Chapter 9: The Night is Always Darkest …

Velvet was feeling slightly better this morning as she went towards the Ponyville market. Night Light had raised an eyebrow, when she had refused to tell him how exactly she had gotten the information from the Diamond Dogs, but had allowed Spike to send the letter off.

Her daughter was being held by the Changelings, a fate far worse than a flying accident by any stretch of the imagination. But Night Light had been quick to point out the one silver lining in all this. To the Changelings Twilight was worth far more alive than dead. This way she could be used as leverage against Celestia.

“Are you sure Celestia got our letter?” she asked with a worried frown.

“Yes, auntie,” the dragon, who was carrying her shopping bags, sighed. “As well as the other five we sent her. But she can't really do anything about it, unless we know exactly where they got Twilight.”

Velvet nodded gravely. “It still doesn't make much sense, though. Does it?”

“How do you mean?”

“The Changelings are covert folk by nature. If their plan was to take Twilight, why the invasion? They've never been the sort to attack Equestria openly.”

“Maybe that's the point,” Spike ventured. “Nopony expected it and that's why they did it. It certainly caught Princess Celestia off guard.”

The writer bit her fingernail. “But they risked giving away their plans with that move. If this agent has been operating in Central Equestria for months now, his plans must be close to completion for them to be this bold.” She squinted her eyes and creased her forehead. “Or is it that he couldn't advance into the final phase of his operation until the attack commenced?”

“What good would that do him?”

“Celestia had no choice but to respond to the invasion. What was the effect of that? It got the Elements of Harmony out of his hair for one thing and drew most of our troops out west.”

“He's still just one agent,” Spike countered. “Luna is still in Canterlot. No matter how good at hiding these Changelings are, he can't pull an army out of his hat.”

“Maybe he doesn't need one. You've seen how much trouble Queen Chrysalis caused by herself during my son's wedding. The more I think about it, the more the invasion seems like a red herring to me. I can feel my plot sense tingling.”

“Your what?” Spike asked in confusion.

“It's what I call it, when I get to the chapter of a book that doesn't seem to make sense at first and then there's a major twist just shortly thereafter. But I feel like we're still missing something.” She shook her head. “Maybe I'm just reading too much into this. I'm sure Celestia knows what she's doing. Let's just get our groceries and go home. Maybe Night Light has heard from Princess Luna.”

Spike nodded, taking out the shopping list Velvet had drawn up. “Tomatoes?”

“Yes,” she replied with a faint smile. “I thought, I'd make my special tomato soup for dinner tonight.”

The young dragon raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “I see. Isn't that Uncle Night Light's favourite dish?”

Velvet grimaced. Sometimes Spike could be far more perceptive than he let on. “No reason to read anything into it, Spike,” she said unconvincingly. “He's been working very hard to find Twilight as well. The least we can do is give him a decent meal while he's staying at the library.”

“Suuure,” the dragon replied and led the way to the tomato stand.

The vendor was a surly looking mare with a beige coat and dirt brown mane. After Velvet had ordered, she put a couple of the fruit in a paper back and put them on the counter. “That'll be five bits.”

Velvet looked at the juice puddle forming underneath the paper bag and asked: “Isn't that a little pricey? And they don't seem too fresh.” It wasn't a subjective question. There were two flies circling around the bag.

“It's all I got left. Take it or leave it. Sorry if they're not 'juicy' enough for you.” There was something odd about the way she had emphasized the word juicy.

“What do you mean, all you got left?” Spike asked, pointing at the full barrel next to her. “What about those?”

“Reserved for regular customers,” she replied shortly.

“Now listen here … “

“It's alright, Spike,” Velvet reigned him in and counted out the bits. “They're going into the soup anyway. They don't need to win any beauty contests.”

“Funny,” the stall vendor said. “I was gonna say the same thing about you.”

Velvet forced a smile onto her face and gave her nephew a nudge, because he looked like he was about to blow a gasket. “Did you hear that?” he exploded, once they were out of earshot.

“She was rather rude, wasn't she,” Velvet mused. Of course she was used to hearing worse from some of the literary critics. “I wonder if she's having a bad morning.”

“I'll say,” Spike grumbled. He had never taken kindly to anypony who insulted his adoptive family or any who tried to sell them short. “Must be because Pinkie Pie is out of town. It tends to put the ponies around here in a pretty bad mood.”

It wasn't just the tomatoes, however. At every stand she approached that morning, Velvet was met with barely concealed contempt. Moreover she more than once caught ponies sneaking glances at her and whispering to each other, when they thought her back was turned.

“Must be the war,” she thought out loud. “It's making everypony nervous.”

“If you say so,” Spike said, going over the shopping list again. “Only one thing left.”

“That's right,” Velvet remembered. “Your uncle asked me to pick up a newspaper for him. I wonder if they carry the Canterlot Times around here,” she said, spotting the newspaper stand and beginning to look over the titles.

Spike however seemed fixated on the local section. “Maybe you ought to check out the Ponyville Express,” he said, tugging at her sleeve.

Velvet followed his line of sight and gasped. She grabbed a copy and stared at the front page. “Exclusive: Twilight Velvet caught in compromising positions around Ponyvile. Pictures Inside,” she read in horror.

The salespony gave her a glare from underneath his flat wool cap. “Wanna relive your conquests, do you? You buy it first.”

Velvet stared at him and fumbled for her purse. Throwing two bits on the counter, she grabbed Spike by his elbow and made a beeline for the library. The whole way she could feel the accusing eyes of the townsponies burning holes into the back of her neck. Had everypony seen this? This was exactly why she had left Canterlot in the first place.

When they were safely inside the library, she slammed the door shut behind her, pressing her back against it as if she was expecting an angry horde with torches and pitchforks to storm the house any moment.

She opened the paper and leafed through it with shaky hands until reaching the article in question and began to read:

Royal Cougar Stalks Ponyville

Infamous author and mother of Equestria's newest Princess, Twilight Velvet, has been caught sleeping around the town of Ponyville. As if the scandal her husband has caused in Canterlot wasn't enough, Velvet was seen in several sexually explicit situations with a number of the town's residents. Evidently she used her daughter's position to force ponies into having sex with her. Simply disgusting.

Like a hormonal high school filly she's gone after everything that moves, not even making distinctions between stallions and mares. She is even rumoured to have gone after the Elements of Harmony, though that couldn't be confirmed. What is confirmed, however, is that she even made advances on her own nephew, Twilight Sparkle's dragon assistant Spike, thus crossing the boundaries of race and good taste at the same time. While not technically related, the dragon has always been known to consider himself part of the Sparkle family. He might want to overthink that stance now.

Since the Princess herself is still missing, she could not comment on the revelations. But it has to be assumed that she knew about her mother's out of control behaviour, considering she is staying at Golden Oaks Library with her during her visit in Ponyville. It must therefore be considered a sad truth that the entire new Sparkle branch of the royal family are nothing more than sex crazed maniacs, who are more fit to lead a brothel than a nation.

Velvet let the paper slip out of her hands and slid down the door frame and onto the floor, not able to speak.

Spike picked the paper up and turned the page. There were several photos that undoubtedly showed Velvet having sex with Big Mac in the barn. Two more pictures seemed to have been taken from windows outside the spa and the library, showing her with Lotus Blossom and Spike and finally there was a black and white photo of her with Thunderlane and Snowflake that could only have come from a security camera at the gym. At the very least the editors had had the decency to obscure the faces of the other ponies with a black bar across their eyes and, as luck would have it, Rarity was out of frame in the spa photo. Still, there was no way the residents of Ponyville wouldn't recognize their friends and neighbours.

“What have I done?” Velvet asked in horror. She hadn't just destroyed her daughter's already tarnished reputation, but the lives of these ponies as well.

“How did they get all these?” Spike asked, his eyes on the page and then looking at Velvet.

Her hand flew to her mouth. Spike! She had destroyed his image as well. She stood up and ran to her room, slamming the door behind her and locking herself in.

“Auntie, wait!” But Spike's call went unanswered.

Velvet threw herself upon her bed and began to sob uncontrollably.

* * *

She couldn't face him. She just couldn't. Spike had knocked on her door at least a dozen times, assuring her that he didn't think any differently about her and that he just wanted to make sure she was okay. The first few times she had told him to go away, then she had simply been silent, waiting for him to give up. Finally he seemed to have gone for good.

Knock. Knock.

Or so she thought. There was simply no way she could think of to make it up to him, so she buried her head in her pillow. “Just leave me alone, Spike,” she groaned.

“It's not Spike,” a voice from behind the door said. “Can I come in?”

Night Light, she frowned. What did he want? Had he come to gloat? As much as he had botched up, she was probably worse now. “You're the last person I wanna talk to right now.” She looked up with a start as she heard the lock turn and the door slowly open. The green glow of magic around the knob faded as Night Light entered. “Since when have you been able to pick locks?” she asked suspiciously.

“I've picked up a lot of skills I'm not proud of in my life,” he replied, avoiding the question.

She probably should have realized something was up right then and there, but in her current state of shock and confusion her mind was working overtime as it was. “So have I.”

He sat down on the bed next to her, but kept a respectful distance. “I suppose we can at least talk on equal terms now.”

Velvet let a self-loathing sigh escape her mouth. “Guess we can at that. What I don't get is where these pictures came from. They must have taken the first one a week ago and I never knew, so why only release them now?”

Night Light gave her a weak smile. “You can always try my way. Find the photographer and clock him.”

The novelist chuckled despite herself. “I don't see how that would improve the situation.” It was Velvet herself who closed the distance between them by leaning on his shoulder. “What have we done to our daughter?”

“We messed up, both of us,” he admitted, starting to brush his hand through her mane. He hadn't done this in a long time. It felt good.

Being in the same boat, she felt like the gap between them had closed more than it had in two years. Perhaps she had been wrong to avoid him since this whole debacle had started. “I guess what you said that night about still loving me has changed?”

He straightened and took her chin between his fingers, making sure she was looking straight into his eyes. For a moment she saw the eyes of the colt she had met all those years ago, full of yearning and passion for her. “I still want us to give it another shot.”

“Do you really think we can still make it work after all this?”

“Try to stop me,” he said with a smile and leaned in to kiss her. Velvet was startled of course and pulled away initially, but he kept up the pressure and soon she could feel herself grow weak. She had missed him, she realized. For years he hadn't shown any interest in her, but now in all this mess the old fire seemed to have been rekindled. Closing her eyes, she gave in to the kiss and opened her mouth to allow his curious tongue entrance.

His hand had been resting on her thigh, but now moved upwards past the hem of her skirt and towards her panties. Velvet pushed him away, breaking off the kiss. “What do you think you're trying to pull in a situation like this?”

“Only one way to find out, whether or not this is gonna happen,” he said and put his weight on her. With a yell she fell back onto the bed, Night Light landing on top of her. “Right now we've only got each other. Nopony else understands.”

“I don't know,” she said, looking away.

For a moment the loving expression, with which he had regarded her, fell away and was replaced by a scathing look. “What's the matter? You've put out for half of Ponyville without a second thought. You're not gonna do it for you husband?”

Velvet blushed and bit her lip. Had she really been just as thoughtless and hormonal as the news article had described her in her encounters? “Okay,” she said meekly.

The gentle smile returned to Night Light's face and he began to take her clothes off. “You're still as beautiful as the day I married you,” he said as she lay naked before him in the dim glow of the setting sun.

“You're just saying that.”

“It's true,” he maintained. “And I'll prove it to you.” He fired up his horn and Velvet's rear lifted up into the air.

“This is pretty embarrassing,” she said with a gulp. She was looking up at him, her neck still resting on the bed and her secret spot hovering in front of him.

“I think we're way past that, dear. It's nothing I haven't seen before.” With that he spread her legs apart with some strength and kissed her marehood.

Feeling his hot breath against her crevice after all this time sent a shiver down her spine and she began to moan as his tongue pushed itself in and began to explore her eagerly. “It's been so long since we've done this together. Feels like the first time.”

He stopped the motion and looked at her. “What did we do during our first time?”

“Can't you remember?”

He shook his head. “Why don't you help me remember?”

“Lay down on your back,” she said with a smile. He did that, after taking of his clothes and put his arms behind his head comfortably.

Velvet climbed on top of him, holding her marehood in front of his face and bringing her own mouth up to his throbbing cock in a 69 position. She gently stuck out her tongue and licked the tip, which made him jump slightly.

Encouraged by this reaction she enveloped the glans with her lips and began to suckle. She shook her hips a little to show him what she wanted in return. After a moment she could feel two fingers pushing into her and moaned, lightly biting down on his dick.

Slurping and sloshing noises could be heard in the room as she took more and more of him into her mouth and his hand movements grew more vigorous. They poured themselves into the motions, trying to give each other as much pleasure as possible and soaking up their own.

Night Light removed his fingers and once again used his mouth to eat her out. Then he lifted up her tail unexpectedly and pushed a thumb against her anus. Velvet's whole body shivered in delight. The dual stimulation pushed her over the edge and she came, her cry muffled by the large cock in her mouth.

“Velvet,” Night Light said, wiping her love juices from his face. “That's not fair, you coming first.”

“I'm shorry,” she replied while still sucking him off.

“It's alright,” he forgave her. “But in return you gotta let me do you in the ass.”

Velvet gulped, letting his member plop out of her mouth. “... Alright,” she said after a moment's thought. Eagerly the blue stallion pushed her off, so she was laying on her back and once again lifted her plot into the air. He was standing over her. “You're really bent on this position, aren't you?”

“I like to be on top of the world,” he said with a grin. He took his hard cock in one hand and angled it downward, while bending his knees. His precum mixed with her saliva made the insertion go smoothly, but Velvet still gritted her teeth and grabbed the bed sheets tightly. With his full weight bearing down on her the penetration was much more deep than what would have normally been possible.

He rubbed her pussy with one hand as he began to thrust in and out of her ass with long strokes. “You like that, you slut?”

“Yes, I do,” she replied while moaning and panting. “I love the feeling of a fat cock up my tight ass.” Funny, Night Light had never been one for dirty talk, but she was game.

“How many of them have you taken up the ass?”

Velvet bit her lip. “Two,” she finally answered. “Three, if you count Pinkie with a strap-on.”

“So you did get to the Elements. You're a dirty whore, that's all you are.” He was pumping her so hard now, she thought she was going to break.

“Yes, I am,” she screamed. “I've been a bad girl. Punish me!”

“I certainly will,” he said and pulled out of her. He stroked his cock while giving her a look of contempt and with a deep grunt he unloaded his semen on her body. A clear stream of it traced a line from her breasts to her belly. Then he released his magic and let her unceremoniously fall down on the bed.

After a few deep breaths he pointed at his cock. “Now clean it up, bitch.”

Velvet should have been shocked by the way he treated her, but somewhere deep down she felt like she deserved it. With a single tear in her eyes she got on her knees and began to lick the last few drops of cum from her husband's dick.

“Haahaha,” he laughed. “How does your own filthy ass taste?”

Velvet didn't reply and had her eyes closed. This was so unlike the stallion she had married. Only when his laugh grew deeper and she heard the sizzle of a magic spell fading away with a green glow, did her foggy mind finally realize that something was very, very wrong.

Her eyes grew wide and she scrambled away from the male Changeling that was standing in front of her, laughing maniacally. “Who are you!?” she screamed.

“Nice to do you,” he replied, his laughs dying down to an evil chuckle. “I'm Prince Imago of the Changeling Empire.”

Author's Note

Dun Dun Duuuuuuuuun!

Before you say anything, yes, I realize this is by far the darkest chapter I have done so far and that will continue on for a bit in the next chapter. I fully expect some controversy. But you know what they say: The night is always darkest before dawn and all lingering questions will be answered as the villain finally reveals his master plan and Velvet must overcome her inner demons to save both Equestria and her daughter in the last chapter.