Violet Lace

by DemonAngel13

Satin ties and Ruby shards.

An old pegasus was laying in a bed with white sheets. The sheets themselves were pressed, and clean. The bed groaned with each breath that the pegasus took. Moonlight streamed through the window, and caused the withered red feathers that were scattered on the ground to glisten slightly.

"She doesn't have much time..." She heard her nurse whisper from the other side of the curtain. "Though she hasn't lived a long life... it was a life filled with many stressed and lonely nights... she has had her time."

The other pony nodded, before the two of them retreated out the door.

Red Star sighed. The nurse was wrong. She had a long life, a brutally long life. A life that, now seemed to have lasted eternity. Looking back on her choices, she would change only one.

Tears started to trail down her wrinkled and leathery cheeks. Her frail and weak chest was suddenly crushed by loneliness. She was so alone. She had made the wrong choice. She chose the incorrect path, and was facing the punishment for it. Her life shortened, and her heart cold and unforgiving. It seemed like only yesterday when she was having fun, playing in the clouds and cheering for no reason other than the fact that she was enjoying herself. Where did that go? Just because she...

She sighed again. This time, the breath was hard to push out of her lungs.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her old uniform. Dark blue and purple, with medals and pins adorning its front. She was a navigator for the lunar district. Her nights and many mornings were spent drawing star maps and finding passageways for air ships and war balloons. She was the reason for Equestria expanding from the arctic north, all the way down to the sea. If it wasn't for her, the entire Equestrian army would be lost. Parts of the land would still be covered in the aftermath of the chaos that Discord had brought upon the world. She... lived to her full potential.

But, even with all of those accomplishments, she still didn't feel complete. A hole was where her chest should be. Not just her heart was missing, but her entire being had been replaced at the realization of what she had lost.

She turned her head, taking one last breath for the energy, and let her eyes fix on a painting. It was small, and not very detailed. But it was the last thing she had that reminded her of those days when she had a chance to choose otherwise. Everything was focused on that single image. She closed her eyes, and thought about the time of when the picture was painted.

She stopped breathing. The room went silent. A bouquet of blue lilies on the window sill started to wilt.

...

Violet squinted her eyes as the bright white sun reflected off of the white décor of the garden. White table clothes, white flowers, white lanterns, and white everything else was scattered throughout Fancy Pants' large lawn.

"How..." Mr. Parch trailed off, trying to find the right word.

"Elegant, dear." Mrs. Sugar finished for him.

"It seems as though we use that world a lot." Mr. Parch lowered his ears in an awkward sort of manner.

Violet looked around, nervously scanning her tongue over her teeth again for what seemed to be the millionth time. The points were still there, and she still hadn't figured out how to get them to go away.

"This place is so nice!" Cloudy said, skipping to stand next to her. "I mean, it's no rainy Saturday or anything, but it looks like something out of a magazine."

"Mmm hm." Violet said, keeping her mouth firmly shut.

"Oh, come on Violet. Everypony here has their face so squinched that they might as well have their eyes closed. I swear to Celestia, it's like they finally smelled that horrible perfume that's causing the weather patrol down in Phillydelphia to sneeze! Nopony is going to notice your fangs."

"These ponies notice details, Cloudy." Violet mumbled. "It's the only thing they can do, other than spread lies and gossip."

"Whatever." Cloudy shrugged. "Keep your mouth closed if you want. Clearly it makes you uncomfortable, so I wont push it."

"Thanks." She mumbled again. She smiled.

"Come on, let's go see if we can get something to drink." She hooked one of her legs around Violet's. "Mom's a great cook and all, but drinks aren't necessarily on her mind when she gets like that."

"I would like that." Violet motioned her head to cover part of her face with her mane. She would rather the older ponies think of her as a rebellious youth than a blood drinking monster.

They started trotting to the buffet table. It was piled high with warm sandwiches, pastries, and cakes. Mellon balls and fruits caused it to be the brightest and most colorful thing in the entire garden. Even the punch was a dark and intense red. Violet tried not to think about the situation of her drinking it, while also having fangs and the senses of an actual vampire pony. Though, she couldn't help but chuckle to herself. She was even tempted to leave a drop trailing down her chin, even if it was just for the sake of making Cloudy laugh.

"This stuff looks tasty!" Cloudy said, admiring the cream puff display. "Fancy Pants really knows how to throw parties."

"Too bad he doesn't know how to keep away unwanted guests." A voice squawked.

Violet went through the all too common motion of spinning around, and seeing Shimmering's pompous face. Though her smile was calculatingly serene and demure, her eyes told Violet of a rather disturbing amount of anger.

"We were requested." Cloudy said, oddly calm. Violet realized, with a small burst of glee, that she wasn't entirely bothered by Shimmering's presence either. Sure, she was annoyed slightly, and the sight of her in her dress (especially with Violet's temporarily enhanced vision) caused her head to ache. But other than that, she didn't feel anything. It was nice.

"You?" Shimmering asked, a smug grin splitting her face in two. "I doubt that. You two talentless hacks?"

"Talentless?" Cloudy interjected before Shimmering could get another word in. "That insult never worked. And even if it did, it's completely useless now."

"What?" Shimmering gasped, her mouth hung open in shock.

"That's right." Cloudy puffed her chest out in pride. "We both got our cutie marks."

"What? No... that's-" Shimmering was at a complete loss for words. She took a moment, and the smug smile returned. "Show me." She scoffed. "You guys are horrible liars."

Both Violet and Cloudy lifted their skirts with confidence. The look on Shimmering's face was priceless. Her friends, who were standing behind her and nodding at her remarks, looked at the girls flanks with interest.

"That's so cool!" A grey pegasus colt said.

"Wow! What do they mean?" A bright orange unicorn filly asked.

"How do you feel about them?" A meek and tiny voice trailed after the other questions in desperate attempt to be heard.

"It's our cutie marks." Cloudy answered simply. It took all of Violet's will power not to smile and reveal her fangs. "We love them, of course. We wouldn't be ourselves without them."

The white unicorn filly, who Violet recognized as Fancy Pants' daughter, Satin Scarf, didn't look satisfied. It was only a brief glimpse, but Violet could have sworn that the quiet little pony had made a face that... said more, than the average filly her age. Then it was gone as soon as Shimmering turned her head to glare at them. It was as though the look didn't even exist.

"What kind of talents are those?" Shimmering spat. "Like, what are you?!" She pointed at Violet. "A bat herder, or something?"

Violet felt a wave of confusion. What? She thought. She stared back at her cutie mark, and saw with a sudden rush of shock, that her feather had changed into the shape of a bat. Its white shape standing clear against the black heart. She looked forward, her face stoic. and saw that Cloudy too was surprised. Her friend hid it well, obviously, with her confident acting abilities.

"... Strange." Satin said, her voice nothing but a squeak. "I figured it would be writing. I remember when you wrote that story... about the tiny dragon and a... pearl?"

"It... was more of an 'orb'... but close enough." Violet remembered that story as well. She remembered getting questioned about it by Satin a few years ago.

Suddenly, the entire world seemed to zoom out. Her vision became less clear, and her senses seemed to become less focused and precise. It was sad, she was almost starting to appreciate the feeling. Once she had her talent under control, she had to transform into the vampire pony again... and, maybe give her a name while she was at it.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Violet said, letting her voice reach the back of her group of friends. "What about my cutie mark makes you think about bats?" Violet angled her flank to show that her cutie mark no longer held the image of a bat, but now held her usual image of a feather outline. Once her body was angled however, her stomach lurched. Her body started to sweat, and an uncomfortable headache started to form in her temples. Granted, it wasn't nearly as bad as the previous encounter with her cutie mark exhaustion, but it was still significant. She swallowed, and fought through the bout of nausea. Her legs wobbled slightly.

"Wha...what?" Shimmering stuttered again. "I saw... you must have tricked me. I know what I saw."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Cloudy brushed away Shimmering's glare like dust. "My special talent is acting. Violet's is-"

"A special type of writing." She finished. Cloudy shot her a confused look.

"That's awesome!" The crowd started to shout again.

"Does that mean you're going to be a famous movie star, Cloudy?" A chubby unicorn in the front asked.

"I don't know." She answered. "I just have to see where it takes me."

The crowd 'aaahed' her response. Violet found herself rolling her eyes. Once her pupils ended their journey, they focused on Satin again. She was staring at the two of them, with a lost look in her eyes. They were squinted, as though was trying to focus on something that wasn't there. Violet glanced at Cloudy, thinking that maybe a bird had landed on her head or something along those lines.

Shimmering, like always, began to take center stage again. Her irises were the size of pinpoints, and her face was contorted into a hideous snarl. It only lasted an instant, what with a Canterlot pony like her not wanting to make such a face in public. But it lasted long enough for Violet's confidence be replaced with legitimate fear.

It wasn't a fear that she had before. She wasn't afraid of getting mocked or made fun of, if she ever was afraid of that to begin with. She was afraid of getting hurt. Physically and mentally hurt. And even more so, she was afraid of others getting hurt as well.

Shimmering, now sporting a delicate smile, sauntered off to the other end of the garden. Violet watched her leave, her eyes wary.

"What's wrong?" Cloudy asked. "Are you changing again?"

There was a pause. "I want you to stay as far away from Shimmering as you can." She whispered. Cloudy's eyes widened.

"Don't worry, Violet." She said, misunderstanding. "Now that we have our marks, she shouldn't-"

"Stay away from her." She said again, her voice holding firm. "She seems... unstable. I worried about her... or, more likely, I'm worried about what she will do if we keep agitating her like this."

"What do you mean?" Cloudy's voice started to show nervousness. "You don't think she could actually harm us, could she? I mean, she's our age... and a Canterlot pony at that. Though I haven't known her as long as you, I know that she wouldn't make a scene like that."

Violet wasn't too sure. "The thing is about Canterlot ponies, some of them get special privileges... and she's one of them."

"That doesn't mean that she can just-"

Violet shot her a look, making her nervous appearance give way to a brief look of fear.

"We should tell my parents." She said, rethinking. Violet agreed. However, no matter how much they searched, they couldn't find Mrs. Sugar's golden mane reflecting the sun, or Mr. Parch's charmingly awkward smirk in the ever growing crowd.

While searching, the two girls ran into the very stallion who asked for their visit in the first place. Fancy Pants was busy greeting guests, but his smile warmed to that of a relieved friend when he saw Violet practically glowing.

"Miss Lace! I'm so glad you've recovered." He smiled and levitated a cup of punch toward her. She took it. "I assume a good night's rest was all that was needed."

She took a sip of the fruity punch. "It's a touch more complicated than that, but that's the gist I suppose. Thank you for your concern."

He smiled again. "I'm very happy that you were able to join me on my second event. It truly is a delight to have you." His gazed wandered to over the girl's heads. "And I see my daughter has made your acquaintance as well?"

Violet and Cloudy turned their heads to see Satin Scarf looking at them, and quietly standing a few paces away. She blushed like mad, causing a light pink tinge to color her bright white cheeks. She buried her nose in her scarf, embarrassed.

"Hi!" Cloudy said. "Is there something you want to say?"

"Um... hi." She whispered back. "I... was hoping the two of you would like to... join me in... my room?"

"Oh... sure." Violet answered. She had to admit, she was pretty cute. Her eyes trailed down from her blushing cheeks to her scarf. Violet felt anger boil in her stomach as she realized that it was the same scarf that Shimmering had given to Fancy Pants.

"That's sounds delightful." Fancy Pants expressed. "I'll be sure to send up some snacks for the three of you."

The two girls trailed after Satin down long corridors and hallways. Each piece of wall between the doors of Fancy Pants' estate was marked by a painting of a family member, most of them with white coats or blue manes. Though, Violet did find the occasional odd one out, and found that she admired those paintings a little bit more than the others. If Violet were to discuss the good things about Fancy Pants, and there's a lot, she would surely bring up his exquisite interior designing abilities. Everything matched, and was clearly from the more expensive side of Equestria. But, the entire house itself seemed to conjure up the feeling of warmth and love with the colors of creams and yellows and whites. A smile formed on Violet's face when she saw a framed picture of a filly's drawing on the wall, and then again when she saw a picture of him and Satin sitting on a bench in some park.

"Your house is pretty." Cloudy commented.

"Thanks." Satin whispered, another blush forming on the apples of her cheeks.

Once the three of them reached the end of the hallway, and faced a large wooden door, Violet had seen enough of the house to feel practically like family.

"Satin, dear, do you think this hat goes with my mane?" A voice asked from another room. A bright pink and white unicorn walked into the hallway. She was tall, and very beautiful. Her mane curled elegantly around her horn, and her bright white coat was freshly cleaned and smelled like cherry blossoms.

"Oh... sorry." She said, realizing the other two fillies were there. "I didn't know I was interrupting something."

"Don't worry." Cloudy said with a smile. "I think you look very pretty."

"Oh, well thank you!" The unicorn said as she fluffed up her mane. "It's always great to get a second opinion. What do you think, Satin, dear?"

"I think you look nice." She said with a small smile. The unicorn, satisfied, smiled and began walking into the direction of the party.

Satin quickly opened the large door to her bedroom and welcomed the girls inside.

Her room was rather plain, with cream and white walls and flooring. Her curtains were a mulberry color, and her bed was a nice looking blue. She had a bookcase, which Violet could always appreciate, and a circular, freakishly fluffy, white rug that Violet knew Cloudy could appreciate. A bright light shine down from above, emanating from a white dome shape that hung from the ceiling. Overall, the room looked nice, but it wasn't screaming 'high society', like Violet had imagined.

"Your mom is very beautiful." Violet said, once she was finished looking around.

"Hm?" Satin gave her a questioning look. Her eyes lit up with realization. "Oh, Fleur? She's not my mom. She and my dad have been dating for a while. She just moved in." She walked over to the center of her rug. "You're right, she is very pretty."

"She's not?" Violet said. A light blush tinged her cheeks in embarrassment. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Satin said, waving off her apology with a wave of her hoof. "My mother was a pegasus from Las Pegasus. She passed away a year after I was born."

"I'm so sorry!" Cloudy said, her eyes filling with emotion. Violet's embarrassment rose to critical levels, and her light tinge turned into a heavy hue of red.

Satin merely chuckled. "Don't worry, really!" She shifted her weight on the rug. Violet saw that look again. There was a spark in her bright green eyes that caused her expression to switch from innocent to pondering. It was very subtle, but brutally noticeable considering ponies that surrounded her and contrasted.

Violet glanced down. For as long as she could remember, Satin had always worn her scarf around her neck. She wasn't wearing it now, that was for sure. She took it off as soon as she entered her bedroom. Her gaze traveled down farther. Her cutie mark was always partially covered by a stray lock of her tail.

"Um..." Satin said, her high voice surprisingly loud. She flinched at the sound of her own voice. "Sorry!" She whispered. "I wanted to talk to you two about something."

"What do you want to talk about?" Cloudy asked, her eyes innocent. Violet was suddenly filled with curiosity. Not for what Satin was saying, but for what her special talent was. The bookshelf, staring at Violet from the other side of the room, was filled with thick spines and leather binding. The books were different than the novels that Violet would read. These were bigger, and more informative looking.

She then tried something she had never tried before; forced embodiment. Violet wasn't stupid, her ego allowed herself to have confidence in that statement. She was capable of figuring out by now that her changes from herself to a character were caused by memories or imagining herself as said character in a situation that seemed to demand it. The only problem was, she was virtually at her limit as it was. Even while sitting on the carpet, barely moving, a headache was starting to pound in her ears and her legs were trembling with fatigue. Was she really that reckless as to change again, simply for the sake of appeasing her curiosity?

Yes. Yes, she was.

She tried multiple attempts to embody her characters. All but one failed. It startled Violet to know that there was still so much to learn about her talent, if she could even call it that. White rose was seemingly pointless, but Violet figured she was the easiest to embody given the fact that she was the most developed character she had written. So, when a horrible feeling appeared in her stomach as she tried to shift into Rose's mindset, Violet was startled and had to bite her tongue to not gasp in shock. Sea Strike ended with the same result, along with several of the characters that she had not embodied as of yet.

It wasn't until she thought about the vampire pony that she transformed into earlier that day. She had to admit, it seemed the most logical. She could have enhanced vision, and read the spines of the books even from this distance. But she figured that her body wasn't really willing to allow another transformation of the same accord in one day. She was wrong.

Violet heard the voice, low, gravely and seductive, and a situation similar to what happened that morning occurred. Violet ground her now pointed teeth, trying not to react and arouse suspicion from the two other fillies in the room.

Hooves on Mental Studies was the first title in the large row of books that made up the first shelf. It was followed by other spines that read similar titles. Pony brains vs. Griffin brains: feathered or furred, does it make a difference?, A ponies guide to everything Mental and Emotional, Disorders: what are the signs!, The pony brain, inside and out: an biography of Ivan Ponylov. Violet's eyes kept scanning over the books. One after another, everything Violet could ever know about the brain and its capabilities was wedged between two pieces of cherry wood. The next shelf held books on mathematics, a course even Violet struggled with. After that, history. Then philosophy. The last shelf was partially empty, and held books on what looked to be archeology.

It became abundantly clear that Satin was no ordinary pony.

"I'm worried... I know we just met, but I would hate for the tyranny to spread in ways that... aren't negotiable, or ideal."

Violet snapped back into the conversation. She realized that she had barely heard a thing her new acquaintance had said. Cloudy saw Violet's expression, and quickly started taking action.

"So, you're saying that you're afraid of Shimmering hurting the both of us?" She asked, clearly knowing the answer. Violet shot her a grateful glance. She couldn't help but feel that Cloudy's special talent was more useful than her own. But then she remembered the fact that she just acquired super vision, and the thought burned to flames in her head.

Satin's eyes lowered to stare at the fluffy stings of carpet between her hooves. "I've never seen her try to harm anypony, at least not in a physical way." She stared into Violet's eyes nervously, her gaze flickering downward every few seconds. "But know it seems as though she's realized that she's run out of options to... 'put you back in your places'."

"Is that what she said?" Violet asked. Her voice came out slightly different, what with the growth in teeth. Violet felt the sensation of spiders crawling along her coat, as she realized with dread that, chances are, Satin saw the fangs. Now, equipped with the knowledge of Satin's intellect, she was sure that the pony in front of her could put the pieces together that something was off.

She saw her eyes flicker to Violet's mouth, and her assumption was confirmed. There was a long pause.

"I heard her mumbling as she walked away from you two, in the backyard." She said, looking Violet in the eye. "Violet, do you remember when we were finishing our last lesson for the first semester, when Cloudy nearly fell out of her chair?"

"Y-yes...?" Violet was startled at the sudden random question. "I... do."

Violet felt shock as her senses were suddenly pulled back, and her teeth regressed back to their original form. She saw Satin make a face, as though she saw everything and understood everything that was going on.

At this moment, it wouldn't shock Violet if that was the case.

Comments

[Akernis]

Aww, from the little story of last chapter, I liked Red Star. Hmm, wonder if this is not one of Violet's stories, but connected to the story of Scribbles and Luna... the 'wrong choice' could be supporting Luna's faction, or even Luna herself, towards the point when she went Nightmare Moon. Theorycrafting for future chapters :D
Ahem, Shimmering, allow me to comment here... HA! In your face! Ah, that felt good.
Yes! Satin Scarf is introduced. Glad to see more of the other children as well. Satin is interesting, quite the perceptive filly. Hmm, never seen a Mark actually change before. Well, except for Fluttershy's turning into bats, I guess bats don't make for very stable Cutie Marks.
That was an foreboding scene with Shimmering, something is definitely afoot.
Fancy Pant's house is very lovely. I like that description. And the Dynamic between the two friends and Satin is intriguing, wonder what she wants.
Yeah, Fleur de Lis. I like her.
Oh, a clever filly Satin certainly is, that is for sure. "Smarter than she looks" might be a bit of an understatement.
I do like how well Cloudy is developing her talents.
What? No! That is a way too good place to just end. Dammit... I will just have wait for next time.
Those were two very good chapters. Lots of excellent characterisations. And we seem to be moving into the next phase of the story, so to speak.