Author's Note

Flashback scene inspired by Hollowblade's comments on Chapter 1.

Chapter 2 - A Husband's Wrath

Twilight Velvet was being railed in her editor’s office. It was routine to the point of ridiculous. She had her forelegs on his desk, bent over just enough to allow him access to her pussy and raised her tail lazily only enough to allow him in, but not enough to really let him see anything. She didn’t allow him to kiss her or fondle her teats… this was about sex and sex only. And not anal, only her husband was allowed anal, which barely mattered with how little they had time for any kind of sex in recent months. Maybe it seemed weird for her to try to maintain any level of modesty while having sex, or even have standards at all in the case of consensual cheating, but it was important to Velvet’s mental health.

She didn’t love Harvey Horsestein. She barely liked Harvey Horsestein. And she honestly only tolerated him because… true to his word, he had made her rich with his editing, publishing and advertising skills. No, this was about business and business only. He got his royalty percentages and he got to fuck the author, but her heart still belonged to her husband. And it always would.

The old stallion was at least 20 years older than her, but his stamina and sex drive were phenomenal. It was too bad that he wasn’t interested in getting her off; he only cared about getting himself off.

In years past, when she was younger, she could lay her husband even after taking care of her editor but once she hit pre-menopause, vaginal dryness started to occur and she found that she would be too sore to have sex twice in one day without some type of lube, and she hated to use lube. It was something that she should have compromised on but never could, even for the sake of her marriage.

Feeling Harvey push into her in a smooth, rocking motion brought back memories of how this first started…

* * *

15 Years Ago…

Twilight Velvet knocked on the editor’s door and heard a faint ‘Come in’ from inside the office. She walked in and gave her best smile while walking towards Harvey Horsestein’s desk. Leaning over the desk to shake his hoof, she sat down in one of the chairs on the opposite side of the desk. Since this was Hearts and Hooves Day, she was hoping to wrap up this meeting quickly so she could get home to her husband. She knew he had plans for tonight and she was eager to meet him halfway.

“Ah, Mrs. Velvet. I’m glad you could come today. I’m pleased to say that I’ve read your book and I believe that you are a good candidate to add to my client list. I can have this fully edited, formatted into a form that can be published, and then advertise it and publish it within three months. In the meantime, you can start on your next book and all you’ll have to do is pay the monthly fee for my services.”

Velvet knew there was some fee, as none of this was free. “And what is the fee?”

Harvey smiled. “It’s 10% of the profits from the sells of the book plus you must have sex with me once a month.”

Velvet blanched. “I’m a married mare…”

His smile got a little bigger. “All of my clients are married.”

Velvet raised her eyebrows and frowned. “You only have sex with married mares?”

He nodded. “Of course… that way… if there are any foals, the financial responsibility falls onto the husband, which is always the presumed father of a married mare’s foals. Only Celestia knows how many foals I have running around this city, and I don’t pay for any of them.”

Velvet allowed herself a righteous anger. “That is very disingenuous of you, and I’m not sure I can work with a stallion with morals as bad as yours.”

Harvey nodded as if he had heard that all before. “Suit yourself, but before you go, you should look at these numbers, recently updated from the experts on book sells.”

He brought out a chart and showed it to her. “This is a list of the top five editors and publishers in Canterlot. I am the number one editor and in fact, my clients sell more books than the number two through five editors combined. You can keep your morals, or you can be rich. I have standards, very high literary standards, and you meet them, but you have to play by the rules.”

Velvet was disgusted but was also intrigued. “I’m new to this. Writing was my hobby and only now with my foals both attending schools that don’t allow them home all that often do I have time to try to make this a career. So… explain these rules and I’ll consider your offer.”

Harvey was only too happy to do so. “In the arts… whether that is a painter, sculptor or literary expert, such as a writer, editor or publisher… there are always backroom deals and closed-door arrangements. Nine times out of ten, sex is exchanged. The more you put out, the more money you will make. I am the best because I work with the best. Your book will be published worldwide, including in other languages. And that will make you a lot of bits. Most of my clients use me for five or so years and then move on. It’s expected… but they get established with me first so even lesser skilled editors and publishers can sell their books, largely due to name recognition. Under the contract, I get my cut and your pussy. You can cancel at any time to move on, no hard feelings. But… once you cancel, I do not allow mares to come back and renegotiate a cancelled contract. You take what I give you and give me what I want until our business is concluded. In the end, we will both walk away richer.”

Velvet was shocked about how that worked. “May I discuss this with my husband first?”

Havery shook his head. “I want my fee today. If you walk out of this office without lifting your tail for me, I will not take you on as a client.”

Velvet was trapped. She wanted to have her books be successful, not simply published. The goal was for her and Night Light to be able to retire early and travel the world, like they had always dreamed of doing.

Velvet cleared her throat. “May I set some conditions to this arrangement?”

Harvey nodded. “Of course. Everything is negotiable, to an extent.”

Velvet sighed in relief. “First… no sex while I’m in heat. I don’t want my husband to raise a bastard. Second… no kissing at all, no caressing of my teats and no anal. You can have my pussy but nothing else. Third… I want holidays, birthdays and anniversaries excluded from required sex as I wish to spend those special days with my husband and family. Do you agree?”

Harvey sighed. “That is stricter than I am used to accepting, but I agree, so long as you fuck me today to seal the contract despite it being a holiday.”

Velvet frowned with the realization that this was a holiday. “Okay… but only this one time.”

She stood up and leaned over his desk, lifting her tail and waited. Harvey wasted no time in coming around the desk and mounting her. His cock was definitely larger than Night Light’s and it succeeded in stretching her out. She gasped as he filled her completely, almost putting her husband to shame in every category other than being loving.

He pumped into her roughly, causing her to pant and sigh but before she could even start to feel a build up for an orgasm of her own, she felt his seed fill her pussy and spill out of her. He dismounted as quickly as he had mounted, not caring at all for her own pleasure.

She growled. “I’m not cleaning that up.”

Harvey had the dopey smile of a stallion that had just cum. “It doesn’t matter… I’ll clean it up later. I’ll have the story ready for publishing within the next three months. Just come back one month from today to make your next ‘payment’ and we’ll continue from there.”

Velvet nodded curtly. “Yes sir. See you in a month…”

She left the office immediately and returned home. She was mortified to see her husband already home and waiting for her.

Night Light smiled at her warmly. “I came home early for our Hearts and Hooves dinner at your favorite restaurant. How did the meeting with the editor go?”

Velvet flushed. “I fear that it went too well. We will have a lot of things to discuss during dinner, but I fear that we are going to be late because I must take a shower first. Can you wait down here for me?”

Night Light nodded but frowned. “Of course…”

Velvet trotted up the stairs and Night Light looked up after her. Her tail was flagged just enough for him to see her pussy, which he was always excited to catch a glance at. But this time, instead of pristine white puffy pussy lips and a hint of pink, he saw a glob of cum leaking out from recent sex.

Night Light tensed at the sight… By Celestia… Velvet is cheating on me…

It was a tense dinner…

* * *

The memory faded with the feeling of cum entering her pussy.

Harvey sighed. “That was as good as always. I’ll need you to come by my house this weekend to make some final arrangements. Ideally, I’d you there Friday night and you’ll stay until Sunday morning.”

Velvet sighed. “Yeah, whatever. I’ll be there.”

Harvey smiled again. “Enjoy the rest of your holiday, Mrs. Velvet.”

* * *

Twilight Velvet was humming a happy tune as she walked into her families Ancestral Canterlot Tower home, which was situated in the upper district, not far from Canterlot Castle itself, where her daughter now ruled Equestria from. Velvet had raised her children in the tower, and it had seen its fair share of both happy and sad times, although mostly sad recently.

Her most recent meeting with her editor included sex, like it nearly always did nowadays, but her book was finished and would be published on time. Harvey used to only fuck her once a month, twice if it was a slow month. Over the course of the last fifteen years, the amount of sex slowly increased until now, most recently in the last eight months, they had been doing it closer to four times a week, like her and her husband used to do early in their marriage. It was almost as if Velvet was Harvey Horsestein’s only author at the moment… maybe she was given that she never saw any other mares enter or leave his office. At least today he was sweet. It was soft and gentle, more like a marriage than an arrangement. That might allow her to still make love to her husband today… she was normally too sore after being done by Harvey. At least she had other mares taking care of Night Light, so she didn’t have to worry about him being jealous or upset.

Having both of her children grown and gone had solved a few short-term problems for her locally, as she never wanted them to find out about her cheating. However, new problems arose when they became ruling royals; Shining by marriage to the Princess of the Crystal Empire and Twilight by ascending to immortal Alicorn status and becoming, at first, the Princess of Friendship, and more recently the ruling Princess of all Equestria. On one hoof, the publicity of being the Princess’ mother helped her sell books; and on the other hoof, it invited scrutiny into her private life that she would rather keep hidden. Like, very hidden.

She was proud of her daughter, sure, but she never expected her to be such an overachiever. But of course, Twilight had to out-do her older brother. It never failed… and she thought the Sibling Supreme Crown thing was dumb, although she never said so when the foals were young.

Velvet walked into the living room, out from the foyer and was shocked to see Night Light home early. She smiled at her husband.

“I wasn’t expecting you home so early. Did you have a good day?”

Night Light didn’t return the smile. “Actually. No, I didn’t have a good day. You might want to sit down Velvet. This is going to be a long talk.”

Velvet frowned but did as she was told. Her husband was never cross with her and they had an ideal marriage, though strained from work obligations on both sides. If she was being both honest and fair… him working long hours wasn’t half as bad as her sleeping with her editor, and she couldn’t blame him for sleeping with the mares she had provided him.

She sat on the couch opposite him and met his eyes. His piercing eyes, filled with intelligence and knowledge. What was lacking in this moment was love. She couldn’t remember the last time she couldn’t see his love for her, but it was missing now.

Velvet hedged around his intense stare. “I feel like this is going to be a fight. Why does it feel like that?”

Night Light nodded once. “Probably because it is. I received word today from your editor, before I left to go to the castle this morning, that he expects you to go to his house this Friday night and stay with him until Sunday morning, or he will cancel your contract, just days before the release of your next book. He put it in my face like a battle trophy. I’ve been telling you for years to break it off with Harvey Horsestein and get a new editor, but you have stubbornly refused, and now we are in a situation that was already strained but now is no longer sustainable.”

Velvet tensed. “Night… we’ve had an agreement for all these years that he would get what he wanted to keep my books selling. I don’t see why this has to change now. I almost have enough money to retire.”

Night Light slammed a hoof on the coffee table. “You don’t see what’s changed? You sleep with Harvey three or four times a week! In the last fifteen years, I’ve had sex with you once a month, at best! And even that stopped six months ago. It’s been over six months since our last time. You used to provide mares to service me to make up for the lack of sex from you, but that stopped about five years ago. And this Weekend! You don’t even fucking even remember what this weekend is, do you!!! I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised!” He spit the last sentence with a venom Velvet had never heard from him.

Velvet drew back and blinked. She was too shocked by him having hit the coffee table to have fully understood everything that he had just said so she focused on the last part only.

“No… what is this weekend?”

Night Light sighed, calming down slightly and lowering his voice to a normal tone. “Saturday is our 25th wedding anniversary. And Harvey wants to fuck you the whole weekend to prevent you from spending it with your husband. HE clearly didn’t forget!”

Velvet gulped. During the entire arrangement, Harvey’s demands had never overlapped with personal events, like birthdays, anniversaries or family and romantic holidays. Was this intentional this time, as Night Light suggested?

Well… he did fuck me on Hearts and Hooves Day this year, which used to be an excluded holiday so I could spend the day with my husband. He knows I don’t fuck my husband the same day I fuck him. Part of the reason is because it’s the painful… and the rest is shame.

Velvet looked away from her husband. “Do I have much choice? Harvey has been the best editor and publisher in all of Canterlot for as long as I can remember…”

Night Light snorted. “You have a lot of choices, Velvet. Pop Culture, Word Reader and Page Presser are all recognized in Canterlot as being better book editors than Harvey, cheaper than Harvey, and they don’t force their clients to have sex with them, unlike Harvey fucking Horsestein. And they’ve been around for more than five years. Word Reader has been around for nearly ten years. So, do you like the sex with Harvey that much or are you afraid of change? Because I’m thinking that you like cheating on me, especially since I’ve gotten nothing in the form of ‘balanced compensation’ that you promised me for the lack of a wife in over five years! Convenient of you to forget your promises while continuing to cheat on me!”

Velvet’s eyes went wide as the words absorbed into her now that she had heard them a second time, and she shouted back.

“I helped find you nine mares to fuck you while I’m not available! What happened to them?”

Night Light roared. “That was fifteen years ago! All nine of them have either gotten married, moved to a different city, or otherwise no longer want to help you take care of me, due to your obscenely on-going more or less public relationship with Harvey! Most female author’s use Harvey for five or so years and then once they are established enough, they move on to other editors and never look at Harvey again. But not you. You’ve been with Harvey for fifteen life-sucking years. You’ve been with him for so long that most of our old college friends don’t want to associate with us anymore because your situationship with Harvey and your treatment of me has become a behind-closed-doors scandal. You treat me like a sexless roommate, and he gets about as much sex as a normal husband, that you don’t live with. Of course, you pay so little attention to me that you didn’t even notice! I don’t guess you need friends with Harvey to keep you company.”

Velvet had no idea that so much had changed. Was she so out of it with Harvey fucking her so regularly that she hadn’t given Night Light much consideration? Almost as if she had been married to Harvey instead of Night Light… just like he had just implied. Velvet was a little defiant, not liking being called out on her bad behavior.

“So, do I need to find you new mares to fuck, or what? What are you going to do about it if I don’t?”

Night Light’s death glare chilled her to the bone while he slapped down a slack of paperwork onto the coffee table.

“You have three choices. Either fire Harvey Horsestein and get a new editor, or retire from writing completely, or sign those papers so we can get this over with.”

Velvet put on a pair of reading glasses and started looking over the paperwork. Her blood froze once the words caught up to her brain.

“These are divorce papers…”

Night Light nodded once. “Yes, they are. And you are going to fire your editor and hire a new one, or retire from writing, or you’re going to finalize our divorce because I am not going to live like this any longer. Choose. Choose now.”

Velvet was shaking in fear. She had never been put on the spot as badly as she had been in that moment. Even Harvey’s demands for sex weren’t as bad as a divorce request from an otherwise loving husband with no time to process the feelings involved in one.

Velvet felt a tear roll down her face. “Have I been that bad to you?”

Night Light shrugged coldly, but then nodded. “Not at first, but in the last five years, and especially in the last six months, yes you have been that bad to me. The complete lack of sex with me in over six months constitutes marriage abandonment, which is grounds for divorce.

When this bullshit started, you were honest about why it had to happen and the fact that you wanted to try to balance our marriage with your writing career. I agreed to let you try, despite the price we both had to pay for it, in exchange for your promise to quit this career path if it didn’t work out for us, both of us, and if you made it worth my while in the meantime, since I was effectively losing exclusive access to you.

You promised to keep the scales balanced. That between you and other mares that you would pick for me, I would have sex at least as often, if not more often than your editor. I agreed to not try to find my own partners because that would be too much like cheating. You had Harvey for business reasons, but you were supposed to supply my mares for the ‘cheating balance.’ I haven’t had other mares to balance the scales of your cheating in over five years. And in the last five years, I’ve asked you to get a new editor no less than once a month, so 60 times… and you’re still fucking Harvey Horsestein. You never even looked for a new editor or you should have been able to find at least one of the three that I mentioned to you.

You broke your promise to supply me with mares. You broke your promise to quit your career if it wasn’t working for us and I’m telling you to your face right now that it’s not working. Your career has come between us in a way that my career never did. Meanwhile, I kept my promises by not finding mares of my own, and before you ask, I didn’t tell you that the other mares quit the arrangement because I never liked talking about my sex with them any more than you liked to talk about your sex with Harvey. You were supposed to follow up with them and replace them as needed; you never even tried. You clearly don’t love me or even care for me anymore or you wouldn’t have forgotten our Celestia-damned anniversary. It feels like I know where this is going so just sign the fucking papers and I’ll leave.”

Velvet stilled. “How is this even possible? We’ve been married over twenty years… aren’t we supposed to file for separation and then have a one-year hold while we do marriage counseling and work on reconciliation until a divorce can be finalized one year after the filing?”

Night Light raised an eyebrow. “Ah. Been doing divorce research recently? Planned on divorcing me yourself to ran away with Harvey?”

Velvet yelled back. “NO! I did the research for a recent book, remember?”

Night Light scratched his chin. “Oh yes…. The respected older couple, in which the wife was having an affair with a ‘business associate’ and they ended up going through all the motions of a divorce, only for the husband to die of stress before it was finalized. Sounds a lot like us, Eh?”

Velvet blinked. “Is it us? I wasn’t trying base it off us like that…”

Night Light snorted. “Please, spare me. Raven Inkwell asked me three days after the book was published if we were getting a divorce. You didn’t use our names but anyone that knows us intimately knows it was us! At least you passed it off as fiction for your devoted fans…”

Velvet’s tears started to stream down her face. Was this real? Was it true? Did she not care for her husband anymore to that degree and for so long that so many things had slipped by her?

She swallowed and asked what was most on her mind. “You didn’t answer the question… how is this possible? Why are these divorce papers and not separation papers?”

Night Light looked at her with pity. “You didn’t look at the final page… at the issuing authority. Our daughter has been spending a lot of time with me recently. She even gave me two administrative assistants to lighten my workload. This morning, during our routine breakfast pre-day meeting… she noticed that I was upset and tired… and I ordered meat with my meal, which apparently, I only do while on a sexual dry spell and she knows us well enough to have figured that out on her own. She forced me to tell her what was going on. Our daughter, Princess Twilight Sparkle, authorized the divorce herself. And she’s taken my side… she fucking hates you right now. I told her everything today. I didn’t cry but part of me wanted to… at least she managed to make me feel better in her own… umm, silly way. You should try it sometime… oh, my bad. Twilight would probably throw you in the dungeon for how you’ve treated me over the years if you tried to face her right now. With the seal of the princess, no waiting period is necessary, and no appeal is possible. You will keep the house, as I’ll be moving into Canterlot Castle, into Princess Luna’s old bedroom, but with your book royalties, you won’t get any alimony from me.

So, choose. You can keep your career and lose your husband and your entire family by staying with Harvey Horsestein after signing the divorce papers. Or you can keep your career and marriage by firing and replacing Harvey Horsestein and getting a new editor, with the added promise of completely stopping all cheating on me… or you may keep your family by retiring and we can enjoy your royalties and my pension in peace and comfort. I’m warning you though, if you sign those divorce papers, I’ll leave immediately, and there will be consequences. I would normally give you time to consider your options but if you fuck Harvey Horsestein on our anniversary, our daughter will annual our marriage without your signature, as is her right as the ruling Princess of all Equestria.”

Velvet was hyperventilating. She could never have expected this to happen. She came to her senses just in time to be gobsmacked again by another roller coaster awareness.

Velvet looked up at her husband in shock. "You're divorcing me on Hearts and Hooves Day? How could you!"

Night Light returned her gaze with indifference. "Your affair started on Hearts and Hooves Day fifteen years ago. Funny how we’ve finally come full circle. At least back then, you were young enough to have sex twice in one day, so it didn’t ruin our date night though I was angry that we were late to the dinner reservation dinner that I had made for us since you had to take a shower first after you cheated on me without consent before our mutual ‘promises’ were negotiated. Harvey Horsestein didn't care that he was breaking up a marriage when he imposed harsher demands on you than he did with his other clients. Our marriage has been over for a while, sad that you didn’t seem to notice. I should have done this when the kids moved out, but I was hopeful that you would listen to me and fire your editor. I am out of patience, and so you are out of time. Make. Your. Choice. Sign the papers and stay with your precious editor or fire him and return to me."

Velvet’s thoughts spun in turmoil. I don’t have enough money to retire yet. Even less without my husband’s pension. I’m right back in the corner I started from…

Tears rolled down Velvet’s cheeks as she signed the papers. "I'm sorry, Night."

Snatching the paperwork from off the coffee table, Night Light sneered. "No, you’re not."

He started to head towards the front door to leave and Velvet raised an eyebrow. “Are you going to come back for your stuff after your workday is finished?”

He slowly turned to face her; his sneer having faltered leaving only a single tear falling down his face. “I packed all my stuff before you got home and it’s already in my new room at the castle. I knew you would cast me aside. By Celestia, I was hoping I was wrong. Don’t worry, I didn’t take anything that was yours and nothing that was more yours than mine if it was something we shared. I guess this is goodbye. I wish you well on your journey, but I also hope that I never see you again.”

As he resumed his walk towards the door, Velvet cried out one last time. “What am I supposed to? It’s not like I ever loved Harvey! I still love you.”

Night Light sighed as he hung his head and looked at the floor. “You don’t love me enough to choose me over your career. And you didn’t love me enough to make sure your promises were kept. I gave you options and you picked what you wanted. At your age, it’s going to be hard to get remarried as most single stallions hoping to get married would hope for a younger, softer, lesser used mare, or at least one young enough to give them foals. Of course, Harvey is twenty years older than you, so maybe he’ll consent. I don’t feel like I’m qualified to give you advice because if I was, I would have been able to convince you to save the marriage. Our daughter listens to me, but I guess I’m better at politics than I am with relationships.”

Velvet sighed in response to his less than helpful answer. “I’ve heard some ponies say that relationships and politics have a lot in common.”

Night Light grinned as he turned back to her. “Yes, Velvet. A treaty between two nations is a lot like a marriage and betrayal can end it just as quickly. Cheating on trade, cheating on taxes, making friendships behind the other nations backs… all things similar to marriage. At least I don’t have to stand there and know that two nations are fucking each other while a third affected party stands helplessly by, unable to intervene or stop it from affecting his relationship with the nation he cared about. Maybe you should write a book about it.”

Velvet sagged in her seat as the words hit home, hard. It would be hard to live here now after the divorce, but she couldn’t sell it and move on either; the tower had been in her family for generations. When she looked up again… Night Light was gone.

Velvet stood up and left the house also. Looking around, she couldn’t see Night Light anywhere, so she had to assume that he teleported back to the castle. He must have been extra upset to do that, as he normally preferred to walk.

Trotting in a fast stride, Velvet made her way back to her editor’s office. She had a lot to discuss with him.

* * *

Twilight Sparkle was in her private study dealing with normal daily paperwork. Since it was a holiday, Morning Court wasn’t being held so it made it a good opportunity for her to catch up on her never-ending paperwork. The door opened without a knock, which meant that it was her father.

She looked up at him playfully. “Da~d… you never knock! Just kidding, how did it go?”

Night Light burst into tears not far from her desk. She jumped up and hugged him on reflex. He sniffled into her mane.

“She signed the divorce. You may go ahead and have Royal Guards serve Harvey the judgement.”

He couldn’t see her face but the smile that was plastered there would have been hard to explain given that under normal circumstances she would, or should, be sad too.

She cleared her throat to recompose herself. “I’m sorry to hear that. Is there anything that you need?”

Night Light shook his head. “I’m going to take a shower and try to grab an early lunch. Then I need to run some personal errands in town. Just hunker down and get as much work done as possible.”

Twilight smiled. “I always try to get as much done as possible and that’s easier on days without Morning Court. Is there anything different about today other than our families’ personal problems?”

Night Light shrugged indifferently, trying to put the last fifteen years behind him as fast as possible. “Nothing too different about tonight, other than me trading in the older Twilight for the younger Twilight. You want to give me your flower and I’ll take it, with great pleasure, but I’m so pent up that it’ll be impossible not to pound you completely through the bed. I fear that I physically can’t be gentle tonight. You might want to prepare yourself for wild sex. Alicorn or not, you might not be able to walk tomorrow.”

Night Light left her office without even a good bye to go do the things he said he was going to do, and Twilight shivered from head to tail, desire and lust clouding her otherwise clear judgement.

OH! It worked! He’s all mine… I sure hope he gives me an unforgettable Hearts and Hooves Night…

* * *