It was another three days – and two more nights of rutting Princess Celestia senseless – before Night Light saw either of his two best friends again. Until then he had spent the rest of the week in a perpetual daze. By day he went about his duties practically on autopilot, though that thankfully worked out well enough; his duties were so standard and repetitious that he barely had to think about them anymore. Which, actually, was a good thing. Because throughout it all, his mind was thoroughly occupied instead with his new duties by night, as though he were suddenly leading a shadowy, secret double life. Heck, for all intents and purposes, that was pretty much exactly what he was doing.

Celestia hadn’t been kidding. Her heat cycle was intense and relentless. She admitted, the morning after that first insane night, that she was already feeling the urges creep back into her, and it would probably take them at least another two or three rounds of frantic hip-slapping before the first wave of her cycle was truly quieted and would lay dormant for a while. Unfortunately they both had duties to attend to that made staying in bed all day impossible, and so after a hasty clean-up (and a cancelling of the size spell that Night Light had entirely forgotten about until he tried to put on his armor and found it comically small for him), they put on their public faces once more. Celestia, as promised, went to announce to Equestria at large that it was finally ‘that time of the year,’ but Night Light, for his part, was already well aware, and didn’t bother listening for the formal address, he was so inwardly focused. Part of him spent the routine of his daily duties wondering if perhaps he really had dreamed up the whole evening, but it was a thought that never really gained steam. For once again, a calm, friendly missive came to him from the Princess via Philomena near the end of the day, inviting him to meet her privately. Once again within the hour he was in the bedchamber of an extremely horny monarch, and once again he quickly found himself at least twenty percent larger, reared over Celestia’s back and fucking her into the mattress while she begged ravenously for every bit of it.

It wasn’t until the third time this process repeated itself and Night Light spilled every drop of seed he could muster into Celestia’s waiting womb before at last it seemed to take for real. This time the urges were gone the next morning entirely, and that could only mean that her heat cycle had gone properly dormant. It would of course flare up again at least once or twice more, as it always did for even normal mares, and probably no more than a week from now. But temporarily, at least, Celestia was back to her radiant, un-frazzled, perfect old self, though she remained much more friendly and informal with Night Light while they were in private together.

When they’d again washed up and returned Night Light to his proper size, Celestia had insisted he go home and have the weekend off, as a small thank you for everything he’d done for her. And as amazing as it had been, Night Light was a bit grateful that they were done for the time being; aside from the fact that he was exhausted, he also hadn’t been able to think straight for a solid seventy-two hours. “A weekend off will do you a world of good,” she had said. “You’ll be here often enough in the coming weeks as it is. Get some rest. Clear your head. And… see your friends again. I know you miss them, and I’m sure they wish to see you as much as you wish to see them. I daresay you’ll all have much to talk about now.”

Night Light found that part to be especially surprising. Celestia had made herself clear right from the outset that their meetings were to remain a secret from everypony. The last thing he wanted to do was start blabbing to the rest of Equestria about what they’d been doing and sully her reputation, not to mention his own. Not that there was any shame in it, of course, everypony did it. But they were nevertheless very public figures – Celestia a hundred times more so, but still – and news like that spreading around would absolutely generate talk and rumors about the both of them. His soldiers would never see him the same way again. At best he’d be the butt of a million jokes among the lower ranks for years to come; at worst it would call into question the validity of his position entirely, if ponies decided to believe Celestia had only appointed him Captain because he slept with her. Goddess what a P.R. nightmare that would be.

Celestia, however, had simply smiled and calmly informed him that while she agreed he shouldn’t spread it around to the general public, the privacy she had asked for was merely the normal privacy anypony was entitled to about their sex life, and that within close, trusted circles, she didn’t mind him sharing. “I know this has been a bit of a jarring perspective shift for you, and I think you could use somepony to talk to about it that’s not… well, me,” she’d reasoned. “As long as you trust your friends to keep your confidence, I believe you should share with them. There is a certain magic in friendship, Night Light, and it would be a shame to diminish that magic with something as silly as keeping secrets from one another.”

After spending the rest of that Saturday morning off, Night Light found he honestly couldn’t disagree with her. Despite having a (mostly) clear head at last, those few evenings with Celestia were still almost all he could think about, bubbling over in his brain and desperate for some kind of outlet, so much so that he doubted he could keep the whole thing to himself even if he’d wanted to. Which he definitely didn’t. He wanted to talk to his friends again. And not merely so he had somepony to vent to about Celestia, but because, he realized, he still owed them each an apology. And so, after a long morning and afternoon of, for once, doing absolutely nothing, he set out before any more of the day could be wasted, determined to find his friends.

Not together, though. Goddess, no. That would be shockingly inappropriate of him. Perhaps when he told Pommel, then Twilight Velvet could be there as support, but he knew without a shadow of a doubt in his mind he needed to talk to Twilight Velvet first, and alone. He owed her that much. He’d known for a long time now that she had feelings for him, and despite his own interest he had long-insisted on keeping her at a certain distance, for the sake of his career. Not even during past mating seasons had he allowed their mutual interest to crack through that particular barrier. If anything he was more resolved than ever during those times; if someday he was to let their relationship blossom, it sure as heck wasn’t going to start with a mating-season-fueled grope-fest. And now here he was fresh off doing almost exactly that with Celestia instead? Velvet was not going to be pleased, no matter how carefully he broached the subject, and she was going to want answers. To a lot of things. And with Celestia’s last words still ringing in his head, he knew they were answers he’d owed her for a while now.

He found her in the palace’s library, which came as a bit of a surprise. She normally had the weekend off as well, and he’d expected to find her at home, or maybe at Pommel’s house. But no; she was right there in the same castle he’d started the day in, sitting at a desk buried in the depths of the Royal Archives and surrounded by piles of books and scholarly papers and research notes. A quill encased in her magical aura was scribbling on a piece of parchment in front of her at breakneck speed, writing whole lines of words in seconds and stopping only to replenish its ink and move to the next line on the parchment. Night Light almost didn’t dare interrupt her concentration, but to his luck she reached the end of her current sheet of parchment in a few more moments, and when she moved to pull out a fresh one, he took the opportunity offered.

“Velvet?”

Twilight Velvet jolted out of a daze, as expected, and Night Light thanked his observational skills for not making her do so with a quill to parchment. A second later she whirled around to face him, and for a few moments, time froze.

“…Night Light?”

She looked tired. Exhausted, actually. Maybe as much as he himself had been. But a different kind of exhausted; the kind that came not from excessive exertion, but plain old lack of sleep. Like she’d been awake all night, or most of it. There were dark circles under her eyes, her coat and mane were a bit on the unkempt side, and she seemed to have trouble focusing her gaze on him without her eyelids drooping. She was as beautiful as ever, as Night Light never failed to notice, but admiration was swiftly replaced by worry and concern.

“Velvet, are you alright?” Night Light asked, taking a step toward her. “You look… completely wiped out.”

Twilight Velvet was silent for a long time, staring at him with an unreadable expression as she stood up and moved out from her collection of tomes and scrolls to walk right up in front of him. Night Light became quickly afraid the nearer she got that she was going to chew him out again, or send him away, or even smack him, all reactions he was sure he’d entirely deserve. But instead, Velvet did something that Night Light had never in his life seen her do before.

She flung her front hooves around his shoulders, buried her face in his neck, and burst into tears.

“Gah…! V-Velvet…?” Night Light stammered, lifting a hoof to catch her weight and return her embrace. She was warm to the touch; not quite as warm as Princess Celestia, but significantly softer, traits only more noticeable now when he didn’t have his armor separating them, and he had to fight a little harder than usual to focus and not blush at the contact. “Velvet, what’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong…?!” she growled into his coat, limply beating on his shoulder. “You mean besides you practically disappearing for three days, you big jerk?! I thought… goddess, after that stupid fight, I thought--”

“Hey, hey, calm down, it’s okay…” Night Light reassured her. “It’s a long story… we’ll talk about that eventually. I’m worried about you right now. What are you doing here on a weekend? You look like you haven’t slept at all.”

“I haven’t…” she admitted. “I… ugh, I feel so stupid…”

“For not sleeping? Heh, yeah, that’s… kind of important.”

Velvet managed a tiny laugh, barely. “No, I mean…” Velvet stopped, groaning and shaking her head. “Mmmhhh, actually Night Light, can we maybe have this little heart to heart somewhere more comfortable…?”

Night Light gave her an agreeable nod. “Sure. Here, I’ll pack up your things for you, why don’t you climb on my back and I’ll give you a lift home?”

The words were barely out of his mouth before Twilight Velvet was gratefully crawling onto his back, front hooves hooked around his neck and her head resting atop his, buried in his mane. He wasn’t even half-finished packing up her quills and notes before he heard her soft, sleepy snores fluttering against his ear.

Night Light chuckled and blushed. She must have really been exhausted. She hadn’t passed out on his back like this in months. Not since that night he’d accidentally knocked her out after she tried to--

Well. He wasn’t going to focus on that part.

Fighting off a sharp jolt in his aching loins at the memory, Night Light hastily finished packing up Velvet’s things in her saddlebags and carried her out of the library.

---

Note to self, Night Light thought as he fiddled with Velvet’s keys while no less than five of her neighbors stared at them. Walking up to a mare’s house with her passed out on your back in broad daylight is exactly as inconspicuous as it sounds.

With a sigh of relief and an apologetic smile to the small group of ponies stopped at her front walk, he finally found the correct key and swung the door open, kicking it closed and locked again the instant he was inside. The saddlebags full of her things were quickly abandoned at the door; getting Velvet comfortable in bed in her own room was his only priority right now. Not that she looked uncomfortable at the moment, but he was sure a mattress was more comfortable than his back.

Alas, it was not to be. The moment he reached her bedside and knelt down to slide her off his back, she began to stir, grunting and grumbling as though she were a foal hugging a teddy bear that was being taken from her while she slept, and the implication was not lost on Night Light that he had been playing the role of the teddy bear.

“Unnhh… Night Light…?” Velvet asked as her mumbles eventually became coherent.

“I’m here,” he responded as quietly as he could manage without quite hitting a whisper.

“Where are we…?”

“I carried you home.”

“Oh… How long was I out for?”

“Probably no more than an hour. I carried you straight here from the library. So you should really go back to sleep if you were up all night…”

Velvet shook her head at that and sat upright in bed, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. “Mmnhhh, no, I’m fine, I feel a lot better already.”

“But Velvet--”

“I said no, Night Light, it’s already late afternoon, if I sleep any more now I’ll just be up all night again.”

Night Light bit his lip and chose not to argue with her. “Well, can I get you something to eat, then? You look like you haven’t done that either.”

Velvet’s growling stomach answered miles ahead of her mouth. “…I guess that would be okay. Thanks.”

Night Light nodded and headed swiftly to her kitchen, his magic calling to him everything he’d need to make them a couple of sandwiches. Velvet tailed close behind, plopping her head down on the dining table with a weary groan.

Night Light gave her a worried glance again. “Are you sure you don’t want to go back to sleep?”

“No, I really don’t,” she confirmed. “I promise I’ll sleep like the dead tonight. Right now I want to eat, and then I want to sit here and talk, because what I really want is to know what the hay’s been going on with you and disappearing since Wednesday.”

“Oh, come on, it’s not like this is the first time you’ve ever gone a few days without seeing me,” Night Light said with a slight eye-roll.

“Not right after a stupid fight, I haven’t…”

Velvet swiftly went quiet again at that, and Night Light too took a careful pause to think about his reply. “I told you before, we’ll get to that eventually. Right now I’m way more worried about you not sleeping or eating, and sitting in the library on a Saturday looking like you’re having a last-minute cram session for a final exam.”

“Hey, I asked first…”

“Technically, I asked first, before you passed out. Also, I’m perfectly healthy. You’re starving and sleep-deprived. I think your story warrants priority.”

“…Fine,” she relented. “Just… tell me one thing first. Are you mad at me?”

Night Light nearly dropped the loaf of bread in his magic aura straight on the floor, gawking at her in surprise. “What? No, of course not. Why would I be mad at you?”

“I don’t know, maybe because the universe hates me at the moment…?” she guessed with another weary and almost miserable groan.

This only worried Night Light more, and so he hastily finished throwing together a couple of daisy sandwiches and brought them over to her on a plate so he could sit and talk to her properly. Velvet however seemed to be in no hurry to elaborate, as she wasted no time in grabbing one of the sandwiches and devouring the whole of it in three bites.

“Fanks,” she managed, spraying him with crumbs rather impressively for a single mangled word.

“…You’re welcome,” Night Light said, absently brushing the crumbs off his face. “So, do you want to tell me what’s wrong?”

Velvet groaned again. “…I messed up, Night Light.”

“Messed up? What do you mean?”

“That night, after we… argued,” she clarified with a blush. “Pommel and I went out anyway, and… we got carried away. Woke up with a horrible hangover and two hours late for work.”

“…Oh.” Night Light winced sympathetically. “That’s… not good. I definitely know what that’s like…”

Velvet snorted and sighed at him. “Yes, well, unlike you, I didn’t get off practically scot-free. The head librarian was furious. She had to cover for me until I got there, which apparently made her late for a meeting with a VIP.”

“Oh…” Night Light grimaced again. “I hope you didn’t get in too much trouble…?”

Velvet actually laughed, though it was the saddest laugh he had ever heard. “Trouble? I almost got fired.”

Night Light jolted right out of his seat. “What?!”

Velvet gave a grim nod. “I would have been fired, if it weren’t for the fact that her VIP meeting was with Princess Celestia.”

Night Light couldn’t help blushing and leaning forward in suddenly-heightened interest. “…O-oh? Celestia? You… saw her there?”

“Yeah. She was waiting pretty patiently, and… I guess she heard me basically begging to keep my job, and stepped in.”

“Stepped in? Wait, you mean…?”

“Yeah.” Velvet hung her head. “It’s because of Celestia that I’ve been working extra all night and half the weekend instead of… browsing job listings. If it weren’t for her vouching for me and asking that I be given another chance, I… I probably would’ve been toast.”

Night Light shuddered from horn to tail. He didn’t even want to think about that possibility. This was a position that Velvet had dreamed of and worked for all her life. The thought of her losing her dream career over one mistake… it made his heart ache. She must have been shaking in her fur, coming so close to that being a reality, and only being saved at the last minute by the dumb luck of Celestia happening to be there.

…Then again, maybe it hadn’t been ‘luck’ at all. He had confessed the troubles with his friends to the Princess, the morning after their first night together. That would have to have been barely an hour before the scene Velvet had just described. Celestia had to have known. Or at least known enough to make a difference when she overheard Velvet’s pleas.

“So I guess… you were right.”

Night Light jerked out of his thoughts. “Sorry? Right about what?”

Velvet’s head remained hung low, not meeting his eyes. “What you said the other day. About not taking my job seriously enough, and… wasting my time trying to…”

Night Light winced, his ears drooping a bit. “…I’m sorry I said that, Velvet. I was just being stubborn, I didn’t mean to imply our friendship was a waste of time.”

“No, you said trying to get you between my legs was a waste of time.”

Color exploded across Night Light’s cheeks. So, here they were, at the real issue between them. That hadn’t taken long. “…Er… right, um, about that…”

“And I want you to know, I understand,” Velvet went on. “If you’re not interested in me, I should just respect that and stop trying to push you into a more romantic relationship.”

“Uh… Velvet?”

“No, really, it’s okay… it’ll be hard for a while, but I’ll get over it, and I’d really like it if we could still be friends.”

“Velvet…”

“I mean, I kind of wish you’d said something definitive sooner, because now I just feel like a moron for all those years I’ve been trying, but I guess I probably should’ve taken the hint a while ago anyway, so that’s probably partially my own fault…”

“Velvet.”

He took her front hoof in both of his this time, and that seemed to at last derail her. She immediately fell silent and looked up from her lap, finally meeting his gold eyes again with her own brilliant blue ones. They were beautiful to look at, but the idle curiosity they were filled with now would surely be replaced by anger in a matter of minutes, and Night Light shuddered to think about it being directed at him. Not that he didn’t deserve it at this point.

Oh well, it didn’t matter now. The can of worms had been opened, and there was no going back until every last wriggling little issue had been dealt with.

“…You’re right, Velvet,” Night Light finally said, after what felt like a small eternity of silence. “I should have said something clear and definitive a long time ago. I guess I thought that I could keep putting you off and putting you off longer and longer, and avoid the issue until I was ready to deal with it. I didn’t think about how frustrating that probably was for you, and I’m sorry for that. You deserve to hear the truth.”

Velvet tried to look away from him again. “It’s really okay, Night Light, if you don’t feel that way about me, that’s just how it is…”

“But see, that’s… kind of… not how it is.”

Velvet’s eyes instantly snapped back to his, and much wider. “What? It’s not?”

A blush and an apologetic smile filled Night Night’s face. “Velvet, I feel the same way you do. I would have loved to make our relationship a… a romantic one. But…”

Velvet’s mouth hung open, working to try to make words come out, and her hoof he still held between his own was shaking suddenly, but both of those things froze at his last word. “…what do you mean, ‘but’?”

“…Velvet, we were starting careers. I was working toward Captain of the Guard, you were competing for your apprenticeship in the Royal Archives… stuff that was really important to us, that we’d dreamed about and worked toward since before we even knew each other. At the time I thought to myself… the next couple of years were going to shape our whole lives. Having a romantic relationship then would have taken up so much extra time. Time that neither of us could really spare. It would’ve been… a distraction.”

Velvet’s hoof yanked out from between his, and her fur visibly bristled and stood on end as if he’d thrown some vile slur at her. “A distraction? You thought of me as a distraction?!”

“N-no, no, not you personally!” Night Light frantically corrected her. “It was perfect, being friends with you! We were great together that way! I never thought of you as a distraction, or… or a waste of time, Velvet, I never regretted a single minute I spent with you.”

“Oh really?” Velvet snorted and gave him a surprisingly strong look of angry disbelief. “So the last couple of months where we barely saw each other outside of the castle, that was ‘not regretting’ hanging out together?”

Night Light winced again; even knowing it was coming, Velvet’s angry gaze stung deep. “I was being stupid, Velvet, I know that now. We had one bad experience, and I… over-reacted.”

“A ‘bad experience?’ What are you talking about, what bad experience?”

“You know, that time three months ago…? To celebrate you getting the apprenticeship?”

“What, you mean when you were late to work, once, and nopony even noticed? Come on, Night Light, that’s weak, even for you…”

“It was a lot more than that and you know it, Velvet.”

“It really wasn’t.”

“Wh--… yes it was!”

“No, it really wasn’t. We went out, we had some drinks, we stumbled home, and you were too sloshed to remember to set your alarm, end of story.”

“Me?!” Night Light exclaimed. “I was too sloshed?! You and Pommel were twice as drunk as I was! I found Pommel taking a piss outside on a mailbox! Right in front of a guardspony! I had to step in to save his ass from getting thrown in jail! Never mind what you did!”

“Me?! What the hay did I do?!”

“You tried to suck my dick! In public, Velvet!”

All the anger in Velvet’s gaze vanished instantly, replaced by wide-eyed shock and horror. She recoiled back into her seat, hooves flying up to cover her slack jaw and her bright-red cheeks. “…No. Wh--…no, I… I did not, I--”

“Yeah, you did,” Night Light confirmed. “You really don’t remember? You crawled under the table at that last bar, because you wanted to use my lap as a pillow.”

“Oh no…”

“And then you started… poking me.”

“Oh my goddess…”

“I told you stop, and you blew me off. And then you tried to suck me off.” Night Light paused for a long moment, fighting an embarrassed blush of his own. “Erm… and then I sort of accidentally knocked you out trying to get you off me and I had to carry you home passed out on my back.”

“Oh goddess…!” Velvet echoed, hiding her eyes too behind her hooves now, her whole body burning with humiliation. “Night Light, I am so sorry, I had no idea that even… I don’t remember any of that, why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Night Light sighed, slowly calming down and already kicking himself for digging up this particular dead horse and beating it. “Probably because I really didn’t want to have this conversation. I figured it was best left forgotten, but… I, uh, got a little carried away there.”

“No, no, it’s okay, I’m glad you told me,” Velvet insisted. “It… explains a lot, actually…”

“Maybe, I guess, but it doesn’t excuse anything,” Night Light said, eager to get away from that memory as quickly as possible. “I shouldn’t have talked to you the way I did the other day, Velvet, and I shouldn’t have been pushing you away and avoiding spending time with you just because of one bad night out. And I really should have told you a long time ago how… how I felt about you…”

Velvet’s cheeks continued to glow, but thankfully in a warmer light now, her embarrassment fading and swiftly replaced by cautious hope. “So you… really don’t think I’m a waste of time?”

“Never,” Night Light confirmed. “To be honest, this stuff was already starting to hit me after fighting with you and Pommel back to back. I was tipping over the fence right then and there, actually, another couple of seconds and I would’ve been chasing after you, but… well, something… came up. Something important. And I know that’s not what you want to hear right now,” he swiftly added, already seeing the annoyed protest forming on her lips, “but at the time I thought it was more important than any of us. Like ‘matter of national security’ important. I mean, how often does a pony get a summons directly from Celestia herself?”

Velvet, for her part, thankfully seemed to realize the gravity of that statement, her mood swiftly morphing yet again to one of wary curiosity. “Celestia called for you personally?”

“Well, it was more of a request, really, but I was still on duty at the time, and she said it was important, so…”

“What was it about?”

“It was, uh… well… she had a… a job for me, to take care of on my off-hours, that I, uh… that I agreed to do. A pretty, um… big one. Something that’s kept me occupied for the last couple of days. That’s why you haven’t seen me since we last talked.”

“A job? On your off-hours? Is she even allowed to do that?”

“W-well, like I said, it was really more of a request, that uh… that I agreed to…”

“What kind of ‘job’ was so important that she called you up like that, but not important enough to order you to do it?” Velvet wondered, suspicion starting to creep into her tone.

Night Light swallowed hard as he wracked his brain for the best way to phrase it, picking up his sandwich that had lain forgotten on the plate until now and stuffed it in his mouth to stall for time. It did him no good, though; no miraculously painless solutions appeared before him. No matter how he did it, this was going to be the most difficult part of the entire evening, so perhaps, he thought, it was best to just get right to the point.

“…Night Light?”

The stallion gulped down the sandwich and took a deep breath. “…Celestia’s in heat.”

Velvet’s expression went slowly blank, staring at him as though not comprehending what he’d just said. A reaction Night Light could relate to, actually. He’d felt more or less the same way, after all. She said nothing, though, so Night Light pressed on. “I’m sure you heard the announcement the other day, that it’s just about time for mating season… you might even be feeling it yourself already, heh… but, uh, the thing is, I always thought it was Celestia herself casting some spell to make that happen, since she always tells us in advance, but I guess it’s actually the sun that does it somehow? And, uh, since she controls the sun, she sorta… goes into heat before anypony else, and that’s how she knows it’s coming--”

“Celestia has an estrus cycle?!” Velvet abruptly burst out.

“I know, I was as surprised as you!” Night Light exclaimed, a wave of relief hitting him at Velvet’s initial reaction. If she understood his own shock and surprise at this bit of news, then maybe she’d be more understanding about the rest of it. “She said it was something about… longer exposure to the sun, and hormone reactions, and--”

“No, I knew that,” Velvet cut him off. “I meant I didn’t think Celestia actually… that she’d ever have to… I mean, she’s…”

“She’s the Princess,” Night Light filled in.

“Yes, exactly!” Velvet agreed. “She’s been around forever… although I guess Pommel’s always saying she’s just a normal pony when you get to know her, but… there’s never been any suggestion that she… I mean, you’d think somepony would have seen her with a mate at some point, if she really did have to, right?”

“I guess most of the time she just sort of… goes without,” Night Light said. “She doesn’t want to impose herself on anypony, and she definitely doesn’t want to make a big public deal out of it if she ever does find a mate. She told me herself it’s been years since she’s actually had a partner, I felt really bad for her.”

“Oh, good goddess, yes, it’s miserable going through a cycle alone!” Velvet groaned. “Believe me, I’ve done it.”

Night Light perked up in surprise. “You… have?”

“Yeah… a lot, actually,” Velvet admitted. “I don’t think I’ve spent a cycle with anything but meds and an ice pack between my legs for… goddess, years.”

“Really…?” Night Light marveled. “Why? Why would you do that to yourself?”

“Mmnnh… well…” Velvet blushed. “Call me old-fashioned, but I’m not really a fan of just scratching the itch wherever I can get it. Especially not since I’ve… had my eye on somepony specific for a while now.”

Night Light swiftly matched her blush, and for a moment an awkward silence fell over the two of them as Velvet trailed off and Night Light sat dreading what was sure to come. Velvet was a smart girl, she wouldn’t be distracted for long. Any moment it was going to hit her…

“Anyway… so Celestia’s in heat, huh?” Velvet said, on track again right on cue. “Earlier than anypony else?”

“Yes…she is,” Night Light confirmed. “It hits her first and it hangs around longer. Her cycle’s probably closer to a month long instead of the two-week average.”

“Ponyfeathers, that has to suck, going that long by yourself… I hope she at least finds somepony to help her out once in a while.”

Night Light braced himself. Here it comes…

“Heh… gosh, Night Light, Celestia must really trust you if she just called you up one night to tell you all th--…”

Velvet froze stock still.

Night Light swallowed hard again, but didn’t dare say a word, or meet her eyes. He could see, though, out of the corner of one eye, that she was gaping at him in wide-eyed disbelief.

“…You?”

Night Light slowly nodded.

“She asked you?”

He nodded again.

“And you said--?”

“Yes.”

“That’s what her job for you was? The last couple of days, that’s where you--?”

“Yes.”

“…You’re telling me--”

“Yes.”

“--in complete seriousness--”

“Yes.”

“--that you’ve been having sex with Princess Celestia?!”

“Yes! Okay?! Yes…!” Night Light exclaimed tensely. “Celestia asked me to be her mate this season and… and I said yes.”

Night Light still couldn’t meet Velvet’s eyes directly, but he did chance a sidelong glance at her again. She was still staring at him, the shock evident all over her face, and the anger he’d expected was certainly there in her expression… but to his own surprise, it was not the dominant emotion she was expressing. It wasn’t even close. In fact beyond the shock her expression was nearly unreadable. If she was about to blow up on him, he had no idea it was coming. Maybe she was just really good at concealing it…

“I don’t believe this…” Velvet finally whispered. “You… and Celestia… holy horseapples…”

Night Light gulped down a heavy breath. “Are… are you mad?”

“Well… a little, yeah!” Velvet exclaimed. “Hay, Night Light, you knew I… that I was interested in you all this time, you could’ve… I mean, I guess I can understand what you meant about not having time for a relationship, but it’s not like hooking up in mating season automatically equals a commitment. You couldn’t even spare me a second glance then? Just as a little note that ‘hey, I really am interested, even if I don’t have time right this second,’ just to reassure me? But no, I think that was when I saw you the least! But Celestia asks you and you jump in bed with her at the drop of a hat?”

This, at least, was a reaction Night Light had more or less expected, and mentally prepared himself for. “Velvet… I’m sorry. You’re right; I did avoid you during mating season in the past. I knew you were interested in me, and I knew those feelings would be stronger than ever when you were… like that. It would have been so easy to just say a few choice words and… take you home with me and go crazy. And… goddess, there were times where I wanted to. I wanted to so bad. But…”

“…But you didn’t,” Velvet finished the thought, quieter now, and nodded along with him, curiously leaning closer; she was catching on quickly. “Why?”

Night Light shrugged helplessly. “I guess you can call me a little old-fashioned too. If you and I were ever going to get together… I didn’t want it to be because you were sex-crazed through no fault of your own and I was thinking with my dick at the wrong moment. It would have been easier if you were just some mare that needed relief, but knowing how much you actually liked me… it would’ve felt like I was… using you, or… taking advantage of your feelings to get laid. You’re worth so much more to me than that, Velvet. I wanted us to get together the right way. I wanted it to be… real.”

For a long moment there was silence again. Night Light closed his eyes, praying to whoever might have been listening that she understood, and shaking in fear of what might happen next if she didn’t. And then…

“…Real, huh…?” Velvet echoed, smiling slightly. “I… actually kind of like the sound of that, when you put it that way.”

Night Light peeked out at her through one eye. “You… do?”

“Yeah.” Velvet’s smile grew a bit broader. “It’d be one thing if we were just two ponies in need, but… you’re right. As much as I care about you, I’m glad we didn’t only hook up because of some hormone-fueled rutting session.”

Night Light blushed twice as hard at her wording, but still, he couldn’t help but nod in agreement. “Y-yeah. Me too…”

“So then… the thing with you and Celestia…?”

“Definitely not romantic,” Night Light swiftly assured her.

“Good.” Velvet let out a sigh of relief. “That’s… very good to know.”

Night Light nodded along agreeably. “Yeah. She wants me to be free to, uh… heh… ‘pursue my own relationships.’ She’s not looking for romance, she made that very clear, and I’m not interested in her like that anyway. It’s just… you know…”

Velvet smirked at him. “A hormone-fueled rutting session.”

“Eh-heh…” Night Light flushed right to the tips of his ears. “That’s… not quite the phrasing I’d have used.”

“But that’s basically what it is.” Velvet shook her head a bit and gave him an impressed stare. “I guess I can’t really blame you for agreeing to it, though. I mean, my goodness, Night Light, even if it’s just a seasonal thing, that’s one hay of a badge of honor. Princess Celestia’s mate… how many ponies can even say that?”

“Well, she’s been around for a millennium and change, so probably more than you’d think,” Night Light said, and managed a weak laugh.

“Still! At most maybe one pony a generation, out of how many millions of ponies who’ve lived throughout the last thousand years? Out of everypony alive right now, you’re the only one? That sounds pretty lucky to me. I’m actually kind of jealous.”

Night Light gave her a look of sincere surprise at that. “You’re… jealous?”

“Well, yeah!” Velvet said, and when her gaze met his, Night Light saw she was indeed watching him with an almost reverent awe now. “You get to see a side of the Princess that nopony else gets to see, ever! My goddess… what was it like?”

Night Light nearly choked on his next breath. “Wh… what do you mean, ‘what was it like?’ You want… you want to know about--?”

“Definitely!” Velvet exclaimed, a bit too eagerly. She seemed to realize as much on her own, though, and swiftly reeled herself in. “I mean, if you’re comfortable sharing, that is. If she’d prefer for you not to talk about it…”

Night Light was already going bright red, and all the memories of his last three days spent with Celestia, despite his best efforts to keep them entirely separated from anything having to do with Twilight Velvet, were swiftly rushing back to the forefront of his brain. Particularly a moment from that very morning…

“Well… actually, she… encouraged me to talk about it with you guys,” Night light admitted. “Although I’m not sure she meant, uh… giving a blow-by-blow account…”

“Hehe, yeah, I bet there was a whole lot of blowing…”

“…Uh…”

Again fresh memories exploded across his mind’s eye, recalling images of Celestia, of that particularly gut-wrenching moment their third night when he’d been so worn out before even entering the Princess’ bedchamber that he hadn’t been sure he could perform at all, until Celestia had offered some deeply stimulating encouragement--

“Oh my goddess, I was joking!” Velvet gasped, clearly watching his flushed reactions like a hawk. “She did not seriously--?!”

“I really don’t think that kind of detail is what Celestia had in mind when she said to share…!” Night Light interrupted her in a slight panic.

“…So that’s a yes?”

“Velvet!”

“Nnnhhh… okay, okay, fine, no super-focused details,” Velvet reluctantly agreed. “But general stuff, that’s okay to talk about, right?”

“I-I… well… I guess?” Night Light stammered, his brain scrambling to sort out the surprise assault Velvet was bombarding him with. She actually wanted to know what sex with Celestia was like? Why?

“Okay, great, so spill, what was it like? How did she compare to normal mares in heat?” Velvet pressed, seemingly unwilling to give him time to adjust.

Night Light’s answers, by consequence, began to simply spill out uncensored. “W-well, I don’t really know much about what a normal mare in heat is like, but… she was actually very polite about it until we got going… and then once I agreed, she got… intense…”

Velvet was leaning forward by now, elbows propped up on the table and her head in her hooves, looking more fascinated by this story than Night Light had ever seen her. “Intense, huh…?” she repeated. “How intense?”

“As in ‘hurling me across the room by magic’ intense. ‘Jumping on top of me before I can so much as finish a sentence’ intense. Made me feel like a teenager again, having her hover over me like that, she was so… huge…”

“Oh my gosh you’re right, she’s enormous, isn’t she?” Velvet realized. “How did you even do it like that?”

“Size-change spell,” Night Light answered swiftly. “Evened things out a bit. I wasn’t as big as her, but I was definitely, you know… big.”

Velvet cast a sly look toward Night Light’s lap, even though it was, thankfully, hidden beneath her dining table. “Big, huh…?”

“Big everywhere,” Night Light swiftly amended. “…Maybe a bit extra big down there. …Just a little bit.”

Velvet hid a giggling blush behind her hooves. “I’d sure like to see that spell in action…”

“Heh… y-yeah, I’m sure you would…”

Velvet laughed again, and thankfully let the point go without further prodding. “So were you a gentlecolt about it…? You know, taking care of a lady’s needs first…?”

Night Light flushed again. “Well… not… not really. I tried! But she actually… stopped me.”

Velvet snorted out a little laugh. “Oh gosh, were you that bad at it?”

“N-no! I mean, I don’t… think so?” Night Light stammered. “S-she sounded like she liked it, just… she couldn’t wait anymore, that’s how bad she needed, you know, the real thing.”

“Wow, really? So from there you just… got right to it?”

“P-pretty much… yeah.”

“And how was that…?”

“…Hot,” he decided, after a moment of thought.

Velvet snickered. “Well duh, I’m sure it was.”

“No, I-- well, yes, but I meant literally, temperature-wise. You know, solar monarch and all. It was like having a July afternoon lying on top of me. Or uh… under me.”

“That sounds pretty hot. And dry.”

“…Well, uh… it was definitely not dry…”

“Hah, no, I didn’t think so. I haven’t met the mare yet that didn’t have to wash her tail twice as often in-season… especially if they haven’t had it in years? Guh, she was probably just dripping…”

Night Light struggled to reign in his body’s reactions, but re-living even just that first night, let alone all three of them… well, it was no wonder that his aching loins were at full mast again. Any stallion with an eye for mares would get an instantaneous erection if they saw the sights he’d seen. Celestia face-down and hips-up with her tail in the air. Celestia on her back with her hind legs spread. Celestia lying on top of him and straddling his twitching cock. Celestia, regardless of position, exhibiting her sopping wet pussy and pleading for it to be filled. Not even the most stoic stallion could have resisted her, no mare even compared to her.

Well, except maybe…

It was kind of funny; as much as he liked Twilight Velvet, he normally didn’t dare imagine her in a graphically sexual light, much like he used to approach thoughts of Celestia as well. But for once, just for a moment, he let himself fantasize, about what it might be like, to replace Celestia in all those scenes in his mind’s eye with Twilight Velvet, to re-enact them with her. To see Velvet shaking her hips in his face, to hear her beg for his cock inside her, to listen to her wails and cries and screams of ecstasy…

Night Light was blushing again, and swiftly shook the filthy thoughts from his brain, berating himself for even thinking them in the first place, let alone letting them renew his stubborn erection. Guiltily he shot a brief glance at Velvet, still sitting there across from him with her hoof under the table. What would she think of him if she knew he was thinking such nasty thoughts about her? Even a mare as forward as Velvet would be disgusted by--

Wait. Hoof under the table?

Night Light’s blush tripled. Velvet was still watching him with immense interest, but at some point her hoof had wandered downward between her legs, as if completely independent of any conscious thought, and suddenly Night Light detected a very telling scent in the air that made his primal instincts scream.

Mare in heat.

MARE IN HEAT.

TWILIGHT VELVET IN HEAT.

Well. Maybe she wouldn’t be so disgusted with his dirty mind after all.

Contrary to his instincts’ demands, Night Light leapt from his seat and backed away, forcing a nervous smile. “W-well! Uh, that’s probably enough talk about my sex life for one day, I should really get home…”

Velvet jolted out of some kind of daze, blushing sharply as she finally realized where her hoof was, and hastened to wipe it clean as she stood as well. “W-wait, Night Light, you don’t have to go yet, I’m sorry if I made you feel awkward…”

“I-it’s fine, really,” Night Light insisted, retreating toward her front door. “It was, uh, a good talk, really, but you need your sleep…”

“Night Light…”

“I-I’ll come check on you again tomorrow, see if you need any help with your extra work or anything,” he talked over her, magically tugging her front door open. “So, uh, yeah, we’ll talk more tomorr--”

“Night Light.”

Velvet’s magic overwhelmed Night Light’s and slammed the door shut again, and before he could do anything about it Velvet was right in his face, his flanks backed up against the solid wood.

“Er… V-Velvet, I really--”

“Night Light, I’m not stupid,” she cut him off. “I know what time of year it is, we’ve been talking about it all afternoon… and I know you can smell me.”

Night Light gulped down a nervous breath. “…Uhm.”

“And I’m not blind either, if you think I can’t see your dick practically dragging over my carpet.”

Night Light blanched, his mouth working for something, anything to say, but all the practiced nonchalance he’d hid behind for so long when facing her in the past was nowhere to be found now. She was past his defenses, seeing his true reactions for the first time, body and mind, and it was motivating her something fierce.

“I understand your reasons for why you’ve put it off so long. Really, I do. But I’m done tiptoeing around it, Night Light,” she informed him. “I’m done playing coy, I’m done dropping hints, and I’m done waiting until you’re comfortable with the idea. …I want you, Night Light. And I know you want me. We’ve liked each other for a long time, we both want a relationship, we’re both… seriously hot for each other… we’ve waited long enough. Why are we still holding ourselves back?”

Night Light swallowed another tense breath and briefly contemplated an answer. But apparently it had been a rhetorical question. Because a second later she was kissing him.

A strained grunt escaped Night Light’s lips, a momentary protest against the surprise move, but it was the only one he offered, the only resistance that hadn’t been stripped down and tossed away. In another instant he was kissing her back, and for the next thirty seconds it felt as though every delayed feeling and emotion and desire that had been hovering between them came roaring forward and spilled out at once. With his weight on his seated haunches, his raised his front hooves to pull her into a more full embrace, and Velvet responded immediately, lifting off her own hooves and throwing them around his body, and her weight against him, if anything, helped her kiss him harder. The tip of his erection was jabbing her in the stomach now with a complete lack of subtlety, and both of them knew it, but neither of them cared right then, or at least, Night Light didn’t. The kiss was all that mattered; the feel of her wet, parted lips, of her tongue dancing with his back and forth between their mouths, of her warm, gentle breaths as she sighed in deep satisfaction.

Princess Celestia, he had noted in idle observation at one point, had never kissed him. She’d nip at his neck and fur, she’d lick his cheek, she’d even take his cock to the back of her throat. But through three whole nights, she never kissed him. It didn’t bother or offend him or anything, but he had noticed, and wondered. And now, with Velvet’s lips on his, he knew why. This was a lovers’ embrace. Frantic, heated and with more than a little lust behind it, but nevertheless tender, passionate, and intimate. This kiss, her kiss, their kiss, was for them, and them only. He didn’t want to share it with anypony else, and when they finally pulled apart and gasped for breath, he was already craving more.

“W-wow…” he stammered instead. “That… that was…”

“A long time coming,” Velvet answered, her voice husky and barely above a whisper.

“Yeah… way too long…”

Night Light grunted and grimaced, forcing himself to pry their bodies apart. Velvet whined in protest immediately, but despite everything, Night Light held on to just enough self-control to resist the sound. He couldn’t do it. He just couldn’t. No matter how bad he wanted her, it just wasn’t going to happen. Not like this, anyway.

“Night Light, come on…”

“Velvet,” Night Light stopped her, though even in his most firm tone his voice was shaking. “I know, I know you want to, and goddess help me I want to just as bad, but…”

“No, Night Light, no more buts! How long do you expect me to keep waiting for you to be ready?! I told you, I’m sick of it…!”

“I am too,” Night Light agreed. “I’m sorry it took me so long, and I know… we both want this. But I have to ask you to wait just… a little bit longer.”

“How long, Night Light? Another year? Two years?”

“…Tomorrow.”

Velvet stopped and stared in surprise. “I--…what?”

“…If we’re doing this, we’re doing it right, remember?” Night Light reminded her. “…Let’s go on a date.”

“…A date?”

“Yeah. Just you and me. A real date. Like a real couple goes out. And then…”

“…Then…?” Velvet echoed hopefully.

Night Light took a deep breath, his face crimson all over again. “…Then… whatever else happens from there… I guess it’d be okay…”

Velvet shifted on her hooves and bit her lip, obviously reluctant to wait while she was straddling the beginnings of her estrus cycle. But eventually she relented, taking a deep, calming breath and reigning in the desire that their kiss had unleashed. “Sure… I’d love to go on a date with you, Night Light.”

“Yeah…?”

“Yeah.” Velvet smiled and nodded. “I’ve waited to hear you ask me that for years, I’m not going to let a little estrus make me greedy. I can wait a bit longer…”

Night Light beamed. “Great. Soooo, I’ll… come pick you up sometime late afternoon?”

“You’d better, mister. After this much waiting, I’m expecting one hay of a date.”

“Heh-heh… I’ll do my best,” Night Light promised.

Velvet smiled wider. “I’m sure you will.”

Night Light blushed a bit as he smiled back, and turned to magically open her front door once again. He made it as far as her front porch this time.

“Hey, don’t I get a goodnight kiss?”

Night Light stopped and turned back to face her again. “Eh-heh… a goodnight kiss? Isn’t that supposed to be after the date, before I walk home in a happy daze?”

Velvet giggled and pulled him close again with one hoof, pecking his lips gently. “Aww… how cute. You think you’re going home tomorrow night.”

Night Light twitched again. “W-wha…?”

Velvet winked at him over her shoulder as she stepped back inside. “See you then…”

And with another pleased giggle at his expression she closed the door, leaving Night Light awestruck and uncomfortably erect on her porch.

“…Goodnight…”