A Shining Sparkle of Love

Twilight opened her eyes slowly, an echo of the bright explosion that seemed to have happened just a moment ago buzzing in her head. For a while, she was doing nothing but staring at the grass swaying before her eyes, wondering how in the hell it managed to have grown through the crystal floor of her castle. Then, after squinting, she discovered that there was no actual floor nor any crystals but a dark blanket of soil spreading in all directions. She risked to lift her dizzy head up and was immediately met with bright greetings of the sun that only affirmed Twilight’s theory of her not being in the castle anymore.

A warm wind played with Twilight’s mane as she tried her best to shuffle her hooves, attempting to take a step, but to no avail. Her hooves just spun around in the air, not reaching the ground. She tried faster, flailing her hooves around until she suddenly punched something soft under her. It felt like a pony but it wasn’t her body. She glanced under her belly and discovered a white fur of a pony she was sprawled on. She reflected on the last events and, after a moment of deduction, concluded that she was still lying on her brother’s back. What had really happened she couldn’t determine yet. She needed more information.

Joyful cries diverted Twilight attention from examining her brother’s back and she turned her head toward the direction of the sounds. A long line of ponies, many with their foals, moved through a series of turnstiles, all chatting excitedly. A short glance at the beginning of the line revealed a set of buildings all too familiar to Twilight. Wide bright fabric ran along the walls and up bastions, stretching across the top and serving as a roof cover, numerous balloons adoring every inch of it. And further in the distance... Were it waterslides? Twilight couldn’t believe her eyes. There was no amusement park here in Ponyville. She moved her gaze further. A Ferris wheel? It certainly looked like one. The biggest one she’d ever seen, ever ridden...

That just didn’t make any sense. Twilight could swear this park looked exactly the same as the amusement park she’d visited so many times with her family back in Canterlot. No, it was the amusement park she was thinking of. Twilight knew it too well to mistake it for something else. Best moments of her foalhood she’d spent inside those dazzling walls, best moments during which she and her brother were especially close.

“How...?” Twilight stopped abruptly as the realization dawned upon her. Those bright lights she had seen and the dizziness she currently experienced must have been the result of Shining’s spell that had teleported both of them from Ponyville all the way to Canterlot’s Amusement Park. Twilight jumped off Shining’s back as the sudden shock of the realization shot through her. She hurried around to face her brother.

“Are you crazy?” Twilight looked up at Shining, her heart beating hard in her chest. Even teleporting one pony across such a distance was considered especially risky. It demanded a lot of the caster’s energy and concentration and any mistake could reflect badly on the caster’s horn with a probability of inability to use magic anymore. In worst-case scenario it meant death.

Shining Armor’s resolve didn’t waver under Twilight’s penetrating stare and he held his ground firmly like a tree taking its root. “I pledged that if you weren’t going to talk to me, I was to kidnap you and hold you hostage until you changed your mind. You should have taken your big brother more serious.” He chuckled.

Twilight ignored her brother’s foalish behavior. “How do you feel? Are you alright? We need to go to a hospital and have your horn checked if there are any fractures. It might be something serious.” She watched Shining with both deep worry and anger at how reckless he sometimes might be.

“I’m fine,” Shining Armor said, rubbing his horn, its tip blackened. “Just got overheated. It’ll go soon. Gotten much worse while serving in the Royal Guard.” He managed a broad smile. “But I’m afraid we’ll have to take a train on our way back to Ponyville. Not sure if I can repeat this trick one more time today. Well, any trick for that matter.” He pointed at a thin thread of smoke curling up from his horn.

“Are you sure it doesn’t hurt?” Twilight lit her horn and guided her magic to coil around her brother’s horn, probing it carefully to make sure that it had no damage. She wasn’t an expert at medicine magic but knew more than one thing on how to perform first aid if a situation arose. Having not found anything serious, she let go of Shining’s horn and took a deep breath of relief. Her brother had always managed to get away with his mischief since they were foals, the thing that she could never contest him in and when she dared to try, she would always end up before their parents, punished.

“I swear I’m fine,” Shining said, his horn beginning to slowly return to its normal white shade. “You know I would never hide anything from you, little sis.” He put a hoof on Twilight’s head and ruffled her mane. “Now, come on, we don’t have that much time before Celestia realizes that we are gone and sends a rescue team for us. Have you ever seen their stiff faces?” Shining laughed. “Those guys don’t know how to hang out at all.”

“Celestia?” Twilight remembered with a shock that she was supposed to play the pivotal role in today’s gala. Ponies from all over Equestria had come their way to meet with her. And now, she was gone without a word of farewell or explanation. “We need to return!” Panic began to rise in Twilight’s voice. “I have to be back in my castle before it’s too late. Celestia will kill me!”

“No. She will kill me,” Shining amended. “Remember, I am the one who abducted you. You’re just a victim here. And I am your torturer. Speaking of which...”

Before Twilight could react Shining leaped forward, wrapping his hooves over her shoulders in a big hug, and pulled back, plunging his body into the soft grass. Twilight didn’t have another choice but to follow after him as her brother’s fall carried her onto his chest, their faces mere inches from one another.

Twilight lifted the soiled skirt of her dress and made to protest but found herself laughing as Shining dived under her and started to tickle her legs and upper body, his lips flat against the fluff of her chest, puffing flows of warm air onto it.

“Stop it,” Twilight somehow managed between giggles. She tried to get up but failed miserably. “You can’t just—” She broke off with a burst of wild laughter as Shining began to tickle the frogs of her hooves, neutralizing her completely. She was at the mercy of her brother and he knew it. “Stop it, Shiny. Ponies would think—”

“What would they think?” Shining lifted his head up from the business of tickling his sister’s soft chest with his breath. “We are just brother and sister. We often did it when we were foals and you never minded it.”

“But we are not foals anymore.” There was a trace of grief in Twilight’s voice. “And I have responsibilities. Important responsibilities. Celestia and the whole of Equestria count on me.

“It’s nowhere near as important as my little sister’s birthday. And I will not allow those pompous ponies to ruin it, no matter what plans Celestia might have in store for you.”

“You can’t just pin me down here and hope that I give up everything for a day of fun with you,” Twilight protested, using a moment’s respite from the tickling to catch her breath.

“You better not dare me, Twily!” He smiled and dived under her again, this time tickling all Twilight’s weak spots at once, down from her hooves and all the way up her spine and neck, his moves fast and precise.

Twilight burst into another fit of laughter, more powerful than ever before. “It’s not fair! It’s not fair!”

“I can do it all day, little sis. All the day through until you give up and agree to spend time with me.”

“I give up! I give up!” Twilight couldn’t take it anymore. And who was she lying to? She couldn’t live without her brother. No matter how hard she tried to convince herself otherwise. Things just didn’t work that way. He was as much a part of her life as her heart was a part of her body. She couldn’t just remove it and pretend that everything was fine.

They lay still for a long while, the wind whistling a soft melody to them, the grass swaying around them gently. Twilight snuggled up to her brother closely, feeling his warmth, holding him tight around her hooves as if afraid that he might vanish if she weakened her grip. As if it might be just a sweet dream. The last time they snuggled together in the grass had been when she still went to the School for Gifted Unicorns, way back before he’d moved on to live with Cadance. She still remembered his touch, his strong yet gentle embrace as if it were yesterday. She could never hope to relive it again. Until this day... Here she was, her dream alive and overwhelming her being.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“It’s too early to thank me,” Shining said, his hoof brushing the small of Twilight’s back. “Wait till you see all the stuff I’ve planned for us. We are going to visit every amusement ride, and this time I’m going to win that Teddy Bear you wanted so badly.” He flexed his right foreleg and thick muscles began dancing on it. “I’ve been preparing, you know.” He laughed.

He still remembers. Twilight shook her head unbelievably, a smile escaping her lips, her embrace tighter.

“You smell good,” she said. The realization that she’d stepped onto thin ice came a moment later. She had promised herself that she wouldn’t allow her perverted obsessions to stay in the way between her and her brother. He didn’t deserve to be a victim of her egoistic desires.

“Well, thanks.” Shining’s cheeks blushed slightly, just enough red in them to be noticed. “Cadance picked out a deodorant for me. She’s quite an expert at them.”

A long moment of awkward silence followed.

Twilight was first to become uncomfortable enough as to decide to get up from the grass and offer to head off for the Amusement Park.

“Two adult tickets please.” Shining Armor took out a pouch of bits from his jacket.

He pulled Twilight to himself and they walked through the gates of the park together, his hoof hovering over her protectively, separating her from the dense crowd stamping in and out of the park, ready to deflect anypony who didn’t pay enough attention to where they were going and had enough stupidity in them as to run into his little sister.

After jostling the last pack of ponies the siblings squeezed themselves out of the thin neck of the turnstiles and now stood before the vastness of the park, any of the numerous rides theirs to claim. The sun shone hotly in the cloudless sky and without any discussion or arguing it was decided that the water rides would be the perfect place to start.

“I’m so glad we made it to the outdoors,” Shining said, stripping himself off his jacket as the siblings approached the park’s storeroom. He tucked his clothes neatly away into a storage locker and drew a big breath of relief after his body became free of its confines. Twilight remembered that Shining never really loved wearing a uniform and always thought it to be too gaudy and unnecessary, and always strived to be as close to the common folk as possible. He loved to say that a pony who has nothing to hide has no need for any clothing and that no dress can compete with the diverse coats that nature has given to ponykind.

Twilight couldn’t agree more on both of those statements as she devoured her brother’s exposed body with her eyes. His smooth white fur, his broad muscular chest, his strong forelegs, all of this made her appreciate the expanse of her dress that so adeptly hid any secrets that her rear part was so eager to give out to the world. She could still control herself but the mere thought that she might snap at any moment and that ponies might find out the real degree of her excitement from a whole day with her brother sent a shiver to race down her spine. She dropped down on her rump and clutched at her dress with both of her hooves, afraid that it might somehow slide off her as if it were a life jacket and she was about to go out in the middle of a tsunami.

Shining Armor gave Twilight a quizzical look. “What’s up, Twily? Are you going to be swimming in a dress?” A smile began to stretch across his face but it quickly turned into a thin line as Twilight returned him a nod and he realized that she was utterly serious.

“C’mon, Twilight. Don’t be ridiculous.” Shining shook his head exasperatedly. “You’re not at the gala. Nopony will make a scene if they catch a glance of your naked ass.”

They might. Twilight gritted her teeth in frustration. Why did she have to be so perverted? Her brother gave her one of the best days in her life and here she was, ready to ruin everything simply because she saw in him a piece of meat to satisfy the itch between her hind legs. She hated herself so much for that.

“What about a swimsuit then?” Shining scratched his chin wistfully. “You can borrow one at the reception desk. I heard they even have ones with a skirt that’s got frills at the edges. Is it fancy enough to satisfy your Majesty buttocks’ refined taste?” he asked playfully.

“Swimsuit?” Twilight rolled the word in her head. Somehow the image of her rump in a tight spandex material seemed even more unsettling than the thought of being naked but at least a skirt should conceal the details of her excitement pretty convincingly. It was better than nothing and she couldn’t sit out the whole day here. Shining might assume that she simply decided to sabotage the tryst because she didn’t want to hang out with him anymore. Twilight couldn’t tolerate such a possibility and calculated that the risks of being busted were so small that they could be labeled as insignificant. “Swimsuit should suffice,” she said, then got up from the floor and made for the door, her brother following her.

The siblings returned to the locker room after Twilight had looked thoroughly through the whole wardrobe in search of a swimsuit with the appropriate skirt length. Unfortunately, as it turned out, the design of swimsuit wasn’t created as a means of hiding the arousal of horny mares. Twilight swore to address this problem with Rarity when she returned home. As for now, she carried a blue swimsuit with a skirt so short it could barely cover her buttcheecks. If anything, the ‘skirt’ only helped in laying ponies eyes upon her rear end and the spandex would serve to punctuate the contour of her vulva should it swell with arousal.

Stupid swimsuit. Twilight began to regret her stubbornness regarding the dress and should have just stripped it off when she got a chance. She briefly considered to throw the useless piece of cloth away but thought better of it. Shining had been waiting so long for her while she tried to choose the right thing. And he had already paid for it. Twilight couldn’t bring herself to tell him that everything had been for naught.

As things stood, she had no other choice but to try to keep her aroused reproductive organs at bay. She had to throw any thought of her brother as a sexual object away from her head and under no circumstances take a gander at his perky ass and a pair of plump big balls that she had for so long craved for. You hear me, Twilight? Don’t look at your brother’s ass! Twilight drew a deep breath. Then another. And another. Okay. I can do it.

Twilight eased herself into a swimming suit and spun around, showing off her feminine curves to Shining.

“You look cute,” Shining Armor said, smiling.

“Thanks. Now let’s go have some fun!” Twilight bumped her flank against her brother’s and dashed off toward the outside.

The sun’s warm beams brushed Twilight’s back as she hurried along the stairs of a first water slide to take the descent first. One step ahead before Shining, she jumped on the top platform and ducked into the pipe of the slide. The water carried Twilight along the twisted turns of the slide, splashing against her face, and before long she found herself crying as she flew out of the pipe into the air, the gravity doing the rest to hurl her down into the pool below. Swimming in the warm water, she watched Shining bolt out beside her into the pool. Her already wet mane had become even wetter after her brother’s impact against the water surface and she began to splash water at his face to take her revenge. She regretted about it quickly as Shining didn’t waste time to answer with a water volley of his own, twice as big as Twilight’s.

In such a joyful competition the siblings spent the best part of the next two hours, riding down every water slide the park had to offer. They ended up lying on the sunbeds by the pool, exhausted and laughing, and decided that their next stop would be horseshoe-throwing, a calmer activity with more opportunity for teamwork. They pitted against another four pairs and were beaten into second by a tall grey stallion unicorn and a yellow pegasus mare in a wonderbolt uniform. Twilight shook hooves with the mare and waited while Shining was chatting excitedly with the stallion who was swinging his hooves wildly, highlighting the major points in the story he was telling. By the scraps of their conversation, it was clear that the stallion served in the Royal Guard and was a good friend with Shining. Eventually, Twilight got tired of waiting and butted in to remind her brother that he still had his little sister to entertain at her birthday. Shining rubbed the back of his head apologetically, blushing slightly. He shook hooves with his old comrade and promised Twilight to make up for every minute he’d missed.

His words weren’t empty and soon her brother reformed himself by winning the first place in High Striker competition, sending the puck to almost break through the bell. Twilight squealed with excitement as the operator levitated a huge Teddy Bear on her back. She had had her eyes on the toy since her first visit to this place when she was a filly.

The siblings’ next stop was at the Photo Booth. Twilight hugged her brother tightly as they stepped in and pressed her cheek against Shining’s, smiling, her Teddy Bear squeezed between them. A light blinked and the moment was stored on the photo paper. They put on serious faces then, imitating business ponies. Twilight crossed her hooves before her and Shining stretched his foreleg out in accusation, their eyes narrowed. Another flash of light. Twilight stuck her tongue out and placed her hooves above her head like two long rabbit ears. She grimaced as Shining crossed his brows, his lips pouting. Another flash.

The sun began to lose its warmth by the time the siblings entered House of Horrors. They stepped into the train and sat down on their places next to each other. An evil laughter began to play and the train moved. After the first turn a skeleton dropped down from the floor and started moving its bony limbs attached to the strings above chaotically. It wasn’t scary but Twilight pressed herself against her brother nonetheless, pretending to be afraid. Shining smiled and wrapped a hoof around her tenderly, moving the skeleton with his other hoof aside as the train passed by it. Even when their journey had ended, Twilight was still snuggling to her brother tightly, blaming everything on the ‘horrors’ behind them.

The Ferris wheel was next on their way around the park. From the highest point Twilight could see Celestia’s castle and even the windows to the room she had been studying magic in. She squinted her eyes and made out a tiny brown spot far far away. Their home. Twilight sighed, remembering old days with her brother living there. Life had been so much simpler back then. Their relations had been so much simpler...

By the evening Twilight’s belly began to grumble and the siblings decided to walk around the Gyro Tower to cut their way straight to the cafe Amorous Harp standing by the shore of the lake. Once inside, they ordered daffodil sandwiches, chamomile and peach salad, and two Manehattans to toast Twilight’s birthday with.

“For the best sister of the universe.” Shining raised his glass and clinked it against Twilight’s.

“And what about my other versions in the multiverse?” Twilight grinned, swirling the remnants of the orange liquid in her glass.

“I doubt they have such a cool brother. So who cares?” Shining laughed and Twilight smacked him in a shoulder playfully.

“It’s the best birthday I’ve ever had,” Twilight’s jab had turned into brushing motions along her brother’s shoulder. Somehow she felt lightheaded though she knew the drink had nothing to do with that. It was nothing compared to the whirlwind of emotions a day with her brother had brought down upon her. “I don’t even know how to make this any better.” A dirty thought flashed across the back of Twilight’s mind but she put it down before it could blossom into something vivid.

“Well, I have an idea.” Shining gripped her hoof with his own hooves gently and got up from the table, rounding on Twilight. He pulled her from her seat and led away from the dining zone to a spacious area in the center of the hall. He gave a whistle and the musicians on the stage shifted, turning a lighthearted gibberish of their instruments into a steady slow rhythm of the waltz.

“I hope you still remember how to dance, little sis.” Shining’s smirk took up half of his face. “Don’t want us to be ashamed before all of these ponies.”

“Oh, you wish, big brother. I was the second best in Celestia’s dancing classes.” Twilight grinned, standing up on her hind legs while using her brother’s shoulders for support.

Shining followed her, rearing up and wrapping a hoof around Twilight’s back.

Twilight’s world spun as her and Shining’s hooves moved around the dance floor in intricate patterns and mutual rhythm. It didn’t take long before other ponies began to congregate around them in pairs, inspired by the sibling’s bold moves and fiery spirit.

The speed of their dance increased and Twilight felt her thoughts begin to scramble in the swirl of colors around her, the movement of her hooves more reflex than conscious. She closed her eyes, letting Shining lead her. Everything felt like in a dream and she would have perhaps even convinced herself that there was no way she was experiencing all of that for real if not for the warmth of her brother’s body surrounding her. In her dreams, even though he had been much closer to her, so close as her depraved imagination allowed, she could never actually experience him, feel how it would be to have their bodies touch one another.

Twilight couldn’t tell the moment when her lips puckered and her neck stretched out forward in hopes to overcome the last inches that separated her and her brother’s faces.

“What are you doing, sis?” Shining’s words were like a bucket of cold water thrown in her face. She opened her eyes instantly as her brain awoke from its slumber to take control of every and each muscle she could possibly possess. Failing at controlling everything at once, Twilight set her legs stumbling. She jumped away from her brother and smashed into the pair behind them, sending the three of them onto the floor.

Shining hurried to them with apologies and helped Twilight find her wobbling legs. He flung Twilight’s foreleg over his back and led the way back to their table, setting her on the chair carefully.

“Are you okay, Twily?” Shining’s voice sounded nervous.

Twilight put her hooves to her eyes and rubbed them in circles, wincing. “I need rest. That cocktail was too much for me.” The first part was true. Twilight did feel tired. Perhaps the second part was true as well. She couldn’t find any other explanation for the stupidity of her actions. What had she been thinking? Had she even been thinking? She had almost ruined the most perfect day in her entire life. She would never have forgiven herself for that.

Shining tried to rekindle their conversation as they made their way toward the train station. After the third attempt, with Twilight still staring silently at the ground before her, he gave up and continued to walk beside her without a further word.

In the train, Twilight closed her eyes and put her head on her brother’s shoulder, pretending to be asleep. She couldn’t fall asleep of course. Her head was buzzing with a thousand thoughts, her mind trying to replay every moment of her and Shining’s day together. After reaching the end, the point when she had almost set everything toppling down, she would rewind the tape in her head to start watching the footage over again.

The moon had taken its rightful place in the sky and Twilight’s castle lay in shadows by the time the siblings got back there. Twilight cringed as she pushed the doors open, expecting to see nothing less than a calamity after she had left her castle so unceremoniously. What she saw in there shocked her even more. Everything was clean and set back to their proper places. The whole castle looked like as if there had never been a gala in the first place. The only thing that was off was a chair in the center of the hall. Cadance was sitting on it, sipping wine from a glass in her hoof.

“You have good friends, Twilight,” Cadance said, yawning. “Didn’t leave this place until they made your crystal floors shine brighter than... well, crystals. Walls too.” She pointed to the far end. “Somepony spewed all over it when leaving your gala.”

Somepony’s vomit was the last worry on Twilight’s mind. “How are they? Have they been worrying about my sudden disappearance? And what of Celestia? Has she revoked my princess status yet?”

A laugh escaped Cadance. “You have nothing to worry about, Twilight. You’re not going to fall from Celestia’s favor because of such a trifle. You’re not the first one to run away with somepony from a boring party.” Her eyes settled on Shining, her grin widening. “As for your friends, they were about to run off scouring the whole Equestria the moment you disappeared. It took me some effort to convince them that you were perfectly fine.”

Twilight let out a sigh of relief. It was good knowing that nopony had to be worried because of her. Though quite how Cadance had figured out that Shining had been going to abduct her and teleport miles away, Twilight didn’t know. Was she the one who had given him the idea? Or was she simply reading her husband like an open book? In either way, Twilight was grateful to Cadance for handling her gala while she was having fun in another city.

“Thank you both for everything,” Twilight said. “But I’d better go to my room now. It’s been a very exhausting day.” She made to walk off.

“Good night, Twily,” Shining said behind her.

Twilight turned around and smiled. “Good night, BBBFF.” And she was gone.