Old-Fashioned Stress Relief
"The sun has been lowered, and the moon raised." Celestia thought to herself as she absent-mindedly made her way down the hall. She was focused on running through her mental checklist, making sure she hadn't forgotten anything before bed. My evening tea should be waiting in my room when I arrive. And there it is! I'll need to speak to Raven about getting that squeaky wheel fixed. she added, hearing the cart around the corner ahead. "The last thing I need to do tonight is put Twilight Sparkle to bed."
The little purple unicorn—whom she'd taken on immediately after her school's entrance exam, less than a full moon earlier—was a most diligent student. Overzealous, even, Celestia might say. She'd almost always read herself to sleep by this time of evening—or nearly done so—which meant her father would carry her home over his back. Except for when she would spend the night here in the castle, to accommodate early morning tutoring sessions. Then Celestia got the honor of tucking the filly into bed.
Quietly cracking the door and peeking into the room, Celestia was surprised to not see Twilight at the table, though not much, or for long. After all, she was probably just in the bathroom. Still, complacency was a bad habit for anypony, so Celestia entered the suite, planning to double-check.
To her renewed surprise, however, she found Twilight asleep in her bed, clutching her smartypants doll. "That's the second time this week." Celestia thought, surprised. And a little bothered. While she admittedly didn't know the filly very well yet, Celestia did think her behavior had changed over the last few days. Her attention had wandered a few times during their lessons, and while that could have conceivably been written off in a few different ways, her frantic apologies when it was pointed out ruled most of them out.
As Celestia approached the bed, she considered the possibility that Twilight might be coming down with something. It was getting on towards that time of year, after all. And while the school that bore her name was full of students who were exceptional in many ways, when it came to illnesses, they were just like any other foals.
With that in mind, Celestia pressed her lips to Twilight's forehead, just below her horn. She let them linger there, checking her temperature, as her magic smoothed the bedding out. The highly sensitive skin of her lips told her that the purple filly was within a hundredth of a degree of normal. So she wasn't sick. At least not physically.
There were still a few other possibilities, but the princess knew that further investigation would require her student to be awake. Which meant waiting until morning, at the soonest. More likely, she would have to wait until tomorrow afternoon, during or after their class.
So, after quickly checking on Spike, to make sure he was also okay, Celestia headed to her rooms, through the shared bathroom. For almost a millennium, this suite had belonged to her few consorts, who used it for sleeping, since a younger Celestia had been a very restless and active sleeper.
"Hah, younger. As if any pony could ever describe nine-hundred years old as anything but 'less ancient'. It's not as though I'm a dragon, after all." Celestia thought, reflecting on the past. She was a little surprised to realize that it had been almost seven hundred years since she'd taken a single, dedicated consort.
After a moment spent considering her personal life—or largely, her lack thereof—Celestia pulled herself back to the here and now. Then she poured a cup of tea, and waited for Raven to go over her schedule for the next day.
The next evening found student and teacher in the massive, sunken bathtub between their bedrooms, quietly contemplating the events of the lesson they'd finished not long before. Celestia had noticed Twilight's attention wandering again, but instead of shrugging it off, she'd confronted her student about it. After several minutes of patient coaxing, and promises to not be mad, Twilight had finally admitted that she was homesick. Although Celestia had been the one to put a proper name to the collection of symptoms.
She was not surprised at all by this. After all, Twilight normally only stayed over at the castle but once a week, going home six nights out of seven. But her parents were currently in Baltimare on a business trip. One which Celestia had insisted they extend into at least a short vacation, to give themselves time to recover from being turned into plants. Transmutation was always a shock to the system, and the more different the new form was from the old, the harder it was. Add in that it had happened without consent or preparation, and Celestia was surprised and impressed that they hadn't had a breakdown already. So as a result, Twilight had been living in the castle for the last ten days, and would be here at least four more.
The silence between student and teacher stretched on comfortably, as Celestia's bath attendants worked on her. One pegasus was scrubbing her flanks while the other was lathering her chest. Little Twilight was soaking in the shallow end, having been scrubbed clean first, along with baby Spike. It saddened Celestia, to see the filly who'd pronked circles around her so joyously only weeks earlier now floating listlessly, missing her absent family. She suddenly remembered that not all of her student's family was so far away.
″Twilight,″ Celestia called, and the filly flipped rightside up, turning to look at her. Her eyes were curious, but not as eager as Celestia had gotten used to.
"Yes, Princess?"
"Would you like for me to have your brother come up?" Celestia asked. As a lieutenant in the guard, Celestia could have him posted anywhere she chose. Including as a personal guard to her student. Not permanently, of course, since he'd only recently graduated the ROTC, but for a night or two…or four, it was an acceptable stretching of her authority.
"His unit is on a training mission this week, Princess. But thank you, anyway." Twilight said.
"Oh, that was this this week." Celestia thought, a little disappointed in herself for not remembering. It was ridiculous, of course. She had an entire nation to run; she could hardly be blamed for losing some specific details in the general crush of information. But all the logic and justifications in existence couldn't make a whit of difference to a pony's feelings.
"Besides, I don't think that would help much." Twilight continued, her ears wilting slightly. Then she perked up before almost frantically adding, "Don't get me wrong, I mean, Shiny's great! The best BBBFF a pony could ask for! But…" Twilight trailed off with a sigh.
"I understand, my little pony." Celestia assured her. "He's not the family member you miss most." His unit had only left the day before yesterday, and the siblings had spent a few hours together the evening before. "And it's not just the ponies you miss, either. It's the patterns and habits. The rhythms of home. If there's anything you can think of that might help, just let me know. I'd be glad to help, any way I can."
"Princess Celestia, have you ever been homesick?" Twilight asked cautiously.
"Of course. I've lived long enough to have to move more than a few times."
"How, um, how did you deal with it?"
"By finding the similarities between my new home and my old, and focusing on them." Celestia answered. "Or making some."
"Oh." Twilight said thoughtfully, and silence fell again.
After a couple minutes, the pegasus scrubbing her chest moved to her left wing, to start preening it. At the same time, her wife moved from the princess's flank to her other wing. Celestia just spread her wings and enjoyed the preening. The feel of warm lips tugging and nudging her feathers. Of teeth nibbling around the join of skin and shaft. Of tongues brushing over the barbs, making sure they were properly aligned.
"Tongues. There's an idea." Celestia thought, soaking in the hot water. "I'll bring it up after we finish bathing."
"Um, Princess?" Twilight spoke up a few minutes later, flipping upright again.
"Yes, Twilight?"
"Could I, um…would it be okay to, uh…to, uh…"
"To what, my dear student?"
"To…sleep…in bed with you." Twilight mumbled, her mouth only a hair above the water line. Glancing up at the princess's face, Twilight saw the confusion forming, and rushed to answer the question she expected was coming. "Oh wait, don’t get the wrong idea! It’s not like I sleep with my parents anymore, cause I’m not a little filly, or anything. I’m old enough that I don’t need them to help sleep through the night. But I really like your hugs. They’re always so warm, and nice, and relaxing. And sleeping together like that would be like an all-night hug. And, and, and...And I thought, maybe...it might help me feel better." she said, her explanation winding down near the end.
"Of course, Twilight. All you had to do was ask." Celestia agreed. "I enjoy having somepony to sleep next to, as well. And there’s something else that I’d like to try before that, that should help." she added, as her bath attendants moved away, having finished their work for the evening.
"What is it, Princess?"
"Something my mother used to do for me, when I was feeling down."
"You had a mother?"' Twilight said incredulously.
"Why, of course." Celestia answered, smiling indulgently. "I didn't appear from the aether, formed of the light of Equestria's first dawn. There are a great many more true stories out there than you would probably believe, but that's not one of them. I was born a normal pony, like you."
"Really? You were? When? Where? And what happened to the rest of the alicorn tribe?" Twilight's questions came rapidfire, the look in her eyes having rapidly changed from complete shock to the burning curiosity that Celestia was more used to.
"Ah, foals. Her whole world was just turned upside down, and she's already recovered. If only grown ponies could be so resilient." Celestia mused, before starting to tell Twilight about her youth. About being born a unicorn in a now-forgotten small town on the border of Old Unicornia. About not getting her cutie mark until she was half-again Twilight's age, making her nearly full-grown, by the standards of the age. It had come during the exodus to the fledgeling nation of Equestria. The group of unicorns who raised the sun had taken to making a show of it for the downtrodden refugees. It had taken Celestia over a century to realize that there had been more to it than just entertainment, though. The Twilight Coterie, as they were called, had been looking for any who might be strong enough to join their ranks. They'd already found a few before her village had joined the caravan.
Then they found something they could never have expected.
The third morning Celestia had watched them, her magic had just reached out of its own accord, brushing aside the strength of over half a dozen of the most powerful mages of the day, to lift the sun effortlessly. Chaos had ensued, and once it had all settled down, Celestia had stood head and neck taller than before, with limbs and magics she didn't have the first inkling of how to deal with—much less use—and suns on her flanks.
As she told her tale, Princess Celestia glossed over the negative reactions most ponies had had to a winged unicorn appearing in their midst, out of nowhere. She told Twilight that Clover the Clever had told everypony present that the appearance of a pony who embodied the strengths of all three tribes—or "all-in-one-icorn", as ponies soon took to calling her—had been prophesied as the harbinger of a golden age for all of ponykind, without mentioning that that may have been the only thing that saved her from who knew what fate her former tribe might have inflicted on her.
As teacher and student waded out of the bath, and started drying themselves off, Celestia continued her story, telling Twilight how Princess Platinum herself had elevated Celestia's mother to the nobility, and taken her as a lady in waiting. But as she brushed her fur, she didn't mention that it had been done at Clover's behest, to protect the mare from those who still held their tribalist views dear.
"You've met young Blueblood, haven't you, Twilight?" Celestia suddenly asked. When the purple filly nodded, she continued, "His line descended from my mother, and that's why he calls me Auntie."
"So, you had a sister, then?" Twilight asked innocently, as she moved her towel to her mane. "Or a brother?" she added excitedly. Celestia mostly managed to hide her wince, though she desperately wanted to kick herself for not realizing the obvious direction that comment would lead.
"Sisters. Three." she admitted a moment later, carefully controlling her tone, to hide the pain of the old wound.
"Did they become alicorns, too?" Twilight asked, from under her towel. "No, wait. If they had, then they'd still be here. Sorry. Oh! What about Cadance? She calls you Auntie, too. Is she descended from one of them?"
"No, none of my mother's other children ascended." Celestia answered honestly, while also carefully sidestepping the whole truth. Fortunately, the towel still covered Twilight's eyes, so she didn't see Celestia's flick upwards. While she and her dear Luna had never shared a single drop of blood, it had never mattered one whit to them. "As for Cadance, I couldn't say. My mother's family spread far and wide over the following centuries, so it's possible that she could be found, somewhere far back in Cadance's lineage. I'd like to believe so, at least. Tell me, Twilight," Celestia said, suddenly changing the topic back to more relevant matters. "Have either of your parents ever groomed you?"
"Groomed me, Princess?" Twilight asked, tilting her head. She'd just set her towel aside, and had been about to grab her brush, but the sudden change of topic distracted her. "I don't think so." she said slowly. "I mean, they help me with my mane, sometimes, if we're going out somewhere fancy, but I've bathed and brushed myself for a few years, now."
"Then no, they haven't." Celestia said. "If they had, you'd know. I'm not surprised, though. It's very old-fashioned, and has fallen out of practice over the last…You know, I can't recall the last time I heard anypony talk about it." Celestia admitted.
"What is it?"
"Come with me and I'll show you, my dear student."
"But, I still need to brush my mane and—"
"It doesn't matter tonight." Celestia reassured her, an amused smile on her muzzle.
"But, but…"
"Come along, Twilight." the huge alicorn said, lowering her head and gently grabbing her student in her mouth.
"PRINCESS!" the filly yelped, getting picked up by the scruff of her neck. She didn't squirm, though. Experienced teeth had found just the right place to grip, to render her limp. Celestia hadn't needed to use this skill in decades, but some things a pony just never forgot, it would seem.
"Relax." the princess mumbled around her mouthful, as her horn lit up to open the door to her bedchamber. As she walked through the doorway, she didn’t try to suppress her smile as she listened to the noises of protest from the little filly.
Climbing onto her bed, Celestia got herself settled before putting her still-sputtering student down. The filly collapsed onto her belly, her legs not regaining their strength in time to keep her on her hooves.
"Now lay still and let me groom you, my dear." the princess said, giving her student a quick peck on the nose, which turned into a long lick up the length of her muzzle, from her upper lip to the base of her horn.
"Ack! Princess!" Twilight giggled, squirming.
"Shh. Don't speak." Celestia murmured softly, pinning the filly with her leg, before licking her face again, slightly to the right of the first time. "Just relax…" Another lick, a little further to the right. "And let me…" A fourth, a little further. "Make you…" A fifth, this one right across the cheek. "Feel better." And a sixth, her broad tongue curving around the bottom of the tiny jaw.
Celestia's tongue then returned to the middle of Twilight's face, before working down the opposite side. From there, she moved to the base of her student's horn, her tongue working out from the fluted growth. This was followed by a few licks to one ear, which folded under the pressure applied, and flicked away as it disappeared. Then she licked the inside of the pinna.
Twilight had been mostly still until now, since the grooming had felt nice, and was surprisingly relaxing. But the damp feeling inside her ear made her try to squirm away again.
"Princeessss." she whined.
"Shhh." Celestia repeated, smoothly moving to run her tongue down Twilight's neck, against the grain of her fur. After covering the whole area, she worked her way back up, making sure to catch the base of the mane with every stroke. Reaching the top of Twilight's skull, Celestia didn't break her rhythm in the slightest as her tongue once more swiped inside the purple ear. She effortlessly followed Twilight's head as it jerked away, licking the top of her skull and ignoring the whimper.
Once she was satisfied with what she'd done so far, Celestia nudged Twilight around a little, and repeated her actions, grooming the right side of her head and neck. And when she was done with the fur, she moved her focus to the mane which was now sticking up in all directions. She spent nearly a minute alternately lipping and nibbling at the roots.
The gentle tugging and scratching was even nicer and more relaxing than the licking had been, and Twilight was soon sighing and nickering in pleasure. Which became a disappointed groan when the mouth left her neck, though the tongue running over her withers was a nice enough replacement.
Twilight kept slipping further into her contented stupor as the broad tongue was drug over her fur again and again, the almost hypnotic feelings drifting across her shoulder. She woke up slightly when Celestia nosed at her withers, spinning her partway around, but the feeling of the damp appendage running down her side soon put her back under. Even feeling her fur being rubbed the wrong away, against the grain, wasn't as unpleasant as she expected. It was a minor irritant, just enough to make having it put right a swipe or two later feel even better.
Celestia took her time grooming the filly's shoulder and side, before slipping her hoof between the tiny forelegs. She lifted the top one, and worked her tongue up towards the hoof, one slow swipe at a time. She even licked the frog once or twice, making the filly giggle and squirm. The innocent, joyous sound made Celestia stop for a second, to indulge in a pleased smile.
Then Celestia returned to her grooming, running her tongue over the ribs. She worked her way down the body slowly, pausing to pay extra attention to the small flank, with its starburst cutie mark. The stimulation of the extremely sensitive area made Twilight twitch. Celestia ignored it though, just moving to Twilight's right hind leg.
When she finished with Twilight's exposed side, Celestia worked her muzzle between the silky bedspread and the tiny body, before flipping the filly over, making her yelp in surprise. She then used her hooves to reposition the filly with her back to the alicorn again, and started grooming the newly exposed side.
Some minutes later, Celestia finished with Twilight's body, and positioned her so she was sitting upright, whereupon she started licking the filly's tail. Once she was satisfied with the condition of the blue and pink strands, she started nibbling the dock, just like she had with the mane, earlier. She took her time, rotating the filly with nudges of her head as she went.
When Celestia finished with Twilight's dock, the filly was laying on her back, her legs spread wide, and Celestia started up the little body. She began by running her tongue over Twilight's belly. The ticklish sensation set her squirming again, with another peal of giggles. Celestia didn't let this deter her, and she moved up her belly, with quick detours up each of her hind legs, covering the areas she couldn't reach before. Then Celestia raised her upper body and scooted forward so she was sitting over her young charge maternally, as though protecting her from anything that might threaten her.
Lowering her head, Celestia's grooming moved to Twilight's chest, and again, she detoured up the filly's legs on her way up. Then she scooted a little further forward as her tongue moved up to Twilight's neck, and finally, her chin. She finished with a quick peck on her chin.
In the second or two it took for Twilight to come out of her stupor, Celestia nosed over onto her belly one last time. Twilight came to just in time to feel the princess’s wing wrap around her. After a short moment more, she snuggled up tighter against the warm side. Feeling so warm and safe, it didn’t take long for Twilight to drift off,.
A few moments later, Celestia looked up when her bedchamber door opened.
Raven peeked in carefully, having been forewarned of Twilight’s presence by the bath attendants. When she looked at the bed, she saw Princess Celestia with one wing against her lips, signaling her to keep quiet. So she simply held up her clipboard with the next day’s schedule, and let the princess levitate it over. She waited in the doorway as Celestia looked it over and made a few notes, before floating it back to her. After Raven looked over the adjustments, she looked back at her employer and nodded silently, to indicate they would work. Then she backed up and closed the door as silently as she could.
On the bed, Celestia watched her secretary leave, before setting her head back down on the pillow. Then she finally let her exhaustion overwhelm her willpower, slipping off to sleep almost instantly.