Twilight slowly opened her eyes, only to find a void of blackish green all around her. As she tried to right herself she noticed that her wings we in a upright and stiff position, just like they were in the shower earlier.

"Oh c'mon body! I already satisfied that need tonight, I don't need a wet dream too." Twilight tried to adjust her wings to a down folded position but found the attempt fruitless. If they were any harder to maneuver they may as well been made of concrete.

"I'm gonna just wake myself up, maybe I'll dream of bunnies or something the next time around." Twilight closed her eyes in an effort to wake herself up when she heard a sort of whisper in the distance.

I won't let you...

A voice that sounded something like her own echoed though the darkness, sending eerie shivers down her spine. "Who's there? What do you mean you won't let me? This is my dream isn't it?"

That may be but we have much to discuss, much to discuss about the debt you owe.

"I'll have you know I pay all my debts in full and why would I owe a dream a debt to begin with. It's not like you actually can use tangible goods." Twilight said confidently.

This isn't about a debt you owe somepony else...this is a debt that you owe yourself. A purple light began to swirl on front of Twilight, slowly taking the form of herself, except with that it was fairly taller and the horn was more pointed than her own.

"You...look like me, well me if I was a bit older." Twilight said as she pointed to the larger wings and sharper horn.

"An accurate assumption." The being replied. "I am a representation of the Alicorn powers slowly blossoming from within you. Something like an image of will eventually be."

Twilight examined the pony in front of her briefly before speaking. "So, you never bothered talking to me before, why start now?"

"I am you. We are one in the same, if you started talking to yourself then other ponies would think you needed a special jacket and padded rooms if you get my drift. No, I am a part of you that knows of a problem that needs addressing. The debt I mentioned earlier." The representation moved like lightning around Twilight and then quickly back into its original position.

"Last time I checked I don't owe myself much. Maybe a little rest and relaxation becuase I work so much but other than that I don't have any withstanding debts to myself." Twilight thought back, she did still owe another pony a debt but how to pay it remained to be seen.

"I see, being a technical genius but at the same time entirely ignorant of your own needs." The Alicorn representation sighed heavily. "Let me ask you, when was the last time you actually had you know, companionship, a lover if you will.When was the last time you had your lust satisfied? Do not count any times you masturbated, including the shower situation last night, which by the way, a shower rod; really now?"

"Is that what this is all about? Listen I-"

"Just answer the question." The Alicorn representation interjected.

"Fine." Twilight sat on her haunches, thinking back to the last time she had any kind of companionship or dates. She kept drawing a blank, she hadn't really been on any dates in four years and hadn't actually mated in longer than that. "I think the last time I did anything was with Trixie Lulamoon, over four years ago now."

"Good, now the spell Celestia gave you to suppress your seasonal mating instincts, how many years in a row have you used it?" The Alicorn asked.

"Not too long after I was stationed here. I mean there were no ponies up here at all besides me for the first few years. It wasn't until a year ago that ponies from other towns began to move in and help." Twilight said.

"And how many years or seasons did Celestia say that you could use this ability in a row?" The Alicorn asked.

"Ummmm..." Twilight racked her mind for the answer but came up blank. Celestia didn't mention how long she could use the effects of the spell or if it had any ill effects for extended use. "It must have slipped her mind. We were really busy rebuilding all the damage Maskia's war caused. I guess we were too busy with rebuilding efforts to stress the little things.."

"Little things? I think a demonstration is in order." The Alicorn broke apart into a purple pink mist and collided with Twilight's body, absorbing into her very being.

"I don't get it. What did she mean by demonstrati...on?" Twilight felt a slight tingling sensation in her backside. It kind of felt like the first part of going into heat. Before she could ascertain the situation however, her horn started to throb uncontrollably, her wings stiffed out and her body broke out in a hot sweat.

"What did you do to me?" Twilight asked as she gasped for breath.

Only what you have suppressed for so long... The voice of the Alicorn replied.

Soon, Twilight's flanks and vaginal tract tightened up, her clitoris was winking in and out like it was some kind of strobe light. Next she felt the warm sensation in her neathers flare up as if somepony lit a fire underneath her. She felt the blood rush to her cheeks and a urge to mate or release herself. An overpowering urge like she never had before.

"This is...an extreme case of estrus. You proved your point, please stop." Twilight begged as she collapsed into a fetal position. Breathing heavily and trying to think of other things to take her attention away from how aroused she felt.

I'm not even a quarter of the way done showing you what you have been shoving off on me. The voice replied.

The heat intensified. Twilight could feel her insides churning, her own vaginal walls rubbing against one another in an attempt to find any kind of release. "Th-this...Nyaaaahh...f-feels like the time I ate some of Bonbon's special candy without knowing what it was." Twilight resisted the urge to satisfy herself but the urge was just too strong. She had to please herself, even if it meant doing it in front of herself.

Twilight rolled onto her back, reaching down with her right hoof, she fondled her clitoris to little effect.More blood rushed to Twilight's face, her wings now so rock hard they could crush steel between them if she wanted. Worse than the internal grinding was all the sweat and lack of oxygen, all the panting and screaming for release was taking its toll on her. "Please stop, I get it."

No you don't. Go ahead try and find a solution to the problem.

Twilight's body may have been racked with intense lust but oddly her mind was still functional to some extent. "This is a dream right? Than I can imagine anything I want and it will appear?" Twilight imagined a large yellow and green stallion to appear in front of her. A kind of green gas appeared and slowly took the form of a fairly good looking stallion. Twilight then imagined the stallion to have a large member, at first it was only average sized but Twilight found herself so desperate that she imagined it so large that it would break a regular mares hips if inserted.

"Y-you, don't just stand there, fuck me stupid!" Twilight demanded.

The stallion bowed his head and set himself over Twilight. Twilight in response, spread her legs open, allowing the stallion better positioning. The stallion plunged his member into Twilight with authority, making the her scream in excitement. She had never imagined something so large inside her would feel like before. She had seen other mares in magazines taking a member of this magnitude in them but never imagined it would feel so good. No wonder other mares were always left a drooling mess, the feeling was even better than the shower toy. It didn't even compare to the warm, pulsating girth inside her. She instinctively wrapped her back legs around the stallions hips, pushing him so deep as to bump up right against her cervix. The sensation snapped her out of her lustful daze, she didn't have time for this. She needed her other self to remove what she had done.

"S-see, I found a solution, turn it off now." Twilight demanded.

When will you ever learn that there is no substitution for the real thing? the voice of the Alicorn replied snidely.

The stallion began to rock his hips sharply into Twilight's, each thrust sending shivers down her spine as each nerve ending was satisfied at once. He started off slowly, each thrust spreading her wide enough to feel it everywhere and just deep enough to not hurt. "Hnmmmm... yeah!" Twilight began to drool, instinctively she tightened her legs around the stallions hips, allowing him better leverage to thrust faster; my rhythmically into her. The stallion slowly increased his pace, Twilight screaming obscenities as her hips began to hurt from accommodating the stallions impressive girth.

However, Twilight's body wasn't changing, if anything the heat was worse than before.. The stallions train piston-like rhythm started to slow down as Twilight's neathers grew tighter and tighter. "What are you doing? Plow harder!"

The stallion nodded and picked Twilight up, positioning her front legs under her flanks and Twilight wrapping her forelegs around his neck for leverage. The stallion kept pumping her as hard as he could, each thrust actually causing more pain than pleasure as it slapped up against her cervix. Suddenly the stallion stopped, a distressed look on his face as he tried with all his might to penetrate Twilight.

"What's wrong?" Twilight already knew the answer, her own body was no longer feeling any kind of relief and the stallion was being blocked from entry by her muscles contracting too hard.

"I-I'm sorry Twilight, I keep a knockin but I can't get in." The stallion replied somberly, beads of sweat rolling down his neck.

"I'll try and relax then." Twilight breathed in deeply, trying to relax her body. As she focused her mind on relaxation the stallion slowly slid into her, eliciting a few yelps from Twilight in the process. However as he tried to pull back out he found himself unable to, Twilight's body had his member in a vice grip.

"I'm stuck I think...your squeezing me too hard. It's starting to hurt." The stallion tried with all his might to pull out of Twilight, doing his best not to complain but the look in his eyes told another story. He was frightened, the pain he was experiencing must have been enormous.

"In my haste to prove my other side err...myself wrong, I didn't realize that my body if far stronger than I realized. Even if you are a dream I'm sorry I hurt you." Twilight closed her eyes and the stallion dissipated into a green haze of smoke. "Okay you win, I get it already."

Good, seeing you like that was making me sad...and a tad horny. A purple haze appeared above Twilight and moved in front of her, taking the form of the Alicorn version of herself from before.

"Substitutions only go so far. Your body knows when you are faking it, when you lack companionship. Ponies are social animals after all, we can only take so much isolation." The Alicorn stated.

Twilight's body began to slowly calm itself. Her wings were no longer rigid, the throbbing in her horn was gone and although her neathers were still a bit sore from taking the dream stallions entire girth; at the very least it was nowhere near as bad as before. Something puzzled Twilight though, something she couldn't put her hoof on.

"Earlier you mentioned I was shoving something off on you. What did you mean by that?" Twilight asked.

"Alicorns as you know can choose when, where and how to go into heat. Also if they want a foal from it but we cannot put it off forever. Celestia may be able to hold off doing anything sex related for decades at a time but she has been an Alicorn for many centuries longer than you. Hence her power can hold back certain things longer."

"Wait, have you, me...us been experiencing this for a long time now?" Twilight asked, a concerned expression on her face.

The Alicorn looked embarrassed. "Our combined power is still very much limited. No celestial contract has been made, you still being part unicorn and me still being young have compounded the issue. I can only suppress things so long before they become a problem and you overusing our power on a near daily basis to prove yourself has been taxing."

Twilight's eyes went wide with horror. "You haven't been experiencing what I just did have you?"

The Alicorn blushed as if embarrassed by the accusation. "Yes, every night after you go to sleep I experience that exact same heat for a couple hours. It's only been that way for about a year now but it's slowly getting worse. Right now I barely have the power to suppress it. In less than a few days you may have a waking situation where you have to deal with it."

Twilight felt sick to her stomach. Her own pride and work ethic had caused a part of herself so much torment. "H-how can I make this up to you, to us, I can take a week off and find us a mate. I'll send out letters to Spitfire or Trixie. One of them is bound to respond to our plight."

The Alicorn merely shook her head from side to side. "At this point you would need something more powerful than just a stallion or a couple sexually promiscuous filly foolers. You experienced first hoof what would happen with that green stallion, it would satisfy your only temporarily. At this point you need to mate with something powerful. A creature that could go on for days at a time and capable of overpowering you if need arise."

"But the only thing equal to an Alicorn in power is...either a dragon or another Alicorn, maybe a high end Zebra shaman but those are exceedingly rare." Twilight thought harder. "I guess Discord as well but that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen."

"Bingo." The Alicorn replied. "Also I don't think Discord would let you live it down, ever, if you asked him for such a thing."

Twilight didn't know what to do. Powerful shaman are fairly rare and she would need to make a trip to the Zebra homeland to do so. Dragon's were almost entirely off the table as an option. From what she read the males had twin members that were not only larger than a mare but painful without the internal scales of a female dragon to protect them. Even teenage males would be off the table as they are still capable of tearing a mare to ribbons in their unrelenting lust. This wasn't even taking account of the claw marks, 'love' bites and burns associated with dragon sex.

"I wouldn't dismiss dragons as an option personally. I could protect us from most of the damage they could do but you would walk funny for a month at least." The Alicorn said jokingly.

"No, that's not an option. Neither are Zebra as they are currently out of season anyways. Which leaves..."

"Celestia, Luna or Cadence." The Alicorn stated, finishing Twilight's sentence for her.

"Cadence is off the table, that's just gross, she's like my big sister." The mere thought of such a thing made Twilight want to retch. Even worse was the thought of an automatic threesome with her brother that came into mind. A mental image she could have gone her entire life without seeing.

"I noticed you didn't automatically exclude Celestia or Luna, kinky. You want to have fun times with your teacher and her sister." The Alicorn was smiling ear to ear.

"N-no it's not that. I just have very few options left." Twilight said while trying to hide the fact she was blushing.

The Alicorn smiled. "The only pony here you are lying to is yourself. I am you remember? I know for a fact you want to know what having sex with a pony that powerful would be like. Not just for curiosities sake but to touch something so few have ever touched before. To feel the power they have first hoof..."

Twilight's face was so red you could practically fry an egg on it. "Fine, Celestia has a nice behind, so does Luna for that fact as well. I heard some ponies even mention that the younger of the two had way more junk in the trunk, whatever that means." Twilight hid her face under her foreleg. "Ohh, this is so embarrassing. My only options are my teacher, a dragon I may or may not find in time or my teachers sister."

There is another option...an option that will reveal itself in very soon...

Twilight's ears perked up. "Was that you that said that just now?"

"No, that wasn't me. I have no need to echo my thoughts in this form, that also wasn't my voice." The Alicorn stood up, staring into the distance. "I see, interesting. That may actually work."

"What will work?" Twilight said as she stood up and turned in placed, looking for what the Alicorn was staring at.

"You know what I'm talking about, deep down. Anyways it's almost time for you to wake up but I warn you, I only have a couple days time of magical power to hold of what you experienced earlier at the most. Thankfully that other option should help." The Alicorn began to fade away as the void around her began to brighten.

Twilight rushed forward yelling. "What do you mean other option? Tell me!"

Twilight shot upright in bed, yelling for an answer but only getting a taste of paper in her mouth for her efforts. Twilight opened her eyes to see that the magazine she fell sleep on was firmly stuck to her face. She pulled the magazine off and tossed it to the side. "I need to get back to sleep and ask her what she meant." Looking over at the clock however showed that she didn't have time for such things. Spike would be coming in the room soon with the daily schedule and her breakfast.

As Twilight got out of bed she noticed that her fur was soaking wet with sweat, not only that but her blanket and sheets reeked of her own musk, soaked clean though to the mattress with her own fluids. "Great, I guess that stallion in my dream did do something, just not exactly what I wanted." Twilight lifted the sheets and blankets off the bed and tossed them down the laundry chute by the bathroom door.

"Now to do something about the smell, even Spike isn't so obstinate as to miss this stench." Twilight conjured a few spells and managed to turn her own fluids into a very strong lavender smell. "That's out of the way, now for the other thing." The creeping heat on her backside was already beginning to take its toll on her concentration and stamina. She wanted nothing more than to grab that bar in the bathroom and go wild again but she needed to get a hold of Celestia, something that required her to be in a sane mind.

"Hope I have enough power for this." Twilight focused her mind and a purple aura surrounded her body, after a few moments it faded, leaving Twilight short of breath. "She wasn't kidding about the time limit." While most of the smell was gone, some of her own musk still lingered. Not enough for drones to pick up on unless they got very close to her but enough for other ponies to notice her dilemma. Still there was still some of the heat as well, nowhere near as overpowering as in the dream but enough to weaken her concentration from time to time.

A pounding sound came at the door from the kitchen. "Twilight wake up! Shit just got weird outside!" Spike said though the door.

Twilight opened up the curtains in her room to look out the window. Spike was right, something was definitely off. The sky was tinged with a green hue that seemed to be coming from the hatchery where Chrysalis's egg was being incubated. Not only that but every single drone from the town to the far reaches of Equestria were circling the building, as if they knew their Queen would soon return to them.

"Buuurrrrp!" Twilight turned around to find Spike in the room, busy pulling out a scroll from his mouth.

"A letter, this early?" Twilight asked.

Spike pulled the letter out of his mouth and broke a Celestial wax seal on the center of it. He quickly unfurled the letter and read it, running his claw along the writing as to skip all the unimportant decree stuff that Celestia's clerks sometimes put in to fluff their work load. "Celestia's coming to visit, Twilight! She will be here in a couple hours to oversee the hatching of Queen Chrysalis!"

"This isn't good Spike, we won't be able to get the honorary visit procession into motion without help!" Twilight looked out the window again. "Look at them Spike, all the help I could ever want but they are all attracted to Chrysalis like moths to our porch light."

"Or mayflies to our porch light. We get way more of them here than moths." Spike said in a matter-of-factly tone.

"Does the letter say anything else? What I should do. A contingency plan in case Chrysalis is a ungrateful and just wants to take over Equestria again?" Twilight asked, panicking.

"Calm down Twilight, take a deep breath." Spike unfurled the letter again and read the entire thing this time. "No, not a thing about that in here. If you want we can try and conjure an industrial can of RAID if need be." Spike said sarcastically.

"They are not insects Spike, they are changelings. I don't think things like that work on them."

"Could have fooled me." Spike rolled up the mail and set it on the nightstand next to Twilight's bed. "If you need me I'll be making breakfast. Something quick like bagels, you want some?"

Twilight seemed to not hear what Spike was saying.

What am I going to do?! Celestia will be busy with talking with Chrysalis if she hatches today, she may even have to fight her if it turns out she still wants Equestria for herself. How could I possibly ask my teacher for something pleasure related when so much work would need to be done.

"Twilight?" Spike said waving a claw in front of her face.

I mean I can always send a letter to Luna but Luna might refuse becuase she's still busy with restoration efforts of her own. I'm not even sure how to go about asking her for such a favor.

"Twilight? Earth to Twilight?" Spike said.

I could maybe fly to the dragon wastes and entice a dragon to mate with me but in my current condition it could possibly scar me for life or even kill me if they bite too hard. Maybe a changeling gang-bang would work...

"Twilight!!!" Spike shouted, snapping Twilight out of her thoughts.

"What, what's wrong Spike?" Twilight said, surprised.

"You're panicking again. I asked if you wanted something to eat and you went off into thought la la land." Spike smelled the air and noticed something odd, a smell that he had smelled before coming from Twilight.

"What is that weird smell? It smells like pony mating season in here." Spike moved closer to Twilight trying to pinpoint the exact location where the smell was coming from. "Twilight, is that you?"

Twilight's face flushed a brilliant shade of red and she lowered her head and nodded. "I'm going into heat Spike."

"Oh, well I can run down to the general store and get the reagents to suppress it that I forgot yesterday. No big deal right?" Spike asked.

"No Spike, that won't work this time. As of now I have maybe a days worth of magical stamina to keep it under control. I'm currently using up most of my power to keep it suppressed." Tears started to well up in Twilight's eyes. "Worst of all I'll not only look weak in front of Celestia but the entire swarm and Chrysalis too."

"One problem at a time Twilight. Let's get some food in your first, you go get washed up and I'll make us some bagels, eggs and waffles." Spike pushed Twilight up to the bathroom and opened the door for her. "Meeting the princess and the queen while weak is one thing but I doubt they want to smell you too." Spike said while smiling.

Twilight returned the favor and smiled back broadly.

Her's always there to help, even when I don't think anypony will. Twilight walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Twilight walked over to the cabinet containing her shampoos and looked for something that would help cover up her own smell from the swarms of changeling outside. There was a line of Blueish purple shampoos at the bottom of the shelf that she had never used. Some of them were Blue with purple stripes while the others were night blue with purple stripes. Twilight picked up the bottle with the light blue and purple stripes and turned it over.

"Huh, midday summer showers eh? Contains ozone odor. That might cover it up." Twilight set the bottle back down and slowly looked over all her options. Oddly enough the more she read the more and more the midday summer shower shampoo looked like the better choice.

"Anything that could cover up the smell would be too strong. I could just use the Stalliongrad Pine but that might be too strong." Twilight pondered for a few more moments, going over the options in her head before deciding on what shampoo to use.

"I guess it's the midday summer shower then." Twilight picked up the night blue bottle with the purple stripes with her magic and walked over to the shower. Twilight opened the door and stepped inside, she turned the dial to smooth burst mode and waited. Streams of water began to shoot out in smell manageable bursts from all sides, quickly soaking Twilight's fur and feathers.

Twilight looked over at the bar holding up the towel that was previously a sex toy the night before and shook her head. Best not to, I have enough problems keeping myself under control without any stimulation. Twilight thought to herself, although her body objected to the idea of not doing it. Twilight popped open the bottle and inhaled the scent. It didn't exactly smell like a midday summer shower more like a breeze with blossoms in it.

"Talk about false advertisement, maybe it just smells that way while not lathered." Twilight began to spread the shampoo over her back, wings and her flanks, although the last one made her wink a bit in response.

"I'm such a mess. I'm using everything I have to hold it back yet here I am, my body wanting action at the slightest bump..." Twilight sighed and pulled the brush down from around one of the nozzles and began to scrub her wings and sides. As the shampoo began to sink in to her coat and lather up she noticed that her magic was getting a little wonky. The aura from her horn holding up the brush was fading in and out, making scrubbing herself down a chore.

"I guess I really am weak, I guess I'll have to do this the old fashioned way." Twilight grabbed the brush in her teeth and began to brush down her chest, ignoring the taste of shampoo in her mouth as she went along. When she got to her flanks however she noticed that she was short of breath and worse yet her backside was winking wildly.

"Oh, come on!" Twilight huffed and picked up the bottle of shampoo with her forelegs but stopped just short of applying more to her backside. The label on the front caught her eyes, something was different than what she remembered. As she turned over the bottle she noticed that this was not the shampoo she thought she had selected.

"Midnight Sex Appeal?" Twilight read the front label slowly. "Turn up you love life in or out of the shower, contains Bonbon derived aphrodisiacs. Warning: producers are not responsible for random filly fooling after usage of this product." Twilight dropped the bottle on the bathroom floor, so quickly moved to set the shower on its highest setting.

"I grabbed the wrong one!? I got to get this stuff off of me!" The shower began to blast water at her like it was a cart wash rising off the lather with ease, however, some of the lather had already seeped over her nether regions, eliciting an air hump or two as Twilight tried to calm herself. It was too late however, the aphrodisiac was already taking effect. Twilight could feel her wings beginning to stiffen out like boards and her horn throbbed uncontrollably.

I'm sorry Twilight. I can't hold back the flood any longer, that shampoo was the proverbial straw that broke the camels back. Twilight heard the voice of her Alicorn powers cry out in sadness as her body continued its downward spiral into sexual perversion.

The sensation suddenly went from just being kind of annoying to the extremes of her dream the night before. Twilight collapsed on the floor, trying to control herself but couldn't seem to keep her hooves away from rubbing herself in an attempt to relieve some of the building tension.

You know, I can help you out of this little predicament. Twilight heard a voice in her head. Watching you grovel there on the floor as you try to satisfy your godlike lust makes me so very sad.

"W-who are you. How do you know what's going on?" Twilight spread her legs, trying to hump the floor for relief.

I'm the one that can help you now. That's all you need to know for the moment.

"How can you help me?" Twilight cried as she pulled a shower head from above and began to spray water up and down her backside.

All those emotions and insticts that you had to suppress for so long, the very biology you decided was not befitting of a mare of your stature is now tearing you apart from the inside. By my own estimates you body will remain like this for at least a week. I can make it stop right now.

Twilight rolled on her back, her neathers feeling as if they were suddenly a meat grinder. Both walls were rubbing up hard against one another, looking for something to satisfy their hunger. "What do I have to do, how can I trust you?"

You don't want to look weak or like a fool in front of Celestia and after all you have done to help the changelings I don't want to see you that way. My help only costs one favor to be cashed in on a future date. I will free you of those desires until I collect my fee, you will have some of your powers back, how much I can't say.

"Hnnng...what kind of favors? I want to see the contract first." Twilight knew better than to owe a pony a favor without knowing the stipulations. Her experience in politics and governing made her savvy about such things. Least of all making blank checks with a voice in her head.

I haven't decided on the favor but I can assure you it will be beneficial to us both if you accept. Either that or I can leave you on the floor, writhing in lust until Celestia or...Spike finds you like this.

Twilight knew she wasn't in any position to bargain but every fiber of her being knew making such a open ended deal was wrong. Her body on the other hoof disagreed, It was getting hard to breathe and masturbation was doing nothing to alleviate her symptoms. Making a coherent thought was getting harder to do as well, if she continued down this path her body would do whatever it took to satisfy itself.

"F-fine. I agree to your terms, just make it stop." Twilight begged, the sensations were too much to bear at once.

Good, hold still for a moment.

Twilight watched as a green light enveloped her body. She was floating a few inches off of the floor and her body was no longer experiencing any ill effects. After a few moments she was softly lowered onto the shower floor. "That...was easier than I expected it to be." Twilight stood up, she felt entirely normal and best of all some of her power had returned to her, she could lift the brush with her magic with no problems.

Suddenly a flash of green light appeared below her. Twilight looked down to find a silver necklace with many square silver studs lying on the bathroom floor. In the center was a single emerald gemstone, glistening in the water.

I need you to wear that until we meet at last. It is a kind of contractual seal of sorts to make sure you keep up your side of the bargain.

"And if I refuse?" Twilight asked.

That's the fun part. After you put that on I can make you pay back the debt weather you want to or not. Don't worry though, the contract stated my payment could only be beneficial to both of us on the payment. I completely intend to keep it that way. But just in case...

The necklace jumped up and wrapped around Twilight's neck, the latch snapping tightly on the back of her neck. "Hey!" Twilight pulled at the necklace only to find that the second she tried to pull it off the heat came back with authority on her backside, making her quickly let go.

"There's no need for this, whoever you are. I always pay my debts." Twilight tugged at the necklace again but her wings stiffening up the way they did made her quickly let go.

Don't you fret. We will see each other today, you will get the chance to pay off all your debts.Till then enjoy your visit with Celestia, I'll see you soon...

Twilight stood there, the water still running down her mane as she stared at the necklace. "What have I gotten myself into..."

Twilight stood outside at the air-dock behind her house, patiently awaiting Celestia's arrival. However the queens hatching was the furthest thing from her mind at the moment. Not only was she now indebted to a creature that could very well mean her or Equestria harm but she had to lie to her assistant Spike about the necklace. Telling him it was a changeling tradition for outsiders to wear special jewelry around their queen. Worse yet she couldn't even ask her teacher if she wanted to mate, not that she wanted to but the spell put on her was odd to say the least. Whatever it was it was clearly beyond the level of a unicorn but at the time almost entirely different from anything an alicorn could produce.

"The spell is being continually powered from somewhere, but where?" Twilight had tried to trace a magical path back to the spells source so she at least could gather info on what or whom she was dealing with but the leylines of magic she could trace were pouring in from all directions. Some of if in lines and others in small green fog-like hazes of power.

"Whomever it is, they are powerful. I can't trace them and they know where I am, what I'm doing and what I'm feeling. I thought colts peeking in on me in the shower when I was younger was bad but this is just terrible." Twilight scanned the skies, looking for Celestia's royal chariot but saw nothing but clear morning skies and the occasional smoke cloud from nearby volcanic activity.

"So, what are you looking for Twilight?" Said a soft voice from behind.

Twilight jumped six feet into the air and came crashing down face first. She quickly opened her eyes and stood upright.

"You must really be on edge Twilight, I haven't seen you so jumpy since I gave you this commission so many years ago." Celestia said.

"I thought you were coming in by air chariot? That's your usual mode of transportation. I even had snacks ready." Twilight pointed to a small table with a few cupcakes, coffee cakes and a pitcher of juice on it.

"No, there was a storm in Canterlot. Quite possibly from the power Chrysalis is putting out. I forgone the typical slow joyride for a much faster teleportation approach." Celestia walked past Twilight and lifted one of the cupcakes up with her magic, taking a small bite before turning back to Twilight. "I see you are a tad on the jumpy side." Celestia giggled. "Some things never change, you're always a nervous wreck before a big event or when you're are around me, even if we hold equal power."

Twilight nodded nervously, she couldn't tell her the real reason for her jittery behavior; not unless she wanted to let Celestia down. "That's not true, everypony knows you are the most powerful Alicorn in Equestria. We all just follow your lead."

Celestia took another bite of her Cupcake, this time finishing it off in a single bite. "Power, no. Maybe wisdom though. Remember Luna was the one that nearly put Maskia in her grave, sure she destroyed most of Ponyville in the process but still. One day you will have that kind of power at your disposal, I'm just sad that these trying times has kept us apart for so long."

Twilight smiled meekly. "The isolation has been pretty bad up here but with Chrysalis gone the swarm had no idea what to do. They may have even attacked in larger numbers if we didn't step in and create order. That and I owed Chrysalis for saving my life in that fortress."

"As did I. I just wish I could be in more than one place at once, I hate leaving you here these past few years but I needed somepony with real power that could handle herself if the swarm got out of control." Celestia wiped a tear from her eye. "I'm so sorry for what I did to you..."

Twilight couldn't bear to see her teacher like this, something inside her told her to embrace her and that's just what she did. She leaped forward, throwing her forelegs tightly around Celestia's neck and gave her the biggest hug she could. "No pony is perfect, you did what had to be done."

At first Celestia was taken aback but quickly put her forelegs around Twilight's midsection, hugging her back tightly. "You have become so strong, you even forgive where forgiveness isn't warranted."

"And you haven't change a bit, always blaming yourself for every little thing not in your control." Twilight broke the hug. "Sometimes even I think you are a bit of a control freak." Twilight and Celestia shared a laugh.

"I guess so, Luna has said that on many occasion. I guess we all have our faults though." Celestia walked past Twilight and down the platform stairs, she turned her head to Twilight and smiled. "I want to see all the wonderful work you have done while I'm here."

Twilight smiled back. "I'll give you the tour."

"Amazing, just plain amazing, Twilight. Most of the nasty minerals that have hurt the swarm for so long have been removed. Shops and houses everywhere. Ponies and Changeling living in harmony, you have done a truly great thing." Celestia said as she looked around.

Twilight blushed, it had been so long since someone complimented her on her work that it almost felt as alien as the landscape when she first arrived in the swarm homeland. "Well not everything's been going hunky-dory. I seriously injured myself the other day ripping up an entire mountains worth of obsidian from the ground."

"I got a letter from Spike for that one. I was here while you were out, the doctor said you would make a full recovery so I left and got back to work in Canterlot. I was still worried though, I was planning on writing you a letter about personal restraint."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I'm just a little eager to prove myself to everypony that I forget that I have quite a few limitations that you do not." Twilight said while rubbing the back of her head.

"Listen to you, able to lift a mountain and then complain about having limitations. Even I would feel tired after lifting such a massive object. Luna as well, although she would never admit it." Celestia and Twilight climbed up the hill right before the palace where Chrysalis was being stored only to stop suddenly and stare.

In the distance they could see the spire where the changeling Queen was held had changed quite a bit. The entire tip of the spire was obscured by a massive cloud of buzzing changelings,thousands perhaps even millions of them flying around the spire in one gigantic cloud of black. Not only that but all the drones seemed to by in something of a hypnotic gaze, each one seemed to be making a reverberation of some kind with their wings, possibly sending a low frequency signal to other changelings.

"I think we greatly underestimated exactly the situation we were in. Were there this many living in this little town Twilight?" Celestia asked.

It took a few moments for Twilight to respond, the shock of so many changelings was messing with her attention span. "Oh, no. There were maybe ten thousand in the town and surrounding areas tops. I didn't even think this many existed."

They must have scattered all around the world when their Queen became an egg but now that shes nearly returned they all come to her call without fail. Twilight thought as she watched the mesmerizing cloud. "Celestia, do you think-" Twilight turned her head to find Celestia looking somber. "What's wrong?"

"I left you up here to keep the swarm under control but if they wanted you they could have captured you or worse killed you with ease. Me, Luna, Cadence, You; all of us combined cannot stop that many changelings. I don't even think our entire army could handle that many."

"That still doesn't explain why you look so down." Twilight pointed out.

"Don't you see? I could have been sending you to your grave. In my urgency to get somepony out here to stop a possible mass attack I could have gotten you killed." Celestia was sweating at the brow, the sickening thought of sending somepony she thought of as a daughter to her death appeared to sicken her to the core.

"You know what, I know how to stop you sulking like you got caught stealing cake from the royal kitchens at night." Twilight looked into the cloud and spotted one of the changelings, one of them with chipped cheeks that she recognized as the foreman. "Hey! Foreman! Can I have a word with you?"

The changeling stopped in the air, his insect like eyes staring at Twilight. "Sure thing princess." The changeling Twilight recognized as the foreman broke rank with the rest of the changelings, much to their dismay. He quickly landed in front of Twilight and smiled.

"Here to pay homage to our Queen I see? Or are you here to transfer love to her so she can be strong when she hatches?"

"No, none of that. Well, some of that, but not the love part. I wanted to know something, when I arrived here and started to setup camp to keep the hive in order, how many of you left? Also you could have killed me at any time with those numbers." Twilight pointed out to the cloud of changelings around the spire. "Why didn't you?"

"I uhhh...well you see. Changelings like beings of power and when we saw you only wanted the best for us AND wanted to hatch our former Queen; a former enemy of Equestria, we were compelled to follow. We...are not used to being able to show emotions like respect, love and admiration. We occasionally got them from the Queen but not in any large quantities. She was extremely goal oriented on taking Canterlot and all of Equestria for the swarm." The changeling scratched his leg nervously. "I'm sorry if that was a bit jumbled up, I am quite nervous about the Queen returning and all."

The changeling began to blush, his cheeks turning an odd color of reddish blue. "To be..frank, every changeling in the village has nothing but admiration for you. You treated everyone like equals from the smallest groundlings to the most cold faced of guards. You were never above getting your hooves dirty for the benefit of everyone...some of my brothers and sisters even love you like a sibling." The drone shuffled his feet uncomfortably as he stared at the skies. "I'm sorry I can't stay and chatter but the calling is really strong. I need to get back in formation."

"I have one more question then you can go." Twilight said.

"Okay then, fire away." The drone tried to keep his attention on Twilight but his attention kept going back and forth between her and the swarm above him.

"If Chrysalis were to hatch and order my execution...would you carry it out?" Twilight asked.

The drone looked as if he saw a ghost. Not only him but the swarm above slowed down, many of them staring right down at Twilight. "I...uhhh, I...I don't know. The Queens power compels us to obey her. Maybe others could...I don't think I could though. It would be like killing one of our own."

Twilight stepped forward and embraced the drone in a hug, making many of the drones about blush or jealous from what she could tell. "Thank you for being honest with me. Whatever happens, I'm glad I could be your friend."

The drone shed a few tears as he broke the hug and flew off into the swarm above without a word.

"Twilight...I don't know what to say. Many of them seem fond of you, even to the point where it overpowers their hive mentality." Celestia said.

"I guess so. I didn't know they liked me that much, I mean they weren't always friendly but none of them seemed outright violent or rude to me. I guess they all just needed a friend." Twilight said beaming.

Celestia moved toward the spire. "Shall we Twilight?"

"Sure."

It didn't take much time to get to the door of the spire and oddly enough the sentry drones at the front gate ; nearly a thousand of them, let Twilight and Celestia in with out so much as a cautionary glance. When they entered the main hall Celestia groaned as she spotted a set of spiral stairs that went all the way up.

"The last thing I want to deal with is a ninety story climb up stairs. Haven't these changelings ever heard of an elevator?" Celestia complained.

"I know the feeling, back in the crystal kingdom when I was working my way though Sombra's traps the only unifying consistent theme was stairs. Stairs that went down for ages followed immediately by stairs that went up. No torture dungeons or anything anywhere just stairs upon stairs." Twilight looked at the bottom of the spiral staircase, the bottoms of them were smooth. "Well, I did it once before, I can do it again. Celestia stand right here next to me."

Celestia moved up next to Twilight with a confused expression on her face. "You're not planning what I think you are planning are you? My hooves with be so polished they would outshine the sun from that kind of slide." Celestia said sarcastically.

Twilight looked straight up the staircase, counting the floors that they had to slide if she were to reverse their gravity. "You have a point, our hooves would be shiny, hot and could cut glass with that kind of height." Twilight noticed that aside from the top 12 or so floors, the rest of the staircase was in open air.

"You know, weird unstable architecture aside we could just fly up to the point where it starts dividing into floors and climb the rest of the way." Twilight turned her head to Celestia whom she noted was staring at her hoof and not paying her any attention. "Got some gum on your hoof Celestia?" Twilight asked drolly.

"Huh? Oh, sorry I was thinking how jealous Luna would be if my hooves were shiny enough to blind somepony. What were you saying?" Celestia said, bemused.

"Wings, flying, most of the way up." Twilight said.

"Oh, okay then." Celestia spread her wings and took off with near rocket like force, leaving Twilight choking on the dust she kicked up.

"P-tah. Showoff!" Twilight spread her wings but as she focused power to take off in the same fashion as Celestia she felt a sting just behind her horn. She realized she had nowhere near the magical reserves to go as fast as Celestia.

I guess that spell only gives me basic powers back. I guess I can live with that. Twilight thought to herself as she took off from the ground at only a quarter of her maximum speed.

Celestia stared at Twilight from above, she had already ascended to the 68th floor when she stopped to check on Twilight's progress. "Why so slow Twilight? You should be able to at least go half as fast as me." Celestia wore an expression on her face of concern.

"I'm just drained from lifting that mountain still, not much I can do to speed the recovery." Twilight lied.

Celestia's face shifted from a concerned stare to the face she had seen her use when she was caught lying as a filly and then to one of intrigued confusion. "I dunno Twilight, something seems off." Celestia Looked Twilight over as she got closer and noticed for the first time the strange necklace Twilight was wearing. "I didn't notice that before but what is that strange necklace you are wearing?"

Twilight tried her best not to give any body signals to Celestia. She knew she had to lie to her teacher but she had to do it in a way that didn't give her away immediately. A daunting task against a pony that has had many centuries practice to sniff out lies.

Something simple Twilight, something easy to believe. It was the voice again, although this time it was much clearer and Twilight could feel the power on the other side.

"It was a gift from one of the townsfolk. I think it was a changeling that had the hots for me." Twilight giggled, closing her eyes so Celestia couldn't read her expression correctly.

"I see, good to know that some of them like you, like you." If Twilight was bad at lying then Celestia was terrible. Her face had so many giveaways that Twilight lost count of them.

She knows I'm not being one hundred percent straight with her but then again I can't be. Twilight slowly followed Celestia as they reached the last few floor, landing and then climbing the stairs the rest of the way. They both soon came to a large circular room with doors leading to what looked like rooms on the sides. From outside the tip of the spire didn't look anywhere near as spacious, there was a very real reason to believe that Chrysalis had put a space distortion spell on it at some point in the past.

On one end of the room was The egg which Chrysalis had been in since Maskia's fortress. Around her were dozens of much more regal looking Changelings than the ones outside, most likely those of higher rank in her swarm. As Celestia and Twilight approached many of the changelings bared their teeth and spread their wings threateningly, although a couple of them were much more relaxed when they noticed Twilight was there.

"Let them though my children, if they wanted me dead they could have done so a long time ago. Their service to the swarm has earned them enough respect to be here during my rebirth." The voice of Chrysalis reverberated around the small circular chamber, although her voice was much less harsh than she remembered but somehow very familiar, like she had heard it somewhere before.

"You are both just in time. In mere moments I will hatch from this egg and take my rightful place as Queen of the swarm. I see Celestia is here, good I have much to discus with her...and much to do with you...Twilight."

Much indeed.

Twilight eyes went wide briefly. The voice that made her wear this necklace; it was Chrysalis all along.

What could she want with me? I don't get it. I'm no pony special. Does she want me to do her a favor of some kind? Twilight's mind was racing, her mind was trying to make sense of how Chrysalis was able to communicate with her from such a great distance, much less use magic around her.

Swarm mind link, young Alicorn. You have been exposed to us for so long that you are showing the signs of assimilation, the first of which is hearing my thoughts and talking with me directly. Eventually you will mind link with the rest of the swarm and it will feel like home, although that will take another decade at the very least.

Twilight's expression was not lost on Celestia however, as her eyebrows contorted in anger, as if she knew what was going on.

The egg began to slowly crack, green light flooding the room as Chrysalis took her first step in four long years. As her horn reached the air a bright flash filled the room, making everyone shield their face from the light. The light slowly died down and Queen Chrysalis slowly stood up from the remains of her egg, fully grown but quite a bit different than what Twilight remembered.

Gone was her long sewer colored hair which was now a vibrant spring green, her black chitin no longer had a sulfur like look to it but instead that of shiny black licorice. Her wings were light green with very light pink tips, almost as if she dyed them, her torso was more of a emerald green with the added effect of her no longer looking as if she was wasting away. The most positive change however was in her face and body. Gone were the random holes all over her body, her twisted horn and angry pitted eyes. They had been replaced with a smooth black sheen, soft light green eyes and a smooth crescent horn. For some reason Twilight almost found her...attractive. A thought that despite making her want to cringe somehow felt...normal.

"The Queen has returned, let the swarm know we are to burn Canterlot to the ground come the next fortnight!" Chrysalis said in poorly faked evil voice.

Celestia's horn fired up but Twilight put her hoof in front of her. "Celestia...chill out. It was a joke." Twilight felt that she didn't know this exactly but she could feel it, something in the Queens order was intentionally silly. That and if she could communicate with the swarm at some point though her egg she would have already had both herself and Celestia executed.

"Touche Twilight, I see you can ferret out a lie with ease. As you see if I wanted Canterlot burned down I could with ease, but as you know the swarm isn't about brute force. There is no love to be had if the conquered beings are in constant fear of their lives." Chrysalis gave a hearty smile. "I welcome you to my palace, shall I have drones get drinks for my guests of honor?"

Celestia's face was still contorted in anger, although her magic was in check. If only barely. "I need to have word with you Chrysalis. In private if you would be so kind."

"That's perfectly fine. I just need to relay a few commands for the swarm to go back to being normal. Their hypersonic singing of ' O' Praise the Queen' can get annoying after you hear it all night long." Chrysalis stared at each one of the regal Changelings in the room, all of them bowing one by one and walking down the stairs single fine. Chrysalis then set her gaze on Twilight Sparkle.

By now you know that I am the one that helped you earlier. I just want to reinforce that what I need from you needs to be done in private and that it will benefit us both greatly as well as the rest of Equestria. I want you to come back tonight and meet me in the room to the right of me marked with three gold X'es above it. That is where I handle very important business crucial to the swarm. I will explain in full tonight what I need of you.

Twilight gave a little nod, although finding out that it was the Queen that set her up with the spell from earlier, the mind link between them let her sense things she never felt from her before. There was no malice in her thoughts only the one desire to help herself and Twilight however she could.

"You done yet, O Queen?" Celestia said sarcastically.

"Yes, meet me in the room behind me." Chrysalis tapped her foreleg on the floor and opened a room behind her with a large obsidian desk.

"Twilight, I want you to go back home. This may take awhile and you need rest to replenish you magic." Twilight nodded respectfully and walked down the stairs as Celestia and Chrysalis entered her office. Chrysalis tapped her leg again and the door closed behind Celestia, blocking any eavesdropping from the outside.

"Get it over with, I already have an idea what you are going to ask." Chrysalis said as she dug a bit of leftover afterbirth good from her ear.

"Why of all the things do you have a contract collar on Twilight? And don't lie, your magical cloud scattering technique doesn't work on me. I traced it right back to you. What kind of evil plans do you have for her? Plans so evil that she won't even tell me out of embarrassment." Celestia was absolutely livid, the fire in her eyes could easily scorch the flesh off a lesser being in her anger if she wanted to but Chrysalis kept her calm and tapped her foot, being up a chair behind Celestia.