Twilight nodded to the guard in thanks as he stepped aside. She was the personal student of Princess Celestia and, if she was dispensing with modesty, an extremely capable unicorn. She took a deep breath and knocked on the sun emblazoned door.

“Uhm, Princess. It’s Twilight Sparkle. I was wondering if I could talk with you.”

She doesn’t want you bothering her.

Twilight shook her head. Worst case scenario, the Princess would tell her that she was wrong and that would be that. However, Twilight had a chance to repay the Princess for some of her kindness, and she was willing to risk being wrong. She glanced down at the clipboard and the plastic wrapped box held in her magic.

“Come in,” rang from inside, lacking its usual musical quality.

Twilight looked at her clipboard again. There was a definite dip. Numbers did not lie.

Unless you did your math wrong. Did you remember to double check that you didn’t make any mistakes while triple checking your work?

Twilight stepped into Celestia’s personal bed chambers and the door closed behind her in a golden aura. Celestia was sitting on a large pillow by the balcony.

“My most faithful student, what can I do for you tonight?” Celestia spoke without pulling her gaze from the sky.

She sighed! You’re bothering her.

Twilight gulped and wondered if it sounded as loud to the Princess as it did to her. “Actually Princess, I was hoping I might be able to do something for you tonight.”

“Oh?” Princess Celestia turned to look at Twilight, and the glassy look of unshed tears in her eyes confirmed Twilight’s theories. However, when the Princess blinked and her eyes returned to their normal hue, Twilight began to doubt what she had seen.

“Yes… I hope I’m not stepping over any boundaries, but I’ve noticed a pattern.”

Just get on with it. She doesn’t want to hear your theories. You’re wasting her time!

Princess Celestia smiled, though it did not quite reach her eyes. “What pattern would that be?”

“Well you see. I first noticed it a few years ago just by accident. You seemed,” Twilight waved a hoof in the air searching for the right word, “melancholy, I suppose. I only noticed it because you are, well, you are always so happy. I asked some of the guards and staff about it, but nopony else seemed to notice, so I chalked it up to my imagination.”

“Everypony, even me, has a bad day now and again.” The Princess’s wings were tight against her side.

See you’re bothering her. You are making her tense. Do you want her to be upset with you?

“I know that. It’s just- I’ve taken a lot of data. When you call court to a close, when you retire in the afternoon. The angle you hold your head.”

“My, that is a lot of data.”

You sound like a crazy pony!

“Yes, well. Originally, I was working on a different project. It’s not really important. It was around a year later I noticed the same thing again, and… Well this was back when I was still keeping that logbook of all my own activities and observations. I flipped through and I noticed something. But two data points, a trend does not make. However, after another four years of data, I think I can conclusively state my results.” Twilight levitated the clipboard with her observations over to her mentor.

“What is your conclusion?”

“On the Eve of the Summer Sun Celebration every year you are... sad. I don’t know why, but one night each year you aren’t your normal happy self.”

Twilight bit her lip as the moment of silence seemed to stretch for an eternity.

“You are right as ever, my most faithful student.” Celestia sighed as she got up and moved over to her bed. “A long time ago, I made a bad decision on the Eve of the Summer Sun Celebration, and it cost me a very important pony. Every year I regret that decision.”

Stupid, you’ve made her even more sad.

“I… I’m sorry for your loss. I really wasn’t expecting something like that. I was sort of hoping that I might be able to do something to cheer you up. That was kinda why I came. I brought Mareopoly.” Twilight levitated the boxed game towards Celestia, shaking it so the pieces rattled inside. “I’ve never played it because, well, I don’t really have any-” Twilight shook her head. “But I figure we should be able to figure out the rules. And now that I’m saying it, it seems pretty stupid trying to cheer you up with a board game when-”

Twilight’s words cut off in a squawk as she was yanked forward by golden magic, and she dropped her game and clipboard.

Suddenly everything was warm, as a pair of hooves wrapped around her and soft, downy wings encircled her. Twilight tried to look up but felt a weight resting on her head. As she sat there confused, she felt something cool hit her ear followed by another something.

Twilight realized Princess Celestia was crying.

You made her cry. You deserve to be banished.

She leaned forward into the hug, for once not trying to take comfort but to give it. Even though her motion was greatly restricted, Twilight was able to slide her forehooves up the sides of Celestia’s barrel.

“Twilight, my most faithful student.” Celestia just continued to cry.

“I’m sorry if I’ve made it worse, Princess, making you talk about it. I promise I won’t bring it up again.”

“Twilight, there is something you can do to cheer me up.” The words were murmured inches from her ear. “You are a brilliant and capable mare. But you put this wall up between yourself and others. You hold yourself up to this impossible standard. Just for tonight Twilight, please, don’t worry about what I think. Don’t worry about disappointing me. Just be Twilight, and say the things Twilight would say. You’re right. I need another pony tonight. So please let the wall between us come down, even if it’s just for a short while. Let me talk without worrying that I might upset you.”

Twilight took a deep breath, marveling at the smell of the Princess as she did. “Okay. I’ll try. It’s hard though. There’s always this voice in the back of my mind criticizing and questioning everything I do, asking me if it is- I’m sorry. I’m supposed to be helping you.”

“Twilight, what did I just ask you?”

Weren’t you paying attention?

Twilight chucked. “Right, um, sorry.”

“Twilight-”

You are just going to-

Twilight took a deep breath.

“Okay, okay. It’s just hard. I just… I really want you to be proud of me. It’s probably the most important thing in the world to me. Gosh, this is really embarrassing, especially with you hugging me like this, but you want me to talk without my normal filter. It’s just that you are so… not perfect.”

“Not perfect?” Celestia asked with a note of surprise.

“No I mean. You aren’t perfect. I know that. A lot of ponies think you’re perfect, but I’ve seen you when you haven’t gotten enough sleep and we’ve had lessons after you’ve had a rough council meeting. You think you hide it from everypony, and maybe most can’t tell, but… it’s in your eyes. I know you are just a pony, but you still manage to do so much and be so great. That’s why I respect you so much. If you were just some sort of all powerful goddess, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.”

Twilight’s mouth continued to move on its own accord.“That’s what I thought you were when I first moved to the castle, but I’ve learned otherwise as the years have gone by, and each year I… Princess Celestia, it makes me sad to see you sad, so that’s why I came here with Mareopoly- even though I don’t have the first clue how to play it, and it doesn’t seem like that fun of a game, but I’ve always sort of wanted to have some pony who would play it with me.”

Twilight could feel a chuckling rumbling deep from within Princess Celestia. “My, Twilight, your wall certainly was holding back a lot.”

Twilight tried to look away from her mentor’s chest, but her head was nestled firmly in Princess Celestia’s neck.

“I’m sorry, Princess- er, sorry. Um-” Twilight’s stammering dissolved into an “eep” as the Princess hugged her tighter.

“Twilight… I would like it if,” Princess Celestia trailed off for a moment. “It would be nice if for tonight we were just two ponies. One being a friend to another.”

“Okay.” Twilight hesitantly agreed.

“That means you can’t call me Princess. It’s just Celestia. Do you think you can do that for me? For tonight?”

Twilight managed a partial nod from her place of bondage.

“Twilight, you need to say it. Please.”

“Okay, Pri- Celestia.” Twilight gulped. “I’ll try, but it’s going to be weird calling you just Celestia.”

Celestia pulled away from Twilight, and she was finally able to see her face. The glittering of tears still unshed explained the moisture on the back of her head, but her teacher was smiling now. Twilight stared into the eyes and saw the smile extended even there.

“Thank you, Twilight.”

“I don’t mind if it’s for you, Celestia.”

Twilight watched as the smile widened, and she decided to try an experiment.

“Celestia, it’s okay to let ponies see you cry.”

Celestia’s smile seemed to glow. “I’m the Princess of the Sun, and the Sun does not cry.”

“Well, maybe just when you are around ponies who care then. When you’re not the Princess of the Sun that is. When you are just Celestia.”

Twilight was never quite certain what exactly happened next. There were more tears, but still that beautiful smile. They hugged again and while Twilight was still in Celestia's embrace, she looked up. Her muzzle connected with something, and Twilight felt something warm on her lips.

Her mind froze until the warmth disappeared.

“Twilight, I’m so sorry-” The smile was gone.

“No- No! It’s okay I mean. I didn’t mind. If my first kiss was with anypony, I’m glad it was with you. I mean.” Twilight’s stammering was cut off by another gentle kiss, as Celestia darted down and then back up. She felt her face heating up.

“I should not have stolen your first kiss. Nor should I have stolen your second. It’s not-”

“Celestia. Aren’t you just another pony tonight?”

Twilight received another kiss.

The night continued much the same. Slowly the warmth in Twilight’s face was replaced by a warmth through her entire body. They snuggled together and occasionally Celestia would give her a soft peck on the lips. Twilight would ramble, her normal inhibitions completely absent, and Celestia shared with Twilight some of her loneliness. At one point Twilight even remembered working up the nerve to take the initiative and be the one to kiss Celestia. Twilight had never been so happy as she fell asleep.

As the warmth of the Sun tickled Twilight awake, she slowly came to her senses. Sitting up in a bed that was decidedly not her own, Twilight looked around. She was alone in Princess Celestia’s bedroom.

Twilight slipped out from underneath the sheets and set her hooves on the floor. She shook out her mane and walked over towards the open curtains. Gazing out the window and watching the rising Sun, Twilight tried to organize her thoughts.

The Princess had probably left a few hours before sunrise to make it to Cloudsdale for this years Summer Sun Celebration. Twilight had certainly not expected to spend the night cuddling with her mentor and exchanging kisses, and she felt her blush returning as she began to fully process the fact that she had indeed kissed Princess Celestia.

The rumbling of her stomach interrupted her thoughts, and Twilight decided it was best to get a late breakfast. Before she left, Twilight grabbed the still unopened box of Mareopoly.

The guards outside of the Princess’s bedchamber did not give Twilight a second glance as she left. She could remember other nights falling asleep in the Princess’s room in the middle of a late night study session. She would always wake up in the corner of the room on a large pillow that seemed specially there for her. The guards were accustomed to her sheepishly making her way from the Princess’s room. This was simply the first time kissing had been involved, though she did not plan on telling the guards that.

What would they think about what you did?

Breakfast and post-breakfast passed by in a strange haze, as Twilight ran various scenarios through her mind. She had managed to turn the voice in the back of her head off during the night, but it was back with reinforcements. She had taken advantage of the Princess in a moment of vulnerability. She was a bad pony. The Princess had left because she was disappointed in Twilight. She had left because she was furious at Twilight. Twilight was going to be banished to magical kindergarten.

Twilight tried to squash the doubts, but whenever she succeeded a question would pop into her mind.

Am I in a relationship with Princess Celestia now?

So distracted was she by her thoughts during lunch, that Twilight did not even notice a certain pony approaching her. Twilight jumped with a start as Princess Celestia settled down next to her and placed a wing over her shoulders.

“Twilight, how are you doing this wonderful morning?"

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight squeaked.

And then Twilight saw it. The slight downturn of the Princess’s lips that signified disappointment. Her entire body plunged into a cold bath as the Princess retracted her wing. Twilight could do nothing but stare.

You made a mistake last night. She hates you now.

“I…” A sigh, almost imperceptible to any pony other than Twilight. “My most faithful student, I hope you try to enjoy this holiday. I know you have a tendency to stay holed up in your library. Perhaps you can go into the city with Spike. Perhaps visit your parents. I’m afraid I have some matters of state to attend to. Equestria never rests I am afraid, but I hope to see you bright and early tomorrow for our morning lessons.”

Twilight collapsed with relief as the Princess left. She was not going to be banished or sent away from the castle. However, Twilight could not get the sight of Princess Celestia’s face out of her mind. She had disappointed her teacher.

The next day was perfectly ordinary. In fact, everything was so ordinary about it that Twilight would have sworn something strange was going on. Her lessons with the Princess and classes with her other instructors went well, as always. Nothing was said regarding the Summer Sun Celebration Eve.

As the days turned to weeks turned to months, Twilight began to wonder if she had dreamed the entire thing. She did have an overactive imagination, but she could not believe it had been a manifestation of her mind. Celestia’s soft lips had been too real.

Yet somehow, you ruined it.

Leaves fell from trees. Winter was wrapped up, and spring marked the return of green. Time passed until summer came again and the events of a year prior had all but faded to the back of her mind.

Twilight was, if anything, observant. She continued charting Princess Celestia’s demeanor and, as the weeks leading up the the Summer Sun Celebration approached, noted the typical downturn in mood. The signs were subtle, but they were there. However, something was different. As the days continued to pass the Princess seemed to become darker than ever before. Nopony else noticed it, but Twilight saw it in her mentor’s eyes. She had never seen her Princess in so much pain.

This is your fault.

Somehow she had screwed things up, and had just made things worse. Twilight knew what had happened, of course. It would be patently obvious to any pony who had been watching. Twilight had gone off plan and made a royal mess of things last year. She should have just stuck to original idea and kept the Princess company with a good game of Mareopoly.

You should always stick to a good plan. But you just can’t do that can you?

That was why, Twilight once again found herself in front of her mentor’s doors with a still unopened game box.

This is a mistake.

Twilight knocked. “Princess, It’s Twilight Sparkle. Could I come in?”

The doors opened, and she entered. Princess Celestia was sitting on her bed looking at Twilight with wide eyes.

“Twilight, I did not expect to see you here tonight.”

She lifted up the gamebox to eye level hoping that it might explain things. “I- You’re sad again. I wanted to keep you company.”

Princess Celestia smiled and patted a spot next to her on the bed. Twilight walked over and put one foot on the edge of the mattress and a moment later hopped up. Settling in next to her mentor, she placed the boardgame in front of them.

“I still haven’t had a chance to play it with anypony.” Twilight said while trying to resist the urge to lean against the Princess.

“Twilight, I have been wanting to ap-”

“Do you want me not to call you Princess again?”

“What?”

“I mean… Last time it seemed like that made you happy, and right now you’re sad. I don’t want you to be sad. That’s why I’m here, why I’m here with Mareopoly.” Twilight wondered why her tongue would not stop moving. “The plan is for us to play Mareopoly while I keep you company. But I can just call you Celestia while we play, if you would like.”

“I would- I would like that very much, Twilight.”

Twilight nodded her head looking anywhere but at Celestia.

“Twilight, please look at me.”

She turned her head, but in doing so her nose bumped into Celestia’s muzzle. They froze like that muzzle to muzzle until Twilight darted out her tongue.

Mareopoly was forgotten.

It was so similar, but yet distinctly different than that night a year ago. Those soft kisses had been transformed into the whispers of a dream, while Celestia’s lips were hot and on fire. Last time was all gentle pecks on the lips, while these, Twilight thought, were real kisses. Sometime later in the night as Twilight felt a nip at her neck she wondered if she now knew what “making out” was.

For the second time in her life, Twilight woke up after spending a night in Princess Celestia’s bed, and for the second time in her life, she woke up in that bed alone. Twilight shook her head. The night had been a flurry of lips and hooves and eventually even teeth and tongues, but it had ended just like all nights must.

Twilight picked up her board game and made her way to breakfast. Today, she decided that she would wait for the Princess.

When Princess Celestia arrived she did not surprise Twilight and greeted her with a smile. She felt a wave of relief that she had not disappointed her mentor this time.

“Princess Celestia, how was the ceremony in Manehatten?”

Her relieve evaporated in the hot summer sun as the Princess’s smile transformed into a thin line and her eyes dimmed.

“It went well, Twilight.” Princess Celestia’s voice seemed to crack. “I know you are not likely to listen to this advice, but do try to enjoy your time off this year. We have a busy lesson plan for this week, and I want you to be well rested for it, my faithful student.”

And Celestia vanished in a burst of sunlight.

With the passing of years something of a tradition would form. The Princess would grow sad, and the night before the Summer Sun Celebration Twilight would arrive with her still unopened game of Mareopoly. The game would be forgotten in its box, and Twilight would leave with it in the morning.

As far as the castle staff was concerned, Princess Celestia and Twilight liked to enjoy a yearly game of Mareopoly. If anypony ever noticed that the box was still in its original saran wrap, nopony ever mentioned it.

The next day Twilight would always see a momentary flicker of disappointment in the Princess, but then things would continue on as if those nights were nothing but an imagined fantasy.

At some point along the line Twilight was fairly certain that she was no longer able to call herself a virgin. that she stopped being a virgin, but was not exactly sure which year she had lost her virginity. When her mother had told her all about the birds and the bees, the discussion and questions afterwards had all been about a mare and a stallion. Even when Twilight went to the library to perform her own independent research, she had been unable to determine what counted as “sex” for two mares. Being too embarrassed to look at any given book for more than a few pages may have contributed to part of the difficulty, but she was convinced that the library was woefully lacking in proper literature on this point. At one point Twilight had even come dangerously close to asking Cadance for advice. Still, whatever it was, she was fairly certain they had done it.

Their yearly trists had become a staple of her life, and that was why Twilight was so surprised to be holding the particular letter she had received in her hooves.

“So I'm sending you to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in this year's location: Ponyville.”

Twilight shook her head as she held back a sniffle. She did not want to let Spike see her cry. She wouldn’t be in Canterlot to comfort the Princess on the Eve of the Summer Sun Celebration. She tried to think about what she did wrong.

The letter told her to make friends. Maybe the Princess was mad that Twilight had never used the Summer Sun Celebration to relax. But why send her to Ponyville for that?

Twilight pulled out the notebook she used to chart Celestia’s moods. The last few Summer Sun Celebrations had been worse than years past. Twilight had even seen the Princess snap at a pony the last year. Maybe Twilight was just making things worse.

She looked over to Spike who was packing a hooffull of the necessities that they would need for a short stay in Ponyville when a thought occurred to her. Maybe the Princess was not upset with her and was just giving her some additional responsibility. Maybe Princess Celestia would come to Ponyville early to spend tomorrow night with Twilight.

Twilight shook her head at the absurd thought. The Princess would never come to see her. Still, Twilight quietly slipped the sealed game of Mareopoly into her saddle bag.

The Summer Sun Celebration came and went. Twilight managed to save Equestria from the threat of Nightmare Moon and made five wonderful new friends. Still, she had not gotten what she wanted.

But you understand now.

The Princess’s sorrow made much more sense now that Twilight had all the pieces. She also understood why she had been sent to Ponyville. The Princess had her sister Luna back.

You’ll just be underhoof in Canterlot.

So she decided not to go back.

Twilight Sparkle was still the personal student of Princess Celestia and still wrote reports and received lessons. A few times a month she would travel to Canterlot for more advanced magical training. Even with the massive change in her life, things continued in a way that almost made it seem as if nothing had changed.

For a while she hoped that she might get to say something at the Grand Galloping Gala. Now she realized that it had been folly.

She and her friends defeated the embodiment of chaos and helped to fight off a changeling invasion. That last one had been the worst. Princess Celestia had never snapped at her before.

You have a lot to think about.

Twilight sighed and rested her head on her desk looking at the calendar. The Summer Sun Celebration Eve was tomorrow, and it would be held in Canterlot. She considered buying a train ticket and heading over to the castle. Only she no longer had an excuse to go to the Princess's chambers. Princess Celestia had her sister back and would not be suffering tomorrow night. Besides, Twilight was now a pony on the periphery of the Princess’s life.

The Princess had even taken away Twilight’s letters.

You're not even really her student anymore.

Twilight rolled her head so she could look at the boardgame on her shelf. It was still sealed. Pinkie Pie had grabbed it once and suggested they play it. Twilight was not certain if she had ever screamed as loud in her life, and she could still feel the embarrassment. She had given the excuse that she did not know the rules and did not feel like learning a new game, but she was fairly certain Pinkie Pie knew that she was lying.

You made Pinkie feel bad when you yelled at her.

After almost a full year in Ponyville, Twilight had better friends than she ever could have imagined but was more miserable than any other time she could remember.

They may love you, but they will never love you.

Maybe she would throw the game away. She closed her eyes as she began to fall asleep at her desk.

“Twilight?”

Twilight fell onto her back as she whirled around in surprise. Looking up, she saw a large white alicorn standing over her with a concerned look.

“Are you alright, Twilight?”

“Princess! I’m fine. I just-” Twilight spoke as she stood up. “I wasn’t expecting anypony tonight. Spike is over at Rarity’s and…” Twilight trailed off as she saw the item that Celestia was holding.

“Spike actually wrote to me telling me that you had been sad recently and that he didn’t know why. He was worried about you. I thought I might be able to keep you company and cheer you up. Maybe we could play a game of Mareopoly. I hear you’ve been meaning to learn to play.”

Twilight could only stutter in surprise as the Princess made her way across the room and sat down on the floor with the game box in front of her. Princess Celestia removed the packaging with a slow grace.

“Princess, you didn’t have to come here.”

“I wanted to come here, Twilight. But, I can leave if my presence is making you uncomfortable.”

“No!” Twilight’s hoof shot out with her shout, and she repeated in a quieter tone, “I mean, no Princess. I would love your company.”

Princess Celestia nodded. “I’m here for you tonight, but if you could dispense with my title I would appreciate it. We are just two ponies enjoying one another’s company after all.”

“Celestia.” Simply saying the name naked sent a shiver down Twilight’s spine.

“Please Twilight, take a seat. I think we need to go over these rules.”

“We’re playing Mareopoly?”

“It would be awfully silly to have the game and not play it, wouldn’t it?” Celestia smiled.

Twilight had missed that smile.

“Okay.” Twilight took a seat across the board.

“One of us needs to be the banker,” Celestia said as she began sorting out paper money.

“Celestia?”

“Yes, Twilight? Celestia said glancing up from the rules.

“I’m sorry.”

“Twilight, I told you that you don’t-”

“No, I mean…” Twilight paused as her brain tried to process what her mouth had already figured out. “This isn’t me just freaking out or listening to that voice in my head. I really am sorry.”

“Whatever for?”

“I’ve been inconsiderate. You don’t like to be called Princess.”

“Not by you.”

“I’ll try harder. I can’t promise that I won’t mess up. But I’ll try.”

Celestia smiled again. “I would like that.”

Twilight levitated up a game piece. “Can I be the thimble?”

“Only if I can be the hat.”

“I can live with that.”

Twilight scooted over to sit next to Celestia so that the two of them could pore over the rules together. After a moment, Twilight gave into the temptation and leaned into the alicorn. She wanted to coo at the warmth.

“Celestia?”

“Hmm?”

“Nothing, I was just-”

“Go ahead, Twilight.”

“No, I mean, I just wanted to test how it sounds,” Twilight admitted.

“You’ve said my name before.”

“Never like this.”

“No I suppose not.”

Celestia rested a wing over Twilight’s back as she rolled the dice in her magic.

“Looks like I get to move eleven spaces.” Celestia moved her game piece. “I think I will buy the property.”

Twilight rolled the dice and frowned at the single pip that showed on each die. Celestia stuck her tongue out in a mocking gesture and Twilight thought about what she would like to do with that tongue. She almost leaned over and kissed her mentor.

Twilight passed the dice.

“You know, Twilight, tomorrow is the Eve of the Summer Sun Celebration.”

“Yes.” Her voice cracked.

“I was thinking, perhaps you could come to Canterlot tomorrow. We could get dinner and spend the evening enjoying one another’s company.”

“For our yearly game of Mareopoly?”

Twilight felt a thrill going down her spine at Celestia’s smirk.

“No, I think you can leave the game here.”

Author's Notes:

I had to edit another character out of the screen cap I used for my cover image. Can anyone guess who?