The last day of Princess Cadance foal-sitting for the Sparkle family was bittersweet. But true to her word, she promised Twilight that she would talk to Celestia about coming back the following summer. They walked with her to the front door. It was raining out that day. She opened her umbrella and flew away. She had wings after all. The umbrella didn't make her fly. She wasn't a Trottingham nanny after all.

Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor had been home-schooled for their entire lives up to that point. Velvet was an adept teacher and ran a rigorous curriculum for both of her little ponies. Twilight was a very advanced learner in both her academic understanding and maturity. It was not uncommon for her to be helping her older brother with his assignments. But this school year would be different. Twilight Sparkle began going to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. And Shining Armor started his courses at the Canterlot Junior Guard Academy.

Twilight was delighted to have unfettered access to the Canterlot Library. Her capacity to learn knew no limits. However, the social climate of a school was nearly invisible to the studious mare. Each day she would go to class, come home, and do her homework. And then she would study ahead for the class, or in some other subject entirely. Shining, for his part, fit right into the academy. He was athletic, and charismatic with the other young stallions. His academics were only just above average, but that was okay. As the saying went, 'muscles are required, intelligence not expected'.

The biggest difference though, was while Twilight came home from school every day, Shining did not. He was staying in the academy's residence dormitories with the other cadets. The family came to visit him for Hearth's Warming Eve, but he was there until summer break. Shining felt that it couldn't come fast enough as he and the other cadet stood at attention. They were in formation in the sweltering heat of mid June, while the Academy Commandant gave his closing speech for the year. When he finished, they were released for the summer.

"Dismissed!" the Commandant shouted. The formation of cadets scattered.

"Freeeedom!" Shining Armor screamed, undressing himself from the hot uniform as he ran from the harsh sunlight. They all ran back to their dorm rooms to pack the last of their things. The pegasi cadets flooded into the air. The rest headed to the front gate to go... literally anywhere else but there. Most went home. Some went elsewhere. Some had their rides waiting to pick them up. Some took public transportation. Shining's home was close enough for him to walk. He knocked on the front door of his home. Velvet opened the door.

"Shining!" she cheered. She had been expecting him to come home that day, but she wasn't sure exactly when. She was delighted to see him. She tried to hug him. Shining practically pushed his way past Velvet into the house, heading toward the kitchen. Night Light came running to see him.

"Dad, do you have any molasses seltzer? It's insane what you miss in military school!" Shining said.

"Um, what?"

"No, you're right. I'll take a cider." Shining reached into the fridge and opened a bottle of cider and started to drink it.

"Welcome home!" Velvet said. "How was-"

Shining held up his hoof to pause her speaking as he continued to chug.

bloop - bloop - bloop

"Wow. Really?"

bloop - bloop -

"Ahhh," Shining sighed. He walked past them back out of the kitchen and up to his old bedroom. They followed after him. "Listen, I love you guys, and I miss you too, but can we do this tomorrow?" he asked. He walked over to his bed and fell face-first onto the bed. The pillow was flat. The mattress was older than he was. The springs were gone and the whole thing was uneven, hard and lumpy. It was, by all accounts... "By the stars! This is the most comfortable thing I've ever felt in my life!" he said before passing out. ...far better than an academy cot.

Velvet moved to wake him. Night Light stopped her.

"Let him be. He needs it. Trust me," Night said, recalling his own experiences in Guard training.

"It's three in the afternoon!" Velvet said. He nodded.

"And we'll wake him for breakfast tomorrow," he said.

"What about dinner tonight?" she said.

"We'll have another one tomorrow," he said, closing the bedroom curtains with his magic. "Let him sleep." They closed the door and went back downstairs. Shining's bag was still on the living room floor where he dropped it. Velvet walked over to it.

"Well, I can at least help him unpack," she said, opening his bag. Her head flailed back as though she had just received an uppercut. "ACH!" she gagged as the odor from his laundry hit her in the face. "I've opened diapers from him that smelled better!" she groaned, closing the bag back up and bringing it to the laundry room.

"You spoil him," Night said. "I always had to do my own laundry."

"And he will too," she said, dumping the bag into the machine. "But I'm not letting this sit around in my home like this for another minute!" The front door opened.

"Mom, Dad, I'm home!" Twilight said. Night Light walked into the living room to greet her.

"Welcome home, sweetie. How was your last day of school?" he asked.

"About the same," Twilight said, unenthusiastic. "I can't wait until next year when we can learn about more advanced things."

"Well, it's summer break now, so enjoy it!" he said.

"I know! Now that I don't have to worry about homework, I can spend more time to study the things that I really want!"

"Well, I meant a break from studying in general," Night said. "Maybe just go outside, and play with your friends."

"Pfft. Friends?" Twilight scoffed. "Sure. We can all sit around and talk about how pretty our manes are or we could all go out for hooficures!" she mocked.

"Um... yes?"

"Where's Mom?"

"I'm in here!" Velvet called from the laundry room. "I'll be out in a minute." Night Light looked at his daughter.

"Well I bet there's at least one pony you're looking forward to seeing this summer," he said.

"Cadance?" Twilight asked.

"Um, well, we'll see," he said. "What I meant was that Shining's home." Her face lit up.

"He is!? Where!?" Twilight asked.

"He's upstairs-" Twilight ran up the stairs. "He's sleeping!" Twilight opened the door to Shining's bedroom. He hadn't moved from where he fell face-down on his bed. He only turned his head toward the wall a bit to be able to breath. Night Light appeared beside Twilight. "He's very tired," he whispered. "Leave him be until tomorrow."

"Okay." They closed the door and went back downstairs.

Dinner was the same as it had been since the previous autumn, with just the three of them eating quietly. The parental questions about her last day of school were met with the usual fare of 'fine's and 'nothing's from the adolescent mare. After dinner, Twilight went to her bedroom to read, as she usually did. She could spend the entire evening at her bedroom desk with her nose buried in a book or three.

"Don't stay up too late," Velvet said to Twilight. She didn't even look up.

"I won't," Twilight said. Velvet went to her own bedroom to go to sleep. After some time, Twilight's candle was nearly out of wax. She searched her desk for a replacement. The light burned out before she could find one. The room became an eerie blue from the moonlight coming into her window. She considered the late hour that it was. She realized that she needed to get some sleep, or else tomorrow she would be just as tired as... Shining Armor.

Twilight felt a rush of excitement when she remembered that he was home. She hadn't seen him in many months. She looked to her bedroom door, got up from her desk and carefully walked in the dim light to open it. She walked out into the hallway, down one door to her brother's bedroom. Beyond that was their parent's bedroom. She silently opened his door and slipped inside. She opened the blinds to let the moonlight in.

She moved closer to him and sat in the chair beside his bed. He was still exactly as she'd last seen him. He hadn't moved one bit. He was dead to the world, but for the slight movement of his torso breathing. She just sat the for a bit and watched him sleep. They had both grown quite a bit in the last year. But for him, it was especially noticeable. His lean colt frame had been transformed into a muscular stallion physique. His chest, back, and legs all had tone muscle definition that hadn't been there when they had parted last.

She could still smell his sweat from his walk home in the summer heat, even though his mane was plastered down from when it dried. It was hardly what she would have called a nice smell. But even so, there was something about it that attracted her to lean closer. She didn't notice her own tail lifting just a bit.

"Shining?" she said, trying to rouse him, without being loud enough to also wake her parents. "Shining?"

"Nggh... yes sir..." he mumbled in his sleep. "...general order... Wonderbolts... phalanx..."

He must have been having a dream about still being at the academy, Twilight reasoned. She watched the way his face twisted into a frown. It didn't seem like a nice dream. Twilight remembered whenever she would have a bad dream, she would come to sleep in his bed. She always felt so safe when he held her. She never had a bad dream when she slept in his bed. It seemed time to return the favor. She climbed into his bed and tried to push him over a little.

"Move over," she said.

"Ngh... proceeding sir..." he rolled over onto his back, giving her room to lay down beside him. She laid down beside him. Her head was uncomfortable without a pillow. She scooted over closer beside him and rested her head on his shoulder. Her nose was regrettably close to his arm pit. He smelled like a locker room. It reminded her of when she was forced to play sports with her classmates at Celestia's school. But just beneath that, there was something else. It was hard for her to identify. It reminded her of playing on the swing set with him when they were foals. It smelled like sweat, yes. But it was his sweat. It smelled like nostalgic happiness. It smelled like safety. It smelled like Shiny.

But it also still smelled like a locker room. She grimaced and turned to lay with her back to him as she had after a bad dream when they were younger. But she missed the comforting weight of his hoof draped across her body. She reached behind her and took his hoof with her, pulling it across her body. He rolled toward her and she felt his broad chest against her back. She could feel his hot breath on the back of her neck. She felt his hoof hold her a little tighter as he pressed his nose into her mane.

"Mmm... Twilie..." he breathed. Twilight could see from the corner of her eye that his frown had vanished.

No more bad dreams, she thought, smiling herself. Mission accomplished.

"Are you sure you've got this?" Velvet asked the next morning as Night Light made breakfast.

"Trust me, Honey, I know exactly what he's going to want when he wakes up," Night said, cracking several eggs into a large bowl. "I'm going to make that stallion the most baller omelette he's ever known!"

"Okay. Well I'm going to go get him and Twilight out of bed," Velvet said. Velvet walked upstairs and opened Twilight's door. Her bed was vacant. The first time she'd found her bed empty in the morning, she was positively hysterical with panic. But that, and every subsequent time, meant that she'd had a bad dream. And there was only one place she'd be. Velvet walked to Shining's bedroom and opened his door. Sure enough, she was there.

But she felt a fresh rush of panic this time. Twilight was laying in his bed, and he was laying behind her with his hoof draped across her as he normally did whenever she'd had a bad dream. But this time it was different. This time there was a third member in the bed. His. Shining's morning wood had caused his erection to sprout forward, through her tail, and appearing out from between Twilight's legs. At first glance, it almost looked like Twilight had a penis.

Velvet restrained herself from immediately yanking Twilight from the bed. She needed to be tactful about this. She very carefully took the still-sleeping Twilight with her magic, and lifted her leg as she pulled her away from him. His penis slid against Twilight's marehood as she did, causing her to whimper a bit in her sleep. His hoof around Twilight resisted letting her go a bit and his shaft throbbed a little. At last his tip brushed past, and his whole shaft snapped back through her tail against his belly with a heavy slap as she pulled her free of his grasp.

He was still a growing stallion, and it was already nearly as long and thick as his father's. She forced herself to stop looking at it. Both siblings were still asleep as Velvet carefully levitated Twilight back to her own bed and tucked her in. She walked back downstairs as Night Light started to heat up the skillet.

"Are they up?" Night asked. Velvet bit her lip. One of them certainly was.

"No, not yet," she said. "Twilight was in Shining's bed last night."

"Hmm. Another bad dream?" he presumed.

"I don't know. I guess. Maybe," she said. "It's just that... he was hard."

"Hmm?"

"Like, as a stallion... in the morning hard," she said. Night stopped what he was doing for a second.

"Oh... Did she look like- did it look like they... did anything?" he asked.

"No. Everything looked... okay," she said.

"Okay, well then, I wouldn't worry about it," he said.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm sure she just had a bad dream, like old times. And he..." Velvet looked at him. "Look, I promise, it's nothing he has any control over. They're both just at that age now. I wouldn't worry about it too much. They gave us- they give the Guard ponies and cadets these 'vitamins' they call them. But it's just a pill that suppresses getting erections like that when you're in training. You know, to avoid that sort of awkwardness. It's probably the first boner he's had in months. The fact that she was in bed with him is just a coincidence." He poured the omelette mixture into the pan. "And besides, you and I talked about this. We agreed that if they decide to... choose each other... that we were okay with that. We would support their decision." He held her hoof. "Right, Sis?" he asked her. His sister smiled and nodded at him.

"Right," she agreed, as she kissed her brother. "I love you."

"I love you too," he said as he kissed her. "Come on. Go wake them up. Breakfast will be ready soon," he said.

"Okay." Velvet walked back upstairs to Shining's bedroom. "Good morning Cadet!" she said, a bit louder than necessary.

"Ur-porting's zizz ordered!" he groaned and he sat up quickly and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. His morning wood bobbed in front of him as he sat up at the edge of the bed. "Oh- hey Mom," he yawned and stretched, making no effort to cover himself, still pointing directly in Velvet's direction. "Is it tomorrow already?" he asked. Velvet made a special effort to maintain eye contact, and to avert her eyes from drifting downward at his unknowingly lewd display.

"Uh, yes," Velvet said, trying to be polite. "Breakfast will be ready very soon so get yourself downstairs as soon as your decent."

"Decent?"

"Yes. Uh-" Velvet was about to make a remark about his current state. But as he woke up it quickly began to subside and vanish into his sheath. She spared him the indignation and ignored the whole thing. "You still smell like sweat from yesterday. So after breakfast, you desperately need a bath!"

"Yeah, yeah, fine. I get it. I will," he said. Velvet was about to leave to wake Twilight. "Hey um, what about Twilight?"

"What do you mean?"

"Can she take a bath with me?" he asked.

"What!?"

"Well, you said that we couldn't take baths together anymore because I had my cutie mark and she didn't. But she does now. So we should be able to, right? That was what you said."

"What!? No!" she blurted. His face turned into angry confusion. "I mean, yes I did say that. But you can't..." Velvet trialed off as she remembered what Night said.

"We would support their decision."

"Bu- But you can't... uh, unless Twilight wants to... that is," she resigned.

"Well, yeah, duh, of course," he said. "I would never force her to do anything she didn't want to." Velvet just nodded and left, feeling equal parts of both shame and pride. She walked to Twilight's room.

"Twilight, breakfast!" Velvet said. Twilight's eyes fluttered open. She turned suddenly and pawed at the empty space behind her in bed. Velvet knew what she was looking for, but remained silent. Twilight recognized her own room. Velvet could see her perplexed expression shift as she mentally dismissed her confusion for whatever rational explanation she arrived at.

"I'll be right down," Twilight said and she sat up.

Velvet headed back downstairs and set the table. Shining came down shortly after and sat in his seat, quickly serving himself a heap of food. He ignored his own silverware and used the serving spoon to eat with. Velvet sighed and rolled her eyes, getting a fresh spoon for everypony else.

"You could at least wait for your sister," Velvet said as she and Night Light sat down.

"Are you sure you really want her to see this?" Night Light said, motioning to Shining. It had been some time since Velvet had seen such a vulgar display. She'd trained Night Light to eat politely over the years. But Shining Armor was fresh from eating in the Academy chow hall. He barely chewed. He swallowed the food as fast as he could shovel it into his mouth. His jaw practically unhinged like a snake.

"Like father like damn son..." Velvet groaned, as she started cutting up her own omelette. Shining had practically hoovered his entire meal by the time Twilight got downstairs. Velvet made sure to put breakfast some aside for Twilight before Shining ate that too. "If you're still hungry, you can gnaw on this raw potato," Velvet joked. Shining wasn't laughing. He took the potato from her and took a big bite out of it. "Oh... wow."

"Yeah, I'd mind your hooves around him at 'feeding time' unless you want to lose one," Night warned her. Twilight and her parents ate their breakfast. Shining finished chewing up the rest of the potato, his voracious appetite seemingly sated for the moment.

"Hey Twilie, Mom says I need to take a bath after breakfast," Shining said. Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"Well... she's not wrong," she said, holding her nose for dramatic effect.

"Do you want to join me?" Shining asked. Night Light nearly choked on his food. True, he and Velvet had agreed to be permissive of such things. But we was still a bit taken aback by the blunt forwardness of Shining invitation. Not to mention the complete lack of subtlety with the rest of the present company. It seemed he wasn't the only one.

"What?" Twilight asked in surprise.

"Do you want to take a bath with me after breakfast?" he asked again.

"But... why? Mom says we're old enough to take baths on our own," she said. Velvet just kept her eyes on her plate.

"Yeah, I know. But I miss you. I just thought it would be fun. Like old times," he said.

"Um, okay. Sure," Twilight said. She wasn't weirded out by the idea, nor was she exceptionally excited by it. The request had little more impact to her than if he offered to share a carriage ride with her someplace. It was like it was a completely normal thing for him to ask her.

"Normal doesn't exist," Velvet remembered. It only seemed strange to her because society had taught her to think that way. It wasn't strange to them. For them, this was normal. They were happy. They got along so well together. Which was more than Velvet could say for most other families' siblings she knew.

"You could probably use the help getting cleaned anyway," Twilight teased him as she finished eating.

Once everypony was finished and the dishes were done, Shining headed into the bathroom to begin drawing a bath. Twilight stood beside him as the water filled.

"So we're really just going to... let them?" Velvet whispered, peering toward the bathroom. "Let this happen?"

"Well it's too late, now," Night said.

Shining Armor finished filling the bath tub and stepped in, making sure that the water was the right temperature. He sat down in the water and moved to the back of the tub to make room for Twilight.

"No bubbles?" Twilight asked. Shining rolled his eyes.

"We're not foals anymore. We don't need to make it a bubble bath," he said. Twilight shrugged and stepped into the tub, sitting in front of him with his legs on either side of her. Shining grabbed the pitcher and filled it with water. "Lean back?" he directed. Twilight did as he said and leaned back as he poured the water through her mane, careful to keep it from going into her eyes. He dumped the next pitcher into his own mane with far less finesse. He brushed his wet bangs from his face and took the bottle of shampoo from the tub shelf.

"Hmm," Twilight hummed as he worked the shampoo into her mane, getting a good lather. "That feels really good. I forgot how nice this was," she said as she slid closer to him.

"I know. I've missed this too," he said, rubbing his hooves through her mane. Before long, the warm water did as it always does to the stallion. His erection grew from his crotch. Shining was used to it happening and paid it no attention as he continued to wash her mane. "Time to rinse. Lean back," he said. Twilight closed her eyes leaned back again as he rinsed the shampoo from her mane. As he rinsed the last of the it, she felt something pressing into her back.

"What is that?" she asked, with her eyes still closed. She reached back with her hoof and grasped his penis.

"That's me, sorry," Shining said. Twilight wiped her eyes with her hooves and turned to look at what he was talking about. She saw his penis sticking up out of the water and resting against her back. The base was light grey, and a light pink above the medial ring, mottled with patches that were the same dark blue as his mane.

"Oh," she said.

"Yeah," he sighed. "It just does that sometimes." Their anatomical differences were never a secret. Even when Shining wasn't aroused, they could both plainly see that he had balls and a sheath where Twilight had... neither. But their parents were the same way. So each just accepted it as what made colts different from fillies, with little other inquiry. But this new development was more intriguing for both of them.

"Why does it do that?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know," he answered. "It just happens sometimes. Like when I take a bath or when I first wake up in the morning it's like this. But then it goes away."

"Oh." Twilight stood up and turned around to face him, sitting in front of him with her legs over his around his waist. "Doesn't that hurt?"

"No. it just... it's just there, until it goes away." he said, feeling a little self-conscious. "If it's weird or gross, I can turn around if you want. It's your turn to do my mane anyway."

"No, it's not gross... I don't mind," she said, still staring down at it. "It's just... neat."

"Neat?"

"Well sure. I don't have one so, yeah, it's neat to me," she said. He and Twilight both looked down at her crotch in front of his, blurred just below the water's surface. She leaned back and reached down with her hooves to spread her lips a little. "I don't have anything like that. Just this... boring thing." She took her hooves from herself and sat back up, looking at his thing again. "What does it feel like?"

"It doesn't really feel like anything. It's just sort of... there," he said.

"No, I mean- it doesn't have any fur. What does it feel like to touch it?" she asked.

"Like... skin."

"Can I touch it?" she asked.

"Um, I- I guess. If you want to," he said. Twilight reached out with her hoof and touched the rounded tip. It twitched from her contact.

"Eep! It moved!" she said.

"Yeah, it can do that too," he said.

"Wow. So it's like having two tails," she said.

"I guess. But this one is for pee."

"What about those?" she asked, pointing at his balls under the water.

"I think those are just decorative," he said. She reached down and held one in her hoof. "Ow!" She let go immediately. "They're really sensitive. It's easy to hurt them," he explained.

"Ooh! Sorry!" Twilight apologized. She kept her hooves to herself as they both just sat there and looked at Shining's genitals.

"So are you going to wash my mane before the water get cold?" he asked.

"Yes. Right!" Twilight said. She took the bottle of shampoo and put some into her hooves. She moved closer and reached around him to start scrubbing his mane.

"This is nice," Shining said with her hooves around him. Her cheek was against his.

"Yeah, it's like a hug," Twilight agreed. Shining wrapped his hooves around her and pulled her closer to him, pinning his erection between their bellies.

"Is this...?"

"It's fine," she assured him as she felt his penis against her stomach. While she scrubbed his mane, he lathered her fur on her back with soap. "Mmm," Twilight purred, enjoying his hooves on her back, the warmth of the water, and the tender intimacy of the hug.

Velvet opened the bathroom door.

"Hey, how much longer are you-" her voice hitched in her throat as she saw Twilight sitting in Shining's lap. His guaranteed bath erection was nowhere to be seen. Shining turned to look at her. As he twisted his body, his penis moved out from between their bodies. Velvet sighed. She was not ready for that yet.

"What?" Shining asked.

"What?" Velvet asked back, forgetting what she was even going to say.

"You were asking how much longer are we... something," Twilight said.

"Oh. Yes. I was- I was wondering- I wanted to know how much longer you were going to be," Velvet said. Shining and Twilight looked at each other and shrugged.

"I don't know. A while, I guess. We're in no rush," he said.

"Yeah. This is nice," Twilight said. "Why?"

"It's just that... I needed to pee. So I was hoping that you two would wrap things up so I could use the bathroom," Velvet said.

"Go ahead," Shining said. His time in the military school shower room had eliminated all sense of privacy from him.

"Yeah, it's nothing I haven't seen before," Twilight said.

"Yeah, nothing neither of us haven't seen before," Shining said, pointing at Twilight's crotch.

"O...kay," Velvet blanched, unprepared for this outcome. They both more-or-less ignored her and went back to washing each other.

It's only weird if you make it.

Velvet walked over to the toilet and took a seat. She lifted her tail up out of the way and draped it across her lap in an effort to at least keep some semblance of her own modesty. The otherwise quiet bathroom was filled with the stark water stream sound of Velvet's relief. It seemed especially loud to her in that moment with an audience, certain that they could hear her. But as she sat there, they paid her no particular attention. With everything else, it just seemed like one more natural thing in this unnatural household.

She was struck by just how natural the two of them looked in their embrace. But for his penis wedged between them, it was otherwise very innocent-looking. The two of them washing each other as they hugged. It was tender, loving, and sweet. Shining looked over at his mom, still sitting there after she had finished.

"Um, if that's going to turn into number two, you better warn us now," he said.

"What? No." Velvet quickly wiped herself and flushed, getting up to leave.

"Wait! Mom would know!" Twilight said. "Mom!" Velvet stopped at the doorway and turned back around.

"Yes... dear?" Velvet asked. Twilight leaned to the side and held Shining's penis. He didn't even flinch.

"Why does this... do this?" Twilight asked of his current erection in her hooves. Shining turned around as Twilight continued to hold his dick.

"Yeah, why?" he also asked.

"Tha- that is... uh, a good question!" Velvet stammered.

"Do you not know?" Twilight asked.

"No, I- I do. B-but I... I'm going to need your father's help to answer it," she said, trying to buy some time.

"Oh. That makes sense, since he has one too, right?" Twilight said.

"Uh, yes. That is correct. So that makes him the expert," Velvet said.

"Can he come tell us then?" Shining asked.

"Uh, no," Velvet said. "Why don't you rinse off and get out."

"And then you'll tell us?" Twilight asked, rinsing herself off and stepping out to towel off.

"I... guess," Velvet resigned. Shining rinsed off and let the water out of the tub. Velvet gave him a towel before she walked back to the kitchen. She sat at the table next to Night Light, who was reading a newspaper.

"So how did that go?" he asked. Velvet put her face into her hooves.

"They invited me to pee while they washed each other with his boner between them. And now we have to give them 'The Talk' together."

"Hmm, wow." Night Light said, turning the page of the newspaper. "So your autobiography is just going to be one long series of what-the-fuck moments, huh?"

"Apparently," she groaned.