First of all, sorry for taking so long, but the length and the fact that my proofreader and I live on opposite sides of the world make it hard to keep contact under the week.

So... enjoy what I, or we, have thought of...

Cursing or insulting in dead tongues without the addressed noticing or understanding was one of the perks that came with being very old. Celestia, having already lived through many millennia and therefore many language changes, made good use of this very particular set of skills as she grumbled silent insults at the pony across from her. All the while, her gentle smile and pleasant demeanor kept her image as the benevolent ruler of ponykind, while said ruler silently wished to just be back in bed.

The old unicorn standing in front of the dais leading up to the throne had brought multiple papers and maps with him for Celestia to review. Each and every one though, completely pointless and only beneficial for his house and sometimes the throne, but none of his proposals were of any use for the ponies it concerned.

Her only problem why she couldn’t outright refuse his rantings was that her decorum forbit it.

The rules that were created on how to handle court were sometimes obnoxious, but they helped her in many ways when she had to actually deal with something important. The positive addition that it saved her and her fellow princesses from going mad was also a point to consider before she would outright change those set of rules.

A good ruler, after all, followed their own rules and Celestia considered herself a good ruler.

The bureaucratic importance of such rules which stated decorum could be seen every Monday, when the most ponies came to her court and when she was basically trampled into the ground with petitioners.

But on weekends, like today, she had only a few of said petitioners, so she was basically stuck with them until 3 pm when she could finally declare the week as over.

Thinking of it, why did she held court on weekends in the first place?

Well, that was a question Celestia had to think over the next time she found herself in the position to change something so tremendous without someone noticing. And considering that the last war was 500 years ago and the last revolution even further in the past, she wondered if it would ever come to pass that she would have the weekends off completely.

Thinking of having the weekends off, where was Luna actually? She hadn’t seen her sister at all besides the odd conversation last night and a generally groggy sister sitting across from her at breakfast.

As if her thought had summoned her, the doors to the throne room swung open with a heavy bang and Luna rushed in, a couple of her nightguards in tow.

“SISTER!”

In an impressive display of her eternal calm, Celestia raised just an eyebrow as her sister stormed in.

The other occupant, aside from the guards of the room though, didn’t contain his annoyance at being interrupted and shouted with a beet red head. “Princess Luna, I beg your pardon but…

“SILENCE, INSOLENT FOOL!” Luna shouted, the ears of the noble stallion laying flat on his head.

"What hubris, to think a Princess cannot learn simple patience. I-"

Silencing the stubborn unicorn, Luna grabbed him in her telekinetic grip, before flinging him and his charts and papers at the door she just came in. With a resolute stance, Luna shut out any remaining complaints with a forceful crash of the court door leaving behind a dead silence.

“Sister, please don’t waste time with platitudes, we have a problem!” her co-ruler stated, almost heaving from her apparent run here, for what reason, however, was unbeknown to her.

Celestia's calm demeanor though, only further aggravated the dark blue alicorn. “Obviously there is, Luna, what’s wrong?”

“Thou hast to contact Twilight immediately!” Luna almost shouted, her annoyance at Celestia's lack of reaction showing on her face.

At the name of her student stated in such distress, Celestia's eyes widened, fearing the worst.

“Twilight's household has been attacked by a group of criminals, it has come to our attention that the parents of Twilight Sparkle; Twilight Velvet and Nightlight, are being kept as hostages….”

Celestia's eyes widened further and she jumped up from the throne. “WHAT?” She burst out, her mane whipping and flaring around her head in an impressive display of her writhing anger, catching herself though, she motioned with her hoof and took a deep breath to calm herself. “Where? How? Since when?”

“They are being held captive in their own home, which is now surrounded by a forcefield which we have tried, but were unable to break. We don’t know how, but the attack happened exactly at noon.”

“Why wasn’t I informed earlier?” Celestia stated, irritated to have missed something of that importance right next to her castle.

“It is 5 minutes after 12 Tia, the guards just came to us because thou were in court.”

“Oh, uhm, yes…” Celestia realized, “anyway… break out the alarm and surround the house, we will have to personally deal with it.” Celestia said, motioning to one of her guards, who quickly rushed out of the courtroom to deliver the message.

Walking down the dais, Celestia got to her sisters’ side, “I have feared that this day would eventually come to pass,” the older alicorn said grimly.

“Whatever dost thou mean, dear sister?” Luna asked, following Celestia out of the courtroom.

“I am proud to say that I have managed so far to keep Twilight's family out of political schemes, but I have feared that some may find their connection to her anyway,” the white alicorn explained.

“So, thou fear they have been attacked because of her?” Luna asked, more worry creeping onto her face.

“To state it simply, I fear how Twilight might react when it becomes apparent that the one thing she cares about the most is in danger,” Celestia said, actually shuddering once. “And that isn’t her collection of books or her friends. It is her family.”

“Aww, that sounds so sweet, darling, and I think she actually liked your company.” Rarity said, placing her now empty cup of tea onto the counter.

“Well, it was definitely fluffy,” Twilight stated, a huge grin on her face.

Nodding in confirmation, Fluttershy also put her and Twilights cup away.

“Well, now darlings, we are going to go to the spa, and we will have a great time, I promise you that.” Rarity said, her enthusiasm palpable in her voice.

Rolling her eyes, Twilight stood up and followed her two friends out of Fluttershy’s cottage.

As the three friends walked back into the town of Ponyville, Twilight thought over her weird little adventure.

Having been a cat was strange, but the overall feeling she got when thinking over what happened made her face grow a tad warm.

To her luck though, the color of her fur and the general thickness of it, due to it being now her winter coat, hid her blush from her companions as they walked across the country side.

But while thinking over the matter of being a kitten, something struck her as odd.

In general transformations usually resulted in the subject taking the desired form as if they’d been born as that species. So, Twilight normally would have kept her relative age as a grown cat in that case.

But upon revisiting her memory, she was absolutely sure that the cat she had been was not a grown cat. She had been a kitten, no older than the three other kittens in the room, which generally meant that she would have been somewhere around three or four months old.

But by the laws of magic, nothing could change the physical age of something. Even aging spells did not really age or revitalize the object or pony it was directed to, it just changed its appearance and mimicked the intended physical state of the time. Well, except for dark magic, but those arts of magic had a price, usually the lifeforce of the caster or its target, sometimes even conduits of multiple power sources, like ponies or other living creatures.

So, when she implied the base levels of magical theory into the scenario and the spell she used earlier, the outcome would be that she, a grown-up mare, should have changed into something more resembling the big white cat, and not looked like one of the kittens.

This though, implied that she did not intend on transforming herself into a kitten in the first place, which she was sure she had not consciously planned.

When remembering correctly, she had just used a spell to alter her physical appearance into that of a cat, which would have led to her becoming a grown cat and not a kitten. But, to her great confusion, she became a kitten instead of a cat.

From the whole kitten, cat jumping in her head, she felt a headache slowly starting to pulse under her forehead.

Having completely spaced out from the conversation Rarity and Fluttershy were holding, Twilight pondered over what that meant for her in general.

This makes no sense! There can't be any possible reason for that to have happened, I've cast that spell before and nothing like that happened then. There has to be some outlier or something I can use here. Perhaps my interaction with the kittens did something?

No, no, that’s ridiculous it likely relates to me being an alicorn, it has to be interfering somehow. Maybe my subconscious had to have caused some effect, I certainly wasn't trying to become a kitten after all. That would be impossible unless we introduced some sort of second element to the mix. The only thing that could have that much magical influence would be the Everfree Forest and I doubt it could cause anything like that to happen.

Are there any other options here? No... unless.

Unless the alicorn age is somehow the cause! Oh, I wonder if there's anything to learn from that. Ok to start, outline the variables, in this case, that's age, there should only be three unless I'm missing something. The first is the most obvious, alicorns as immortals, though that has to be split into the two that we need, those two depending on the assumption on whether we live through the end of time or not. The other would be using the unproven theory that alicorns only have an extremely long life span.

Hmm...

Well, may as well start with the first one, assuming alicorns live until the end of time... if that's even a thing. If my theory is correct, I could use my age difference as I currently am and as a cat as reference points to calculate the end of time, if that's when we die that is... Is it just me or does that sound obscenely morbid? Anyway, as I am of the age of 20 and assuming alicornisim, – wait, is that a word? – doesn't affect anything, and, at a guess, I as a kitten was around 4 months old, so this should be easy to figure out. Now, what's the average life span of a cat... um... it should be somewhere around 15 years, right? Oh well, this is all just a theory, luckily.

So corelating that would mean that the end of time, and my death, is in approximately... 900 years.

Wait, no that can't be right...

What if... what if we just ignore that, what could happen if I got Princess Celestia and Luna, or even Cadance to perform some tests. If I could get them to perform a replica of my spell their relative ages could prove to be interesting. Though potentially as a cat ages it could be harder to get a more exact age through just appearance. Though that does make me think if I'm being too literal, maybe the fact I was 4 months old was more to do with relative maturity rather than actual age.

Oh boy what have I gotten myself into? At least my theory on the end of time could be salvaged, maybe.

For now, though I should move on, to option two. Assuming Alicorns aren't immortal and just have long life spans.

Now that definitely does not work with my literal age, otherwise I would live for 900 years, and I know from Luna being on the moon for 1000 years that that’s verry unlikely. So, what would happen regarding maturity then?

To answer that, I would preferably require those tests, darn. I wonder though what results would come from Cadance. I remember there was someone who said she was about 400 years old, or was that 500? Either way, I still remember her growing up when I was a filly. Compared to what she was like then and now that would suggest that something had to have happened. Potentially Shining might have had an effect on her then.

That does bring into question what would happen with Luna and Celestia. Luna does seem to be smaller on scale compared to her sister, if that even means anything. If there were any differences between them after the tests, then there would have to be something from which I could learn, right? Maybe it could confirm whether Luna's banishment had an impact on her power.

Pity I'm never going to be able to follow through though... just imagine Celestia as a cat, I'd never be able to do that. Though I could imagine both of them as cute little kitties. Just think how soft could their fur be... heh, or maybe not, um...

NEXT OPTION!

Which leaves the widely regarded truth, our immortality being true, at least that means I could learn a bit about alicorns. Neat! If any of this holds a candle to the truth then me turning into a kitten could represent a sort of 'age' for alicorns, I suppose you could consider it similar to maturity as well. I could be considered a foal relatively when it comes down to it. This could also explain Flurry's interesting growth compared to regular foals, but she's still an outlier if naturally born alicorns hold any difference.

But what about Luna? She and Princess Celestia can't be that dissimilar in age, and then there's Cadance again. What is their rapid growth related to? Luna could have been easily considered a teenager when I first saw her. And now she's still smaller than Celestia even if it's only slightly. Does it have to do with their power at any given moment? That growth could relate to what I am going through.

Argh! There're just too many questions.

Everything of this gave Twilight a headache, and she mentally noted down that she really had to ask Celestia and the other princesses what they thought. But, later. Cause, now her head hurt, and she felt someone poking her side.

“Equestria to Twilight, hello? Anyone in there?” Rarity poked her again.

Finally snapping out of her thought induced trance, Twilights eyes refocused on her surroundings and she stopped moving on autopilot. Having learned to walk with a book in front of her without bumping into something gave her the ability to lose herself in her thoughts and enter into a mode that her brother had called autopilot. That she later found out that this name actually described a comparable thing in another dimension only redoubled the throbbing headache she had now.

After her eyes had adjusted to the now focused state again, she realized that she, and her two friends, had arrived at their destination. Of course, that destination presently had a rosebush staring Twilight in the face.

Hehe, note to self, don't walk and think for 10 minutes straight from now on. I'd rather not be reacquainted with any thorny bushes.

Blinking once more, Twilight looked to Rarity, who looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Are you sure you are well, dear? You seemed to have spaced out there,” she asked.

“Uh, yes I am, I just thought of something and may have gotten caught up in it,” Twilight answered.

“Well, that seems to happen quite often lately.”

Twilight shrugged.

Walking around the spa house to the entrance, the three ponies stepped into a relaxing looking room full of flowerpots and elegant smooth designs.

In the foyer of the spa, gentle music could be heard playing from an enchanted music box along with the faint splashing of water from somewhere in the distance.

Being not a frequent visitor of this place, Twilight still looked around in astonishment on how such a seemingly small establishment could house such a comfortable and welcoming looking ambiance.

As the door closed behind them, a neat little tingle emitted from a bell over the door informed everyone of their arrival. Due to the room’s quiet atmosphere, Twilight could hear the gentle steps of the spa sisters approaching.

A small little door opened on their right side, where the two outlandish sounding twins stepped in. Aloe, the sister with a pink coat and blue hair and Lotus, the sister with a blue coat and pink hair.

“Hello, you two,” Rarity greeted before the two sisters welcomed her with a hug.

“Well, hello to you Rarity and Fluttershy, I assume you are here for your weekly special?” Aloe asked after finishing the hug. Lotus, who just stepped away from Fluttershy though gasped in surprise.

“Well, not really my dear, we have thought of something special today.”

“Oh, what might that be?” Aloe asked, completely ignoring that her sister had bowed down before Twilight.

Unhappy that one of the two sisters had begun to bow before her, Twilight rolled her eyes and said as gently as possible. “You don’t have to bow before me, Lotus, I am just another customer, please stand up.”

Upon noticing another pony in the room, Aloe looked over to where she had just heard a voice talking. “Y-y-your highness!” she stammered, her face going pale. “I-I am so sorry, I-I didn’t see you there, I am sorry for not greeting you, …” she stammered, falling onto the ground next to her sister.

Holding a hoof to her face, Twilight sighed. “Please, you two, you’ve known me even since before I ascended, please stand up. You really don’t have to bow, not before me, I am the same pony I was a couple of years ago, so please.”

Standing back up a bit awkwardly, the two sisters smiled broadly at the prospect they could serve such high nobility. “Oh, it is our great honor to house you in our humble establishment, Princess. If we may incline, how can we serve you, your Highness?”

Suppressing another urge to facehoof, Twilight lamented that she couldn’t even bring the ponies of her own town to stop bowing to her. Everywhere she went, ponies bowed before her, some even graveling upon seeing her and stammering nonsense all the time. But the worst of it all, everyone thought that they had to give her special attention or call her by her title, only because she had a set of wings now on her back.

Sometimes these things meant only trouble...

“Well, what do we do now?” Spike asked as he and his friends sat down inside the CMC clubhouse.

Having finished helping a young pony and his family figure out that the young colt’s cutie mark actually meant that he would be a good bowler instead of becoming a skittles expert as they had thought before, they now had the rest of the day off. It being the weekend, neither of them had school or any other obligations as long as they didn’t bother any of the grown ponies too much, who would then give them boring tasks to do.

Flopped down onto a small couch they had carried up here a while ago, Scootaloo perked up, “Oh, oh, I know Rainbow has a new stunt she could show us!” she cheered, her wings fluttering in excitement for the sky blue pegasus.

“Nah,” Sweetie Belle replied as she rummaged through a box of knick-knacks they had found a week ago.

“Awww.”

“We've visited Rainbow a bunch last week, can't we do something else.”

“We could visit Twilight, I’m sure she has some projects for us where we could work on a bit,” Apple Bloom stated, who was currently stuffing some very important CMC paperwork into a folder sloppily labeled as ‘Classified’.

“Nope, off the list.” Spike chimed in, “She’s having a lazy day, apparently.”

“Wait a minute, Twilight being lazy?” Sweetie asked, her confused head popping out of the box. “Such a thing exists?”

“Apparently,” Spike shrugged.

In the dead silence, Apple Bloom's tummy suddenly rumbled to her embarrassment. “Well, what about a bite to eat?” she asked.

“Sounds good!” Scootaloo agreed, her belly now also rumbling.

“I still have a few bits from Twilight, we could go to Sugarcube Corner and ask Pinkie if she can’t whip us up something,” Spike said, bringing out a bag of bits.

“Uh, that sounds awesome! Let’s do it,” Scootaloo said, jumping up and running to the door, Apple Bloom nodding and following her.

“Well, ok, a hot pudding does sound nice,” Sweetie stated, following her friends.

As the four friends were about to close up the CMC Clubhouse, Spike felt odd, but before he could say something though, he gagged and coughed up a bound scroll which he caught quickly midair.

Having grabbed the scroll, Spike examined it before his eyes went wide. Even though the scroll was still sealed, the red ribbon sticking out of the side marked it as urgent, and seeing that even a second band was sticking out of it, which was blue, meant that it was even more urgent and from both of the Royal Sisters.

In all his life, Spike had never seen a double marked scroll which had been sent through him to Twilight, but seeing as it was sealed, he was not allowed to see the content without Twilight.

“Uh, girls? I think my plans just changed,” he stated, getting the attention from the three fillies.

“Huh? What’s this?” Scootaloo asked, trying to grab the scroll out of sheer curiosity.

“It’s a scroll meant for Twilight, and Twilight only, and it is marked to be delivered as soon as possible.” The young dragon explained, his eyes wide, “I have to look for her, I need to bring her this immediately.”

“Okay, sounds awfully important. We'll help, right crusaders?” Apple Bloom asked, suddenly excited to have found something important to do.

“If you want, but we have to be quick!” Spike said, beginning to run into the direction of Ponyville.

“YAY!” the three fillies cried in unison, before dashing behind Spike.

Upon explaining why the three had come to the spa, the spa twins had led them to a hot tub.

Before reaching their destination though, they had encountered the rest of the working staff and after explaining to each and every pony of them that, yes, Princess Twilight Sparkle had just come into their spa. And, yes, said princess was here as a customer. And also, yes, said princess wanted nothing more than that they stopped bowing before her and that they should just call her Twilight.

The big wooden tub was big enough for more than twenty ponies, but to Twilights delight, there was no other customer in sight which would potentially bow before her.

So, finally having been left alone by the spa stuff, she watched her two friends climbing up the ladder to slowly step into the steaming scented water.

“Oh, darling, that feels marvelous,” Rarity stated while Fluttershy nodded in confirmation.

Standing on top of the ladder, Twilight curiously poked a hoof into the water. Deciding that it was not too hot, she slowly moved forward, her legs engulfing into the water with each step. As the water reached her belly, her wings twitched at the sudden warmth.

Sighing in bliss as she submerged her entire body except for her head, Twilight nodded. “Oh, yes. That is exactly what I need when it gets colder outside,” the floating alicorn said, paddling around lazily in the water.

“It feels especially good in the wings,” Fluttershy said, her head laid on the edge while fanning out her wings in demonstration.

Following the example of her friend, Twilight opened her wings to let the water envelop them. Sighing again in bliss, she stopped paddling and just floated on the surface.

“How is it you survive without something like this every now and then?” Rarity asked.

“Hmmm?” Twilight murmured, her eyes closed and enjoying the relaxing warmth.

“Well, I need at least one visit a week, otherwise I would simply not survive all the stress and pressure I have to work through all week.”

Twilight shrugged, “Dunno, really. I do sometimes bathe a little longer than I need,” she said, gently floating to the edge to lay her head on it like Fluttershy was doing.

“Darling, I have seen what you consider bathing, and that means you are done before I would even consider getting into the water,” Rarity said, now pushing herself away from the edge to float in the warm water.

“Yeah, I dunno though. I think I just enjoy a silent evening with a good book a bit more than actually having to come here each week.”

“Well, you could always just employ a couple of maids to do that for you, you know.”

Rolling her eyes, even though they were closed, Twilight shook her head lightly, “Nope, will never happen, you know I hate that kind of attention.”

“Well, never say never my dear, besides, you are the one who will still be alive in a couple hundred years, who knows how it will be then.”

Scowling at the thought, Twilight glared at Rarity. Upon seeing her friends’ disapproving glance, Rarity flinched. “Well, that may have come out wrong, but still, you never know what will come. Maybe you’ll even enjoy it.”

“I never said that I would not enjoy this… well, ok I did, but still, it is just that I can think of some other things to do than be ‘pampered’ each and every day from a horde of maids. I could read a book, or work on my magic for example.”

“Yeah, and I only sew and design dresses my dear, you could have at least a bit variety in your life once in a while,” Rarity said, finally reaching the other side of the tub to lay her head next to Twilights.

“I think I have more than enough variety in my life. I am helping Princess Celestia, I have my own library, I even have my own student now. For Celestia's sake, we even rescued Equestria a few times, what should I do next? Take up dancing?”

“Oh, good graciousno, please, but you could at least unwind from time to time, darling.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Twilight said, one eyebrow raised.

“Well, I think what Rarity is trying to say is… uh… you work too much Twilight, even Applejack is napping from time to time under one of her trees, well, well, uh, after you helped her, I mean.”

Twilight sighed. “I know… but there is so much stuff I want to do. And the day has only 24 hours, even for me,” she muttered, getting a bit annoyed at being unable to just close her eyes and enjoy the warmth.

“Why don't you let somepony help you?” Fluttershy suggested. “I am sure there are enough ponies out there who would love to help you with some of the stuff you have to do, I mean, Celestia has a whole castle of staff working for her, after all.”

“I just said that I don’t want to employ anyone,” Twilight stated, her wings twitching.

“Well, how about a stallion then? I am sure you have somepony in mind, my dear –” Rarity poked her chest with a hoof “– and I am sure he could also help you with some ‘other’ problems, my dear,” she said, waggling her eyebrows.

Inhaling sharply, Twilight had to actually force down a sudden urge to cough. “Oh no, we are not talking about that now!” she stated in finality, glaring at Rarity.

“Oh, so there is someone then, I know you had an eye on that dashing young pegasus from The Crystal Empire,” she gushed, winking. “And you know, he's not getting any younger, my dear.”

“No, there isn’t any pegasus,” Twilight said with a determined shake of her head.

Fluttershy glanced at Rarity in amusement before looking back to where Twilight was drifting through the water again.

“Hmm, but I remember you talked about him, my dear, you can't fool me and pretend that there is nothing to him when ‘The Twilight Sparkle’ actually mentions a male partner with such a glimmer in her eyes,” Rarity prodded again.

“No, I did not! Well, yes I did, because there was that one guy in the other world, but still, no!” Twilight said, her annoyance clearly visible.

“But darling, you should-” Rarity started before being interrupted by a light splash of water from Fluttershy.

“Rarity let it be, can’t you see that you have Twilight already annoyed enough with that, we are supposed to relax here,” she stated, her smile vanishing from her face.

“But there has to be-”

“No Rarity, there isn’t and there never will be a Flash Sentry in my life,” Twilight stated, glaring daggers at her friend who seemed as if she would at least regret her actions a bit.

Before the conversation could get any more out of hand though, a polite knock could be heard from the small entrance door to the hot tub room.

“Ahem, my Princess, I am sorry to bother you and your companions, but I fear your time in the hot tub is running short and your massages have been prepared,” Aloe stated, glancing from a red-headed Twilight to a sheepish looking Rarity and back. “Or should I come back later?”

Inhaling once, and motioning the technique she had learned from Cadance, Twilight smiled at the spa pony, “No, no, it’s all right, but please can't you just call me Twilight?” she asked, annoyed that she couldn’t even relax in the warm water.

“Well, uhm, of course, Princess Twilight,” Aloe stated, preparing three towels.

Sighing as she came out of the warm water, feeling more stressed than before and grumbling under her breath, Twilight just shook her head and accepted her title in defeat.

As the three of them were wrapped up in towels, Aloe led them out of the tub room and into the massage room, where 3 massage tables had been arranged. The many flowerpots and the big windows gave the room a welcoming feeling and the scented candles burning silently on a couple of counters added a nice lemony smell to it.

“Well, here we are, your Highness, my sister and the others will be along shortly,” Aloe said, motioning to the three prepared tables. “Would you please choose one of the tables to lay atop, we will start with a traditional kind of massage, and later maybe Your Highness and Miss Fluttershy would be interested in a bit of preening?” Turning to Rarity, she motioned to a set of creams and oils, “We also have prepared a mud mask and a bit of horn scrubbing for you and the Princess, if you like.”

“Well, that simply sounds marvelous,” Rarity said, jumping onto one of the tables and laying herself flat onto it, each hoof falling limply to the side.

Nodding in confirmation Twilight and Fluttershy followed tentatively her friends’ example and laid down onto a table. While Fluttershy had already been preened a couple of times here, for Twilight it was completely new.

Stretching out onto the massage table, Twilight was surprised when she nearly instantly felt the firm hoofs of Aloe working on her back.

Before she could think of anything else though, she felt the earth pony gently massage her overly stiff muscles, which lead her to release a silent moan she couldn’t suppress quick enough.

“Uh, sorry about that,” Twilight said, blushing lightly.

Hearing her two friends and Aloe gently giggle Twilight attempted to protest but was silenced as Aloe redoubled the pressure on that point. “It’s all right, Princess, I assure you, nothing will leave these halls and your highness isn’t the first customer with such an obviously cramped up back,” Aloe stated, her hoofs gently rubbing over Twilights sore muscles.

Now also hearing her friends moan in bliss from time to time, Twilight closed her eyes and rested her head on the soft pillow before her.

The expert hooves running over her body made her back crack multiple times, each time a short spike of pain was followed by a gentle sensation of relaxation, and Twilight could feel herself slowly relaxing under the hoofs of a professional.

As Aloe worked on her back, Twilight couldn't help but let her mind wander. She quickly settled on thoughts of Luna, her toned muscles and firm body replaced Aloe's as Twilight melted under her imaginary alicorn's ministrations.

The mental image of the dark blue alicorn standing over her with her hoofs running down her body made her quiver lightly and she could picture to herself how Luna's muscles would flex and bend while doing so.

As Aloe found another cramped bundle of muscle, Twilight moaned loudly, still lost in thought, as the masseuse worked her stiff muscles back into their intended lax form.

Losing her grip of reality completely, Twilight grunted and groaned gently as Aloe rubbed over her back. All the while, Twilight imagined herself being kneaded by Luna, she imagined that Luna would firmly work her over, while Twilight was slowly shaped into an image of contented bliss.

The slowly building wetness between her legs though was completely unnoticed by her, and it only grew as Aloe moved from the middle of her back to either side over her body. Aloe, however, saw that her Princess enjoyed this massage very much and therefore made a gentle effort to make it even more pleasant for her.

Being gone far enough, Twilight was nearly startled as Aloe moved from her back to her wings, and so snapped back to reality only now feeling just how aroused she had gotten.

Opening her eyes wide in panic, Twilight wanted to argue against whatever the masseuse was doing, but before she could even open her mouth, a gentle hoof was pressed onto it as Aloe leaned down. “This is completely normal, my Princess, just enjoy it and relax. I take it you have never had a wing massage before?” the spa pony asked gently, her tone hushed so that no one else would hear it.

Just too embarrassed to do anything else, Twilight nodded while watching Aloe work over her wing with one hoof, the other still gently laid over her muzzle. “Trust me, Princess, this is normal for the most ponies, just relax and let what comes, come. I swear I will not do anything inappropriate and nothing that happens here will leave this room. I can assure you that,” the spa pony said soothingly.

Nodding once more, Twilight surrendered to the firm and gentle feelings she felt spreading through her wings, and as she hesitantly closed her eyes again, the hoof covering her muzzle was lifted away to return to her wing.

Trying to suppress the moans her body demanded as Aloe's hoofs worked over her wing, Twilight just couldn’t stop them as the spa pony gently pressed her muzzle into her wings to straighten her feathers out just like she had been taught after getting them.

To her surprise though, she felt a small magical field enveloping her massage table as Aloe produced a small crystalline dice and placed it next to her. Tapping onto the dice, Aloe motioned with one hoof that it would keep her silent just as she pressed a bit harder onto her wing in demonstration, letting Twilight moan in bliss loudly, this time though, without anypony else catching on to it.

Relieved that her first problem had been solved, Twilight relaxed a bit more, her hind legs quivering in arousal.

Her second problem though, was her arousal itself. Even though she had been assured by Aloe, or even though she knew that pegasi wings were very, very sensitive, she didn’t like the idea of getting aroused by this, especially in such a public space like the spa. The very idea itself was something she was uncomfortable with, but the sensation on her wings rendered her unable to move even the slightest muscle.

As her mind slowly fogged with pleasure, the worries she held over the whole idea vanished one by one. With her mind in a haze, she found herself back under Luna's soothing caress.

The night blue alicorn though didn’t stop by massaging her, she moved from her back over to her side and licked enticingly over her wings, sending sparks of pleasure down into her wing joint and into her body.

Now trembling softly, Twilight couldn’t suppress her outcries any longer and with each lick and straightened feather from Aloe, her breathing became quicker and quicker.

Imagining Luna’s tongue dancing over each and every feather of her wing, Twilight practically drooled at the thought of Luna’s smoldering eyes on her body and finally stopped the small part of her that was still resisting.

The sensation of each caress spiked up another height in her body and Twilight could practically feel the loving care the lunar alicorn gave her. Somewhere in her mind, she knew it wasn’t Luna doing that to her, but her current bothered state didn’t allow any coherent thought beside the overwhelming pleasure coming from her wings.

As Aloe gently plucked out a cracked-up feather in Twilights thick alicorn wings, she cried out.

Not only did the small crystalline dice keep any sound coming from the now heaving alicorn, but apparently it shielded any onlooker from the sight of the now curling and heaving monarch.

As she felt a gentle twist and a quick pain on her wing, Twilight couldn’t hold it in any longer and a sensation of relief washed over her. Her mind was overstimulated and nearly completely deactivated by that point as the only thing she felt was the pleasure she received from her wing.

Her body curling up and her back arching out, she felt the sensations only double and double as she moaned to the heavens above, no sound actually leaving the small bubble which surrounded her.

Her wings, which were completely stiff at that point, shook, and as a wave of pleasure was washing over her, her feathers straightened and relaxed mimicking the pleasure spikes running through them.

As Aloe finished her first wing, she released it and Twilight collapsed back onto the massage table, panting heavily. Enjoying the soothing pause, her mind slowly gathered back to a state of being actually aware of what was happening around her, and upon seeing Aloe, a scarlet heat invaded her muzzle, setting her cheeks aflame in embarrassment.

The spa pony glanced at her princess, whose body was twitching occasionally with lingering pleasure and smiled softly. As she walked around the table, Twilights mind made a startling realization, she had another of those wings! Her body, acting against her mental instructions though, slowly stretched out the feathery appendage to the waiting expert next to the table. Against all her mental commands, her body had a mind of its own and eagerly awaited further indulgence. As Aloe started to preen the second wing, Twilights inner complaints were snuffed out again and her head hit the soft pillow below her, as her body anxiously awaited that oh so wonderful release still left unfulfilled.

Her friends though, whose heads had been gently turned around by the other two masseuses, had no idea what actually occurred behind their back. Only Fluttershy who was enduring the same treatment had an inkling of what might be happening behind her back right now, but she was simply not in the position to do anything to confirm her suspicion.

Working on Twilights second wing, Aloe chuckled to herself as she watched her Princess writhing in pleasure. Apparently, the myth of alicorn wings being abnormally sensitive turned out to be true.

Opening the entrance to the small war tent which had been placed down 100 ft away from the magical barrier around the small villa from the Sparkle family, Luna trotted in to see her sister talking alone with her Captain, a rather grizzly fellow that she preferred to avoid.

“Steadfast, we're running out of options here. Could we try breaking it with Professor Stone Claw’s magical disruptor?” Celestia asked.

"I’d advise against it, Your Highness. We've tried an array of disruptive spells on our own but nothing took. And if I may speak plainly, I wouldn't trust that mad pony’s spells to disenchant a filly’s colorizing spell," the stark gray stallion said.

“There seems to be plenty of reason, we're pressed on time and low on means. Why should we not do it?" Luna asked, introducing herself into the conversation.

"Ah, Luna, Your Highness, good afternoon," Steadfast greeted flatly.

"There is very little good this noon, Commander," Luna growled visibly disapproving.

Grunting in response Steadfast continued, "Tactful as usual. To the point then, the risk held in that disruptor could very easily backfire and cut the ties to magic across half of Canterlot. At the very least we'd be able to get through the barrier, but further infiltration could be difficult without magic."

"What about the two of us then?" Luna asked motioning to herself and Celestia. "I'm sure we could create a powerful enough defense for a few of us to resist the effects and then substitute your missing magic users with ourselves."

"A sound plan, Luna. But without more information, we'd be prime targets for ambush. We still don't know who these culprits are or why they would target here of all places... For now, it seems our focus should be on breaching this barrier, preferably whilst undetected. At least until we get more information," Celestia established, despite her calm demeanor Luna could tell she was unsure of herself.

Standing up rigidly Steadfast moved to reclaim his helmet, "Well then it seems I have no more use here for now. With your leave, I'll continue monitoring the situation." With a salute the resolute captain excused himself, immediately he could be heard shouting orders around the identical members of the guard. "Kindle! What on Celestia's sun are you doing? Get back into position!"

"I don't like him," Luna stated.

"Luna you know I don't employ a captain of the guard to have him blindly follow my every order. He's surprisingly insightful despite his age."

"He could at least learn some manners..."

"Ah, but I didn't employ him for that either."

"Argh, whatever," Luna exclaimed dismissively and taking a short breath to calm down. "Hast thou heard anything of thy former student yet?" she asked.

Shaking her head Celestia looked on to the map where Ponyville was displayed. “No, Luna, and that worries me. Maybe all of this is just a distraction to keep our attention away from the real attack?” she pondered, “but then their demands would make no sense… they asked specifically for her, and her alone. They didn’t raise any financial claims, or claims for power, they only want her, and that greatly worries me, Luna.”

Nodding in understanding, Luna's eyes wandered away from her sister to where she was looking at the map. “We have already sent a battalion of soldiers to look for her in Ponyville, if she is still there, we will be notified. Maybe dear Twilight simply didn’t receive the message as of yet?” she asked, her worry plainly obvious to Celestia.

“Maybe you are right, we’ll simply have to wait.”

“Thou art right,” Luna nodded, her face changing into a scowl of discomfort, waiting wasn’t her greatest strength.

Sprinting out of the map room, Spike looked around. Wherever he and her friends had looked for Twilight, they had found neither head nor tail of the purple alicorn.

Silently cursing under his breath, the young dragon turned another corner and opened the door of Twilight's favored reading chamber, empty.

“Where is she? She said she was having a lazy day, so why would she not be in the castle?” he asked, scratching his chin.

“Well, maybe she’s hiding?” Scootaloo asked, crouching low and looking under a cupboard.

“She is a princess, she won’t just suddenly hide randomly,” Sweetie Belle said, receiving a thankful glance from Spike, happy that he would not have to explain to her why that idea was stupid. “She would hide in someplace special,” the young unicorn exclaimed, attempting to climb onto the table to get a better vantage point.

Facepalming in desperation, Spike regarded the three girls with a shake of his head. “No, she wouldn't just hide for no reason, maybe she went out somewhere… maybe Pinkie knows where she is,” he wondered out loud trying to find Twilight with reasoning.

“And launch a Ponyville wide search ‘party’?” Apple Bloom asked, an eyebrow raised. “Actually... that sounds kinda fun. Why can’t we do that?”

Shaking his head, Spike thought frantically, muttering in the process. “If I was Twilight, what would I do when I have a day off,” he asked himself.

“Read a book?” Scooterloo asked, still crawling around on the floor to search for the missing alicorn.

Revisiting his memories of this morning, Spike tried remembering anything he'd forgotten before he had left the castle. Suddenly snapping his head back up, he turned to Sweetie Belle. “I think she asked Starlight to see if your sister could come over… maybe she went with her.”

“But today is Fluttershy and my sister’s weekly spa day, I doubt they would miss that for anything,” Sweetie said, looking at Spike curiously.

“THE SPA, yes she said something about the spa… maybe they are there,” Spike cheered, dashing out of the room, the three fillies following him.

Basking in a general feeling of happiness, Twilight wore a purely satisfied little smile on her face as Aloe turned away from her wings and returned to her back. Having been preened by the spa pony, Twilights mind turned away from her little fantasy of Luna and focused back on the real world.

Even though she found that she had greatly enjoyed the sensation Aloe had put her through, Twilight wondered if something like that could be described as harassment.

She wasn’t prepared for something like that.

Twilight may not have had as many massages as Rarity or Fluttershy, but while she was a student of Celestia, her former mentor had sometimes held a lesson or two while the two of them had been massaged from Celestia's personal little spa staff.

Having never had wings before though, Twilight had experienced massages as nothing more than an annoyance that would distract Celestia from her teachings than actual sources of pleasure.

But after her first treatment where her own wings had been involved, Twilight found herself suddenly in the position that she wanted something like that again. But not from anyone, the mental image of going to the spa to have her wings preened made her mind produce pictures of betrayal, and the mental image of Celestia or Luna, especially Luna, made her heart flutter.

Yes, Twilight found herself wishing that one of the sisters would have done something like that to her, and not some random pony she barely knew.

Even though she was not mad at Aloe, she was far from mad actually, somehow, somewhere in her mind she was actually grateful for what the masseuse had done for her.

Having had the experience of being preened, Twilight finally understood why so many books in her library described the process of preening as something a lover would do to their beloved. Even though she had searched out the reason why multiple times, the actual meaning of such an event wasn’t something she was able to discern, but now, now she understood.

Twilight finally understood why she never wanted anyone again to touch her wings without her consent, and as Aloe moved back to one of her feathery appendages, she drew her wing in.

“My princess, have I offended you in any way?” Aloe asked, suddenly aware of the protective posture of her charge.

Shaking her head, Twilight glanced out of the corner of her eyes at the pink coated earth pony. Licking her lips, she tried to speak. “No… no, everything is all right, I just…”

“I understand, my princess.” Aloe answered, smiling at her, “but, if I may inquire, is there anything else I can do, Princess? Do you maybe want a horn scrubbing or a bit of hoof care?” she asked, motioning to the previously prepared outlay of caring products.

Laying her head back and releasing a pleased grunt, Twilight nodded. “If it isn’t too much to ask, please go on with my hoofs,” she said, basking in the sensation of absolute relaxation.

Somehow, having had her wings preened, all stress she had built up today and this week had finally melted away and Twilight just enjoyed the moment.

As Aloe started to carefully tend to her left hind hoof, Twilight just now realized that the towel under her had been enchanted to soak up all fluids. The knowledge that there would be no evidence of her arousal calmed her at least a bit.

Somehow pleased that the spa staff had thought of everything, Twilight nuzzled her head deeper into the cushion and glanced around.

Her friends, with the eyes away from her, had also now gone from massages to some other activity.

Rarity, whose head had been covered with mud and whose eyes had been covered with a couple pieces of cucumber was currently enjoying a horn scrubbing and Fluttershy, who was looking a bit pleased herself was fast asleep on her table, the spa pony attending to her gently rubbing some oil into her fur.

Inhaling deeply, Twilight enjoyed the moment and was about to close her eyes as she heard commotion on the other side of the door.

“I have asked if she is here!?” she heard a very familiar voice pleading desperately.

“Sir Spike, please calm down. Yes, Princess Twilight is here, along with two of her friends, but she is currently not in the position of being disturbed,” Twilight heard Lotus saying.

“I am sorry, Lotus, but this is important… very important.” Spike said, his voice displaying his annoyance with the situation.

“Well, if I may ask, what is so important that you intend on disturbing her highness while she is getting massaged,” Lotus asked.

“We have an important scroll from the princesses,” a young, high-pitched filly’s voice could be heard through the thick wooden door.

“Yes, we have, please I have to deliver that at once, it may be very important,” she heard Spike again.

Sighing in annoyance that her calm would be disturbed, Twilight motioned to Aloe to bring Spike in.

Opening the door, Aloe stepped through and Twilight could see for a brief moment that the high pitched voice must have come from one of the CMC members, who apparently tried to follow Spike. As the door opened again, Spike was sprinting into the room and upon seeing her, towards her.

“Twilight, there you are, I am sorry to bother you, but this came via dragon fire and… well… it is two times marked as important.”

Smiling at her surrogate son, Twilight sat up and took the scroll out of his grip with her magic. “Thank you, Spike, what is it about?” she asked, smiling at Spike for a job done well.

“I don’t know, it is sealed, and you said I should not look into a sealed letter.”

“Ah, yeah, you're right… I forgot… you do sometimes peek, though,” she said, giggling lightly.

“Well, darling, won’t you read it already?” Rarity asked, suddenly widely interested in what was happening.

“Yes, yes, ah and Spike, could you wait a moment please, I might have to write back,” Twilight said, amused.

“Of course,” Spike saluted, already holding a scroll and inked feather in his claws.

Cracking open the seal, Twilight unfolded the letter and began to read it.

Dear Princess Twilight,

I am sorry I have to write to you on this occasion, and I hope you are well, but I have to inform you that a group of extremists have attacked in Canterlot.

More specifically, they have attacked your old home and are now currently holding your parents, Twilight Velvet and Nightlight, as hostages.

I am sorry I have to bring this to your attention, but my sister and I request your assistance in that matter.

We have already surrounded the battlefield with guards, but so far, we have been unable to break through the forcefield that they have installed around your home.

So far, their only request is that you surrender without a fight, but we will not let it come to that. I hope upon this letters arrival we have peacefully resolved the situation already.

I have taken the liberty of sending a carriage to your castle in Ponyville, and I hope to see you well soon.

Best regards in this sorrowful time,
Princess Celestia

The letter was short, and normally Twilight would have read it three or at least two times before deciding what she would do, but upon reading the actual content of the letter, Twilight was shocked. After a week full of annoyance and now adding her sexual bothered state, the message of the letter gave her the final drop to spill and she stood stock still, not moving a muscle.

“Darling?” Rarity asked, stepping tentatively closer to the locked up alicorn. “Is everything all right, my dear?”

Twilight's glance though, didn’t waver away from the letter and she scowled at it as if trying to dare it to change its content to something more pleasant. But a letter being only a letter, it did no such thing and as she felt a tentative hoof tapping onto her shoulder, Twilight's left eye twitched once.

Everyone in the room flinched away upon Twilight's left eye twitching, they could see that the literal space around her began to warp and bend around her. As her eye twitched again, the distortion of the space around her was now plainly visible.

“Twilight!? Twilight? Can you hear me?” Rarity asked, trying to step closer only to find out her hoofs had been locked up in fear.

Standing in the middle of where the space was curving around her, Twilight's eyes flashed white and with an ear-deafening crack, where the normally level-headed pony had stood just a moment ago, was now a strangely disturbing tear in reality itself.

As if on command, the gash, in reality, closed itself slowly and the letter Twilight had held a moment ago silently fell onto the ground before them.

“Uhm… that doesn’t seem, good,” Fluttershy said, having been awoken from the general commotion moments ago and with her eyes as wide as dinner plates staring at where the letter was now laying.

“What just happened?” Spike asked, glancing at Rarity or Fluttershy for help. He had never seen Twilight in such a state before and… well, he had never seen such a teleport either, and with no explanation too.

Grabbing the letter with her magic, Rarity levitated it over to her.

“But, Miss Rarity? This isn’t your…” Lotus tried to say upon seeing what Rarity was doing, but was interrupted by her.

“If there is something that is so dramatic that dear Twilight is having that kind of a reaction, I need to know what it is… if it is a matter of state, so be it. I as the element of Generosity, I have a right to know, and I want to help her,” she stated, as a matter of fact, turning the lightly singed letter around.

While reading its contents, her eyes turned wide. “Oh, Celestia help her… Spike, Fluttershy, get the others… we have to go to Canterlot immediately… a carriage will come to her castle shortly. Quick, hurry up, we have to be there for her as soon as we can.”

“What is it?” Spike asked, generally confused.

“Your, and Twilight's, parents have been kidnaped!” she said, one hoof in front of her mouth, covering her shock.

Hearing this, everyone in the room gasped in horror.