Miss Velvet

5

When the girls get to the front of the building, instead of a car, they see a beautiful carriage covered in flowers being pulled by Lexi & a grey draft mix gelding, who Velvet introduces as Bullet, and driven by Mi, who is dressed in full livery from his top hat to his recently polished boots.

Morgan squeals in excitement as Pepper helps her up the step. Once they are all settled in Mi gently shakes the reins and the horses starts off at a brisk walk. They are all chatting and laughing, enjoying the beautiful day, and shortly pull up through the entrance and under the big wooden sign that proclaims this Morgan's Equestrian Center and in smaller letters beneath that aka Miss Velvets Home for Wayward Heroes.

Yn laughs, 'ya know, when Tony told me that would be the name I thought he was joking, I should have known better.' Mi steers them thru the entrance until they reach the front of the grassy area in front of a building marked banquet hall. The grassy area has a gazebo and a large canopy tent with a number of tables, perfectly grown rose bushes in planters line the perimeter of the grass.

Mi pulls the horses to a stop and tips his hat, 'Ladies' and Tony comes up to help Morgan and Pepper step out then Steve comes up to help Sharon, Vision helps Wanda, Nick Fury helps Maria, Bruce helps Natasha, Sam helps Velvet and when the carriage is empty, Mi turns it around and heads over towards the barn to put them up.

Tony speaks up 'I would like to welcome the stars of this afternoons gala my sweet Morgan whose horse fever has swept thru my home and infected all of us. And our own Miss Velvet who started it and has helped bring some of us back from the darkness that this hero life entails, myself included.

Now they both have this facility where they and us heroes can find some peace and learn new skills to make ourselves better prepared to do our jobs. So eat drink and be Merry cuz I'm paying for it anyhow' Tony grins 'and I have a little something to help Morgan enjoy her new playground, Miss Velvet...'

She walks up leading a medium sized dappled grey pony who is fully tacked up in a custom hunt seat English tack set with pink everything that isn't leather and goes straight to Morgan 'This is Misty and she's all yours, sweetie' Morgan squeals, and Velvet gives her a leg up. Once she's settled in and yn makes sure she is sitting and holding the reins properly she leads her around the arena so she can show off her new pony.

Tony speaks up again 'I almost forgot, Pepper, I have something for you too' Mi comes out leading a beautiful dappled grey Arabian gelding. 'This is Stormy, I figured you should have a matching horse to go with your daughter'

Pepper's eyes go wide and she covers her mouth 'Oh my god, Tony, how did you do this?' 'It was all Velvet, I just signed the checks, as it were.' 'he's beautiful and so sweet' Pepper cries as Stormy nuzzles her hand.

Velvet smiles at her friends, loving the pure joy on Morgan and Peppers faces. Morgan sees Cass and AJ coming up with their uncle and after checking that its ok with Velvet, hops off of Misty to go say hi to them. Mi takes Stormy and Misty back to the barn where they have stalls with name plates already set up for both horses.

The event is for employees and their families so is more relaxed than the usual affair. Only a couple of staff photographers and no paparazzi. Everyone is wearing barn appropriate outfits. Steve has a light blue western shirt with navy piping, making his eyes brighter than usual, Sharon in a halter dress in matching colors with navy booties. Nat and Bruce are both wearing red, Maria and Nick in yellow(wait, are they a thing?). Wanda and Vision in green. Tony, Pepper and Morgan are all pink and black. Even Peter and Aunt May are matching in red and blue with MJ in a red dress with navy blue piping in a spider web design on the back.

Velvet smiles brightly seeing all the smiles and beautiful colors on her friends. Until she sees Bucky, wearing a black shirt with purple piping, almost matching the color of her dress. He smiles, she grins or more like grimaces and looks away.