“…tell you what, it was the best night of my life…”

Night Light’s ears perked up, the sound drawing his attention away from the kitchen sink full of soapy dishes in front of him. His wife’s voice was wafting through the window, just barely slipping through the crack where it was slightly ajar. Curiously he tugged it open halfway and took a look outside.

“Get out of town… you two? And Auntie Tia?!”

Night Light blushed just a tad at the sight he saw. Twilight Velvet was outside their house, sitting at their patio table on the back porch just beyond the kitchen window. She was giggling rather mischievously and holding a drink floating in mid-air beside her horn, or more specifically, where her horn would have been, if it weren’t currently covered by a cone-shaped hat. Huddled closely beside her with a drink of her own was a bright pink mare sporting both a horn and wings whom he recognized as their favored foal-sitter, Cadence. She too was wearing the same silly little paper hat, but just behind her much larger horn, rather than over it. At the moment she was gawking at Twilight Velvet in shock, and judging from her last words, Night Light had a good guess as to why.

“Well the ruler of Equestria has her feminine needs too, you know,” Velvet was saying now. “Mmhh, my Lighty was so virile… still is, come to think of it, hehe…”

Cadence’s shocked gasp would have been audible even if the window had still been closed. “You mean you three still--?”

“Oh, no, no, not so much anymore, not since last mating season,” Velvet answered. “I think those days are pretty much over, now that Night Light’s retired. Hehe… but like I said, that’s hardly stopped us… I’ve got half a mind to sneak upstairs for a quickie before we cut the cake.”

Night Light blushed swiftly. A quickie. Right. He’d heard that line a few times, right before losing several hours to a marathon of fast, filthy fucking. No, they’d hold off at least until after the party this time. He half-wished his wife wouldn’t regale their son’s marefriend with stories of their sexual exploits so easily, either, but for that part, he couldn’t really blame her; estrus season was fast approaching once again, and Velvet always got a little excitable when she knew it was near. And it was kind of nice hearing about how awesome he still was.

“Why you two, though?” Cadence was saying now. “Out of all the ponies in Canterlot, in all of Equestria, even?”

“Because she trusted us, of course. Well, I grew on her later, once Night Light and I were together… but she trusted Night Light more than anypony at the time. For something as intimate as putting herself in somepony else’s hooves in heat season, there was really nopony else she could have trusted more than her Guard Captain--”

“Hi mom, hi Cadence! What are you girls talking about?”

Twilight Velvet snapped her mouth shut as a teenage filly darted over and joined them, her coat a pale lavender and her eyes as bright and sharp as a nail in sunlight. “Nothing little fillies need to hear, Twilight Sparkle,” Velvet deflected the question. “It’s grownup stuff.”

“Moooom, I’m almost fifteen, you can’t use that line on me anymore!” the young filly protested.

“Well here’s one I can still use: go comb your mane, young lady. It’s your brother’s birthday and you look like you fell asleep with your muzzle in a book again.”

“Did not…” the younger Twilight argued half-heartedly, grumbling in defeat and turning to scamper back inside.

Night Light couldn’t help but chuckle under his breath. “You wouldn’t want to know anyway, honey,” he said to himself, returning his gaze to the sink full of dirty dishes. Dinner had consumed more plates than any of them had expected, and they’d need a few clean ones for serving the cake--

“Hey, uh… dad?”

Night Light looked up again as yet another voice caught his attention. It was his son Shining Armor this time, standing at the kitchen door and looking at him from behind a shaggy, electric blue mane. Like Cadence, there was a silly conical hat on his head just behind his horn, except his was far larger and much more absurd-looking.

Night Light smiled ear to ear. “Hey, there’s the birthday boy! Having a good party so far?”

“Oh, uh, heh, yeah,” Shining Armor replied. “Thanks for the, uh… the new fetlock trimmers,” he added, glancing at the pure white and much-too-long hairs of his coat around his hooves. “Real subtle.”

“Blame your mother for that,” Night Light chuckled. “You know she prefers the clean-cut look.”

“Y-yeah, heh, I know.” Shining Armor fell silent for just a moment as he closed the kitchen door. “…Dad, uh, can I talk to you?” He glanced briefly at the open window. “…Privately?”

Night Light looked to the window, where the two elder mares had gone back to gossiping in hushed voices, and decided he’d probably heard quite enough of it already. “Sure, son,” he said, sliding the window closed again. “What is it?”

Shining Armor fidgeted for a few seconds, shuffling his hooves in an awkward dance that Night Light hadn’t seen from his son since he managed to ask Cadence to their senior prom. “It’s, uh… it’s about work. Sort of.”

“You’re not still letting those tabloid rags get to you, are you?”

“I--w-what? No, dad--”

“Shining, son, everypony who matters knows you didn’t just inherit your position from me. You can’t listen to what a bunch of pop-sensation newspapers say about it,” Night Light urged. “All they care about is selling a story to sell papers, no matter how far-fetched it sounds. Sure, yeah, twenty-four might have been a little young, but you made Captain of the Guard because you earned it, and no two-bit corner store gossip sheet can take that away from you.”

“I know, dad, I know, enough with the motivational speech, sheesh,” Shining Armor insisted. “This isn’t about that.”

“…Oh.” Night Light swiftly went red. “Sorry. That’s good though, that, uh… that it’s not bothering you.”

“No, no, that’s fine, this is something else…”

“What is it then?” Night Light asked, taking a seat at the kitchen table.

Shining Armor sat across from him, not meeting his eyes. “…Dad, did you ever… that is, did Princess Celestia… ever ask you to…”

Night Light immediately went twice as red as before, glancing hastily at the window again. “…Have you been listening to the girls talking?”

“What?” he muttered distractedly. “No, no, I…well, it’s just… I uh… I sort of got this letter from Princess Celestia yesterday asking me to meet her after-hours, and… when I went to talk to her, she… well, she, uh…” the younger stallion trailed off, squirming and pink in the cheeks.

Night Light was still for a long moment as he closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. He’d known this was coming for a while now, the moment Shining Armor had been appointed Captain of the Guard in his place the previous winter. Celestia had even been polite enough to speak to him about it directly, though on some level it had already occurred to him even then, knowing his son was a candidate. His own father might have passed away before ever speaking to him of Her Majesty’s Secret Service, as he and his friends had jokingly come to call it over the years, but Night Light was still very much alive to see the position fall to Shining Armor. He knew that Celestia would one day trust his son with the same secret. And so, as horrifyingly awkward as it had been to consider or think about, Night Light was actually prepared for this. One hay of a birthday present you’re offering him, Tia, he thought wryly to himself.

“Did you?” he said aloud instead.

“…Did I what?” Shining Armor echoed.

“You know what.”

“…” Shining Armor gulped, staring at his father in some mixture of shock, relief, and embarrassment. “N-no. S-she said, uh… to take some time to… to think about it.”

“Good,” Night Light said, sighing in some slight relief of his own. “Shining, son, I’m going to give you three pieces of advice.”

The younger stallion swallowed another heavy breath. “O-okay?”

“First, there’s nothing weird or unusual about what she’s asking. I know it seems sometimes like she’s larger than life, but she’s still a pony just like any other, with all the same wants and needs we have. Including seasonal hormones. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.”

Shining Armor slowly nodded along with his words, seeming to calm down slightly. “Yeah… y-yeah, you’re right. Everypony does it, it’s not weird for her to… yeah, okay. Yeah. But, dad…” he went on suddenly, and more concernedly now, “she has to know I’m with Cadence, right? Why would she ask me if she knows I’m not--?”

“Which brings me to my second piece of advice: don’t hide it from Cadence. Involve her in it.”

“W-what?! But dad, she’ll totally freak!”

“I have a pretty good feeling she’s already got some idea that it’s coming,” Night Light said, glancing one more time at the window facing the back porch. “Trust me, son, if you love her, you can’t hide this from her. Even if you say no.”

“Are you… are you saying you told mom about it when you--?”

“Right after Celestia’s first cycle.”

“…‘After?’”

“Well, I wasn’t dating her yet at the time. But you are dating Cadence, and Celestia knows that. I’m sure that’s why she sent you home to think about it.”

Shining Armor silently chewed on that for a while. “…So you told mom. And she was okay with it when you weren’t dating yet.”

“After we were dating, too. We were very open and honest about it every year.”

Shining Armor jolted almost all the way out of his seat at that. “Every year?! How many times did you do it?!”

“Every season of my career.”

Shining Armor’s jaw dropped. “And mom was fine with it every time?!”

Night Light blushed and smiled awkwardly. “…Your mom was a lot more than fine with it.”

“…” Shining Armor’s eyes bulged comically wide. “You… you and mom…?!”

“…Yeah. Pretty much every time.”

“…” Shining Armor slumped fully back into his seat. “I think I need a drink.”

“Thank goddess one of us said it.”

Night Light lit up his horn and flung open two cupboards and the freezer. A moment later two glasses, a few ice cubes, and a big black bottle combined themselves in front of the two stallions, and together they each threw back a mouthful of bitter, throat-burning liquor.

“Guh…” Shining Armor grunted. “I think I prefer cider.”

“Ditto,” Night Light agreed.

“Jeez, dad. I dunno whether I should be impressed or grossed out. How the hay did that end up happening?”

“It was your mother’s idea.”

Shining Armor snorted. “Bullshit.”

“Language.”

“Sorry, but… seriously?”

“Look, son,” Night Light said, “the last thing Celestia wants to do is get in the way of your relationship. And it was the same with us. So much so that she’s willing to spend decades alone to avoid interfering. We hit a bit of a snag there early on, and… well, your mother thought that would keep everypony happy. And by goddess, it did.”

Shining Armor’s blush suddenly doubled in strength. “…So… when you said I should… involve Cadence…” he began, boyish, reverent hope creeping into his tone.

“I’m saying… that you’d be surprised how many doors open up in your relationship when you’re open and honest with each other,” Night Light finished as diplomatically as he could.

“…W-wow,” Shining Armor murmured, his cheeks beet red as his imagination took over.

“Trust me, Shining, openness and honesty goes a long way,” Night Light repeated, driving the point home. “Your mother and I were open and honest with ourselves and with Celestia that first season together, and it turned into something magical. Heh, in fact, that’s sorta the whole reason you’re here, that was the season you were conceived…”

“…Eeeeeeeewwwwwwww, I did not need to know that!” Shining exclaimed, chuckling despite a shudder of disgust.

“Heh, then don’t ever ask Uncle Pommel and Aunt Steadfast about it, they’ll tell you way worse stories. But yeah, I think that’s about all I want to hear about my son and his girlfriend’s sex life,” Night Light agreed, laughing along with him. “Now go on back to the party, I’m almost done washing the plates, and then we’ll have cake, alright?”

“Alright… thanks dad, that really helped a lot,” Shining Armor said, the relief in his tone palpable. He headed back toward the kitchen door, but stopped just before opening it. “Oh, hey, what was number three?”

“Hm?” Night Light glanced over as he returned to the sink.

“You said you had three pieces of advice,” Shining Armor reminded him. “What was the third?”

“…Oh. Right.” Night Light paused for a long moment, training his eyes rigidly on the sink. “…She likes to have her tail pulled.”

“…”

Night Light glanced back toward his son, and gave him a tiny, almost invisible wink. “Just so you know.”

“…Eh-heh… r-right. T-thanks, dad… I think,” Shining Armor stammered, and vanished through the door a second later.

“I think you handled that pretty well.”

“Gah!” Night Light jerked and whirled to face the window. His wife had opened it again somehow, and she was smiling mischievously at him through it. “Velvet?!”

“Hehe… so Celestia finally sent him the invitation, huh?”

Night Light frowned slightly. “Dear, that was supposed to be a private father-son moment!”

“Oh, so you weren’t listening in on our girl time out here?”

“…That was purely accidental.”

“Uh-huh.” Velvet giggled. “Well if it makes you feel any better, I think you did a wonderful job of steering him in the right direction. And after seeing Cadence’s reaction, I think they’re going to be just fine. Celestia will be in capable hooves.”

Night Light heaved a slight sigh of relief. “Good… I’m glad. She deserves it.”

“It’s a shame it’s out of our hooves now, though,” Velvet lamented. “It’ll be weird not having her around in heat season anymore.”

“Yeah… I’ll miss her too,” Night Light agreed. “…But like you said… that won’t stop us from enjoying ourselves, right?”

Velvet shot him her best bedroom eyes. “Damn right it won’t.”

Night Light met her saucy gaze with one of his own and wrapped her up in both his hooves and his magic, heaving her through the window with both. “In fact,” he added over her squeal of delight, “I’m so trained to please two mares, I’ll have to rut you twice as often to keep from getting backed up.”

“Oooh, that’s a big promise to keep,” Velvet said, tumbling down to the floor with him. “I’m not sure you can do it.”

“Mmhh, hey, I’m not too old to plow you through the floorboards just yet…” he growled back, rolling himself firmly on top of her and kissing her lips.

“Prove it, handsome…”

“Ewww, Shiny, mom and dad are making out in the kitchen!” Twilight Sparkle abruptly shrieked from the door, and could be heard fleeing at full gallop in the next instant.

Night Light stopped and blushed, rolling his eyes helplessly.

“Foals will be foals,” Velvet said, offering a similarly helpless shrug.

“Yeah,” Night Light murmured in mild disappointment, but didn’t lose any of the fire in his eyes that remained locked on his wife. “After the party,” he promised.

“After the party,” she agreed, and kissed him one last time before they hopped back up to their hooves and moved to finish the dishes together, giving each other the best bedroom eyes they could muster every step of the way, as if daring each other to see who would crack first.

It was going to be a long night.

---

Somewhere in the lofty metropolis of Canterlot, in a cozy three-bedroom house facing the sunset five hours later, a Unicorn stallion and mare named Night Light and Twilight Velvet fell asleep in quivering ecstasy.

---

Author's Notes:

A thousand thanks to my dedicated pre-readers, editors and sounding-boards for all the assistance and motivation you provided over the far-too-many months it took me to finish this story. Couldn't have done it without you.

Thanks as well to everyone who read and enjoyed this story, and didn't forget about it when I went months without updating. It's my highest-rated story to date, and I owe it to you guys. So thank you.

--CG