"Get back here you thieves!" the Royal Guard shouted, chasing after Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle. The clatter of the guard's armor grew closer.

"What are we going to do Shiny!?" Twilight asked her older brother as they dove behind some cover. "We're going to be in so much trouble!"

"Quick, Twilie! We have to destroy the evidence before we get caught!" Shining said to his little sister as they hid. Both quickly ate what they could.

"Give those back!" their father shouted at the ponies with the cookie jar behind the couch. Shining Armor made a bubble shield around himself and his little sister with his magic. "Shining, no magic!" Night Light yelled. They kept eating cookies. "Don't make me counter-spell you! You know how much that stings!" he said. Shining could tell he was serious and lowered the shield. Night Light reached down, snatching the cookie jar away from them. "You're going to ruin your dinner!"

"Aww!" the siblings whined.

"Honestly!" Night Light scolded. "When you asked me to go put on my old Guard uniform to play cops and robbers, I didn't think it was just to distract me," he said as he put the cookie jar back in the kitchen cabinet. "Just so you two could be actual robbers!" He walked back into the living room. They were both jumping on the couch. "Oh, what now!?"

"The floor is lava!" Twilight said.

"Yeah!" Shining said. "Can't touch the floor!" He jumped from the couch to the recliner. The impact made the chair accidentally recline and fall over sending Shining, and the floor lamp beside it, toppling to the floor, breaking the bulb inside.

"You're dead!" Twilight said as Shining touched the floor. He looked up at his father standing over him.

"Yes he is," Night growled. "Outside! Both of you! Back yard if you're going to be running around like this!" he said. The two younger ponies ran out the back door and started playing on the jungle gym's swing set. Night Light set to work sweeping up the glass and getting a new bulb. He changed out of his old armor uniform and put it away back in the memento box. Along with the newspapers they had saved, reporting the adoption of Cadance by Princess Celestia. And a newer one that announced the young Princess Cadance had miraculously gained a horn and ascended to an Alicorn. Back downstairs, he checked on his little ponies in the back yard. He looked at the kitchen clock. It was barely lunch time and he was already exhausted. "Dammit, Vel, where are you?"

"I want her back!" Twilight Velvet demanded.

"It's out of the question! The gears are already in motion! There's no going back now, even if we wanted to!" Princess Celestia retorted, "Cadance has already ascended. She's a Princess! She's a public figure! She's the first new Alicorn in the world in almost a millennium!"

"She is MY daughter, dammit!" Velvet yelled. Celestia checked the soundproofing spell on her royal chambers.

"Not anymore," Celestia said, calmer, trying to deescalate the fight. "If you want her back as your daughter, you're going to have to settle for her as your daughter-in-law. You can do that by helping ensure that Shining Armor joins the Royal Guard, and excels, so I can promote him and make him Cadance's personal guard, as planned! You just need to be patient!"

"I've waited long enough! I just need to see her. Can't you just have her come visit?" Velvet huffed, feeling very tired, herself, just from raising her other two foals. "For pony's sake I know Night Light and I could use the help for a day with those two around the house." Celestia's eyes lit up with an idea.

"Do you need a foalsitter?" she asked.

"What? Why?" Velvet asked. Celestia smiled.

"Because I think I know a way for us to both get what we want," Celestia said as the gears turned in her head. "Yes, yes that could work. That would work nicely!" she said to herself as she paced around her desk, formulating a plan. "Princess Cadance could be your foalsitter!" Celestia said.

"How could we have a princess as a foal-sitter?" Velvet asked. "Why would a princess even be a foal sitter?" Celestia rubbed her chin.

"We could make it look like a public service, to teach the young princess about responsibility. The Equestrian Press would have a field day with a public interest piece like that."

"And why would she choose us? I mean, Night and I? Who are we? I used to be your protege, and Night was in the Guard. But as far as the public is concerned, we're nopony!" Velvet asked.

"She wouldn't... we couldn't. We would have to... hold a contest! A lottery! Families could enter for a chance to have Cadance be their foalsitter. But we'll rig the contest so that you'll win, of course." She looked at Velvet. "That should be satisfactory. So long as you can continue to keep the truth about her a secret. Especially from her." Velvet nodded.

"For this opportunity!? Of course!" Velvet said. Celestia sat back in her chair and grinned.

"Just think of the wedding," Celestia mused. "The story they'll get to tell the press about how they first met. Young love, reunited years later as adults by 'fate'." Celestia chuckled, marveling at her own brilliance. "It's almost... storybook!"

"And we'll get to have Cadance back!" Velvet said.

"For a time," Celestia cautioned. "But once Twilight is older, we will not be able to carry on the farce. We must stick to the original plan. Do you understand?"

"I do, Princess," Velvet said.

"I have work to do in preparation for the 'big contest'. You make sure that your name is in that drawing. Run along now. I'm sure your- the rest of your family misses you."

"Thank you."

"Stop it! It's not funny!" Night Light shouted, dripping wet in the summer evening. Twilight and Shining Armor stood up on top of the jungle gym with the hose.

"Yes it is!" Twilight cheered, spraying the water at him again.

"Shining Armor! You know better than this!" Night yelled, deflecting any more water with his magic shield as he made his way over to the hose spigot. Her turned it off and started pulling the hose away from them.

"Out of ammo!" Shining said, dropping the hose. "Run!" He and Twilight slid down the slide as Night Light chased them around the house. On the return lap, the two fugitives tripped over the garden hose and fell into the soaked dirt, marring their fur with dark mud blotches.

"Oh what the heck!" Night Light said, catching up to them. "Look at you two! You look like a couple of cows! Now on top of everything else, I'm going to have to give you a bath" They both got up out of the mud and start to walk towards the door. "Oh no you don't! You're not going inside like that!" Night Light grabbed the hose, and turned on the water. "Hooves!" They each held out their hooves one at a time as he sprayed them.

"It's cold!" Twilight whined.

"I know!" Night Light said, his fur still dripping. He finished getting most of the mud and turned off the water. "Dry your hooves on the mat on your way in, and go straight to the bathroom. And don't touch anything!"

Night Light coiled up the hose and followed them inside. They waited obediently in the bathroom. Night Light walked in and began drawing a bath. While the water was filling the tub he just looked at them and shook his head.

"What would your mother say if she saw you like this, hmm?" he asked Twilight. "And you," he said to Shining. "What kind of an example are you setting?"

"The hose wasn't my idea!" Shining said.

"It doesn't matter! I shouldn't have to be the one putting a stop to your antics!" Night said. "Alright, in the tub." Shining stepped into the tub and Twilight climbed in after him.

"Mom makes a bubble bath for us!" Twilight said.

"I know Mom is usually the one that gives you guys baths, but she's not here right now. So tough!" Night said. "I'm not having her come home to you guys looking like you just crawled out of a swamp."

"Why are you so mean!?" she asked.

"Because you sprayed me with a hose!" Night said.

"You sprayed me with a hose too!" she said.

"To clean the mud off of you! That's different! And it was just your hooves!" Night said.

"Still counts!" she said.

"This isn't up for debate!" Night said, raising his voice. He grabbed a bar of soap and rubbed it in his hooves, working it into a lather. He gave it to Shining. "Here, start scrubbing your sister," he instructed. Shining started cleaning Twilight's back. Night grabbed the other bar started scrubbing the muddy stains out of Shining's snow-white fur. "Why couldn't you have been born with earth tones?"

"I'm a unicorn, not an earth pony," he said.

"No I mean- earth tones are a group of colors that you would find out in nature. Greens and browns like leaves and dirt. And mud."

"Sorry I'm not mud-colored, Dad," Shining said.

"You don't need to be sorry for not being mud colored," Night said. "Be sorry that you are mud colored now." Twilight turned around and stuck out her tongue at her brother. "Both of you!"

The kitchen timer started ringing downstairs.

"Damn it!" Night Light cursed.

"Bad word!" Twilight said.

"I have to go get dinner out of the oven!" Night Light gave his bar of soap to Twilight. "Here, see if you can get your brother's fur white again," Night said, quickly toweling himself off. "Stay in the tub! No splashing!" He quickly headed downstairs. Twilight turned around and they rubbed each other with their soap.

"Hey Shiny, that was really neat with the magic shield earlier," Twilight said, scrubbing his fur.

"Thanks Twi. Remember the first time I did that?" he asked as he soaped her mane.

"Yeah. I was trying to climb the bookshelf and I accidentally pulled it over. It almost fell on us but you did your shield, and you saved me!"

"And that was how I got my cutie mark!" he said with pride.

After a minute or so, the warm bath water was starting to have a very specific effect on the adolescent colt. Twilight looked down at the strange thing poking up out of the water between them. "What's that!?"

Downstairs, Night Light grabbed a pair of mitts an took the casserole out of the oven, setting it on the rack to cool. The front door opened and Velvet came inside.

"I'm home!" she said.

"I'm in the kitchen!" he said. She walked into the kitchen and looked around quickly.

"Where are the kids?" she asked.

"They're in the bath. I just came down for a second to take this out of the oven," he said.

"Oh, okay," Velvet said as she set her bag down. She felt her stomach drop for a second. "You... did make sure to make it a bubble bath, right!? Lots of bubbles?"

"No," Night answered. Velvet turned on her hoof and ran to the bathroom. She threw open the door of the bathroom and dashed inside.

"Heeeey!" Velvet said, trying not to sound panicked as she knelt down beside the tub. "Hey guys! I'm home!" She put her hooves between them and pushed them both to opposite ends of the tub. "Remember what we talked about? Keeping our hooves to ourselves in the tub!?"

"Dad told me to clean him," Twilight said.

"Yeah, it's okay," Shining said.

"No! Listen! Twilight, turn around!" Twilight faced the front of the tub as Velvet turned the water back on and added lots of bubbled soap to the water, creating an opaque blanket of white hiding Shining's... business.

"But why?" Twilight asked. "Why are we only supposed to clean ourselves? You clean me."

"That's different. I'm your mother!" Velvet said. "I also used to change your diapers. I only wash you because you don't have your magic yet. Then you can do it yourself."

"But not Shining?" Twilight asked.

"No. You don't do that to each other," Velvet said.

"Why?" she asked her mother. Shining looked at Velvet as well, curious for the answer.

Because you're siblings! Siblings don't do that! Velvet's conscience instinctively screamed. Just say it! Velvet wrestled with her own moral contradictions. Not the least of which being Velvet having regular intercourse with her own brother, Night Light. But Shining could likely still vaguely recall a brief period years ago after Twilight began teething, and she was no longer breastfeeding. After he begged incessantly, Velvet allowed Shining to breastfeed again until her teats ran completely dry. Those memories would fade with time.

But how was she to argue with so many double standards for them? Velvet wanted to much to be able to tell them that brothers and sisters just didn't do that sort of thing. It was a simple, unambiguous rule that was easy to define and enforce. But in her heart she knew it wasn't the truth. Not for her family. Celestia's word echoed in her mind.

The normal rules of society don't apply to your family.

Besides, what did it matter? It didn't. It doesn't.

"It doesn't matter," Velvet said. "Shining, you have your magic and you can clean yourself. So hurry up while I finish scrubbing Twilight. Dinner is going to get cold soon." Velvet finished bathing Twilight and rinsed her off. She helped her out of the tub and toweled her off. "Now go on downstairs, Twilight. Your brother and I will be with you shortly," she said.

"What's wrong?" Shining asked, still sitting in the tub.

"Nothing," Velvet huffed, scrubbing the last bits of his tail.

"You seem mad."

"No, Shining it's just- you two are getting too old to be bathing together anymore," she said.

"Why?"

"Because ponies... that have cutie marks aren't supposed to bathe together," she said.

"Twilie doesn't have her cutie mark," he said.

"Exactly!" She said. "Wait, I mean, no! I meant to say that... ponies that have their cutie marks... just aren't supposed to bathe with other ponies in general," she said, making the rule more clear.

"But me and Twilie have been having baths since I got mine," he said.

"Yes, well, and you weren't supposed to be. So, I was wrong for breaking that rule. But not anymore. From now on you're going to have separate bath times. Ponies that have their cutie marks aren't supposed to bathe with other ponies."

"But you and Dad take baths together sometimes," he said.

"What?" she denied.

"Yeah. At night after me and Twilie go to bed. I got up to go pee, but you were both in the tub. Remember?" he said. Velvet knew he had her there. "And you have cutie marks."

"Okay, yes. Your father and I can do that because we both have cutie marks. Ponies that have their cutie marks just aren't supposed to bathe with ponies that don't have cutie marks!" She said. She was absolutely confident of that rule.

"Oh," Shining replied, sitting in the water, unable to think of a way to refute her rule. "Why?"

"Because that's just how it is, Shining! Okay!? That's just how it is! That's the rule!" Velvet was at her wit's end. She was hungry, and frustrated, and just wanted this ordeal to be over so she could go downstairs and eat. She hadn't eaten anything since breakfast and her stomach was growling.

"So when Twilight gets her cutie mark, we can have bath time together again?" he asked. Velvet wanted to say no, but in that desperate moment, she hadn't the fortitude to back it up with a logical reason that he could accept. Twilight was very advanced for her age, but there was no knowing how soon, or not, her cutie mark would come. Velvet decided that she could burn that bridge when they got to it.

"Yeah... sure," she sighed in flustered defeat.

"Okay!" The answer seemed to please him enough. He stood up as she let the water out of the tub and rinsed him off. The soap no longer covered the effect the warm water had on the colt. It bobbed under him as he stepped out of the tub. Velvet towel off most of him, leaving him with a towel to deal with... himself. Once he was dry and... decent, she hung up his towel.

"Alright mister, let's go! It's time for dinner," she said, shooing him out of the bathroom. She followed him to the kitchen and sat beside him at the table.

"We have a big day tomorrow!" Night Light said at the dinner table. "Tomorrow we're going to go see The Summer Sun Celebration!"

"The Summer Sun Celebration!?" Twilight Sparkle cheered. "I've always wanted to go!"

"I know, dear," Night said. "But that means we're going to have to get up early tomorrow. Very early if we're going to get to the celebration before the sun rises. So that means that we're all going to have to go to bed early, too."

"And go to sleep!" Velvet said. "No getting up after dark!" she said, giving Shining a look.

"I don't know if I'll be able to sleep!" Twilight squealed. "I'm so excited!"

"You had better," Night said. "If you can't get up tomorrow, we're going to go without you," Night teased.

"No!" Twilight cried.

"We wouldn't do that!" Velvet said.

"I'll make sure you get up in time," Shining assured her.

"Thanks Shining! That's why you're my big brother best friend forever!"

"Are they asleep?" Night Light asked as he finished drawing a bath. Velvet nodded as she walked into the bathroom and closed the door. "No, I don't mean 'in bed'. I mean, asleep!" he emphasized as he stepped into the bath tub.

"Yes. I checked. I'm sure they'll be fine getting up tomorrow," Velvet said, sitting in the tub in front of him, letting her mane lay on his chest.

"It's not that, that I'm worried about," he said, looking at the door. "I just don't want Shining coming in here with one of his mid-night bathroom trips. It really kills the mood."

"We'll be okay," Velvet said as she sank lower into the warm water.

"I don't know about that either," Night said. "They were running me ragged today. I don't know if I'm going to be able to get up tomorrow."

"Hmm," Velvet purred as she moved her butt back against him. "You don't seem to be having a problem 'getting up' now."

"Well I can't help it with the way my sexy sister is grinding against me," Night said. Velvet stopped for a moment and just rested her head against his chest.

"Night, do you regret what we are?" Velvet asked him in all seriousness.

"What? Why are you asking this now?" he asked. "Is it because of the sister remark? I thought you were into that too, now."

"I am," Velvet assured him, reaching back with her hoof and giving his cock a few strokes to emphasize her point. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you think I wasn't. It's not that."

"What is it?" he asked.

"I mean, I don't know if 'regret' is the right word," Velvet said. "Do you wish things had been different? That we weren't part of Celestia's 'big plan'?"

"She's been wonderful to us, Velvet. Why would I want to change that?"

"I just mean, the matchmaking part of it. What if we had been free to fall in love on our own, rather than her putting us together like she did?" she asked. He wrapped his hoof around her and held her cheek, turning her head to him.

"She may have put us together. But we did fall in love on our own," he said, kissing her.

"Did we? You were in the guard without a marefriend until you met me. I was sheltered away as her protege until you were assigned to me. Celestia set me up with a 'fake' date at the Gala to push me towards choosing you. I just- sometimes I just feel like a puppet." Night held her in his hooves.

"That pony rules Equestria and can move the sun," Night said. "But she can't make you or I feel anything! I chose to fall in love with you. Even after Cadance was born and I found out that you were my sister. I loved you in spite of that. And now..." his hoof drifted down her belly under the water. "I'm in love with you even more because of it," he said. Velvet cooed as his hoof rubbed between her legs. "Velvet, tell me, what's bothering you? Why are you worried about this now?" he asked.

"What are we going to do about Shining and Twilight?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Shining's getting to that age where he's going to start noticing mares. And he was already sprouting in the tub tonight," she said.

"Sprouting?" he asked. Velvet gave Night's dick another rub with her hoof. "Oh. Oh!"

"Yeah," she said.

"With Twilight in the tub!?" he asked.

"Yeah. That's why I've been using a lot of bubble bath soap lately."

"Shit. When did that start?" he asked.

"Earlier this spring," she said. "But it's been so hard to find the time for one bath. I didn't want to have separate bath times yet. I just used a lot of bubbles and tried to not draw attention to it. You know, not weird unless you make it."

"Okay. So, yeah, separate bath times now. We can work together for that. Take shifts watching one while the other is in the tub. I mean, Shining is probably old enough to take a bath on his own now, anyway. So was that what you were worried about?"

"No. I mean, yeah, but... it just got me thinking," she said. "It got me thinking about us. Like, if what we are is wrong."

"No. Velvet, we're part of something special," Night said.

"But I mean, what if we weren't? Like, if you and I were just a regular brother and sister?" she asked.

"But Celestia said that we don't have to worry about that, because we don't have any of the bad inbreeding genes left in our family," he said. "So it's okay."

"I don't mean about having foals. I just mean... having foals aside, do you think it would be okay if any brother and sister fell in love?" she asked.

"Geez babe, I don't know. That's a pretty big question. I suppose it depends on a lot of things. And really, who's to say?" he said.

"I'm asking you," she said. Night sighed.

"I think that... as long as nopony is getting hurt, if two ponies really love each other, then it shouldn't matter!" he said. Velvet hummed a sigh of comfort. "Is this about Shining and Twilight?" he asked. Velvet nodded.

"Twilight's getting older too. She'll have her cutie mark before too long. And then... if they start to feel things for each other... I don't know what to do," she said. "I mean, the rational, logical part of my brain says to discourage it. They're brother and sister, and it's no secret. But in my heart, it feels wrong to tell them that they can't feel that way. That it's wrong for them to feel that way. When it feels so right to feel this way about you. You know?"

"I understand," he said, rubbing his cheek against her mane.

"So what should we do?" she asked.

"Well obviously nothing right now. Twilight doesn't even have her cutie mark yet," he said.

"Well, yeah. We're both in agreement on that point," she said. "But after?"

"Well, I would just wait and see," Night said. "Most siblings- normal siblings that grow up together and know that they are related, don't fall in love. So we might just be worrying about nothing."

"There's no such thing as 'normal'," she said.

"What?"

"Never mind. But obviously, we're not normal," she said as she felt her brother's hoof continue to rub circles on her marehood.

"You and I? No. Obviously not," he said.

"I mean our whole family," she said.

"Shining and Twilight are as normal as any siblings. And like I said, most siblings don't fall in love."

"But I think that's taught. I think that's because society and parents tell them that it's wrong for them to feel that way for each other."

"Maybe, I guess. I don't know. I never grew up with a sister."

"And I was raised an only child. But I still think that I'm at least partially right. I'm just saying that if Shining and Twilight start feeling things for each other when they get older... that we should just... let it happen."

"And what will society think of them?" he asked. "They would learn one way or another that what they were doing was... taboo."

"Fuck society," Velvet spat.

"They'd have to keep it a secret," he said. "Would you really want them to have to live like that? Isn't that our real responsibility as parents? To protect them from harm? To prevent them from being hurt?"

"If they choose each other, we would tell them that we support them. We could tell them the truth. About us. So they wouldn't feel alone."

"..."

"..."

"Velvet, if Shining chooses Twilight instead of Cadance, Princess Celestia isn't going to like that," he cautioned.

"Cadance will get her chance," Velvet said. "Shining can make his own choice. Celestia will just have to accept it, either way." Velvet stood up and turned herself around in the tub and straddled Night Light's waist. "I'll be happy no matter which sister he chooses to be with," she said, lowering herself down onto her brother's penis. She moaned as she felt it sliding into her vagina. "As long they're happy."

"As long they're happy," Night agreed as he breathed against her neck. He felt his sister began moving up and down on his shaft.

"And nopony gets hurt."