A Restless Night with Cadence
It’s a peaceful night in Canterlot. The city is calm and has quieted from its lively state, now that its residents are slumbering under the comforting dark velvet of Luna’s night. The stars are shining their tiny lights, while the moon glows softly overhead, keeping watch.
But, not everyone is enjoying a blissful slumber on this cool spring night. You lay there in bed with your eyes wide open. Sleep seems to be just a thin wall away, but try as you might you just can seem reach it.
Turning onto your side, you smile at the sight of your beloved mare, only, you aren’t expecting to see her smiling back. You blink for a second. “Cadence, can’t you sleep either?”
She shakes her head, her pink fur a pale violet in the soft glow of night. “No, and I don’t usually have this problem. Especially not when we’re together.”
“Hmmm.” You scratch your cheek, then reach over and run your fingers deftly through her silky mane. “There’s got to be something we can do.”
Cadence nods. “Tell me about it.” She sighs. “The frustrating thing is that I’m tired.”
“Same here. But I only passed out for a little over an hour, I woke up and now nothing.” You move closer to her and chuckle at the fact that Cadence has already done the same. Placing your arms around her, you pull her close. “Well, I guess this is a challenge we’ll have to solve together.”
She smiles and rubs her nose against yours. “Mmm, I like that…“together”.” Cadence giggles faintly. Then she sighs, somewhat frustrated. “It’s a pity I still feel so exhausted.”
“Oh?” You rest your eyes on her calming visage, while continuing to stroke her hair.
“Yes. If I hadn’t been so tired, I was hoping we could have had a little fun tonight.” She pats her hoof along your shoulder.
You chuckle softly, reaching under the covers to caress the soft fur on her back. “That would have been wonderful. I was thinking of asking you if you felt up to anything, but after I placed my arms around you, I closed my eyes and passed out.” Another laugh escapes your mouth. “Aww, I don’t even think we kissed goodnight.”
Cadence sighs softly, and nuzzles your cheek. “Well, we can fix that.”
She pulls back, all smiles, making you smile in return. Then, she draws closer to you and her eyes slowly close. You do the same, feeling her lips gingerly collide with yours. Your arms roll up to her shoulders, pulling her closer, while you feel her loving forelegs wrap around your back. “Mmm…” the two of you moan softly, reveling in this small expression of your love.
Several seconds pass, before your heavenly kiss ends. Cadence coos softly, and despite your collective lack of sleep, a big smile remains on her face. “That was lovely.”
“Yes it was.” You sigh, staring at her.
“But I still don’t think I can sleep.” She sighs. “I’m not sure how long I’ve been laying here awake.”
“Same here. I’d guess an hour, maybe two.” You glance over at your alarm clock and check the time. “Yeah, looks like two hours.” A puff of air escapes your mouth. “So what to do?” You ponder scratching the back of your head.
Cadence smiles at you, running her hoof along your cheek. “There has to be something.”
“Yeah.” Then, you smile. “Oh, I’ve got it.”
Cadence looks at you encouragingly. “Yeah, what do you have in mind?”
You turn back the covers and sit up. Then, holding up an index finger, you reply, “Let’s go down to the kitchen. I think I know just the thing to help us, my love.”
“Okay,” Cadence responds, as her voice sounds more than a little puzzled.
She joins you getting out of bed and follows you downstairs. Then, as the two of your make your way into the kitchen, you smile turning on one of the softer lights. “Yes, this is an age old remedy that has been used to cure insomnia in countless individuals.” You snicker.
“Do you mind telling me what it is already?” She huffs, wondering how such a panacea would just happen to be in your kitchen.
You open a nearby cabinet and fetch two mugs.
“Is it a potion you’re going to mix up?” Cadence places a hoof to her chin, while she stares at the two cups.
Shaking your head you turn and open the refrigerator. “No. It’s just this.” You pull out a jug of milk and promptly fill each mug.
“Milk?” Cadence looks at you funny, wondering if the sudden lack of sleep is really getting to you.
“This is just part of the cure.” You return the milk to the fridge and then reach behind the two mugs, pulling over a big glass jar. “Here’s the other part.”
Cadence’s eyes brighten as she sees the jar. “Ooh, cookies!”
“Yep. What better cure for sleeplessness than a late night snack of cookies and milk?” You grin getting a napkin for each of you, then reaching into the jar you grab some cookies for you and your beloved mare. “Mmm, chocolate chip.”
She giggles walking closer to you. “Yum, my favorite. So, you think all we need is a midnight snack?” Cadence looks at you with hopeful eyes.
“Yeah.” Glancing at the nearby clock, hanging along the cabinets, you nod and snicker. “Well, what do you know. It is after twelve. So this really is a midnight snack.”
Cadence bumps against you as she grabs the two mugs with her soft blue magic, a cheerful laugh leaves her mouth as you pick up the two napkins full of cookies.
Stepping into the dining room, the two of you sit down together at the table. “There we go,” you speak setting down the cookies.
Eyeing up the baked goods, Cadence licks her lips. “Mmm, they still smell wild. Oh, darling, did you want me to turn on another light?”
“Nah,” you shake your head. “There’s enough light coming from the kitchen.” Then, you reach over and run the back of your hand along her furry cheek. “Besides, the softer light should help us feel sleepier, well I’m hoping anyway.”
Cadence nods, then before reaching for a cookie, she nabs your hand, resting her bare hoof above it. “Sharing a late night snack partially in the dark is pretty romantic. Don’t you think?” She stares at you fondly, a loving smile on her lips.
You nearly feel your heart skip at beat when you see the way Cadence’s eyes seem to just shimmer in the pale background light. “It really is. And you know something?”
“No, what?” Her smile grows.
You place your free hand on top of her hoof. “If I have to have a restless night, I’m glad I get to spend it with you.”
“Awww.” Cadence leans over and softly kisses your lips. “You’re so sweet.”
Your cheeks blush and you can’t miss the fluttering in your heart. Glancing down at your treat, your eyes return to your princess. “Shall we?” You grin.
Cadence picks up one of her cookies and grins back. “Yes.” She takes a sizable bite of her first cookie and starts to chew it. “Mm-mmm,” she mumbles.
You just laugh at how adorable she is, before you take a nice bite out of your first cookie. Your teeth sink into the soft body of the pastry and then as you start to chew, your teeth find a deposit of melted semi-sweet morsels that explode with chocolatey flavor in your mouth.
After swallowing your first bite, you turn to Cadence. “Wow, how long ago did we bake these?”
Cadence thinks for a moment turning her eyes to the ceiling. “Um, I think we made those Saturday night.”
“That’s right. Well, it’s Wednesday night, and they’re still nice and soft.” Recalling the cookie jar, you look back at her. “And we still haven’t had to put any bread in to help soften them.”
She shakes her head. “Nope. I guess the two of us make great cookies together.”
You chuckle, while finishing off your first cookie, then knock back a few sips of the milk.
Cadence takes another bite of her cookie, then smiles as she plunges the rest of it into her mug. After polishing off her first cookie, she joins you in sipping from her cup. “This was a great idea. If nothing else, sharing milk and cookies with you is relaxing.”
You smile. “Good. That was part of the plan. And I just know in the past, I’ve often enjoyed a snack of milk and cookies when I’ve had trouble sleeping.”
“I can see why.” She looks at you half-lidded as she starts on her second cookie.
The two of your finish all three of your cookies and down the last of the milk in your mugs. Then, standing up you happily pick up both your cups and walk them over to the sink. There, you rinse them out and since there isn’t a pile of dirty dishes, you add a little dish soap to clean them out. After all, it doesn’t take much to get a pile of dishes started.
Cadence discards the napkins and happily rejoins you near the sink as you set the mugs in the draining rack. “Thank you for washing those.”
You wrap your arm around her. “Hey, you know I’m happy to help out.”
She rests her head on your shoulder. “I know. I just like letting you know I appreciate it.”
“Anything for my princess,” you reply, your voice sounding a little groggier than before.
Cadence lets out a little yawn. “Well, I guess we should head upstairs and try to get back to sleep.”
You nod. “Yeah, I think I’m getting sleepy.”
She yawns again. “Yeah, maybe a little. I don’t know.”
You turn out the light and then the two of your walk back upstairs, making your way into the bedroom. Cadence stretches her wings, then joins you as you craw back into bed. Barely a minute passes and she sits up, a mildly annoyed look on her face.
“Something wrong, honey?” You reach over and play with a stray lock of her mane.
“Yes, dear, I’m still not really sleepy.” She turns and gives you a pouting lip.
Sitting up, you place your arms around her. “Hey, there’s no need to frown. I know, why don’t we cuddle.” Your words are wearier than before as you start to yawn.
Cadence sighs, while savoring your embrace. She lets out a longer yawn. “O-okay. But I don’t see how cuddling is g…” Another yawn flees her open mouth and she smacks her lips. “Is going to help. But I love cuddling with you anyway.”
You chuckle, as you both flop down on the bed like a pair of heavy flour sacks. Weakly, you place your arms around her again. “Yeah, th-this is good.” You yawn again.
“That f-feels…” Cadence yawns. “Nice.”
You chuckle, nuzzling her shoulder. “Mmm, I’m g-gonna snuggle your brains out.”
She giggles promptly, while running her hoof randomly through your hair. “Uh-uh-uh. N-not if I snuggle yours out first…” The two of you cuddle for a little. Cadence brushes her cheek along yours and moans faintly, while she slips her forelegs around you. “I got you…” Her words trail off as she grows quiet and her grip on you weakens. She murmurs softly as the delicate sound of her breathing meets your ears.
You laugh silently, despite all her protesting she was tired after all. Glancing up, you realize when you two laid back down that you didn’t quite make it to the pillows. Placing your arms around her, you summon what meager amount of strength you have left and somehow manage to pull yourself and your beloved back to your pillows.
Smiling over at Cadence, you can’t miss how cute she looks as she sleeps. Satisfied that her head is properly on her pillow, you adjust yours on your own.
“Rats,” you grumble in a voice that’s just audible. Despite all your prep work, you forgot about the covers, and it’s a fairly chilly night.
You make a pathetic attempt to reach down for the covers, but to no avail. “Ah, the heck with it.” Moving closer to Cadence, you pull her close, then as you slowly feel yourself slipping into slumber, you notice the covers fall over both of you, grasped in the familiar glow of her magic.
“I’ve got it, sweetheart.” Cadence giggles softly from within her sleep.
You secure your tired limbs around her, and somehow find just a whisper of energy to give her loving lips a brief kiss, before you too grow silent. Cadence’s warm breath blows across your face, but sadly, you’re too exhausted to enjoy it as the two of you finally doze off.
The room is quiet now, save only for the sound of your breathing and the gentle thump of your two hearts. Your arms remain around Cadence, as she stays nestled close to your side. You sigh from within your slumber while she rests her hooves against your chest, filling you with a sense of serenity.
The night continues its peaceful march, now that you and your princess have joined the rest of Canterlot under the peaceful veil of sleep.