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Chapter 1- Sleeping Beauty1,726 words
Chapter 2- About Last Night...1,760 words
Chapter 3- To Have and To Hold2,050 words
MicroChapter- A Storm is Coming935 words
Chapter 4- Just Dessert1,345 words
Chapter 5- Twilight Cubed2,054 words
MicroChapter- The Walk of Shame494 words
Special Guest Chapter- Secret Rendezvous by The Princess Rarity 1,382 words
Chapter 6- It Gets Better With Age1,285 words
Chapter 7- Sweet Music1,796 words
Epilogue- In the Sun's Warm Embrace1,563 words

Chapter 6- It Gets Better With Age

"Do you remember the day we started dating?"

Cup Cake smiled and snuggled deeper into her husband's embrace. "The Homecoming Bonfire."

"That's right." Carrot Cake breathed in the smell of his wife's mane and kissed her scalp. "How long had we been friends?"

"At that point? Three years."

"And to think that neither of us had ever considered dating the other."

Cup looked back at him. "Speak for yourself. I'd had my eyes on you from the very beginning."

Carrot was incredulous. "Why, for pony's sake? I was just some beanpole with a special talent for baking."

She rubbed her foreleg along his, wrapped around her belly. "You were cute, charming, and funny. What wasn't to like?"

He shrugged and tightened his grip on her plump form. "Do you remember how surprised I was the first time you kissed me?"

Cup saw the first beams of sunlight peek through the window and grinned as she remembered that lovely twilight. "Starstruck and Jammy were egging us on, and you raised my hoof and kissed it." She mimicked the past action on his hoof. "It was adorable how much of a gentle colt you were. You still are."

"I try." The morning's first bird song reached Carrot's ears. "That's why I was so shocked when you yanked me close and kissed me."

She rolled until they were face to face. "You didn't complain. Not then." Her eyes narrowed. "Or later. After the dance."

Carrot rolled his eyes. "You always take such great pleasure in this part of the story. Excuse me for not expecting my new mare-friend to yank me into some dark archway and jump me."

"You squeaked."

Carrot's jaw dropped. "I did no such thing."

“You squeaked the first time.”

“But not the second. Or the third.”

The pair laughed and nuzzled each other. “Do you remember what we were fighting about last night?” Cup asked, kissing the tip of his nose.

"You don't?"

"It's kind of... blurry."

“You accused me of hitting on Applejack. And Derpy.”

“Oh ye…”

“And Cheerilee.”

“You were flirting with Cheerilee.” Cup narrowed her eyes in a half-joking manner.

“Discussing our children’s educational future with the town teacher is not flirting, gummy bear.”

“Staring at the teacher’s rump is.”

Carrot’s mouth slapped shut and he looked away slyly. “So after nearly fifteen years of marriage, you’re still not comfortable enough with my fidelity to let me glance at another mare’s rump now and then?”

Cup rolled her eyes. “Is my rump not good enough for you anymore, string bean? Or has it gotten too thick for you these days?”

Carrot grinned as his hooves traveled down her back and playfully squeezed the soft flesh they found there. “Nonsense. I love your thickness.”

Cup laughed airily as she enjoyed the massage her posterior was receiving. “Good, because I’m rather fond of your thickness too.”

“My thickness? I thought I was strin… oh.”

They laughed again until their lips came together once more, interlocking as perfectly as they had so many years ago. After all this time, they still knew each other’s little buttons to press. As bakers, they both had very sensitive tongues, something they both used to their mutual advantage. The slow and loving kiss soon became a bit more heated than anticipated.

“Mmm… keep that up, licorice lips, and you may find yourself in a sticky situation.” Cup moaned in between kisses as her husband’s wandering hooves found a sensitive spot.

“What can I say, gumdrop; I’ve got to make sure the oven is nice and preheated.” Carrot grinned against her lips.

Cup giggled and gave his chest a gentle shove. “Save that energy for later. We have to go get Pumpkin and Pound. Rose is going to kill us as it is.”

Groaning in disappointment, Carrot reluctantly pulled himself from his wife’s warmth and stood, shaking off the blanket they’d found in the shack’s corner. “Do you think she regrets offering to take all the foals home by herself?”

Cup stood and adjusted her messy mane. “With all the bits she’s just made from this impromptu baby-sitting session? Not a chance.” She located the dress she’d been wearing and began pulling it on. “We should still make her a thank-you cake, though.”

Carrot nodded, adjusting his hat. “Of course. I can see the frosting now; ‘Dear Roseluck: Thank You for the Whoopee. The Cakes.’”

Cup laughed and tossed her purse at him. “You are incorrigible.”

He caught the purse in his mouth and carried it back to her, dropping it by her side. “In all seriousness… I am sorry about embarrassing you last night. Maybe you were right with all that ‘mid-life crisis’ talk.”

She shook her head and kissed him. “I’m sorry too. I overreacted a little. I know that no mare could pull you away from me.”

“My love, a team of wild horses couldn't drag me from your side.”

Together, they swung the door to the wooden structure open and looked at the bright blue sky. “Lovely morning.” Cup offered.

“Shame to waste a morning as pretty as this just going and grabbing the twins.” He turned to her and motioned at a path that lead into the woods. “How about a walk, with a side of fresh-picked apples for breakfast?”

“Sounds heavenly.” Cup took a step and almost toppled over when she felt a brief moment of nothingness before her hoof hit wood again. “What in the name of Celestia…” She saw, and she laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Carrot had remembered to go back and refold the blanket they’d used the night before.

“Didn't you wonder where we ended up spending the night?” Cup hiccuped, her laughter barely contained.

Carrot took in the wooden walls and ceiling, the sparse furniture, and the faded items on the wall. There appeared to be a calendar, some drawings, a map of Ponyville…

Carrot’s eyes widened in realization and he stamped his hoof on the floor experimentally.

It rang hollow, like there was not ground beneath.

He joined his chortling wife outside and looked down, past the slatted wood ramps to the ground a few feet below.

They’d spend the night in the club-house of the (now former) Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Carrot looked at his wife, and the look on his face made her lose control completely. Tears streamed down her face as she held her belly and shook with the sort of laughter one would not expect from a middle-aged mother of two.

She laughed like a school-filly.

Carrot loved that laugh. He loved it more that morning, in that single moment, than the first time he’d heard it in high school. He loved it because it sounded of youth, but it also rang of experience, of motherhood, and of love. It was a laugh that had gotten better with age, like some fine wine.

He couldn’t help it. He started laughing too.

Maybe it was his wife’s laughter. Maybe it was the beautiful morning. Maybe he was still buzzed from the copious alcohol consumption and extracurricular activities of the night before.

Whatever it was, for some reason, he felt… young.

“Age isn't how old you are but how old you feel.”

― Gabriel García Márquez

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Fury of the Tempest

Fury of the Tempest #1 · Aug 3rd, 2014 · · ·

Heh... very nice.

Yami Vizzini

Yami Vizzini #2 · Aug 3rd, 2014 · · ·

More sweetness. I almost wish I could see just what went on with these two at the party, but this is better.
...I also thought the implication last chapter was that the Cakes were the arguing couple by the barn, but that doesn't match up now. No matter- it could be anypony, really.