Everything had happened so fast that Veil hardly had time to think, which wasn't easy to begin with when a big part of your life comes crashing down on top of you. The first thing that came to mind was that she needed to cancel the wedding before anyone found out Piv was back. Most of that she could take care of on the down-low as people visited her lab to get their orders filled, but Rarity and Pinkie in particular needed to be warned before they did something unfortunate.
And so, her brilliant spur of the moment plan to send Piv himself! Rarity was quick on the uptake, so there was no doubt in Veil's mind that she'd figure out what was going on. Pinkie was more of a risk, but it should go all right with Rarity along to smooth things over. That left Veil with plenty of time to... cry. Which she did quite a lot of, starting almost immediately after she'd sent Piv on his merry way. That and prepare orders, which sadly still needed to be completed despite the personal problems that had dropped onto her flank.
Toward mid day she had regained enough control that ponies visiting the lab did not immediately feel the need to ask her what was wrong, then crowd around to comfort her. How embarrassing that had been! Veil made sure each of them left with not only a filled prescription, but also a clear understanding that Pivotal Pledge was not to know about either the wedding or her anguish.
Examining her clipboard, Veil picked out the next customer on her schedule, "Let's see. Next is the anti-itch rash cream for..." the door popped open and in walked a pink-maned yellow pony with butterflies marking her flank. "Fluttershy. Right on time! I've already prepared the cream." Veil patted a nearby jar full of the stuff. "Would you like me to bag it for you?"
"Oh, no thank you. I can put it in my saddlebag." Her voice was gentle and demure. Entirely the opposite of the voice that shouted from outside as the jar was changing hooves,
"Fluttershy! Where'd you go?" The door was swept out of the way as an athletic looking blue pony with a rainbow colored mane named Rainbow Dash burst onto the scene.
"Ah!" Fluttershy gave a startled, yet adorably quiet, cry and fumbled the jar of cream. It flew up into the air and sailed over Veil's head, who gasped and quickly extended a wing to catch it. Bouncing off her plumes, it fell neatly into her outstretched hooves.
"Wow, nice catch, doc!" Rainbow applauded. "What's that? Rash cream?"
"No!" Fluttershy denied quickly.
"Huh? But I can read the label. See? Rash cream."
"W, well that's... um..." The flustered pegasus was going quite pink in the cheeks, her speech devolving into soft murmurs that were too quiet to hear.
Veil took pity on her, "My fault, I got her order mixed up. So sorry for the mistake, Fluttershy."
The yellow pony blinked in confusion, "Mistake?" Then she caught Veil's wink, "Oh yes, a mistake. That's right."
"I'll get you the correct order before you go."
"Thank you you so much, doctor." She offered a genuine smile at this rescue.
"Oh come on, it's just Veil to you two!" The medicine pony waved away the formality as she returned the smile. "Now as long as I've got you both here, you need to know that Piv's back in town."
Rainbow's face lit up, "Wow, awesome! Then you're getting married!"
A pang shot through Veil, still painful despite having listened to similar sentiments all day long. She tried to hide it, but Fluttershy immediately picked up on it. "Oh, goodness. Are you all right?"
"Ah... ha ha. Sorry, girls, but the wedding's off." Veil was shooting for nonchalant, but she could tell she wasn't quite pulling it off. Despite that she pressed on and explained the whole situation.
"Oh man, that is SO messed up!" Rainbow exclaimed when she had finished.
Fluttershy put in, "Why not ask Twilight for help? If there's magic is behind this, Twilight will definitely know what to do."
The medicine pony nodded, "Good thinking, I'll bring it up with Piv when he gets back. Now remember, spread the word about the wedding, but make sure he doesn't hear about it!"
"Right!" Dash pumped her hoof with enthusiasm. "I'm on it!" She headed for the door, then glanced back. "You coming, Fluttershy?"
"You go on, I'll catch up after I pick up my order."
Rainbow dipped her head in an affirmative before heading out, after which Veil was able to more discretely pass Fluttershy her cream. The soft-spoken pony thanked her once again before following after her friend. More customers came and went, wearing Veil out with the need to explain her living nightmare over and over again to each new face. By the time Piv finally returned she was wearing quite thin indeed.
He approached her almost cautiously, hesitating a moment before speaking, "Hey, Veil. I think we need to talk about something."
Reading his body language, she moved to the window and flipped her 'open' sign to 'closed.' When she turned back all she asked was, "Pinkie?"
He nodded, "Yup. Pinkie."
Veil heaved a sigh and fell back on her haunches. "I'm sorry, Piv. I want to be your friend and help you through this, but I thought if you knew about our plans it would make things... weird, between us." She barked a short, unhappy laugh. "The goddesses know you don't need some total stranger proclaiming her love and whatnot while you're trying to sort out your life."
He seemed surprised, then thoughtful. Appearing to make a decision, he walked over and sat next to her on the floor. "I think it's pretty clear that I'm not the only one having a hard time here. You're trying so hard to consider my feelings, but who is there to consider yours? You don't need to shoulder it all alone."
That one got right past her guard and struck her heart. Tears welled up in her eyes, which she quickly buried on his shoulder. "Oh, Piv!" She sobbed quietly, and he put his hoof around her.
A few minutes passed before she pushed away from him and stood up, drying her eyes with the back of one hoof. "Ah, sorry. I think I needed that. I can keep it together now."
"Is that so important?" He asked, standing up himself.
"Yes! It's embarrassing!" She laughed and rounded on him. "You just forget you saw that, and forget anything you heard about a wedding, too!"
He cocked her a grin, "Of course. Forgetting is my specialty, just now."
She puffed an exasperated breath, "Isn't that the truth." Her expression lightened suddenly, "Ah, I just remembered! Fluttershy stopped by with Rainbow Dash, and she suggested we talk to Twilight Sparkle about your memory loss. It's a great idea, really. Twilight knows all sorts of things, thanks to her studies!" She was surprised when his expression suddenly clouded.
"Twilight Sparkle?" His tone was almost... fearful? "N, no. Not yet, anyway." He suddenly seemed very uncomfortable.
"What? Why not?" She peered at him with concern.
He seemed to take a moment to think of his reply, "Well, I just think we should look for medical causes before magical. Perhaps a check-up at the hospital?"
Despite his altogether odd behavior, his response was certainly something she could respect. She made her whole career around conventional medicine, after all. "Well all right then, if that's what you want." Glancing out the window, she noted the deepening colors of the setting sun. "Wow, it actually got pretty late. I think we better call it a day."
"Yeah." He looked out the window also, but made no move to go.
"Well?" She quirked an eyebrow at him.
"Um... where do I live?" He asked a bit sheepishly.
She barked another short laugh, "Come on, I'll walk you home."