The week had passed with little to distinguish it from any other in most respects. For reasons that would no doubt be made clear at some point, Cadance hadn't been required for her usual sitting duty and had spent most of her evenings either wandering aimlessly around the palace and getting into mischief, or locked in her rooms, masturbating until her sheets were soaked and her body ached from sheer exhaustion.

Each time the same half-formed images had flitted through her mind, of Twilight Velvet, coated in black and standing imperiously over her as she meted out whatever punishment she might have conjured as Cadance's 'repayment'. Not that her imagination ever got that far. Up to now it had only taken the thought of Twilight Velvet's vinyl-clad body to send Cadance into another ecstatic frenzy that left her slick with sweat and gasping into her pillow.

Not even imagined trysts with Shining Armor had carried her so high...

Showered and freshened up, Cadance had left the palace just before noon. Walking had again been out of the question – her traitorous body had seen to that – but Cadance had always enjoyed flying so it wasn't that much of a problem. The cool air even helped calm her down.

A little.

She just hoped nopony had looked up while she was flying over them.

The modest garden of Twilight Velvet's home was warm and still when Cadance landed. Sunlight streaked through the branches of a yew tree near the gate, dappling gold pools over the grey stone path that led to the door. Cadance had never really noticed that before. She moved slowly through the light, looking about the garden for any clue that might have revealed Twilight Velvet's secret side, but there was nothing.

It was all normal. Completely normal. Just a quiet little suburban garden.

Cadance saw the door was hanging ajar as she approached. She nuzzled up to the gap, pushing the door aside with her snout rather than a hoof or magic, and peered inside. It took a moment for Cadance's eyes to adjust to the dimly lit corridor after the brightness of the noonday sun, but as she edged forward she could see that the doors were closed fast.

The building was silent, eerily so, and Cadance's hoofsteps sounded thunderously loud on the corridor's wood floor as she made her way within. A few steps from the stairs she finally heard a sound – a quiet cough. Cadance looked up and found Velvet standing at the head of the stairs, looking down at her.

She was nude. Cadance was a little disappointed at that, having expected Twilight Velvet to repeat their previous encounter in some way. Perhaps that would come later.

"You're here, then," Twilight Velvet said. She wasn't smiling, or... no, she was, but it was subtle, little more than a tweak at the corner of her mouth. Her eyes were flat and empty; her ears still as stone, giving nearly nothing away.

Cadance nodded. "I am."

"Do you know why?"

"You told me to be here," Cadance replied, trying not to frown. "That was the deal, right?"

"It was a deal. You had a choice. You could have just pretended it had never happened." Twilight Velvet moved down the stairs with the same alluring grace Cadance had seen the prior week. "You chose to obey."

"I—I guess..."

Twilight Velvet turned, just a fraction and sniffed at the air. She was smiling. "You're disappointed, aren't you? That I'm not wearing anything? I can practically see the anticipation dripping off you." She glanced down between Cadance's legs and raised an eyebrow. "Fortunately this floor is easy to clean."

"S-Sorry, I—"

"I'm not complaining, honey. The idea that a young mare like you would get herself off at the thought of someone my age is incredibly flattering. However..." The smile turned to a leer. Velvet took a step back from Cadance. "I had that floor shining like a mirror this morning, so you are going to have to clean it up."

Cadance swallowed. Something about the way Twilight Velvet's mouth twisted gave off the impression that the sort of cleaning she would be expected to perform didn't include anything so mundane as a mop and bucket, unless Velvet's predilections were even more out there than Cadance had realised.

Twilight Velvet was watching her now, through narrowed eyes. She nodded her head and smiled. In her turn, Cadance stepped back as well, clamping her tail tight against her crotch. She lowered her head a fraction and looked up at Velvet. THe older mare nodded again, her smile broadening.

"It's quite clean," she said, when Cadance hesitated. "Well. It was."

Cadance lowered her gaze to the floor. There wasn't much. A few faint, milky speckles standing proud of the polished wood. She could smell it though, smell her arousal rising from the floor now that she was close to it. In time it might fill the entire hallway and that would raise... questions. After one last look at Velvet, Cadance lowered her muzzle to the floor and slowly extended her tongue.

"That's enough, dear."

Magic caught Cadance's chin, lifting her head up again to face Velvet. The mare was smiling and shaking her head.

"Ip ip—" Cadance sucked in her tongue and coughed nervously. "It is? But I thought—"

"That I'd make you clean the floor with your tongue?" Velvet shook her head. "There are so many better uses I could put it to. No I just wanted to see how willing you are to... to let go, shall we say."

"Oh." Cadance glanced at the floor again. Her tail, still pressed hard against her backside, twitched at the thought of what she had been about to do.

"It's quite all right, honey," Velvet continued. "Night Light was rather the same way when he first realised what he wanted from me. And I'll admit I felt a little odd too, in the beginning. You'll overcome that, given time." She turned away, flashing another warm smile at Cadance as she did. "Now come along, there are a few things we need to discuss upstairs."

"Of—of course," Cadance murmured. She waited a moment as Velvet marched toward the stairs, and then quickly ducked her head to the floor, to snatch up the taste of herself with a flick of her tongue.

As she raised her head and trotted toward the stairs, she caught just the hint of a movement of Twilight's head, as if she had been looking back over her shoulder for a moment. Perhaps it was just imagination.

Strange how some part of her hoped it was more than that.

The pair walked in silence, Twilight Velvet preceding Cadance down the corridor to the master bedroom. It was strange to be following her like this, to be led toward whatever fate Velvet had envisioned. The thought alone was enough to send another faint wave of anticipation through Cadance, culminating at her loins and her already soaking tail.

At the door, Twilight Velvet paused. She turned to look at Cadance, still smiling, but there was an uncertainty in her that hadn't been visible before.

"Tell me," she said, "what you're here to do."

"Repayment," Cadance replied, trying to keep the stammer fro her voice. "For—"

"That is the reason you're here, but it's not what you're here to do." Velvet's ears perked up just a fraction. "You've already done it really, but I'd like to hear it from your own lips. What are you here to do, Cadance?"

Cadance swallowed. She'd been trying to avoid this thought, even as she'd acted it out downstairs. The idea weighed in her like a dense knot; the admission seemed impossible. She licked her lips.

"I'm here to..."

"To?"

Cadance swallowed again and let out a sharp breath. "To do whatever you tell me."

Release. Not an orgasm, not exactly, but Cadance felt a tension leaching from her body that she hadn't even realised was there. It left her shivering, though she felt heat burning across her chest and around her sides, beneath her wings. Her face too.

Twilight Velvet's breath quickened. Her pupils dilated and her eyes flared wide at the sound of Cadance's confession. Silently she pressed a hoof against the door, and slowly she pushed it to one side, before backing away from Cadance and into the room.

"Come inside," she said.

It wasn't a request, but neither was it quite an order. Cadance bit her lip and shuffled into the room, barely flinching when Velvet's magic enveloped the door and slammed it shut behind her.

For a moment they stared at one another, but Cadance couldn't keep her eyes from straying to the rest of the room. The first thing that caught her eye was the bed; the sheets were gone, replaced with the same black, shimmering vinyl that seemed to quickly be forming a theme in the bizarre fantasy world Cadance had stumbled into.

On top of the bed, she saw the suit. Had Velvet carried out her promise and worn it that night? Mingling herself with Cadance's essence? The thought was... stimulating.

Next to the suit lay a shallow, paper-wrapped box and slender horn ring, shaded just a fraction lighter than her Cadance's coat. She couldn't quite take her eyes from it.

"Ah, I see you've spotted the gifts I had made up for you," Velvet said, as she followed Cadance's gaze. "Something to try later, I think. For now, lets talk."

Cadance finally tore her eyes from the ring. "Talk?"

"About boundaries." Twilight Velvet the box from the bed and began to unwrap it. "I may have said you were here to do whatever I tell you, but there are bound to be things that you are simply not comfortable doing. Things that you don't want to do, no matter how much I might tell you otherwise."

"But isn't that the point?"

Twilight Velvet turned her attention from her task to look at Cadance. She tutted and shook her head. "Honey, if the point were just forcing you to do things you didn't enjoy, I'd have you chained up and be beating you about the backside with a cane already. No, your repayment is quite simple. If you aren't able to control yourself, then you're going to let me do it for you."

The friendly mare from a moment before was gone now, replaced by the commanding presence that had caught Cadance in her shame.

"Until I have decided that you have repaid me, you will no longer take pleasure unless I allow it. You will orgasm when I wish you to orgasm. You will become my willing slut whenever I desire it and you will perform any act I wish. If you disobey, you will be suitably punished. If you obey, you will be rewarded." Twilight Velvet raised her nose a fraction. "If you agree to these terms, say yes."

The tension was back again, stretching from Cadance's stomach to her dock. She rocked from one leg to the other, trying to ease it. "I..."

"You can say no," Velvet said quietly. She smiled just a little. "This is still a choice."

"I know," Cadance sighed. She closed her eyes. "It—I... yes."

The following silence was punctuated by Twilight Velvet's indrawn breath. She nodded. "Again."

"Yes," Cadance repeated. opening her eyes. She swallowed.

"Good. Do you know what a safe word is?"

"A... I can guess," Cadance replied. She shivered. "For when I get uncomfortable?"

"Or when you want to stop entirely. This is as much about your pleasure as mine, Cadance." Twilight Velvet tipped her head to one side and tapped her chin. "How about Pastiche. I think it has a nice ring to it, don't you?"

"I—yes. Maybe? Pastiche..." Cadance frowned, tasting the word on her lips. It was certainly easy to remember. "Pastiche."

Velvet turned back to the box, tearing the last scraps of paper form it with a flourish. She brought it before Cadance and placed a hoof gently on the lid.

"This is the first thing you're going to do," she said, lifting the lid.

Cadance found herself staring at a slender black choker, unadorned save for a faint, repeated pattern of three stars that ran along its entire length, and a silver clasp.

"It's beautiful," she whispered. "But—"

"No buts. Put it on," said Velvet. She pushed the box closer to Cadance. "And when you're done, say 'thank you mistress' like a good girl."

Cadance's jaw dropped. Yet to her own surprise, she found she had already lifted the choker from the box. She hesitated a moment, then wrapped it around her neck, and was inordinately pleased when she didn't fumble the unfamiliar clasp. The chooker settled down just below her jaw, where it rested snug and tight against her coat, but not uncomfortably so.

"Thank you," she murmured. Velvet's only response was to clear her throat. "Oh. Um... thank you, mistress?"

"Good," Velvet replied. She smiled. "You'll wear that until we're finished. I think that's all for now. You can go home."

"What? But I thought—"

Twilight Velvet tutted and shook her head. "Cadance, Cadance, did you really think I was going to just drag you into bed and fuck your brains out? No." Twilight opened the door and ushered Cadance toward it. "This isn't some cheap sex game and you aren't some hooker I picked up to play with. This is the start of your training."

"What... what sort of training?"

Twilight Velvet pursed her lips and shook her head. For a moment Cadance worried that she wasn't going to explain, until she recalled the last few moments of the conversation. She took a breath.

"Mistress, what sort of training?" That got a smile. Cadance couldn't help but return it.

"It's quite simple," Velvet said. She brushed a hoof against Cadance's neck, just shy of the choker's clasp. "You're going to learn how to obey me. For the next three days you aren't going to touch yourself at all. You aren't going to let anyone else touch you either. No orgasms. No sex. No physical pleasure of any sort. When the three days are done, you'll return here and ask to be allowed to pleasure yourself in my presence."

"Three days?"

"I was going to make it a week," Velvet shot back as she herded Cadance along the corridor and down the stairs. "But the state you're in, even three days will be a miracle. And just so you're aware, I'll know if you disobey."

"How?"

They halted in the hallway close to the front door. Velvet glanced around at the floor and smiled briefly, before turning her attention to Cadance again.

"How? That's quite simple. That collar you're wearing is enchanted. Every time you orgasm, one of those stars will light up." She tilted her head, examining Cadance for a short moment. "Here, I'll show you."

Velvet's horn lit and Cadance felt the brush of magic against her inner thighs. Her tail lifted like it had a mind of its own. "Wait, I—"

"Are you telling me to stop?"

The touch departed, leaving Cadance with her genitals exposed to cool air and an ache that wouldn't quite let her go. The word echoes around her head and she opened her mouth, ready to say it. But then she bit her lip and shook her head.

Twilight Velvet smiled and charged her magic again. It was like a dozen tongues rolling across Cadance's flesh all at once, riding up the insides of her thighs like a wave. Then the magic rose to envelope her cunt, pinching at the folds of her labia and up, up to the pucker of her ass. She could feel a tendril of it of her clit, constant and unrelenting, while waves of pressure and heat rolled up and down her snatch and then inside, parting her lips just enough to feel it.

She had already been tense from the lust that had built in her from the moment she'd arrived. Cadance lasted only moments before her first orgasm crashed down on her, more intense than anything she could have managed by herself. Her whole body shook as waves of pleasure washed back and forth through it, until she as barely able to stand. And all the while she could hear Velvet crooning in her ear, telling her to come, to orgasm, to obey.

Then it was over, and she was panting hard and staring at the floor and Velvet's hooves. Drool poured from her lips; she tried to fold it back with her tongue and had to swallow twice before it was all gone

"What do you say, Cadance?"

The voice echoed in her head. Cadance closed her eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. "I..."

"What do you say?"

"Thank you, mistress," Cadance gasped.

She heard the sound of hooves passing down the corridor, then returning a moment later, accompanied by the crystalline ring of magic. Cadance's snatched clenched, expecting another round of stimulation, but there was nothing. Instead Velvet spoke.

"Look up."

Cadance lifted her head, opening her eyes. Velvet had raised a mirror to her face, angled to give Cadance a clear view of her neck. She lifted her chin to reveal the choker. A single star glowed pale blue.

"I'll count them when I see you next," Twilight Velvet said quietly. "If there are any more..."

She left the thought hanging. Cadance was sure that nothing Velvet said would compare to the imagined punishments she was already conjuring on her own. The worst part was they were getting her heated up again.

It was going to be a long three days.

Author's Note

Did I say every weekend? I'm a terrible liar.