Violet Lace

by DemonAngel13

A Deadly Scar

Luna stirred. When she opened her eyes, she had a brief moment of panic before recognizing her new bedroom. A feeling of deep sorrow that she couldn't scrub away from the bottom of her being became noticeable, and she had to swallow to keep it down.

"You're awake." A voice resonated from one of the bedroom's many doorways. An aching pain appeared in Luna's heart, and the memory of an old face flashed in her mind. She, without thinking, covered her ears with her hooves and curled up in her bedspread. She only had a split second to recover, realize that she was incorrect, and straighten her spine.

"Good evening, Miss Lace." She said in her royal Canterlot voice. The young mare flinched as she entered her room.

"G-Good evening, Princess Luna." Violet stuttered. "I... um... sent the letter. The spell you suggested worked."

"We hope it wasn't too much trouble." Luna elegantly got out of bed and straightened her bed sheets. "We could've woken up and had one of our many messengers send the letter for you."

"No, no..." Violet tucked a lock of mane behind her ear. "I wanted to send it. It's fine, Princess Luna."

Luna grunted. "We are glad that you are growing more comfortable." She sensed that the young mare was less tense and was breathing easier. "Since it is nightfall, we should be more capable of handling our duties. Would you like for us to show you your room?"

"I..." Violet felt hollow. Sending the letter had drained her, and all she wanted was sleep. All she wanted was to curl up and never show her vulnerable belly to the world again. "Yes. Please do, Princess." The only thing she could do now was accept everything and do what she was told.

The two of them walked into the hallway. Now that Violet wasn't ducking behind curtains and trying to avoid the eye of staff, she had the ability to admire the elegant and enchanting décor. Not that she was in the mood.

"We noticed that you are calling us Princess now," Luna said with her eyes facing forward. "Did the time-pony tell you?"

Violet looked at Luna, who had lost her cloak and was now showing her wings and horn. She remembered the realization came before when they entered Luna's bedroom, which was place in Canterlot castle, home of the royal family.

"Um... no." She answered, causing Luna to look perplexed. "I figured it out... with the information spell..."

"Ah." Luna simply said. Violet lowered her ears.

Princess Luna must be stressed as well... She thought. She let her mind drift, completely ignoring the questions that buzzed and clattered in her mind. They bounced against her skull. To distract herself, she listened to Luna's loud hoofsteps echo against the shiny marble flooring. Was she crazy, or did the sound of Luna's metal horseshoes sound like rattling chains?

They walked a distance. Moonlight streamed through the curtain.

"You... raised the moon? You just woke up..."

"You remembered?" Luna asked. Violet stared at the ground as she walked. She watched as the patterned flooring vanished beneath her hooves. She nodded slowly.

"Yes... I guess I did." Violet furrowed her brow. It felt like I knew all along...

"Tragically, no." Luna sighed. "Our sister raised our moon tonight, due to our weak state."

"Oh... well... I've always loved the moon. So... I think it's really cool how your special talent is to raise it and all..." Violet was trying her best to create small-talk. It was more than hard, due to the tension that seemed determined to choke her, and the empty feeling inside her chest.

"Do you now?" Luna asked. Her eyes were glued to some unseen object directly in front of her.

"Yeah... the moon has always been a huge inspiration for me with my writing." Violet cleared her throat.

"I'm glad." Luna's voice was sharp with an emotion that Violet couldn't place. She let her eyes dart swiftly to read her face, but it was only for an instant, and Violet only saw Luna's cold expression. But... she could have sworn she also saw Luna swallow, as thought trying to compose herself... and... that was one of the only times she had ever heard her speak without using her 'Royal Canterlot Voice.'

"I, um..." Violet's ears folded against her skull, unsure and lost. "I... was wondering if you could give me those books that you offered a while ago."

"Of course, Violet Lace. We would be glad." They continued to walk down the seemingly endless hallway, past doors and tapestries and paintings. Eventually, at the end of the corridor, they stopped at a door stained grey. It was huge.

"What room is this?" Violet asked. Her eyes began to hurt from trying to look at the door from top to bottom.

"This was supposed to be a library of sorts." Princess Luna began to open the door with her magic, and subtle click could be heard from the lock. "But our sister has already given us a substantial amount, so we deemed it perfectly fine for you to be given one to accommodate yourself."

"M-Me?" Violet stuttered. The door swung open, it's hinges freshly oiled and silent. Inside were rows of empty bookshelves, eager to be filled. A small sofa, a large desk and chair, plush carpet, and one giant set of windows were also placed expertly around the room. It was dark, what with it being night, but being one of Princess Luna's personal libraries, Violet was sure that the curtains that hung around the windows could block out any sunlight that tried to enter. "It's... magnificent." And too much. Violet added silently.

Princess Luna grunted. "We are sure it will suit your needs. A servant pony will be here shortly, in order to provide you with the proper-"

There was a large bang. It rattled the windows and shook the paintings on their hooks. Violet, frightened, ran to the window to look outside. She saw the entrance to the castle, and a crowd of ponies seemingly fighting on its main staircase.

"What is going on?" Luna asked. Violet could've sworn she saw panic in her eyes.

"It's... my mother." Violet whispered, hardly able to believe it. But there she was, with her gold mane, she was hard to miss. She was angry, fuming. The maddest Violet had ever seen her. Her hair was pure gold, and her eyes shined to the point where Violet could see them clearly, even from this far away.

"Your mother... she is an ammunition expert?" Luna asked, referring to the loud bang.

"Um..." Violet saw the moonlight reflect on her mother's trusty frying pan. Its body was contorted and twisted around one of the stairs. "She... doesn't normally act this way." Her mother leaped at one of the guards, causing even more of a disturbance. She could hear her screams but wasn't able to comprehend them through the panes of glass. A speck of yellow and brown appeared out of the corner of Violet's eye, and she saw her father running up to the castle with a look of panic and desperation clear on his face.

She and Princess Luna ran after that. Giving no concern to the servants and the personnel that roamed the beautiful halls of the castle, they bolted around turns and sprinted through corridors. Violet almost broke a priceless vase in the process. She wondered if it was genetic, or biological; Luna's grace. Her face was stoic and controlled where Violet's was sweaty and scared, her hooves steady and powerful where hers were frantic and random.

Finally, with Luna's guidance, they made it to the castle's front entrance. Her and her mother's eyes locked.

"Violet! You come here this instant!" Her voice was pleading. "Please, we can get this all sorted out!" Yellow Parchment reached her side and looked at her.

"Sweetie, we just need an explanation-"

"Explanation?!" His wife quoted. "We need her to come home!"

"I assure you, that can't happen." Luna's voice, now in full Royal swing, echoed across the foyer. Everypony, including Violet herself, cowered.

"P-Princess!" The guards that were once holding Mrs. Sugar back stood at attention. Violet's mother took the opportunity to run to her daughter and tackle her in a hug.

"I have no idea what's going on," Her mother whispered in her ear. "But I promise you everything is going to be okay. I'm not letting them keep you here."

"Mommy..." Violet whispered back, tears in her eyes. "Mom... it's more complicated than that. You need to listen."

"Listen? Listen to who?" Mrs. Sugar's brows furrowed, concerned by her daughter's behavior. "I thought you were so happy... was it something in school- you don't have to go to college! You can stay home! Y-You can-"

"I'm sorry Miss, but your daughter is right." Violet saw Princess Luna's shadow stretch over hers. She knew the Princess didn't want to come off as intimidating, but she was doing a really poor job of being approachable.

But her mother didn't back down. Her eyes stared directly into the Princess's, unwavering and cold. "For my daughter to suddenly leave- with only a tear-stained letter to say goodbye? I doubt it's that simple." Violet had never seen her mother so cold, and to such an important pony. A princess stood before her, taller by at least two heads, with a cold set of eyes and a smile-less face. But she stood there, her coat and mane glittering like gemstones, powered by the love and desperation for her daughter.

Luna's face twitched, a small flicker of insecurity showing for the briefest of seconds. Clearly, she underestimated Sugar Crystal's love for her family.

"Your daughter," Luna cleared her throat regally, allowing the other ponies in the room to recover from Mrs. Sugar's behavior. Violet's father timidly found his way around the guards to his wife's side. "Is very important. For the sake of her safety, she needs to stay in the castle."

"Safety?!" The fear on her father's face caused Violet's throat to close. "W-what's going on?"

Sugar Crystal's grip on her daughter tightened. "She's safe at home."

"No." Luna's voice echoed. "We assure you, she is not." She turned gracefully and waved her hoof for them to follow. "Please, come with us. We shall explain all that we can."

Hesitantly, her parents let her go. They walked in silence. There was no tension, only an aura of dread. Mrs. Sugar feared for the obvious situation of losing her daughter, of not knowing what was going on, and for the feeling of helplessness of not being able to fight it. Mr. Parch was afraid of the same thing, but his natural gentleness caused him to fear his wife's emotional state. It hasn't even been a more than a few hours and she was already fraying.

Violet was afraid for obvious reasons.

Luna led them to what appeared to be a tea room. A beautiful hoof-crafted table stood dead center over a bright white carpet. Delicate and delightfully plush, their hooves left imprints. Rose gold chairs, decorated in a Rococo style with grapes vines and tiny pegasi sat around the table. A large window was adorned with yellow and gold curtains.

"We are sure our sister won't mind us using her room."

Princess Celestia's tea room... If there was any moment for Violet's mind to crack, it was now. She turned her head so that her parents couldn't see the tears that pricked the back of her eyes. Her throat closed and an ache appeared in her chest that broke her heart.

This is real... She thought. I can't deny it anymore. I can sulk, and submit... but I'm being taken away from my family and there's nothing I can do about it. She saw the sun crest that decorated the door behind her. This is too big for any of us to change, to escape and ignore.

She had to leave. Nopony stopped her, if they even noticed. She quietly walked out of the room and found herself wandering the empty corridor. She walked aimlessly, her mind thinking about everything at once. Her new room that she had to decorate, the raging time-pony on the loose, the cult that wants to kill her for reasons that she would probably never know, her nightmares, being ripped from her own timeline for the sake of her life, and the fact that if she didn't do everything perfectly the cult would take over all of Equestria.

And to top it off, she couldn't have her family by her side to help her. She could never think about putting them in danger. Them, living with her and having their lives at risk was not an option. But she couldn't escape the castle, she couldn't escape her fate. The information in her head, given to her magically, was as genuine to her as her own memories. She couldn't deny that she was connected to Luna, destined to serve her, just like all the other ponies before her. But why? Why were they all connected? Who started it all, and why couldn't there only be one, why did there have to be an endless chain of ponies?

What was she supposed to do? What task could she possibly serve that could give her the 'fortune' to have Princess Luna's personal library as a bedroom. To make her important enough to live in the castle after a day of realization?

It was clearly something she wasn't capable of handling.

So, standing in the middle of a royal hallway, decorated with priceless paintings and tapestries, she stared off into space. She sat, unmoving, completely enveloped in her own fears and insecurities. The gravity of everything and the sudden placement of herself back into the timeline caused all of the motions to hit at once. Her body couldn't handle it. She felt herself retch. Her knees buckled to the ground, and a cold sweat dribbled into the marble floor off the bridge of her muzzle.

"Whoa...!" She heard a voice from above her, but she couldn't lift her head to see who it was. The voice was small and feminine. She heard the flap of wings and saw a pair of gray hooves in front of her face. "Oh dear... Here, let me help you." Her body lifted off the ground and she was dragged a few doors down into a nearby bathroom.

"Alright..." She felt a cold wash cloth dab against her mouth, wiping away any drool that found its way down her chin. She heard water shoot out of the faucet again, and felt the clean fabric press against her forehead. "There. Feeling better?" Violet answered her question with another retch, this time aiming for a nearby sink.

"Or... not." Violet wiped her face with a clammy hoof. She looked up to be met with a sharp pair of fangs and eyes that could cause a dragon's heart to stop. "Is there anything I can do for you?" The pony was young. She was tiny, with thin limbs that screamed flexibility and strength. Her nose was pointy and her ears were oddly tufted at their points, making for a threatening yet become face. Her eyes were bright gold and slitted, like some sort of creature that spent its entire life in the darkest catacombs hunting for jewels and souls. Her fangs, which protruded slightly out of her delicate lips, caused a shiver to snake down Violet's spine and set root. Her entire body was coated in thin, leathery wings that hung loose at her sides.

Violet's mouth hung open. The bat pony took it as a sign that she should probably grab a trash can, or perhaps prepare for an onslaught of the unspeakable.

"Oh! Oh my, um..." She looked urgently around the bathroom. Her ears perked, and Violet shrunk back when she saw that her pupils grew dangerously thin when she was struck with the idea. "Here, let me help you to the toilet." She held out her hoof. When Violet didn't take it, a silence that could strangle Cerberus radiated from the powder room.

"Are... are you feeling any better?" The bat pony repeated. "You scared me quite a bit in the hall there. I saw you staring off into space..." Violet's eyes widened in shock as she realized that the pony had been watching her. She quickly realized what she said and backtracked. "No! I don't mean it like that, I was just-" She looked around the room, glancing at watercolor paintings of sunny beaches and plush ivory hoof towels. "I was unable to sleep, what with it being night and all. And I took it upon myself to explore the castle- Not that I was trying to intrude or anything! I'm just new." The pony grew more and more flustered as words continued to pour out of her fanged mouth. Her olive green mane and tail began to puff up like some sort of frightened animal. "I moved here earlier today in fact. So... I don't know my way around. And I- I saw you wandering around all dazed so I figured that I should watch you! I wasn't trying to be creepy, or weird! I know," She fluffed up her wings. "It must look very suspicious- but I swear! I wasn't!"

And then she stopped. After a few huffs of breath, her mouth closed firmly shut in the blankest expression Violet had ever seen. Her gold eyes bored directly into Violet's grey ones. Her hoof suddenly shot out in front of her.

"My name is Midnight Gust. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Violet watched her stand there, rigid and embarrassed. She didn't want to shake the bat pony's hoof. She was scared and vulnerable, and all she wanted was to curl up in her bedspread... and cry.

"Hey wait! Oh my..." Midnight Gust grew more and more embarrassed as tears began to stream down Violet's emotionless face. "I'm so sorry Miss, I didn't mean to frighten you. Honest! I just..." She grabbed a few tissues that rested neatly on a gold tray near the marble sink. "I thought you were in trouble."

Sobs racked Violet's body. She laid her body down uncomfortably on the bathroom countertop, her cheek pressed into the cold rim of the sink. She took the tissue and poorly attempted to wipe off the snot and hot tears that streaked across her face. "No, no..." She mumbled.

Violet knew what Midnight Gust was. A bat pony, a breed that was once pegasi, but magically turned to suit the Princess of the Night's needs more than a millennia ago. She didn't know what happened to them, for their special talents of night vision and natural nocturnal tendencies weren't needed once Luna was gone. But she knew they existed, even when she had never learned about them. The last nail in the already closed coffin was officially hammered in, and Violet met reality with a deadly slap to the face. A physical, undeniable representation of everything that happened that day and night stood before her. Luna was back, Violet was here, and her entire body was pushed off the edge into some sort of abyss that she could never escape.

"Y-you..." She continued to sob. "You're here."

"Y-mmm..." Midnight Gust's ears lowered, confused and concerned. "I am... am I not supposed to be?" She continued to try to wipe the mucus of Violet's face. "My first official shift doesn't happen for another twenty-four hours or so."

Violet's cries turned to whimpers, then to sniffs and the occasional sudden intake of breath. "I-" She sucked in air involuntarily. "I'm sorry. You didn't scare me... I'm just rude."

"No. Not at all." Midnight got a warm cloth and cleaned Violet's face once again. "It's clear you've been through a lot tonight. And I shouldn't have been watching you."

"I'm glad you did. I'd probably be attracting the wrong kind of attention if you hadn't..." She blew her muzzle for one final time, clearing her sinuses. Her head ached, and she felt an unspeakable wave of fatigue. "It's..." She swallowed. "It's my first day too."

"Night, you mean?" When Violet looked up, confused, she quickly explained. "Well, you wandered into the lunar wing of the castle, so I kind of just figured..." She coughed. "Nevermind, forget I said anything."

Violet looked at the sunny decor. "This is the lunar bathroom?"

"It's under renovation." Midnight Gust, with one powerful push of her wings, hoisted herself onto the counter with Violet. "Gotta give them credit though, the fact that they redecorated as much as they did in the time that they have." She looked around, flashing her fangs in a smile. "It's pretty impressive." Her attempt to lightened the mood fell flat and Violet's expression didn't waver.

"Hey... are you alright?" She asked again.

"I..." Violet looked at the bat pony, who's eyes were frightening in anatomy and genuine beyond comprehension. "I've been dealing with a lot of stress as of late." She cleared her throat. "A lot of stuff has happened in the past few days." More like hours.

"Yeah, I can see that." She said, referring to Luna's return. "I got dragged out of my village, and away from my parents in order to be recruited. I didn't want the job! I just... couldn't deny my fate." She shook her wings to show what she meant. "My special talent is martial arts, so there was no helping the fact that I was going to be chosen as one of her new royal guards to start everything off. But, I guess you wouldn't know how..." Their eyes met. Her bright gold ones, that shined like cracking embers igniting brush, with Violet's grey eyes that were so lifeless that it caused the bat pony to shrink where she sat.

"Oh." She swallowed. "I'm sorry. What- What precisely do you do?" She scanned Violet's frame and subtly cringed at Violet's scrawny form.

"I'm... supposed to be Luna's assistant" She motioned towards her cutie mark. "At least that's what I'm going to be called until we figure out exactly how I can contribute."

"And... you had to leave your family for this?" Midnight asked. Violet flinched.

"Yeah. For the sake of... privacy." She didn't want to say that their safety was on the line. She wanted the bat pony to stop asking questions on the matter. She felt the need to tread carefully while trying to be as honest as possible. "I had recently found myself out of funk too, and I can't even celebrate with them. I went from a small cottage with a loving family and a possibly successful writing career, to being practically locked in a castle with a job that I don't think I can handle, and the only sense of relief is the concept of visiting hours."

"Yikes." Midnight tucked a lock of mane behind her ear. "That sounds so scary. I'm sorry Miss."

Violet smiled a sad, pathetic excuse for a grin. "My name is Violet Lace." She hopped off the counter. "Thank you for your help, but I should really head back now. I left at a pretty important moment."

The bat pony looked hesitant, but both she and Violet knew that she didn't have the right to argue. "Of course." She joined her on the ground. "If you need anything, you can talk to me anytime. Once I get assigned, I may be busy, but once my shift is over I'll be more than willing to talk to you for as long as you need." She made a motion with her hoof as though she were suggesting something as small as buying a bruised apple from a discount cart at the market.

"Thank you," Violet said, legitimately choked up. "You're very kind, Midnight Gust."

"You can just call me Midnight if you want, it's no trouble. My first friend here shouldn't use such formalities."

Friend...? The thought bubbled up in Violet's mind, familiar and unforgiving. "I'll see you later... Midnight." She walked off after that, hearing her new friend hum happily with the fact that she just got acquainted with somepony new. Violet felt warm inside. She had just met somepony new, and she had entered her life so easily. She really was progressing. She supposed that, if there was a silver lining to the storm clouds that threatened her happy life, that was it. She could make new friends again, and this time, she wasn't going to let it slip by.

I'm not alone. Violet thought. There was another pony going through the same frightening thing she was going through... to some degree. She was new, in an environment that she didn't know, and it was forced upon her by destiny that she couldn't fight. She felt her smile grow a little bit more genuine.

When she made it back to the tea room, she stared at the door's surface. The grains of the wood left grooves and rivers in the paint, and she could smell the chemicals of the stain. She saw her reflection in the polished gold doorknob, contorted, it cause her eyes to look bulbous and scared. Not too far from reality, for it was deathly silent in the room. She opened the door and winced at the deafening creak.

Nopony moved. The princess was still, as were her parents. They didn't even look at her, their heads were facing Cloudy. Cloudy, unlike the others, was staring directly at her sister. Her eyes didn't move, she didn't even look to be breathing. Once their eyes met, they locked into place and held Violet in a trance of grief and helpless pleading from both sides. Cloudy wasn't stupid. she knew that she couldn't argue with the Princess and what she decreed was important for Violet's safety. It was Violet's safety after all, and thousand year absence or not, the Princess still knew more than anypony in the room could even imagine.

Cloudy's face twisted with rage, then it shifted to sorry, then fear, then to a heartbreaking blankness. Hot, heavy tears the size of river pebbles dropped down her face and sprinkled on the floor. Violet tore her eyes away to look at her mother, now looking at her, worn and tired with red eyes and a ragged mane. Her father was better, probably because he could secretly sneak out during lunch and visit her while he worked, but the pain in his face was still hard to handle.

Violet tried to cry. Whether it was out of respect or because she really did feel heartbroken, she wasn't so sure. But the tears never came. They had already paid their visit in the hall, and weren't going to return for a long time. Instead, she was left with a husk. The sadness was to mask the pain, so when the sadness was gone the only thing left was a sharp pain that pierced her ribs. She swallowed down a gasp.

Her heart was wounded, and she could already feel the scar forming.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Is Cloudy Sun based off of Pinkie Pie?

[DemonAngel13]

7712436 She was at first... but now I feel as though she's developed into a character all her own. She's not as random, and is sort of her own version of a happy, comfortable in her own skin type of girl.

[Akernis]

Right off the bat you set a very nice atmosphere. The semi-awkward small talk between Violet and Luna is a very interesting touch, which gives a nice sense of the internal tumult that both must be experiencing, with Luna's recent return and transformation and Violet's life taking an abrupt turn towards the strange.
The confrontation between Luna and Violet's parent were tense, in quite the interesting way. I would perhaps have liked some confusion on the part of the parents, since it is unlikely that they have any idea who Luna is and at this point, Celestia and Cadence are the only alicorns in existence. It would be like meeting a myth in real life. It would have been interesting to see a small, not outburst, but perhaps steel in Luna's behaviour as she has only just returned and must be immensely stressed.
... Midnight Gust is adorable, enough said.
Interesting fact, in the show itself, it seems that pegasi that serves Luna actually gets turned into bat ponies, if judging by the fact that Rainbow Dash had acquired bat-wings when she served as one of Nightmare Moon's elite guards in the alternative future.
Midnight is a wonderful new character. I do hope that we get the little group of friends collected again, Midnight would make a great addition.
... aaand there is Cloudy :D. Great to see her again.
Oh dear. I have no problem with dark, but this is taking a twist towards tragic... I hope things returns to a more positive tone. I understand that things are significantly more dangerous and tense now, but they need not be gloomy for that to be the case. That said, the emotion was very well handled throughout this chapter, kudos there.

[Snow]

While it's good to see you writing again I... completely forgot what happened in this story.