Twilight Velvet had gone home to put on her best dress and her best jewelry. She didn’t bother with make-up because that would take too much time and it wouldn’t impress her daughter anyway. The trot to the castle was refreshing and she felt like she understood why her husband preferred to walk instead of using magic. She got to the front gates and spoke to the guards.

“Good evening, Gentlecolts. Is my daughter available?”

The senior guard looked at her. “Yes, Ms. Velvet. We were instructed to allow you in if you showed up tonight. I trust that you know the way to the Princess’s chambers?”

Velvet gulped.

Ms. Velvet… my title has already been changed to single status… that can’t be a good sign.

“Of course, Sir. I don’t require an escort unless her Majesty no longer trusts me?”

The guards did not reply and said nothing as she went inside the castle. For security reasons, the Princess’s chambers were deep in the castle, so even knowing exactly where you were going still meant a long walk. There were no guards posted outside her chamber doors but if the orders from guards at the castle entrance were any indication, Twilight was expecting her so she should be able to just go right in. Velvet wasn’t a pony that normally didn’t knock, but if there was a double-sided sound ward on the door, her daughter wouldn’t hear the knocking anyway. Testing the door showed that it wasn’t physically or magically locked, so she took that as an open invitation to go ahead and walk in.

Velvet walked in and closed the door behind her. She took a deep, calming breath only to turn around and see a sight that she never expected to see. Night Light was mounted on their daughter, in the throes of wild lovemaking. They were both grunting and panting, Twilight was casting a spell, and she was covered in light sheen of sweat and absolutely made her seem to glow in the light of the room. In that moment, Twilight Sparkle might have been the most beautiful mare to have ever lived.

With a final moan and grunt, they both finished and the bliss that seemed to cover their expressions caused a pang in Velvet’s heart.

By Celestia… that used to be me… I’ve been such a foal. Chasing dreams when the best dream was already beside me.

Night Light looked up and saw her first, an expression of panic replacing bliss. He dismounted, his cock making an audible pop when he pulled out. Cum poured from Twilight’s pussy like a cheap play prop which caused Twilight to moan a little louder and actually caused Velvet to giggle, half in disbelieve and half in relief.

At least one of us got to catch the dream she was chasing… Maybe I can at least be happy for her… I should at least try.

One of the perks of writing sleazy romance novels was that it did force you to look for clues of how love, lust, and infatuation worked. Understanding the rules of cheating, situationships, monogamy, and consensual non-monogamy helped her to write very realistic novels that peaked ponies’ interests, but it also allowed her to understand subtle hints and clues involved in flirting and body language that even the Princess of Love might have missed.

From these skills honed over the years, she knew when Shining Armor had gotten his crush on Cadance, and she knew that Twilight had a crush on her father. She also knew that her husband loved their daughter but would have never admitted to loving her in a sexual way. She sighed.

If I had used those skills to pay closer attention to Night Light, our marriage would have never gotten bad enough to fall apart.

With a startled realization, she discovered the truth within herself and with Harvey.

It’s not that I ever stopped loving Night Light. It’s just that the closer Harvey came to retirement and the fewer clients he was working with, the more he was having sex nearly exclusively with me. And I was so tired between the meaningless, feelingless sex combined with writing that I didn’t have the energy to use those skills to identify problems in my own marriage. I should have seen Night Light getting less sex. I should have seen him having fewer partners until there were none. I should have taken the time to listen to him when he said it was time for a new editor. I was just so bucking tired…

Night Light cleared his throat. “I can explain…”

Velvet held up a hoof. “No need. Our daughter has had a crush on you for years and you’ve been faithful to me for years with nothing from me to show for it. I’ve been a foal, and I threw away everything chasing something that I didn’t need. All I wanted to do was earn enough money to be able to retire so we could travel the world and see everything just like we used to talk about and dream about before we had foals. The sad truth is that Harvey broke the agreement of the contract. We were only supposed to have sex one time a month, twice a month tops, while I focused on writing books and still taking care of my husband and raising our foals. I gave you mares to balance the scales of cheating to make up for me not being there when you needed me, not because I thought that you’d randomly cheat, but more because I knew you didn’t want to vent your sexual frustration onto our daughter. I’m sorry that I failed you, my Night.”

Night Light knew she was telling the truth. He did everything to prevent incest from becoming a thing in their home, but the only mare he ever loved more than Velvet, was their daughter.

Twilight had come down from her post-coitus high and smirked. “I had always hoped you would walk in on us having sex. That makes losing my virginity even better. Best Hearts and Hooves present, EVER!”

Velvet giggled. “Well… I’m glad I was able to give you something, sweetheart. It’s not the present I was hoping for though. At this stage in my life, I must confess that it’s hard to buy a gift for a pony that has everything and sometimes a special gift from the heart is more special.”

Twilight nodded. “This wasn’t planned exactly this way, but I can’t say I regret it, other than you and dad’s marriage ending. I don’t feel like it’s my business to pry, but there is a seven-day window to reverse the divorce. I’ve heard dad’s side of the story and your acceptance of walking in on us having sex, but I want to understand how your marriage got this bad from your point of view. Are you willing to talk about it?”

Velvet sighed. “My and Harvey’s agreement started the same as all his agreements. The first couple of years, it was only once a month, and I still encouraged your father to enjoy the other mares I found for him. As I got older, I couldn’t have sex more than once per day, so the more Harvey fucked me, the less your father got. It was a slow, but continuously increasing process. Over the course of fifteen years, it went from once a month to four times a week and I barely noticed because the increase happened slowly over time. The more books I wrote, and the more Harvey fucked me, the less I paid attention to your father and all those skills I used to brag about that made my writing so successful and that should have been able to allow me to see the problems in our marriage and fix them failed me for no other reason than being too bucking tired to notice anything was wrong after basically being raped four times a week for the last five or so years.”

Twilight’s wings flared in fury and her voice rose to match it. “Rape! He raped you?”

Velvet’s eyes went wide in shock, and she covered her mouth with both her forehooves. She looked mortified and terrified, as if she had said something that she wasn’t supposed to have ever admitted.

“I mean… What I meant… was…”

She trailed off as the raised eyebrow from her daughter stopped her in her tracks. She realized that it was too late to lie.

Velvet winced. “What else would you call it? Not saying no isn’t a yes. Standing there and not fighting back isn’t consent. The only victory I got was preventing him from getting me pregnant so that Night wouldn’t have to raise a bastard. I never stopped loving your father, but you have no idea how hard it is to have sex and to enjoy sex after having been forced to do it so many times…”

Twilight looked at her father who was sitting beside her still as a statue. Twilight looked back at her mother.

“And you never reported it because…?”

Velvet shook her head. “It was in the contract. Any accusations of rape would void the contract with no renewal plus he would sue me for libel, potentially costing me all the profit I ever made from the books and nearly ensuring that I’d never work as a writer for the rest of my life. I think the only thing worse than putting up with being raped monthly, and then weekly, and then nearly daily, would be losing everything I gained from writing after the fact. I’ll never regain my dignity, but I have my book royalties. If only I had a husband to enjoy it with…”

Night Light hung his head in shame. He could have never guessed that this had gone so far and had lasted for so long without him realizing that there was no love in the situationship, and that Velvet was trapped. She wanted to go from working with Harvey straight to retirement. She didn’t want to put up with finding another editor on the off chance that they did the same thing but wouldn’t earn her as much money. Talk about being trapped between a rock and hard place.

He cleared his throat. “Are you willing to fire him now and come back to me?”

Velvet nodded. “I don’t have to. He’s retiring next week at the unveiling of my twentieth book. After all the crap he put me through… he is going to abandon me before I have the wealth I wanted before we retired to enjoy the rest of our lives together. That’s why he wanted to fuck me all weekend from Friday to Sunday… this was going to be the last time. But he forgot it was our anniversary, not that he ever really cared. Will you take me back or is it too late?”

Night Light sighed. “With the abuse that you suffered, will we ever be able to make love like we used to?”

Velvet shrugged. “Not at first. It’ll take time for me to adjust to making love instead of being raped. I’ll probably be more passive about it than you would like for at least a few years before we can fully reconnect. However, I have a compromise I’m willing to propose.”

Night Light nodded. “I’m listening.”

Velvet looked at Twilight. “With our daughter’s permission, I’d like her to continue to make love to you like you did tonight. The passion I witnessed can’t be faked and I don’t think that any of us want you to take new mares as partners. I believe that me and Twilight can fully satisfy you, if you’ll let us.”

Twilight nodded slowly. “Sounds good to me, but what’s the catch? How long will this last? Until you’re over all the rapes? For a full fifteen years to make up for the entire length of the situationship? How long?”

Velvet pursed her lips. “We are both past our prime, but your father will want sex more than I do, and going forward, sex will happen less often than I was capable of in the previous fifteen years. So, let’s just say that I approve of this arrangement going forward for the rest of our lives on the off chance that the scales will be balanced by the time we pass. In the meantime, I promise never to cheat again and I’ll sure that Night Light will agree to only be with you and me. Can we make this work?”

Twilight hummed in thought. “I wish to make three modifications.”

Velvet tensed. “And that is?”

Twilight smiled a cute smile, reminiscent of a mischievous filly. “First, I love my mommy too, so I want the occasional threesome with both of you, but no one-on-one action. Second… I think that the two of you could use some marriage counseling, but since this is a sensitive issue involving ponies important to the state, the only pony that I will trust with counseling is Princess Cadance. And… I’m almost sure she’s going to want to have sex with daddy solo and threesomes with both of you as part of the counseling, but that will be far less often than with me. Final modification… I want to arrest Harvey Horsestein.”

Velvet swallowed a lump in her throat. “You can’t… He’ll sue me…”

Twilight shook her head. “I’ll arrest him after he announces his retirement. No active contract means no contract to violate. He’ll just quietly disappear. No scandal, only justice. At least me and daddy will have the peace of mind of knowing that you’re not still cheating with Harvey, regardless of how forced it may or may not have been. Deal or no deal?”

Velvet looked at Night Light and he shrugged. “I’ll do the counseling with Cadance so long as it’s once a month or less. I don’t want Cadance to replace Harvey as a situationship and I really don’t want to steal my son’s wife. I agree to take no other partners other than Twilight, Cadance and my wife. Velvet must promise to actively try to make love to me and work on fixing our marriage and have no other partners than the same two other partners that I have. One final stipulation is that since we are all involved in this together, no changes to the rules can occur without all three of us agreeing to the changes. And no strong hoofing the other ponies to force a change that hurts our relationships. I’m willing to cancel the divorce and work on the marriage.”

Velvet exhaled a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. “I agree to those terms.”

Twilight smiled widely as she wrapped sweaty, cum covered wings around both her parents. “Thank you both. Now we can be a happy family again. Speaking of which… if both of you take a shower and if you hurry, you might still be able to have a romantic Hearts and Hooves dinner date. You can use my private bathroom.”

As her parents walked together, side by side, nuzzling each other lovingly, crying softly at the impossibility of them reconciling, and looking forward to enjoying what was left of their evening, Twilight smiled.

All’s well that ends well.

* * *

Author's Note

Only the Epilogue left.