Violet Lace

by DemonAngel13

Flashes of Fabric

Violet was encased in warmth as soon as she set her hoof in the warm, candle-lit cottage that she had grown more accustomed to than her own home. She sucked in a deep breath through her nose and felt her mouth water at the smells of dinner being made.

"It should be ready in roughly an hour or so." Mrs. Sugar said, smiling at Violet's reaction.

"It smells amazing." Violet said, her mood already improving since earlier that afternoon. "How is it being made? You've been spending your time outside of the house for the past couple of hours?"

"This is one of those recipies where patience makes the difference." She answered. "This meal has technically been cooking for three days."

Violet felt her eyes open wide in awe. Three days? Three days! She both eagerly wanted, and eagerly dreaded the meal. Something so time consuming had to be delicious, but at the same time, something that time consuming had to be scary. What if she didn't like it? All of Mrs. Sugar's hard work would be for nothing. Not only that, but Mrs. Sugar had also spent three days preparing this meal. Violet didn't deserve that type of courtesy.

"Don't worry dear," Mrs. Sugar gently patted Violet's head. "You'll enjoy it, I promise."

Violet couldn't get a word in before Cloudy grabbed her hoof and began pulling her towards her bedroom. "That's great mom. Violet and I are going to open her presents."

"I feel as though that's my decision." Violet mumbled. She saw Cloudy's ears twitch, signaling that she was heard, but ignored.

"You two be carful up there." Mr. Parch said as they made their way up the stairs. "We don't want another incident like last time."

Violet felt her cheeks grow warm at the memory. She and Cloudy had done their usual antics of gathering pillows and placing them in the center of Cloudy's room. But this time, things went a bit awry. Violet removed a large bean-bag chair from the corner of Cloudy's room and spotted a brown blur. The mouse, confused by the sudden burrage of the blue light that filtered through the curtains on the window, mistakenly scuttled into the center of the room. Cloudy, now startled by Violet's sudden outburst, panicked and mistaken the tiny creature for a rat.

The room went into a panic. Cloudy, not wanting a rat in her room for obvious reasons, was on a mission to squish the creature with a dictionary that was sitting unused on her bookshelf. Violet, knowing that the animal running around was merely a tiny, helpless mouse, was repeatedly grabbing hold of the objects that were thrown and trying to place them back in their original spots.

None of this was a quiet process. Mr. Parch and Mrs. Sugar suddenly burst into the room, worried about the noises that the ponies were making. It was an odd chance of cirumstances that, as soon as the door was open, the entire room settled down. The only sound being the tiny, frightened squeaks of the mouse that was trapped underneath a glass.

Mr. Parch struggled to hold back laughter. He saw Cloudy, a triumphant smile on her face as she glared down at the tiny rodent in her hooves. Even when the realization that it wasn't fearsome rat, but instead a harmless mouse, her smile never faded. Violet on the other hoof, was struggling to hold both a glass figurine and a freakishly heavy box of scarves with her magic.

Realizing that her magic was flickering out, Mrs. Sugar dove for the figurine. She managed to catch it before it shattered, saving one of them from an evening of picking glass shards out of carpet. Violet, being at her limit, dropped the box with a large and loud thud that echoed through the house like thunder.

Mrs. Sugar, even with her husband's obvious enjoyment of the situation, was not amused. She was in the middle of baking a batch of cookies, and insisted that she was not to be disturbed. Both of the girls recieved punishment, which mainly consisted of late cookies and having to say goodbye to their little mouse friend.

Now, back in the present, Violet made a silent vow to be on her best behavior. Of course, when Cloudy's door was closed, all bets are off.

"Okay!" Cloudy shouted as soon as she slammed her door closed. "Please open mine first!"

Violet glanced at the presents that were sitting neatly on her back. They went together beautifully, it seemed like a shame to tear them open like she was a timberwolf hungering for an extra twig.

"Ummm..." She levitated the two packages and felt the difference in weight. Cloudy's gift seemed significantly heavier than the one her parents had given her. "I'm... I'm going to open the one your parent's gave me first."

"What? Bu-but why?" Cloudy's ears drooped in exagerated sadness.

"Because I'm a horrible pony who likes to watch you roll around in your own agony." Violet said sarcastically. The real truth however, was that she was scared of what Cloudy had gotten her. She agreed way to quickly to get her what she wanted, even when Violet's intention was to stump her in the first place. The smaller, lighter package seemed like a much safer place to start.

With a heavy grunt, Violet jumped onto Cloudy's bed. She scooted herself next to a pouting Cloudy, and sank deeper into the fluffed pillows that consumed the headboard. Gently, she used her magic to peel off the tape, careful not to harm the beautiful lavender wrapping paper. She untied the lace ribbon, and placed it next to her to save for later. She could use it for something.

When all of the layers were removed, the object inside was placed cleanly inside a small, brown box. Violet, getting frustrated at the suspense, hastily pulled back the lid to reveal a mish-mash of black. Lifting the object out of the box curiously, she realized with a shock that it wasn't a solid object. It moved and folded over like fabric. Probably because it was fabric. Lace, to be exact.

She unfolded her gift. She gazed at it in awe. A beautifully detailed and intricate example of lace hovered in front of her. In the center of the the amazing piece of fabric, was a rose that was then surrounded by leafy thorns. The design the began to spread out in loops and less detailed flowers.

"They thought you would like it." Cloudy grumbled. "It belonged to somepony a century ago. My father managed to get a hold of it, thinking that he could restore it. Once it was fixed, though, nopony seemed to want it. So it's been in the attic, underneath a box full of old china and my mother's prom dress."

"It's beautiful." Violet whispered. It was a shawl, meant to wrap around some important pony's shoulders. A lady's shoulders. A pony that is delicate and develish simultaneously. A pony that could break hearts and politely talk her way out of receiving punishment for it. The other gifts she had gotten over the years, the clothes that came from magazines or from the most popular stores in the city, never truely spiked her interest. This gift though, spoke thousands of words all at once. Words about how Cloudy's parents loved her, words about the past and the pony the shawl was once owned by, and the fact that Violet had much different interests than the other Canterlot ponies.

She didn't care about the price tag of a dress or a scarf. She loved things with sentimental value. Things that held a past.

She gently placed her new shawl behind her head. Using the most delicate knot she could imagine, she tied the ends of the cloth loosely around her neck. "How do I look."

Cloudy looked at her, her eyes brightening and a small smile appearing on her face. "You look lovely."

Violet grew giddy. She loved her new gift. She kept trying to look down in order to see the knot she tied and to admire it a little bit more.

"Violet?" Cloudy asked suddenly. Violet quickly looked up to see Cloudy still trying to pout. "Can you open my gift now?"

She glanced at the bigger box that sat innocently at the foot of the bed. It sank into the blue comforter like a stone.

"Um, yeah... sure." She moved the present to her side. The purple ribbon was so innocent, it was mocking. She went through the same process of gently peeling off the tape and pulling the ends of the bow. The brown box looked a little bit more daunting without the lovely wrapping paper. Slowly pulling back the sides, she reveiled to herself a heavy object wrapped in black wrapping paper.

Violet, finally being at her limit, tore off the the paper hastily. The item that was once cocooned in the flimsy material was something that Violet certainly wasn't expecting.

A camera.

"You like it?" Cloudy asked. Violet looked at her with a jolt. Her friends eyes were huge and pleading. They begged for an answer, even if she didn't want to hear it.

Violet looked at the camera that now sat safely in her hooves. It wasn't like the other cameras she's seen. This one was old, vintage, and clearly used. The few and limited cameras that were occasionaly found in the windows of Canterlot were always new, black, shiny models that no pony was ever able to afford without the right connections. And even then, most ponies don't even know how to use them properly. Violet included.

But this one was different. It used film, and was different than the modern magically printed. This camera didn't require a special spell that came in the instruction manual. But the one in Violet's hooves used nothing but light and chemical reactions. She did like her present, if anything she loved it. The presents that she had gotten today, all two of them, were so perfectly her that they were criminal.

"Yes." She said confidently. "I love it."

A smile practically split Cloudy's face in two. Her bright white teeth glowed and shined with so much happiness that it was almost blinding.

"There's more." Cloudy said, pointing a hoof at the not-so-empty box.

Violet levitated the last couple of objects out of the package. Three bottles, and a thick, really big piece of black cloth.

"Those bottles are for developing your photos. The cloth is for you to create a darkroom." Cloudy explained. "I figured you could turn your closet into something you actually want to have."

Violet thought back to all of the empty space that practically consumed her when she entered her closet. The annoying image of storage containers and her mother's old clothes that she couldn't be bothered to donate or simply throw away.

Suddenly, there was a sound from downstairs.

"Girls! Dinner is ready!"

...

Violet got home early, with Cloudy practically stepping on her tail the entire way there. It wasn't haste out of worry, or of fear that her parents would find out about her sneaking off to Cloudy's last night. Instead, it was simply out of excitement, both ponies were eager to get started.

"Okay, so first things first. Lower one of those rods." Cloudy ordered. The construction of Violet's closet always confused her. Shaped like a large 'L', a section of her closet never saw the light of day. Of course, that wasn't enough to make it a dark room. The place needed to be completely pitch black.

Using a little magic, and Cloudy's freakish knowledge of construction, they managed to place the curtain rod in the right spot, sectioning a part off from the rest of the world. It was dark, really dark. So dark that the girls couldn't keep the curtain closed until they installed the portable lamp with a red lightbulb. They set up everything. Trays held the developer, the stop bath, and the fixer. A small timer sat on a tiny shelf, and a tiny clothes line was hung for hanging the pictures to dry.

"Welp." Cloudy said once they were done. "That's it. I wish I could stay, but mama and papa insisted that I be home as soon as possible."

"Hmmm... that's strange. Normally they're not so strict." Violet said.

"I know, but that only proves how urgent it is." She started heading out the door. "I'll see you tomorrow! First thing! We'll meet where we always do, okay?"

Violet nodded. She glanced back at the camera that she and Cloudy had filled to the brim with pictures the night before. "Yeah, I'll see you them."

And Cloudy was gone.

Violet sighed. Her day always seemed gloomier when her friend wasn't around. Like a cloudy of day with no rain, or a night without stars.

With another sigh, she grabbed her new camera, carefuly placed her new shawl underneath her bedroom pillow, and went into her new darkroom.

Carfully going through the process of rolling the film, puting it in the proper container, and letting it develope put her mind at ease. She sighed contently as she placed the film in the slide, used a little bit of magic to shine light through, and watched as the picture showed in the tray of developer. After placing everything in the proper chemicals, she hung each one of them and waited for them to dry.

As she was satisfied the the light woud no longer harm the photos, she peeled back the darkness and winced as the sudden light hit her pupils. Just as she was about to set hoof outside, she saw something beautiful.

A smile.

Cloudy must have taken a picture before she gave her the camera. Staring back at her, was Cloudy's brilliant and glowing smile. Even though it was black and white, it was still beautiful. Suddenly, the gloominess of her day evaporated.

She smiled back.

Comments

[Aqua Drops]

awwwwww that was so cute!