Violet Lace

by DemonAngel13

We are Airborne!

Violet stood in an empty room. Torn and yellowing wallpaper showed signs of decay and neglect, as well as a large broken mirror that was left in shards in the corner. Spiders and mice scuttled and hissed in passing, only to duck into shadows or underneath broken floor boards. A single light bulb was lit above. One light bulb out of twenty. The chandelier was broken, and hanging at a weird angle.

She heard a snap. She spun around to seen nothing but a large wooden door, cracked and worn with age.

"W-who's there?" She asked the cold air. Her voice came out deeper than what she was expecting. She raised her hoof to her throat, only to notice that her legs were larger than normal. Running to the shattered mirror, she saw hundreds of faces show in its fragments. All of those faces were the same face however. The face of a mare, with a lavender coat and a silver mane. Her eyes were grey, but rimmed with an intense looking violet color that shouted out for the world to see. Her face was ragged, and tired looking. Her mane was messy and disheveled.

"Who..." Violet said, placing a hoof on one of the reflections. "are you?"

Violet continued to look down at herself. She was wearing a torn black gown, with sequins and beads hanging on by torn threads. The long train of the dress was completely frayed, and leaves and dirt were thoroughly caked into its many strings. One shoulder was torn, and the other was completely gone.

"Hehehe...." A chuckle seeped through the decaying walls.

"Who's there?!" Violet shouted. She quickly whirled around again, only to become face to face with a horrid smile. A scarlet red mane, a color that reminded Violet of blood and gore, framed her face. Her coat was the color of ashes, and her eyes were as black as a void. Around her neck was a blood red crystal that hung on a worn leather chain. It glowed, and seemed as though it could burn flesh.

"Hello..." She said. Her voice sparked a sense of familiarity, but Violet couldn't place it. She was too busy shaking with fear. "You called?" The mare's breath reeked of something vile.

"Oh..." She crooned. "Come on now... I know we never got along, but I expect some sort of courtesy." Her greasy red bangs hung over her eyes in a joking manner. "Repeat after me, my little moon stone..." She took a breath. "'Hello!'" The mare shouted in Violet's face. It seemed as though this mare's vocal cords had the ability to cut diamond.

"Hmph." She huffed. She backed away to flip her mane out of her eyes. The action looked strangely casual and normal given her appearance. "I see how it is." She wrinkled her nose as though she smelled something awful. "I knew you wouldn't respect me, not even at your end. That's exactly the pony you are..."

The mare pulled something out of her pack. Violet had never realized she even had a bag. It was as though it materialized into thin air. In her hoof, was a strange ball of ooze.

"W-what is that?" Violet asked, looking at the thing with pure terror.

The mare chuckled. "Going to play dumb, are we... What? You think that will make me show mercy?" Violet watched as the ball of ooze twitched and moved. It took everything she had not to collapse onto the dirty floor when she saw eyes sprout, as well as a pair of wings. Its entire body seemed to be a mouth, completely filled with teeth and a sickening yellow slime. Two long fangs protruded out of its lips, sharp and deadly.

The mare laughed again. "I can't believe, after all these years, it's finally happened!" The little thing started to fly. It bobbed up and down, its wings being small for its heavy jelly like body. "Took long enough..."

The thing attacked. Violet ducked and closed her eyes like a coward. The room was deadly silent.

"That is not how a proud lunar pony is supposed to act." A new voice echoed around the room. It held so much power, so much strength, that Violet couldn't help but cower lower. She opened her eyes, and found that she was no longer in the filthy room with dirt covered floorboards and rotting wooden walls. Instead, she was in a small field. The grass held a silver sheen, and cool mist drifted and floated over the place like a lonely runaway cloud. The full moon shined brightly above her, providing her with as much light as though it were day.

"Are you alright?" The voice asked. Violet looked around, there was nopony to be seen.

"You look in vain, Violet Lace." The voice explained. "I am not there. At least, not yet."

"Not there?" Violet asked. She was growing more confused by the second. "What do you mean by-"

"My essence is with you, as it has always been." The voice simply answered, if Violet could even call that an answer to begin with. "Tragically, my physical form has been lost, as well as my mind."

"Your mind?" Violet grew frightened. Was this some way of her self realizing that she was crazy? Had her talent finally done it? Did she drive herself mad?

"You... were not supposed to witness what you did... It seems as though some of the clairvoyant abilities have passed down." The voice continued to say, only making things worse.

"I'm sorry, Violet." The voice said. "I'm afraid that I'm going to use the last of my strength in order to wipe your memory."

"W-what?!" Violet sunk down into the grass, trying to get as low as possible.

"Don't worry, moonstone." The voice was now comforting. "It shall not hurt. My memory shall be wiped as well, a long with my last shred of essence. This memory will not return along with my physical form."

"What your saying doesn't make any sense!" Violet shrieked. She was afraid, and beyond reason. "What is happening? How can you say the 'memory will not return', if we just made it?! How can you be talking to me without a mind?"

"Time is a confusing thing..." The voice seemed to chuckle. "You'll understand, depending on the choice you make."

...

"Violet!" Cloudy screamed.

Violet sat up in bed, startled out of her own skin. Her mane was wild and ragged with curls and frizz, and her shoulder ached from whens she slept on it awkwardly.

"Violet, for the love of Celestia, wake up!" Cloudy screamed at her. "Fancy Pants' air ship leaves in an hour!" Cloudy jumped onto Violet's bed and started to jump. "With all that mumbling you did last night, I figured you would be more excited!"

"Mu-Ah!" Violet was shot into the air by Cloudy's jumping. "Mumbles? Wha-ah!" She was flung off the side of the bed, and landed harshly on her hooves.

"Sorry!" Cloudy quickly jumped off the bed to help her. "It's just... you were talking a lot in your sleep. I figured you were having happy dreams about today!" She shot Violet a bright smile.

"I..." Violet racked her brain for any memories of her dream last night. She came up completely blank. "I don't remember. I guess if I was loud enough to wake you up, I must have been having some intense dreams..."

"I knew it!" Cloudy said. She jumped for joy. "Well, come on!" She ran to their closet. "We need to finish packing!" She then sprinted around her side of the room, gathering her bed sheets, clothes and what seemed to be half of the furniture and miraculously shoving it into her bag. Violet simply blinked, and smiled at Cloudy's charming enthusiasm. She had gotten used to her... abilities, what with living with her for a few weeks. If anything, this was tame.

"Alright, alright." Violet said, pulling her bag out from under her bed. "Are mom and dad packed?"

"Yep!" Cloudy leapt onto her bed, and sat on it as though it was a perch. "Dad wasn't going to miss an opportunity to dig up some history on the place where we're going. Apparently, there's a bunch of legends and stories from that place and a bunch of awesome history. He packed both his and mom's bag last night, before he went to bed." She looked down at her, her face sprouting a serious expression. "You're the only one who hasn't finished."

"Oooh... Kay." She said, clearly getting the message. "I'll go do that." She started gathering her things.

"Awesome!" Cloudy smiled. "I'll go get you some breakfast." She skipped out of the room.

Violet did what she said she would. She packed what few clothes she had into a large purple suitcase that her dad managed to scavenge out of the attic (shocking!). Her shawl, which she only took off when she went to bed, was firmly wrapped around her neck and shoulders. She loaded her back with her toothbrush, manebrush, and the rest of the products her mom had managed to get her over her short time of living there. Secretly, Violet loved what the products did to her mane and complexion. Not because she wanted attention, but because the feeling of having a soft coat and slipping into soft lace sheets was one of the nicest feelings she's currently ever felt. Along with the soft whispers her mane gave her when it brushed against her face. Plus, there was always a sense of accomplishment that came with getting dressed up. Of course, she'd never admit this out loud.

Once her bag was stuffed with her essentials, Cloudy walked into their room with a plate of pancakes and fried Swiss chard strips with cheese.

"You ready to go?" She asked, putting the plate down on her bedside table.

"As done as I'll ever be." Violet said, admiring her work. The bag sat innocently, surrounded by a clean, and frighteningly bare bed, and empty chests.

"You're not going to bring any books?" Cloudy asked, looking at the bookshelf. All of the shelves were full.

"I can't touch most of them, remember?" Violet said, looking at her shelves. "My magic doesn't work on them, and they float away if I try to grab them with my hooves."

"Oh yeah." Cloudy said, recalling her own incident with her script the night prior. She went to grab it casually, like she had done every night for the past few weeks to study her lines. With her enthusiasm, and assumed speed, the spell had overreacted, and flung the papers across the room, smack dab into their mother's face and a plate of cookies she just prepared. Nopony was angry, but they threw away the script after that. The cookies survived, for the most part. Everypony kind of focused on that topic for the rest of the night.

"Plus, I'm sure Satin has things to read." Violet wrinkled her nose. "Even if it isn't my usual material."

Cloudy grunted in agreement. "I guess. And, I bet it's going to be so fun, that you won't even have time to read!"

"I... wouldn't go that far." She turned around to pick up her stuff. There was a moment of silence as both girls gathered their things and moved them by the door. Their parents would pick them up, and take them to the air ship when everypony was here.

"Hey... Violet?" Cloudy said, after everything was settled. "Why don't you take that book?" She pointed under Violet's desk. The book that Violet had never managed to open was sitting silently on the floor. "You never opened it, so you should be fine."

"Just because I didn't open it, doesn't mean that the spell wont work." Violet timidly tried to reach for the book. Surprisingly, the book practically gravitated towards her hoof. She still didn't know how to open it though.

"Well, there you go!" Cloudy said, seeing the book in Violet's hooves. "Now you have something to read." She peered at the books seal. "A pair of scissors should handle that, if we become desperate."

Violet was about to open her mouth to say something, when her mother wandered into the room, her mane down in golden curls, and a pair of sunglasses shielding her pretty eyes from view. She told the girls to get to the living room, they would be leaving soon. All of them sat on the couch, eager to get started with there mini-vacation. Apparently, Mr. Parch had become good friends with Fancy Pants over the past month or so. There were many situations where he would come home with the stallion by his side. They would be deep in conversation, whether it be about history, family matters, magical robotics, or what have you. Fancy Pants would say hi to Mrs. Sugar, greet the girls with a warm smile, and leave saying that he wished to see them again soon.

"It's been a while since I've been by the ocean." Mrs. Sugar said wistfully. "That was back when I still lived like a gypsy, letting the wind take me by my mane and drag me wherever it wished." She sighed. "I can't really say I've missed it until now."

"I wished you would tell us more about your nomad-esque days." Mr. Parch leaned back in the couch. "But, if memories serve me right, you 'barely remember any of it.'"

"Yellow!" Mrs. Sugar shouted. She looked towards the girls and blushed. "Now girls-that was... Those were days when..."

Violet watched as her mother grew more and more flustered. Though she knew what she was talking about, she kept her face blank and innocent, similar to Cloudy's. She was too busy being lost in thought to think about her guardian in that way, not that that was a big deal to begin with. She was thinking about that book. It was clearly a spell book. It had the large word 'Grimoire' on the cover in silver. If that wasn't a spell book, Violet had every right to question the universe. She wanted to open it so badly, now that she was thinking about it. But Violet felt uncomfortable about Cloudy's suggestion of using scissors. If anything, she felt slightly insulted.

"Hello. Hello!" A familiar voice resonated from the door. Fancy Pants let himself in. "I hope everypony is ready and packed. The balloon can only hold so much air for so long." After that, they were off. The family was quickly pushed towards the air ship docks that were located a small amount of trotting distance from the house. Both Violet and Cloudy's mouths hung open at the sight of the large balloon. It was huge! Of course, it had to be big, what with it holding a large ship for a base.

"How did you ever manage this?" Violet's father asked in awe.

"It was my father's." Fancy Pants answered, smiling proudly. "I only let it out on special occasions." He lowered his head to whisper to the girls. "Satin is already inside, if you want to see her." Leaning even closer, and whispering even quieter. "And I snuck some extra cupcakes into your rooms, as well as some sodas for you, Violet."

Both girls smiled and started running towards the ship. It was easy to figure out where to go. The staff was eager to cater to them and show them the way. Satin was also waiting in the sitting room.

"You're here!" She said when she first saw them. She ran to them and they all had a big group hug. "I'm so glad you guys could come."

"This is going to be so awesome!" Cloudy said with glee. "When do we first see the ocean?"

"Tomorrow morning." Satin answered, knowing the question was coming. She looked at them. "You two look good."

Violet looked down at her outfit. She was wearing her shawl, of course, but she let the ends dangle down her left side, almost reaching the floor. Her mane was done up in a Prench braid, and her tail was gathered into a messy but quirky bun. Cloudy was dressed in a similar manner, with her mane down and her tail perky and girly. She had wanted to dress up for the occasion, and slightly forced Violet to do the same. Not that Violet needed much convincing.

"Thanks." Violet said in return. "You look good as well." Satin was wearing a different version of her white scarf. It was more of a ascot than anything, with its ends pointed and stiff. A pair of white rimmed sunglasses was balanced between her ears and in front of her horn. Her mane was in braids, both of them perfectly symmetrical and framing both sides of her face. With a gentle sniff to the air, Violet could also smell the faint hint of coconut and pineapple.

"Thanks." Satin said. "You want me to show you around?"

"Yes!" Cloudy said, jumping high. At last, she was going to see the ocean, and all of her excitement that had built up over the day was being released. If Satin and Violet hadn't already been used to Cloudy's behavior, they would probably be the first to call her insane.

Satin showed them around the ship. It was old, and a few places were noticeably updated with modern technology, while others were carefully preserved. An old family crest, carved in old wood hung next to a large monitor. Chic curtains were covering antique steel window coverings. A large, and possibly dangerous, chandelier was hanging above a freshly polished wooden floor. Vases decorated ever hallway, along with pictures of Satin as a foal, and Fancy pants as a young stallion. A few other pictures were there as well, but they held ponies that Violet didn't recognize.

"Hey, Violet! Look!" Cloudy shouted, pointing at one of them. "That pony looks like you!"

Cloudy was right, in a way. The picture was that of a stallion, with a navy blue mane and gray coat, standing next to a mare with a lilac coat and a silver mane. They both smiled brightly for the camera. The mare did have a strong resemblance to Violet, what with their similar colors. But that was the only thing that was the same. The mare in the picture was wearing a beautiful white gown, and her long mane, though braided, was almost grazing the floor. In the background, there were more ponies, dancing and having fun in similar outfits.

"That's my great grandfather." Satin said as the two were staring at the picture. "He's the one who founded my father's company."

"Who's the mare?" Violet asked.

Satin hummed, thinking. "Nopony knows. She gave him the greatest advice of his life. If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't be standing here, in this boat." She readjusted her sunglasses that were sliding down her face. "They took that picture after that. It was in some big party in Prance, I think."

"How nice." Cloudy said, already getting bored and looking at the other stuff. "Can we see our rooms?"

"Oh!" Satin quickly got back on track. "Of course, this way."

Satin lead the girls to their rooms. Of course, given the extravagance of the ship, both girls got their own rooms. They both looked identical, with white furniture and blue decorations. The rooms themselves were small, with tiny bathrooms and single one-pony beds. Fancy Pants was true to his word, and had a few extra boxes of soda in Violet's room, next to the dresser, and an extra platter of blue cupcakes in Cloudy's room, on her bedside table.

"We can have an awesome slumber party!" Cloudy said, seeing the yummy treats by her tiny bed.

Both girls sat in Satin's room for the next few minutes. It was warmer, as far as atmosphere went. One could easily tell that Satin's room was 'Satin's room'. Two book shelves, all filled with books on birds and weather patterns. Some were random topics like robotic engineering and mechanics. Violet could've also sworn that she saw a book on cloning.

"Girls!" Fancy Pants called from down the hall. "We have lift-off!"

Suddenly, the entire room shook. It was only for an instant. But vases wobbled and the few pieces of jewelry in Satin's closet clinked and clattered delicately against each other. It felt strange. Violet figured it would be like being on an actual boat, with bobbing and rhythmic swaying. Instead, it was as though she was standing on padding. It didn't make sense. The floor underneath her was hard, and would clack under her hooves when she walked. But she couldn't shake the feeling as though she were up in the air, hovering and weightless.

"Do you feel that?" She asked Cloudy.

"Feel what?" Cloudy said, tilting her head to the side. "The boat shaking? That was so cool, wasn't it?!"

"No, no..." Violet furrowed her brow. "The weightlessness."

"Um... no." Cloudy said, pouting her lip. "I'm sure you'll get used to it. If you get sick, I'm sure our parents will handle it."

"Uh... yeah." Violet said, biting her lip and not knowing what else to do. "Your right. I just need to adjust."

With that, the trip to the beach went swimmingly. The one night they spent traveling was filled with the girls doing nothing but drinking soda and eating cupcakes and talking. They all eventually fell asleep on Satin's plush carpet, only to wake up in their own rooms. Their parents had tucked them in, not wanting their first steps on solid ground to be filled with sore muscles and achy joints.

"We're here!" Fancy Pants said once they reached mid-afternoon.

Wow!" Cloudy said as she looked out the window.

"Would you look at that!"

Comments

[DemonAngel13]

6987790
Congratulations! Here! You get a cookie!

[Akernis]

And we start of with an excellent atmosphere, this should be good :)
Well, this is intriguing, Crimson's work I take it... but who is this? Luna perhaps. Lunar pony, clairvoyance, and passed down? so maybe not Crimson afteral. Well, the plot thickens. My, my, that was quite the experience. Nicely done, revealing little enough to hook the reader for potential answers.
And Cloudy is her usual beaming exuberance XD
Heh, I am still not used to them mentioning Satin so casually. It'll come.
Oh I love that I can practically read all of Fancy Pant's lines in his voice, really make this part of the story come alive.
*sees the fillies group hug* Awww
'Pranch braid' - Nice, when I catch them I do love puns.
That is one awesome airship... I want one.
Hmm, cloning doesn't exactly seem like an Equestrian field of science. But then again with ponies like Dr. Hooves it might just be isolated ideas rather than broad field of science.
Nice chapter, quiet (save from the dream) and a nice way to transition between Canterlot and the beach where I presume the next little part of the story will take place.