Twilight's Second First Time

Twilight touched down just outside the gates of the Imperial Castle. The flight had been rather difficult with her wings so sore from her previous arousal, but at least it was a mercifully short distance. She silently thanked Starlight Glimmer for putting a stop to things before she’d done something she’d really have regretted.

The snow was coming down lightly in this frozen land, and Twilight welcomed the cold sensation of wind and flake against her swollen sex. After stopping for a few moments to calm herself and catch her breath, she began walking the remaining distance to the gate. Two Crystal Pony guards snapped off quick salutes as she approached.

"Greetings, Princess," the mare said before stopping with a pained expression. She leaned over to her stallion partner and whispered something to him before turning back to Twilight. The other guard quickly trotted off. "I apologize for our lack of preparedness. We don't have records indicating you were coming to visit. To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit today?"

"Oh, you know," Twilight replied, gently fluffing out her sore wings. "Just... here to visit my sister-in-law and talk. About Princess... things."

The guard raised an eyebrow. “This isn't an emergency, is it?"

Twilight hesitated. "It's... not a national emergency, no. More of a ..."

Several huge crystals hummed to life around them, signalling an impending announcement. "Attention, castle staff", a voice boomed from them. "An emergency Protocol White is now in effect. Repeat, all personnel: Protocol White is now in effect."

"...Personal one," Twilight finished, looking around in confusion.

In reaction to the announcement, a clamor erupted as many of the Crystal Pony guards rounded up several groups of civilian Crystal Ponies socializing throughout the courtyard and gave them instructions, leading them off into the castle, and several guards abandoned their posts and disappeared into the castle as well. For each guard that disappeared, a different guard came back to take their place.

The guard before Twilight put on a strained smile. "Oh, I see. Yes." She clopped her hoof three times on the ground, and another mare quickly trotted up to her.

"Yes, ma'am?" the junior guard reported.

"Please report to the Captain and let him know that Princess Twilight Sparkle desires to speak with Her Majesty personally."

“Aye aye, ma’am.” The junior guard set off toward the castle at a brisk trot.

"That wasn't really necessary," Twilight mumbled, flustered. "Like I said, it's a personal issue. I can wait until her Day Court is adjourned, umm..." Twilight looked the guard up and down, desperately trying to remember her name.

"Oh, sorry! Lance Corporal Sapphire Silk," she bowed slightly. "Please, allow me to accompany you into the castle." Sapphire Silk immediately did an about-face and started trotting toward the castle.

"Uh, thank you, Sapphire." Twilight followed the guard, glancing nervously around at the now nearly-abandoned courtyard. Only the scant few guards remained. "Umm... may I ask you a question?"

"I wouldn't dare decline, Princess," Sapphire replied. "What would you like to know?"

"What was that announcement about? What is Protocol White?" she asked, giving a nod to the two mares guarding the grand doors that led into the main castle hall. Both of them bowed low as she passed.

"Ah, yes, well ..." Sapphire Silk hesitated briefly, glancing down the eastern and western wings before continuing. "The castle staff are trained to perform different tasks depending on the needs of the kingdom. Protocol White is one such protocol we use for visiting foreign dignitaries, so as to put our best hoof forward in accommodating them. Normally, such protocols would be engaged long before you arrive, but... well, you have arrived without any advance warning."

"I see.” Twilight nodded. “Sorry, I didn't have an opportunity to send an advance notice. But you don't all have to do all this for me! I would hate to have the entire empire roll out the red carpet just because I want to visit my family."

Sapphire tittered nervously. "Yes, well... they are called protocols for a reason. I'm sure you understand that policies are policies, and we, as both castle staff and as military personnel, are required to follow them."

“I understand,” Twilight conceded. “But I’m going to have a talk with my brother about this.”

Sapphire stopped as they arrived at the doors to the audience chamber. The two guardsmares on either side of the door stood staring straight ahead until Twilight came to a full stop in front of the massive doors.

The guard on the left turned to Twilight. "Her Highness is awaiting you, Princess," she announced. Sapphire Silk stepped aside as the two other guards opened the grand doors, allowing Twilight inside.

The audience chamber was strangely subdued. Normally bustling with activity from the various Crystal Pony nobles, instead, only a few scattered guards stood at their posts around the perimeter of the room, and apart from Princess Cadance herself, not a noble in sight.

"Cadance!" Twilight shouted, seeing her old foalsitter standing in the middle of the red carpet that bisected the room.

"Twilight!" The two dashed to each other, bouncing on their hooves.

"Sunshine! Sunshine! Ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" The two alicorns went through their usual greeting ritual with equal enthusiasm, but the moment they were done, Twilight flushed fiercely, planting her butt firmly on the floor.

"Twilight?" Cadance wondered aloud, "Are you..."

Cadance trailed off, scrunching her nose. Her horn flared up, and without so much as a warning, Twilight found herself teleported elsewhere for the second time that day. A quick glance around her new environment revealed that it was Cadance and Shining Armor's personal bedroom.

"Why are we in your room?" Twilight wondered aloud.

"For actual privacy,” Cadence said matter-of-factly. “It’s no wonder we're on an emergency Protocol White. You have it bad, Twilight." Cadance heaved a heavy sigh, sitting on the edge of her bed. "But we all just sorta hoped you would have somepony to help you with it by now."

"Who thought I would find who to help with what, now?" Twilight asked, sitting down on the cold crystal floor. The cool sensation helped quite a bit.

"Your heat."

"My heat? Alicorns can't go into heat. You taught me that yourself!"

Cadance grimaced. "I may have also kinda-sorta... lied about that. A bit.”

Twilight stared.

“Okay, a lot."

Why would Cadance have lied to her? And how is it that she only just now was coming into season after so many years?

"But how?” Twilight blurted. “It’s been years since I was given my wings. And I've been around you and especially Celestia for my entire adolescent life, even in places that would have otherwise been private. I've never seen either of you in heat! Surely, I would have noticed it before!"

"It's complicated..." Cadance replied, her hooves fidgeting with the heavy quilt that served as the top layer of her bed.

"What do you mean?"

"Twilight, can I ask you a personal question?"

"Are you changing the subject?"

"No."

"Then go ahead."

"Where were you in your estrus cycle when you became an alicorn?"

"W-what?” Twilight sputtered with frustration. “I-I-I don't remember. It's been several years, and since I thought alicorns never went into heat, I didn't really have a reason to keep track."

Cadance leaned back and stared at the ceiling, refusing the meet Twilight’s stare.

"Alicorns absolutely do go into heat, Twilight. We just have a dramatically different cycle than other mares. At the time, it had been so long since I’d ascended that I didn’t even remember what a normal mare’s cycle is like, but there’s a world of difference between them. I hid the truth of Alicorn estrus from you because I didn’t want you to come to me for advice when you started having your normal estrus cycles.

“But I can’t hide it from you now. Dealing with Alicorn estrus is nothing like your usual estrus. For starters, instead of having a cycle every 28 days, we have one cycle roughly every ten years.”

“Every ten years? But Celestia never had--”

“No ‘but Celestia,’” Cadance interrupted. “When's the last time you ever noticed your mother in heat?"

"Huh?” Twilight blinked several times. “Uh... several years ago, I guess. I mean, I don't really spend much time with her since we don’t live close to each other anymore, and I’ve never really just talked casually with her about that, but I would think she's old enough that she stopped having them."

"And exactly how old is Celestia?"

"... I see,” Twilight murmured, then after a moment she stood back up and levelled an accusatory hoof at Cadance. “So you're saying Princess Celestia used to go into estrus?"

Cadance smiled, pushing Twilight’s hoof down. "It frequently caused a complete government shutdown while things were restructured."

Twilight went silent. Too silent. For much longer than Cadance was comfortable with.

"Is everything okay?" Cadance urged.

"Sorry," Twilight replied, blushing. "I'm just having a bit of trouble processing the thought that Celestia has hit menopause."

Cadance giggled. "Her hot flashes had interesting effects on the sun. Researchers are still baffled as to what caused those 'solar flares'."

"You mean solar flares were a real thing?!” Cadence nodded, and Twilight’s jaw hung open for a moment before continuing. “From what I’ve read, most researchers had come to an agreement that they were the result of a faulty spell matrix used in the equipment of the time."

Cadance’s giggle turned into a full-body laugh. "It was an interesting time, let me tell you. But we're getting off the subject.” Her mirth subsided as she levelled her gaze on Twilight again. “There’s no doubt in my mind. You're very clearly in the beginning of an Alicorn estrus, so you're going to have to make some tough decisions soon."

"Tough decisions?"

"Just as our cycle is slower than a usual mare, the effects are magnified in the same way. While you may have felt a little bit horny with your estrus cycles before, as an Alicorn, estrus will drive your libido so high you'll jump any stallion you can find just for a bit of relief. It also has a heightened effect on those around you; prolonged exposure to your scent will drive most stallions completely crazy. Protocol White is designed for exactly that reason."

"Isn't it just intended to greet foreign dignitaries?"

"A half-truth. Protocol White was originally used for my own protection if Shining Armor were ever out of the country at a bad time. I'm the Princess of Love, after all: The effects of my heats are unbearably strong, for both myself and stallions around me. But we also use Protocol White any time a prominent figure from outside the Crystal Empire arrives during their estrus. All male personnel are given paid time off for the duration of Protocol White, and are required to leave the castle grounds until the protocol changes. It's a program designed to prevent, er... 'problems'."

A light bulb went off over Twilight's head. "Ten year cycles... You were foalsitting me just so you could fuck my brother?"

Cadance smiled. "You always were the smart one. But, you know, he never complained."

"How did I never notice?"

“We had to be extremely careful. You were the nosiest little filly, and you almost caught us several times. Of course, that just made it so much more exhilarating. Your dad walked in on us once, and afterward he frequently let me in late at night when everypony else was asleep. He never did figure out the estrus part, since I don’t think he understood that it was so different for me, but he knew I was really horny all the time and was using Shining for my outlet. Disguising myself as a teenager helped drive that narrative - you know how teens are. Your father’s a good stallion. To my knowledge, he never told your mother, and he also understood without any prompting that it would affect Shining’s future significantly if he just let it be.

"Of course, the biggest problem with hiding estrus is the scent, but with the right spell you can mostly mask it. I had to keep it up at all times or every stallion in Canterlot would have been jumping me, or at least trying to. Unfortunately, that didn’t do anything for my unbearable horniness. If I didn't get any for a few days, things would get really bad.”

“What led you to choose my brother?”

“I could see the potential in Shining Armor even as a colt. Celestia had already taken you on as her personal student, and everypony knew you had incredible magical potential. He was your older brother - and unless there was some tomfoolery going on in your family, that means the same genetic stock. Genetics play a strong role in magical prowess, so it seemed reasonable that he’d be able to get the job done.

“Sex - more specifically, a stallion's ejaculate - provides a temporary relief for alicorns, but it lasts perhaps a day at best before the urges come back. Getting pregnant is the only thing that helps. I wanted a baby so that the heat wouldn’t last, and I needed somepony that could actually do the job.

“Of course, I'd seen him always wanting to emulate the guards every time your family was around the castle to visit. There was a spark there - a passion that I really admired. And he was cute; a bit young, but younger colts have an appeal all to themselves.

“So, knowing my estrus was coming soon, I went to your parents and offered to tutor him three times a week. Since I was willing to do it for free, and your parents weren't about to tell a Princess she couldn't tutor their son, I started coming over to teach Shining Armor some fundamentals of 'defensive magic'. As I had expected, his magic was strong. I was somewhat surprised to find him lacking in practice, though, and so we worked to bring out that potential. In fact, the very first spell I taught him was one of the most basic shields: a contraceptive. He was very excited for the practical demonstration.”

"You and my brother-- Wait, is that how he became Captain so quickly?! Are you saying Shining slept his way into the Royal Guard? With you? "

"Twilight, think about your brother for a second. He's a doofus, and if I’m being honest, he’s kind of a wuss. He would never have made it to Captain of the Guard purely on his own merits. He's got drive and determination, but if his magic was disabled in a real fight, he'd get whupped by almost every other pony in the guard. And that held especially true when he first got started."

Twilight had to concede that Cadance had a point there. “I... that does makes sense.”

“It was actually Celestia that encouraged it.”

“Wait, why would she do that?”

“She knew I was planning on using your brother to deal with my heat, but she also knew that if I was pregnant without being married, it would be a huge scandal. It was absolutely unbearable for that heat cycle; every night I wasn’t with your brother was suffering, and I wanted a baby desperately. But, due to some stupid drama a few centuries ago, an noble who gives birth to a baby is required by law to marry the father, and Princesses are technically the highest of nobles. If I was pregnant without a pre-existing husband, there would be chaos among the nobility, and that has rippling effects throughout the entire economy of Equestria.

“On the other hoof, Celestia and I both knew that if I married just some random stallion with no status, there would be a massive uproar from that, too. Changing the law right before getting pregnant would have seemed suspicious and sets a bad precedent, so Celestia hatched the plan to get him into the guard and climb the ranks there. It was pretty easy to encourage him, since he already had the desire, and Celestia began pulling strings in the background to make it happen faster. Unfortunately, it didn't happen fast enough for that heat cycle, and I suffered through the whole thing.”

Twilight stewed on those revelations for a moment. The ‘perfect’ relationship Cadance shared with her brother seemed so… artificial with this newfound information. And none of this information would really help her situation. She still didn’t have a solution to her own problem.

"Okay, so you and Celestia planned the entire thing in advance. But I haven’t been looking for any stallions to court. Nopony has been helping me and I don’t even know where I should begin. So, what do I do? Do I just hole up in my castle and wait it out?"

Cadance shook her head. "You can try, but I wouldn't recommend it. The entirety of your cycle is proportionally longer, including the amount of time it lasts."

"... That’s ridiculous," Twilight huffed, running numbers in her head. "That would be... two and a half years! You slept with my brother every night you could, for two and a half years?"

"Exactly," Cadance confirmed. "There is a reason I volunteered to foalsit you on top of our tutoring sessions. I sought out your brother at every chance I had, and for that time, he was the happiest young stallion in all of Equestria. Of course, there are other approaches than simple courtship. While I chose the approach of finding a husband, Celestia and Luna have rejected that idea, each going their own ways. And I can't say that I disagree with their reasons."

"Which are?"

"It's really not my place to say, Twilight. Their private lives are theirs to share. Perhaps you should ask them yourself."

"I can’t just go to Celestia and ask about her sex life!" Twilight objected.

"Suit yourself. But whatever you do, you need to do something about your heat, quickly.”

“What do you mean?”

“Magic can mask your scent for a little while, but a spell can only mask the smell, not the pheremones that come with it, and the pheremones have a much more subtle impact. Stallions will get turned on with prolonged exposure to your presence; they can’t help it, and the longer they’re exposed, the more self control they’ll need. On top of that, if you haven't gotten any in the last few days, your tail is going to start flagging without conscious thought unless you're actively suppressing it"

Twilight grimaced. Flagging one's tail was basically the strongest invitation for sex there was; the thought of unconsciously inviting every stallion to mount her was... less appalling than she'd expected it to be, but that might have been the hormones talking.

"The Crystal Empire is the only place in Equestria that has something like Protocol White to keep stallions away. Of course, your status as a Princess will deter a lot of stallions from making a move for quite a while, but there is always that one stallion, and as your heat progresses, your body is going to scream to be bred and you’re going to find it progressively harder to resist their advances. Furthermore, thanks to the various stupid laws and restrictions about relations among nobles, a lot of the nobles in Canterlot have messed up sex lives. Some are badly pent up, and most of them act like entitled assholes. You need to be doubly careful if you go there or you’ll create a major incident."