Since Rainbow Dash was busy apologizing to Gilda, and Twilight Sparkle was occupied in the kitchen with her Mother, that left the other four mares (and Spike) completely alone in the living room with nothing to do. And aside from hearing a huge outburst from Rainbow Dash from upstairs, it was clear that the five would’ve been sitting awkwardly in silence if they didn’t find something to pass the time. Fortunately, while discussions were being made in the other parts of the house, Pinkie Pie knew the perfect way to lighten the mood for her and her friends. After all, when it came to making impromptu trips of any kind, what kind of party-pony wouldn’t have an emergency stock of games for unexpected bouts of boredom?
And as luck would have it, the pink mare had the perfect new game stocked in her mane: Good Bean or Bad Bean. Even though it was set to come out at stores next month, Pinkie was somehow able to snag one earlier than most other retailers, and figured her friends would be the best test subjects. So, while a large bowl sat at the middle of the coffee table filled with jelly beans, and a small roulette wheel was set beside it to determine which color was picked, Rarity kept score as the rest went into the final rounds.
“And it is…” Rarity’s magic spun the wheel, and she reviewed her tallies as the arrow moved quickly. Judging by the scores, it seemed that Spike and Applejack had the best chance of winning. Even though the unicorn wasn’t ecstatic about only keeping score (or trying to detract from what was going on elsewhere in the house), she preferred it over sitting in silence, or dealing with the possibility of eating a booger-flavored jelly bean again. So because of that, Rarity was slightly relieved for her own sake when she saw where the arrow landed. “Ugh… brown.”
Pinkie seemed excited, but the other three looked less than willing to get a brown jelly bean from the bowl. According to the box, brown meant one of two flavors, with one being unanimously seen as the grossest idea. But still after a moment’s hesitation, the four picked up the brown jelly beans before Pinkie piped cheerfully, “Down the hatch!”
Pinkie and Spike chewed on their jelly beans first, and the pink mare was the first to widen her eyes with a cheery smile. “Mmmm! I got pudding!”
“Me too!” said Spike with a hint of relief in his tone.
“Blech!” Applejack spat out hers into the conveniently-placed bucket nearby. Her disgusted face would’ve been good of an answer enough without her saying, “Ah got the dog-food flavor!”
Pinkie and Spike both giggled with their mouths covered , and even Rarity had to conceal a snicker despite Applejack’s irritated pout. “Alright then,” said the unicorn as she floated up her scorecard, “that’s a point each for Pinkie Pie and Spike. And since Applejack spat out the bad flavor, she does not get two points.”
“Ah don’t care,” said the farm-pony with a strong shudder. She reached for her water bottle and added, “That jelly bean was straight-up rotten.”
“No it’s not,” corrected Pinkie in a chipper tone as she picked up the list of flavors on the back of the box. “The Rotten Egg flavor is the rotten-tasting one. See?”
Applejack and Rarity both nearly heaved at the mention of that flavor, remembering that only Spike was able to swallow that flavor down. Meanwhile, the drake used a claw to pick at a small mound of chewed jelly bean stuck between his teeth. “You know,” said Spike in a more inquisitive tone, “you gotta admit that whoever made this game really knew how to get those flavors accurate!”
“Ugh, don’t remind me of that,” replied Rarity in a more distasteful tone as she looked away from him. “I would rather not imagine what kind of pony would have to endure making sure a jelly bean tasted like a… booger!”
“Or dog food,” added Applejack after washing her mouth of that taste.
Meanwhile, Fluttershy was still chewing her jellybean as she raised a hoof to speak. “Although…” She finally swallowed her bean before adding her input. “Spike isn’t wrong. They really do taste like the flavors they claim to be. In fact, the dog food flavor tastes just like Chipper Puppy Mix!”
When Fluttershy looked around, all she saw were dropped jaws and aghast stares from the other four towards her. While Rarity looked at the Pegasus in pure horror, not even attempting to add her two points to the scorecard, Spike was the first to ask in a slightly worried tone. “Uhhh… Fluttershy? How do you know that?”
Fluttershy grew slightly confused at their reactions, and asked nonchalantly, “Well… why shouldn’t I?”
Applejack covered her hoof to keep from throwing up, already keeping her head close to the bucket. “Flutters, please don’t tell me you don’t actually eat dog food!”
“Well, of course not!” said Fluttershy in a slightly offended tone towards her. She then looked back at the others to clarify. “All I do is taste-test it. I always make sure that whatever I feed my pets is edible for them.”
Even Spike looked grossed-out by that statement, and cringed in his seat along with the others as an involuntary “Eeeewwwww!!” came from all four of the other players. While Fluttershy’s ears pulled downward, revealing a more morose look from the yellow mare, she was was slumped low in her spot on the couch when she overheard Gilda’s voice. “Dude…”
The five all turned their attention to the stairway, seeing the Gryphon standing at the bottom with an equally disgusted look towards Fluttershy. “You seriously eat dog food?”
Before Fluttershy could look even worse from what she admitted, Rainbow Dash came up from behind Gilda to give her a warning nudge at her side. “Gilda, come on! Don’t mess with her about it!”
“But she just said that she did it!” shouted the Gryphon back towards her. “Don’t you think that’s a little gross?”
Rainbow just grew a sly smirk before replying, “Well, it’s not like she’s the only one I know who did that.”
Everyone else looked at the Gryphon with wide-eyed stares, which ended up making Gilda look like the flustered one at that moment. “D-Dash!” she shouted as her feathers ruffled out in aggravation, giving the Pegasus a bitter (and slightly blushed) glare. “I never ate dog food, you liar!”
“Oh?” asked Rainbow with a raised brow. “So you didn’t eat a bag of dog treats back at Flight Camp?”
Gilda’s fuming stare on Dash only grew stronger, which wasn’t helped with Twilight and Velvet staring at the Gryphon from the kitchen doorway as well. As her left eye began to twitch violently, it took everything in Gilda to only speak in a nasty growl through her teeth. “I thought that it was beef jerky, and you know that.”
“Okay, okay,” chimed in Velvet when she decided to intervene. The older mare stepped in between Dash and Gilda and spoke in a calming tone. “I think it’s clear that we’re going off topic here, right?”
Despite knowing that Velvet was ultimately right, Gilda still groaned to herself in apprehension, knowing what she was supposed to do. Of course, when the Gryphon looked towards her marefriend, she only saw a warm smile on that muzzle pointed back towards her. And while looking into Velvet’s light blue eyes, Gilda still blushed a tiny bit when her feathers settled back down. While she didn’t want to admit it out loud, the Gryphon could safely admit to herself that the older pony was really growing on her.
So, since she already knew exactly what she needed to say, Gilda waited until Twilight and Dash went back towards their friends before opening her beak. “Listen, I…” Her expression turned more uncomfortable as she looked away from the group momentarily, her words fading before they could be spoken audibly. Fortunately, the Gryphon felt the soft hoof of Velvet’s rest on her shoulder, and turned to see the mare looking up at her approvingly.
The older mare didn’t need to say a word, and just looked up at Gilda with a smile as she waited for her to make the right decision. So, with a meager smile and an even smaller nod of her head, Gilda took a breath to regain her composure, and then turned back to the others. “I…”
After another brief pause, the Gryphon sighed before just saying guiltily, “I’m… sorry about what happened back at that party you guys tried to throw for me…”
Aside from Twilight and Rainbow Dash, a lot of raised brows and widened eyes were pointed at Gilda after that statement. In fact, the only one who didn’t look completely surprised was Velvet, who just widened her smile up at the Gryphon. Meanwhile Gilda rubbed the feathers on the back of her head with a claw as she tried to continue awkwardly. “I mean, I… I know that things didn’t exactly go so great when you were all trying to welcome me. And… even though I was in a bad mood, I… I am aware that I did a lot of things that I shouldn’t have.”
Gilda waited a moment after saying that to scan their reactions, hoping that they were able to see that she wasn’t being dishonest. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like any of the ponies were skeptical, although a couple of them looked at each other for clarification at what she just said. Nevertheless, when she saw Applejack give a firm nod to her last statement, Gilda figured she knew who to personally address first. “And, ummm…” The Gryphon felt more uncomfortable with talking about more specific things she did, but she only paused for a couple seconds before admitting, “I’m… sorry about scaring your Grandma like that.”
Applejack nodded again, her expression staying stern for a brief moment before it relaxed. “Well… thank ya for sayin’ that. Ah mean, Granny likes pranks every now and then, but snakes are one of her big fears.”
Gilda shrugged her shoulders and replied, “Well, it wasn’t like I knew that when I did it. But… yeah, I’m still sorry.”
When she was able to see that Applejack looked fairly accepting of her apology, the Gryphon’s sights went towards the yellow Pegasus that was beside her on the couch. “And… I’m sorry for yelling at you while you were walking through town.”
Fluttershy gave a more faint nod than Applejack, but still looked up at Gilda to give a meager, “Thank you” before looking back down at her hooves. Gilda wasn’t sure if that apology really stuck with her, but one glance at Rainbow Dash was enough of a confirmation when she saw her nod with a smile.
So with that, Gilda finally looked back towards Pinkie Pie, who was seated upright with a smile pointed right at the Gryphon. Even though she still found that smile to be kinda creepy, Gilda exhaled before saying towards her, “And Pinkie Pie, I’ll admit that I shouldn’t have treated you the way I did. I know you just wanted to hang out, and… I should’ve just said something instead of trying to make you go away.”
“Oh, that’s okay,” said Pinkie in a genuine tone as she kept her smile. “I know that not everyone wants to be around huge crowds and parties and stuff, so I understand. All you had to do was ask, silly!”
A small groan escaped the Gryphon as she struggled to smile, despite being called “Silly” by someone who was still fairly irritating to her. Unfortunately, that smile instantly went away after Pinkie hopped out of her seat and put her hooves up for Gilda. “Apology hug!”
“If you do that, I’ll flake out and take back everything I said,” warned the Gryphon with a threatening glare towards the mare. After a couple blinks, Pinkie understood Gilda’s statement enough to take her word for it, and sat back down in her seat cautiously.
The Gryphon then sighed and rubbed her temples with her talons, hoping that doing that didn’t immediately undo everything she just said. Of course, when she turned her head, Gilda’s mood relaxed when she looked back down at her marefriend beside her. Velvet still had her caring smile on the Gryphon, looking like she was proud of her for doing what she did. Seeing the genuine appreciation in her eyes, Gilda’s smile turned more natural as she made one last statement, “Also, I… I’m sorry that things went so nuts, Vel.”
Velvet only made a small giggle before moving her head in to nuzzle the Gryphon’s neck. “Oh, it’s alright, Gilda,” said the mare sweetly, “I’m just happy that you actually apologized to my daughter and her friends.”
Hearing the sincerity in that statement, Gilda’s worried alleviated a bit as she gave a light nuzzle back to the mare. After pulling back, Gilda asked with a hint of caution in her voice, “So… are we good?”
Velvet gave a smirk up to Gilda, and responded with an honest, “Yeah, I think we’ll be good. Although…” She then looked back towards Twilight and her friends and asked, “What do you think, guys? Are there any complaints about us now?”
The five mares and Spike looked at each other, but none of them seemed to have anything to say in opposition at that moment. So, with a reluctant shrug of her shoulders, Twilight was the first to look back at her Mom and respond. “Well… As long as you two are happy, then I suppose I can’t really say anything against it.”
Velvet shuckled in delight, and turned back to Gilda with a smile. “See?”
Gilda couldn’t help smiling back at her, mostly feeling happy that nothing was screwed up because of the past. “O-okay… I guess that’s good.”
“Great.” And with that, Velvet pulled herself upward, and leaned in to give the Gryphon a small peck on the beak. While Twilight and Spike both looked away from that display of affection with looks of uncertainty, Rarity and Pinkie both gave small “Awww”s in admiration. Even though it was still weird to all of them, it didn’t mean that the mares couldn’t appreciate a relationship staying together.
Applejack leaned back in her spot on the couch as she spoke up. “Welp, Ah guess it’s clear that nuthin’ else need to be done around here.”
“I agree,” added Twilight as she lit her horn, picking up her saddlebag which she left by one of the chairs she and Spike were sitting by earlier. “Honestly, I was needing to get back to the castle anyway. Spike needs to get his bedroom set up, and Celestia said there were more books set to arrive today! I don’t what she’s sending, but I have no doubt that there’s gotta be something good!”
Velvet giggled while covering her mouth with a hoof. “Why am I not surprised that you would be excited for that?”
That made the rest of the group laugh in agreement, except for Gilda who just stood with a more relaxed smile on her beak. Of course, before Twilight and her friends could make their goodbyes, the front door opened as a familiar blue stallion entered the living room.
“Vel, I’m hom--What the?!” Seeing his daughter and her friends in the living room, Night Light’s eyes widened in surprise as he tried to figure out what was going on. “T-Twilight? I... “
Even though he was surprised, the stallion still went up to Twilight to give her a strong hug. “What are you doing here, kiddo?! I was expecting you to stay bundled up in that castle for the next week on book organizing alone!”
Twilight blushed as her Dad hugged her, mostly from the fact that he wasn’t necessarily wrong. Of course after hugging him back, Twilight pulled back to explain. “Umm, sorry about this, Dad. There was a small misunderstanding which happened back at the train station when you and Mom were leaving.”
“A misunderstanding?” he asked in slight confusion as he looked towards Twilight’s friends. “What do you mean?”
Velvet stepped away from Gilda, and took the reins to explain what happened to her husband. “Well… apparently, somepony forgot to mention to her friends the details of our marriage, so they were a little surprised when they saw me with Gilda.”
While Twilight widened her eyes towards her Mother in slight offense, Night Light’s brows rose in understanding back at his wife. “Aaaahhhh… So, it was like that Cadance incident again?”
Velvet nodded her head, but the focus went back to Twilight when she decided to retort with, “Well, Mom… I would have told my friends about you two, if somepony didn’t say that she already told them first!”
Velvet was able to catch those inflections quite easily while her daughter eyed her, and sighed bluntly to respond. “Twilight, honey. I never said that I told them about that. Besides, I’m surprised that you decided to never mention it to them yourself.”
“Yeah, because you said that YOU did it!”
“Okay, when on Earth did I say that I talked with your friends about my marriage?”
“Back at the coronation dinner, when you told me that you were caught up with them!”
During this growing debacle, Spike and the other mares began to feel more awkward as they sat in worried silence. Since none of them felt like it was right to intervene, things just grew more intense when Velvet responded to her daughter.
“Well, I said that I was caught up with them, but I didn’t say they were caught up with me!”
“Well, why didn’t you?!”
“Because I thought that you already did it!”
“Ladies, ladies, LADIES!!” shouted Night Light as he quickly stepped in to break up the argument between his wife and daughter. After both mares stopped shouting, he took a breath while looking between them. “Let’s all just settle down for second, alright? This isn’t how family talks!”
Gilda made a shrug of her shoulders and stated, “I dunno. It kinda feels like mine.”
After the stallion shot Gilda a flat glare, he turned back towards Twilight and Velvet with a calmer tone after sighing. “Alright, let’s just see what the issue is…” He looked at both of them as he asked, “So, if I’m hearing this right, Twilight’s friends didn’t know about me and Velvet, and both of you thought that the other one told them first?”
Velvet looked over at her daughter, and they both reluctantly nodded in silence.
“Okay then,” responded Night Light in a more understanding tone. He then looked over at the other five mares who were seated in awkward silence. “And you guys didn’t know about any of this until today?”
Twilight’s friends all nodded in agreement. “Y-yeah,” stated Applejack meekly. “Ah mean, this wasn’t exactly somethin’ we expected to find out neither.”
Night Light shrugged with an understanding chuckle. “Yeah, I suppose so.” Nevertheless, he kept a more positive expression his face as he asked the group, “So… do you girls have any questions about me and Velvet? Or any comments? Concerns?”
Rarity put up a hoof to state with a sincere smile, “Rest assured, Night Light, I think I can safely say on behalf of all of us that we have absolutely no concerns on the matter. And while discovering all of this was… rather shocking, to say the least, it doesn’t say anything negative about you or Velvet.”
“Mmmmhmmm,” nodded Pinkie happily. “It’s clear that you two are super awesome parents, so there isn’t any reason to judge either of you! We were mostly just worried that there was an affair, but it’s clear that you two are fine!”
“Yeah!” added Rainbow Dash while leaned against one of the chairs. “I mean, you two managed to raise a Prince AND a Princess! I think that puts you two up for, like, Parents of the Century or something!”
Even though Twilight’s parents were already happy with Rarity’s and Pinkie’s statements, Rainbow Dash’s was enough to make Night Light beam like a Hearth’s Warming Tree. “Wow!” He turned to his wife to say, “I gotta admit, that’s a heck of a compliment to hear today!”
Velvet giggled in agreement as she walked up to stand beside her husband, and addressed Twilight’s friends, “Well, as long as you girls are understanding about us, and caring for our daughter, then there’s nothing else that we could possibly ask for.”
That was enough to make all five mares widen their smiles in gratitude towards the happy couple. Twilight, who looked rather pleased as well, cleared her throat before saying, “Well, we were actually planning to head out anyway, but I’m glad that things are settled out.”
“Absolutely, kiddo,” said Night Light, before going over to kiss his daughter on the forehead. After ruffling her mane a little (something which always made her squirm with a giggling blush), the stallion began to make his way towards the stairs. “Well, that’s probably for the best, anyway. I was just about to grab my jacket for my date!”
Twilight and Velvet both gave surprised “Ooooohhhh”s as he trotted up the stairs, and his wife asked from the bottom, “Who is it, honey? I didn’t even know you had a date tonight!”
“Well, it was sorta sudden, I guess,” admitted Night Light from upstairs, “but he was available tonight, so I figured ‘Why Not?’”
Gilda peered her head towards the stairs and shouted, “Is it that bag-colt at the grocery whose butt you were checking out?”
“No!” shouted the stallion defensively. After a short moment of silence, his voice could be heard adding in a mutter. “I… I checked. He’s straight.”
“Oh, please!” said Velvet with a roll of her eyes, “like that has ever stopped you before!”
Night Light replied with, “I tried, honey. But he wouldn’t budge. He said he wasn’t curious.”
“Again, like that ever stopped you before.”
Meanwhile, all of Twilight’s friends were trying not to giggle at the banter they were hearing. Even Spike was covering his mouth with his claws while his face grew redder. Twilight covered her face with a hoof in embarrassment, starting to realize how unusual this kind of conversation from her parents must have sounded to her friends. Of course, before the Princess could feel any more awkward about her Dad’s boyfriend discussion, the stallion trotted back down the stairs with a smile on his muzzle, and a tasteful purple suit jacket over his dark blue coat.
“Oh, my heavens!” said Rarity in an impressed tone at seeing him in his outfit. “That suits you dazzlingly well, Mister Night Light!”
“Well, thank you, Miss Rarity,” said Night Light back at Rarity, and then he gave Twilight a peck on the cheek. “Love you, Princess.”
“Love you too, Dad,” said Twilight with a nuzzle. When her Dad went up to Velvet, the mare lit her horn to readjust the matching purple tie he had around his neck.
“So,” asked Velvet with a smirk up at her husband, “would you mind asking who you are going out with tonight?”
Night Light just shrugged and answered with, “Well… let’s just say that I took a page out of your book for this one.”
While Velvet had her brow raised in curiosity, her husband bent in and kissed her on the lips. “Love you, honey.”
Velvet was quick enough to return the kiss before that statement, and smiled as she replied. “I love you too. But be safe, alright?”
“I always am!” After giving a wave to everyone else, the stallion happily trotted back to the front door and left the house with a spring in his step. Of course, before the door could close, they could all hear his voice call out excitedly, “You ready, Gustave?”
“Oui!”
While everyone else in the living room stood in stunned silence, realizing who Twilight’s Dad was dating, Velvet just grew an impressed grin on her muzzle. “Ooh… lucky colt…”
She then looked back at her surprised daughter, and whispered in a knowing tone. “Seriously, Twilight. Get. A. Gryphon.”
While Twilight groaned with an unwanted shudder, Gilda noticed her reaction enough to grow a surly grin of her own. Chuckling under her breath, she leaned in and added towards the Princess, “Listen to your Mother.”
The End