She’s asleep before I’ve even finished rubbing the preening oil into her left wing. My little Twilight. My love. Insecure enough that she can’t bring herself to say what she really wants, but brave enough to sneak into my room to try and get it. A duality if I’ve ever known one. I stifle a yawn and smile to myself before starting on her other wing. She’s certainly picked the day for it.

I should take a bath before I go to sleep myself. A few hours from now, I’ll need to be in court again. All fresh faced and bushy tailed. Clean, and rested. A part of me wonders what it would be like to forgo all of that. To let Twilight’s ejaculate dry on my face and neck, and let her smell mark me as hers.

It’s an exciting thought to be sure, and I have to suppress a shiver that makes my tail fly up. Perhaps I should’ve let Twilight do as she pleased. Stars know I could’ve used it. I chuckle and shake my head. No, I did the right thing. Patience is a virtue, and it will make the time when she does actually decide that she’s brave enough to take me all the more pleasant. For now, however, I should get cleaned up.

It isn’t even really a question of whether or not I would dare do something so audacious, it’s not a decision I can make on my own. Our relationship is still a secret, for now, and breaking that news to the press needs to be handled delicately, not by one princess showing up in court covered in the cum of the other.

With a short, swift shake of my head, I rid myself of the ridiculous notion and get up, using my magic to extinguish the candles while I look down at Twilight. She looks so peaceful when she's asleep. If only she could hold on to a fraction of that peace while she's awake. I lean down and whisper an "I love you," into her ear before placing a kiss on it. It flicks against the sensation and she smiles in her sleep.

Forget taking a bath, forget even going to court. I could sit right here and watch her for hours. After a minute or so, I pull myself away and step away from the bed. Love makes ponies do strange things, and if I allow it to rule my decision making, the country would fall apart in weeks, if not days, if not the four or five hours it would take Blueblood to insult every single dignitary in the castle.

And yet, while I make my way to the bathroom, there's little I can think of but Twilight. Seeing her happy is always a treat, but seeing her in ecstasy, bucking her hips against the air in a climax I brought her to? That's an entirely different level of enjoyment that I can’t get enough of. I may very well be hyperbolic, but I would almost go so far as to say that her pleasure excites me more than anything she could do to me.

Stepping into my own bathroom shouldn’t be a strange experience, yet it is. Every single time. The reason, well, reasons, are the gifts that are heaped upon me from day to day. Whatever logic drives dignitaries and the like to give me toiletries is something I still cannot fathom, but it does give my bathroom a different look every time.

There’s about half a dozen rugs that the maid keeps swapping in and out, at least, until the Sultan drops by again. Today it’s a crimson affair that’s incredibly soft to the touch. Beyond that is the bath; probably the only permanent feature in the bathroom, consisting of an indent in the floor in the shape of my cutiemark, which is filled with water at all times. It streams in from a small gap in the wall, which leads to a marble sink, and then down into several decorative pools before finally mixing with the rest of the water in the bath. A marvel of aesthetic design which I’ve grown quite fond of. It is, perhaps, one of the few places I can really relax. Right now, however, all I really need is the warm water to clean myself up.

The simple, mundane task of cleaning myself is a welcome diversion from the excitement that continues to niggle in the back of my mind. With time, however, that too settles down and I can relax more fully. When it comes time to wash my hair, I find myself with another quandary: Choosing a particular shampoo. Not something I have ever wondered or worried about before. But for the first time I find myself staring at the cabinet that holds the entire gamut of hair cleaning products, without really knowing which one I should use.

Twilight is to blame for my indecision. Before tonight, I would simply choose a fragrance that I liked, or a soap that did a particularly good job; but now... now I wonder if Twilight would like one fragrance more than another. Specifically, Sandalwood or Rose.

I can’t help but giggle at my own foolishness. For all my knowledge and experience, I really am no better at dealing with these feelings than any living pony would be. Strange how far you are willing to go for the one you love...

A musical ditty pops into my head unannounced and I hum along while I work on my mane. Second century classical stanzas are a far cry from the musical melodies of today, but somehow, some of them stuck.

I’m halfway through soaping up my tail when my ears perk at an unfamiliar sound. Looking back, the only sight that greets me is of a door to the bedroom I didn’t bother to close, and behind it a bed and Twilight snoring lightly. I can’t help but smile when she snorts and paws at something that exists only in her dreams. It makes me want to go and find my sister, and enlist her help to find out what exactly that is.

On second thought... after what I just did to Twilight, perhaps it’s better that I didn’t.

After rinsing out my mane, I take a deep breath before immersing myself in the bathwater. There’s no real need for it, but sometimes... sometimes it is nice to test my limits in a way that doesn’t cause widespread panic and or damage. I count the seconds, and then the minutes it takes before my lungs begin to burn with the need for fresh oxygen. Six minutes and twenty-three seconds pass before I have to surface for air, heaving and gasping while I swim to the side of the bath.

Leaning against the edge of the bath while I recover always makes me feel... comfortable. Safe. Likely because I've used it for that purpose for so long. I let my mind wander and it settles on a court incident from a few days ago. The court of law, rather than the more amenable kind.

A Duke by the name of Earthly Delights was accused by one of his guards of trying to suffocate his wife. The only reason he wasn't convicted was because the wife burst in at the last moment and plead that he was only obliging her in her... fetishes. A humorless smile plays around my lips while I shake my head. Incredible what some ponies find arousing these days.

My heart beats in my throat as if to remind me of the fact that I did something not too dissimilar from their play mere minutes ago. Was it pleasurable in any way? a brief moment of silence and introspection confirms that it wasn’t. Of course It doesn’t, all I've ever wanted is loving, romantic, normal, sex.

Or do I? Thinking back on how excited watching Twilight leads me to believe that I might have a voyeuristic streak. And then there's the idea I had before. Perhaps I have at least a little bit of an exhibitionist in me as well to which my tail can attest.

I had thought that the embers of my excitement had died down a while ago, during my submersion, but it seems like that was only a temporary hiatus. The fire in my nethers returns full force, and taking what I know as true, I can't help but wonder how I would go about indulging in those particular kinks.

The first idea that pops into my head is a simple one: enlist Luna and find out what Twilight is dreaming about, whatever it is. Maybe I could even ask her if she wants to watch us make love...or some of her friends? It seems so simple, yet feels so very naughty, and I find that I would really like to try something like that, Twilight permitting. Or even something a little more crazy and audacious, like having Twilight do whatever she wants to me while I hold court.

Any and all ideas that come to me for the other side of the coin are much more... wild. Sneaking into the Crystal Castle to spy on Cadence and Shining Armor, for example. Not that I believe Twilight would be very thrilled watching her brother have sex, but you never know for sure. With invisibility spells it would be easy enough to find something, somewhere, though at the same time it doesn’t quite feel right. It’s all very exciting, but I should probably talk to Twilight about it first.

Finally, I get out of the bath, looking around to see where in Equestria the maids have put the towel rack this time. There are days where I am convinced that everypony in my immediate surroundings would kiss the ground on which I walked if I allowed them to; and then there's days— or I suppose nights like tonight, where I'm convinced they would put a bucket full of frogs on the door of the bathroom if they thought they could get away with it. Perhaps that is my own fault. I do like to pull a few pranks every now and then, if only because life in the castle would be unbearably dull without them, but it seems that, after Luna's return, they have become more bold in their retaliatory pranks.

Or perhaps it is all Luna's doing...

My suspicions are just that: suspicions, but the group of suspects capable of pulling off this latest prank shrinks dramatically when I finally find the towel rack; stuck to the ceiling with a simple adhesive spell. Even though the magic released through my hair warms the immediate area around it, it is nowhere near hot enough to evaporate any water. I suppose I could increase the output... but that could cause complications both with the stability of my magic, not to mention the stability of my surroundings. After a moment of deliberation and a shake of my head, I undo the adhesive spell, shielding myself in case it is somehow boobytrapped.

For once luck is on my side, or rather, the prankster that put this particular prank together is more benign than I would have thought, which rules out Luna. Which means that, after bringing down the rack I am left with about a dozen towels and not much else.

It takes a while, but before too long I’ve gotten the ‘bushy tailed’ of the job description down. Now it’s just a matter of snuggling up to Twilight for the remaining four and a half hours ‘till sunrise, and hope that I can will ‘bright eyed’ into existence by the end of it.

A cold shiver travels down my spine. Something feels wrong. Off, in a way that I can’t quite put my hoof on. My ears perk up when another noise, tiny and nigh imperceptible, emanates from somewhere in the room. I am not alone. And the fact that I can’t see anypony doesn’t bode well for the intentions of whomever is trying to sneak up on me.

It isn’t the first time I’ve had some creature make an attempt on my life. Despite the obvious fact that their success rate thus far has been... well... zero, there are still enemies of mine who believe that my opposition to their advancement or ideas is most easily solved with a blade. This one, too, will find that I am not easy prey.

My heart catches in my throat when I realise that there is somepony in my room who would be. Twilight! I violently suppress the panic that boils to life in my stomach and threatens to make me sick at the thought of losing Twilight, and force myself to be still. Waiting. Listening for the minute signs of my intruder’s presence.

I can sense that they are moving closer more than I can either see or hear them. Whoever it is has done a good job of masking their presence; almost perfectly so in fact. It won’t help them. A moment passes in which I’m not sure I want to scream or throw up; the uncertainty about Twilight weighing heavily on the back of my mind. I can’t do either. If they knew I knew, they could get away.

They’re getting close now. Nearly close enough... almost... almost... there!

With a sudden burst of speed, I sweep my large wings across the bathroom, catching what feels to be a pony judging by the weight, and sending them flying across the room and into the bath. “Invisibility doesn’t help much if your body weight displaces enough water to form an outline in the surface, rogue,” I growl while my attacker struggles to upright themselves in the water. “—and so help me if you’ve harmed Twilight...”

I was going to cast a small spell for protection, but the magic gathers in my horn with frightening ease and I end up with a much larger charge than I'd intended. Although I guess that has it’s uses... I level it at my would be attacker, intent on blasting a rather large hole in their chest if they make a move I don’t approve of. In their struggle to get themselves above the waterline, their invisibility spell fades and I find myself aiming my spell of untold destruction at...

“...Twilight?”

She drags herself to the edge of the bath, coughing and spluttering all the while. My worries about Twilight turn into short-lived horror when the realisation of what I was about to do sinks in. I let the spell diffuse into the surrounding air and race towards her, helping her out of the bath and giving her a once over while she catches her breath.

“Twilight, are you alright?” My voice cracks under the emotional pressure. The only thing worse than losing Twilight to an assassin, would be harming her myself.

“I...” She coughs a few times. “I think so.” She gets up, testing each of her legs, and then her wings in turn.

All of them move like they’re supposed to and she doesn’t wince, which make me sigh in relief. Followed immediately by a burst of anger, that makes me grit my teeth and focus all of my willpower to keep myself from shouting at her. I fail to contain it. "What in the world were you thinking?!”

She flattens her ears against her skull and looks at the floor, tracing little circles on it with a hoof. Holdout behaviour from days past, which she would adopt whenever I scolded her for mistakes ranging from rearranging the entire royal library to suit her own tastes, to reversing gravity in the entirety of the castle.

“You could’ve gotten... I could have...” Words fail me. How do I properly convey how dangerous... how close I was to...

“I wanted to surprise you,” she says softly.

“By using invisibility?!”

She winces and looks up at me with a sheepish smile. “I did say that you would never see me coming.” Her tone is surprisingly light, which does nothing to lighten the load that settles on my heart.

She did say that, didn’t she? The anger that was a roaring fire seconds ago, sputters and fizzles inside my chest, taking all of the strength I had left with it. My hind legs and tush hit the marble of the bathroom with an audible thud and I can do little more than stare into the space just above Twilight’s head.

It’s my fault. What I did? I should have known. She specifically told me she would try something like this and I dismissed it. Because I didn’t pay close enough attention, I almost vaporized my marefri— the love of my life. Even after I had sworn I would never hurt anypony I cared about ever again...

Cold shivers crop up all over my body and my breath comes up short of the amount of oxygen my body requires. Worse. In my mind’s eye, a battle long since forgotten by time plays out second by agonising second. My stomach lurches and I feel like I’m going to be sick. Twilight is talking; saying something that I can’t make out over the blood rushing through my ears, and gesturing emphatically while doing so.

I need to... do something. I have to—

My head lurches forward suddenly, aided by Twilight’s hooves which link behind it, and I’m left staring into her lovely purple eyes. She scoots forwards and kisses me, and it somehow makes everything I can imagine less...well... just less.

It still takes time for me to crawl out of the despair that seized me, but Twilight, my love, holds me during it all. “I’m sorry, Princess,” she says at length, after I’ve calmed down a little.

To my surprise, I find myself smiling. I wish we could stay like this for a week. Just she and I. “How many times are you going to call me by my title?”

She laughs in response and kisses me again. “I’m afraid I’ll be making that mistake quite a few more times.” She pulls back her forelegs and leans against my chest with a soft sigh for a moment before speaking up again. “Celestia?”

“Yes?”

“I uh...” She chuckles nervously. “I don’t know why invisibility was such a big deal, but... can I still...” she trails off and swallows a few times. It’s endearing, and gives me a pretty good idea of what she’s about to say. “Can I make love to you?”

I should say no. Between the panic and the anger, I’ve long since burned through whatever passes for composure today, which isn’t even talking about the scant few hours I have before court puts a strain on it again. But when I look down at her, see her breathe in through her nose and exhale it softly while staring at the door and rubbing her cheek against my coat... I only have a yielding affirmative for her. “Yes you can, Twilight.”

After the roller coaster ride my emotions have taken, I feel more than a little drained, and decide to let Twilight take the lead. No doubt she has some interesting theories on how intercourse should be established.

I sit and observe her as the seconds pass and turn into minutes. She separates from the quasi-nuzzle she was giving me and sits down at the edge of the bath; looking everywhere but directly at me. She's hesitating.

Hesitating, while she knows the Kamare Sutra better than most ponies know their neighbours. "Twilight?” Frustration and exhaustion are not advisors, and her name escapes my lips together with a half formed groan of frustration.

When she finally looks at me, I feel the urge to slap myself in the face. Uncertainty and fear have made themselves comfortable and shine from her eyes like beacons. Of course she is going to be uncertain when the extent of her sexual experience is limited to what I did to her on my own bed just now.

One deep breath later, I find the strength to impose at least some manner of composure on myself. The self chastisement can wait, right now, she needs me to be a teacher. "Where do you want me, Twilight?" I ask her, as gently as I can muster.

"I... I don't..." Her ears droop and she slinks away from me, curling in on herself to appear as small as possible. Oh, Twilight...

"What is the first rule in the Kamare Sutra, Twilight?"

"Make sure that your partner is comfortable,” she replies, quickly. Characteristically textbook perfect, but then... that’s not what’s important right now.

“And where do you think I would be comfortable in here?”

She looks around surreptitiously before replying: "The bath, although the bed would probably—”

Simply by holding up a hoof, I forestall the rest of her sentence. Going back to bed at this stage would defeat the entire purpose of taking a bath. So instead I paint a smile on my face and ask: "And the second rule?

"Communication.” Twilight taps one hoof with the other as if she’s summarising from the book directly. “You need to make sure that you and your partner understand one another. The first and most important reason is so that there are no unpleasant surprises during intercourse, while the second is that it will help lead to a deeper and more fulfilling relationship. The level of communication is dictated entirely by your ow—”

Rather than hold up a hoof a second time, I lean down and give her a quick kiss. It works just as well as the hoof, and is much more enjoyable. “And taking those two rules into account, what should your next course of action be?”

Twilight looks up at me and smiles that special smile that is meant only for me and asks: "Celestia? Will you join me in the bath? I want to make love to you."

It's so incredibly corny and textbook that it makes me want to giggle. Yet, at the same time, her earnest expression and the genuine love in her eyes make my heart beat faster, as it does every time that I see her like this. "I would love to, Twilight."

She takes one of my front legs in hers and leads me into the bath like a true gentlemare. After I've settled down, she sidles up to me and plants a kiss on my chin, which is just about the highest point she can reach without resorting to either flying or magic. I should really lean down a little to make it easier on her, but her actions are all the more endearing for her effort, and I can’t bring myself to do anything more than what she needs from me.

"Sorry for freezing up like that, Princess."

I am beginning to hate that title. Coming from her lips, it is nothing short of an admittance of fear. A plea for my indulgence and understanding, even though she has done nothing wrong. Her magic draws a happy sigh from me when she turns it into a scratching tool and gets me behind the ears. I wish there was some way I could help her get over that fear.

While she lets her magic do most of the work of roaming through my coat in a fashion typical to her, Twilight herself doesn't remain idle. She tried to kiss me again, and when it doesn't work, she steps away, and rears up so she can place her hooves on my shoulders. For a brief moment, I let the notion of seizing the momentum from her and making her scream my name cross my mind before dismissing it. The smile that accompanies the thought doesn't go unnoticed however.

"What are you thinking about?"

I look into her beautiful eyes. There's love and caring there, and now, due to my less than neutral smile, a great deal of curiosity as well.

"I was merely thinking on how much you've grown during the last year."

Even that small bit of praise is enough to send blood to her cheeks, which makes me want to devour her all over again. "I didn't really... I just... I learned a lot from my friends."

The prankster in me can't resist putting her answer in the wrong context and my smile grows a little wider still. "You mean I have their promiscuity to thank for your newfound sexual bravery?" I ask, faking shock.

Her blush doubles in strength and reaches all the way to the tips of her ears. "N-no!" She sputters. "That's not— I'm not— I didn't do anything like that!"

I lick my lips slowly, sensually while I lean forward, embracing her with my front legs to keep her from falling over. "Don't worry, Twilight," I tell her with a giddy edge to my voice which I try my best to disguise as lust. "You can tell me, I won't judge."

"No... I... I—"

I can't hold it anymore and double over laughing. Twilight looks confused for a second, indignant the second thereafter, and the rest of her expressions are lost to me when she harrumphs and her magic pushes me into the deeper end of the bath.

Being submerged does little to diminish my joy, and the moment I surface, Twilight receives a big wave—courtesy of my own magic— which drenches both her and most of the bathroom. The look on her face in the aftermath is priceless, and I laugh wholeheartedly while splashing her again.

Before long, both of us are splashing around, using our magic, as well as hooves and wings to pelt each other with as much water as possible; laughing like young foals all the while. Twilight even goes so far as to create a water golem, which I find I can't escape from because the bout of laughter I'm suffering from is debilitating.

After being chased around by the living mini-tsunami for a while, it catches up with me, and I'm forced to hold my breath when it does—good thing I can still manage six minutes— before Twilight dispels it in a hurry.

After a sputtering cough or two, and brushing my mane out of my face, I find myself near the edge of the bath nearest to the door again. The golem must have carried me along for a while. Embarrassing, but my revenge will be sweet. Working quickly, before Twilight's next attack, I weave a myriad of magical webs, trapping gallon sized globes of water within each of them. It's an old trick I've used since the first time we had one of these fights, but Twilight hasn't yet found a way to defend herself from it. For a brief moment, I see the young lavender filly that ineffectually tried to splash me with her hooves, and smile, only to come face to face with the mare she has grown into when I turn around to unleash my retaliatory strike.

She's standing right in front of me, close enough that I can hear her breathing. The smile our water fight coaxed from her, while still present, is fading rapidly, replaced by an expression of intense focus usually reserved for her most favorite books. Time stretches between us, returning to normal only when she lunges, locking her lips to mine in a kiss. It's unexpected. It's exquisite. We both get gallons of water dumped on us when the shock of the sudden kiss makes me forget to maintain the webs I constructed.

Twilight pays it no mind and continues to kiss me. Hungrily, desperately. The sensation of the kiss becomes the focal point of my world for a brief moment until it is joined by her magic running through my wings. I don't know how she does it, but while the areas she focuses on are identical to the ones that so worried my guards, the resulting pleasure makes both of them flare out to their full span, rather making me look like a lovestruck teenager than an age old Alicorn.

In an instant, all of the passion, and suppressed desire that I've been carrying around for oh so long, sparks and alights like it has never left. It makes it hard to remain standing, given that my legs quiver like they are made of jello while the lips of my nethers clench against nothing but air. It is like the my self control shatters, and everything Twilight does fills me with a desperate need to be touched; made love to; fucked.

"Twilight," I gasp in a frenzy of lust after the kiss finally ends, shaking on my own hooves while her magic continues to drive me crazy. "Fuck me." It's short, demanding, and vulgar, and I can't bring myself to care. I need what Twilight can give me. All of it.

And within moments, I get my wish. Twilight's web of magic expands past my wings. Enveloping my entire torso, then my neck and head and finally, most importantly, my pussy. The feelings of being caressed everywhere at once is enough to make my legs buckle, but Twilight's magic is there when they do. The caresses are almost enough to send me over the edge by themselves, that's how worked up I am, but Twilight isn't done yet. She watches me intently and drives a cylinder of magic between my drenched lower lips.

That alone is enough to send me into an earth shattering climax, but Twilight. My dear, sweet, overachiever of a lover, locks her horn with mine and draws out my magic, using it to link us together in a way I scarcely understand. While my sex ripples along Twilight's magical construct constricting it like a vice, and my body convulses with pleasure, I find myself strangely lucid.

I am not alone.

Amid the sea of pleasure, I see myself, face contorted in a mask of ecstasy. Yet, I feel anxious, afraid even. I wonder if I've done the right thing; can't believe that I would be so bold; worry that I might be upset or even angry with me. The fear grows until the pleasure is just background noise, and I want to run away, fearing that I've ruined everything. Stupid, so stupid.

Days, weeks, Months of research pass me by, intertwined with a feeling of anticipation. That same anticipation is tainted by fear, and cleansed by a spark of courage when I slip into the room behind my own tail.

And then I understand what it is Twilight has done. For all my experience, I’ve never before been part of a mindmeld-spell. Mostly because I didn’t know such a thing existed. Leave it to Twilight to prove me wrong, inventive little minx that she is.

Opening myself up to the sensations, I see a filly, crying because she's afraid of the dark and feel her fear as though it were my own. A young Alicorn struggling with the doubled burdens of rule now that her sister is gone, feeling the exhaustion and despair as though it happened yesterday.

Faster and faster, the images follow one another; the very first sunrise and the elation that accompanied it; an equally elated filly that didn't want to sleep the day she got her cutiemark; petty squabbles; bullies at school; birthday parties; pranks played between sisters; bored in court; bored in a classroom...

When it ends, I’ve seen all there is of her, and I imagine she’s seen all there is of me. Even that explanation feels wrong. There’s no ‘I’, just like there is no ‘her’ there’s just... us.

“I love you.”

I don’t know who uttered the words, perhaps we both did, but I am overwhelmed by the feelings of love and adoration that we feel for one another. And then it ends.

I suck in a deep breath and pant when the magic ends. My body is my own again, and even though it seems like an eternity has passed, I’m still orgasming like time stood still. Still subject to my lover’s magic which seems perfectly fine with keeping me at the height of ecstasy for the foreseeable future.

All of my muscle ache and tremble. My feathers feel like they were ripped out and then inexpertly glued back on. And my horn may well be on fire. But I have never been happier.

With some difficulty, I can see the point at which Twilight regains control of herself, and a soft, needy moan from my lips paints something akin to shock on her face. It doesn’t last, and neither does her magic. When it fades, I drop the few inches she had me suspended, and slump over sideways.

Between the aftershocks of pleasure, my exhaustion, and my position on the floor, my field of view is limited to a thin strip of the bathroom, and I can’t help but smile when Twilight cautiously steps into it. Cautious, but no longer hesitant.

“Sorry, I didn’t ask,” she says lamely, even though she knows I don’t mind. When I don’t respond, however, she steps closer and tilts her head. “Celestia? Are you okay?”

That’s all I need. Using the last of my strength I lunge at her as well as I am able and manage to catch one of her ears between my teeth. I bite on it until she yelps in pain and growl: “Mine.”

We remain like that for a while. A long while by my estimate of time, before she lights up her horn and uses it to carefully extract her ear from the trap of my teeth, and then levitating her bone-weary lover over to the bed, water be damned. I am so completely spent that I lack even the strength to form the sentence required to ask her to make love to me again.

But I don’t have to.

Looking in her eyes, I can tell that she’s thinking of doing just that.

There are no secrets between us anymore. No boundaries we are afraid to overstep. Everything was laid bare, and all remains is love.

She licks her lips and lowers her head towards my labia, but stops just shy of my outer lips. “Don’t you have court in a few hours?” I can hear her ask, curiously, while tortuously keeping herself inches away from me.

I only have one reply. A croaked: “Fuck court.”

Author's Notes:

Alternate Title for this Chapter: Vanished Princess.

That's all folks. I hope you enjoyed the story.