//------------------------------// // Little Fury // Story: Crystal's Wishes // by Crystal Wishes //------------------------------// The door to Velvet's bedroom opened and just as the mare stepped out, Crystal conversationally pounced on her. "Velvet, how would you describe Her Silent Love?" Velvet blinked a few times, then squinted. "Good morning to you, too." Crystal held up a letter and gave it a small shake. "Sunset has booked an interview for me to promote the upcoming release. Also, I just found out that Her Silent Love is scheduled to be released soon." "Okay. Cool, congratulations, woohoo." Velvet yawned wide. "I dunno. How did you describe it forever ago? A story about a mare in love with a stallion in love with another mare?" Crystal huffed. "That's not going to look very nice in a magazine. Be serious!" Velvet flicked her tail and walked over to flop on a sitting pillow. "Crystal, I literally just woke up. I just came out here to get some water before a shower." With a high-pitched screek, Crystal's magic slid her teacup across the coffee table. "There. Drink. Then help me out here!" Velvet shot her a light glare, but accepted the offered tea nonetheless. After an exaggeratedly long sip, she finally grumbled, "You wrote the stupid thing. Why can't you describe it?" "Because it took me eighty thousand words to tell the story. How can I condense that into mere sentences?" Crystal sighed and shifted on the couch to stretch out on her side. "That's why I need your help, because you're not so close that you can't see the forest for the trees!" After a drawn-out sigh, Velvet put a hoof to her forehead and massaged a circle there. "It's the story of unrequited but devoted love, for every mare who's had to silently endure loving somepony who is blind to their feelings." She lifted her head to squint at her. "For every mare who was too dumb to just jump the stallion and tell them, 'Hey, I like your package.'" Crystal gawked a moment before lifting her nose in the air and jerking her head to the side. "Oh, just go take your shower." "Great, thanks!" Velvet sprung to her hooves and pranced into the bathroom. Crystal glared after her. "You could have spent just a little of that enthusiasm on me!" Velvet's head popped through the doorway so she could stick her tongue out at Crystal before disappearing again. "Showers are much more exciting than trying to help a crazy mare describe a book I had no hoof in." With a derisive snort, Crystal tossed her mane and dropped the letter onto the coffee table so that she could sprawl on the couch like a limp rag doll. She listened to the shower turning on and allowed herself a loud sigh that would go unnoticed through a closed door and running water. "What am I going to say?" she muttered to herself. Before she could begin wallowing, her ear flicked at the sound of a quiet knock on the door. "Velvet?" she called. "Are you expecting somepony?" The sound of running water grew quieter as, presumably, Velvet shifted under the stream to lean around the curtain. "Huh? Sorry, did you say something?" "Are you expecting somepony?" Crystal repeated louder. "What?" "Oh, forget it." Crystal rolled her eyes, got up off the couch, and walked over to open the door. A little blue filly stood there and squeaked when they made eye contact. Her ears shot up, her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped. They stared at one another for a while, neither moving or saying a word. Finally, Crystal gave up waiting and tried to smile. "Hello?" The filly's mouth flapped open and closed a few times until she sputtered, "O-oh, uh, hi sexy! I mean, uh, I mean, does Velvet Step live here?" Crystal nodded slowly. "Er, yes, she does. Is she expecting you?" "No, no, I don't think she is." Crystal's brow started to furrow and she tilted her head to the side. Had Velvet gotten herself in trouble with the filly scouts? "All right. May I let her know why you're here, then?" The filly shifted her hooves while nibbling on her lower lip. Her ears folded back against her mane and she muttered, "Um, sure, okay. I'm here to fight her over a mare." "Really?" A giggle escaped Crystal and she turned her head to call, "Velvet! There is a filly here to fight you!" The shower turned off and there was a pause. "Okay," Velvet finally responded, "tell her I'll be out in just a second." "She'll be right out." Crystal took a step back to let the filly inside. "Please make yourself comfortable while you wait. Would you like some tea, sweetie?" "Sure! I like tea." She walked through the doorway. "I'm Azurite." Her ears shot upright and she froze. Crystal glanced at the filly as she started toward the kitchen. "Crystal Wishes. It's a pleasure to meet you, Azurite." She poured a batch of already brewed tea into a cup and brought it into the living room. "How do you know Velvet, exactly?" "She stole my marefriend and took her out on a date." Azurite fidgeted on the couch "So, you know, we've got that in common. My marefriend, I mean. I don't steal mares. We definitely don't have that in common." "Oh." Crystal froze and took a good look at Azurite. Was she just tiny and not a filly at all? Her voice wasn't quite as squeaky as Dot's, and she was big for a filly, now that Crystal really stared at her. "You're serious!" She did her best not to laugh as she floated the teacup over to Azurite, then turned toward the bathroom door. "Velvet, I think this little filly is actually here to fight you!" "What?" Velvet called and something dropped to the floor. She opened the door and leaned out, a towel haphazardly wrapped around most of her mane. A few stray strands clung to her face, which was plastered with surprise, then confusion. "Uh, hi?" Azurite's mouth contorted into a half-smile and she waved one hoof. "Hi." This was just too much. Crystal pranced over to the couch and sat down beside Azurite. "Velvet, darling, this sweet little mare here says you stole her marefriend." She stuck out her bottom lip. "Are you catting around behind my back?" Velvet shot her a seething glare before disappearing into the bathroom. She came back out with the towel set more properly on her head and a robe wrapped around her still wet form. "It was one date!" She huffed, glancing between the two mares, then focused her gaze on Crystal. Though her tone was irritated, there was a certain look of uncertainty on her face. "You're the one that was always harping on how 'if you don't try, you can't succeed'. So, I put myself out there last night while you were at the faire. A mare offered to take me to dinner so I said yes. Now I have to fight a filly." She thrust a hoof out to point at Azurite. "Good job, Crystal!" Azurite shifted and stared at her teacup. "That mare was my marefriend," she said softly, her ears drooping. Crystal did everything she could not to laugh as she wrapped a foreleg around Azurite's shoulders. "How could you just throw away what we have, Velvet? I thought you had given up on finding somepony else!" "You are not helping, Crystal." She walked over and sat on the floor across from them, one hoof massaging the towel into her mane to soak up the water. "This isn't funny at all, so cut it out. Can't Miss Manners see that she's upset?" Crystal paused to look down at the little blue mare and bit down on her tongue. With how cute and small Azurite was, it was hard to not think of the situation as an elementary school brawl over a fillyhood crush. "I'm sorry," she offered, giving the mare's shoulder a squeeze. Velvet sighed, turning her attention back to Azurite. "So, you, uh..." "Azurite," she responded, then winced. "Okay. Azurite. So you and Sunny Day are together?" When the mare gave a meek nod, Crystal furrowed her brow and looked up at the ceiling. "Sunny Day? Why does that name sound familiar?" Velvet waved a dismissive hoof. "Listen, Azurite, I don't know what she told you about what happened but she didn't mention having a marefriend and there wasn't a ring. Honestly, I had no idea. If I had known I wouldn't have—" Her ears flicked as she cleared her throat. "Well, I would've backed off, okay?" Azurite sat in silence, not looking at either of them. Instead she just stared at the teacup floating in her magic while her ears remained folded back flat against her mane. "So," Velvet continued, rubbing the back of her neck, "I don't know if it makes you feel any better but I really am sorry. I don't want to steal your marefriend. Nothing really even happened last night, to be honest. We just danced a bit, then went out for dinner. Before we ordered food, she got up and ran out so fast I thought it was something I said. If we hadn't called it a date it definitely wouldn't have been one, but if you still want to fight, I understand." Azurite sniffled and shook her head. Her lower lip trembled as she said, "I was mad. Really mad. But... you don't seem like the homewrecking type." Velvet's ears shot straight up. "I'm not!" "She isn't," Crystal cut in. "I promise she's not. This whole ordeal is very out of the ordinary for her, actually." The teacup slowly turned in Azurite's magic before she finally took a sip from it. "I don't normally storm into ponies' homes to start fights," she mumbled. Crystal rubbed the mare's shoulder. "Oh, you didn't exactly storm in here, sweetie." Velvet glared at Crystal, but Azurite seemed unaffected and continued, "Yeah, so, maybe I should just leave. I'm really sorry about all this. I just got really worked up about it and I wanted to do something about my problems for once instead of, you know, just... taking it with a smile." Regret and guilt raked through Crystal for a brief moment. This little blue mare had actually worked up the courage to take matters into her own hooves. It was an admirable feat and all Crystal had done was mistake her for a filly, not take her seriously, and even tease her. "It's all right. I'd be very upset if I found out my stallion went on a date with somepony else, so I understand." Azurite looked up at her with wide, doe-like eyes. "Oh, uh, do you mean Lieutenant Silent Knight?" As soon as the name left her mouth her eyes grew even wider. Crystal furrowed her brow at the reaction. "Yes, actually. Do you know him?" "We work together," Azurite squeaked in reply. Her ears twitched in different directions and she withdrew from Crystal's side. "I've really messed up big coming here. There are lines a pony's not supposed to cross, especially when they work in the Royal Guard, and I crossed, like, every line!" She sniffed. "Could you please, please, pretty pretty please not tell the lieutenant about this? Please? He's so big and scary and frowny." Crystal glanced at Velvet, who flashed a light grin. They wiggled their ears at each other before Crystal offered Azurite a gentle smile. "Since you don't want to fight Velvet anymore, I think she and I can forget this ever happened. After all, your reasoning was perfectly understandable, don't you agree, Velvet?" Velvet nodded. "Yup, totally understandable." Azurite glanced between them with an uncertain furrow of her brow that smoothed after a moment of thought. "Really? Thank you! Thank you both so much!" She sighed. "I'm still really, really sorry about all of this." She sipped the tea. They sat in silence, all glancing at each other from where they sat, none of them exactly sure what to say. "So, um," Azurite started, hesitated, then continued, "This tea is actually really great. I don't usually get tea this nice. So I'm kind of paralyzed between choosing whether I should sit here in what is, without a doubt, the most uncomfortable situation I've ever gotten myself into so I get to finish drinking this tea, or if I should just run out the door and hope I never see either of you again." She looked up at Crystal. "Any thoughts?" Crystal snorted and clenched her jaw to keep her composure, but lost the battle against the laughter that overtook her. Velvet held out a little longer before she started laughing, too. Azurite just sat there, not laughing at all, her expression wholly serious. "Just finish the tea, Azurite," Velvet managed once her laughter had calmed into giggling. "Okay. Thank you." Azurite seemed to relax as she settled back into the couch and took another sip. "It really is really good. Did you make it yourself? I can't cook but maybe I could make tea..." She paused and quickly shook her head. "Or maybe not. It wouldn't be this good. I'll just live out my life never having tea like this again!" Crystal got up off the couch and went into the kitchen to retrieve the kettle. "Well, if you'd like, you can stay for another cup or two. I also have some fancy biscuits if you're hungry." Azurite beamed at her. "Yes, please!" She looked over at Velvet. "If it makes you feel any better, I think you would have won. You're bigger than I am. But I was going to give it my best shot, so I might have lasted a while against you." Velvet's grin was poorly concealed by a raised hoof. "I'm not much of a fighter, so who knows?" A plate of little shortbread cookies landed on the coffee table between them. Azurite peered at them, tilted her head to the side, then frowned. "These are cookies." "It's still too early in the morning, so it sounds more breakfast-appropriate to call them fancy biscuits." Crystal giggled. "I can put them back away, if you're not interested." "Oh, I'm interested." Azurite's magic grabbed three of the cookies. "I'm very interested! I just wanted to make sure you knew they weren't biscuits." --- After three cups of tea and cleaning out the whole platter of cookies, Azurite squeaked, "I should really, really go now, or I'm never going to want to leave." Crystal looked up from the notebook she had started taking notes in and smiled. "Oh? If you're sure. I can brew a new batch of tea. It's no bother." "Nope, that's okay! I'll be fine." Azurite hopped off the couch and started for the door, where she stopped to turn around and smile at them. "This was really awkward, but thanks for being so understanding and everything!" Velvet waved from her spot lounging on a pillow. "Good luck with your marefriend, Azurite!" The smile on the mare's face faltered but she nodded nonetheless. "Yeah. Thanks. Good luck finding one of your own that isn't already somepony else's!" She pulled the door open and ran out of the condo. Crystal and Velvet stared at the door as Crystal's magic closed it from across the room, then they looked at each other. For a while they just stared until Crystal said, "I have some ideas of what to say in my interview." Velvet gawked. "What? Your interview? Seriously? You don't want to ask about my failure of a date or talk about what just happened?!" Crystal raised both hooves and shrugged. "Azurite said she doesn't want Silent to know. Well, Silent won't know if I don't tell him, and I can't tell him about what didn't happen if I don't remember or acknowledge it happened. So, if you don't mind, I would like to get back to the matter of my interview?" Velvet sighed, dropping her head back down onto the pillow. "Fine. How much time do we have to prepare?" "Well, the book is going to be released on the first of next month, so Sunset wanted to get the interview done as soon as possible before then to build up the hype." Crystal offered a sheepish smile when Velvet gave her an impatient look. "A week and a half?" "A week and a half?" Velvet repeated in a low voice. "You're harassing me and it's over a week away?" She rolled her head to bury her face against the pillow so she could let out a muffled cry, then jerked back upright. "Nope. Forget today. I'm going back to bed." Crystal glared at her. "I thought you were my friend!" Velvet started walking toward her bedroom, shaking her head. "Not today! Today no longer happened. Besides, forget about the interview. Don't you have that entitlement ceremony with your grandparents right around then?" The feeling drained from Crystal's face and she dropped down onto the couch as low as she could get, as if trying to become one with it. "Don't remind me about that! I have enough on my plate to worry over as it is!" "Too late!" Velvet chimed just before shutting the door behind her. Crystal draped one foreleg over her eyes to block out all sights while the other pressed her ears flat against her head to do the same with sounds. She dreaded spending time with her parents, but her grandparents? The last time she had seen them, she was too young of a filly to really remember what they were like. The strained relationship between them and her parents was either a great comfort or a warning sign of impending disaster.