Do not set foot on the path of the wicked
or walk in the way of evildoers.
Avoid it, do not travel on it;
turn from it and go on your way.
For they cannot rest until they do evil;
they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble.
Proverbs 4:14-16

Twilight could feel the rapid thudding of her heart inside her chest; drowning out all other sensations or thoughts. She'd shut her eyes as soon as warm lips had enclosed hers. The world became small and far away to her, nothing mattered except the here and now. No book could have prepared her for a moment like this. Entirely out of her element, Twilight could only remain rooted where she stood.

The lips pressed against hers had started to move, opened slightly, the sudden exploration of a tongue surprised Twilight enough that she jerked back and broke the kiss. Panting to catch her breath, the recently elevated alicorn reflexively sampled the foreign wetness on her lips. The stallion opposite her was silent, looking at her, waiting for an answer for why she'd flinched.

"I'm sorry..." she apologized.

The ash gray unicorn quickly shook his head, "don't be, I should be the one apologizing. I was too forward." His voice was like velvet, if sound could be given texture. A deep bass that she felt entranced while listening to.

"I want to, though." Twilight couldn't help but stammer a bit as she spoke, they were difficult words to say. She felt confused, desire warred with nervousness, was she ready? Still, she couldn't refuse without offending him and he was too important to her for that. "I love you...and the night has been wonderful so far."

He smiled at that, though it was more of a smirk than a true show of happiness. "And I love you too, Twilight." He took another step forward and kissed her again.

This time she didn't pull back, instead focused on returning it. Caught up in the moment she moved her leg back and came in contact with her bed, their bed now. Had it always been there? The bed was enormous, king sized even, and seemed to beckon to her. Suddenly confusion melted away into perfect clarity in the young mare's mind. She was here in a bedroom, alone, with the most important stallion in the world to her.

For all that she lacked in practical experience, Twilight was gifted with great skills of deductive reasoning. There could only be one thing that they were here for. Her throat felt tight, unable to relax enough to give her the power to say it aloud.

"N-now?" she managed, though she might have more accurately asked 'that?' with equal confusion.

The stallion nodded. "I want to, don't you?" He'd echoed her previous words and suddenly began to press her up and back onto the bed so that she fell, bouncing lightly atop the familiar mattress.

If she had been skittish about the inclusion of tongue, in what had been a mostly chaste kiss, the prospect of...of, she would not even think the word, made her doubly nervous, triply, perhaps even quadruple. Yet still she did not move from her vulnerable position laying on the bed and now looking up at the grey stallion who regarded her.

Her wings, new and outstretched, tingled in unfamiliar sensitivity while refusing to move at her will. "But...I've never. I'm not s-"

Before she could give words to her misgivings he was over top of her. A hoof was pressed against her lips, stilling her voice. Those green eyes were captivating, entrancing in their sharp intensity and intelligence. "I want to." He repeated, lowering himself so that they were now pressing belly to belly.

His fur was soft but moreover his whole body and weight seemed to be surrounding her. They were face to face and, without wanting to admit that she might have once sneaked a peak at a more nontraditional 'research' book, was not the orthodox way that ponies had se...might find themselves together intimately.

Yet it seemed so much more intimate. "We are one, Twilight, together." He told her, his deep voice already soothing her away from her fears. "Here I have you and you have me. Mind, body, soul." No stallion had ever spoken to her like that, no pony in the world. It seemed terribly romantic in the utterly possessive tone that he used.

He kissed her then, before she might have responded. This time she returned it fully, succumbing to that moment as her bodies natural desires won over the vague sense of warning which had, up until her surrender, been nagging her thoughts. Her fore hooves sought out his shoulders, pressing in to seek more of the contact that was sending tingles through her whole body.

Twilight could feel the pressing of something against her inner thigh and knew what it was without having to look for a second. Pinned to the bed as she was there was little she could do beside continue kissing feverishly back against the male. She thought it would hurt, as he finally shifted his hips so that they would be perfectly aligned, many of the anecdotes she she both heard and read had said as much. But instead on the moment that they became as he said, one, she felt only bliss.

Indescribable pleasure, warm and intoxicating, emanated up from her waist and through her body. He'd never broken the kiss, his eyes open while hers were shut. Twilight's moan was muffled, her bodies jerking convulsion restrained all from how he held her. Though he did not move an inch her pleasure built within her body. Metaphor and simile failed her in attempting to describe it. Ecstasy raged itself towards a climax, all rationality ceased in the utter surrender she'd offered up at his insistence.

Just at the moment that utter, ruinous orgasm was about to take her the stallion brought his hooves up and held her face steady. Her eyes opened at that moment to gaze into his. A malevolent glow akin to dancing purple fire were present as he held her tight. "You are mine, Twilight Sparkle. Mine." He'd said with a distantly familiar and sinister edge at the very moment that she reached her peak.

Twilight Sparkle jolted awake in her bed. Wide eyed, her breathing coming in rapid pants she looked all around. Her thoughts were racing at a mile a minute as she tried to make sense of her surroundings. The unicorn turned alicorn was utterly drenched in sweat. It clung, clammy, all along her coat and dripped itself down the side of her face.

"A dream....that was a dream. Just a dream." She told herself, finally calming down her rapid breathing.

A dream, but one with such sharp detail and feeling that Twilight bit on her tongue just to be sure she was actually awake. Pain blossomed and reassured her that she was indeed conscious. But the dream had felt so real. A traitorous thought crept into the back of her mind.

The contents of the dream itself registered and Twilight knew that she was likely blushing brightly by the warmth on her cheeks. Rubbing at her face, as much to wipe away at the perspiration as to try and remove the evidence of her embarrassment, she utterly failed to push the memory of her dream away.

Every detail seemed as vivid and real as if she was still experiencing it. Everything but the specific details about the male that she had been...had been. Again the dream's subject was enough to force her face into her hooves out of total mortification.

I'm Twilight Sparkle; bookworm, nerd, Element of Magic, Princess. I do NOT have dirty dream about random stallions.

But you just did.

She might have continued on in internal banter like that for quite awhile if not for the slight chill she now felt. The sweat that had bathed itself around her was drying and leaving her shivering cold.

The water is evaporating. The cold feeling is because of heat dissipating into the air. It's also really gross, I need a shower.

Thinking in technical terms helped calm Twilight down as it usually did. Her rapidly beating heart settled and the moment began to pass as she rose out of bed. Seeing the impressive amounted of moisture that had made its mark onto her bedsheets was surprising. Hopefully the maids and staff who would come in to replace them wouldn't comment on why their newest princess had woken up in such a sweat.

"Just a bad dream." She said aloud, hoping to settle the matter in her own mind. A nice warm shower would help relax her. Also she'd probably smell really bad if she just let herself dry off naturally.

Twilight steadfastly refused to think about the dream any longer, officially removing it from her internal list of 'things I should think about'. It was also important to her that all of the moisture still left on her body be officially categorized as one hundred percent sweat and nothing else.

It is mostly anyway, within an acceptable margin of error.

Finally, thankfully, the warm spray of the shower above her head cast away inappropriate thoughts completely. Sighing, Twilight turned her mental checklist over to something far more productive and spoke aloud. It even helped her pretend, just a little bit, that she was speaking to Spike for her morning checklist routine instead of herself.

"First, breakfast with the Princess'." Spike had decided it was important to stay at Ponyville Library rather than follow her here to Canterlot. It still surprised her because she couldn't recall ever being truly apart from her adorable little assistant for any great stretch of time. But in earnest he had said that he'd mind the place for her 'until you get back'. She had her suspicions that he was mostly still set on winning Rarity's heart someday and didn't want to risk losing a second.

"Second, attend Day Court with Princess Celestia.". It still hurt though. Twilight felt like she was between a rock and a hard place here. All of her friends were now back in Ponyville without her, carrying on with their lives. Twilight had briefly returned herself until Celestia had asked her to stay at Canterlot and properly learn the 'ins and outs of being a princess'.

"Third, research at the Starswirl the Bearded section of the Royal Archives." But it seemed like all she was learning was what she sought out independently. Not that she'd ever complain about that, of course, but long hours of research in Canterlot wasn't the same as it had been years ago. Twilight missed her friends.

"Fourth, Lunch with the Princess'" She did like to be here though. She liked spending time with Princess Celestia and Luna. But...her thoughts skipped a bit, halted in their idle drifting beneath the warm constant spray of the shower. No 'buts'. She liked spending time with Princess Celestia and Luna, period.

"Fifth, write letters to friends." Maybe it wouldn't be to much trouble to skip out to Ponyville for awhile. Certainly Celestia wouldn't mind, Ponyville had become as much her home as Canterlot ever had. But then she'd need to make arrangements...need an honor guard. All the citizens of Ponyville, let alone her friends, probably wouldn't mind. But already Twilight was worried it might not feel the same as before when she'd been just another pony.

"Sixth, go see Flash and..." A subtle disquiet within her mind had faltered on thinking about lunch but now completely stopped. Rather than face a tumult of unexpected negative emotion for something so seemingly innocuous Twilight instead ended her reverie with the realization that she had been standing for quite awhile in the shower.

She looked down at a hoof and noted that it had become remarkably wrinkled from exposure to the water. She didn't have to think a second longer before a burst of magic turned the shower off and left her dripping, still alone, with thoughts she refused to fully entertain.

Things were fine, more than fine. Everything was perfect even, she'd achieved her destiny after all. Now all there was to do was...was. "Go to breakfast." She answered herself, stepping out of the shower and hurriedly drying off. If she was lucky neither Princess Luna or Celestia would notice her slow start to the day.

As it was Twilight did not have such luck. Both the Princess of the sun and moon had been waiting for her, food cooling on each of their three plates. Celestia was quietly sipping at her tea while Luna merely waited, looking tired.

"Twilight I was beginning to think you might have slept in this morning." Celestia's voice had always seemed so regal and motherly to Twilight. She could hear the gentle concern in her tone, her mentor not needing to say that Twilight wasn't the type to ever sleep in without cause.

"I'm sorry Princess. I...just took a little longer than I realized while making a checklist for the day." Was her explanation, joining them at the table.

Luna said nothing, her eyes moving between the two and beginning to eat now that Twilight was seated. As Twilight understood it the moon princess had been making an effort to stay up late enough to share at least an early morning meal with Celestia. After long nights ruling over Equestria the dark blue alicorn was usually fairly quiet, subdued and, on occasion, grumpy.

Twilight had been looking at Luna long enough that she'd noticed. Luna returned the look, silence stretching for enough time that the night princess raised a questioning eyebrow. Now caught staring, Twilight looked down at her plate, feeling heat on her cheeks from embarrassment.

Celestia gently cleared her throat, Twilight looked back to her and saw continued concern mixed with affection. "Twilight, you don't need to refer to us as 'Princess' anymore. We're equals now." Celestia reminded her, again. "You also forgot to fully brush your mane, its sticking up in the back."

Now Twilight had two reasons to be embarrassed. "I'm sorry." she said by reflex, reaching up and trying to smooth her hair out with a hoof and knowing it was a futile gesture.

"Don't be." Celestia said which had the unintended effect of jolting Twilight's memories to a place she'd sworn was closed off. Celestia had said it in her usually affectionate way; safe, motherly, tender. That other voice, from what she was willing to remember, had been anything but those things.

The Sun Princess had been speaking, usually a cause to hold Twilight's complete attention, but she had managed to miss the first few words. "...You'll get use to it in time. I know it is a big change and I am so very proud of how far you've come since you were a little filly." Were her words which still never failed to make Twilight smile at hearing them.

"It is time we retired to bed" Luna rose up from the table suddenly, pushing her plate a few inches in. Her ethereal mane was drooped towards the floor, the unseen wind apparently at a low ebb at the moment.

Celestia smiled at her sister regally and nodded. "Sleep well, little sister, sweet dreams."

Luna had walked over and nuzzled her sister in an affectionate hug, which Celestia was all to happy to return. "And we hope you rule well today, big sister."

Twilight was touched, truly, by the tender moment. But something seemed out of place. That something became very clear when Luna began to pass her, heading towards the living quarters. The night princess paused, looking at Twilight, and gave her a single nod. "Have a good day as well, Twilight Sparkle" she said and continued on.

It was Twilight that was out of place. Do I really belong here? was Twilight's traitorous internal thought buried deep down in a corner of her mind.

A remarkably downcast thought but one that had begun to grow in strength not long after her coronation. Adventures in a strange world with alternate versions of her friends could only distract so much. Twilight picked at the food on her plate without much enthusiasm, mired in doubt

"Is something bothering you, Twilight?" Celestia asked her, her one visible eye looking towards Twilight while the rest of her face remained hidden behind her mane.

Twilight didn't want to look up, knowing it was silly to feel like a child in trouble when she hadn't done anything. She hated to disappoint Celestia in any way and it might hurt the Princess' feelings if she admitted she had doubts about the change. "I'm okay Princess...but."

"But?" Celestia prodded gently, waiting patiently.

"But I don't know if I really belong here. Being a Princess seems to come so easily to both Luna and you. What if you made a mistake?"

Getting up from her seated position, Celestia slowly made her way next to Twilight. Twilight couldn't help but always be amazed at just how tall Celestia was, something she'd always found vaguely reassuring. As her mentor draped a wing around Twilight, drawing her in for a hug, Twilight felt like a warmth in her chest. All became right with the world at the simple gesture.

"I know for certain that I did not make a mistake. Cadence said much the same thing when she was where you are."

"Cadence wasn't sure about being a Princess?" Twilight was surprised, the circumstances surrounding Cadence's ascension were shrouded in guesswork. Neither Celestia or even Cadence had told her how it had happened or what Cadence might have done to be worthy of so great an honor. Twilight had only ever known her foalsitter as an alicorn and, until now, it had never occurred to her to ask.

"She did, though Cadence was younger when she achieved her destiny." there was a wistful tone in Celestia's voice. Twilight was about to ask her to tell her about how Cadence dealt with the responsibilities when a pony at the door interrupted them.

"My apologies for the interruption your highness's" The guard began and looked directly at Celestia, who'd broken apart from the hug to regard the pony. "Princess Celestia, Day Court is about to begin and the petitioners and court are assembled."

The guard excused himself quickly. Though they were alone again Twilight could tell that the moment had passed and that things were more or less back to 'normal'.

"Twilight" Celestia began, standing up and smiling warmly. "If you would like to miss Day Court I would fully understand. And, if you were so inclined to want company, I might miss as well. I think Equestria can manage if I cancel a regularly scheduled court once in a few centuries if I feel like like doing so."

Princess Celestia was very talented in masking her intentions but over the years Twilight was able to read some of what lay behind her mentors words. In this case Celestia was teasing at the notion that she wouldn't mind skipping official duties if it meant 'hanging out' with her for the morning. She nearly jumped at the chance to do so, always prizing time spent speaking to her mentor.

But wasn't responsibility important for a princess? There were likely dozens or more ponies lined up with problems needing to be addressed. Twilight couldn't act like a little filly needing attention all the time, that was why Celestia had made her an alicorn in the first place. She was fine, Twilight was sure of herself.

Besides, she'd be spending the time observing Day Court with Celestia anyway. How bad could that be?

"Thats okay Pr-Celestia. I'm here to learn how to be a Princess and I won't let you down. I don't want to miss watching you at court." Twilight had braced her voice with determination she usually used for taking down dangerous threats to the country.

Some of Celestia's smile faded at Twilight's answer. Panic flashed through Twilight at the idea that she'd given the wrong answer. But the Sun Princess looked contemplative a second later and then nodded.

"Very well, Twilight. Lets not be late." The two began to walk out of the room, Twilight hastening to keep pace while Celestia spoke. "Don't hesitate to sit next to me at the dais. I have to admit that over time these appearances grow more than a little boring."

It had actually turned out to be less boring than Celestia had promised, but not by much. It hadn't been the first time she'd sat in on court, of course, but it had been the first time any of the ponies there had done more than glance at her. Twilight had sat at Celestia's right, in front of all of the important ponies in Canterlot high society, and they had been clearly measuring her up. Twilight found she had very little to say to anyone, though, Celestia did the majority of the speaking.

There had been a great many ponies that needed their problems addressed and each deserved, and received, the full royal attention. Hours had seemed to drag on without interruption, making it an exceedingly boring day. The only chance that Twilight had to contribute was at the petition of a group of engineers who were presenting their plan for a bridge. She'd quite literally jumped from her place at the throne to review the blueprints, thankful she'd delved into a book called The Big Book of Bridges: From matchsticks to concrete. Fortunately they'd been very thorough with their design, though Twilight wished she'd gotten the chance to do some math to relieve her boredom.

Eventually court ended and Twilight couldn't have been more thankful. She'd excused herself very quickly to the bathroom and now found herself in one of the far wings of the palace. The location had been deliberate on her part, Twilight hadn't wanted to accidentally bump into any members of the aristocracy if she could help it. In time she'd probably get use to the manipulation and influence mongering that Canterlot high society liked to indulge in but now wasn't it.

Twilight had begun to wander the seemingly deserted hallways, lost in thought when she was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Princess Twilight, It's nice to see you again."

Twilight turned, surprised to see an armored, orange coated pegasus with blue hair. He'd just finished his perfunctory bow, a grin on his face. "You're not lost, are you?" he asked.

She shook her head at first, unable to say anything to Flash. All of a sudden her mouth felt like it was full of cotton, her throat tight and a tight little ball of tension formed in her stomach. Twilight desperately hoped he wouldn't be able to tell, half sure her cheeks would be a touch red with a blush.

Unlike the first times she'd noticed the fairly cute looking guard, though, there was something...off about her feelings.

"Oh uh, no...I'm not lost. I've been to the palace tons of times, since I was a little filly. I know it like the back of my hoof." Twilight knew she was rambling, the smile she put on was a touch strained as well.

Flash chuckled a little at what she said, still relaxed. "Well I'm glad you're not lost. Is everything alright?"

Was everything alright? Twilight wasn't entirely sure. She felt awkward but that wasn't unusual, she'd never been particularly good at talking with colts. If only the various books on the subject had been actually helpful.

"Yes, I'm fine" she started to say, mostly running on autopilot. "Its been kind of a long day, though, I mean obviously the day is the same length every day but I just got done with court. So I was just wandering...until I figure out what I wanted to do, that is."

Flash was giving her a bit of a strange look, pausing until he'd evidently made sense of what she'd said. "Well, if you didn't have anything to do, would you like to have lunch? I know a great place in the city. If that's okay with you Princess."

'Yes, of course I'd love too.'

That was what she was suppose to say. It was like something out of one of Rarity's romantic books, the shy Princess being romanced by the handsome guard.

"W-well...." she stumbled in reply.

But it didn't feel right.

Which was a major problem because Twilight couldn't begin to guess why. Flash was nice, polite and if his alternate universe version was anything to go by, good coltfriend material. Her friends approved of the idea, had even teased her a bit in a good nature fashion. A handsome stand out officer in the royal guard that her family certainly wouldn't mi-

A horrible, terrible connection was made very quickly that fixated itself in Twilight's thoughts. Had she had a minor crush on Flash because he reminded her of her brother? No, that was ridiculous and altogether too terrible a proposition to consider at the moment. But now there was no way she was going out and eating lunch with Shin...Flash.

"I'm...sorry, Flash." Words spilled out before she could reconsider them. His face fell, as she'd suspected it would, at the rejection. Seeing the disappointment hurt, but not enough for her to change her mind. "I have...research to do in the library. An important project for the Princess. Princess Celestia, I mean."

"Oh, alright Princess Twilight. Sorry to bother you." Flash had done a remarkable job of keeping discipline, bowing courteously. He wavered a moment, clearly unsure if he was suppose to start walking away now. Twilight was just thankful he didn't offer to escort her personally there, something that sounded like it would be painfully awkward.

Right now she just wanted to be alone, away from the world on what seemed to be a particularly unpleasant day.

Twilight shut the door to the library behind her and let out a long sigh once she was sure that she was alone. Here she could have a measure of serenity and peace of mind. Already, walking past huge bookshelves, she could feel herself relax. Every pony likely had a place of special deep significant for them. Twilight's was a library, though the Canterlot Royal Archives was perhaps the most special.

A library was truly awe inspiring, in her opinion. Collected here were the outpouring of countless intellectuals and minds in one definitive place. The sheer amount of knowledge in this place was like an oppressive weight for Twilight. It seemed impossible to imagine that any one pony could ever truly read or know everything held here in this place (though she'd tried to defy that notion with countless hours spent here). Whats more a library was a living, breathing thing. New and old texts would be added over time and what self respecting scholar wouldn't entertain the idea of adding something herself?

She ran a hoof down the spine of a book she remembered reading many years ago. She could spend a lifetime, several lifetimes, here. But things had become so much more complicated lately, even more complicated than when she'd been in ponyville...

Twilight stopped herself with the realization that she'd spent a remarkable amount of the day navel-gazing. She felt silly for doing so, for even feeling downcast in the first place.

This had to stop and, thankfully, she had the perfect solution.

She fished a book off the shelf that looked incredibly weighty and dense, just what she needed.

"Psychology of the Unconscious...by Complex Jargon," she read out loud. A book about psychology was unlikely to take her mind off of her problems but she didn't want to just put it back without reading at least a little bit.

She laid the weighty tome on a table, opened it and began to read. All of the issues of the world fell away as she began to focus on the text. The book was laden with terms, ideas and esoteric interpretations of the psyche that were a challenge to understand. Complex Jargon was living up to his name.

Sunlight from an open window was warming Twilight enough to make her feel drowsy, not helped by the sudden relaxation from her previous stress. She batted a hoof against her mouth, yawning while re-reading a paragraph for the third time...something about a 'Shadow' that reflected a ponies unconscious characteristics. She'd selected right in that the book was relaxing.

Her head jerked a bit from its sudden loll forward, her eyelids feeling heavy. Twilight sleepily chastised herself for nearly nodding off. She should at least stand up, maybe stretch or else she'd actually fall asle-.

Author's Note

Hi there! I started writing this fic years ago and just never got around to publishing it. The first two chapters were finished, and now that I'm trapped during the big cough it seems like a fun idea to keep it going and maybe actually finish it. The exact timing of this particular fic is set roughly exactly following when Twilight became an alicorn. For the purposes of consistency unless otherwise noted no other story elements or things after season 3 episode 13 and technically the Equestria Girls special are 'canon' . I hope you enjoy!