A tear made residence within Night Light's eye, welling until its breaking point. Once it was content with its size, it took a journey down the stallion's blue face. Before it could reach its goal, Night Light wiped it away with a hoof, stopping it completely. Twilight Velvet tenderly placed a hoof on the stallion's back, staring into his eyes. They exchanged a warm smile before turning their attention to the filly that stood across from them.
"We're so proud of you," Twilight Velvet said to the filly, whom she had named Twilight Sparkle. The filly bounced up and down, eagerly awaiting the event that would change her life.
"I know mom, you've only said it, like, a hundred times," replied the filly, rolling her eyes, her voice ringing with a mix of joy and annoyance.
"No amount of times we could say it would express just how proud we are of you," said Night Light, walking closer to his young daughter, "we want you to know that."
"I do," responded the filly, rolling her eyes again.
"We love you, so very, very much," said Twilight Velvet, a tear finding its way into her eye as well.
"Mom, are you crying?" the young filly asked, her voice filled with concern.
"Yes, but just because I'm so happy," the mare said, stifling her sniffs.
"That doesn't make any sense. Why would you cry when you're happy?" asked the filly, her love of logic bright even in her young days.
"You'll know when you get older," answered the mare. Just then, a flying chariot slowly crept up to the balcony of the home. The Princess sat within, gesturing for the young Twilight Sparkle to board the vehicle. She did as the Princess suggested, sitting next to her. As the chariot began to take off, the Princess smiled and nodded in the direction of the two parents.
"Bye mommy! Bye daddy!" a young filly's voice called after the chariot was just barely out of sight.
A sibling tear began to grow in Night Light's eye, followed by many more. It was not long until a large family of tears began to fall from his eyes, manifesting his inner feelings into a downpour of emotion. Twilight Velvet, with tears in her eyes herself, put a hoof on his back and embraced him in a tender hug. Night Light looked up, putting his hooves around his wife. They leaned in closer for a kiss, before tripping over each other and falling onto the ground with a simultaneous "oof."
They both laughed, and shared the kiss they had intended to when they were standing. Night Light stood first, grabbing a hold of his wife's hoof, helping her up. Chuckles escaped both of their persons once more as the silliness of the events settled in. Their eyes were locked on each others.
"That reminds me," chuckled the stallion, tearing his eyes away from hers, preemptively drowning in the nostalgia of the event he was about to speak of, "Do you remember how we first met?"
"How could I forget?" responded the mare, fondly recalling the event to which he was referring.
Two ponies galloped toward the same destination, the word "stop" and the term "slow down" foreign to their vocabulary at this moment in time.
"Oh, I'm already late for my first day on my first job! Of all days for me to have to forget to set my alarm, why'd it have to be today?!" groaned a young mare. This very pony had been recently accepted as a library assistant, one who would organize books and similar simple tasks. Her head was filled with thoughts concerning bad impressions and getting a bad reputation as an uncaring worker. Her studiousness contradicted her empty-mindedness, and she forgot to set her alarm for the next day of work the night before.
"I can't believe I didn't check the due date! I always check the due date!" howled a young stallion, rushing to the same place as the young mare. This pony had taken out a book titled Ancient and Forgotten Rituals and was too engrossed to remember to check the date by which it was due. He was currently a single day late, and he was determined to not make it any more. His mind was clouded with concerns relating to being tagged as forgetful and uncaring, which were two words that he'd prefer not to be labelled as.
These two ponies kept galloping toward their destination, attracting curious glances from ponies going about their business. They each paid them no mind. The library was in sight for each of them, faint grins crept across each of their faces as they were assured their situations could get no worse. As they both closed in on the entrance, their minds were lightened of their, perhaps petty, worries.
Suddenly, they collided and fell to the soft ground below them. The stallion hopped up immediately, preparing a lecture on the importance of watching where you are galloping. As he looked down at the offender, he was filled with remorse for even considering to berate the beautiful creature. He stared at her, his mind creating thoughts it had never done so before. There was a deep feeling in his chest that he had only dreamed about. He could do nothing but smile as he realized what the feeling was. He was in love. "I-I'm so sorry," he started, suddenly remembering his manners, reaching a hoof out to help the young mare that was gently massaging the newly created sore spot on her face.
"I had never believed in love at first sight," Night Light said, staring lovingly at his wife, "until I experienced it for myself."
The young mare opened her eyes after many seemingly long moments of gently caressing her temples, as a migraine threatened to creep its way into her head. The light blinded her briefly as she stared diagonally upward. A young blue stallion stepped forward, hoof extended, blocking the sun. She looked into his deep gold eyes, feeling the approaching migraine retreat as quickly as it had appeared. "Lost" was the only word that she could think of to describe how she felt as she stared into his eyes. Her mind reeled as foreign feelings began to settle in. She shook suddenly as she realized what he was offering. Silently thanking him for saving her eyesight and her head, she took his hoof. "N-no," she began, tripping over her words, "I'm the one who should be apologizing..."
"Neither had I," Twilight Velvet said, returning the loving glance her husband was giving her, nuzzling herself into his neck.
"Not at all. I-I wasn't looking where I was going..."
"Neither was I-I... please forgive me."
"No, stop, I beseech you. You are the one who should forgive me."
The young mare chuckled at the silliness of the conversation. She gestured toward the door, inviting the young stallion to go in first. A small smile slowly, but surely, made its way across her face.
"N-no," the stallion started, gulping loudly when he realized he was tripping over his attempts to be a gentlecolt, "I-I insist, fillies first."
The young mare smiled, her mind completely void of any response. She accepted the kind invitation and made her way into the library, holding the door for the gentlecolt.
"T-thank you," the young stallion said, walking into the library, smiling almost unimaginably wide. He began speaking, but the young mare made her way off.
"You let another fine mare away, Night Light... you blew it..." the young stallion said to himself, sighing heavily and dejectedly as what he believed to be the sad truth set in.
"Say something... say something..." the young mare whispered to herself, looking back at the young stallion. "Twi-" she began, before choking on her own name. She swallowed her inhibitions and shouted "Twilight Velvet, by the way." This garnered a few estranged glances from the ponies enjoying a quiet reading environment. She cursed her awkward loudness silently.
With equal volume, the young stallion replied "N-Night Light."
"You have no idea how bad I felt when I thought I let you get away," Night Light said, lowering his head downward, lightly resting it on top of the mare's mane.
"I'm pretty sure I do," chuckled Twilight Velvet.
For a moment, Night Light contemplated the beauty of the young mare's name. Twilight Velvet. It rang through his head time and time again as he stared at the very mare, who was growing smaller and smaller as she walked away. As soon as he remembered what he had came here to do, he jumped slightly, feeling as if he had just surfaced from a deep lake. He began trotting quickly toward a the Non-fiction bookshelf, taking out a piece that detailed ancient remedies and diseases, and then made his way just as quickly toward the desk in the corner of the room. He wished with all of his being for that last encounter to not be the end of his possible relationship, but he accepted defeat gracefully for the time being.
"I'd like to return this book. I apologize for the day by which I am late, but I am not without the daily one bit late fee" Night Light began, reaching into his saddle bag for the book and the bit.
"Oh, I'm sorry. We raised our daily late fee to two bits. Times are tough, you know?" replied a mare at the desk, her sympathetic opening being betrayed by her voice's lack of caring. Her eyes did nothing but roll at the sight of this pony at the library again. She stared at her hooficured hoof with more concern than anything else.
"O-oh," Night Light began, "Well, I'm positive there's an extra bit lying around in here somewhere." He then began to search around his saddle bag, putting the contents on the desk, in search of a stray bit.
Meanwhile, Twilight Velvet approached who she was interviewed by. "A thousand apologies for being late," she began, resting her saddle bag down. "I-" she began, before being interrupted with:
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," replied an uninterested stallion's voice, "just take these books and organize them. I recognize your face all too well, so I'm sure you know how they're organized."
"O-oh, of course," said Twilight Velvet, standing, startled, for a few moments at the apparent indifference to her lateness.
"Get to it, I don't pay you to stand around," demanded the stallion, shoving the cart into the young mare.
"S-sorry," Twilight Velvet muttered, taking control of the cart with her magic and walking back into the bookshelf-filled library.
Night Light was still rummaging through his saddlebag, yet to find the bit for which he was searching. He smiled, awkwardly, back at the line he was holding up, who gave him nothing but many angry glances. "For-forgive me," he muttered, just barely quiet enough to not be audible to anyone but himself. "Perhaps I could just check out this book," he began again, looking toward the mare behind the desk and gently levitating and placing the book he had taken out before on the desk, "and return with the bits some other time."
"Sorry, we don't do 'tabs'," the mare said, admiring her hooficured hooves once again, "and all fines must be paid in full before anything else is checked out."
Twilight Velvet saw the growing line out of the corner of her eye, noticing the irate looks on the people's faces as the young stallion she had earlier collided with stared intensely into his saddlebag. She had recalled something about the library raising its tardy rates being complained about, but she was sure to never be late. Noticing the distressed look on the young stallion's face, she figured what was plaguing him. She felt some type of kick in the back of her mind. A little voice she usually tried to ignore urged her to try and make a move, and the only thing she could do was listen to it. Almost as if she had lost control, she felt her body retreat back to the place where she had left her saddlebag. Upon originally stomping into the room, she cowered backward, realizing that this event might not bring much favor from her boss. After steeling her courage once more, she restarted her mission, avoiding the sight of the one who had earlier berated her. Upon realizing that he was doing little more than napping, she threw caution to the wind. She began levitating her saddlebag and galloping toward Night Light, her heart was filled with satisfaction and hope.
Upon arrival, she found herself taking out a single bit and levitated it in front of the young stallion, almost involuntarily. He stared at it for very many long moments before realizing what she was offering. Taking the role of levitating it, he moved it onto the desk and smiled at the mare who stood behind it. She rolled her eyes behind her thick glasses and said "Thank you," accepting the book and the bits before turning her attention to the rest of the line.
In Twilight Velvet's victory, she had forgotten to continue levitating the saddlebag, and dropped it to the floor, its contents spilling. She cursed her absent-mindedness silently before beginning to pick up the spillage.
Night Light noticed the mess and decided to attempt to return her favor with one of his own, so he aided her in the retrieval of the debris. "T-thanks," said Twilight Velvet, just barely loud enough to be heard. Once they had completed the task of cleaning up the stray contents of the saddlebag, they exchanged a fond glance and a simultaneous gulp before they both attempted to speak.
"M-my name's..." began Twilight Velvet, before internally slapping herself for attempting to state an already known fact.
"Th-thanks..." said Night Light, truly grateful for the act of kindness the young mare had shown him in the form of a bit earlier.
They both blushed as their voices collided just like their bodies when they first met. "I-" they both began before feeling the same feelings once more.
"I'm free this weekend," said Night Light after many long moments of awkward silence.
"S-So am I," said Twilight Velvet, staring intently into Night Light's deep gold eyes.
"W-want to eat?" asked Night Light, returning the stare in kind.
"Y-yes..."
"Uhm... how about Saturday?"
"Saturday's... good..."
"I hear Pony Pete's has really good... uhm... food..."
"Y-yeah..."
"Okay, uhm... Saturday, at Pony Pete's?"
"S-sure..."
They exchanged a wide grin and a nod before going off to do their business for the rest of the day.
"A date..." Twilight Velvet said to herself, as if it was some kind of foreign concept.
"You did it Night Light... You finally did it..." Night Light said triumphantly, also to himself.
"I can't believe how awkward we were," Twilight Velvet laughed, fondly remembering the events that occurred that day.
"I know," Night Light replied, accompanied by an embarrassed chuckle.
They stared into each others eyes like they had that very day. After many minutes of this, they leaned in their heads for a kiss, before bumping their foreheads together lightly. Each of them chuckled and shook their heads.
"I guess some things never change," Night Light said, before they leaned in and completed the kiss they had each been seeking.
Twilight Velvet stood in the kitchen, rolling out dough with her hooves. She had always loved to cook, but recent events have left her without the time or satisfaction. Now with both of her children out of her hooves for the moment, she could easily find the time to create delightful meals for her and her husband. Along the counters of her kitchen were marinara sauce, assorted cheeses, and the dough that she was currently rolling. She had planned to make pizza, a certain guilty pleasure of hers. Her daughter had made her painfully aware of its lack of healthiness, but she enjoyed it all the same.
Night Light sat in the study, reading up on various topics, as he usually enjoyed doing on his days off. Though recently Twilight Sparkle would be the one who would be doing the sitting in the study. Night Light hated to interrupt her rigorous study sessions, so he had normally let her be. With her gone, he could indulge in the peace and quiet on his own. In the dead silence, his stomach growled and knocked him from his perusal. A light chuckle made its way out as he stood from the chair. He thought now would be a good as a time as any to check on what the plan for dinner was.
So, he embarked on the not-so-perilous journey to the kitchen. Along the way, his nose caught the familiar aroma of marinara sauce, something he was quite fond of. With a faint smile creeping across his lips, he continued his way to the kitchen.
With the new beating of hooves against the kitchen floor, Twilight Velvet was made aware of her husband's presence. She greeted him with a fond "Hello there," turning briefly before returning to her work. After a few awkward moments of responselessness, Twilight Velvet looked back. Night Light's attention was held by something Twilight Velvet wasn't able to discern. After a few brief moments of pondering the brigand of his thoughts, she tapped her hoof on the floor, creating a sharp clicking noise against the tile. Small bits of flour left her hoof and made a new home on the floor. The mare sighed lightly as this realization came, and made her way off to retrieve something with which to clean the flour. Night Light was immediately thrown from his comatose state and shook his head with a certain ferocity.
"Sorry, I guess I was daydreaming," the stallion remarked, putting a hoof gingerly to the tip of his snout.
"I know," Twilight Velvet half-shouted as she peered through her closet of cleaning supplies, retrieving the necessary materials to rid the floor of flour. "You do it quite a bit," she remarked as she made her way back, "I always thought it was kind of cute."
With a new tint of blush gracing Night Light's face, he began "Well, I was just thinking of our first date. The pizza, and all."
"I know," Twilight Velvet started, internally congratulating herself for her success, "I thought after our little trip down memory lane yesterday, it would be refreshing to go back to where it all started."
Night Light chuckled lightly, preparing himself for yet another fit of reminiscing.
A young stallion, decorated in the most endearing clothes he could manage, a yellow sweater, delicately tapped the door of the house that he stood before. "You can do this," he said to himself, clearing his throat and shaking himself of his worries. When the door opened, he hesitated for what, to him, felt like much too long before saying "Hello," which was the only word he was able to say before a cheery mare grasped him by the sweater and pulled him into the household.
"You must be Night Light," she began, a smile of impressive size gracing her face.
"Y-yes, and I'm-" Night Light started, reaching his hoof out for a reason unbeknownst to him.
"Oh, I know," the mare interjected, bouncing in the direction of the staircase that sat in the corner of the room. After she arrived, she hollered "Twi, your date's here!" in a rather sing-song manner.
Night Light's face immediately turned the brightest shade of pink it could manage as the word "date" was muttered. A feeling of giddiness was swiftly replaced by a feeling of excitement, which was then with even more deft quickness replaced by a feeling of nervousness. The cycle continued itself until the feelings all intermixed, which caused an internal experience unfamiliar to Night Light. Accompanying all of these feelings was a growing nauseousness.
The steady clicking of hooves was the only sound that Night Light was able to hear through the piercing ringing in his ears. Click after click, they became louder, until the young mare he was waited for had graced him with her presence. He stared at her for many long moments, taking in every ounce of beauty he could. He felt briefly deafened, and everything else in the room seemed to melt away. The only thing he could see was the young mare that stood at the edge of the stairs.
"You looked absolutely exquisite that night," Night Light remarked.
"You didn't look too shabby yourself," Twilight Velvet replied.
"While I'll take the compliment, I have to say, I didn't deserve such a beautiful dress."
"When your father's a dressmaker, and you inform him of your first date, that kind of thing happens."
Night Light's intense focus was broken unceremoniously as the excited mare next to him bounced once more and thought aloud "Oh, this is great! My baby's first date!"
Twilight Velvet's face shone a bright red as she reeled backward, as if the words pained her in some way. During the many moments of awkward silence that followed, Night Light's body gradually tensed up until he found it nearly impossible to move a single muscle. Breaking the silence, Twilight Velvet muttered "Mom...", reeling back even farther.
The mare swung her hoof across her mouth, and winked almost painfully unsubtly as she did so. Twilight Velvet took this as an invitation to step down from the stairs. Night Light said as many encouraging things as he could muster to himself, internally, before he attempted to reach his hoof out to the young mare that stood before him. Failing to do so, he sheepishly smiled, his legs on the verge of giving way as they wobbled furiously. The young mare returned the smile with equal warmth and sheepishness.
The two lovebirds stared intently into each others eyes, almost drowning in the mutual feelings of young love. The mare stared at the two silently, eagerly awaiting some type of first move. When it was made clear to the mare that neither pony was going to be taking any type of action in a timely manner, she shoved them both to the door and said "You two have fun now!"
Both Night Light and Twilight Velvet were violently thrown from their nearly lifeless state as the door slammed behind them. They exchanged yet another sheepish smile and began to make their way to their original destination.
"So," Night Light began, quickly recoiling after his voice left his body, cracking. His cheeks burned a bright pink as he continued, "uh, your mother's a wonderful mare." The bright pink that his cheeks now proudly shone intensified into a deep red after he realized how strange of statement this was to break the ice.
"Uh, yeah," Twilight Velvet stammered, feeling somewhat taken aback by the statement.
"My mother was ridiculous," Twilight Velvet said, chuckling faintly.
Night Light returned the chuckle, noting "She was, I just couldn't find anything else to say."
For many long moments, Night Light continued to stare at the young mare he was accompanying. The fact that they were actually going on a date felt almost surreal to him. His mind raced and his heart almost exploded with joy every time the thought came to his head.
After a bit of an uneventful trot, they arrived at their destination. Night Light, having his manners jolt into his mind at the sight of a door, rushed to the entrance at blinding speeds and held it open for the young mare. An awkward, yet polite, grin shone in thanks from the young mare in question. The young stallion briefly congratulated himself before following his date into the facility.
Pony Pete's was a recently established Italian cuisine restaurant. A quaint little place, decorated in a tad of an old-fashioned Italian manner, despite the apparent casualness the name set forth. Due to Night Light's innate liking of the antique, he greatly enjoyed the aesthetics. Twilight Velvet found it intriguing and a nice change of pace, but didn't take any higher level of fondness to it.
A mare at the hostess table greeted the two with expected warmth, doing the trivial process of welcoming, introducing the place, and showing the couple to their table, ending it all with the traditional "Your waiter will be with you in just a minute."
Night Light and Twilight Velvet shared, once again, a sheepish smile. One would think that this kind of gesture had far lost its meaning and become tedious, but the smiles continued to be genuine. Night Light, attempting his best to be the best gentlecolt he could be, readied a chair for his date, walking around the table to his own afterward. Twilight Velvet stared blankly at the set out, empty chair, before she realized that it was readied for her. She said the usual "Thank you" and took the seat as gracefully as she could manage.
Both ponies stared at the menu and peeked above it sporadically and briefly, as if to keep some kind of check on the continuing presence of their date. Twilight Velvet was the first to decide on her meal, setting her menu down silently as she made a mental note of the name of the dish, and the fact that she wished to exclude the mushrooms. She could go for some nice Fettuccine Alfredo, but she was never a fan of how dressed certain establishments like to make it. Night Light thoroughly analyzed the names and descriptions of each delicacy, but found none that stuck out. He was beginning to grow impatient as he felt, what he thought was, the impatient glare of the young mare that accompanied him.
In actuality, it was the confused stare of the waiter stallion that had been standing at the edge of the table for some time now. The introduction and prod for drinks flying right past him in his strangely intense perusal of the menu. The waiter repeated the "So, what would you like to drink?" a second time, not able to hide the negatively connotated confusion in his tone.
"Oh, uhm-" Night Light began, understandably embarrassed, "I'll just take some water." He made note of the name tag, which read "Silver Platter" as the stallion jotted the request down and made his sway off.
"So," Twilight Velvet said, trying to make some, any type of small talk to break the awkward air, "lovely decor, yes?"
Night Light, who was once again furiously scanning the menu, responded with "Very. I've always been keen on the old-fashioned."
Twilight Velvet nodded, not realizing that Night Light wasn't exactly able to see that gesture with his face plastered to the menu in his hooves. Feeling slightly defeated, she began to toy with the cutlery that sat in front of her.
At that moment, Twilight Velvet had finished mounting the pizza with the items traditionally used. Placing the circular dough on the tool necessary to easily slide it into the oven. She slammed the oven door and went back to reminiscing.
Just then, Night Light found it. Pony Pete's Personal Pan Pizza. This place had been known for it's delicious pizzas, getting quite a name in the short time it had been around. Night Light couldn't resist to pick the dish, but didn't want to seem barbaric or average in his choice of Italian cuisine. An internal argument followed, and Night Light laid the menu down, briefly appearing pensive.
Twilight Velvet noticed this, and voiced concern, "Something wrong?" still toying with her silverware.
"Oh, no," Night Light replied, breaking the simple response into two fragments.
Shortly after, the waiter stallion reappeared, holding a platter with two glasses of water, placing them down with exceptional care on each side of the table. Upon completion, he whipped out his small notepad and asked "Have you decided?"
Twilight Velvet gestured to the young stallion sitting across from her, feeling as if she owed him some act of kindness due to his gentlecoltly actions throughout the night. Night Light paused a brief moment, before blurting out "A Pony Pete's Personal Pan Pizza, extra cheese." He looked back to Twilight Velvet, to see if he could notice any form of judgement distorting her face.
The oven made a familiar dinging noise. Twilight Velvet removed the pizza from the oven and laid it out to cool.
In fact, what graced her face was relief, as she had been pondering ordering the same dish. She was worried about keeping up some type of facade of daintiness, and thought that ordering a pizza of her own would ruin such a thing. After an equally long pause, she requested the same.
The waiter scrawled the orders and made his way off.
The couple then spoke of their fears regarding ordering the pizza and laughed at how silly each of them were being. At the tail-end of their conversation, their meals had arrived. Their small talk continued through the meal, discussing many subjects. They got to know one another, first and foremost.
"What I'd really like to do is teach," Night Light remarked at one point, feeling a certain amount of pride with that goal, noting that it was his special talent. He always felt deep joy in seeing the bright looks on the faces of the recently enlightened. He likened his name and cutie mark to the fact that he provides a light in the darkness. Or, in other words, he provides knowledge where it is otherwise lacking. Twilight Velvet made him aware of her admiration for the goal and talent, and went on to discuss hers.
"I write," Twilight Velvet simply stated, "mostly poetry and short stories." She went on to say that she couldn't really find any type of relation between her name and her talent, but noted that the stars on her flank could symbolize the wonder a great reading experience could bring a pony. Night Light thought aloud as to how he felt that was a great talent, and how he had a certain soft spot for poetry.
Their conversations went on, and each of them could proudly say, that their first dates, were great successes.
Twilight Velvet set the pizza in the center of the dinner table, each of the ponies taking a seat of their own. They exchanged a fond glance and went on to recreate the topics they discussed that very night.
