Author's Note
This is my first 'E' rated story and my first contest entry. I hope you enjoy it and I thank you in advance for taking the time to read it.
Empty Nesters
Empty Nesters
Twilight Velvet was humming to herself, trying to ignore the relative quiet of the house while baking a lavender pie. She took in its sweet aroma and sighed with contentment.
Lavender was her favorite flower to consume, not only because it matched the color of the streaks in her mane, but also because it reminded her of her daughter’s beautiful lavender coat. It didn’t hurt that it was a natural breath freshener, much like mint, and her husband had always seemed to kiss her more passionately after she had eaten some lavender. Night Light had once said that he eats lavender less just so he could enjoy her kisses more.
She checked the pie again. “Good… it’s finally done. Twilight! The pie is ready! Twilight?”
Silence answered her. That blasted thick, oppressive silence.
Twilight Velvet had to remember why it was so quiet… and she sagged.
“Oh… right. Twilight is at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns… and to think… I was so happy when Twilight not only got into the school… but was made Celestia’s personal student. I would have never thought that this house could feel so empty. That my own daughter would be so caught up in studying that she wouldn’t even have time to write me letters!”
She huffed as her mood further soured, her thoughts brooding.
Shining Armor is no better. He is attending the Canterlot Royal Military High School for colts and fillies that intend to enter military service. As such… he lives in a dorm room that is very similar to a military barracks and is only seldomly allowed to come home during breaks and holidays. But still… he could write me!
Twilight Velvet shook her head and tried to give her foals the courtesy of assuming that they were too busy with homework, or making friends… or having… dates? By Celestia… she wanted grandfoals… of course… her foals were much too young for that… at least, right now.
Her thoughts grew melancholy with all the reflecting of her previous hopes and dreams…
To this day I don’t understand how my son has a military style cutie mark when military service doesn’t run in the family. Or how my daughter inherited such strong magical power. Neither me nor her father are especially gifted in magic… although… I suppose in ages past our family was considered to be magically important… to a degree…
She took the entire pie with her to the living room couch and started to eat the whole thing. Normally… she might have saved half the pie, or at least a slice, for her husband, but she was far too distraught for that. No… this pie was hers. She made it… it’s hers.
She finished off the pie and tidied up the house. Of course… with no foals to make fresh messes… the house stayed remarkably clean. It didn’t kill nearly enough time.
What should I do next? Oh buck it, I’m going to go unwind.
She laid down on the couch and opened a magazine. She quickly got absorbed in an article and didn’t hear her husband come home.
Night Light called to his wife. “Velvet! I’m home! Velvet?”
He walked into the living room and saw Twilight Velvet on the couch, crying while holding a magazine. “Velvet?”
She jumped with a start. “Night Light! I didn’t hear you come in, how was work?”
Night Light looked concerned. “Work was work. Why are you crying?”
Twilight Velvet wiped her eyes with a foreleg. “Oh… no reason. I was just reading this article about the top ten ways you’ve failed as a parent without even knowing it…”
Night Light groaned. “Velvet… we haven’t failed. There is only a 10% acceptance rate into the Canterlot Royal Military High School… 3.34% if you consider that they take an equal number of Unicorns, Pegasi and Earth Ponies in every year. There is, at most, maybe a 1% acceptance rate into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. And maybe a One in a Million shot of Twilight being the Princess’ personal student. I can only think of one other pony that Celestia has had as a personal student in my entire lifetime. It just doesn’t happen… If anything… we’ve succeeded far beyond most parent’s wildest dreams… for what parent doesn’t want their foals to have a better and more successful life than them?”
Twilight Velvet sniffled. “Okay… maybe you’re right… but how am I supposed to spend all this extra time? I miss them! We’re too young to be empty nesters.”
Night Light smiled. “Let’s worry about that a little later. In the meantime… let’s have a date night. Just like old times.”
That perked Twilight Velvet up and she was more than happy to go out with her husband.
* * *
Night Light took Twilight Velvet to one of the nicer restaurants in the upper parts of the Capital, Le Canterlot, near the Castle itself.
They were sat immediately, the restaurant not being all that busy during the week combined with being too expensive for ponies with casual taste. The menus were also promptly brought, and Night Light ordered hot tea and Iced water for both of them while they were looking over their options. It wasn’t the first time they had been there, but it had been a while.
When the waiter brought the tea and water, he asked them politely if they were ready to order.
Velvet smiled and pointed at the menu. “I’ll have the Mac and Cheese Pasta.”
The waiter frowned and Night Light cleared his throat. “Velvet, dear. That’s from the kid’s menu.”
Velvet smiled. “I know! It was also Twilight’s favorite meal the last time we brought her here.”
The waiter didn’t say anything when Night Light sighed and continued. “But… it’s not enough food for a grown mare… you’ll be hungry again in no time…”
Velvet frowned and nodded. She considered his point for a moment, perking right back up when an idea hit her. “Your absolutely right. I’ll also get a Big Colt Salad. Shining’s favorite meal. Between both of them, I should be fine.”
Night Light’s sad smile seemed to set the mood and he looked back up at the waiter. “I’ll have the same, I guess.”
The waiter cleared his throat. “Of course, sir. I’ll make sure the kitchen starts on it right away.”
Night Light turned to Velvet. “We should go wash our hooves before the food arrives. It won’t take them long to make such simple meals.”
Velvet smiled and agreed completely. As they headed towards the restrooms, the waiter went to speak to the manager. “Sir… we may have a problem with that couple.”
The manager frowned at the waiter. “Oh? In what way?”
The waiter fidgeted. “I’m not sure they can afford to pay the bill. They both ordered off the kid’s menu. Two meals each, granted… but the kids menu!”
The manager nodded. “Go ahead and have the kitchen start on it anyways and I’ll speak to them when they come back to their table from the restroom.”
After a moment of consideration, the manager opted to speak with the husband alone instead of potentially embarrassing him in front of his wife and waited outside the Stallion’s room for the guest to appear. He was quick to greet Night Light when he emerged from the restroom.
“Sir. A moment of your time please?”
Night Light nodded. “Of course. How may I help you?”
The manager smiled cautiously. “I am the manager of this establishment. The waiter had some concerns about your order… I was wondering if there was a problem?”
Night Light shook his head with sad smile. “Nothing that you can fix. I have two children with my wife, and she ordered our colt and filly’s favorite meals out of nostalgia, and I decided to do the same because it felt right. You see… we lost our foals recently to…”
The manager raised a hoof. “Say no more. I understand completely. Please enjoy your meals and I’ll send something special to the table.”
Night Light’s smile was uncertain. “Okay, thank you… I appreciate it, sir.”
Night Light got back to the table and frowned to himself.
I wonder what that was about?
* * *
Twilight Velvet returned to the table just in time to see the waiter bring over all four meals, along with a bottle of the Canterlot Red Wine on ice, with two glasses.
Velvet’s eyes went wide. “Awww. What a special surprise. My favorite wine! And here I thought you didn’t remember things like that…”
Night Light smiled tightly. “Yeah… umm… lucky guess?
Velvet leaned over and gave her husband a kiss on the cheek. Night Light blushed under the extra attention, not wanting to cause a scene in the restaurant.
The waiter poured the wine, eying the couple with sympathy. He cleared his throat with a light grace. “I suggest you allow the wine to breathe for a few minutes before enjoying it. Bon Appetit.”
Velvet ate both of her meals, eying the empty seats at the table as if she had wished her foals were here with them. She stopped herself short of actually talking to the empty chairs… if only to avoid embarrassing herself and her husband. Despite the romantic aspects of the restaurant, and the good wine, she just couldn’t bring herself to hold a conversation, even with the stallion she loved more than any other.
Night Light ate quietly as well, and they both enjoyed the wine. He was very in-tune to his wife’s melancholy mood. Night Light made sure that Velvet got three glasses of wine versus his own two glasses, draining the bottle. It was unsurprising that they both managed to eat all the food with no leftovers, not that a restaurant this fancy offered a carry-away option. He quietly asked for the check, allowing Velvet to enjoy the last of her wine uninterrupted.
The manager returned to their table. “Your meal is on the house. I hope that you have a lovely evening… and… you have my condolences…”
The manger walked away before Night Light or Velvet could question him about what he meant.
Twilight Velvet leaned heavily against her husband as they left the restaurant, the staff all seemed to be watching them. Once they cleared the doors… Velvet turned to her husband.
“What was that about?”
Night Light went red in the face. “Well… um. Given how you was acting and something that I said… they might have thought that we lost our foals.”
Velvet pursed her lips. “We did… kinda… We lost our foals to the greater good of society…”
Night Light smiled at her timidly. “…Yes, but I think they thought we lost them lost them…”
Velvet’s eye twitched. “Oh my. Am I really acting like a mother in mourning?”
Night Light winced. “You barely spoke to me, and you were looking at the chairs where our children would have sat at while enjoying their favorite meals… I could see how the wrong conclusion could be drawn. I really want to go back in and insist on paying the tab, but I don’t want to embarrass the manager for drawing the wrong conclusion to what I was saying. I mean… he didn’t even let me finish my sentence.”
Velvet bit her lip. “I’m sorry. I guess it wasn’t a very romantic date. What do you want to do now?”
Night Light considered his options while they were still walking away from the restaurant. He smiled warmly at her again. “Let’s go to Twilight’s favorite park. It’s been a while since we just walked around and relaxed.”
Velvet kissed Night Light in appreciation of the lovely idea.
He chuckled. “You ate an entire Lavender Pie today… didn’t you?”
Velvet’s face went completely red. “How did you know?”
Night Light’s eyes glinted in the moonlight. “Even after eating dinner, I can still taste the lavender on your lips… plus… well… there was the empty pie pan on the coffee table when I got home.”
Velvet face-hoofed while her husband continued to laugh at the situation.
Leave it to him to have noticed something like that.
As they walked, she started to appreciate the humor in the situation, even if it was at her expense.
The park was beautiful in the moonlight and also a little romantic given nopony was there at all. Night Light escorted her to one of the larger swings meant to teens or adults. Velvet sat down on the swing, enjoying the night breeze when Night Light started to gently push her.
Being pushed on the swing made her feel like a filly again. The gentle breeze blowing through her mane reminded her of simpler times. Of love without obligation. A beautiful chance to be a wife without having to be a mother. She missed those days with her husband when they were newlyweds. They got that run down tower of a house as their ‘starter home’ and just never moved on to something bigger. They loved the house as much as they loved each other.
“I love you, Night Light… have I told you that recently?”
He continued to push her gently. “No… you haven’t.”
His simple statement shocked her, but he didn’t sound bitter. She looked over her shoulder back at her husband. “Are you upset with me?”
Night Light snorted while he pushed the swing just a little harder. “Of course not.”
Velvet had tears in her eyes as she came to the sudden realization that while her husband was being honest with her, she had completely overlooked how she treated him most days.
“How could you not be angry?”
He sighed and gave another gentle push. “I love you, Velvet. You are from an important noble family and nearly got disowned to marry me. I miss the early years of our marriage when it was just the two of us, but I wouldn’t trade watching you be a mother for anything. You love our foals more than life itself and my heart couldn’t hold more love for you than it already does. You are distraught about being an empty nester… but I had hoped to reclaim the earlier parts of our marriage that we set aside when we decided to have foals. Perhaps I misjudged just how important being a mother is to you. I’m sorry if I’m being selfish about it.”
Velvet gasped. “You have every right to love me and every right to have an opinion about our marriage. I guess the sticking point of this situation is that I have nothing to do! You have a career that you enjoy. My only job was raising those foals and I expected to be doing that for another 7 to 10 years… but now… they’re just… gone. They are already where they are supposed to be to become what they wanted to become. And look at me! I’m too old for another foal… too old to go out and get a regular job… and too young for grandfoals. What am I supposed to do? Just sit in the house everyday waiting for you to come home?”
Night Light smiled. “Of course not. You could join a few social clubs. Maybe make some new friends. As a noble, socializing should be second nature to you. With Twilight as her personal student… I bet even Celestia would let you be her friend, which could get you more time with Twilight… and maybe even Shining Armor?”
Velvet sighed at that. “If I was okay with spending all day socializing like that, I might not have ignored my father’s advice about marrying ‘below my station’. I’m just not that kind of pony… I’m more outgoing than the average shy pony but Twilight does get her lack of wanting to socialize from me…”
Night Light snorted. “Shy indeed. Some of things you’ve done in the bedroom…”
Velvet cut him off. “…Are not to be spoken about outside where somepony might hear us!”
Night Light chortled. “Fair enough. I was only teasing anyways. But… that also kinda brings up my next point. You have ideas for six romance novels in that writing desk of yours. You never had time to start on them. But now? What’s stopping you? Write your stories. Publish them. Who cares what anypony thinks? Just be you. And have fun doing it! We can reclaim that missing part of our marriage from before we had foals… And… if you get bored writing love stories… you can start plotting dates and marriages for Twilight. Unicorns are fond of their arranged marriages, after all… That should keep you busy until Shining gets married.”
Velvet grinned wickedly. “That… my love, is a plan I can get behind.”
Night grinned back. “Of course, my dear. You can still have a career… you just have to make it for yourself. And… honestly… we aren’t really empty nesters… We are on our second honeymoon and born-again newlywed phase of love and marriage.”
Velvet hummed at the idea. “I like the sound of that… but where does it lead?”
Night Light kissed her passionately, enjoying second-hand lavender. “It gives us both what we crave in the here and now… and leads us to the promised land of grandfoals.”
* * *
