hallway they had started from and began navigating the manor. "Poor?" asked Color as he came up on her right side. "But you just got more money."
"You don't understand what it is to be without, until you have it." Succinct smiled gently. "Little Splash, having you with your wide, confused, eyes is like having a little child again. Please spare me your rebellious stages."
Libel coughed softly into a hoof. "Mother is correct. Once you have, you know what it means to 'have not', as they say. You were very content with the money you once had, Color, but would you be just as happy being put there again?"
Color tried to imagine being in that little town, with only a few bits to spare between when he sold a scrap of art. Eating out would become a luxury again. Everything he had started to get used to, out of reach. "I... suppose not..." It wouldn't be the same place. He could never go back to that state of being, and a soft shudder ran down his spine.
"I think he's understanding." Succinct turned an ear towards him. "Little Splash, I tried to warn you away... but you are a child of the Words, which means you don't listen, do you, Little Splash?"
Color blushed softly. "Miss Word, I--"
She turned suddenly and put a hoof to his lips. "You are binding yourself to my daughter, that makes me your mother. I will be addressed that way."
Color's ears danced. "O-oh, I was told--"
"--correctly," finished Succinct. "I am changing what is proper. I assume there is no issue with that?"
"No! I mean... no, Mother." He tilted his head a little, wondering a moment what a family meeting of both sides would look like. "I'm... actually a little relieved."
Succinct smiled at that, a gentle expression. "My Little Splashy was waiting for a chance to call me mother? It warms my heart." She pat him on his left cheek and turned to resume walking. "Libel, have you been a naughty mare?"
"Pardon?" Libel hiked a brow at her mother. "What do you mean?"
"Are you in the process of trying to create a grandfoal for me?" She glanced over her shoulder. "Don't look like that. I'm not stupid. Ponies don't always wait for marriage these days. Just tell me honestly."
Libel stuttered a moment before she shook her head clear. "We enjoy one another's... physical presence... but we are not trying for a foal at this time."
"Physical presence," laughed out Succinct. "That's one way of phrasing it... Splashy, she is your princess, and I expect you're treating her like one."
"Yes, Mom!" he almost yelped, holding his head high despite his furious blush.
"Good boy." She stepped on a button, causing the next set of doors to open into a dining room. "Now, let's enjoy ourselves and speak of lighter things perhaps? I know my parenting isn't always... welcome... so I'll pretend I'm just a friendly associate, and you can tell me how things have been."
Soon they were seated. Mother sat on one wide side of the table, and Libel sat on the other wide side of the long table, next to Color.
The maid from earlier trotted in with a smile and a tray on her back. "Oh aren't you all looking chipper, how delightful!" She let the tray slide gently onto the table and pushed it between all three of them. "If you need a thing at all, just call."
"Good mare, that one." Succinct nodded softly to herself. "There's a reason she still works here. Younger than me, she may still be working for the Words when you... take the position."
Libel flipped her ears back. "Mother... I'm not hoping for that day to come any sooner... However mad I get... I don't want that."
Succinct nodded softly. "Good to hear. I happen to enjoy being alive, so I'll put that off for now, since you don't mind." She reached a wing and plucked the lid off the tray, revealing their dinner that smelled softly of fish, and strongly of cheese. "A fitting dish for the occasion, I think."
Color frowned in thought even as he got himself a serving with his magic. "It smells great, but... I don't understand?"
"It's alright, Little Splash." Her eyes were on Libel.
Libel accepted her serving with a little frown. "Many ponies say mixing cheese and seafood is a bad idea, the cheese overwhelms the fish, and you lose its taste."
Succinct raised a hoof, wielding a fork attached to it. "And yet, some rules can be broken, with delicious results." She poked her food with the fork and began carefully working up a dollop to consume. "Here's to hoping this is just that, a tasty little taboo that we will all enjoy in the end."
Color leaned forward even as the food migrated under his magic into his waiting maw. He chewed softly a moment with a pleased noise. "Wait... were you planning this?"
"You don't have this prepared in minutes, Splashy." Libel rolled her eyes. "How much did you know?"
Succinct gestured at Libel. "He asked me like a good colt, and he's been inseparable from your side. I'm not that slow, Daughter. Now." She brought her hooves together with an odd metal clink from the silverware attached to them. "What would it take to get you to at least consider foals while you're young and ready for them?"
"Mother!" She lit up bright red, glancing away from Succinct. "You can't... ask... wait." She looked back to Succinct, squirming. "You really approve of Color enough to hurry that along?"
She snorted at that. "You're not leaving him, and he's caught in your web, just as he was when he was a little thing. You two are an item, my opinion be damned. I'm not getting younger, and neither are you. Now... what would make you consider it?"
Color tapped his forehooves with a nervous glancing about. "I would... try my best, to be a good father, and a, uh... husband, I suppose... I mean, we're... not even married."
"Yet." Succinct smiled thinly. "Yet."
"That's a big yet," argued Libel, slurping up some of her dinner. "Regardless, being... with foal means I have to slow down."
"Well, good thing you work from home now, a fine time to consider such a thing. You can waddle to your typewriter and trust your loving suitor here to see to your every need." Her eyes darted to Color. "Right?"
"Of course!" he squeaked. "But only if she wanted it."
"Thank you." Libel let out a little breath. "I can have a foal later, if ever... Why the rush, Mother?"
"My mother waited... She never admitted it, but I'm certain... it's one of the reasons I don't have her around... Having foals is for the young, Young Word. Just... consider it. I know you won't believe me, but you will regret it after the chance is gone."
Color set his magically held fork down gently. "Thank you for this delicious meal."
"You're quite welcome. If you see Miss Pot around, be sure to thank her as well."
Color was no expert on rich finances, but... "Isn't she the maid?"
"And butler and chef at times. She does many things." Succinct smiled thinly. "I blame it on age, but I like having fewer ponies I know around these days."
Libel quirked an ear at that, reaching a wing for a bottle of dark red wine. "You still have the same four gate ponies."
"They practically come in a set," Succinct defended with a smile. "I wouldn't want to seperate them, and they work together so well. Speaking of that, don't you think it's time you started gathering a proper household?"