“What do you mean, ‘He’s on duty?’”

Private Steadfast flinched for a moment, awkward hoof-steps echoing on the marble floors of the castle hallways, but her gaze remained level and focused. “Sorry, Captain, sir.”

“Steadfast. I’m off-duty. You don’t need to salute and call me ‘sir’ and all that, I’m just asking a question.”

“With all due respect, sir, I’ve never seen you off-duty since I met you in person.”

Night Light rolled his eyes, wondering if this was how Celestia had felt when dealing with him early that first night. He could definitely see how it would get annoying. “Well, you’re right, I haven’t taken much of a break since then, and I’ve been a bit overworked, so I’m taking a little time off. So please, just… speak freely.”

Steadfast stared uncertainly back at him for a long moment. But eventually the words seemed to sink in as she visibly relaxed her rigid posture and slipped off her helmet, which almost looked too big for her now that she’d cut her blonde mane down to barely a few inches in length. “Understood, sir. Ah… I mean, Night Light.”

“Thank you.” Night Light breathed a sigh of relief. “So, back to my question. You said Lieutenant Pommel’s actually on-duty? Right now?”

“That’s correct.”

“…You realize he’s part of the Night Guard.”

“I do.”

“And that it’s currently noon.”

“Yes sir. Night Light. Sorry.”

“So what the hay is he doing on-duty now?”

“…To be honest I don’t know for certain, that information wasn’t given,” Steadfast admitted. “But we’ve been following his orders directly, and considering now what you just told me, I think he’s probably covering your time off.”

“…Oh.” Night Light groaned to himself. “Great. Well, at least now I know where I can find him… although now he’s really not gonna be happy to see me…”

“He won’t? I… would have thought that was a good thing,” Steadfast wondered aloud. “Being trusted to fill in for a superior officer?”

“Covering my shift on top of his own?” Night Light gave a grim laugh and shook his head. “No, Steadfast, that’s a punishment.”

“…He seems to get those a lot.”

Night Light laughed outright at that. “Yes, he can be a bit of a troublemaker…”

“I’ve noticed…” Steadfast murmured somewhat darkly. A second later, though, she jolted back to attention. “Ah, sorry, sir, that was out of line…”

“It’s alright, Steadfast.” Night Light gave her a reassuring smile. “We… all have our flaws. But they don’t make us bad ponies. Pommel can be… especially rough around the edges, but once you get to know him he’s really not so bad. Celestia wouldn’t trust him as her personal bodyguard most every night if she didn’t believe that despite his troublemaking, he’s a good pony at heart.”

“I… suppose that’s true,” Steadfast admitted.

Night Light laid a gentle hoof on her shoulder. “I know being a member of the Royal Guard can sometimes seem to demand perfection… but if there’s anything I’ve learned from Celestia while serving under her, it’s that we’re all still ponies under our armor. We make mistakes sometimes, and we do our best to make up for them. Us especially, because we represent all of Equestria. But at the same time, we can’t work so hard at being as close to perfect as possible that we forget that it’s okay to let our manes down and be real ponies, too, sometimes. Does that make sense?”

Steadfast gave a slow, hesitant nod at that, and self-consciously ran a hoof through the very short new cut of her own mane. “I… I think it does, yeah. We shouldn’t let this be our whole life, and have no time for anypony else… I mean, anything else.”

“Something like that,” Night Light agreed, and gave her another smile. “Anyway, I really do need to go find Pommel. Thanks for the info. I’ll see you next time we’re both on duty.”

“Oh, yes… sure thing.” Steadfast smiled back this time. “Thank you, too, Night Light.”

“You’re welcome.”

Night Light waved, rather than saluted, and Steadfast eagerly returned the gesture before returning to her rounds in higher spirits. Satisfied, Night Light turned the other direction and began the short trot through the castle halls, to where he knew Pommel must surely be at the moment: Night Light’s office.

Reconciling things with Pommel was obviously going to require a drastically different approach than with Twilight Velvet. He was quicker to anger, probably running on fumes from doing double duty, and was likely not in any better a mood than Velvet had been. But on the other hoof he was also not harboring a couple of years worth of pent-up and unfulfilled romantic feelings that would severely complicate the whole ‘Celestia’s mate’ issue. So that was a plus. He just had to figure out the right words to quell Pommel’s temper.

Fortunately he had some idea of what those words might be.

A moment later Night Light was at the door of his office. He hesitated only for a moment as he took a long, deep breath to calm his nerves, and then braced for the worst as he pushed open the door. Sure enough, his best friend Pommel was sitting at Night Light’s desk, a scowl on his face and his leathery wings twitching irritably as he attempted to sort through his superior officer’s usual stack of paperwork, without his superior officer’s usual advantage of magic.

It wasn’t going well.

“What?” he growled without looking up, his attention obviously still on the scrolls in front of him. “Goddess-damned paper-pushers… how the hay does anypony expect me to fill out this manure by hoof, there’s a reason Unicorns usually do this kind of crap…”

“Careful there, Lieutenant, that sounded just a little bit racist,” Night Light couldn’t help but snark at him.

Pommel’s wings twitched again as he darted his head up, pale yellow eyes glaring at the familiar voice immediately. “What in Tartarus are you doing here?”

“Hello to you too, Pommel.”

“Do you have any idea how rude it is to come in to work when you’ve taken a day off and bug the guy covering for you?”

Night Light stepped fully inside and closed the door behind him. “What, can’t I just come around and say hi to my oldest friend?”

“No. I’ve been on duty thirty-six of the last forty-eight hours thanks to you.”

Night Light managed a small laugh. “Okay, okay, in my defense, I didn’t know you were covering for me until I’d already come looking for you anyway. Somepony else took care of making sure I was covered, I didn’t assign it to you.”

“Good, I would’ve bucked you in the face for pulling that shit on me, after the shit you already pulled.”

Night Light’s chuckle quickly died. “Er… yeah. About that…”

“Yeah? What is it now?” Pommel grunted, returning his attention to the pile of scrolls. “You founding the First Church of Celestia and you wanna convert me?”

Night Light rolled his eyes. “Jeez, do you always talk to your superior officers like this? No wonder you’re in trouble so often.”

“No, but luckily for me, you’re not in uniform today, so I can talk to you however the hay I want.”

“Likewise,” Night Light agreed. “Being on-duty would make this a lot more awkward.”

“I’m not joining your cult, Lighty.”

“I’m not founding a cult, damnit.” Night Light sighed in exasperation. “I’m here to apologize.”

“Oh really?” Pommel snickered suddenly and his eyes lit up in interest as he leaned back in his chair, grinning ear to ear now. “This should be priceless. Go ahead, I’m all ears.”

Night Light rolled his eyes again, but otherwise bit his tongue for the moment; he probably deserved a few barbs like that before this was all over. “I’m sorry, about that fight, okay? It was really, really stupid, and I said some things I shouldn’t have said. I didn’t mean them, and I’d like it if we could still be friends.”

Pommel raised an eyebrow. “…That’s it?”

Night Light nodded. “Pretty much, yeah.”

“It took you four days to figure that out? You’re even thicker than I thought.”

“I’m sorry, it’s been a hectic couple of days, I’ve… had a lot of things on my mind lately,” Night Light said.

“Well I hope one of those things is making nice with Velvet, too, she’s been having about as miserable a time as I have.”

“It is!” Night Light swiftly assured him. “Or, I mean, it was. I mean, I… talked things out with her yesterday. We’re… we’re good now.”

“Yesterday? So it took you three days to pull your head out of your butt and apologize to her too?”

“I told you, I’ve been… busy.”

“Busy with what, kissing Celestia’s hooves some more?”

Night Light blushed suddenly. “Er… well…”

“Or have you moved straight on up to kissing her ass?”

“…Uh… well, technically…”

“Oh my goddess, you can’t even take a joke anymore,” Pommel groaned. “It’s official, my best friend is dead. Maybe I should submit a report that he’s been replaced by a Changeling.”

“It’s not like that!” Night Light insisted. “It’s just…”

“Just what, Night Light?”

“Just… it was more like her inner thighs.”

Pommel frowned at him in confused silence for a moment. “…What?!”

Night Light covered his mouth and forced a cough to mask the smile that was forming on his face. “Just saying. I definitely wasn’t kissing her ass. It was… a bit lower. Smelled nicer, too.”

Pommel stared vacantly at Night Light, who was positive he could see Pommel’s brain working behind his stare, trying to process his words.

But eventually Night Light could no longer hide his amused smile, and Pommel finally cracked one himself. “Hah! Okay, now I know you’re a Changeling. Even when he wasn’t a Celestia-worshipping tool, Night Light never made jokes like that.”

“It’s… not a joke, actually.”

“…What?”

Night Light cleared his throat, glancing around as if ensuring their privacy. “…Seeing as you’re on-duty right now, I want to emphasize this is strictly off the record.”

Pommel’s surprised stare returned, more pronounced than ever. “…What the hay did you do, Lighty?”

“Off the record?”

“Fine, off the record! What the hell are you going on about?”

“…the only reason I didn’t come right after you and Velvet after that fight was because Princess Celestia called me up to her bedroom before I could, and asked me to be her partner for mating season. I spent three straight nights rutting her so hard it broke bedsprings.”

Pommel’s jaw dropped and hung comically-wide open. “…Bullshit,” he promptly accused.

In fairness, Night Light thought, that was a pretty reasonable reaction.

“It’s not bullshit, Pommel, it’s the truth,” Night Light confirmed. “Celestia wanted a mate for this season and she asked me. That night you and I argued was the start of her first active period.”

Pommel gawked at him, completely floored. “No way. No bucking way.”

“You can keep saying that, but it won’t make it stop being true.”

“It is not freaking possible for you to be that goddess-damned lucky.”

Night Light blushed a little. “I don’t know if I’d call it luck, exactly--”

“No, that’s a bunch of horseapples, it is completely the best luck anypony could possibly have, and that’s why it’s bullshit. No one stallion could be lucky enough to have the two hottest mares in Equestria wanting to ride his dick.”

Night Light couldn’t help the embarrassed smile that grew on his face. “Apparently I can, because it’s the truth.”

“Goddess I hate you so much right now.”

“Does that mean you believe me?”

“I’m still on the fence.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Hey, cut me a little slack here, it’s not exactly your usual M.O. to go mounting mares in heat, I watched you dodge Velvet like the plague three years running. Although I guess for freaking Celestia you’d fall all over yourself to do it, wouldn’t you…”

“I nearly didn’t.”

That finally seemed to give Pommel pause. “Seriously? Why not?”

Night Light sighed a bit. “You were right about me, Pommel. I was getting carried away with this whole… ‘service to the crown’ thing, and putting Celestia up on a pedestal. To be honest… I kind of freaked out when she first asked me.”

“…No shit?” Pommel marveled at him, sincerely surprised.

“Yeah,” Night Light confirmed. “She made this whole big deal about how it wasn’t an order or anything, that she wasn’t even addressing me as a Princess and her Captain… and I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I kept thinking, no, this isn’t right, she’s special, she’s better, she can’t possibly, blah blah blah… I’m sure you’ve heard me say all that crap before.”

“It’s come up now and then, yeah.”

Night Light rolled his eyes, but let it slide. “But when I said that stuff, she… she looked almost… hurt. And then… what you told me that afternoon… she says the exact same damn thing.”

“At the end of the day she’s still just a pony?”

“Yeah… and I don’t know, it was like… it finally clicked, I guess. I finally saw the real Celestia, under all the power and the crown. I really… really saw her.”

“Saw a whole lot of her, from the sound of it.”

Night Light flushed and chuckled. “I uh, heh… I guess so, yeah.”

“Lucky asshole. Speaking of asses--”

“The point is,” Night Light quickly talked over him, “I really owe you an apology. You were right about her… and about me. I should have listened to you.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay, I get it, sheesh,” Pommel actually blushed for once. “Enough with the mushy stuff. Apology accepted, if you promise never to be such a sap around me again.”

“Heh… thanks, Pommel,” Night Light said, heaving a relieved sigh.

“Forget about it,” he said with a wave of his hoof. “…I can’t believe you didn’t tell me sooner you were fucking Celestia.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were friends with her,” Night Light shot back. “If I’d known that, I might’ve listened to you sooner.”

“Yeah, well, at the time I didn’t think you’d be keen on hearing about me and your god-queen trading dick jokes,” Pommel snickered, glancing at the clock on the wall as he did so and suddenly jumping out of his seat. “Ah, damnit, you made me late, Lighty, I’ve got lunch plans with Velvet to get to. Oh, wait, shit!” he suddenly burst out, stopping and staring wide-eyed at Night Light. “Does Velvet know about--?”

“Yeah, I told her,” Night Light nodded. “She’s… surprisingly okay with it.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. She was asking for details.”

“You lucky asshole. Well come on then, let’s go get some details.”

“Huh? Wait, you mean--”

“Yeah, you’re coming with me,” Pommel insisted, head-butting him toward the door. “We have to talk about this. In thorough detail.”

“Hey, hang on, I didn’t agree to--!”

His protests fell on deaf ears, however, and a moment later he was forced out of his own office and herded out of the castle.

---

As it turned out, Night Light being dragged along was a definite plus. The café owner recognized the Captain of the Royal Guard as soon as he and Pommel walked in, and promptly offered them a private, secluded booth. The waiter scurried off as soon as they were seated and comfortable to collect Twilight Velvet from wherever she had been left waiting, and Pommel wasted no time in taking advantage of their privacy.

“So on a scale of one to ten, how hot was it?”

Night Light rubbed his muzzle in exasperation. “Gee, I don’t know, she’s the Princess of the sun, Pommel, how hot do you think it was?”

“Har har, smartass. Seriously, though, she’s been around for like, ever, right? So you gotta figure she gets pretty freaky after a few hundred years, just to keep things interesting…”

“It was not ‘freaky,’ jeez…” Night Light groaned. “It was… I don’t know, it was sex. Normal everyday sex.”

“That’s all you’re gonna give me? Puh, leave it to Lighty to make banging a Princess sound boring.”

“She hasn’t had a partner for years, Pommel, I’m pretty sure she wasn’t going to make it even harder on herself by throwing a bunch of… kinks into the mix.”

“You’re shitting me, years? But she could have pretty much anypony she wants.”

“Yeah, but she still has standards,” Night Light swiftly defended her.

“And what the hell makes you so special, then?”

“She… well…” Night Light blushed a little at the memory. “She trusts me.”

“She trusts me, too, but I don’t see her asking to fuck me.”

“It’s different, though,” Night Light went on. “It’s not just how she trusts her guards to protect her. She said… as much as my service record’s been basically spotless, that wasn’t why she made me Captain. She did it because she trusts me completely. With anything. Everything.”

“…Dude.”

“I know what you’re thinking,” Night Light swiftly interjected, “and don’t. She was very clear it’s not a romantic thing, it’s just an estrus thing.”

“Uh… yeah. Good. It better not be. If Velvet didn’t kill you, I would. You know how she feels about you--”

“I’m well-aware, thank you,” Night Light said. “I’m getting to that. My point is, Celestia doesn’t just go around getting rutted by whichever random ponies she grabs off the street. Mating season or not, sex is still a pretty private thing. She wanted somepony she could trust giving her body to intimately at a very… vulnerable time. Not to mention be discreet about it.”

“I think you’re failing that part here, Lighty,” Pommel observed.

“Well… it’s different with you guys. She encouraged me to talk with you about it. As long as, you know, you don’t go spreading it around to the public. She’s entitled to keep her sex life private just like anypony else is.”

Pommel nodded his agreement. “I guess I can keep that quiet.”

“Thank you…”

“So she made you Captain ‘cause you’d treat her right in the bedroom and then keep your mouth shut about it, huh?”

Night Light once again rolled his eyes. “If you want to grossly oversimplify it, and completely belittle what I actually do, then yeah, sure.”

“Well what would you call it, then?”

“A family legacy!” Night Light smiled broadly. “This whole ‘being Celestia’s mate’ thing was a secret, Pommel, it’s not why I got into the job. My father was Captain before me, and he was my hero. I always wanted to follow in his hoofsteps, it’s why I became a member of the Royal Guard in the first place. He was the best, and I wanted to be the best too. And I guess it showed. Celestia said she saw a lot of my father in me, she saw he raised me to be as good and noble a pony as he was, and that was a big part of why she promoted me.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot your dad was Captain,” Pommel said, thoughtfully stroking his chin. “…Heh, hey, you think that means Celestia was banging your dad too?”

“……”

The smile dropped from Night Light’s face immediately, staring at Pommel in blank horror as his brain was suddenly forced to think far too hard about that frighteningly plausible statement.

Pommel offered a slightly nervous chuckle of apology. “…Heh, what? Just saying.”

Fortunately, he wasn’t forced to think about it for long, as Twilight Velvet was finally escorted to their table and served as a welcome distraction, smiling broadly at Pommel, who she’d seen first, and hugging him.

“Hey! Look who escaped from behind the desk!” Velvet observed, nuzzling his cheek briefly before pulling back.

“Likewise,” Pommel answered. “You’re looking like you’re in a good mood for once.”

“I’m in a great mood, thank you!” she beamed, turning to take a seat across from Pommel, only to finally notice Night Light sitting there with a sheepish smile. Velvet jolted in surprise and froze for just a moment, but her smile swiftly returned, accompanied by a pleasant blush. “And it just got even better. Hey there handsome… didn’t know you were joining us.”

“Ah-heh… well, Pommel insisted, so…”

“Well wasn’t that nice of him… guess I get to see you again even earlier than I thought,” Velvet cooed, sliding into the seat beside Night Light and grinning at him shamelessly.

For once, though, Night Light didn’t resist her flirtatious behavior, instead allowing her to slide up against his side and even hold hooves with him. “Y-yeah, real nice…” he stammered, smiling back at her. “H-hi, Velvet…”

“Hello, cutie,” she answered, locking eyes with him so closely their horns were nearly touching. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Night Light blanched momentarily. “Oh, uh… it’s nothing, really. Pommel was just telling me a… a scary story.”

“Aww, well don’t worry, Night Light, I’ll chase the ghosts away for you tonight,” Velvet assured him with another giggle and gave him a swift peck on the lips, which Night Light gladly accepted and added to, pressing his lips forward even as hers moved away. Velvet let out a tiny squeak of surprise that quickly melted into a happy sigh, and she too let the kiss linger, resting her gentle weight on Night Light’s shoulder. It still ended before too long, though; Night Light could still smell estrus all over her, and it was not the time to cave into that, not yet. And so, after just a few seconds, they mutually pulled back; reluctantly, but with knowing grins.

Pommel, understandably, stared at this display in dumbfounded surprise. “…Well. That was, uh. Different.”

Both ponies looked over at him, offering apologetic smiles. “Sorry,” they managed to say together, before stopping and chuckling at each other.

“Is there something you two wanna tell me?” Pommel asked, an amused smirk growing on his own face.

“Like I said, I was getting around to it, eventually,” Night Light answered. “Velvet and I, uh…”

“He finally asked me out,” Velvet said for him, cutting right to the chase.

“No kidding.” Pommel’s smirk grew wider. “Took you bucking long enough.”

Night Light shrugged helplessly. “We had a nice, long talk about everything, and, well… Velvet was nice enough not to completely hate me, so we decided to give a real relationship a try.”

“We’re going on our first date tonight!” Velvet finished, almost bursting with excitement.

Pommel gave them both a satisfied smile of his own. “Well I’ll be damned. No wonder you’re in a good mood. Congratulations, you two. Knew you’d figure yourselves out eventually.”

“Thanks, Pommel,” Night Light said, giving Velvet’s hoof a gentle squeeze.

“Yeah, thanks for sticking by us,” Velvet agreed. “We both really appreciate it.”

“Don’t mention it,” Pommel said with a dismissive hoof wave, looking toward Velvet. “So, tonight, huh? Does that mean you finally finished all your make-up work?”

“Ugh, yes, thank Celestia,” Velvet heaved a sigh of relief. “Took me two late nights and most of the weekend, and I’ll probably still need to put in some overtime here and there to keep my boss happy, but I think I’m okay now. What about you?”

Pommel grunted in distaste. “Should be getting back to normal after this shift. Because Night Light’s done with his little vacation after today, isn’t that right?”

“I swear, Captain’s honor,” Night Light chuckled, raising his free hoof upright. “I told you, though, I didn’t put you on my shifts.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Pommel shook his head. “I’m bitching about it, but honestly, it’s my own fault. We got pretty blasted that night without you around to be the responsible one for us, Lighty. Backlash the next day was harsh.”

Night Light shifted a bit uncomfortably in his seat. “Yeah, I uh… I figured it was punishment duty you were doing. And I’m sorry, again, about everything, I should have been there to--”

“No, Lighty, shut up. It wasn’t your fault. I mean, yeah, you were kind of a dick, but--”

“Pommel,” Velvet cut him off with a stern stare before turning to smile at Night Light. “What he means is, you weren’t the only one who was in the wrong about all this. Maybe we do get a little too carried away sometimes when we go out, and we shouldn’t have been so hard on you for trying to be the responsible one, even if you were going overboard with it.”

“Yeah,” Pommel agreed. “Don’t feel guilty for the trouble we got in, that’s squarely on our own heads. I promise, we’re never gonna let it get that bad again. With or without you, we’ll try to be more responsible from now on when we’re out together. Deal?”

Night Light smiled proudly at his friend. “Deal. Thanks, Pommel, that’s very mature of you.”

“Gotta grow up sometime,” he admitted with a shrug and a smile. “Don’t worry though, I’ll be the same old jackass, Celestia willing.”

Velvet abruptly giggled again and grinned from ear to ear. “Hehehe, hey, Pommel, so, speaking of Celestia…”

Night Light swiftly groaned and buried his face in his hooves. “Oh come on, really? We’re doing this again?”

“Yes. Yes we are.” Velvet cackled and looked at Pommel. “Did he tell you?”

“Yes, he told me, the lucky little wiener.”

“Hehehe, oh, from what I heard, Celestia made sure it was quite the opposite of ‘little’ before she had her fun.”

“Oh my Goddess, are you serious? This asshole gets a giant magic cock now too?”

“Well, more like a giant magic everything. He’d have to, she’s so huge!”

“Oh yeah, she is, huh? Hah, oh hell, now I’m picturing him trying to mount her from normal size, pfftthahaha!”

“Hehehehe, oh gosh, he probably tried, too! I bet he couldn’t even reach her wings!”

“HAH! Like a little foal trying to climb up on his mom’s back!”

“Hehehe, I know, right? Seriously, no wonder she sized him up.”

“Yeah, you’re right, she’d have to. Even if he could reach, it’d be like throwing a cucumber down a canyon.”

“I’m right here, you know!!!”

Velvet snickered and patted Night Light soothingly on the back. “Oh come on, Night Light, it’s just a joke.”

“Yeah, lighten up, Lighty.”

“You’re comparing my… junk, to cucumbers!”

Pommel shrugged carelessly. “Hey, I didn’t say it had to be a small cucumber. It could be the Equestrian record for biggest cucumber ever, but that’s still a canyon…”

“It was not like a canyon!” Night Light countered in an indignant hiss.

Velvet immediately grew a wicked grin. “Oh really? Well then, please, if you’re so eager, tell us what it was really like.”

“Yeah, Lighty, sounds like you’re dying to tell us all about exactly how tight it was in Celestia’s p--”

“Public café, for pony’s sake…!” Night Light hissed again before he could finish. “Jeez, do you want the whole restaurant to hear you?”

Pommel laughed and smiled sincerely. “Ahh, now there’s the Night Light I remember. Nice to see you’re still as uptight as ever when you wanna be.”

“I am not uptight, I just have a little respect for Celestia’s privacy…”

“She told you it was okay to talk about though!” Velvet prodded him, both figuratively and literally.

“And I told you, I don’t think I need to get into the intimate details,” Night Light once again insisted. “I mean, what if it was you? Sure, maybe you wouldn’t mind ponies knowing generally if we had sex, but would it really not bother you at all if I went rambling to Pommel about every last dirty detail of all the nasty sexual things we did together?”

Pommel raised his hoof, ignoring Velvet’s abrupt blush. “For the record, I’m in favor of this idea--”

“Shut up, Pommel,” the other two again said in unison.

Both of Pommel’s front hooves came up this time, waving back and forth defensively as he chuckled. “Okay, okay, point taken. Whatever you guys wanna keep behind closed doors is none of my business.”

“Thank you,” Night Light muttered as he sighed in relief and refocused a smile on Twilight Velvet. To his surprise, she was still very flushed and off-guard from Night Light’s rather bluntly-made point. Clearly she was still very much not used to hearing Night Light turn her forwardness back on her, and her playful attitude had been thrown for a serious loop. He’d have to remember that for the future; she looked extra adorable when she was embarrassed.

A snicker from Pommel interrupted his thoughts. “Damn, whatever it is she wants to keep behind closed doors must be pretty crazy. I’ve never seen Velvet blush like that.”

“Oh, stuff it up your ass, Pommel,” she quickly retorted.

“Whoa-ho, the claws are coming out!” Pommel reared back, over-exaggerating the motion for all it was worth. “Guess that’s my cue to hoof it on outta here.”

Night Light raised a curious eyebrow. “You’re leaving? But we haven’t even eaten yet.”

“I’ll grab something to go. You made me late getting here as it is, and the last thing I need right now is to be late to duty again.” Pommel nudged the other stallion and gave him a knowing wink. “Besides, I can tell when I’m not wanted. I’m sure you two are eager to start your date.”

“Date?” Night Light flushed and glanced back at Velvet. “What, you mean… right now?”

Pommel shrugged. “You’re already here together, and you’ve both got the whole day off. Why not make the most of it?”

Velvet finally seemed to recover at that, curling a front leg around one of Night Light’s and smiling again. “For the record, I’m in favor of this idea.”

“Told you.” Pommel grinned his smuggest grin and lazily saluted them as he turned to go. “Have fun, you two. And for the love of Celestia don’t buck it up or I’ll kick both your flanks.”

“Love you too, Pommel,” Night Light called back with an amused smile and a shake of his head. A second later his friend was gone, and Night Light turned his full attention back to Twilight Velvet again. “He’s a real charmer, isn’t he?”

“About as charming as a mud puddle,” Velvet giggled. “But at least he has good intentions.”

“Yeah…” Night Light cleared his throat and smiled nervously. “Speaking of which… I guess that means we’re… officially on our date.”

“Mmhmm.” Velvet grinned and nodded, their already-interlocked hooves curling together just a bit more so.

“Heh, that’s a relief… I was kinda sweating the part where I stand on your porch waiting for you to answer the door.”

“How lucky for you that you get to skip that part.” Velvet scooted just a bit closer to him, grinning wider. “So… how would you like to start the date instead?”

Night Light considered saying something touching and romantic for approximately half a second before both of their stomachs gave a mighty grumble, and he could help but chuckle. “I’m thinking lunch.”

Velvet chuckled right behind him. “Read my mind.”

The two shared another quick laugh, and then put their heads together over the menu, stealing kisses from one another every few seconds and holding hooves just a little bit tighter again.

The date was on.