There was no doubt about it. He had slept more peacefully that night than he had ever done in his entire life.

Dusk, had already awoken, but he refused to open his eyes, instead opting to enjoy this moment of comfort. He could lie in this bed all day if he had a choice, but the day itself seemed to have other plans. For not long after, a bird outside the window began to sing its morning song. Although somewhat irritated by this disturbance, Dusk nonetheless opened his eyes.

The sight which greeted his was a pleasant one. He had awoken in a magnificent bedroom, in a cottage way outside of the Ponyville area. The room was well furnished and the window opened to a spectacular view of the rising sun, whose light now filled the room with it's glow. He could not deny that this was quite a sight to wake to. He'd have to thank Celestia when he saw her next. Thank her for this wonderful honeymoon gift.

And speaking of which, that reminded him of another pleasant sight which greeted him as he turned his head. A smile grew on his face as he looked down at his sleeping companion. Twilight, the mare of his dreams, his only love, and, as of a couple of days ago, his wife.

She laid there, her head nuzzled up against his chest, sleeping softly. On her face was a smile of contentment. And who could blame her? Everything that the two of them had hoped for had happened without incident. And so, here they were together, The room was warm enough, but the heat from his wife being so close was all he would have needed.

As Dusk looked upon her, sleeping next to him, bathed in the warm glow of the rising sun, he could not help but wonder to himself, how in Equestria had he been so fortunate to end up with a mare like her in his life? As he pondered this, he noticed a strand of Twilight's mane fall from it's place to cover her eye. He knew he shouldn't try to move it lest he wake her, but just felt that impulse to brush the hair aside.

And sure enough, once his hoof was on the offending strand, the motion caused twilight to stir from her slumber. After a few moments, she raised her eyes to face him, and smiled.

"Good morning." She said softly.

Dusk smiled back.

"Good morning." He replied.

The two just stared at each other for the longest time before Twilight broke the silence.

"Well then. Our first night together."

Dusk raised an eyebrow at her, noticing her somewhat coy look as she said that. He knew exactly what was going through her mind, as it also went through his. Last night was the most intimate he had ever been with anyone. When he was a changeling, he shared a hive mind with thousands of other drones, and even that had not come anywhere near the closeness he'd had with Twilight mere hours ago.

Had he remained as he had been born, he would never have experienced such a thing.

"Yes. Our first night. Experiencing that kind of....warmth. It's not a sensation I would have thought possible. To be that close to somepony."

Twilight looked up at her husband, wondering what he was thinking about when he said that.

"You know Twilight, when I was a changeling, I fed on love. Oh sure, me and my kind would sometime devour other feelings. Anger, fear, regret. But love always had a potency to it. An energy that was never matched by any other emotion. Even with all our observations, we could never understand why."

Twilight began to look worried for him. She knew fully well how much it pained him to talk about his past, to think about what he used to be. But her look of worry lessened somewhat when he looked down at her and smiled.

"But now I do. To give yourself to another, physically, mentally, and even emotionally. To completely wish to share your life with another person. To become part of them, and they to you. That is a feeling, a power, that can never be matched."

Twilight smiled at him. While she'd never quite thought of it that way, she could see it now. He was right. There was nothing quite like the feeling of love between two ponies who care for each other. And now that they were here together, simply enjoying each other's company, shutting out the rest of the world and only focusing on the two of them, that understanding resolved.

"I love you Dusk." She said softly.

Dusk looked back at her and smiled, gently planting a kiss on her forehead.

"And I love you, Twilight Sparkle."