Violet Lace

by DemonAngel13

Changing Season

"Uh, Cloudy?" Violet said as she poked her friend with her hoof. "You have a little something..."

Violet pointed towards her own left cheek, quietly motioning for Cloudy to wipe her own face. The sun colored pony, her eyes still only half open from a mid-afternoon nap, lazily and sleepily rubbed her face. The ink, though now not that intense, now covered a larger portion of her face.

Violet sighed and levitated a napkin out of her lunch bag. "This is what you get for falling asleep in class. You're lucky Mrs. Quill didn't see you."

Cloudy stretched and popped her neck. "It's not my fault I'm not interested in quantum physics. Plus, why are we even learning that?"

"You've been going to school here for four months now, and you've already asked that question enough times to give a decapitated statue a headache." Violet said as she munched on her apple.

"Ha. Ha. You're so funny." Cloudy said as she looked at the statue in front of her. The two fillies were currently enjoying their late lunch in the garden outside of their cave. The area around them was littered with statues. Some with missing legs, tails, and yes, even heads.

"Be happy we got out early today on account of the holidays. Mrs. Quill would have chopped off your tail if she found out. Glad to know that those bells are useful for something besides causing your brains to melt out of your ears."

"That's from your end." Cloudy said, rubbing the inside of her ear with the edge of her hoof. "One second I was laying in a clear blue ocean talking to a giant version of my rubber ducky, and next thing I know, I was getting screamed at by that freaky banshee thing that you wrote in your story."

"Oh, you mean The Machine of a Thousand Wails!" Violet chuckled. "Yeah, I'm happy I put her in."

"I'm not. When you said you were going to try 'steam punk', I thought you were going to go romantic for a change... instead you just decided to throw witchcraft into it and screw up all of the logic!" She flung her hooves up for emphasis, causing a small baked cherry tomato to fall from her lunch and onto Violet's tail. "The banshee doesn't even do anything! The main character even said it herself!"

"I have plans..." Violet mumbled as she levitated the tiny fruit and examined it casually. She turned it upside down to look at the small scorch mark left by Mrs. Sugar's cooking. "So does that mean you don't want the next chapter?" She said slyly.

Cloudy paused. "... No." She pouted.

Violet rolled her eyes. With a small quirk of her eyebrow, she raised the next chapter of Bronze Gears and Hearts and gently floated down to Cloudy's side. Her friend grabbed it eagerly and shoved it into her bag to read for later.

"Come on." Violet said, picking crumbs off her tail and lifting herself off the ground. "Let's go inside, it's cold out here."

Cloudy sighed. "Fine. But I want the next chapter of White Rose and Red Thorns next time, okay?"

Why did I let her choose that name? Violet thought to herself. "As you wish, M'lady." She said mockingly.

The two of them walked through the now usable gate. With a little bit of help from Mrs. Sugar and Cloudy's dad, Yellow Parchment, the two fillies no longer had to crawl on their bellies to get to their secret spot. Just a couple of cuts there, a few trims here and bam. The vines could let the two pass without giving the location away.

Violet, using a simple spell, lit a fire pit that was situated in the middle of the small cave. Not that it was really needed. Though ice was forming on the leaves and the grass outside, it was at least a fifteen or so degrees warmer in there secret spot. The wind never reached the speed or the power to freeze anything. Though the water that trickled through the grass wasn't exactly comfortable to step in, it certainly wasn't going to be solid ice any time soon.

The fire instead was used simply to set a cozy mood and provide the ponies with a source of light if need be.

Violet, now wandering over to her chest filled with quills and parchment, heard a peculiar sound coming from behind her.

"What was that?" She shouted at Cloudy. The filly was currently readjusting one of her numerous scarves that she scattered and hung on branches and uneven patches of rock in the cave walls.

She looked up with a coy expression. "What was what?"

"That... sound. That came from your general direction. The sound that practically oozed melancholy and sorrow." Violet answered pointing a hoof at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Cloudy turned away. After a couple of moments, Violet let her ears fall back to rest casually on her gray mane. It was only when the sound could be heard again, this time with much more volume and exasperation, did they perk up again.

"Okay... What is wrong?" Violet asked, getting annoyed with the sound.

Cloudy zoomed over to Violet within a blink of an eye. The first time Violet saw Cloudy move that fast, she honestly thought that her friend was secretly a unicorn and had simply teleported. Only after a couple of months did she get used to the filly's unnatural speed.

"What do you mean when you say you don't want anything for your birthday?" Cloudy whined.

"I'm pretty sure that means 'I don't want anything for my birthday.'" She said, slightly annoyed that they had to go through this conversation again. Four days ago, Cloudy had asked when Violet's birthday was. It just so happened that her birthday was a week from that day, and now a mere three days away.

"There's- there's only three days left! You have to want something!" Cloudy insisted. Violet shook her head.

All of her past birthdays consisted of one thing. A party. Though Violet knew that those were pretty normal on those types of occasions, these parties were different. Violet, not really making any connections with any other ponies at the time, didn't really have anypony to invite. So her mother and father took it upon themselves to invite some for her. The group mainly consisted of her classmates, who clearly only showed up because their parents made them or because they figured that they could play with Violet's new toys, and their parents, who kept to themselves in the garden drinking wine and cider and eating off of platters.

Violet never played with any of her new toys, so she just ended putting them in boxes and giving them away to foals on the playground when her parent's backs were turned.

"I don't want anything." She repeated.

Cloudy looked as though she was about to explode. "But I have to give you something! You got me something for my birthday two months ago!"

Cloudy, being the pony that she was, wouldn't stop talking about her birthday until two moons after it was over. Before the occasion, however, she rambled on and on about what she wanted. One of those things consisted of a new blue scarf from one of Canterlot's numerous boutiques. It just so happened to be in Violet's price range. The smile on her friends face when she opened her present was one of the greatest sights Violet had ever seen.

"That's different. Your the exact type of pony who gets presents on her birthday. I'm not. It's that simple."

"No it's not!" She whined again. "You're just being stubborn. You don't want me to get you anything because you feel bad..."

The pony continued to ramble and babble continously about how Violet deserved a present. It went on for minutes. No matter how hard she tried, Violet could block out the sound.

"Alright! Alright! I'll tell you what I want if you just stop!" She shouted. Cloudy closed her mouth and waited eagerly for a response.

Violet let out a sigh and thought hard about what she wanted, if she wanted anything. "Okay." She said as she placed a hoof on her forehead. "You know that look on your face when you opened your present on your birthday?"

Cloudy nodded quickly.

"I want that. That face." She said bluntly. "There."

For a long moment, the cave was filled to the brim with silence. It was only after Violet could hear her blood pound in her ears did the silence actually break.

"Alrighty!" Cloudy said with a smile on her face. She had a triumphet air about her. Success and happiness practically radiated out of her.

Violet, a little lost for words at the sudden change in direction, twitched her ears and looked around. She wasn't expecting that. Then again, she never knew what to expect from her friend. She eventually gave up on trying to decipher Cloudy's plan, and just sighed.

"Let's go to your place. You're mother is cooking leek stew tonight, right?" Violet said with her ears drooping from a sudden wave of fatigue. Cloudy simply nodded, understanding that now wasn't an appropiate time to talk. The two of them started walking towards the cottage.

...

"Good afternoon Voilet, I hope you're having a wonderful birthday." Mrs. Sugar said through a thick layer of scarves. White puffs of breath found their way out of the fibers and found themselves twirling and curling around the gold mare's bangs and the puff ball on her white knit cap.

"It's amazing now that you're here, Mrs. Sugar." Violet said with a smile on her face. Mrs. Sugar laughed at the compliment.

"Wow, Miss Lace, there sure are quite a lot of ponies here." Cloudy's father and Mrs. Sugar's husband added. Yellow Parchment, or Mr. Parch as Violet likes to call him, found his way to his wife's side. His mane was longer than the average stallions' his age, finding it's way to curl around his ears and occasionally in his eyes. His mane and tail themselves were a light chocolate brown that reminded Violet of the color of aged ink, and his coat was the exact color of old parchment. His cutiemark was that of simple brown book and a red quill.

"Yeah... I know." Violet looked towards her house. Even outside, with the ground covered in a thin layer of snow and ice, she could still hear the sounds of fillies and colts shouting excitedly inside and see the large crowd of adult ponies in the backyard. How they managed to stay warm, Violet never knew. Stallions only ever wore the occasional coat and tie and the mares had a more diverse list of practically everything but the practical.

"Violet!"

Violet turned her head to see Cloudy running up towards her. Seeing her friend gave her no warning however, because as soon as she was spotted, Cloudy tackled her into a bear hug.

"Happy Birthday!" She cheered. On her back was a package, wrapped in a lavender colored ribbon and paper that had a black lace pattern. Cloudy quickly untied the present from her bag and placed it next to Violet. "That's for you."

Violet stared at the gift, wondering what in the wide world of Equestria had her friend gotten her. After their small- and not really angry- argument three days prior, Cloudy hadn't said a word about her present or even brought up Violet's birthday again. It almost made Violet worry about her friends well-being.

"We both got you a little something too, dear." Mrs. Sugar said as she reached to grab at a smaller package.

The gift they gave her was rather small, only taking up a forth of the amount of space as Cloudy's, but it was wrapped in an opposite fashion, with a black lace ribbon and lavender wrapping paper.

"And we hope that you can make it to dinner tonight! Crystal is whipping up an amazing dinner for the special occasion." Mr. Parch said happily.

Just at that moment, a loud cheer could be heard from the backyard. Violet pressed her ears to her head. "That sounds lovely."

She thought about how the rest of her day was going to go. She was going to spend the rest of her birthday afternoon, playing with toys she didn't want or care to have, giving slightly buzzed ponies directions to the bathroom, and holed up in her room to avoid being with ponies she didn't want to be with.

And so, with that train of thought, she did what anypony her age and in her situation would do.

She lied.

"Actually, my mother said it would be perfectly fine for me to go over to your house for the day." She said quickly, thinking on her hooves. Mr. Parch's eyebrows shot up in surprise, while Mrs. Sugar's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Did she now?" Mr. Parch asked.

Violet nodded. "You know how she is! Can't wait to be the life of the party."

"Uh-huhhh..." Mrs. Sugar's eyes reopened, all of the suspicion from her face gone in thin air. "Well then, I guess since we have her approval, then there's no reason to stay. We would be honored to celebrate your birthday with you, Violet."

They started walking the short distance to Cloudy's house. On the way there, however, Violet felt the brief sympathetic touch of Mrs. Sugar's hoof on the back of her mane. Mrs. Sugar had met Violet's mother on more than one occasion. She knew as well as Violet that her parents weren't going to notice Violet's absense. Not unless she didn't return until late, tomorrow afternoon, when her mother was sober and her father had returned from work.

"I think you're going to like dinner tonight!" Cloudy said happily as she jumped all the way to the house.

Comments

[Purple Pony]

Rubber Ducky, you're the one.
Who makes bath time lots of fun!