The air was stifling. Nearly unbearable. Unbreathable.
Shining Armor was sweating. His breathing was ragged and he sounded like he just ran a marathon. It wasn’t the strenuous travail of having to cast mana intensive spells; because somepony of his physique was something nopony would ever witness him complaining about. The spells cast themselves as if they were in control and alive—fully emanating without fail and striking the designated target on the practice-grounds. It was an act he was all too familiar with. Second nature. A ritual. He needn’t to give large volume of thought to what the next spell would be as it was practically predisposed in his conscious mind. He was only ever distinctly aware that he was spell casting with such a casualness that completely belied the essential concentration—acts that no pony around could easily accomplish.
And despite that, he was exhausted and perspiring. Perhaps the sunny weather was to blame, but Shining had grown near heat resistance ever since he had become Captain of the Royal Guard.
The mind was clouded, occupied, and isolate, as it merely focused on continuously spell casting. Enigmas of unknowable longings moulded themselves, and with that came images engulfing his mind. He stayed focused and kept channeling his magicka through and through, each subsequent spell becoming duller thwacks against the targets.
She was all he could think about. It was a strange phenomenon. It wasn’t that long ago since she had last seen her, so what was the big deal? It had to be at least two days. The aching in his body disputed and he thought otherwise. Was it a day? Or was it this morning?
This had to be the reason he was sweating so much. This was why his entrails dilated, so his blood pooled more freely inside, making his face look like a tomato. He ceased his magic and stopped to catch his breath. It was embarrassing. The Captain of the Royal Guard depleted from something as simple as casting spells. Luckily, no pony had been observing him, for, if they did, they might’ve gotten an unpropitious outlook on him.
It was impossible. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t shake her off his mind. She was everywhere.
Panting and coming to the realization of his woe, he knew he had to see her again. It was essential.
A walk to the captain’s barracks didn’t take long. Today was an off training day, so he could easily resign from the castle’s grounds. The only reason he had been training vigorously was to get his mind off her, but clearly it did nothing; if anything, it made his longing worse.
After he had showered and cleared his armor away, he glanced around as he walked through the courtyard, searching. She had to be around here somewhere. His gaze caught sight of a flurry of movement in the distance—a familiar lavender colour contrasting with the white brickwork of the place. He chased after her, and attempted to follow suit. His ears were perked, ready to pick up the telltale echo of turning pages from some book she’d be surely buried in.
Despite following her path, he quickly panicked only after a few minutes as he was unable to perceive if he was hallucinating, and that, perhaps, this was a fruitless endeavour. As he broke into a full gallop, the thoughts of her flooded his mind. He yearned for her. He needed her. Right now.
Following on, he was outside the castle’s perimeter, and soon found himself heading toward an empty park, which was strange, given the sunny weather. Regardless though, he was desperate, and his pitiable cries for her name nearly escaped his mouth, but the turn of a page, emanating from somewhere near, suppressed the means to make noise.
A smile crossed his face.
Nothing stopped him from wandering in the direction of the sound. Eventually, on a low hill, he saw he sitting beneath a tree, a book in front of her. She was shaded by the tree’s enormous crown. Even in darkness, her beauty could never be subdued.
Every so often, she would look to her side and jot down notes, but never look up. She was so concentrated on reading whatever she was and paid zero attention to her brother who was standing on wobbly hooves, his eyes showing awe. Soon she peered upward, and her eyes fell on her brother who finally marched toward her with determination.
Twilight grinned foolishly, but stayed put.
When Shining met her at the base of the tree, he sat down on the grass, both of them with smiles wide as can be. They gawked at one another; neither said anything, especially Shining as he could only paw the ground at the sight of his lil’ sis’. Why was he nervous? What reason did he have to be?
It was silly!
“Done already?” Twilight asked, looking back down at her book. Her voice had snapped Shining out of his trace.
“Um, yeah,” he said. “I couldn’t concentrate. I thought I’d come find you and see how you’re doing.”
Twilight was silent. She really didn’t have anything to say.
“Books , I see?” Shining said, trying to get something out of her. He couldn’t think of anything else to say. He was enthralled by her beauty, as if she were an alien sent from the heavens to fulfill his love and desires. He was on fire, an unquenchable, passionate, lustful flame that could only be quenched by her warm touch. His face was red.
Noticing her brother’s strange behaviour, her once smile turned to one of concern. “You all right there, big brother? You look a little red.” She put her books aside and shifted closer. “You look like Cadence is right in front of you.”
“Hehe, yeah,” he said on impulse. His eyes were glued to hers. They never left.
“Look Shining,” Twilight said. “I like that you’ve been wanting to spend more time with me. I like that you’ve been checking in on me to see how I’m doing, but don’t you think you’re going a little overboard?”
Shining was silent. He said nothing.
Twilight sighed. “You’re never going to answer that, are you?”
Silence.
A sigh. “It’s getting late out, Shiny. Maybe we should go home tonight. See how our mother and father are doing. Maybe that’ll help you out some how.”
He nodded in a way of reply.
Twilight smiled and leaned into him even closer, then planted a kiss on his cheek. Wrapping her hooves around his neck, she pulled her B.B.B.F.F into a warm embrace. “I’m lucky to have such a concerning brother like you. I love you for it.”
He whimpered.
Soon they broke apart, and Twilight collected her belongings before standing up. “You ready?”
“Yeah.”
In spite of Twilight’s attempts to hid her blushing, Shining noticed. Her quivering was also noticeable. Blatantly. She couldn’t have been more obvious to her reactions, but what else could she have done? Lied? Make up some notion that could justify her lust? She knew it all too well: He was big. It was an incontestable fact.
And yet, Twilight had always tried to repel the obscene thoughts from her mind, especially since they correlated to her brother; but she never did abandon them completely. Evidently, she would never outrightly admit her desire for him.
She had grown up with him. Despite the hardships she had endured, he had always been there for her. Through thick and thin. There was never a time when he would leave her behind out of selfishness or for self-gain.
She had shared her loves with him and the pain she went through because of them. In many ways, he and Cadence aren’t much different; for their bond is the very foundation of their life.
So when they had grown up, and spent their fillyhood together, how could they not be there for each other, let alone not think about each other? She was around him long another to know how his body, what it encompassed. He inexplicably became the inevitable basis to which every stallion in her life was compared to and found it lacking; even with her first act of sexual intimacy with Soarin (while in a drunk and heated bastion of fiery passion), the mind always wandered her brother, wondering how he faired with Cadence. Thoughts of how her brother knew so much of passion (given that they had never played “doctor” as younglings), and how he won the heart of the Princess of Love always arose.
Sometimes she would think about how Cadence feels with him inside her, after release. Other times the assessment of whether it would hurt for him to be in her came about, but Twilight knew Shining would never do anything to hurt her.
Twilight shook her head as she stepped up to her home’s threshold, realizing that she shouldn’t be having those kind of thoughts about her brother and sister-in-law. No one had ever told her how infelicitous it was because she never told any one. Not even her brother.
It’s inconceivable: Her breathing shouldn’t wax raggedly and short at his thought or that her eyes shouldn’t avert to his sheath, whenever he turned around, and that she shouldn’t be thinking about him when she’s in heat.
The dreams she had, which often lingered in her mind after she awoke, painted and aroused her with sexual depictions of her brother. They were wrong. She knew that! Nothing would ever happen between the two of them, considering that Shining is married to Cadence, and he surely would never think about having an affair with his little sister. It was purely a natural. She convinced herself that she was purely reacting to stimuli, as a result of hormones surging in her body. She once vowed she’d leave Shining behind once had had found the stallion of her dreams, but so far that hadn’t happened.
Twilight could already smell the delightful aroma of dinner as she pushed through the front door of her home with her brother.
Being home was a pleasantry. Although the two siblings showed up unannounced, they were always welcomed in their own home. Obviously. Regardless, Twilight Velvet and Night Light had dinner ready and on the table by the time the two of them traversed through the kitchen. Twilight had left her belongings by the door, not caring her reasoning for reading whatever it was she had been.
Sitting at the table, Shining was shovelling his meal into mouth, but looked up at whenever Twilight smiled at him.
“Hungry much, Shining?” Twilight Velvet said, a warm smile on her face.
“Just a little. I hadn’t eaten anything since this morning. I’ve been practically training all day. Then I went to go see how my little sis was doing with her readings. Isn’t that right, sis?”
Twilight looked up, her mouth full of food. She swallowed before she spoke. “Oh, yeah. He did. We spent a bit of time together. You know, just normal stuff brothers and sisters do.”
Shining paused for a second and blinked at her, the remnants of his desires clawing at his mind. As if Twilight hadn’t already insinuated something of an unearthly nature, Shining had a sense of what Twilight was getting at, but he refused to pursue it.
Instead, he grinned widely without a trace of guilt and dived back into the food. Twilight shook her head, smiling and moved to sit next to him. Oddly enough, they had always sat perpendicular from each other at the dinner table, but things have changed, perhaps. For better or worse, neither of them knew; but they were certain of one thing: There was something mysterious going on, and both had high incentive to exhume whatever it was they were hiding.
Dinner had gone swimmingly, as for Twilight Velvet and Night Light, it was rather a nice surprise to see their children back at home. They always welcomed them. Currently, Shining and Twilight were left alone in at the kitchen table with an assortment of treats and desserts. It was expansive and extensive: There was chocolate chip mint ice cream, baked apple slices, apple pie, and even sugar-apples, most of which they rarely had the chance to eat.
Shining and Twilight barely listened to their parents’ chatter in the other room, but rather they focused on each other. They piled various food items on their plates.
Picking up a piece of apple pie, Twilight rolled it in her hooves and shoved it (gently) in her mouth. It was heavenly. No doubt, these apples were from Sweet Apple Acres.
Meanwhile, Shining was jamming spoonful after spoonful of ice cream and was savouring the explosion of flavours.
Neither said anything to each other; not because they didn’t have anything to say, but rather because nothing had to be said between them. At least yet.
Twilight had just gulped down a relatively large piece of pie, after which she noticed Shinning had stopped eating. After she turned to see what was going on with him, he had an oddly yet warming gaze directed at Twilight, who laughed perplexed. “What’s the matter, big brother? You look like a lost puppy.”
He recoiled as if offended for being called a mutt, as his expression was startled and inept. “No, Twiley. I was just looking at…I mean. You…” He paused and sighed. “You got…”
Twilight stared at him while he pretended like he was just saying words for the sake of making noise. “Alrighty then.”
About three hours later, and moon was at its peak. They had finished their meals long ago, and the family was sitting in front of the fireplace, listening to it crackle, and watching the shadows flash as they cast themselves alongside the walls of the furnished living room. They covered passively, enjoying the company of one another. It was like old times, back when things were much simpler and young. This was how it was (usually) every night when the siblings were growing up.
Shining and Twilight were about a hoof’s way apart, and it baffled their parents since they were usually the lovey-dovey type: A brother holding his sister close, showing his protectiveness over the one for whom he cares dearly. To give her a sense of security and trust. Love and affection that any good sister deserved. But right there and then, they didn’t conform with the norm.
Eventually, Twilight Velvet and Night went to bed, after kissing their children good night, leaving the two siblings at bay and harmony with one another. Shining didn’t stir the slightest bit until he noticed his little sister stand up herself. He was pulled out of his content and turned to her. “Oh. Going to bed already?” he said.
Twilight smiled and whispered, “I’ll be right back. Just have to do something.”
Shining watched her leave, eyeing her ample rump swaying as she strode, then back to the ablaze logs. Unsure of how much longer he could keep this up, the mind settled at the mere thought of Cadence. Oh, Cadence! Beautiful, beautiful Cadence. But even then, his entire body was aching from just being so close to her. It was so malapropos yet justified. A dull pain of desperation rendered it impossible to direct anything. Simple desires were so complex. He had given himself relief numerous times before, but the urge he felt whoever Twilight was around was a whole other story.
There came a point, at least to Shining, given the situation he’s in, where his passion for Twilight fused into something more primal—something more deeper and profound that words cannot elucidate. It was arduous. He was forced to be brothers with an a princess, so perfect, but unable to act on his desires. A curse must had put itself upon him, forever caging him in familial obligations. There was only so much he could do to ignore the growing erection under him, hoping that Twilight didn’t take notice of the eccentric behaviour.
Doubt crippled him. Unsure whether or not he could live with himself if his sister found out all the things he wanted to do with her, to share with her…or what Cadence would think of it…she would surely frown and condemn it, no doubt. The idea was maddening! Unholy. Unbrotherly!
He heard her retuned to the room and, as he struggled with him, did his best to ponder about something else entire. Strangely enough, Twilight plopped next to him and set a bowl of sugar cubes down. It was a queer item to bring back, indeed.
“I remember how much you loved sugar cubes as a colt. I figured we could get wound up and share silly stories.”
And that’s what they did.
They did their best to not make too much noise to wake up their parents. Hyper and laughing, the two of them shared stories and tales back and forth just like they had shared the contents of the sugar bowl, which had to be refilled at least two times.
Soon the fire dwindled and its flames were barely ablaze, much were their conversations. They knew eating all the sugar they had would haunt them. Sleep wouldn’t come easy them tonight, unless it were for some phenomenon. They grew more solemn as the night matured, and they, already exhausted from a day’s work or what they had considered work (at least yesterday) yanked a blanket and curled into each other’s embrace, right on the carpeted floor.
Their bodies soaked in each other’s warm, savouring its essence as if it were gold; and as they lay together, by the dying fire (only motes of embers remaining) they told stories that turned from joviality to depressing ones, without realizing how much closer the two had gotten. It wasn’t until Shining was practically holding his sister in his hooves and they gawked at each other passionately.
“Hey, sis,” Shining said. “I love you. You’re my sister. And I’ll always care for you. No matter what.”
There was only silence that hardened like obsidian. Twilight didn’t say anything, but instead, kissed him on the lips. She giggled in his mouth and pushed back, until she was on top of him. His mouth tasted like sugar (it came no surprise to her). She let the kiss go on much longer than it probably should have, and, when she left his tongue poking into her mouth, she pulled back. “Getting a bit…getting a bit bold there, brother.” Her face had a nervous smile.
He smiled back and move forward to kiss her again. Perhaps it was the immense sugar rush that was making them impulse. Or maybe it was that unquenchable passion they had for one another. When their lips met a second time, neither pulled back; and when she felt his tongue again, she let it into her mouth and put hers in his. The two moaned and groaned in each other’s mouthes, and their tongues danced a lover’s dance.
It felt so wrong yet so incredibly right.
Twilight forcefully repelled back to take a deep breath and contemplate what she had just done. She was staring at her brother in the eyes as the two of them wheezed for air, both their mouths covered in salvia. “Shining…what are we thinking?” she said.