//------------------------------//
// Put On a Happy Face 
// Story: The Velveteen Mask 
// by Crystal Wishes 
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Canterlot didn't have much in the way of parks, certainly not like the one in Ponyville, but it had some green space that served well enough for a 'date in the park'.  Velvet's ears twitched while she walked alongside Dawn, eyeing the mango-flavored ice cream cone the mare held in one hoof.  It was really frozen yogurt, but that sounded more pretentious than just plain old ice cream.

At that moment, Velvet was more than grateful for all of Crystal's stories she had read.  Shortly after asking Dawn on a date, Velvet had realized she had absolutely zero plans and had to improvise with what she could remember.  Park dates were fairly common, and they usually were accompanied with ice cream.

"So," Velvet started, pausing to take a lick of the chocolate strawberry scoop, "do you like mango, or was it just the best option you saw?"

Dawn smiled down at the orange-colored dessert.  "I like mango.  It's not a fruit you find very often.  Apples are a bit a dozen, but mangoes?  You don't find those in Ponyville, that's for sure!"

Velvet bobbed her head.  "Yeah, that reminds me.  Why exactly did you move to Canterlot?"

"Oh.  Well."  Dawn sighed, her ears drooping.  "I just, well, I just wanted a change of scenery.  My parents are from Ponyville.  So are their parents.  And their parents.  I don't think anypony in my family has ever left our farm in Ponyville.  I just thought, there has to be more out there, doesn't there?"

"But why Canterlot?"  Velvet scrunched up her nose and nibbled a piece off the cone.  "I mean, come on, there's a change of scenery, and then there's diving into a shark tank."

Dawn glanced at her, ears wiggling.  "You live here, though, don't you?"

Velvet snorted and rolled her eyes.  "That's different.  I've lived here since I was a filly!  I'm already used to it.  Moving here at your age, though—"

"S-sorry, but you said, since you were a filly?"  Dawn leaned in toward her.  "Does that mean you moved here, too?"

"What?"  Velvet blinked, then shrugged.  "Oh, yeah, it does.  My parents moved me here from Manehattan because of some bullying in school.  I got lucky and found a friend that guided me through the waters, though."  A soft smile spread across her lips as a wave of memories washed over her.

She owed Crystal so much.  Finding confidence in herself, discovering her cutie mark, learning how to be strong—Crystal had given her all that and more.

Dawn's gaze wandered Velvet's face and she mirrored the smile.  "Aww, that's really sweet!"

"Hey, now, back to you!"  Velvet laughed, shook her head, and bumped their shoulders together.  "What kind of farm does your family have?"

The smile on her face faded as Dawn sighed.  "Oh, nothing interesting.  It's a grain farm.  Barley, oats, rye..."  Slowly, the smile returned.  "Not nearly as renowned as Sweet Apple Acres, but my favorite thing to do is—"  Her ears flicked back.  "—to do was go out as far from the house as I could before the sun came up, then watch the sun rise over acres and acres of grains.  It was like being immersed in a sea of gold."

Velvet glanced at the mark on Dawn's flank: two golden ears of wheat overlaying one another.  "I'm guessing—"

"—that that's how I got my cutie mark?"  Dawn giggled.  "Well, I've always been an early riser.  I love watching the sun peek over the horizon and, well, chase away the night.  It's like welcoming a new day of opportunities and possibilities, I guess.  It always fills me with renewed hope..."  Her cheeks flushed lightly as she said in a lilting tease, "You could say I'm a dawn walker."

Velvet nearly snorted the bite of ice cream she had taken as a laugh jumped into her throat.  She swallowed and grinned at her.  "Seriously?  That's bad.  That's really bad."

Dawn just giggled for a moment before she continued, "A-anyway, it's not much of a talent, certainly not like being a ballerina.  That's something beautiful!"

"Beautiful?"  Velvet hummed in thought, then shrugged.  "Yeah, I guess?  But it's a ton of work.  I thought it was beautiful when I was a filly, before I learned the meaning of sweat and tears."  She laughed and finished off the last bite of her cone.  "So, my friend told me that this is a good spot to watch clouds."  With an unceremonious fwump, she dropped down onto the grass and peered up at the sky.

Dawn blinked a few times.  She glanced between her ice cream cone and Velvet, indecision furrowing her brow until she stuffed what remained of the former in her mouth and flopped beside the latter.  After some chewing, swallowing, and cold-induced groaning, she shivered and focused her attention on the limitless blue above them.  "D-do you like to watch clouds?"

"Uh, well, I don't not like to watch clouds?  It's just, that's what she did on a date once, so."  Velvet's gaze sought out the first cloud it could find.  "It seems fine so far."

Dawn rolled her head to the side to peer at Velvet.  "You keep talking about your friend..."  She giggled, though there was a nervous hitch to it as red showed through her coat.  "Is she, um, is she a friend like I'm a friend?  With, you know, the—ah, the—"

Velvet raised a hoof and pushed it against Dawn's mouth.  "Nope.  Just a friend.  Only a friend."  She frowned.  "Honestly, you're kind of a special case."

"A special case?" Dawn said around the hoof, her ears perking.  "What do you mean?"

"Yeah, you know."  She turned her head to peer at Dawn, then looked back upward.  "Like I told you, I was just looking for a night of fun when I ran into you.  That's what I do.  One-night stands are less complicated."

"Oh..."  The perk of Dawn's ears deflated.  "I'm sorry."

Velvet let out a sigh that verged in a groan.  "Don't be sorry, sweetie.  It's fine.  This is fine.  I don't mind spending extra time with you beyond just one night."

Dawn was silent for a while, long enough that Velvet glanced over to make sure the mare wasn't crying.  There were no visible tears, but she didn't meet Velvet's gaze.  "So, I guess," she finally started, hesitant and slow, "even though this is a date, we're still not a couple, right?"

All of this was a mistake.  Velvet's insides were twisted into knots that suddenly felt impossible to unravel.  Things were so much easier and free of guilt when the relationship only lasted for one night.  "Yeah?"

"S-so I can see other ponies, but still see you?"

A bubble of hope rose in Velvet's chest.  "If you want, yeah."

Dawn hesitated.  "And you'll see other ponies, but still see me?"

"Sure."  Velvet stared at the expression on Dawn's face that muddled through determined thought.  "Unless you decide to go steady with another pony or something, that is."

Finally, Dawn nodded, a soft smile returning to her lips.  "Okay.  I think I understand."  She moved closer and nuzzled up against Velvet's side.  "Then, can we just stay here a while like this?"

The smell of Dawn's shampoo invaded Velvet's senses—honeysuckle.  Velvet did her best to breathe evenly under the intoxicating influence of floral sweetness.  "A little while, sure.  But I have practice soon."

Dawn smiled.  "Okay, that's fine."  She closed her eyes.  "I enjoyed this.  Can we do this again sometime?"

"If you want," Velvet said, though the words felt hollow as uncertainty filled her chest.

This wasn't what she wanted, but it was what was right, wasn't it?


---


Nightingale sighed as her wings drooped and she shook her head.  "So, what you're saying is, you totally ignored me and went on a date with her."

Velvet rubbed the back of her neck.  "I guess it was a date, anyway.  I don't really see how it was much different from just hanging out with a friend, though."

"You know this won't end well, right?"  Nightingale trotted over to the record player and dropped the needle, then flew back to her marker before the music started.

Velvet balanced herself on her hind legs.  "I don't know that, actually!  She gets what's going on.  We talked about it."  She danced across the floor, Nightingale matching her step-for-step.  "I'm going to go to the bar after we finish here, have a good time like always, and life goes on."

"She won't get jealous?"  Nightingale leaped around Velvet and grabbed onto one end of the scarf that Velvet had draped over her shoulders.

Velvet mimed a wide-eyed look of surprise and they moved in sync, springing from one leg to the other in a pas de chat.  "I already said she gets the situation!  We agreed, she'll see other ponies, and so will I."

Nightingale huffed as they swung one hind leg into a grand battement, then as the leg lowered, shifted weight to it and swung the other back.  "Okay, so, you go to the bar tonight, and she's there.  Tell me that won't be awkward."

"Fine."  Velvet twirled until their backs were together, the scarf wrapped around them, and they feigned their tip-hoofed struggle.  "It won't be awkward."

They spun out until the scarf was at its limits and they tugged it back and forth, then Nightingale gave a quick tug that separated the scarf in two—where normally Canterella would "cut" it—and they dropped to the floor.

"Fine," Nightingale said, sitting up and looking at her half.  "It's your life, not mine.  Anyway, I feel like we need to try that again.  My timing was a little off on that last part."

Velvet's ears wiggled.  "You realize this is only the first, like, twenty seconds of the ballet, right?"

Nightingale stuck out her tongue and flew over to the record player to reset the song.  "Practice makes perfect!"

"Okay, fine, but where do I get to draw the line between practice and obsession?"  Velvet grinned.

Nightingale's wings fluttered as she giggled and chirped, "When your hooves bleed!"

Velvet stood up and draped the scarf over her shoulders, then tossed her head.  "A true prima would not give in to such basic trifles.  Dedication above all else, ladies!  Never forget that!"

"Oh my gosh, did you see her at practice yesterday?"  Nightingale laughed.  "How did she put it?"

Velvet's ears wiggled as she continued to mime, "Frankly, I don't understand why a ballet company that seeks to stand hoof-to-hoof with the Royal Ballet of Equestria would debase itself with the comical version of Canterella."  Her nose scrunched up as she tried to stave it off, but laughter took hold of her.  "She is such a tight-tail!"

Nightingale dropped the needle and flew back toward Velvet.  "If she wants to be like the Royal Ballet so badly, then maybe she should just go there, huh?"

"Be still my aching heart!"  Velvet put a hoof to her chest.  "You shouldn't tease a poor filly like that."

Nightingale winked as she took one end of the scarf and they began the pas de chat across the floor.  "You never know!  It could happen."

Velvet kicked her leg high into the air.  "I think I'll stick to hoping for more realistic goals, like this Stepsisters thing.  Now, come on and focus, because I don't want to spend all afternoon working on this one fraction of a scene."


---


Velvet stared at the writing in the notebook held in her hooves—the fruit of Crystal's week-long labor.  It was an outline for a story that featured two ponies going about their life together in old age.  While it was certainly heartwarming, Velvet couldn't stop her mind from wandering to her own life.

That was the end goal, right?  To find somepony to spend the rest of your life with, taking care of each other in sickness and in health?  Velvet's ears flicked back, but she coaxed them upright so as not to give Crystal—who was sitting in front of her, fidgeting nervously—the wrong message.

She certainly didn't want to end up alone.  That sounded just as miserable as marriage.  Wasn't there some kind of middle ground, though?

"So," Velvet started, forcing her mind back to the situation at hoof, "this is what you've been working on the past week?"

Crystal shifted to switch which hoof rested over the other and swallowed.  "Well... yes, it is.  It's just a rough draft of the plot, but—"

"It's really sweet," Velvet interrupted before Crystal got lost in a panic, then looked down at the last page.  "I don't know if it's, well, at all like your normal stuff.  I mean, they're just normal ponies, no princes or princesses or anything."

"Silent Love doesn't feature any nobility," Crystal mumbled, her tone shifting from nervous to defensive in an instant.

Velvet waved a dismissive hoof, offering a playful grin.  "But Stoutheart is a knight, so that's still, you know, not normal."  She cleared her throat and tapped on the open page.  Time to change the subject.  "Okay, so, the real question is how many months can you drag out of this for Mares Monthly?"

A pink aura wrapped around the notebook and levitated it over to Crystal.  Pages flipped while Crystal's eyes scanned the writing and her brow furrowed.  "I'm not sure," she said, uncertainty clear in her voice.  "I don't even know if Sunset would go for it."

Sometimes, Velvet underestimated Crystal's capacity for self-doubt.  "I didn't say it wasn't good."  She rolled her eyes, though she wasn't sure if her frustration was directed at Crystal or herself.  After all, she knew better than to not offer praise first and questions later.

She needed to get out of her head and focus on Crystal's writing.  She was writing a story about two ponies growing old together.  A stray thought jumped out of the sea of her subconscious and into the forefront of her mind and she blinked.

"Hey, what about that frost pony thing?  Weren't you interested in writing about them?"

A frown started to tug at Crystal's lips, and the notebook raised to hide it.  "I was until I met one.  I'd much sooner turn Bellerose into a dragon solely for the abnormal intrigue than try to pick that up again."

Velvet grinned and pawed at the air.  "Hey!  That's an idea.  What if Bellerose was a dragon?"

Crystal's ears folded back and she shook her head.  "No."

"Aww, come on, I'm sure there's somepony out there who would be into that."  Velvet sputtered into a laugh, then tried to shrug it off.  Once her mirth had calmed down, she shook her head.  Like it or not, she had to be honest.

If Crystal really wanted to write this story, then she'd fight for it.  If it was another flight of fancy like the frost pony idea, then she would move on.  There wasn't time for Velvet to pat her on the head and indulge her when bits were on the line.

"Look," Velvet continued, "maybe it's just that I don't see the appeal.  You've got two ponies who kind of liked each other, then got separated, then found each other again and get married and grow old together.  I know you're a great writer and could make it interesting, but based on that alone, I'm just not impressed."

Velvet's tail flicked while she watched as Crystal breathed in and out through her nose. Crystal's gaze lowered to the notebook while her magic turned several pages.  "Can you read this, then?"

So it would be a fight.  Velvet nodded, intrigue starting to bloom, and she took the book back.

The air was filled with the quiet sounds of nature, as well as the occasional creak of Charlie's chair from the gentle rocking motion.  Bellerose took a deep breath and let it out as a heavy sigh.  Charlie looked over at her and asked, "What now, dear?"

"I'm old," she said in the almost ironic manner of a pouting filly.

Velvet's ear flicked as she smiled.  She could hear the words in Crystal's voice, albeit with a little huskiness of age, but the little pout was classic Crystal.

Charlie blinked, then chuckled.  "And so am I."

She glared at him with the fire in her eyes that he had always loved, and always would.  Time could take the luster from her coat and the spring from her step, but it would never quell the flame of her spirit.

A soft "aww" escaped her and she giggled at her own reaction.  The outline had nothing on the actual writing.

"I'm old, Charlie.  Too old to garden even if it weren't going to rain."  Her gaze drifted back to their front yard.  "And I'm only going to get older."

He said nothing at first.  He just watched her as nature buzzed around them.  A breeze drifted by, catching the loose curls of her mane, and finally he smiled.  "You are, dear."  He leaned over with a bit of effort and put his hoof on her cheek.  Gently, he coaxed her to turn her head and look at him.  "But leaves are always the most beautiful before they fall."

That was the last straw.  Velvet tossed her head back as she burst into laughter.  "Oh, come on!  That's so corny!"

Crystal had already returned to her nervous, fidgeting self.  "Corny good or corny bad?"

Velvet paused just long enough to tease before grinning.  "Dunno, I'd have to read more to find out."  She shoved a nearby quill toward Crystal.  "So get to writing."

"Yeah?"  Crystal's ears perked while her magic took the quill.  "Do you think it could work?"

It was corny.  Endearing, heartwarming, and sweet, but pretty corny.  Velvet mulled it over, taking her own reservations out of the equation.  Most romance novels were thick with tropes, cliches, and stereotypes.  It seemed like a good enough story, and more importantly, Crystal fought for it.

As far as Velvet could tell, it ticked all the boxes she had just made up on the spot, so it was probably a worthy investment of Crystal's time.

"I could see how some ponies would find it cute or whatever.  So, sure."  Velvet stood, stretching her forelegs and then her hind ones until her back popped.  She wandered into the kitchen to preoccupy herself with the idea of food, but her mind was already drifting.

Everypony else loved romance novels and dreamed of their own happy ending with their soulmate.  Horsey was already married and Crystal was going to follow suit soon enough.  Even Nightingale talked about settling down someday.  It was clear that Dawn would eventually find the special somepony for her.  Why was she always the odd pony out?