Twilight sat at the kitchen table in the dim light. Velvet grabbed a bottle from the fridge and sat across from her.

"Wine?" Velvet offered. Twilight looked a the clock.

"It's almost time for breakfast," she said. Velvet shrugged.

"It's five o'clock somewhere."

"Yeah," Twilight pointed at the clock, "Five A.M."

"Suit yourself." Velvet took a swig from the bottle. "I just think you might need some after... everything."

"..."

"..."

"Okay," Twilight accepted. Velvet slid the bottle across the table to Twilight.

"I imagine you must have a lot of questions right now. And that you want answers."

"I want the truth!" Twilight said, setting the bottle on the table a bit harder than she meant. Velvet winced, taking the bottle back.

"That's fair, I suppose" She took another long pull from the bottle of wine. "Twilight, do you have any idea how hard it is raising a colt? Because I do. Oh, it's not so bad at first. A little foal scampering around. But then when they hit puberty..." Velvet trailed off, remembering when Shining first start sporting morning wood. Or when unexpected things would 'pop up' at bath time.

"Colts get to a point where they just want to... fuck something," Velvet said, a bit more candid than Twilight was prepared for. "As the only mare around, their mothers often become the object of their attraction, even if they don't understand it. Usually you just explain that they shouldn't feel that away about their mother, and they grow out of it."

"Usually," Twilight mocked. Velvet sighed.

"Twilight, I was desperate. I was in heat, and your fath-, er, Night Light was away. Shining didn't understand the consequences of what we were doing. And I never meant to hurt him, or Night." She took another sip. "Twilight, I'm not going to try to rationalize what I've done. I knew it was wrong then, and I know it now. I should have stopped it before it ever started. But I... but I didn't."

"And once Shining was old enough to know better...?" Twilight asked.

"Are you a virgin?" Velvet asked. Twilight shook her head. Velvet smiled weakly. "Neither of us wanted it to stop. Sex feels good. What can I say?"

"You had Dad," Twilight cut in.

Velvet shrugged.

"Shining is... a blessed stallion. Even when he was a colt. You can call me a size queen if you wish, but, it just felt so much better with him. I have no other excuse," she confessed. "And I didn't want to withdraw myself from Shining's affections. He was still my son, and I only wanted for his happiness. It would have crushed him. And..." she trailed off. "We loved each other."

"To say nothing of Shining cheating on Cadance!"

"Well, technically, Shining cheated on me with Cadance. But no, Cadance knows."

"What!?"

"When Shining was old enough to know better, I encouraged him to date other mares. I was hoping that a mare his own age would break him off of me. But even though he did try, he insisted that he wanted to maintain our relationship. And though he didn't tell me until much later, Shining was honest with Cadance about our relationship from the beginning of theirs. He never lied to her. I may have been having sex with my son, but I still raised him right. And Cadance is a very understanding mare."

" 'Do as I say, not as I do', huh? Didn't you love Dad anymore?"

"Of course I do, Twi. How can you ask something like that?"

"That little display upstairs with Shining is how." Velvet winced.

"I really do love Night. And despite everything, I've tried to stay committed to our marriage. But I love Shining, too. Even though I know it's not the way a mother is supposed to."

"And Shining's my father!?"

"Yes. It was an accident, I'm afraid. I never told Shining the truth about you. But we were more careful after that. And we never got caught. Well, not until tonight."

"No," Twilight replied. "Dad knew."

"What?"

"Dad knew you were cheating on him. He found your pregnancy test in the trash after he'd had a vasectomy. So he knew something was up. Of course he never suspected that it was with your son," Twilight said. Velvet covered her mouth with her hoof.

"If he knew, why didn't he say something?" Velvet asked.

"He told me it was because he felt inadequate. He knew you wanted more than he could physically provide. So he turned a blind eye to it," Twilight explained. Velvet cried into her hooves.

"You and Night must hate us now," she wept. "I've destroyed this family."

Twilight watched her mother sob into her hooves. Two days ago, her life was so simple. She had a mom, and a dad, and a brother. And that was that. Everything was so simple. She would have given anything to have that back.

But it was a lie.

Her brother and mom had been harboring secrets for so long. Her own life was a lie. And she loved her father now in a way she had never imagined. She couldn't take it back. None of it could be taken back. Even if it could be undone, she wouldn't even exist. She owed her own life to their elicit affair.

But there has to be some way to fix this, Twilight wondered. And then she realized that she still had one last card to play. It was a long shot of a gamble. Actually, fuck that. Giving her alicorn powers to Tirek for the final chest key was a long shot. If she could pull this off, if she went all-in, nothing held back, it would be nothing short of miraculous.

Her mother was in tears.
He family was in shambles.
Her home was broken.
She didn't have much left to lose.

"Mom, there's something else you should know," Twilight said, chewing on her lip. She braced herself to be ready to stop her mother from killing somepony, or herself.

"... What is it?" Velvet asked, wiping her eyes dry again. Twilight sucked in a breath, standing at the edge of the cliff of revelation, bracing herself for the deep plunge.

"...Dad and I have become lovers."

"..."

"..."

"Oh," Velvet replied, with no more emotional weight than having been told the weather forecast.

"Oh!?! Oh!?" Twilight scoffed. "Mom, I'm not joking. Dad and I have been having sex!"

"Okay."

"Wha-? What are you- Aren't you mad!?" Twilight yelled.

"Lower. your. voice."

"Aren't you upset at all!?" Twilight whispered aggressively. "Shining almost beat Dad to death when he found out!" She pointed at the broken chairs. "Then he blackmailed him into getting drunk, to be a disappointment to you! I didn't realize it was so he could leave Dad on the couch and have you in bed tonight!" Twilight barked.

"I didn't know that was his plan when I went to bed. Believe me I was just as surprised as you when I found him in my room." Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Okay, maybe not as surprised as you. But I honestly didn't think he would be brazen enough to try that while you were both in the same house as us. And I didn't know he intentionally sabotaged your father's night for it. He IS in trouble for that."

"But you don't care that Dad and I had sex?" she asked. Velvet shrugged.

"What do you want me to do, Twilight?" she asked in a defeated tone. "Do you want me to try to beat you up, too? Throw you into a wall?" She drank the rest of the bottle. "Do you want to see me cry?" She shook her head. "You and Shining, both. You're both still so young. You just don't get it yet. You don't understand what's really important. Family!"

"Family doesn't try to hurt each other," Velvet continued. "Not on purpose. Shining was wrong to beat up Night Light. But you were just as wrong to do the same to him! What did you think was going to happen when you called your father upstairs? Hmm!? Did you think that he was going to beat up his wife? Or his son? Did you really think so little of him!?"

Twilight looked at the floor in shame. Her mother was right.

"I knew what was going to happen as soon as you told him about us," Velvet said. "I knew it was just going to break him. So you know what!? No!" Velvet slammed the empty wine bottle onto the table. "I'm not angry about you and your father. I'm NOT going to beat anypony up. I'm fucking happy for you! Because I love you both, and you both deserve to be happy! I love Night Light, and Shining, and you! Nothing about tonight has changed that. And nothing ever will." Velvet pushed the empty bottle away from her.

"Besides..." Velvet said, visibly deflating from her outburst, "what the hell right do I have to judge you? After... everything I've done." She pushed her seat out. "Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to bed. And tomorrow, you are going to apologize to Shining! And he's going to apologize to Night. And I'm going to- to- um... Everypony is going to apologize! And we are going to be a family again, damn it!" Velvet stood up, perhaps too fast, and was about to tumble to the floor.

"Whoa, easy there!" Twilight caught her with her magic. "Here, let me help." Twilight lifted her in her magic and levitated her in front of her. She carried her mother upstairs. At the top of the stairs, she stopped. To the left was Shining's room. Night Light's room was to the right.

"Um, did you want to sleep with... Shining?" she asked nervously. Velvet could only grin, weakly.

"Why?" she asked, "So you can have Nightie all to yourself?" Twilight blushed.

"I had no intention of-"

"Shh," Velvet hushed her. "Bring me to my bed. I miss my husband." Twilight nodded. She carried her mom into their room, setting her in the bed beside Night Light. Velvet rolled over to him, draping her hoof over him. "Missed you," she whispered before kissing him.

"Mmm, Velvet. Missed you, too." Night wrapped his hooves around her. "You've been drinking," he murmured, smelling the wine on her breath.

"So have you," Velvet said, kissing him again. Twilight left the room, closing the door behind her. She looked back at her parents' bedroom door.

"They really do love each other."

Twilight stopped just outside her brother's closed bedroom door. She stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do. Even with her newfound knowledge, she was still angry about what had happened. After everything he had done with their mother, the sheer gall he had to judge her and punish Night Light. She wanted to be mad at her mother for going behind Night Light's back all this time. It made her feel like what she and Night had done was justified. Righteous, even.

She brought her hoof to the door, eager to throw it open and finish what she started. But something her mother said stayed her hoof.

I'm not angry about you and your father. I'm happy for you. Because I love you both, and you both deserve to be happy. I love Night Light, and Shining, and you. Nothing about tonight has changed that.

Just as she had discovered her mother and Shining, Velvet likewise found out tonight about her daughter and her husband. And yet, she accepted it. Had she given them her blessing? Twilight wondered. Could Shining ever accept it? she found herself vainly hoping. After everything, an optimistic voice hoped that she would be able to continue her relationship with Night. Twilight felt her thoughts stop cold at a final hurdle. Could she ever accept them?

Twilight shook her head, clearing her mind of questions. She had gotten everypony's point of view but one. She took a deep breath and gently knocked as she pushed the door open.

"Shining?" she whispered.

"Mom?" he whispered back, anxiously.

"You've got the wrong 'Twilight'," she said. Shining backed away on the bed.

"Oh, shit- Twi- uh, what- what are you going to do!? I mean what do you want? I mean... uh, hello?"

"Relax, I'm not going to..." she sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry about attacking you earlier."

"O...kay."

"I wasn't..." Twilight realized in that moment, what it was she had actually been mad about. "I wasn't even really mad about you and Mom. I mean, how can I be, now? I guess I was just mad about how you treated Dad. Especially since you had been... doing that with Mom all along."

"Twi, I'm sorry too. I, I just-" Shining relaxed and sat up on the edge of his bed. "It's just- that I know what it's like to be living a lie. Believe me, I didn't like keeping so many secrets. Having to always be making plans, and back-up plans. I never liked lying to Dad, or you. But... heh," he trailed off. "But I didn't want to stop, either. Mom is..." he visibly blushed, even in the dark, "She's pretty amazing."

"Hmf. She tells me she's quite fond of you, too," Twilight said, taking a seat beside him. "How did you even... how did it all start?"

"I don't really remember all the details. But I was pretty young. Younger than I should have been, starting to do something like that," he tried to remember.

"She said it was when you started going through puberty."

"Yeah, I guess. I just, I remember Mom just being so... pretty. And..."

"She seduced you?" Twilight asked.

"No!" Shining said firmly. "Never! Please, Twi, don't ever blame Mom for any of this! She never initiated it."

"She should have stopped it," Twilight said.

"She tried," Shining admitted. "She told me plenty of times that we should stop. She told me that what we were doing was wrong. And I knew it too. She didn't have to tell me for me to know that what we were doing was... unusual."

"She told you she wanted to stop?" Twilight asked. Shining hesitated.

"No. She told me we should stop. But... you know how stubborn I can be. I didn't want to stop. And even if she never wanted to admit it, deep down, she didn't want to either."

"Mom always did spoil you. "

"Heh, yeah."

"But what about Cadance?" she asked. He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Mom insisted that I at least try to date other fillies. I didn't want to. But after you were born, she had Cadance as your foal-sitter. It's obvious now, what she was trying to do for me. And Cadance was- is a beautiful pony. We started dating. Once things started to get serious, I told her about me and Mom, making her swear to keep it a secret."

"And?"

"I knew I was taking a big risk. But I didn't want to have to be keeping secrets with another pony in my life. And she took it... surprisingly well. I admit, I can only imagine the shock of hearing that your special somepony is literally a mother fucker. But Cadance is an incredibly understanding mare. She said that even though she thought that what Mom and I had was... unusual, to say the least, she said that it wasn't her place to pass judgement on two ponies loving each other. 'Any love is good love' she would say." Shining glanced at the doorway, and leaned closer to Twilight. "Mom and Cadance have actually..." He raised his eyebrows in an 'implying' motion.

Twilight gasped and gave him a slug in the shoulder with her hoof.

"Yeah. You don't need to tell me how lucky I am," he admitted. "But I've- Mom and I, we've beaten some very long odds. And I just didn't want you and Dad going down the same path of secrets and lies. I knew how dangerous it was. And when I found out about you and Dad, I knew that it was just going to be a matter of time, all of us living in this powder-keg of family secrets. I guess tonight was a long time coming for me... For us." A tear on Shining's cheek glistened in the moonlight. He wiped it away with his hoof. "Sometimes... I just wish I could undo all of it, and have a normal relationship with Mom. You know? And have a normal family." Twilight nudged him with her shoulder.

"Yeah, but if you did that... I wouldn't be here," she said. His eyes went wide again.

"Yeah... that." Shining took a deep breath. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. This whole time, I never knew I was a- your father." He looked at her, beside him. "But now that I know, do you want to know how I feel?" he asked.

After a long minute, Twilight nodded.

"Not the least bit bad," he said. "In fact, I gotta say, I'm damn proud to have you as my daughter. You're an amazing pony." He smirked. "Even if you did fuck your..." he trailed off, thinking about it.

"Grandfather?" she answered.

"Yikes."

"Yeah," she breathed. "But I still kind of prefer thinking of you as my brother. And Dad being... Dad."

"Likewise."

"You prefer to think of me as your brother!?" she teased him.

"You know what I mean!"

"I know," she giggled. They both laughed. It was a much-needed moment of levity after such a horrible day.

"So... are we good?" Shining asked.

"Yeah," she said, getting up to leave. "But you need to apologize to Dad tomorrow!"

"I know. I will, I promise." He said, laying down. Twilight headed to the door. "Goodnight... Sis."

"Goodnight," she said, closing his door. Twilight headed down the hallway to her bedroom. She thought to herself, Breakfast is going to be interesting.