Chapter Five
Xvital
Xvital looked up at the block-sized restaurant and let out a low whimper at the incredibly high-class setting, looking down at her green dress and hoping it was good enough for this place.
Xvital was really regretting this decision and was silently cursing Night for putting this idea into her head. But then again, she was the one that had wanted to know more about the Blade family. She still didn’t like dressing up like this, and was super glad none of the guys saw her like this. She also had to give her Tizy a piece of her mind for giving her these dresses, especially that red one. Where she would wear that one, she had no idea and just thinking of it made her blush.
Shaking her head, she moved up the line to the maître’d pony who was somehow looking down his nose at her despite being Xvital being taller than him.
“Bonjour,” he said in Prance accent. “Madame, est-ce que vous avez une invitation?”
“Oui,” she said. “Pour Monsieur Blade et Madame Xvital.”
He looked down his list, his lips moving very slightly. His eyebrow raised and looked at her. “Ah! Venez avec moi, madame.” He then began to lead her into the restaurant and she was awestruck. It was modeled like a ballroom with a number of tables around the outside and an actual formal dance floor in the center, with a live band playing a soft waltz in one corner. Above it, there were three more flights around the edges of the building, each filled with tables and offering a view of the dance floor below.
She was at a loss at the fact that almost every table was filled and that the dance floor had a lot of couples moving flawlessly in tune to the music. Oh, if Tizy ever took her here for a date and sprung a dance on her, she’d kick him out of the bed for a month!
“Where-” she began to ask as she began to walk to the nearest tables only for the maître’d to stop her and lead her to a roped off elevator. She then tilted her head upwards and saw the reason why this place was called the Glass Jewel: at the very top, there were four glass spheres connected by walkways that would offer a full view of the entire restaurant. Her mind began to rattle at the thought of how expensive those tables were and how rich the Blade family was if Crooked was able to book the best room in the best restaurant on the fly.
“Allez-vous tout à fait bien, madame?” the maître’d asked her, raising an eyebrow at her, obviously still not convinced that she was who she said she was.
“Oui, oui,” she told him as the ahuizotless allowed him to guide her up the glass elevator which took them to the uppermost floor.
As she stepped out onto the walkways that connected to the large glass spheres that gave the place its name, she saw four large tables in each of the rooms, three empty and one occupied by a very serious-looking nox pony who was dressed in a Royal Guard uniform with a cropped black mane and a shade lighter coat than Night with piercing green eyes, and looked her over carefully as she approached. The stallion then nodded to the maître’d. “She is the one whom I’ve been expecting,” he said. “Miss Xvital, if you would please join me.”
“Oui, Monsieur Blade,” the maître’d said as Xvital settled into a seat. “Shall I bring you anything?”
“Garlic bread and water for now, the Gnocchi di zucca for me and smoked rainbow trout for the lady.”
When the other stallion had left, Crooked Blade looked at Xvital once more, but said nothing. She had the oddest feeling about him, almost as if he was looking through her. Then the moment passed, and Crooked Blade began to talk to her.
“So what is this about my parents and brother, Miss Xvital?” he asked her with a bluntness that seemed to be a family trait.
“Why are they on such bad terms?” she asked undeterred. “I mean, Page told us a little while we were traveling, but still…”
“How does Miss Turner know about my family and brother’s personal matters?”
“They’ve been dating for like thirteen years?” she waved a hand with a delayed realization that Night had kept his relationship with Page a secret for thirteen years and she’d just blurted this out.
NIght was going to kill her for this one.
Crooked simply raised an eyebrow at that before clearing his throat. “To answer your question to the best of my abilities, the truth is that I do not know the extent of the relationship Night and my parents have.”
Xvital found herself blinking at this before shaking her head. “But they’re your family, how do you not know?”
“Because I have not lived with them since I was about his age?” Crooked said in a semi confused voice.
“Sure but still, you’re family, don’t you spend time together or junk like that?” she pushed the point as she placed her hands on the table.
“Ma’am, I am forty years old and I have my own family to tend to,” he said, shaking his head. “I mean, I have visited them with Striking, my son, in the past when he and Night were young but I barely interacted with Night and...” he shrugged his shoulders, causing the fur on her neck to rise up in anger.
“Wait.” Xvital suddenly remembered something Page had said after Night had stormed out of Fluttershy’s house on them. “Right, you were already out of the house by the time he was born, weren’t you?”
“That is absolutely correct; Hidden Dagger, Serrated Dagger, Deep Blade and I were all out of the house and living our own lives when Night was born,” Crooked said. “My own son is a year older than him is an indication to how late a birth Night was and how impractical it was for the four of us to suddenly try and be like children again.”
Xvital frowned harder at this but did her best not to lose control of her temper. “I understand that you could not just put your lives on hold for several years to be brothers and sisters to Night, but you could have kept in touch with him. I mean, you did that with the rest of your siblings?”
“Every few months, yes, but they are closer to my own age, and we had grown up together. Interacting with Night is more like… interacting with the young child of a cousin who lived in another part of the country, almost,” he said, tapping the table, “I am stationed in a distant part of Equestria with my family; Vanhoover. My twin sister Hidden runs the family company in Manehattan, my other sister Serrated is on another world tour and my brother Deep has just come back from an art showing from Mareis, Prance to do some teaching in the Academy. We all live our own lives now and we rarely have the time to visit each other, let alone for a long time.”
Xvital was doing her utmost not to flip the table on him. If this was how Night’s family was like with distant family members, she could only imagine how bad it was with his parents.
“You don’t approve, do you?” Crooked said with a raised brow, almost accusing.
“No,” she said sharply.
“As distant and strained as my relationship with Night is, it not your place to judge,” he said in a brisk tone, showing a bit of his fangs. “But we have drifted off topic, haven’t we?”
“Yes,” Xvital tried to calm herself down but couldn’t. “The whole reason I called is that I wanted to understand why Night went berserk against your parents but I think I’ve got a pretty good idea why,” she snapped as she dug her claws into the table.
“Wait, what happened?” Crooked asked as he leaned across the table.
“He apparently had enough with their crap, practically wrote them out his life and was laughing like a maniac. He said he was so happy telling them off and I can see why,” Xvital shook her head. “I should have listened to him and stayed out of all this. Now if you will excuse me, I have lost my appetite.” She pushed herself out of her chair and began to storm out of the room, almost knocking over the waiter carrying the plates to the table.
She finally made it back to the hotel, her face red with anger and embarrassment about the whole ordeal. She wanted to get back upstairs, raid the bar, apologize to Night if he was back by now, and maybe punch something. She flicked her tailhand, causing a spark of fire before she flicked it away as she rode up the elevator.
She tugged at the dress she was wearing, briefly wondering how Vix-Lei dealt with her skirt all the time before sighing. She would have to factor in a shower but not before apologizing to Night. That was the highest on the list of things she had to do. Pinching the bridge of her nose as her stomach rumbled, she realized she would need to do another room service run to get something to eat after skipping out on eating anything earlier so she’d get to her meeting with Crooked on time, then storming out before their meal arrived. She sighed; she should have at least swiped the plate off the waiter’s tray before leaving and had to admit, their appetizers were freaking good and a small part of her was wondering how good the trout was.
She then shook her head, annoyed at herself for thinking like that. She could have fish anytime she wanted, right now she needed to focus on other things. Like apologizing to Night for pushing him as far as she had earlier.
The Royal Guards standing in front of their room relaxed a tad when they saw her and this caused Xvital to pause. They weren’t supposed to show stuff like that, what was goin-
“It is not him, miss Vix-Lei,” the Guard on the left said.
“Good!” Vix-Lei shouted before the minotaur thudded across the room and opened the door. “Xy, you’re back. Good, come in, come in.” Her friend waved her inside, clearly excited.
“What’s going on here?” Xvital asked as she stepped inside. “And-” she froze as she looked around, seeing the room had been transformed while she was away. Balloons, streamers and a large banner with a sword drawn on either end, and the words Happy Talentmitzvah, Night Blade! between them. Wind Breaker and two other minotaurs were helping put up some more decorations while Rex was blowing up more balloons and Page was using her magic to secure them in place.
“I told you before, since Night’s parents didn’t give him a proper talentmitzvah, I was going to throw him one myself,” Vix-Lei said. “So this is it!”
“I see,” Xvital managed. “And who are they?” she asked, gesturing towards the other minotaurs.
“That’s my biggest little brother Herakles, and my second-biggest little brother Eusebios,” Vix-Lei explained. “Argus is in the back - he’ll be out soon.” She grinned. “Dad’s still busy at the embassy, but Rex and I were able to get my brothers to come out and help with things here.” She shook her head. “Too bad the others are still back in Ledra - we could have a really fun party going on here, especially with Baltsaros and Pyrrhus. They love parties.”
“How many brothers do you have?” Xvital found herself asking as she closed the door behind her.
“Seven,” was the answer that everyone chorused together. Rex finished blowing up a balloon and tried to shake it off of himself but it was sticking to his arm, prompting him to roll his eyes as Page used her magic to pull it off. “She is the oldest of them, by the way,” he added.
“After Argus, there’s Baltsaros, a big flirt who does most of the blueprints for our ships. Then there’s Marinos, the best flier of all of us,” Herakles said giving Vix-Lei a smirk. “Too bad Big Sis here doesn’t take after him.”
Vix-Lei stuck her tongue out at him, getting a laugh.
“Then there’s Pyrrhus,” Eusebios put in. “He helps out in the shipyards a lot, but his real passion is writing. And our youngest brother is Yanni. Nice guy, but he has odd taste in clothes.” Wind Breaker snickered at that, clearly remembering what Vix-Lei had said about the other ‘taur earlier.
“Wow.” Xvital looked impressed. “Not sure I’d be able to cope with that many - just one possible brother was more than enough for me.”
That caused everyone to stop and look at her funny, except for Wind Breaker, who just shrugged. “You probably should check up on him sometime,” he remarked from where he was standing. “See how he’s doing, or if he’s even still down in the Cuanmiztl Kingdom.”
“I’ll remember that,” Xvital said. “But right now, I need a room so I can get out of this and help you guys.” She gestured to her dress.
“You are aware that you normally don’t wear clothes and it wouldn’t be that much of a difference if you got changed here?” Rex said. Wind Breaker, Herakles and Eusebios all promptly winced in response, and Rex looked at them in confusion. “What, what did I say wrong?”
“Oh Rexy,” Vix-Lei tsked. “You simply do not say those kind of things to a lady! Or me either, for that matter,” she added teasingly.
Rex sighed. “Of course. Xvital, I apologize.”
“It’s okay,” she said. “But now I really do need to go change.” With that, she stepped into the bedroom she shared with the other girls, and began to shuck off her dress.
A few minutes later, she stepped back out to join them, just in time to catch the tail-end of Wind Breaker talking. “-she’ll tell you herself when she’s ready,” he was saying.
“I’ll tell them what myself?” she asked sharply, catching his attention.
“About your family and how you grew up,” Wind Breaker said as he turned to face her. “Since I obviously knew what you meant before, they were asking how I’d found out and what I knew. So I said that you’d told me about it when we were out trying to get information about our enemy, back after we first got together but before the big blackout, and that it was up to you when to tell them about it. That’s all.”
“Right.” Xvital sighed. “Sorry, I’m… still in kind of a bad mood after the meeting I just had. I’ll explain later,” she said as Vix-Lei opened her mouth. “So, what else do we have to do?”
Vix-Lei looked around. “Well, the decorations are mostly done, but we’ve still got a few more to put up. Argus is supervising things in the kitchen - we got a couple of the ponies who work here to make a cake and some other treats, and there’s plenty of mangos for Night. I think at this point, we just have to finish decorating and wait for the guest of honor to show up.”
Xvital nodded, and went to join the others doing the decorations with Page walking over to her. “So tell me,” she said in a smug tone. “How bad was it?”
Xvital let out a loud sigh, rubbing her eyes. “It was painful; I get why his brother isn’t close with Night and why he snapped at his parents and everything but…” She tried to come up with the right words but couldn’t.
“I know,” Page said softly as she patted Xvital on the shoulder. “I want Night to have a good relationship with his family as I never got to have that chance myself but I also want him to be happy and I’ve also learned today that at times you chose your own family. If Night wants to cut them out of his life, then so be it.”
“Come on, whatever happened with your friend’s parents can’t be that bad,” Herakles remarked.
“Herak, we’re throwing a talentmitzvah for the guy because his parents neglected him during his entire life,” Vix-Lei said sharply, stalking over to the towering minotaur who was backing up from his sister. “So yeah,” she jabbed a finger into his chest and actually caused him to stumble backwards with a grunt. “It’s that bad.”
“Sorry sis,” he muttered sheepishly. “Didn’t know.”
Vix-Lei gave him a reassuring nod. “You’re forgiven, biggest little bro,” she slapped her brother on the arm before turning around to face Xvital. “And for you, off to the kitchen; Argus, Sacher Torte and the others could probably use some help back there.”
“But I’m no good at cooking,” Xvital said as she tried to back up but Vix-Lei had grabbed her shoulder and was pushing the ahuizotless towards the kitchen door.
“Good thing they’re baking then,” Vix-Lei said with her usual grin.
“What’s the difference, anyway?” Xvital protested. “I still can’t do either one!”
“In the simplest terms, food plus heat equals cooking,” Rex said from where he was working. “Food times mixing plus heat equals baking.”
Wind Breaker blinked and tapped his beak. “You know, I never thought of it in those terms, but you’re absolutely right,” he said.
“Of course I am right, I am the smart one after all,” Rex said with a smirk, which got them all laughing.
“And even if you can’t help with the actual baking, you can still bring things out here for them,” Page put in.
“Now that I can do,” Xvital said as she headed into the kitchen.
Inside she found a minotaur with an… interesting shade of blue fur, wearing an unusual green-colored tie. Nearby, a couple of ponies were working on different counters, including a light yellowish-orange unicorn mare with a light red mane who was covering a very large cake in what looked to be a slightly darker yellowish-orange frosting. It looked, and smelled, very good. It also smelled somewhat familiar.
“Mango cake?” she asked somewhat hesitantly.
“That’s my cousin’s name, actually,” the mare frosting the cake replied pleasantly as she turned around and winked. “I’m Sacher Torte, head dessert chef at this hotel. You must be Xvital.”
“Nice to meet you,” Xvital replied, smiling back as she extended a hand and the other female responded with a hoof. “Your baking smells really good.” She gestured to the cake.
“Why thank you.” Sacher smiled again. “Miss Turner told us the stallion of the day loves mangos.”
“He certainly does,” Xvital agreed. “So… I was told to help bring stuff out?”
“I’d appreciate it very much.” Sacher gestured. “We have a few other trays of goodies all ready to go.”
Nodding, Xvital picked up one of the covered trays, briefly lifting the lid to see what lay under it. She was greeted by the sight of peanut butter cookies, chocolate brownies with chocolate frosting, chocolate candies and piles of bonbons on paper doilies. Replacing the lid, she carried it out to the table set up for that purpose, Argus silently following her, then went back and forth with a few other trays, each with their own sets of treats.
When the last item had gone out and was set up, a cake stand with the mango cake under a glass lid, Vix-Lei clapped her hands. “So!” she said. “Now all we need is the guest of honor.”
There was a sudden noise by the goodie table, and she glanced over, nodding in satisfaction. “Good work, Argus.”
The younger minotaur, who had a hand on Herakles’ wrist to keep him from snatching any of the food, nodded back. “That’s why I’m over here, Vix-Lei.”
Xvital’s ear flicked and went over to window with a frown on her face. “Guys, do you hear that?” she asked as she opened the blinds to see that it was beginning to rain.
“Yeah, Rexy told me it was going to rain tonight so that’s why we planned for everything to go now,” Vix-Lei said as she rolled her shoulders. “I do know how to plan stuff like this and no comments from you three.” She glared at her brothers who were all grinning.
“Dare I ask?” Wind remarked from his own spot.
Herakles, who had pulled loose from Argus and moved away from the table, started to open his mouth when Vix-Lei glared at him. “I said, no comments.”
“What, you mean like no mentioning the time you flew one of our commissioned airships back into the hanger just minutes before the customer came for it? The same one that Dad told us if we touched it, we’d be out of the family?”
Vix-Lei covered her face in embarrassment, then narrowed her eyes. “As I recall, I’ve not gotten you back for the other trick you pulled two years ago - the one with the king’s pet hedgehog, that cute girl and the skimmer with the purple paint. You better watch your step.”
Herakles laughed. “Or what, you’ll do worse than Dad? Believe me, nothing can be worse than a month of no flying.”
“Try me.” Vix-Lei smirked at her brother with Eusebios grinning from ear to ear.
“Amusing as this has been, where is Night, anyway?” Page asked. “He should have been back by now.”
“I think he’ll be in very shortly,” Argus remarked from where he was still standing near the food table. “Better have a few towels ready in the anteroom.”
Page gave him an odd look, but went to do as he said.
“How did he even know that?” Rex asked Vix-Lei quietly, having slipped over to her. “He’s nowhere near the window!”
“It’s an Argus thing, I’ll explain later,” Vix-Lei whispered back as she moved to hide behind the couch. “Quick, everytaur, let’s hide and surprise Nighty.”
There was a scramble as everyone moved to hide behind stuff with Vix-Lei and her brothers managing to hide surprisingly well despite how tall they were.
As the eight waited in their various hiding places, they heard the sound of the Guard outside talking to somepony, and then the door opening.
A moment later, there was a loud gasp, and then Page’s voice could be heard. “Night, how in Equestria did you… no, never mind, just come here so I can dry you off.”
Xvital’s ears twitched, and she could barely restrain herself from commenting on Page’s fussing over her coltfriend, who was obviously not amused judging by the muttering she was hearing.
Then, the two walked into the room.
“SURPRISE!” four minotaurs, one griffon, one Diamond Dog, one ahuizotless and one pony shouted as they jumped out from behind their various places.
At the sound and sight of all of them, Night Blade stared and blinked a few times before a smile started to appear on his face. Shaking his head slowly as he began to eye everything, he turned to face her and the rest of their friends. “I don’t know what to say,” he said in an awed voice. “This is simply… I mean, the fact you guys did this, I-”
“Come on Nighty,” Vix-Lei said as she patted him on the back. “You’re our friend and there’s nothing we won’t do for each other.”
“Yeah, we’ve been busy preparing this for you since we got back from the Library this afternoon,” Wind Breaker said as Rex nodded his head.
“Vix-Lei was very thorough in her in plans for your party because she, and we, care for you,” Rex said as he tipped his head.
“I wish I got back here sooner so I could have helped more,” Xvital said a bit guiltily as Night gave her a look. “And I’m sorry about not listening to you… I understand now and again, I am so sorry Night... Can you forgive me?”
Night licked his lips and nodded his head, giving her a smile as his answer.
“I’m glad to feel and see how happy you are, Night,” Page said as she kissed him on the cheek. “Best surprise I have dealt with today; meeting the king and Gentle Step was not fun.” Night tilted his head but Page shook her head and kissed him again. “I’ll explain later,” she said as she looked at Vix-Lei’s brothers which told Xvital that it was more than likely it involved Page being the Changeling Queen.
“Thank you everyp-is that a mango cake?” Night asked as he walked over to the table.
“It certainly is,” Sacher Torte answered as she came over. “Your lady friend here told me what you liked, and I was more than happy to accommodate.”
Night nodded approvingly. “Thank you, miss…”
“Sacher Torte,” she replied. “I’m the head dessert chef for this hotel. I hope you don’t mind if I stick around for your party.”
“Of course not,” Night replied as he continued to stare at the cake.
“Shall I cut you a piece, sir?”
“Please,” Night said as his tail was wagging. Xvital and the rest of them had to hold back their snickers at their friend acting like this but it was good to see Night this happy.
Sacher smiled and promptly did so, handing it to him at which point he dispensed any form of class and began to eat it with gusto, finishing it off in just under a minute.
“This is excellent,” Night Blade remarked to Sacher as he helped himself to another slice of cake as the mare gave them out to the rest of them. “You did a wonderful job.”
“Thank you,” the mare said with a smile. “The talent’s in my blood - I come from a long line of bakers and pastry chefs.”
“I can believe that,” Eusebios remarked as he dug into his own piece. “I’ll second what Night said - this is really, really good.”
Sacher beamed with pride at that as they all moved to the table and sat down.
“So,” Night said as Vix-Lei began uncovering the other trays, allowing them to reach the goodies inside. “I feel much better after my walk, despite the sudden shower at the end.” He rolled his eyes at the thought. “Besides this, what have all of you been up to today?”
“Got supplies for here, got my three oldest little brothers to help out setting up,” Vix-Lei said. “And of course Rex helped me too.”
“Lunch meeting that I kind of stormed out on,” Xvital put in as she looked at Night. “I’ll explain more later - don’t want to mess with the mood here.”
“And Wind and I met with Matron Hush Tone,” Page said. “And… a few others.” She smiled. “The Matron was very glad to see me again.”
“I’m sure she was,” Night said, smiling at her. “So how have things been at the library?”
Page’s face lit up, and while Xvital could tell she was omitting a few things, there was a smile on her face that was absolutely genuine as she talked about how more than a few of her co-workers had mentioned how much the foals had missed having her read to them.