Nightflower
By Foxtrot
I know she is sad. I just don't know why.
The nib scratched tinily as it traced Princess Celestia's cutie mark. Wavy lines sprouted from the tips of its sun-rays. They made their way in a more-or-less straight line towards Twilight Sparkle's own cutie mark, inked in the opposite corner of the parchment. There they surrounded it, their loops coiling suggestively close.
Twilight contemplated her doodle. The sun shone back up at her. Drawn from memory, it was extraordinarily graphically accurate. It was a shame her talents didn't run to the capture of the natural form. Whenever she tried to draw ponies they just turned out looking... wrong.
Contemplating the idle wanderings of her pen she suddenly got the feeling she'd done something wrong – something transgressive. Twilight blushed and, with a burst of magic, swept the parchment from the desk, into a ball and thence to the bin in the corner. Enough daydreaming, away with the doodles! Time to get back to actual productive study. Though she'd completed the second draft of her latest assignment (compare and contrast two common metamagica themas) and was engaged in the not strictly necessary task of editing the footnotes to the footnotes.
Then she realised those very same footnotes had been in another corner of the parchment which she had just consigned to the bin. Twilight tsked, rose from her desk and walked across the floor of her library-cum-living room-cum-observatory. It was a rare young unicorn who had the permanent and exclusive use of such a space. But she was rare indeed – no less than Princess Celestia's own special protégé. Twilight Sparkle had her faults but false modesty was not among them. She know she deserved the personal attention of the Sun Goddess. But it never hurt to remind herself what a privilege this was, did it?
She made a mental note to do just that, when she had a moment, and knelt down by the bin. It was filled to the brim with balls of parchment crumpled by her magic. Some had spilled onto the floor. No way to tell which one had just been tossed. Panic brushed her with its wings at the thought that she had lost some work, through her own carelessness – then she pushed it away. She'd simply have to go through the lot. It wouldn't be the first time.
Twilight commenced fishing the balls out and uncrumpling them. First was a reading list. Then came a set of notes for last week's assignment. More reading lists... wait a moment.
The solar cutie mark was everywhere. With a frown she flattened out more balls and arranged themselves in front of her. A swift mental calculation revealed that at least seventy five percent of of the scraps had the design adorning Celestia's buttocks doodled on them. And not only that. There was Twilight's own mark. More of those suggestive coils, linking them together. Wings and eyes, horns and hooves... Twilight felt a novel blush rising to her cheeks.
And then she saw it, on the wall. A subtle glow that her well-attuned eyes, hyper-sensitive to, never mistook. She raced over to the big picture window on the upper level of her library and looked out.
The Sun Princess was standing on the balcony of the main hall, some 30 metres below and to her right. The roofs and spires of Canterlot spread below her. Beyond them the green and fair country faded at last to the blue of the horizon. From her vantage point Twilight had an uninterrupted view of the royal flank. As she watched the great white pinions flared and the head tossed as Princess Celestia, all unaware she was being observed, not feeling the need to put on any kind of show, simply was herself.
Twilight's gaze travelled over the curve of the hindquarters and down the solar back. She had to fight the urge to go and get her telescope. She saw her mentor every other day at least and you'd think, wouldn't you, that a pony would get used to a pony, even if she was deified royalty. Not a bit of it. There was something inside Twilight, she could feel it right there, nested in her heart when she pressed a hoof to her pounding chest. There was something that never let her loose that sense of... well, worship.
And why not? Despite Celestia's attempts to teach her subjects to the contrary. She was just so... overwhelming. Somehow she had a way of appearing more real than other ponies. Her flanks a pristine, eye-hurting white. No stain on her perfection, anywhere. Her tail and mane, the way they floated, like they had minds of their own. The grace that let her dance on the tops of flagpoles. The strength in those titan limbs which, Twilight was sure, their owner could use to kick down stone walls.
A twenty volume study wouldn't do sufficient justice to Celestia's virtues. And yet, the Princess herself would deny all of it.
Celestia's head drooped. Twilight Sparkle craned her neck, trying to get a better look. The Princess closed her eyes. The very tip of her horn came to rest on the stone balustrade of the balcony.
She is sad. She tries so hard to hide it. She thinks I don't know but I do.
Celestia's flanks swelled, then relaxed. Twilight's ears discerned a distant sigh which expressed the grief of centuries.
She is sad and I don't know why.
Celestia's head smoothly rose. Her eyes opened. The fathomless magenta gaze fixed on Twilight's own. The little unicorn stumbled back from the window, cheeks ablaze. Had Celestia known she was observed all the time?
Twilight ended the day without interacting with another living soul, unless you counted, as she scurried back to her desk, a brief glimpse of Celestia soaring skyward on some unfathomable errand, no doubt.
It was a far from unusual state of affairs. There were of course plenty of ponies she could have seen if she'd had a mind to. Her parents were always eager for a visit from their prodigy of a daughter. Her beloved brother could usually spare an hour or two from his duties in the guard. Any number of professors, librarians, doctors and lecturers over at Canterlot Royal University would gladly let her pick their brains.
Yet it was something she always promised herself she'd get around to, one of these days when she had more time. Twilight Sparkle pulled the covers over herself and and rolled over to fix her eyes on the disc of the moon, lately risen. On its face the outline of a unicorn's head was faintly visible. There was, or there had been, a legend connected with the moon. Something about a dark goddess. Twilight frowned as she strove to recall it... no, it was gone. She had to fight the urge to get out of bed and look the legend up. It could wait till morning. She lay in bed, unable to sleep, haunted as always by the thought that the day had been wasted, that important business had been left undone.
Sleep claimed her eventually, and it was dreamless, or so it seemed at first. Twilight Sparkle awoke, hyper-alert, her eyes wide and staring in the gloom. A vast dark form was in the room with her. The figure itself was obscure but it seemed to have gifted everything around with a strange radiance. The bed, the blankets, the books, all Twilight's knick knacks and minutiae were trying to out-glow each other with the kind of light you only saw in dreams.
The dream-creature said not a word, but set a hoof on the bed. Twilight distinctly felt the mattress shift underneath her. The figure loomed over her. Vast cold eyes gleamed in the shadowed head. Twilight felt a gentle yet irresistible pressure bearing down on her. Her heart thumped against the bars of her ribs. A sudden warmth kindled between her legs. A lightning bolt of ecstasy raced across the darkened hemispheres of her brain.
She awoke, for real this time. Her horn was fizzing and crackling with discharging magic. Cross-eyed and gasping, still feeling the afterglow of ecstasy, she slumped backwards onto the sheets.
What was that? What in Celestia's name just happened? And what was this... feeling? As if she was groping for a snake or a spider, Twilight slid a hoof down her belly. Down there, in that place, she was all sticky and warm, and so sensitive it hurt to touch anything. She brought a hoof to her face. It was covered in a glistening substance. The scent of it was not unlike fresh sweat, with the faintest vinegary whiff.
Twilight extended a cautious tongue. She tasted a subtle, bodylike sweetness. What happened to me? Did I just... and here her cheeks flushed anew. Did I just come?
Twilight Sparkle sat at her desk, folder open in front of her. One ear twitched as the lecturer's voice wandered into her ear. 'Depending on who you ask there are six, or fourteen, or twenty seven fundamental transformative schema...'
Blah, blah, blah. Intermediate theory. Twilight knew this stuff already. Had read ahead, taught herself. Her eyes peered furtively from beneath her purple fringe at the assorted ponies sitting all around her at their own desks; popping gum, slumped in glaze-eyed boredom or writing neat obsessive lines as Twilight herself usually did.
She eyed a pale-coated young mare wearing a tartan miniskirt, seated two desks away. The filly's eyelids, painted with violet eyeshadow, were in danger of drooping closed. What's your secret, wondered Twilight. Have you been... doing it? And who with?
'And that is before we get into the magic of alterity, with is identical in every respect yet at the same time completely different...'
A paper aeroplane zoomed overhead. Twilight resisted the urge to blast it to atoms. She sighed. Her horn glowed, flipping the page before her to reveal her own rather more important notes, taken in the library that morning. She had read all she could get her hooves on concerning the female orgasm. There had been precious little. Everypony was just supposed to know, or so it seemed. Twilight's brows narrowed as she surveyed her meagre list.
Item: metaphors. 'Getting off' – modern idiom. 'Clopping' (?)
Item: Kinsneigh's report on equine sexuality. Sixty seven percent of mares reported solo orgasm achieved with the use of everyday household objects (no clue what objects, or how).
Item: explicit erotic material. Not so easy to get hold of especially in the university library. Twilight's lips thinned in frustration.
Item: illustration of object dating from classical times. Resembling a stallion's erect organ. Construction: wooden core, leather padding. Did they really shove those things up themselves? Just thinking about it made Twilight's stomach churn.
Item: 'Miss Sparkle.' Twilight gave a squeak of alarm and slammed the folder shut. Notes went everywhere. Unintended comedy ensued as she scrambled around gathering them all up, especially the ones with illustrations of erect phalluses.
'Miss Sparkle, when you're ready?' Twilight peered down the rows of desks at the dried-up old unicorn propping up the lectern. Ivory Towers was his name. It was widely supposed that he had never been born; rather he had emerged fully formed, as it were, generated by the university for the fulfilment of its needs.
He had never been the slightest impressed that she was Princess Celestia's protégé. Twilight grinned sheepishly. One of Ivory Towers' anciently bushy eyebrows rose towards his horn. 'Daydreaming were we, Miss Sparkle? Wool gathering? Kite flying, maybe?'
Twilight's grin stretched wider. 'No, sir. Not at all.'
'Indeed.' The old creephorn gave a dusty little cough. 'Then maybe you'd care to explain to the class the difference between alteration and alterity. With support from those notes of yours, so diligently compiled.'
Twilight glanced down. The illustrated tip of a leather cockhead was peeking out from her folder. She looked up at Ivory Towers. Her eyes shrank to panicked pin-pricks. What a time for her mind to blank.
Ivory Towers gave a snort of disapproval. 'You appear to be having an off day, Miss Sparkle. I suppose it had to happen eventually.'
'She's here,' blurted Twilight.
'And who,' enquired the old villain, 'am I supposed to assume is she?'
The door creaked wide. A pale glow, as of reflected sunlight, fanned into the lecture theatre. Princess Celestia stepped into view. There was a collective aaaah from the students followed by a choking sound as someone swallowed his chewing gum. Ivory Towers turned with speed that belied his age. Smoothly he bowed. 'Princess Celestia, welcome to our humble theatre. You do us much honour.'
Celestia gave him that renowned, motherly, theres-only-you-and-me-in-the-whole-world smile. 'Please, Ivory Towers. Not so formal.'
'If only you had let us know, Princess. We could have prepared.'
Celestia winked slyly. 'Heavens, no. You know I much prefer to keep these things informal. Check in on the student's progress from time to time...' the royal gaze roamed over the ranks of transfixed students. 'You were in the middle of a lecture, were you not?'
'Indeed.' Ivory Towers resettled his glasses on the bridge of his nose. 'It was a lesson on the permutations of change. Which is a subject I'm sure you know more of than I ever will. Won't you take over the class?'
'Oh, by no means.' Celestia gave him an indulgent chuckle. 'I wouldn't dream of it. This is your class, Ivory Towers.' The faintest suggestion of a frown appeared on his brow – yet Twilight did not see it. Her attention was all on her teacher and mentor.
It's her. She was in my dream last night. It was she who held me down on the bed. Held me down and... and... a flush began in Twilight's cheeks and spread down her flanks. A line of drool dropped from the corner of her mouth. All she could think about was the pressure on her body, the warmth. She tried and failed to suppress a moan as the second orgasm of her young life flashed through her.
Twilight Sparkle's eyes followed Celestia as the Princess roamed the levels of her library apartment. With an almost scientific yearning she drank in the details of Celestia's body as she moved.
The twitch of a flank, right there. Flick of a wingtip. The way the muscles flexed in her buttocks. It was strange how even the tiniest details had become things of fascination.
Tonight Celestia was restless; less perfectly controlled than usual. She paused to look at a book here, a scroll there, yet Twilight suddenly realised she wasn't really seeing any of it.
'Twilight, I must apologise.'
She was jerked out of her warm trance. 'You have no reason to, Princess.'
Celestia came to a halt by the lectern. On it Twilight had placed the 1000 Year Gazetteer, the supposed subject of tonight's study session. For all Twilight cared, the 1000 Year Gazetteer could be thrown on the nearest bonfire.
Celestia turned to look right at her. 'It has been a week.'
And Twilight could remember every day of that week! Distracted days, sticky sleepless nights. Yearning. But of course she could not confess any of that. So she just gritted her teeth and smiled. 'Whatever you were doing, it must have been important.'
'Many things are important.' Celestia glanced out of the window at the moon which she herself had lately raised. Then she looked down at the gazetteer. Slowly and deliberately she leafed through the pages. Something seemed to catch her eye. She stared at the text, her expression unreadable.
It finally dawned on Twilight that something was up with her Princess. 'Is something wrong?'
'The cares of office are numerous and multifarious.' Celestia flipped the book shut. No way to tell what she'd been looking at with such interest. Then she smiled and it was Celestia of old, the public Princess, returned once more. 'From time to time I let them get the better of me. It's unforgivable.'
'No pony does more than you,' blurted Twilight. 'I don't believe anypony ever could.'
'Twilight...' Celestia drew a deep breath, then just smiled and rustled her pinions.
'Is there... anything I can help you with?' Oh please please just say yes...
'These are complex matters, Twilight.'
Twilight Sparkle felt a sudden deep stab of anger. 'Please don't treat me like I can't understand things!' She gasped in horror at her own outburst. But Celestia merely gave her that familiar you're annoyed and I don't care look. Useless, all useless. Twilight took a calming breath. You might as well be annoyed with the sun for shining so brightly.
As useless to love the sun, a voice whispered in the back of her mind.
'You do raise a point,' Celestia mused. 'It may be time your studies progressed to the next level. Do you think you are ready?'
Zeal blazed up in Twilight's heart. 'Of course I'm ready! I just want to...' to love you, whispered honeyed treachery in her mind. Twilight hung her head. 'To help you, if I can.'
'I'll bear that in mind.'
'Thank you, Princess,' mumbled Twilight, barely audibly.
'Enough of this.' Celestia's forehoof thumped the floor with decision. 'Tell me what I missed. How did your week go?'
Twilight smiled a small pained smile.
Celestia lowered her head until they were eye-to-eye. 'Dear me. Is something the matter?'
'Uh, no, Princess!' Twilight's smile grew strained. 'Why would anything be the matter?'
'I don't know. That's why I'm asking.'
She could tell the tale, if she dared. Her supremely organised brain had compiled a neat list: Monday: scour the library for romances in which a young student falls for her older (female) mentor. Read them avidly.
Tuesday: meet the parents for monthly afternoon tea. Avoid Mother's questions as to why I'm squirming around in my seat so much.
Wednesday: lie in bed. Try to recapture the feeling in The Dream. Fail.
Thursday: ditto. Weep with frustrated agony at the sensation of a dam refusing to break, a stormcloud refusing to burst... she was trembling all over now. The yearning, which had never really left her, was stronger than ever. Friday...
A gentle hoof was laid on her back. A soft voice spoke. 'Twilight, you are troubled.' She closed her eyes, leaned into the caress, imagined a warm tongue licking...
'Twilight Sparkle?'
Her eyes snapped open. Her gazed darted away from her mentor's; to look into those eyes would have been too much to bear. 'I'm fine, Princess. Really, I am.'
'As you wish, Twilight.' The hoof withdrew. 'As you wish.'
She took a deep trembling breath. Celestia, oblivious or so it seemed, cast a casual glance at the lectern. 'Let us make a start with this.'
Blast the 1000 Year Gazetteer! 'I'm... not actually very interested in study right now.'
'No? That, I believe, would be a first. Well this won't be going anywhere in a hurry.' Celestia closed the book with a snap. 'I had hoped to spend some time with you, though.'
'We don't have to study!' Twilight craned her neck eagerly upwards. 'We could do something else.'
'No.' Celestia shook her head emphatically. 'I had better go. I have... things to do...' her voice trailed off. While Twilight racked her brain the Princess of the Sun walked slowly over to the big picture window. The moon, which Celestia herself had lately risen, painted them both in a light which conveyed no warmth. The Princess stared up at the bleached out disk.
What was it about the moon tonight? Twilight went to her Princess's side, as close as she dared. 'Something's wrong, I know it is. Please tell me.'
Celestia did not reply. On her face Twilight saw a deep, wrenching sadness. Celestia murmured, almost too faint for ears to hear: 'Lulu I'm sorry, I had to do it...'
'Stay,' stammered Twilight. 'Stay here with me tonight.'
Celestia turned her head sharply. For a moment Twilight saw right into the raw heart of her. Then Celestia as usual clicked back into place with a raised eyebrow and a quirk of the lips. 'A sleepover? Such as we used to, when you were just a filly?'
'A sleepover, right!' Twilight nodded frantically. 'Erm... yeah! Hooray!' She pranced around, putting on a show of foalish enthusiasm, such as she had in days gone by. The joy, however, was unfeigned.
Celestia's honeyed chuckle spoke, it seemed, right in her ear. 'I see you're not a filly anymore, Twilight.'
She came to a crouching halt, all four hooves splayed, face crimson. If she didn't know better she'd swear Celestia had said that deliberately! 'Ah... I guess I'm not. I'll be right back.' She fled to the bathroom. Behind the door of her porcelain haven she micturated, wiped herself, brushed her mane, cleaned her teeth (45 scrubs for the upper mandible, 50 for the lower), all with especial care. Pointless, she reflected as she flossed, because nothing was going to happen.
At last she was ready. She approached, on trembling hooves, the bed of her desire. Celestia was already stretched out. The imperial regalia gleamed softly on a side table. The fathomless magenta eyes, with pupils wide in the gloom, were fixed on hers.
The Princess gave an impatient flick of her wing. At once Twilight climbed onto the bed and lay down. Her heart soared. This, then, was the highest joy she could hope to achieve – the supreme sweetness. Merely to feel, as of old, the radiated warmth of that flawless body.
It seemed that Celestia was unwilling to engage in even the smallest of small talk, instead merely closing her eyes and laying her crownless head down on the pillows. Twilight Sparkle was left alone, yet not alone. And there it should have ended. She should have drifted off to sleep on the margins of bliss.
Instead she lay, listening to Celestia's deep even respirations, as wide awake and desperate as any randy hormonal filly. Sleep, she willed, as if getting angry about it could help. Sleep. Yet she was feeling hot and shivery and down there was an ache of need.
Sheep jumping over a gate. Twilight snorted in disdain. That had never worked.
Starswirl the Bearded's list of axioms. Starswirl be hanged.
She knew she would not get so much as a wink, with all this going on. Surely an hour had passed, or maybe two? And yet the moon was in exactly the same position in the sky, as if it had been nailed there. Twilight wriggled around till she was facing the pale slumbering flank of her mentor. Beneath the feathery canopy of the wings the chest, painted blue by moonlight, slowly rose and fell.
Twilight shuffled a little closer. There was no harm in it, surely.
Twilight shuffled a little closer. Celestia was obviously very deeply asleep, she wouldn't even notice.
Twilight licked her lips. The silence urged her on. At last she pressed herself, belly-to-belly, against the royal side. The sweet warmth seeped into her, like an ache of pleasure all the way down the front of her body. It was like lowering herself into a hot bath, or a tropical sea. Celestia, Celestia, Celestia, her mind sang. She rested her open mouth against the silken flank. The scent of the Princess's hide was hot in her mouth. I want to enter you, I want to drown in you...
A taste, just one little taste. You're in dreamland, you won't even know. Twilight's agile little tongue brushed the royal hide like a falling leaf. The smoky sweetness of Celestia's fatigue flooded her mouth. Her desire swelled, hot and sharp in the darkness. For the first time in her young life Twilight Sparkle understood the words she had read in those stupid romances. Consumed by desire. Burning with lust.
I need you, she thought. So badly. I'm in torment. Tears stung her eyes. Just give me a sign that you even know.
Celestia stirred. Twilight froze in agonised limbo, eyes rolling, not knowing whether she should leap away.
Celestia rolled sideways and oh goddess it's happening it's really happening laid one white perfect hoof on the nape of Twilight's neck. The hoof trailed all the way down to the base of her swishing tail. The hooves caressed her, lightly brushing her here and there, always where she was most sensitive. The great pale body moved on the bed. The dark wings swept over her like stormclouds. Then they were face-to-face, nose-to-nose. Twilight saw, in the eyes of her mentor, something she had never seen before – the blaze of lust.
Then the royal mouth descended on hers. The tongue licked, encircling and massaging her own. Celestia's kisses had an indefinable sweetness. Her breath smelled of freshly baked bread. What did Twilight Sparkle know of kisses? Practically, nothing. Yet this sipping of nectar from the lips of a goddess, surely there could be nothing better. Instinctively she hooked a hoof round Celestia's neck and pulled her mouth closer.
At last the Princess broke the kiss. Twilight lay gasping with hooves clutched over her heart. Celestia gazed down, considering.
Twilight murmured, barely audibly; you can do anything to me. Anything you want...
The Princess laid a hoof on her belly. Twilight gave a harsh, almost pained moan. With sudden daring she grasped the hoof and guided it down to rest under her tail. Celestia leaned into her, pressing firmly. Twilight clenched her teeth. Her breath hissed harshly through her nostrils. The surging pleasure between her legs made her feel like she was about to burst open. Then Celestia withdrew her hoof. The ebb of pleasure was devastating. Twilight wanted to cry, but only for a moment. Celestia raised her hoof and Twilight grabbed it. She licked along its edge, tasting for the second time in her life her own juices.
Was that a gleam of amusement in her mentor's eyes? How did she appear now? Teary-eyed with crimson cheeks, almost deranged by lust? She truly didn't care. 'Please... please love me...' The strong hooves flipped her, unresisting, onto her belly. Without a further word spoken Celestia got off the bed. Her hind legs thumped down on the floorboards. Her front legs siezed Twilight's middle like a stallion taking possession of a mare. Twilight could feel the weight above her, the heat, the beating of the great heart against her back. Still wordless, Celestia nuzzled her ear. The pearly teeth fastened in her mane. The great hips thrust, riding her.
It was like the dream. Instinctively Twilight pushed back, arched her back, spread herself... and yet, there was no contact. Was this it? Was this the only things mares did together?
Then Celestia released her, but only for a moment. The hooves rolled her onto her back. The Princess gave a deep primal snort of dominance through her nostrils.
Then her head descended.
Great Goddess. Amazing, incredible! To see that horned head sink down between her thighs. To feel the teeth pinch her swollen nipples, the tongue, swirling in lazy circles, move lower. At the merest brush of that tongue her lips stickily parted. That part of her which had previously been disregarded, which she had paid no attention to, now stirred, swelling from its fleshy hood. Now it was winking rhythmically, like an eager tongue licking against Celestia's own. Twilight uttered little gasps and cries of pleasure, her feet kicking, her pelvis shifting around. The pleasure in her bud was so intense now it was painful. Celestia's front hooves encircled her rump, lifting her from the bed. She spread herself even wider, wantonly thrust herself against Celestia's mouth. The royal muzzle pressed hard into her mound. The lapping waves, like a swelling tide, closed over her head.
'I love you. I'm yours... I belong to you forever!'
Her horn burst into light. The orgasm spread from beneath her tail throughout her entire body. Its surge carried her on, and on, an unguessable distance. She surfaced, weeping softly in her Princess's embrace. She tried to stammer out some foolishness, some foalish protestation of love but it seemed that Twilight Sparkle, who lived for words, could find none. And in any case Celestia had placed a commanding hoof on her mouth. Celestia was manoeuvring her into a new position. The Princess sprang onto the bed. Her hind hooves sank into the mattress to either side of Twilight's head. Above her Twilight could see the queenly buttocks muscularly tensed. Beneath the floating banner of the tail was the source of heat and sweetness – Celestia's mystery.
Twilight gazed, her eyes wide with amazement. Should I – dare I?
The white hindquarters sank down onto Twilight's muzzle. The scent filled her nostrils – the fruity musk of an aroused goddess. Hesitantly she licked. The flavour was like caramel dipped in brine. She thrust her little tongue through the plump and dripping folds, as deep as it would go, right to Celestia's molten core. She sucked the engorged clitoris, felt Celestia's ass cheeks tense and tremble. The Princess gave a deep primal gasp. Twilight saw with her own eyes the rosy lips twitch, the royal anus contract. The scented chrism of Celestia's passion squirted onto her muzzle. And then, silence.
Twilight surfaced from sleep. The room was still dark, though the pristine whiteness of her lover's body was palely visible on the bed beside her. Dawn could not be far off; somewhere, she knew, the hidden sun would be bumping impatiently against the horizon.
Dawn... shouldn't Celestia be dealing with that?
Twilight could smell the Princess's lust, a juicy cloud enveloping the bed. There was also a faint rhythmic rumble. Her mind idled while she pondered the sound. It was Celestia, she realised with a shock. The Princess was snoring. This revelation she found unexpectedly troubling. It was like Celestia had a normal pony's weaknesses of the flesh. Was snoring and snuffling away like... like any old nag.
Twilight felt a sudden stab of disloyal unease.
She unpeeled herself from Celestia's flank and shifted sideways on the bed. From her new vantage point she could see the portal of her mentor's sex, no longer swollen in arousal, yet still full and fleshy. The rosy lips, now pressed firmly together, were yet moist with a faint glisten. Above them the royal asshole was visible under the tail.
Twilight shuffled forward until she could no longer see the gates of the forbidden kingdom. The gates which she herself had dared to open.
The reality of what she had done was beginning to creep up on her. Plus she really need to pee.
What was going to happen tomorrow? She hadn't begun to consider that.
What about this morning even? When Celestia went to put the moon to bed and raise the sun with the taste of Twilight's vaginal secretions all stale and stinky on her tongue?
What have I done?
Were they an item now? Marefriends? What would Twilight's parents think when they found out? Her brother? What would they say when they knew she was a... that word... filly-fooler...
And what if Celestia demanded something from her, something which she didn't understand and could never give? What would the goddess do to her? Not in physical terms – Twilight wasn't afraid of that. It was emotional pressure she feared the most.
Already she could hear the whispers behind her back. The sneers and giggles and back-biting. The thing was... a silent bitter laugh shook her. The thing was, Celestia never did anything wrong. It was Twilight they'd all point their hooves at. Twilight who would forever be known as a hateful goddess-bothering degenerate dirty mare.
She shuffled further towards the edge of the bed. Waves of self-loathing, like ripples in a filthy ocean, were lapping at her. It was my fault. I threw myself at her. Considered nothing but my own selfish pleasure. She extended a tongue, licked her nose. Yes – she could taste Celestia's congealed funk. She had to fight the urge to race to the bathroom and scrub it all off.
But it wasn't just my fault, was it? She didn't have to do any of those things with me. She didn't have to use me like a doll. It's like she doesn't care about me at all.
Gazing at the royal face, the eyes still closed in slumber, Twilight Sparkle was afraid. Afraid of what would happen when Celestia woke up.
Right on cue, the Princess of the Sun stirred. One wing lazily flapped. The pressure in Twilight's bladder intensified. Celestia lifted her head. Blinked twice. 'Good morning.'
Twilight shuffled further sideways, teetered on the edge of the bed, then tumbled to the floor. She clambered to her feet and stood with head down, shame and self-loathing hot in her belly.
'Twilight, is something wrong?'
She stood trembling, fringe hiding her eyes. 'I'm sorry.'
'Sorry? Twilight Sparkle, whatever for?'
Half-dead with anguish, she formed the words. Each one was like a glowing coal on her tongue. 'I should never have... I shouldn't have done those things with you last night. I can't... I can't see you again. Ever. I need to go... far away. I'm sorry.'
'Why?'
'Because you'll hate me like I hate myself.' Twilight shrank down into a trembling crouch. 'Please, just let me go!'
'Twilight, look at me. Look at me.' The command was irresistible, yet somehow she resisted. Then one white hoof cupped her chin, raising her head. Celestia rose like a morning cloud above her. Her beauty, undimmed by anything they had done together, shone. In her eyes there was no censure, no disappointment, no harsh demand, only love. 'Do you think that I would ever do anything to hurt you?'
The words jostled together in Twilight's mouth. I'm sorry and I didn't understand warred with please don't be mad at me and I love you. But everything got jumbled together and only a faint stutter came out.
'I knew what was in your heart. I saw your desire quite plainly. I have to say, it was not inobvious.' was that a flash of the old humour? 'Do you think, in the course of my life, I have been a stranger to infatuations such as this?'
It had never even occurred to Twilight to consider that. Celestia rose from the bed and shook her mane free. 'In your case however it was different. I foresaw how your need would not lessen in a month or a year. Your desire would consume you. Poison you.. lead you to the dark.'
'Never!' Twilight slammed a hoof down, shocked at her own passion. 'I would never!'
'Be at peace.' A gentle smile. 'By giving you what you wanted I have dispelled the mystery. And... your introduction to sex has been an enjoyable one. If I do say so myself.'
'Then you don't... you don't...'
Celestia stepped down from the bed and curled her neck over Twilight's. 'My faithful student. Nothing has changed in my heart.'
It's all right, then. Twilight could have thrown herself at Celestia's feet and kissed her hooves, there and then – except she had an even more pressing need. 'Princess... I'm sorry but I really really need to...'
'You do not need my permission for that. Go, and come straight back.'
The relief, both of mind and body, was gorgeous. Twilight returned to find Celestia gazing out of the window at the predawn sky. She waited, shifting from hoof to hoof, trying to work up the courage to ask the question now uppermost in her mind.
A single magenta eye glanced at her from beneath the mane. 'We both need to get cleaned up. Come.' With a pulse of magic Celestia levered the window open and leaped out. A moment later Twilight felt a spell of levitation take hold of her and convey her, legs windmilling, thirty metres through the air to the royal balcony. From there she was whizzed through the royal apartments of state to the bathroom. Celestia was waiting for her, submerged to the withers in what Twilight was sure must be the hugest bathtub in Equestria.
Twilight had a moment to wonder how did she run the bath so quickly. Then she was dumped in the foamy water. What felt like a universe of bubbles closed over her head. She surfaced, blowing foam from her nostrils. Celestia's hooves commenced a gentle yet insistent massage of her back. The sensation was utterly delicious. She relaxed, as nerveless as a sponge or a jelly, yet the question in her mind wouldn't go away.
'Twilight,' murmured the golden voice, hidden somewhere in the cloud of steam above her. 'I think you had better tell me what's on your mind.'
'Uh...' the hooves were now massaging her shoulders. She leaned into the heavenly pressure. 'What if... I want to do it again? With you?'
The hooves withdrew. Twilight hung her head, all her joy suddenly turned to ashes. 'What if I want to stay with you. To be with you forever. What then.'
'If you truly wish it, I will keep you by my side. For as long as you want to remain. You will share my life – my days and my nights. And everypony shall know that Twilight Sparkle is the beloved of Celestia.'
Twilight launched herself forward in a surge of bubbles, pressed her neck against Celestia's, licked along the line of her jaw. Truly there were no words.
'But, Twilight. You have the potential for greatness within you. You will not achieve any of it if you remain with me. If you wish to become all you can be, you must leave my side.'
'You... you'd send me away? After what we've done?'
'It would not be far. But, as I said before, it's up to you.'
'Never,' whispered Twilight fiercely. 'I'll never leave you.'
'That is for you to decide. Right now there is something I must do.' Celestia rose from the water. Dripping wet, trailing bubbles, she opened the bathroom window. She leaped out, leaving scraps of foam whirling in her wake.
Twilight sank back into the water. She's gone to lower the moon and raise the sun. She sighed, lost in her fantasy of golden days and crimson nights. With a smile she drew a heart shape in the foam followed by TS+PC in fluffily diffuse letters.
Then her smile faded. Who was she kidding? Celestia always got what she wanted. Always. So: Twilight, prepare yourself for exile. Know you are leaving that shining presence, some day sooner rather than later. She smacked her hoof down on the water, obliterating the foam heart. It must be because she, Twilight, wasn't good enough.
The little unicorn sank down until her mouth and nose were submerged. Her eyes, beneath the damp fringe, gleamed with newfound purpose. I will be all I can be. And then, Celestia, you'll love me like I love you.
