To Her Face
An ache throbbed between Velvet's eyes as she made her way up the stairs of the ballet studio. Normally, she was excited for practice, but a part of her was dreading an announcement that they were going to go on an encore tour of Swan Lake. Every day she went in to work, she was certain the ballet director would be standing there, all smiles and bringing bad tidings.
Velvet took a deep breath, pushed the door to the practice area open, and crossed the threshold. Most of the mares were already there, some of them in the middle of their warm-up stretches. Each were broken out into the usual cliques of friends, whispering excitedly to each other.
Something was up. Something was definitely up.
"Velvet!" Nightingale squealed, crossing the practice area to meet her at the door. "Did you hear what they picked for the next ballet?!"
"Huh? Wait, the next ballet?" Velvet shrugged the bag off her shoulder while her heart fluttered with almost anxious relief. "What?"
Nightingale trotted in place and fluttered her wings with near palpable excitement. She sucked in a breath then sing-songed in a loud voice, "Cantereeellaaa!"
Velvet gasped. "Really?! Oh, this should be a lot of fun! Especially after Swan Lake. Ugh." She shuddered. "I hope we never, ever do that one again."
"Yeah, well, you better hurry." Nightingale's wings flicked out and tucked back in. "They're already taking sign-ups for auditions. Perennial, of course, is going to do whatever it takes to get Canterella, so I'm sure that means Beryl will be the Fairy Godmother." She grinned and whispered, "You could try for the Evil Stepmother and get to pester Perennial."
Velvet's lips curled into a grin. "Oh, I am so auditioning for that." She started bounding forward. "Worst case, I'll just be the rogue Lady of the Court that trips Canterella when she dances with the Prince."
Nightingale laughed, flying after her. "That's not a real thing!"
"It is now!" Velvet tossed her head to stick out her tongue. "Just watch!"
A chime of giggles escaped from Nightingale while Velvet stopped at the table littered with sign-up sheets to write down her name in a few places. "I'm just excited for how many roles there are. One of us corps gals is guaranteed some spotlight! And nopony has to break a leg, like in Don Quicolte last year."
Velvet just nodded. The stepmother and stepsister roles were probably already earmarked for the mares that held the soloist titles, but there was the Jester, the Tailor, the Dancing Mistress—so many opportunities to shine.
"We should try out for the Stepsisters," Nightingale said, peering over Velvet's shoulder. "How awesome would that be if we both got one?"
"What?" Velvet paused. She rolled the pencil between her hooves before shrugging. "What's the worst that could happen? Okay, fine, sure." She noted her name on the sheet, then offered the pencil to Nightingale for her to do the same. "So, uh, can I talk to you about something?"
Nightingale bobbed her head. "Absolutely!"
Velvet glanced around. The other ballerinas were already lined up along the barres doing their warm-up stretches. "I, well, I met a mare last night."
"Uh-huh? As opposed to any other night?" Nightingale giggled.
"This is different," Velvet muttered.
Nightingale hesitated, eyeing her warily. "Different? What kind of different?"
Velvet sighed and shook her head. "I can't really explain it." She started toward one side of the room where there were less ponies to give them some privacy as she reared up onto her hindlegs and continued, "I don't think she understood what a one-night stand means."
"Oh. Oooh." Nightingale winced, her ears folding back. "That must have sucked. How did you break it to her?"
Velvet didn't say anything. She just averted her gaze.
"Velvet." Nightingale started to frown. "Velvet, what did you do?"
"I—I stayed for breakfast, all right?" Velvet snapped as she bent down to touch her forelegs to her left hindhoof while the other leg was resting on the barre. "I stayed for breakfast and told her I'd see her again."
Nightingale squawked and her wings jolted a few inches from her body, but she quickly snapped them back in and glanced around at the curious stares they received. "Are you serious?"
Velvet glared at her. "Why would I lie about that?! Look, you didn't have to see her face! I did, and there was no way I could say no."
"Do you like her?" Nightingale's wings twitched while she propped one hindleg up and stretched her forelegs high above her head.
"I, uh—" Velvet frowned. "I mean, I've been with better, but she wasn't terrible."
Nightingale rolled her eyes, then narrowed them. "That's not what I meant. I mean, would you consider her a candidate for your special somepony?"
Velvet's gaze darted away as she busied herself with another stretch. Once she had pushed her muscles to their flexible limit, she groaned and straightened up. "No. I can't imagine spending the rest of my life with her! Dating her? Marrying her? No way."
"Then break it off before somepony gets hurt." Nightingale sighed, then perked up with a smile. "So, if we're going to seriously try for the Stepsisters, then we need to get perfect synergy going, yeah? Really wow the judges at the audition. If you're free after practices, we should get together and go over the choreography."
Velvet smiled back at the welcome change of topic. "Yeah, sure."
---
Sunbeam looked up when Velvet dragged herself into the Sunridge Sweets kitchen. "You know, if this were a real job, you'd be fired, crumbcake."
Velvet groaned as she dropped to the floor, all the energy leaving her legs once they had arrived at their destination. "S-sorry, Mom. You know how it is when we switch ballets."
"Mmhm." Sunbeam smiled and returned her gaze to the bundle of red and off-white in her lap. "Come on, sweetie. Say 'Mama'."
Red's attention, however, had immediately switched to Velvet the moment she came into view. "Nngh!" He strained against Sunbeam's embrace. "Aangh!"
With a sigh, Sunbeam held Red out to her. "He wants you, as always."
"Oh, don't say it like that! You should be happy he likes his big sis." Velvet rolled onto her back and patted her stomach, her gaze following Red as the foal was set down on her. "A lot of siblings don't get along."
Sunbeam leaned back into her pillow, huffing. "So, tell me about the new ballet that's keeping you late, sweetie?"
Velvet tapped her hooves against Red's while he gurgled and squealed. "Canterella! It's so much fun. Nightingale and I are trying to get the Stepsister roles. We're kinda hoping that if we get some good practice in, we can wow the casting judges by being in sync and stuff."
"That sounds like fun, dear!" Pepper called, sticking his head into the kitchen, smiling at Velvet before looking at Sunbeam. "Honey, there's a new cute-ceañera cake design that needs your special touch." He held out an order form to her and started back out into the bakery proper.
Sunbeam took the paper and glanced over the writing, then smiled. "Oh, that's plenty of time to think of something special!" She pulled out a drawer to retrieve her ideabook.
Velvet set Red on the floor and rolled onto her side to curl around him, gazing at the unconditional love and adoration on his face as he nestled against her chest. "Hey, do you remember my cute-ceañera?"
"Hmm? Oh, well, if you want to call it that." Sunbeam giggled. "It was just another sleepover for you and Crystal."
"With cake!" Velvet corrected, lifting her head. "A sleepover with cake. Get it right, Mom." She stuck out her tongue.
Sunbeam gasped when Red looked up at Velvet then stuck out his own tongue. "Velvet Chocobunny Step! You stop that right now!"
Velvet grinned and nosed Red's fluffy mane. "Okay, little guy, let's play hide and seek before Mom gets mad at us."
Sunbeam huffed. "Before? I already am!"
"You hide first," Velvet chimed. "My eyes are closed in three... two... one!" As she closed her eyes, Red gave a squeal of delight and the scampering of little hooves indicated he was off. After counting to twenty, she hollered, "Ready or not, here I come!"
Once her eyes were open she spotted him immediately. A little red rump with a puff of creamy white wiggled from Red's hiding spot behind a pile of flour sacks.
"So, anyway, Mom, I have a question for you," Velvet said as she feigned looking underneath one of the chairs.
"Hmm?" Sunbeam glanced up from her sketch-in-progress. "What's up, buttercup?"
Velvet's ears wiggled at the sound of giggling. "Little Red, little Red!" She gave an exaggerated sniff of the air. "Fee, fie, foe, fum! I'll find you, little Red!" She stuck her head around the corner of one of the fridges, her voice lowering back to normal. "I, uh, I kind of met a mare."
"What?" Sunbeam squeaked with a sharp intake of air. "Did you? Who is she? When can I meet her?!"
Velvet shot her mother a light glare. "Hold on, jeeze! Seriously? Let me finish!" She lifted one of the empty boxes for to-go orders. "Hmm, nope, no little Red under here!"
Red squealed and his visible rump wiggled as he tried to squeeze himself further into the space between the flour sacks and the wall.
"I was just, you know, just hanging out," Velvet continued in an uncertain mutter. "Just hanging out and we crossed paths. She kind of misread the signals. As I thought you knew, I'm not ready to settle down, so, I tried to tell her that."
"Oh." Sunbeam visibly deflated and she turned her head back to her book, picking the pencil up in her mouth. With a slightly muffled voice, she pressed, "And?"
Velvet slowly started to climb the flour sack stack. "She didn't really take it well. I told her I'd see her again, but I'm not so sure that's a good idea. I don't really think I'm going to change my mind." She gasped when her gaze met Red's. "I found you!"
Red wiggled his ears, his rump, and his nose. "Ann! Anann!" He tried to backpedal, but had squirmed himself into a tight position. Before Velvet could react, he frowned, growled, and snapped at the corner of one of the sacks.
"Red!" Velvet laughed as he gnawed on the burlap. "Red, that won't work! Just, okay, hold on, you're fine." She hopped down and freed him from his self-made trap, then looked over at her mother, who was looking at her with an unreadable expression. "So, uh—"
Sunbeam held up a hoof. "Sugarpie, I know you're not ready. Your father and I understand that. But it sounds like you don't want to hurt this mare's feelings, right?"
Velvet sighed and cradled Red to her chest while he chewed on his own leg. "Of course not! She's a sweetie. It's not her fault she didn't know any better."
"Then maybe—maybe—you should just give her a chance?" Sunbeam offered a soft smile. "At least get to know her a little?" When Velvet started to frown, she quickly added, "Don't force anything, powderpuff. You'll be ready when you're ready. But if it turns out you like this mare, then you don't want to take the soufflé out before you gave it time to rise, right?"
A soft groan rumbled in Velvet's chest and Red growled back at her, turning the sound into a soft laugh. "Red makes a pretty convincing argument, Mom."
Sunbeam tilted her head, one ear flopping. "Oh? And just what did my little cakepop tell you, hmm?"
"He says"—Velvet lifted the foal up and wiggled his forelegs as she spoke in a squeaky voice—"forget that mare and just play with me all day! I'm the only love you need!"
Red kicked his hindlegs and gurgled with glee.
Sunbeam's brow raised, but she gave a chime of laughter and shook her head. "Give him another year and you'll be begging me to take him back to the cabbage patch."
Velvet gasped and tucked Red back to her chest. "I would never!" She shot Sunbeam a withering stare. "And besides, foals don't come from cabbage patches. I grew out of believing that forever ago."
"Oh, of course, marshmallow creme." Sunbeam smiled, returning once again to her work. "But you used to believe it, and oh, trust me, honeybun, I'll never forget."
"Of course you won't," Velvet groaned more than said. "You never forget anything."
Sunbeam winked. "And don't you forget that! Now, why don't you and Redcakes come over and help me decide if I should make an edible chocolate topper out of this sweet little filly's cutie mark or not?"
Velvet shifted Red to hold him with one leg before she walked over to look at the sketches. Three designs were already roughed out. When Sunbeam got on a tear of inspiration, there was usually no stopping her. "Depends, who are her parents?"
Sunbeam paused to look at the order sheet. "Hmm... I don't recognize their names. Not one of our usual customers."
"Then go all out!" Velvet kissed Red's forehead before setting him down near his stack of blocks. "They were probably a referral, and you want them to become repeat customers."
Sunbeam giggled. "Oh, so if they were a regular, then what would you suggest?"
Velvet rolled her eyes. "That you go all out, d'uh. If they're a regular customer, then they deserve the best to keep their business!"
"I see! So then why did you even bother asking who their parents were if you'd give me the same answer either way?" Sunbeam crossed out one of the designs and added some extra piping flair to the others.
"What? Oh, I was just curious." Velvet grinned. "I figured you'd be more likely to gossip if you thought I was trying to help you."
Sunbeam laughed and waved a hoof at her. "You're terrible! That's it, you're washing the dishes tonight, you devilcake!"
Velvet gave a playful, petulant huff as she sat down on the floor beside Red, who paused his block tower building to blink up at her. "But I always do the dishes!"
"Yes, well, now you'll do them as a punishment." Sunbeam winked.
Velvet glanced at Red, grinned, then stuck her tongue out at Sunbeam, breaking into laughter when Red's mimicry of her stirred an irritated gasp from their mother.
"Oh, you'll regret teaching him that," Sunbeam said, glaring. "Just you wait!"
---
Velvet paced back and forth, uncertainty sending pricks of pain throughout her legs with every step. What was she going to do?
Nightingale was right. She had no intention of dating Dawn. She had no desire to be special someponies. The least she could do was break it off, yet a pang of guilt kept forcing her to look at the door that stood between her and making a decision.
Her mother also had a good point. After all, what did she really know about the sweet little earth pony? Dawn was lonely, had no friends, and didn't even know what being picked up at a bar meant. If Velvet dumped her, there was a chance somepony unsavory might sweep her up and take advantage of her.
Velvet gave a quick shake of her head. Wait, wasn't she unsavory? She had given in to Dawn's meek yet hot seduction right after trying to tell her they couldn't be friends. That kind of made her a terrible pony, but Celestia help her, Dawn definitely wasn't an unattractive mare. Not by a long shot.
Decision. She had to make a decision. With a deep intake of air and a slow release to follow, Velvet stopped pacing, raised a hoof, and knocked on the door. A few moments later, it opened, and Dawn's face peeked around the corner.
"Velvet?" Dawn's ears perked and she stepped fully into view, her shy demeanor fading away into a curious smile. "Hi! Do you want to come in?"
"Oh, uh, no." Velvet rubbed the back of her neck. "No, thanks. Actually, I was kind of wondering if you'd want to go out."
Dawn blinked. "Go out?" Her eyes widened. "O-on a date?"
Velvet swallowed. The word hit her chest like a fellow ballerina trying a grand battement in too-close proximity, but she smiled nonetheless. "Uh, yeah. A date."
If you are enjoying this story, please consider taking a look at Anzel and my's website QuillnBlade.com for extra content such as mini stories, an Ask Us form to submit questions, responses to said questions, and special rewards for the awesome folks who support our Patreon.
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Velvet! It's okay to like people! You still get to do fun physical stuff only now it's better.
No she won't. Not Velvet. :P
Anyway, I like what Velvet is doing with Dawn now, and I really hope it goes somewhere, because she's absolutely right about her, from what we've seen and Dawn is too adorable to just have her heart broken.
Dump her like a 10 year old fruit cake. Sun themed ponies are nothing but bad news.
I thought they had already settled on friends with benefits. It's actually going more commonplace in this world, you know.
6736443 I suppose it depends on what Velvet wants and how she would define "better"!
6736544 Hahaha, exactly... Even if Red used the raspberry tongue on her, I think she'd still find it adorable. And, well, Dawn is probably one of my favorite characters in this particular story, I won't lie.
6736606 Ouch! Poor Dawn!
6736917 Velvet made a decision in the heat of the moment out of guilt and under the pressure of seduction. Now she's trying to approach the situation from a place of logic.
Ahh.. c'est l'amour.
Mom gives good advice.
6736957
Oh, like that's something that's going to work for her mindset.
Oh, Velvet. You should know better than to be drawn in by the danger of cutie.
"But Phyco!" you protest. "How dangerous can cutie really be?"
Oh ho, sweet, naive little Velvet Step.
Cutie be dangerous.
Cutie. Be dangerous.
Uh, yeah, that is bound to be interesting.
Remember, kids, avoid misreading or ignoring the subtle signs. Or you shall end up in a proper turbulence.
That won't end nicely
Velvet, you stayed for breakfast, YOU NEVER STAY FOR BREAKFAST, when you do that things like THIS happen.
Ah hell... why do you do this? I swear I want an animated version of your stories... or something. Almost every chapter I see something that would make a great picture. in this case, velvet and red going
. I'm sure I can't be the only one who wants to see this animated
6737009 Sunbeam tries her best with the information she's given!
6737049 Hehehe! Yes, welcome to the world of being caught up!
Vacation was very nice. I got no writing done at all, so I'm still stuck in the land of no buffer, but, ah, well. I write best under pressure!
6737263 Cutie be always dangerous. Ain't nobody watched the movies? It's the cute things that always turn out to be monsters. Just take Galaxy Quest, for example. Or Gremlins. C'mon, y'all, cutie be dangerous.
And Dawn is very cute.
6737462 Interesting is definitely a word for the situation Velvet is stumbling herself into!
6737747
6737867 It's rule number one of one-night stands! Of course, Dawn used Sad Story and Cute Face combo attack. It was super effective!
6738000 Hehehe! Oh, gosh, I wish I were of some artistic skill level to do short animations. The mental image of Velvet sticking her tongue out, Red looking up at her, then following suit is probably one of the cutest things ever.
6738102
I also thought of "potentially disastrous", but I shall leave that to you and your quill.
You know, it amuses me that Velvet asked her friend what to do, got the answer she wanted, and then immediately turned around and asked someone she knew would give her the exact opposite response. After all, it's not her idea if she's following someone else's advice.
6738115 Eeyup... I look at it as she got the answer that felt right but seemed wrong (break it off but hurt Dawn's feelings) then looked for the answer that felt wrong but seemed right.
6738102 it's also rule number one of surviving if Aromantic, feeling bad isn't a good basis for a relationship and often leads to causing worse heartbreak further down the line.
6738102
Yeah, that... wasn't the "cutie" I was talking about. And unless you didn't read phase 2 of Missteps, I'm pretty sure you know exactly which cutie I am talking about, and that's important, because while cutie be dangerous, cutie be dangerous.
You feel me?
6738348 Oh, I know what cutie you're talking about. I'm just being... silly? Meh. I don't know the word.
6738360
I also don't know the word, but you're definitely being it. Someone maybe wanna help us with this?
This isnt going to end well.
Nightingale's reaction pretty solidly parallels my own. This is a recipe for multiple ponies coming out of this hurt.
Few things aren't more special with cake.
Hah!
This is so going to end in tears.
Sigh, Velvet, why did you have to be an idiot, especially when there is such an easy solution.
Just take Dawn to the bar to hang out as a group with Nightingale and everything will work out fine. Everyone makes new friends, no one gets hurt by unwanted romance, and everything will be good.
Red steals every scene he's in.
6738511 Signs are definitely hinting toward trouble on the horizon!
6738651 And there are still two major players that haven't come onto the field yet!
Their names are Doom and Gloom. ... Not really, but also yes.
6739610 Perhaps! Though Dawn seemed pretty into Velvet on a more-than-friends level... but who knows!
6739744 Doesn't he?!
I was like, "This chapter is going to be mostly 'Velvet talks to ponies about stuff and makes a decision'... I need something to lighten it up... Rediabetes."
6740178 True, but redirection is very much a thing and it would at least be a good compromise between "one night stand" and "dating" because trying to pick one of those is just going to hurt them both. Also, there is always the possibility that they could go from "friends" to "friends with benefits" because it gets them a relationship they can both be happy with along with fun casual sex.
6740266 This story is tricky to respond to comments with because on a logical level I agree with what you're saying, but on an emotional level, I understand how it is to stumble yourself into a pickle.
Velvet's not me so she won't make the same decisions I would, she's a little out of her element in this situation, and she's faced with a genuinely sweet mare she doesn't want to hurt because she herself isn't a cruel pony. It's easier for us to decide better courses of action because we're on the sidelines, not in her horseshoes!
6740296 Yeah, that and she doesn't seem to be good at stepping back to look at her own situation analytically. If it were me, I would be pulling everything apart and analyzing options to try to make things work out as well as possible for everyone so I would kill the drama, but I am definitely not Velvet and this is believable for her even if I do want to knock some sense into her right now.
Quote of the day.
I ship Dawn and Velvet until I have evidence to ship Nightingale and Velvet. That only seems fair.
Poor Velvet... Damn she's bad at being the bearer of bad news.... Hopefully she can do something about it before one of them gets hurt... either that or Velawn Ship will set sail into the sunset with a happy couple, despite the unlikelyness. Velvet, you'd better choose! Choose before you hurt a sweet little mare like that! And clearly this isn't too her face, since you can't seem to give any bad news to a face like that!
On a side note, Red Velvet and Velvet Step playing with each other in a bakery?
Are you trying to put your readers in a diabetic coma!? 