Tonight we ate dinner together.

Crystal Cuisine is unique, very different from Equestrian cooking, and I'll admit it can be hard to get used to.

One of the first things I did as ruler here was to begin introducing modern amenities to the Empire on a steady timetable, to acclimatize my subjects to the present. I chose those things I thought were most important for the first round: modern medicine, indoor plumbing, economics and infrastructure. Things to improve the quality of life and safety of my subjects.

Shining, meanwhile, only insisted on bringing in pizza and hayburgers immediately.

His sister was grateful for that as we ate dinner together in the palace: while Auntie would be proud of how delicately I ate my delightful crystal salad, Twilight was scarfing down her hayburger and fries so hungrily that she splattered BBQ sauce all over her muzzle.

I couldn't help but laugh at the sight, and she smiled sheepishly. “Is it that bad?”

“Mm-hmm,” I nodded, smirking. “Sit still.” I picked up a napkin and began to wipe her face clean.

Immediately her cheeks turned red, but she didn't object. She sat quietly while I gently stroked, careful not to rub the sauce deeper into her coat.

Before long her breathing deepened, and though she tried not to make a sound I could see her ribcage going in, out, in, out. Her eyelids fell, her gaze reluctantly turned away even as she leaned, ever so slightly, into my hoof.

“There,” I said, withdrawing my hoof. “All clean.”

She made a soft sound that might have been a grunted 'yes', or might have been an expression of regret at the end of the cleaning.

We spent the rest of the evening listening to music on a magical gramophone and talking quietly about nothing in particular until she could no longer conceal her yawns, and I suggested we call it a night.

She nodded, and we each retired to our rooms alone. I sat up in my huge and mostly empty bed, thinking about her, hoping she was alright.

Maybe together we can both smile again.

I heard a knock on the door, and the voice of the crystal guard: “Your Highness, Princess Twilight requests entry to your chambers.”

I opened the door, and as he said Twilight was there, her eyes red and tired. She had obviously been crying. “Twilight? What's wrong?” I let her in and close the door behind her.

“I was just thinking about Shining,” Twilight whispered, her voice cracked. “Sometimes I can't stop thinking, and I just lay awake all night. Spike knows it happens but he can't help me. Hours crawl by when I want to sleep but can't. Tonight is going to be like that, I can feel it.” She looked up at me with giant sad puppydog eyes. “I don't want to be alone tonight. ...Can I stay with you? Please?”

Her voice was so pained and uncertain, it made my heart ache for her. “Of course you can, Twilight,” I said, comforting her with a wing-stroke. I pulled open the sheets and lay down. “We can have a girls' night, like when I was your foalsitter.”

She smiled sadly and made herself comfortable beside me. “Thanks, Cadance. I don't know what I'd do without you.”

“Hey,” I said. “You have lots of friends who love you. I'm just glad to be one of them.”

She smiled at me, tears in the corners of her eyes. I opened my mouth to say everything would be okay and then she pushed forward and her lips pressed against mine.

Jackpot.

The world spun as I reconfigured all my plans around this moment.

After just a moment she pulled back, gasping in shock. “I'm sorry, I shouldn't have—I don't know what happened, I didn't mean to—”

Her horn began to glow and I could see what she was doing: she was about to teleport away, possibly forever. Throwing caution to the wind I did the only thing I could to stop her, and kissed her back.

She froze, tears forming in her eyes as she let me into her mouth. She lay completely stiff, not moving, like a frightened animal. The poor dear was terrified I would reject her.

“Shhh,” I whispered, pulling her into my arms. “Is this how you feel about me, Twilight?” I asked softly, brushing my lips against hers. She nodded. “But you were afraid I wouldn't accept you?” She nodded again, biting her lip. Her eyes were clenched shut.

Oh, Twilight. I'm sorry I pushed you like this, I know you're not good at handling anxiety. It'll all be worth it, I promise.

“Don't be silly,” I said with a giggle. “You're an amazing mare, and we've known each other your whole life. If you want me... I'd love to be your special somepony, Twilight.” I smiled at her as I stroked her mane. “It only makes sense.”

“But... my brother... we're practically sisters, this is so—”

“Shush,” I cut her off with a hoof and looked her right in the eyes. “Twilight, listen to me... I loved Shining Armor with all my heart, and I might never leave him behind entirely. He was an amazing pony, and so are you. You're not in his shadow, and if we're together that doesn't in any way reduce or demean his memory. Understand?”

“You're sure?” she asked hesitantly.

“Completely,” I said, pulling her close until our bodies pressed together. “And besides... he loved us both more than anything, and he'd want us to be happy. The only thing that matters is this.” I looked into her eyes and smiled, already knowing the answer. “Do you want this?”

She swallowed, glanced nervously back and forth before she nodded. “Yes. Yes, please.”

I took hold of her hoof and led it down towards my cutie mark. Twilight needed no further instruction but began to explore my body as I pressed her close and stroked her, cooing softly to encourage her. Her anxiety melted away under my care, and before long we were locked in a lovers' embrace, each of us struggling to touch as much of the other's body as we could, all our senses hungry for more. I seized control and kissed her as I kissed Dawn, gentle at first, growing stronger and deeper with each passing moment until we were practically wrestling, struggling for dominance in a battle of lips and tongues and breath.

Of course Twilight didn't stand a chance of winning. I pressed my advantage until she was lying beneath me, open and unguarded, breathing heavily and blushing as she looked up at me with hungry, pleading eyes. I smiled softly, admiring her form. “You've never done this before, have you?”

She shook her head nervously. “That's fine,” I whispered, leaning in to plant a kiss on her cheek. “You just lie back and let me take care of everything.”

I began to kiss my way down her neck, grinning inwardly at her little whimpers of nervous desire as I went: my adorable little Twily, everypony. Life as Celestia's private student, immersed in her studies, desperate above all else for the approval of an ethereal, matronly demigoddess had not prepared her for the pleasures of the flesh.

It was time to fix that.

I could only wonder what kind of fantasies that enormous intellect of hers has dreamt up. In time I will draw them all out. But right now...

Right now it is time I made you mine.

“Roll over,” I said, rising up from her. She looked confused, but obeyed, and let me lay down on her back.

“Alright,” she said uncertainly in what she no doubt felt was a rather awkward position. She would change her mind soon enough. “Now wha-oooh...!”

I had just planted my tongue firmly against the base of her horn and was slowly, slowly but firmly running it up her length, letting out hot, moist puffs of breath against it as I went.

“That...” she panted, her breath coming loudly and rapidly, “that feels niiice...”

The corners of my open mouth turned up in a sloppy smile as I continued treating her horn to my expert tongue's most tender ministrations. I shifted my hooves up and began to gently massage her withers. She moaned happily, and the knots in her muscles began to melt away, leaving her utterly relaxed.

Well, not utterly. Her wings were erect, standing out to either side of me, twitching and flapping in tune with her arousal. I redoubled my efforts on her horn. I closed my mouth around it and sucked it hard, rubbing my tongue and cheeks at it from all sides at once.

The effect was immediate: Twilight began to writhe and squirm underneath me, trapped in magical sexual pleasure she could not control. Her soft moans turned to pleasured yelps and squeals, every exhale an “Ah!” and every inhale a gasp, rising in force as I brought her higher and higher. Her whole body strained underneath me, but I held her in place and gently eased off, only leaving my tongue tending to her horn, keeping her just short of erupting beneath me.

“Ahh... Ca...” She moaned beneath me, her voice thick with desperate desire. I chuckled, and whispered, “not yet.” Then I continued my work.

I dragged it out; a slow, incredible lick, my tongue wrapped around her horn, my tip swishing back and forth, tracing out the spiral along its length, activating every nerve in just the right spots... then back again, and again, and again, listening to her moans to judge how long I could make it last.

The way I learned from Bright Eye, listening to him just as I'm listening to you. Horns run in the family, after all.

Before long I could feel her struggles growing feebler beneath me, her moans quieter, and I knew she had reached her limit and was about to collapse.

While that can be a very nice way to end a night, I was just beginning.

I lovingly kissed the tip of her horn, and stepped back, listened with glee as she whimpered in satisfied relief then drew a deep breath, filling her empty lungs.

All along, I had kept gently kneading her shoulders. Now I moved my hooves down her back to her wings and began to massage them at the base. Twilight murmured happily, melting beneath my touch... at first.

A hornjob is rather like to a sunrise: pleasure grows like the landscape brightens before the sun creeps up above the horizon – and then suddenly it blinds you.

A good wing massage is a fire that grows slowly. As the minutes melted away, Twilight's moans of contentment turned to moans of excited desire. I felt her tail swishing back and forth instinctively, trying to lure her lover down to give her relief. “Shhh,” I whispered, and kissed her cheek. “I'm going to love every... last... part of you, Twilight. Just relax, and enjoy.”

Every squeeze to loosen the tense muscle added another drop of fuel to the flickering blaze. Her wings were twitching, veins engorged with blood, spread out to their full span and I showed them both with little kisses as I brought her fresh pegasus muscles to life. Twilight was taut as a bow, ready to let her arrow fly, and I knew her mind now was caught up in pegasus lovemaking instincts she had never before felt.

I let it grow just short of the limits of what she could stand: there would come a time to push her limits, but tonight I would leave her writhing in the sweet spot. I licked my lips and looked down at my beautiful Twily, blushing and panting, the air thick with the scent of her desire, wanting desperately for me to rut her until she screams.

This must be how I looked to Warding Glow on our wedding night: he had been taught by pegasi concubines of House Hurricane as a surprise gift to me. I all but drowned him in kisses once I was able to move again.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. It was time to move on. I stepped back, enveloped Twilight in my magic, and turned her around so she was lying on her back, making sure to gently lay her wings flat on the bed: her eyes were hazy now, she struggled to focus, and my knees trembled. She is so beautiful and she is here with me and there is no place in the world where I would rather be.

I smiled, looking down at her, wanting this to be the greatest night of her life. She smiled back, and closed her eyes, leaving her body open for me.

I lay down on top of her and kissed her, our lips pressing together in a light, wet smack, before I proceeded to slide down her body, planting kisses in her coast as I went down her body to her beautiful teats, round and full with her desire, her little buds hard and firm and crying out to be played with.

A kiss here, a lick there, a light teasing bite on her nipple, and Shining Spark would kick and squirm and beg me to suck on them.

Twilight's moans were identical to the ones I heard in my head from centuries past as I buried her mounds with kisses and caresses. I held her flanks in my hooves and stroked her cutie marks as I played with her nipples, delighting in the sharp cries she made every time I ran my tongue over them. Her hooves had reached out and taken hold of my head, holding me tightly as I continued to bring her pleasure.

I pulled back my muzzle and let my gaze fall lower, to her hind legs, her tail, and the hidden blossom inbetween.

And I will never have to be alone again.

At long last I turned my full attention to her core. I reached out and gently spread her legs, and nudged away her tail, to see her beautiful virgin marehood in full bloom, wet and ready for a lover's touch. I wet my lips. “Ready, Twily?” I looked up, our eyes meeting. She looked back at me with pleading eyes, her hooves trying to pull me in, but I teased her. “Say please.”

“Please!” She practically screamed, kicking in frustration, her voice desperate. “I can't take anymore, please finish me...!”

I grinned. “As you wish.”

I leaned in and let out a soft, hot breath over her, then ran my tongue over her lips.

Oh how she squealed! Her whole body quaked at the sensation of my tongue. “More! Please...” she panted. I complied, kissing her marehood more forcefully, tasting her as her nectar flowed and coated my muzzle, drawn out by my attentions. After slathering her outside with my tongue, I pressed the tip against her entrance, and pushed inside her.

I loved to do this to Dawn even to the very end. Even when she was a grand old mare, wrinkled and stiff, I would eat her out until her body shook and quaked in pleasure.

Her cries had fallen into a regular rhythm, like music. I kept at it, exploring her insides with my mouth, my hooves playing with her mounds, stroking along her wings with my magic grip. Her walls were warm and wet and delicious, pulsing and pressing around my tongue as I forced myself deep inside.

She whimpered softly underneath me, pleading with me.

She was ready.

I moved to finish her off.

Angling my head, I pressed part of my tongue against her swollen clit and rubbed it back and forth. It only took seconds before she screamed.

“Yes!” She clamped her hind legs around my neck, her forehooves roaming through my mane. “Yes yes yesyesyesyesyes...!” Her words turned into a single high-pitched squeal as she finally reached her peak, shaking like a leaf in the wind. A flood of her nectar burst out as her walls shut tight around me, filling my mouth and spilling out over my muzzle.

Shining Armor's muscles trembled under my hooves when he climaxed, same as hers. She even screams like him. Her voice is higher but the melody is the same.

I held her tight, refusing to let up the pressure, drawing her climax out as long as I could. Finally, after what seemed like several minutes of unbearable ecstacy, she fell silent. Her legs fell limp beside my neck, and her chest rose and fell slowly, her entire body spent and worn.

It's done.

I lay down next to her and pulled her into an embrace.

You'll stay with me.

I raised her head to look into my eyes, and kissed her.

And I'll never lose you again.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“No, thank you,” I answered as I wrapped a wing around her. I sniffed, then sniffed again, and finally noticed the tears crawling down my cheek and the tremble in my legs. “I'm so happy you're here...”

“Me too,” she said with a smile, making herself comfortable against me. “I'm just lucky Celestia came here to give me advice. I probably wouldn't have dared, otherwise.”

My eyes flew open.

...What?

“Auntie Celestia... came here?”

Twilight nodded. “Earlier, when I was thinking about you, and about Shining, and trying to decide what to do, she came to me in my room. I asked her what I should do, and she told me to follow my heart. She said she'd known us both as long as we've been alive, and that we could be perfect together.” Her voice was drowsy as she drifted off. “Something she said confused me though. As I left she said it had to be my choice, not yours. Which is silly. Of course it was my choice. I'm not sure what that even means.”

I lay silent as thoughts raced through my mind.

“Twilight...?” I stroked her gently, and removed myself from her arms. She whined sadly at the loss of contact. “I'll be back in just a few minutes, okay? I just need to check something.”

“Okay...” Twilight mumbled, already half-asleep as I quietly left my chambers, fire already rising inside me.

As I expected Celestia stood in the guest room, waiting for me. “Auntie,” I said.

“Cadance,” Celestia said calmly, as she sent a letter with her magic. “We need to talk.”

Author's Note

Next time: Tangles.