Cadance's pile of suitcases, in a matching array of pink, purple, and gold highlights, were lumped together outside the castle door as she waited for her carriage to arrive. Shining Armor was fussing around the luggage pile, flitting about as though he had a small but persistent bee buzzing around in his non-existent bonnet.

"Why did you have to pick the start of Arbitrary Quarantine Week to take your trip?" Shining asked. He nudged one of the suitcases that was bulging ominously, as though it might burst open at any moment. "It's really inconvenient timing, is all I mean."

"Oh, Shiny, it's just a coincidence. Flurry's already at his aunt Celestia's, I needed some time away from the house, and you needed some time to reconnect with your sister—"

"I specifically asked her not to come over during Arbitrary Quarantine Week." Shining lowered his eyebrows. "I put in the header and the post-script of my last letter, DEAR TWILIGHT, PLEASE DO NOT COME OVER DURING ARBITRARY QUARANTINE WEEK."

"And yet she was still able to get time away from her royal duties to see you at the start of the holiday? What a dear!" Cadance smiled and began levitating her procession of tightly-packed suitcases into the air, as the carriage had arrived and was waiting with two guards, muttering and sharing a cigarette, eager to get back on the move.

"I'm sleeping on the couch while she takes the bedroom," Shining said, putting a hand to his forehead and sighing. "And after the lock-down is over, she's going back home."

"You don't suppose she could stay for an extra day so we could catch up on sister stuff before she goes?" Cadance threw in the last of her suitcases, which teetered precariously several feet above the already spacious maximum clearance of the royal carriage. The two guards eyed the teetering tower uneasily, but pointedly ignored it, which was what they were being paid to do anyway.

Shining sighed.

"I really don't think you get it. My sister and I do not get along well in the same house. For... reasons. Various in nature."

"I'm sure you'll be able to figure something out. It's only a week after all." Cadance got in the carriage and shut the door behind her. The frame looked oddly like an ornate metal pumpkin. She blew a kiss at Shining Armor out the window and winked at him. "Promise you won't miss me too much?"

"I really would prefer if you didn't go at all actually, I think I've said several times, in fact—"

"Bye bye dear! Love you!~" Cadance blew extra kisses and waved a hand out the carriage window as it pulled away, tower of suitcases somehow remaining precariously balanced in the rear as it flew up and away towards the setting sun.

Shining sighed again, one of what felt like an infinite series of tiny, invisible depressions. Miniature hurdles he would clear every day, staring forward lest his missing blinders let him trip on the scenery.

Seven days with Twilight.

Seven days with his sister.

Seven days of being constantly and permanently aware of the fact that she was a girl, and he was a guy¹, and the concrete differences between them amounted to a list of things that, had they not known each other, or, more particularly, not known each other in quite the same way, would have been the absolute most fun to do ever.

And he had a list of all of those things, crossed out, because of the aforementioned reason. Because of 'sister'. And 'brother'.

It felt like stopping a breaking dam with masking tape².

The sound of bells brought him back to concrete reality. Substances and bits and pieces moving around in tangible ways again.

Another carriage was pulling up. It was even fancier than the last, with stars and shimmering gold trim and, frankly, a bit too much if he was being totally honest. But it all matched the occupant—and there she was. Smiling at him and waving, the same as Cadance, minus the kisses—oh. And there was one of those two, blown through the air and landing with a tiny magical flutter on his cheek. He touched his hand to it, and felt the warmth of blush beginning under his skin.

It was Twilight. She'd brought a library with her, by the looks of it—but only one suitcase.

Did she have pajamas in there?

"Hi, BBBFF!" Twilight giggled as she sprang out of the carriage and ran up to her brother, instantly wrapping both her arms around him and squeezing him tight against her chest. Her chest which was a low-cut, black and violet school-girl number that matched her hair perfectly. She held herself against Shining Armor and smooshed her breasts up against him like body-pillows, and Shining stared pointedly in the opposite direction for the duration of the hug.

"Hey, Twily... good to see you."

"It's great to see you too!" Twilight finally relinquished her hug-hold and bounced up and down a few times, giggling and making an unavoidable visual attraction out of her bobbing breasts. Shining caught himself staring for just a second, then away again, wondering what he could pretend to be occupied with that happened to be floating by in an empty sky.

"Do you need any help with your things?" Shining asked.

Twilight shook her head. "No thanks! The guards will help me out. They're really strong too." Twilight turned to look at the guards, who, per expectation, had already moved around to the back of the carriage and were unloading the boxes of books and accompanying book-cases Twilight had insisted on bringing for the only-seven-day's stay. "Oh, thanks!" she said, giving them a smile and a nod. They nodded back, but didn't smile.

Twilight turned back to her brother and beamed at him.

"This is so awesome. Arbitrary Quarantine Week is gonna be so much fun, isn't it?"

Yeah. Fun.

It wasn't so much that Twilight was a girl. Quite a girl, as it happened to be, although what that meant beyond sexual attraction Shining Armor didn't understand at any intellectual level. He imagined there was something more delicate involved, some kind of social conditioning laid over-top of reality like a thin, translucent fabric.

It was everyone, anyway. All the differences he couldn't help but notice. It was like markers, little signals that his brain picked up and threw directly to his penis. That's a girl. She has tits. Her tits are nice. That's a girl. She has a vagina. You could fuck it. That's a girl. Look at her ass. Why do you like her ass? That's a girl. Etcetera.

Shining Armor wondered sometimes if he had a problem. Or if he'd gotten lucky by stumbling into Cadance's approving embrace so early on, and leaving him with no time to experiment but his wife's tacit permission to do so regardless. She was always the one to suggest trying new things, and he still had that 'Free Pass' from his birthday in the bedside dresser drawer, which, it reminded him, he should hide from Twilight if she was going to be using the bedroom...

He felt stupid and horny and overall useless. It hadn't always been like this. Sometime after Twilight had gone away to school and he'd joined the Royal Guard, Shining had 'woken up', if that's what you could call it, and only by miracle managed to avoid waking up covered in pussy, mostly due to a commitment to an overly-strenuous training regimen and no social experience from home to help him out. Twilight certainly wasn't the ideal practice partner for social interactions.

But it was just a week. Seven days. A series of twenty-four hour periods that he could slice into sections, and apportion just-so as to avoid seeing his sister more often than necessary. Or in any situations that might result in a compromised resolve. Pajamas.

Twilight was already getting her things unpacked in the bedroom. Shining made sure to knock loudly three times before cracking the door.

"Twily? Can I come in for a sec?"

"Sure!" Twilight's bubbly voice bounded out of the only-partly-open door, and after a second she opened it herself, smiling at her brother. Wearing her pajamas at four PM.

Pajamas...

They clung to her like a yoga outfit. He could see curves a sculptor would have been fired for portraying too accurately. He could see the soft, miniature outline right beneath her waist... And the shirt was just as tight. No bra, from the looks of things.

Celestia, be merciful.

"Do you think Cadance would mind if I moved this dresser?" Twilight asked, and turned around to examine the dresser in question, bending over and tilting her pajama-clad butt in Shining's direction.

"I don't think Cadance would mind," Shining said, his voice almost cracking on his wife's name.

"I just need more room for my bookcases," Twilight said. She turned back to Shining and bit her bottom lip, then smiled. "Oh, it's so good to see you!"

"Likewise." Shining grit his teeth. "Isn't it a bit early to be getting ready for bed though?"

"Huh?" Twilight stopped studying the room for book-storage dimensions and seemed suddenly to notice her choice of apparel. She giggled and pinched a bit of the semi-transparent white-blue fabric between her fingers. Miniature stars and swirls dotted over in a repeating print. "Oh, these. I just figured I'd get comfortable, and since we're not going out anywhere today..." Twilight giggled and stuck out her tongue. "Arbitrary Quarantine Week, remember?"

Shining sighed. "Right. Don't remind me."

"Just let me finish unpacking my books, and then we can have dinner or something." Twilight lifted up a stack of seemingly identical red-covered ancient volumes and began fitting them carefully into an empty shelf. "I'll make pasta, if you want."

"It's okay. I need something to do anyway. I'll get something started for later."

"Thanks, Shiny!" Twilight waved and smiled before returning to her books, bending over to reach the low shelf and putting her camel-toe and the outlines of her butt-cheeks on display again.

Shining turned away like he was avoiding the glare from an eclipse, but still noticed a twitch in his jeans and the sudden urge to unzip them to be more comfortable.

Seven days. Just seven days.

Author's Notes:

1: ♫CAN I MAKE IT ANY MORE OBV-I-OUS♫

2: Not duct tape. That would probably actually work.