Crystal sat, frozen in frightened anticipation as an unopened envelope hovered in front of her, addressed from Sunset Coffee. Fear coursed through her and kept her still as a statue while worries bounced around her mind.
She hadn't been by or sent him a status update in quite some time. Was he angry with her? Was this a notice that he was no longer her agent? She swallowed and slowly opened it to pull the letter out. A small picture fell when she unfolded it and, after catching it to get a better look, she smiled.
It depicted all of Sunset Coffee's foals playing in the fall leaves in one of Manehattan's parks, each wearing scarves of different colors of autumn. The youngest, Violet, chewed on a maple leaf the size of her head.
He always knew how to soften her up, which only made her more nervous about the letter's contents. Finally, she looked over the writing.
Crystal:
Haven't heard from you in a while. I assume that means things are either going really well, or not well at all. Either way, just let me know, all right? It would be great to debut the novel at this year's Equestrian Writers Convention, if you're far enough along. No pressure if not.
Always here,
Sunset
P.S. You should come to Manehattan soon. The fall foliage is beautiful... very inspiring for writers, heh!
Crystal read the letter over one more time before she let out a sigh of relief, then laughed at herself and shook her head. With renewed vigor, she sorted through the rest of the mail, reading each one while she went back to making tea.
"Hello!" Velvet called as she threw the door open.
The teacup dropped onto the counter with an unpleasant clank as Crystal startled by the sudden entrance.
Velvet continued in blissful ignorance. "What's for dinner?"
Crystal glared playfully at her. "Broken china and spilt tea."
"Oh." Velvet stopped in her tracks. "That doesn't sound worth coming home early for."
"Well, when you tell me not to wait up, that's what you get." She huffed and returned her attention to the mail. "Anyway, I haven't started dinner yet. I was waiting until I was hungry."
Velvet sighed, walking into the kitchen. It was a tight fit with the both of them, and she made sure to exaggeratedly bump her rump against Crystal's as she turned to the fridge.
"Fine, fine, fine, I'll get out of your way," Crystal said with a laugh and walked out into the living room. "So what happened that brought you home?"
"Club was full," Velvet explained simply while she unwrapped a leftover sandwich. "Couldn't get my groove on."
Crystal plopped down onto a pillow. "Ah, yes, the elusive and illustrious groove. Didn't you tell them never to throw off your groove?"
Velvet snorted around a bite of daisies and spinach on whole wheat.
Crystal tilted her head when she flipped a new letter to the top of the levitated stack. "Oh!"
"Oh?" Velvet walked over. "What?"
"It's been a while since I got a fan letter." She smiled. "At least, I assume that's what this is. It's forwarded from Manehattan, so..."
Velvet sat down beside her and took another bite of sandwich. "Well, fans don't really like to write to say 'Hey, that book you didn't publish yet? Yeah, good job on that.'"
Crystal huffed. "No, but new readers could always write."
"Would you just open it and read already?" Velvet nudged her.
Crystal giggled while her magic handled the envelope. Once it was opened, she read the letter aloud, "Dear C.W. Step, It embarrasses me to admit this about such a thing as romance novels, but I am a huge fan of your books."
"It's a stallion," Velvet interrupted, grinning eagerly. "It's totally a stallion."
Crystal huffed. "If you're not going to let me read it, then I'll keep it to myself."
Velvet sighed and leaned back. "All right, carry on."
Crystal cleared her throat before she continued, "Please don't take my embarrassment the wrong way, though; I love them, but I am apparently not supposed to enjoy that sort of thing as a young stallion trying to be respectable."
"Called it!" Velvet cheered, then lowered her head. "Continue."
Crystal eyed her for a long, quiet moment. "Ahem. Keep quiet. My father especially would disapprove, so I am a mere closet fan. The way you manage to make the characters just come to life on the pages is magical. I hope that someday I will find a special somepony to call my own and I know that, even if it's only half as amazing as books tell me, it'll be wonderful. I went—"
The borborygmic rumble from Velvet's stomach interrupted her this time. She rubbed her grumbly tummy before standing up. "Ugh, one sec."
Crystal snorted. "That's it, I'm done sharing this with you."
While Velvet huffed and complained her way to the kitchen to rummage for more leftovers, Crystal continued to read the letter to herself until Velvet returned with a bowl of soup.
"This is so sweet, he—" Crystal did a double-take and stared at the bowl in Velvet's hooves. "How long has that been in the fridge? What even is it?"
"Dunno." Velvet's stomach rumbled again. "Too hungry, don't care, what's so sweet?"
Crystal's nose scrunched up before she explained, "Apparently, he was at last year's Equestrian Writers Convention but didn't stop by the booth because he was embarrassed. And listen to this: Life should really be like one of your stories, where the reader knows it'll all work out in the end, but maybe I should start treating it like one. Maybe, if I work up enough courage, it'll all work in the end. I shouldn't worry about my silly fears and just take a leap of faith. If anything, that is one thing your books have taught me."
Velvet slurped her mystery soup, then put in, "Sounds like some pretty great advice. You should listen to him."
"Listen to his advice that he garnered from my own writing?" Crystal giggled. "That seems a little strange."
Slurrrp. "Whatever it takes to make you take a leap of faith into Silent Knight's armor!"
Crystal rolled her eyes and contemplated magically ripping the bowl away from the mare, but then thought better of it and instead stood up. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to work on my next book for my number one closet fan."
"See?" Velvet pointed at her. "By taking so long, you're depriving him and your other adoring fans! In fact, you're a downright villain. For shame, Crystal. Didn't your parents raise you better than that?"
Crystal flicked her tail as she started toward the bathroom, her notebook trailing after her. "Yes, yes. I'm going to take a bath to try to get my groove on. Try not to eat us out of house and home."
"No promises!" Velvet called just before the door shut behind Crystal.
While the bath was filling up with hot water, she tied her hair up into a loose bun and slipped in. "Now, let's see... Misty is done being coy. So what does she do?" She nibbled on the tip of her quill while she looked up at the ceiling. "Mm..."
The heat rose from the water in thin, wispy tendrils of steam that faded away into the cool air. She shivered at the drastic difference in temperatures as the water slowly rose around her. Once it reached her middle, her magic flicked the faucet off and closed her eyes.
For a moment, there was nothing but the sound of a few residual drops falling and hitting the water. Slowly, her body relaxed while her mind roamed for answers to the dilemma of where to take the plot.
The weight of other ponies waiting on her to finish writing started to smother her. Sunset was waiting. Luna was waiting. Her fans were waiting. Everypony was waiting.
Her eyes snapped open. It was too much! The weight of their expectations was too much. A shuddering gasp escaped her and she shifted uncomfortably against the porcelain tub.
She needed a distraction, but her greatest distraction was writing, and that was the source of her stress. An idea formed in the back of her mind at that conundrum and her notebook opened up to a new page. She just needed to write something else, something with no strings attached. Her eyes closed once more to let her mind wander freely.
The moon hovered above her, looking down with argent compassion. It was finally time. With Luna's blessing, she was going to cast off her self-conscious doubts and become a new mare.
"Hello?"
Ah, that voice. That wonderful voice sent a shiver down her spine, and she turned to see him approaching with those sturdy legs carrying him forward. Her knees went weak, but she forced herself to be strong. There would be time for weakness later.
"You said it was urgent. What is the matter?" His deep voice and silver eyes were full of gentle concern.
What could she say? For so long she had hesitated, had shied away from her true feelings. But now she knew that it was not words that she needed, but action. The path lay before her only if she were brave enough to walk it. Taking a step toward him and a deep breath, she prepared herself.
There was no turning back now. Tonight was the night. Tonight, she would be his.
The quill pulled away and Crystal tilted her head to reread her own writing. She yelped when she got to the end and nearly threw the notebook across the bathroom, recoiling to the far side of the tub. "Wh-what?!" The mixture of her embarrassment and the steaming water resulted in an overwhelming heat from which she felt like fainting.
She took a few ragged breaths as she stared, wide-eyed. "Luna! That's Luna's fault. She put the idea in my head, not me!" Splashing water in her face, she shook her head quickly to try to clear it. "I would, I would never..." Slowly, the notebook returned with the aid of her magic. "I couldn't... Could I?"
She swallowed, flipped a few pages further into the unexplored depths of the notebook, and tentatively lowered the quill to paper.
---
"I wish we had decided on Prance instead," Horsey mumbled as she drowned her wedding sorrows in a bowl of ice cream. She and Crystal were in the living quarters above the restaurant, both wearing fluffy robes and soaking their hooves in warm, lavender-scented water. "This has been a disaster so far."
Crystal blinked. "But it's only been a week! How can it already be a disaster?"
Horsey sniffed. "Every pony has an opinion, and with Sav busy at the restaurant, I have to make the decisions. A-and I'm not good at saying no to ponies." She looked at Crystal with big, soft eyes. "Can't you just move here for a few months?"
"We'll see... What exactly is going wrong?" She raised her spoon and took a delicate nibble of mint chocolate.
"Everypony is too nice, that's what." Horsey stuck out her lower lip. "And they're all so excited for the wedding that they're all offering to help out so they can be a part of it." She jerked her head up to look at the other with a small frown. "I have twelve flower fillies. Twelve! I don't even know all of their names!"
Crystal sputtered, nearly choking on the ice cream were it not for its quickly melted consistency. "That's more than Lady Cadence had at her own wedding!"
Horsey's ears drooped. "I know. I don't want his parents to think I'm being pretentious! Heavens to Betsy, I just want to be married. I don't want to make a show of it."
Crystal offered a small smile. "Don't worry. Tomorrow morning, I'll go around and take care of things, all right? I'll straighten it out if you just give me a list of ponies I need to let down."
"You don't mind?" Horsey looked up from her third bowl. "That's not embarrassing?"
"Anything for you, Horsey," Crystal replied, winking. "As your mare of honor, I swear on that honor that your wedding will be everything you dreamed of and more, even if that means I have to make little fillies cry."
Horsey leaned over from her seat to nuzzle Crystal's cheek. "Thanks so much, Crystal. You're the best."
---
"What do you mean I can't be a flower filly?!" a foal shrieked and stomped. "Fine, then if I can't be a flower filly, then I'll be the flower filly! Just wait, I'll tell Daddy. He'll straighten this out! Come on, Silver Spoon." She snubbed her nose and stormed away, the other filly following behind her after sticking her tongue out at Crystal.
Crystal blinked a few times, her head tilting slowly to one side until she sputtered into a laugh. Every generation had its Golden Pants, it seemed to her, and as she crossed Diamond Tiara off the list, she hoped the silver one would find her own path like Horsey.
She paused to look at the remaining names of fillies to fire. The last one was Twist, who apparently lived at the local confectionary, so Crystal started trotting down the street in the direction of the shop.
Ponyville truly was an idyllic little town, when it wasn't under attack or upside-down or run amok by whatever disaster was happening that week. Luckily, so far during her visit, nothing out of the ordinary had happened. She stopped, glanced around to see if she had jinxed herself, then giggled and continued onward.
Once she arrived at the confectionary, she knocked a few times. The top half of the stable door swung open and a filly poked her head out, a full head of red curls bouncing with the excited movement. She looked up at a Crystal through a pair of thick-framed glasses and smiled brightly. "Oh, hello? Can I help you?"
"Yes, you may," Crystal replied, returning the smile. "Are you Twist?"
The filly nodded. "Yeth, I am. Who are you?"
"I'm a friend of Horsey's, and—"
"Oh, yeth!" Twist hopped up and down. "The wedding! How ith that going?"
Crystal put a hoof on the half door separating them. "May I come in and talk?"
"Of courth, come on in!" Twist undid the latch and opened the door, gesturing to the nearest table. Her tone dropped to one of concern as she asked, "Ith everything okay?"
Crystal sat down and waited for Twist to sit as well. "There's been a small miscommunication, and there are too many flower fillies, I'm afraid."
Twist nodded slowly. "I kinda wondered that, 'cauth all the girlth at thchool talked about it." She giggled. "It kinda theemed like too many. Tho doeth that meanth I'm not a flower filly anymore?"
Crystal offered a small smile. "I'm afraid so, sweetie. I'm sorry."
Twist sighed, her ears drooping, but made a clear effort to keep a smile on her face. "Aww, that'th okay. I underthand. Thank you for taking the time to tell me fathe-to-fathe, though..." The smile grew sincere again. "Do you want thome peppermint candy?"
"Would it make you happy if I said yes and you'd forgive me for the bad news?"
Twist nodded, and the two giggled before the filly trotted behind the counter. After she returned with a bag of peppermint sticks, Crystal stood from her seat.
"Thank you for being so understanding, Twist," Crystal said as her magic took the bag. "It has nothing to do with you, all right? Horsey just got overwhelmed with all the offers."
"Yeah, 'th'okay." Twist smiled brightly. "Maybe nexth wedding I'll be a flower filly. Have a nithe day!"
Crystal nodded. "Keep your chin up and hooves crossed. And thank you for the peppermints!" She waved and walked out the door.
It was done. The disappointed faces, the tantrums, or the sad acceptances would probably haunt her for a while, but she smiled and carried on her way. At least it was done, and she still had some time before Horsey got off work.
A familiar red stallion caught her eye, and she turned her head to get a better look. "Axel?" She smiled. "Hi, Axel!"
Axel froze in place before his expression relaxed with recognition. "Oh, hi." He changed his course to head in her direction. "What are you doing in Ponyville?"
"My friend's getting married, so I'm helping with that." Her ears perked up. "Speaking of! Do you simply repair carts or do you also build them?"
Axel rubbed one foreleg with the other's hoof. "I build 'em. Why?"
Crystal rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "I would love to commission something special from you for the wedding. If you're not busy, why don't you let me buy you a drink and we'll discuss the details?"
"Well, um..." He hesitated, his eyes flicking about as he seemed to contemplate his options before nodding. "Okay, sure, I guess."
"Great!" She clapped her hooves. "Come along, then. I have a lot of ideas and I don't know a thing about cart-building!"
Axel chuckled and followed alongside her. "Then you're talking to the right pony, Miss Crystal."