"Yay! You're finally here! Let me show you around!"

Twilight was still a novice dreamwalker, and was slow to acclimatise from an extremely relaxed doze to being escorted around a brightly painted toy house by an excitable filly who was desperately avoiding a topic of conversation.

Li'l Twi tried speaking louder and faster to encourage her to keep up. It didn't help.

"This is my living room, this is the kitchen, here is Bally's basket – I asked him if he wanted a pit or something but apparently baskets are just right for him. Oh! He's just like Spike, only cooler 'cos he's mine! I didn't think of that.

"Here are the stairs– mind your horn! Aaah! I've only just moved in! I hope I don't lose my deposit before I find out what a deposit is. That would be embarrassing."

"Oops. Sorry."

"Nevermind. Um, here is my bedroom, uh, sorry about the mess. Oh, look at the view out that window – cool, huh?"

Twilight was struggling to keep up, but did concede that the view out the toyhouse window into Toytown was actually pretty interesting. She had a clear view down what appeared to be the Main Street, where a few straggling Toylanders appeared to be heading home. A teddy bear waved.

"Uh, Li'l Twi..."

"Oh! You haven't seen the garden yet! Um, because there isn't one. But, um, the kitchen! I can show you the kitchen! This way!"

"Li'l Twi."

"See? See? Kitchen. Food too. Uh, sort of. Um, um, um-" Li'l Twi cast around desperately for a topic of conversation.

"Twilight! Please! Stop running around and talk to me. Please."

"Okay," said Li'l Twi in a little voice.

"I'm really sorry that I didn't come right over, but I knew Luna and Derpy would have everything in hand. I, uh, didn't want to get in the way."

Little Twilight looked up at Big Twilight with something close to defiance.

"You're almost as bad at lying as Applejack."

Twilight flinched and fell silent. The silence stretched out for several uncomfortable beats.

"I'm sorry," whispered Twilight.

"I know," said Li'l Twi.

More silence.

"I... I didn't... I didn't know if I would be welcome. And I really didn't want to find out that I wasn't."

"WHAT?!"

"You run away from me. All the time. You spend all your time with Pinkie Pie. You say I'm boring. You–"

"I don't mean it!"

"–you say you'd– You say you'd rather– you'd rather die than live with me!"

"I didn't mean it! I didn't mean it!"

Twilight was crying now.

"Sometimes you're so mean to me. You make fun of me in front of Luna–"

"I was joking!"

"Why? Why?"

"Because that's why you made me."

"What?"

"Do you remember? You made me to remind you what your life was about. So I remind you of your appointments and your theories and your friends, but you know that stuff. I needed to remind you of something. So I remind you of who you were. Who you are. Do you remember?

"It was the Summer Sun celebration. You were a little filly and you watched Princess Celestia raise the sun and it was awesome. You decided to study magic. From then on your focus was magic, and only magic. A mage was born that day, but a little filly died, too.

"You've studied so hard, and so long, you've forgotten the little filly that tried to ambush her brother with a tube of toothpaste and instead squirted her father when he surprised her. You fell rolling on the floor, laughing, and got toothpaste all in your coat.

"You don't need to study magic all the time, not any more. Your lessons now are about friendship and love and I really want to help. I think that I can help you remember all about that better than I can about your next spa date. Plus, of course, you need all the help you can get to keep together with Luna. Without me you wouldn't stand a chance.”

Twilight blinked through her tears, “I had forgotten. I had forgotten. But you’re me. Why are you, why am I so hard on myself?”

“I was you. Your memory. I changed. I’m me now. I’m not Twilight Sparkle’s memories. I’m Twilight Sparkle’s friend.

“Sometimes you need a little kick to push you in the right direction, Twilight, so why can’t I have a little fun while doing it?”

There was a pause, and then Li’l Twi continued in a quieter voice, “I’m sorry I hurt you.”

“I know.” said Twilight, bringing the little filly close into a teary hug.

----------------

When Luna arrived she graciously asked permission to join them in the playhouse, which Li'l Twi gave with exaggerated courtliness and a broad grin.

Luna started to squeeze herself into the playhouse before changing her mind and shrinking herself down to Li'l Twi's size and entering normally. Twilight was struck both by the thought that she felt like a clumsy giant and also that ‘Woona’ looked absolutely adorable.

Woona’s squawks of protest were very similar to Li'l Twi's, but Twilight hugged her anyway. Woona bore it with ill grace, but when presented with a mirror was forced to admit that she was indeed too cute for anypony to resist hugging her.

Once settled, nerves were calmed and tea was served. The conversation flowed naturally enough, with Li'l Twi enthusing about her job. She was delighted that she got to travel all across the dreamscape and make lots of new friends, but seemed to be a little disappointed that she wouldn't be allowed to play as much with Pinkie and wouldn’t be able to see her new friends every night.

Eventually Li'l Twi claimed tiredness, requested that her guest throw themselves out, and went to bed.

-----------------

"Li'l Twi looked really happy. Thank you, Luna."

"As I have said before, I like her too, and you are most welcome. You are dear to me and I love making you happy."

Twilight embraced Luna in a tight hug. Embracing Woona was good, but embracing Luna was wonderful. Eventually she let go, conscious of the attention they were getting from the Toylanders.

"So, uh, is there much to do in Toyland? Any interesting sights in Toytown that I should see?"

"The typical response is no. At least not for a pony above the age of twelve. This is a place for foals, a refuge offering respite for them from the world. Hmm. Did you have many toys as a filly?"

"Oh yes, but I outgrew most of them very quickly. I replaced them all with books, apart from Miss Smartypants. I always had her. I even took her to Ponyville with me."

"Miss Smartypants? I do not think I have seen her in the library. Have you locked her away? What does she look like?"

"Here, let me see if I can..." Twilight tried to picture Miss Smartypants in her mind. Slowly an out-of-focus image of her favourite doll appeared at her hooves, becoming more real until she fully resolved in front of her.

"This is Miss Smartypants. She's very studious and takes meticulous notes on any experiments she does." Twilight tenderly picked up Miss Smartypants and gave her a big hug, "She was my companion and study-buddy for a long time, but eventually I got too busy and left her behind," Twilight looked sad and hugged Smartypants harder, "The reason you haven't seen her around is that Big MacIntosh has her now."

"Ah. I'm sure there's a story there."

"Yes, but it's a really embarrassing one for me, so, um... Another topic! If the typical response is that there is nothing for adults to see here, is there another, atypical, response?"

Luna laughed, "I shall let you change the topic, for now. Be aware that we will discuss this more, when you are in less of a position to object."

"Oh dear."

"As a different response, your question wasn't quite right. Toys are not to be observed, they are to be played with. While we could search out some foalhood toys and have a tea party, it sounds as though there might only be the three of us. Let us instead go to the see the sea."

"There's a sea in Toyland?"

Luna merely smiled cryptically and turned to head out of town. Twilight quickly mounted dream Smartypants on her back and followed. Thanks in part to Luna's masterful manipulation of dreams, they soon found the horizon dropping away and an endless expanse of small multi-coloured playpen balls stretching away in front of them.

"Wow! Luna, this is amazing. How far does it go?"

"Forever, Twilight. It goes on forever," said Luna distantly.

"Oh, no." objected Twilight, "It can't do that, the waves would be infinitely high, the wind would strip away the land and the gravitational-"

Twilight's lecture was interrupted with a shriek as Luna picking her up with her aura and flung her into the vast expanse of balls. Once Twilight surfaced, glaring daggers at her lover, Luna made a point of primly sitting Miss Smartypants on a knoll on the beach so that the doll could watch the fun. The alicorn then made an exquisitely executed wing-assisted bellyflop into the sea, sending a wave of balls crashing into Twilight.

Swimming in the sea of balls was a wonderful experience for Twilight. Her weight was supported, but she had no fear of drowning. The balls were not still; ripples played along the surface and even the occasional, non-alicorn-generated, wave washed over her.

She dived deep until she could touch the rocky bottom of the sea. Frustrated by the lack of visibility and constant rattle of the balls all around her, she then swiftly rose to the surface, sending a colourful flume of balls into the air.

Noticing Luna swimming as serenely as a swan a short way off, Twilight grinned wickedly. She stealthily swam under Luna's path, and, when Luna was directly above, pulled her under.

The ensuing tickle fight quickly degenerated into a makeout session. It wasn't long until Twilight's horn started to glow, lips still locked with Luna. Miss Smartypants was picked up with a purple aura and turned to face away, so that she would not have to see what her life-long colleague was about to do.

Their passion rising in waves, the two ponies gyrated against each other, hooves running roughly over smooth fur. The heat of their bodies rose and the urgency of their caresses increased. Both ponies began gasping with their need, their loins slick with lust.

Unfortunately, Twilight had a condition: even in the throes of passion she couldn't stop thinking. She suddenly broke away from the kiss in alarm and said to an agitated Luna, "Pinkie Pie!"

Neither pony dared even look at each other as the heat of their bodies challenged their willpower.

------------------

Luna and Twilight spent the rest of the day exploring glaciers from the dreams of Crystal ponies. Ice tunnels riddled one dream glacier, channelling howling winds that tore the heat from a body in seconds. It was just what they wanted.

--------------------

While exploring deep in the tunnels they encountered the huge ice-rhimed form of an ancient nightmare, senescent during the daytime quiet. Hiding from attention in those inhospitable tunnels, it had been slowly feeding on ponies' fear of the cold for centuries, careful to never attract attention.

Both nightmare and ponies were startled when they encountered one another, but the nightmare was swift to recover, and took a towering form sculpted from glacial cold and winter's darkness. It lunged forward in a fearful attack.

Both ponies were delighted to find something to vent their frustrations on. It was just a shame that the monster didn't survive for very long.

-------------------

Luna and Twilight woke a little before nightfall. Twilight headed to the kitchen to make coffee. Luna went to the balcony to raise the moon. By the time the sun had set and the coffee was ready, both ponies were awake and ready to face the night.

Seeing that his guardians were awake, Spike started making breakfast and served it before going to bed. A quick check with Spike before he left revealed that the day had been uneventful. The library was in good order.

"So, um. What do you want to do?" asked Twilight after they had eaten.

"Well, I have not yet had an opportunity to explore Ponyville at night and I am quite looking forward to it. What establishments will be open?"

"At this hour? Not much. There are a few pubs, a nightclub with very loud music–"

"I have little liking for those clubs; the music of the night has never been so blaring."

"–okay. Um, there might be a music recital at the town hall."

"Excellent! Let us go there."

There was no music recital at the town hall. Luna took this with good grace.

"Nevermind, what other attractions does dear Ponyville offer?"

"Not much, I'm afraid."

"What?! What about gallery openings?"

"There's one gallery in Ponyville. It's run by Speckled Canvas, who considers anything that happened during the last one hundred and fifty years to be 'modern rubbish'. She'll be asleep by now anyway."

"Poetry readings?"

"Midnight, you've managed my library. You know what books we have and what ones are popular. Do you really think that we have enough poets for a regular poetry reading? Miss Cherilee tries, but-"

"Political debate at a bohemian cafe?"

"Mayor Mare has run unopposed for the last two decades."

"Any good plays at the playhouse? Any play at all?"

"No playhouse. Midnight, Ponyville is a farming community. We are not a cultural hub like Canterlot."

Midnight sighed in resignation.

"Come on, lets get back to the library where it's warm."

-----------------------

Luna settled back down with Chorser and Twilight returned to her laboratory, taking with her the annotated notes on Li'l Twi.

Luna did not find quiet domesticity to be to her liking, and she had to struggle to appreciate her book, until at last she put it aside in self-disgust.

The hours drifted by at a glacial pace. In her boredom, Luna conjured scheme after scheme, only to discard them one after another due to disinterest.

She had decided to temporarily hold fire in her prank war with her sister in order to keep Celestia in constant worry over the next salvo, and to give her a chance to respond, for fair-play's sake. Celestia's failure to retaliate immediately was disturbing, but history had long shown her that Celestia was a master strategist and Luna could not anticipate her. That Celestia struggled to anticipate Luna was some small consolation.

Hostilities on hold and finding the books unable to hold her attention, Luna went to the laboratory for company, only to be thrown out by her lover. Twilight was apparently working on the spider golem and wanted the results to be a surprise. Luna would have preferred company to a surprise, but felt that it would be churlish to press the point.

In the end, Luna chose to sleep in front of the fireplace, allowing her to catch up with the comings and goings of Canterlot and check the welfare of those of her people who worked during the daylight hours and slept during the night.

----------------

Hours later, Luna returned to consciousness, satisfied that her very capable team had everything under control. Yawning and stretching, she opened her eyes to find Twilight sitting absolutely still, disturbingly close to her. She was wearing a white labcoat and a fixed grin that sent a shiver down her spine. Twilight was staring at Luna.

Luna shuffled back a little on the rug and coughed uncomfortably.

"Hello, Twilight. Are you well?"

"Oh yes, thank you Luna. Everything is fine." Twilight's grin didn't falter one iota. Twilight continued to stare. Twilight was silent. Twilight was making Luna very uneasy.

"I–" Luna started, before falling silent again, at a loss for words as Twilight's sweet and innocent eyes bored deep into her skull.

The silence was broken this time by a giggle. From behind Luna. She whipped her head around, but there was no pony there. She looked back. Twilight hadn't moved. Neither had her grin.

Luna cautiously reached out a hoof and touched Twilight, to assure herself that she was there.

The hoof had barely made contact when Twilight spoke again, "Can I help you, Luna?"

Luna pulled back her hoof as if burned. The haze of sleep was receding fast and she started to listen to her senses. Twilight was indeed sitting in front of her. Luna's acute senses could discern her breathing, her heartbeat, her scent. She could see her quite well, too. There was nopony else in the room, but a very young dragon was snoring in a basket upstairs.

The giggle sounded from behind her again. Luna swung around, but could not see the source of the sound, only library shelves and books. Luna looked back down to the still grinning Twilight. She met Twilight's stare with an even gaze.

"Twilight, what is–"

Luna screeched with alarm as something heavy, something moving, launched itself onto her back. Luna pranced forward, instinctively trying to put her back in a corner, only to be thwarted by the round library walls. She turned with lightning speed in an attempt to see her assailant.

On the floor where she had been lying was a black pool of darkness with waving tendrils that her mind slowly recognised as the plush spider golem that Twilight had given her yesterday, waving its legs.

The spider was laughing. Twilight was still grinning, but now it was a natural smile, rather than an insane rictus.

Breathing hard from the adrenaline rush, Luna approached the golem. Falling silent, it righted itself onto all eight long legs and turned to face Luna. As Luna leaned in with cautious curiosity, the spider's ruby eyes suddenly lit up with a bright red glow, causing Luna to jerk her head backwards and the spider to giggle again.

Luna blinked as the golem suddenly started to speak.

"I'm super scary now! Yay!"

----------------

"I'm sorry, Luna, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up. I realised that most of the power requirement for Li’l Twi to manifest comes from the illusion. Since Li'l Twi can control the PSG, that is the 'Plush Spider Golem'-"

"That is an awful name!" interjected Li'l Twi, "I'm not a 'PSG'. I'm a scary spider golem. SSG? Spilem? Goder? Twider! I'm a scary Twider! Rawr!"

Twilight hung her head in mock remorse, "I am sorry, Luna. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I've unleashed the Twider into the world."

"Oh no! Whatever shall we do?" Luna cowered in pretend fear of the spider.

Li'l Twi stalked towards her prey, waving her forelegs menacingly. The effect was rather weakened when she upended and fell forward, bonking her head on the ground.

"Oops. I ran out of hooves."

Luna carefully aided the golem to its feet.

"Thanks, Luna. Now be afraid again!"

Luna laughed, backing away from the spider. The golem had eight eyes, but Li'l Twi still couldn't see directly behind her and so she didn't notice the little black thundercloud that Luna conjured. She did notice the miniature thunderclap though.

"Eeep!"

The Twider quickly scurried to hide in Luna's tail, peering out from the starfield like a jungle explorer peering at a tiger from a bush. She seemed a little miffed at the adults laughing at her, and when she realised that the danger had passed, she tried to walk away with great dignity, only to trip again.

"It looks as though you need more practice walking, little spider. I suggest that you keep trying. When you are not supposed to be at work!"

"Ooops. Sorry."

The spider suddenly deflated, the eyes dimmed and, lacking Lil’l Twi’s more forceful animus, it span around in confusion before scurrying back to the laboratory.

"Maybe I should make another golem like that. It would be very handy helping Spike with the high dusting..."

“I am impressed you can get a mass that heavy to jump so well.”

“Thank you. It was the closest I could get it to flying. If I had thought things through properly then we would now be ducking and dodging a hyperactive plush bat golem. Which in retrospect may be considered a close escape.”

“Indeed. Good job too on the disturbing grin. Very unsettling.”

“Thank you! I wanted to start things off on the right hoof. I’ll be needing that grin a lot tonight.”

“Tonight?”

“You know, the ‘evil’ thing? Who did you think I was going to be evil to?”

“Ah. What, exactly did you have in mind?”

Twilight flashed a seductive smile that promised many things, “Come on down to the lab and I’ll show you.”

Luna followed Twilight with some trepidation. As Twilight descended the stairs to her laboratory she looked behind her, catching Luna’s eyes with hers, and smiled mysteriously. Her tail swished enticingly.

Luna was very distracted while descending the stairs, but it may not have made much difference if she was fully alert, as the magical trigger that Twilight had laid on one of the stairs was very subtle.

Twilight had been worried about Luna’s resistance to sleep spells. As an alicorn princess, Luna was undoubtedly tougher than a pony from the other races, so Twilight decided to go all-out. Powerful spells from a dozen different directions shot out towards Luna the moment she stood on the trigger. The surge was sufficient to make Twilight’s hair stand on end, her horn ache and the lights dim.

Luna was caught off-guard by the tide of magic arrayed against her, and didn’t have time to drop her natural defences. Even so, the trap was almost enough. Luna’s vision briefly wavered as a series of sleep and stun spells hit her, making her fur itch and horn tingle, but none were enough to actually knock her out. The Guardian of Dreams would not so easily be subdued.

The haze of magic was insufficient to hide Luna’s embarrassed blush and the sparks that were harmlessly discharging through her mane and coats and quickly dissipating didn't help either.

Twilight sighed with exasperation.

“Luna! You’re supposed to be knocked unconscious! Now how am I supposed to laugh mockingly at you for falling into my diabolical trap? How am I supposed to menace you when you wake from the magically enforced slumber if you don’t fall asleep in the first place?”

“I am sorry, Twilight. Your spells caught me by surprise. If you could warn me in advance that you’re going to launch a surprise ambush then I could prepare accordingly and be caught appropriately off-guard. I could collapse due to a delayed reaction to the spells, if that would help? Or here, I will lower my defences and you can catch me unawares with an unexpected sleep spell.”

“Well, I suppose that will have to do. Hold still, I’ll throw a sleep spell at you. Just try to fall for it this time.”

The rapidly dispersing haze of magic was just enough to throw Twilight’s bolt slightly off-course, but Luna was quick on her feet and managed to throw herself into its path. Everything went black.

––––––––––––––––––––-

<Author's note: this next section contains some clop. It doesn't really start until some way in. If you wish to skip any of the next section, please head to the next line break>

Luna awoke to find herself chained to a sawhorse crudely constructed from rough lumber, with only her wings free to move. There was enough padding on the horse and the chains to make the whole affair rather comfortable. As the millenia had given her plenty of unpleasant awakenings, she felt qualified to say that this one didn’t come close. She mentally deducted points on Twilight’s ‘evil’ performance.

Luna reviewed her situation. The padlock on the chains was suitably large and impressive. There was a contraption on Luna’s horn; it was too close, making it very difficult discern the details of the device, but she had a good idea what it did. Twilight’s delightful rump wasn’t quite so close and Luna had a wonderful view of it, so she decided to focus on that.

Twilight's lab coat didn’t stretch down so far as to hide Twilight’s beautifully sculpted behind, and her tail was swishing to and fro excitedly. The unicorn was clearly spending a long time bending down to inspect something on the floor, almost certainly for her benefit, and Luna wasn’t going to ignore the gift.

It took an embarrassingly long time to realise that Twilight wasn’t tormenting her with luscious treasures held too far away to touch (or lick, or nip), but was rather posing with the heavy key to the padlock poking out of her coat pocket, teasingly out of reach.

Ignoring the quiet grumbles from her captor about alicorns and their powers of observation, Luna lit up her horn to attempt to fish out the key and engineer her escape.

As soon as her horn lit up, the ring on her horn hummed and the two clappers attached to the ring tried to clap. As Luna’s horn was in the way, they both just hit it with some force, just as Luna expected.

“Ow!”

Twilight straightened and turned to face her captive, manic grin comfortably in place.

“Aha! Trying to escape my diabolical trap, are you? Your superior powers are no match for my little bits of wood! You shall come to realise that you are mine! All mine!”

“Release me, wretch! Don’t you know who I am?!”

“Oh yes, Your Highness. I know who you are. I also know you are not expected back at Canterlot for several days. Nopony knows you’re my captive. Nopony is coming to save you now. You cannot escape.”

“No! What are you going to do with me?”

Twilight tried the ‘evil maniacal laugh’ that Queen Chrysalis had used so convincingly in Canterlot, but it sounded forced to Luna’s expert ear.

“Surely you recognise me? Twilight Sparkle, one of– no, the greatest scientist in Equestria? The alicorn race has jealously guarded its secrets for millennia. No more! I shall reveal to the world the true nature of the alicorn. Years of painstaking planning has finally come into fruition! Finally I have an alicorn specimen on which to experiment! Nothing can stop me now!”

“No! We are a kind and noble race. We have no secrets!”

“Bah! It is said that an alicorn has greater strength and endurance than an earth pony, greater flying ability than a pegasus and greater magic than a unicorn. Today, that shall be put to the test!”

Twilight couldn’t manage the maniacal laugh, but the excited giggle that escaped her lips was enough to send a shiver down Luna’s spine.

“Please, release me. I am harmless.”

“Struggle all you want, alicorn. I shall not be denied! … No, really, struggle. There are strain gauges on those chains and I want to see how strong you are.”

Luna tugged at the chains, admittedly withholding a portion of her strength out of concern that she might accidentally break them.

“No, no. That just won’t do. Where’s your passion for scientific discovery? Nevermind, I believe I can encourage you.”

Luna’s eyes went wide with anticipation as Twilight approached her side. Twilight’s body blocked her view of what Twilight had in mind, and she tensed in anticipation. This only made it worse when her lover started tickling her.

Howling with laughter, Luna tried to jerk free as Twilight tickled her relentlessly, but the chains were much stronger than Luna had originally thought and were in no danger of breaking. Eventually Twilight relented and went to inspect one of her consoles, making a pleased sound as she did so.

“Ooh, even stronger than I thought. It’s a good thing I put in a huge safety factor when strengthening those chains. I must record these readings.”

Twilight made a little show of bringing out a tired and broken quill and attempting to write with it. Pretending to be frustrated by the quill’s demise, she turned to her captive with an authentic evil grin.

“Drat. I need a new quill. Thankfully, I have all the makings of one on hoof.”

Twilight’s aura carefully grasped a primary feather from one of Luna’s wings and plucked it out. Luna yelped, and tried to ignore her rising excitement. Twilight inspected the midnight blue feather critically.

“Excellent. This will do wonderfully.”

A brief spell later and Twilight had turned the feather into a magnificent quill, and started writing down her results. Luna recovered her breath and started to regain her composure.

“Right, now let’s test your endurance.”

“That wasn’t the endurance test?”

“Of course not, silly. I couldn’t hope to keep tickling an alicorn long enough to properly test her endurance. Anyway, my hooves aren’t properly calibrated. No, automated machinery is the pinnacle of modern science, and I for one shall not turn my back on it. Now, on to the endurance test!”

A metal hat shaped like a spaghetti strainer with many coloured wires coming from it was plonked onto Luna’s head and strapped in place. The wires lead to one of the consoles and a device that put coloured lines onto reams of paper.

Luna was honestly curious to know what an automated tickling machine would look like, but Twilight was busying herself on a workbench, hiding her equipment from sight. When done with her mysterious task, Twilight trotted happily behind Luna. Luna found out what type of endurance would be tested for when the lubricated and pre-warmed dildo was slipped home. Luna moaned and tensed.

“Right. The encephalograph should monitor your excitement. When you are close to climax, the vibrator will cut off, only to start again when you’ve recovered a little. You will endure this until you say ‘Princess Celestia is better than me.’”

“Never!”

“That’s the spirit!” Twilight really had a strong grasp on the evil grin and maniacal giggle, and demonstrated both very effectively as she threw the switch.

Luna moaned as the vibrations started and steady waves of pleasure assaulted her. Her chains were strong and allowed little movement, and she struggled weakly as she gyrated her hips. Twilight had settled down to enjoy the show and was idly running a concurrent experiment with one of her hooves.

The vibrating dildo had a clitoral massage function, and the irresistible tingling from that made Luna draw gasping breaths as she writhed. Bucking hips and straining muscles availed her no aid, and one of her last rational thoughts was that Twilight had no need for the tickle test earlier. The mare probably just loved to make her squirm.

Despite her endurance, Luna could only resist the stimulation coming from the vibrator for so long. The sounds of passion coming from Twilight and the thrill of the scenario playing out added to her excitement, and soon she was on the threshold of an orgasm, at which point the vibrator cut out. Luna shouted with frustration, but the laboratory had good sonic dampening spells laid on it.

After a short while, Luna’s breathing steadied and the vibrator started up again. Twilight failed to demonstrate the level of control exhibited by her equipment and failed to remove her hoof from her own marehood in time. Her orgasm was loud and served only to increase Luna’s excitement and frustration as she neared her climax for the second time.

Luna’s pride was great as was her endurance. It felt as though hours passed. Twilight managed to coax out another orgasm for herself while she waited.

“Nnnngg. Princess! Celestia! No!”

“Nearly! Keep going, Luna.”

“No! Release me!”

“Come on Luna. You know what you want.”

“Arrgh! PrincessCelestiaisbetterthanme!” shouted Luna.

Good to her word, Twilight threw the switch that disengaged the vibrator from the helmet, but not before she conscientiously made a note of the time.

Having been denied for so long, the rapturous orgasm that overtook Luna rendered her briefly insensate.

When Luna recovered, Twilight was hovering a glass of water nearby. Luna drank thirstily.

“That was very good. I don’t have comparison timings from an earth pony, but I’m sure that you did better than any one of them could be expected to do. Well done.”

Luna growled.

“Right, next up is magical power and spell resistance. I’m really looking forward to finding out what your limits are there. Are you ready to get started?”

Without waiting for a response, Twilight’s horn lit up and the clapper on Luna’s horn was pulled free. Before Luna could react, Twilight dropped what appeared to be a black, wooden ring to the base of Luna’s horn and started the power test.

The unicorn response to a horn-job was subject to any number of bawdy jokes, but there was a well known truth underlying them: the power ‘ejaculate’ from a unicorn was roughly proportional to the flow of magic that the unicorn in question could control.

It was notoriously difficult for a pony to cast magic spells whilst their horn was under assault, and Twilight’s tongue was more than sufficient to keep Luna from escaping her bonds. Admittedly, escaping was far from Luna’s mind at that moment in time.

With the experience gained from their first night together, Twilight knew that Luna responded well to horn licks, more than simple sucking or polishing. With enthusiastic care, Twilight trailed her tongue along Luna's long horn, tracing out one of the spiral grooves.

“Nnngg. More!”

Encouraged by the noises that Luna was making, Twilight kept up a steady rhythm, switching occasionally between long and short licks, but never relenting for a second. Soon Luna was gasping and moaning and trying thrash her head around, even though Twilight's aura held it fast.

Luna came with a horngasm that sent a torrent of magic into Twilight's expectant mouth. While her mouth was no more calibrated than her hooves, Twilight was confident that Luna’s output was significant. The ring that Twilight had placed on Luna’s horn had changed to a pale blue, testimony to the power that had flowed through it. Twilight took the wooden ring off Luna’s horn and made a note of the colour.

------------------

Twilight slipped the magical clappers back on Luna's now sticky horn as an afterthought.

"Right. That was fun, but we need to move on. Time to test your magical defences. Please be ready."

Luna had barely recovered from her recent excursions, but nodded her head. Satisfied, Twilight fired a spark from her horn, which bounced harmlessly from Luna's coat.

"Hmm. Interesting..."

As Luna lay on the sawhorse, Twilight paced around the room in thought, occasionally shooting a spark at Luna which would dissipate without causing any harm. Sometimes Twilight would study Luna's coat, or watch the spark intently as it stuck. Elemental magics of various types were tried, to no avail.

"Your magical defences are impressive. Really very impressive. Hmm."

It took half an hour of ideas and tests before Twilight tried out the next in her steady stream of ideas, only to rewarded by an-

"Ouch!"

"Aha! I have it! Your coat is partially astral, just like your tail and mane! If any spell is to affect you, it must be made astral as well. Like so–"

Another spark flew from Twilight's horn.

"Ouch! Stop it!"

Twilight delightedly wrote up some notes, having finally worked out how to penetrate Luna's magical defences. She ignored Luna's grumbles and didn't notice the very slight wideness of Luna's eyes that showed a new degree of concern over her situation.

"Excellent! Now we just need to test wing– Wait a moment. Your magic bypasses magic dampening circles. Is it because of the astral component? Hmm..."

Twilight grabbed some chalk and started drawing a magic circle around the sawhorse, raising Luna's curiosity. A few books were summoned from the library, and arrayed themselves in front of Twilight as she worked.

The magic circle that she was drawing wasn't quite right, so Twilight kept tweaking it. She made small adjustments here and there, changing runes and inspecting it from all angles.

"Hmm, aleph, nu, thorn... Oh, be a good specimen and stop twitching, would you? It's very distracting. Aha! I need to invert the widdershins linkages to direct the flow–"

Twilight quickly rubbed out half the circle she had painstakingly drawn and redrew it. Luna stiffened in alarm as she suddenly felt her power drain away.

Twilight stood back with a triumphant grin. The circle was clearly working, as Luna's mane and tail had lost their starfield effect. Now she just needed to goad Luna into trying to cast-

"RED!" shouted Luna, eyes wide, as she desperately pulled at the chains in a panic.

Twilight blinked. A thousand calculations and options flickered across her mind, no defences, breaking the chains could hurt her. Use key on padlock? Too slow. Break the circle. By Celestia's grace, why did I use chains? Argh! Forget subtlety!

Twilight's horn blazed into life and a brilliant glow touched the floor and the chains.

The magic circle stopped working when the wooden floor it was drawn on cracked and splintered. The chains had been magically strengthened. They shattered anyway, the fragments blasting outward from the centre. Luna was completely unharmed, but a fragment did strike Twilight hard on her shoulder. She fell to the ground in pain as Luna surged upright, hovering, practically glowing as her power surged back to comfort her.

----------------------

Twilight was lying in bed, her leg encased in magically reinforced bandages that made a crude cast. A simple spell prevented the pain from bothering her. She had refused suggestions that she should see a doctor, her vehemence born from her embarrassment over her situation.

Luna, no mean healer herself, had repaired the broken bones, but the torn ligaments, swelling and bruising would respond better to bed rest than magic.

"What were you thinking? Shattering the chain like that?"

"You were panicking. I needed to set you free-"

"Once the circle was broken I was fine-"

"You couldn't have broken those chains and the clapper-"

"Could do nothing if I did not actively permit it. My defences would prevent it from causing me pain unless I suppressed them."

"Oh."

"Why, Twilight? Why the whole 'Mad Scientist' scenario anyway? Is that your idea of evil? A little kinky sex, something that we do anyway?"

Twilight paused a moment, gathering her thoughts.

"You wanted to see my evil side. Evil is selfishness. It is putting one's own desires far beyond the welfare of others. I want to know things. About the world, about you. I can't know them because experimentation like that is immoral. You are Princess Luna, not an alicorn specimen. You wanted to see where I come closest to evil, the temptation that I fight."

"Twilight, I– You wanted me to play a game with you as the Nightmare that almost destroyed Equestria. I do not want to do that. I worry that you will... not react well to it. I asked you to show me that you understood, at least in part, what it means. The Nightmare is not– was not selfish. It wanted the dreaming to expand, it didn't want the ponies to die. It had a blinding obsession."

"Obsession? You're worried that I wouldn't understand an obsession?! Here! I'll show you an obsession!"

Twilight's aura ripped the panel off a secret compartment in the bedroom wall. Inside the compartment was a long roll of paper. A very long roll of paper. The list titled 'Seduction (Princess Luna)' was thrust into its subject's hooves.

"Read that and you'll know all about obsession."

Luna read the title of the scroll. She started reading through the list. She sped up, speed reading key words as the scroll unrolled under her power at great speed. She paused in places to read the fine detail of random sections. Her face expressionless, she scrolled to the end, read the final section and then passed the scroll back to the trembling Twilight.

"You told me that you had spent two years planning my seduction. I must admit that I did not realise the level of detail you brought to your plans. I– I accept that you understand what it is to be obsessed."

"Luna, I am not going to ask you to play with me as the Nightmare. It is part of my obsession, but that isn't important. You are. I needed to show you my evil so that you could see more of me. Another side."

"You succeeded. Please do not take this the wrong way, but I need to think. Rest, Twilight. Sleep. Heal. I will repair the damage that has been done to your laboratory. We will talk tomorrow."

Twilight started to object, but Luna expertly cast a subtle sleep spell on her and she fell almost instantly into dreams.