“AK will pay.” That was all that was written down on the cryptic message Twilight Velvet got in the mail that morning.

Who was AK? Ant Keratin, the up and coming changeling singer? All Kick, the famous buckball player? Her three blocks down neighbor Amber Key? AK 47, the fictional hitpony from those games Shining's friends played when they came over?

And pay what? Did they owe a debt? Did they cross the wrong pony? Or were they just covering some expenses she didn’t know about?

Velvet couldn’t make heads or tails of this, and that was all even before asking why they would send this message to her of all ponies. It was definitely a case of wrong address, but due to the vaguely threatening feel of the message, Velvet wasn’t sure she should just discard it and move on. A part of her wanted to take this to the police and ask them to look into it, but another part of her reminded that she was currently a suspect of attempted murder. Just because she had forgotten Flash Sentry was allergic to Dandelions when she gave Shining some sandwiches for him and his coworkers.

With a sigh, Velvet decided she wasn’t going to be involved in whatever this was and crumpled the paper into a ball before throwing it away. “I get enough stress from hearing about what Twilight is doing every week.”

“What was it, Velvs?” Her husband asked as he came out of the kitchen with a fresh batch of fresh pastries.

“Oh, just some junk mail, nothing important.” She jumped onto her seat and smiled as Night Light gave her a plate of fresh baked goods. She quickly tasted one, letting out a little mumble of enjoyment. “Oh, you've outdone yourself, dear.”

“Thanks you, love.” He sat down in front of her and took a bite out of a pastry. “Wanna do something tonight? We could go to the park and have a picnic under the stars, see what constellations Luna makes today.”

“Oh, that sounds lovely. It'll be like our first days dating,” she looked back at those memories with a smile. Who knew life would take her in this direction? With a loving family, two wonderful children, and a comfy house. “I'll make sure to pack some extra treats.”

Light smirked. “Oh, really? What will you be cooking?”

“Nothing, dear, I would end up burning it. But I can buy a little surprise~” she poked him on the nose before cleaning her lips with a napkin. “I’ll go get it now just to be sure. Mind cleaning the disease while I’m gone?”

“Sure thing.” Light moved in to give her a kiss before taking the plates and moving to the kitchen.

Velvet quickly took her saddlebags and a couple of bits, walking out of the house to the sunny day and taking in the fresh air. “Now… where was that bakery Pinkie recommended in her Parties 101 book?”

Velvet strode through Canterlot at a leisure pace, having no hurry to get to her destination as the calm day invited to just move around and enjoy the scenery and the warm sun. It was nice and quiet, maybe a bit too quiet. Velvet stopped suddenly, paying more attention to her surroundings, noticing brick walls protecting large storehouses and industrial buildings. Particularly, one of them had a small graffiti showing a crossed off compass rose.

“Oh, I seem to have gotten a bit too carried away,” she said nervously before turning around only to find herself right in front of a pony wearing baggy clothes and a hood that covered their face, with their blocky snout poking out of it.

“It happens tonight.” the pony said without context.

Velvet blinked. “Meaning?” quick as lightning, an elegant envelope was placed in her hoof. Out of curiosity, she opened it with her magic and read it. “An invitation to… AK Yearling’s party in her mansion? But I barely know-” she looked up and saw the pony gone.

“Does this have to do with the message in my mail?! I think you got the wrong pony!” she shouted to the empty street, but got no response. Looking back at the card, Velvet wondered why she would be invited. It’s true that she edited for a few important people, some more than the public knew about, but Yearling had never been one of them, she was famously against sharing any of her work to anypony while she was making it, only the finished version ever saw eyes other than hers. But despite her wishes and plans, she couldn’t reject such an invitation without starting some sort of drama.

Letting out a sigh, Velvet placed the invitation inside her saddlebag and got back on track, buying the cake she wanted but as an apology instead of a treat.

Author's Note

Message given to The Red Parade for Chapter 3:
God help you.