"Twilight! You're back!"

"Oh darling we missed you so much!"

"Where have you been you egghead?"

"We sure missed you sugarecube!"

"OMYGOSHOMYGOSHYOU'REBACK!"

"Oh my precious baby!"

"My faithful student!"

"Twily!"

Twilight was nearly drowning in happiness as she was surrounded by her friends and family once more. It had been far to long since she had last seen them and felt their embraces.

"Oh I am so happy to be home again!" She said happily as she hugged everypony around her. "These past three years have been so lonely without you by my side."

After she said this, her friends and family stopped and looked at her in disbelief. Twilight was confused at the looks they were giving her.

"What's wrong everypony?" She asked.

"Twilight." Twilight turned around to see Princess Celestia looking at her with a worried look. "Have you really been gone for three years?"

"Yes I have." Twilight answered, starting to feel a little worried. "Why?"

All of the ponies surrounding Twilight looked at each other. Finally Celestia spoke up again.

"Twilight. You have only been gone for about two months for us."

Twilight's eyes went as wide as dinner plates at this information. "Only two months?!" She exclaimed as everypony nodded around her. "That explains why none of you look any older then when I left."

"And I guess what you said explains why you are so much taller now." Rainbow Dash now chimed in.

The rest of the ponies noticed that what the cyan pegasus said was true. Twilight was indeed taller than she had been when she had disappeared two months earlier. She wasn't as tall as Celestia but she was taller than Luna. Her wings also fell into the same range in terms of size. They now looked much more powerful than they had been last. She looked much more like a thousand year old Princess than a young and awkward scholar now.

"Also darling." Rarity approached Twilight now, looking over the clothing that she was wearing. "Wherever did you get such an ensemble? I must say that I am filling with inspiration as we speak."

"Oh these?" Twilight looked at her robe and shoes and glanced up at her olive branches. "Well the shoes were given to me from Hermes as a gift and..."

"Hold one now." Applejack interrupted. "Who in the heck is 'Hermes'?"

Twilight paused for a moment before realizing that her friends had no idea where she had been. She giggled slightly at herself for not explaining things sooner.

"Sorry everypony." She smiled. "Almost confused you all. How about we go into my castle and I can explain what I have experienced these past three years."

Soon Twilight and all of her friends and family were gathered into her personal study in the west wing of her castle. As everypony began to take their seats to listen to Twilight's tale, the young alicorn looked around her study and long missed books with tears in her eyes.

"I have missed this place so much." She whispered.

"W-we wanted t-to make sure that if you c-came back, it would be just as you left it." Twilight turned around to see Spike had walked up to her with glistening eyes. "I came in and arranged the books and everything everyday."

Twilights tears broke free at this information and she brought the young dragon into a loving embrace with her fore hooves.

"Thank you so much Spike." She whispered as she cried tears of joy. "I truly love you and missed you so much my son."

Spike perked up as he heard Twilight refer to him as her son. It was something that he had recently been wishing he had heard from her before she had disappeared and to hear them spoken now brought even more tears to his eyes. "Y-you're welcome T-Twilight. I l-love you to."

For a few moments, both Twilight and Spike held each other in the soft loving hug, until at last the sound of a throat being cleared caught Twilight's attention. She looked up to see Princess Celestia looking at her with curiosity.

"Well Twilight." She said "I am sure that you must have quite the tale to tell us all."

"Yeah like where the heck you have been all this time!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

Twilight sighed and broke her embrace with Spike, but kept him by her side. "Alright then. I guess I should start with what happened after I overcharged that teleportation spell."

Twilight groaned with pain. Her head felt like it was being pounded by a thousand iron hammers. Though she wasn't that surprised. She had nearly overloaded with magic on that last attempt at the spell. As she opened her eyes, she was feeling more annoyed with herself than anything for being foolish enough to brashly attempt such a powerful and untested spell.

"Stupid Twilight!" She chastised herself. "What were you thinking when you did tha......?"

She abruptly stopped her self reprimand when her eyes finally adjusted and she was able to fully take in her surroundings.

She was lying on a white marble floor in a large rectangular room that was easily the size of Celestia and Luna's throne room. Along with the floor, almost all the rest of the room was made of white marble except for a few large squares of black granite tiles on the walls. At the opposite end of the room from Twilight were two large doorways, absent of actual doors, leading out to long dark hallways. In the center of the room was a large rectangular pool filled with crystal clear water. Along the edges of the pool were tall marble pillars, four along each width with eight along each length. They held up the edges of a large skylight that was the same size of the pool. Posted along the walls were flaming torches and running along the bases of the walls were large flat granite benches. In each corner of the room were large white clay pots with ferns growing out of them. Next to the benches were other clay jars and tables adorned with bowls of fruit and golden chalices that rivaled even the elegance those of Canterlot Castle. It was a room of pure opulence and class that Twilight knew Rarity would absolutely faint over.

Just as she had finished taking in the breathtaking architecture, Twilight's ears picked up the sound of something approaching from the doorway on the left. She quickly ran over to one of the large jars by the closest bench. She crouched down behind the jar to hide as she found that it was a good five feet tall and she could easily hide behind it. She waited and controlled her breathing so as to not make any loud noises when the stranger walked in. After a few moments, the mystery creature at last appeared in the doorway.

The creature was human in appearance, though much different from the humans that Twilight had encountered at Canterlot High more than a year ago. Unlike the skin tone of the humans at Canterlot High, which was very similar from the coats of ponies in Equestria, this human's skin was pale with a slight tinge of brown that Twilight could only assume was a tan. The human was male, and had long blonde hair flowing from his head and down his back stopping just below his shoulders. He wore a simple red toga that Twilight had only seen worn by ponies in Saddle Arabia. His feet were bare as was the right side of his upper torso, from which Twilight could see the outline of well defined muscles. The human then walked over to the closest bench and looked over to the pool on his left. Then, much to Twilight's surprise, he began to remove his toga!

Now Twilight had read through some human biology books while she was at Canterlot high and had seen pictures of the human body absent of clothes. She had never seen any human naked before. And now she was beginning to blush as she took in the well toned and sculpted muscles and figure of this human before her. She blushed even redder when she caught sight of certain areas that she again had only seen in textbooks. From what Twilight had learned in the human world, this human was definitely among those in top physical condition.

After setting his toga down on the bench behind him, the human then made his way over to the edge of the pool and began to walk down the steps leading into the water. After walking down a few steps until the water was up to his waste, the human sat down on the steps and leaned back with his arms on the side of pool. Twilight heard the human sigh as he settled into what she could only assume was perfectly warm water. For a few moments, Twilight just sat behind the jar she was hiding behind peeking out to stare at the human. Her mind began to frantically race to decide what she should do next as it seemed that the human was apparently not going to leave for a while. Should she try and communicate with the human or should she just try and sneak out? Her options were greatly reduced however when the human spoke up for the first time.

"Why don't you come on out from behind the jar and join me?"

Twilight froze when the human spoke directly to her. She knew he was speaking to her as there were no other creatures in the room to speak to. Now Twilight's brain began to fiercely debate on whether or not to comply with the human's request.

"Come on out. I promise no harm will come to you."

Twilight inhaled deeply. Exhaling, she made up her mind and stepped slowly out from behind the jar and into the view of the human. When she looked at the human, he was staring at her with dark green eyes that bore an expression of calm kindness. He beckoned her with his finger to come closer, and Twilight slowly approached him with caution. When she was less than two feet from him, she stopped and simply stared at his smiling face warily. The human however continued to smile with an understanding expression.

"Please join me in the water." He said calmly. Twilight could've sworn she felt her mind being physically reassured by his voice. "It is quite warm and relaxing."

Again, Twilight hesitated. But after a few moments, she slowly stepped down into the water on the right side of the human. She found that he was right about the water as it's warmth began to relax both her mind and body as she eased into the pool. She didn't complete let her guard down as she sat down next to the human and continued to analyze the situation in her head.

"Feeling better?" The human asked. Twilight slowly nodded as she couldn't help but agree that she did indeed feel better. "Good. Now can you please tell me your name? I don't recognize you as one of my uncle's creations."

Twilight hesitated again for a second before answering. "My name is Twilight." She said softly. "Twilight Sparkle."

The human smiled. "That is a very nice name Twilight." He replied. "My name is Apollo."

Now Twilight was for certain that she was not in the universe of Canterlot High, as there were no one in that world that she knew who had that name. "Nice to meet you Apollo." She smiled. "That is a nice name as well."

Apollo chuckled. "Why thank you Twilight." He smiled. "Now tell me. Why have you found yourself in my bath chambers?"

Twilight looked down at the water nervously. She didn't want Apollo to think that she had broken in. "I...I don't know actually. I was performing a spell when I overcharged it and I woke up in here."

Apollo raised an eyebrow at this answer. "You were performing a spell?"

"Yes." Twilight answered. "And I ended up here and I don't know how." She looked around the room. "Where are we anyway?"

"You are in the home of my family." Apollo said with a hint of pride. "You are now on Mount Olympus."

"Mount Olympus?" Twilight asked perplexed. "Where is that? I have never heard of that place in the human world."

"Well that is because you are not on the human world now." Apollo chuckled.

Twilight looked up at Apollo with even more confusion. "But you are a human aren't you?"

Apollo shook his head. "No I am not, though I, like most of the rest of my kind, have taken the form of a human, I am not one of them. Though we do watch over the humans."

Twilight looked at Apollo with even more wonder. "Then, what are you?"

Apollo smiled at Twilight. "Now I know that you are not one of my uncle's creations." He then sat up straighter and prouder. "My family and I are known to the mortals as the Olympians. We are the Gods and Goddesses of the heavens and the earth below us."

Twilight's eyes flew wide with shock. She was in the presence of a god! She immediately began to feel intimidated by Apollo, until she felt his hand touch her shoulder and administer and instant calming sensation that prevented her from having a nervous breakdown.

"Calm yourself Twilight." He said reassuringly. "I will not harm you. My kind only punish those that displease or offend us, and as far as I can tell, you have not offended me, nor any of my kind."

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief at this information. Then, with that fear out of the way, her mind returned to that of the curious scholar.

"Um...Apollo?" The male god nodded. "What exactly are you the god of?"

Apollo smiled. "I hold control over the great star the sun. It is my duty to raise it and lower it over the the Earth below. I also hold sway over the domains of music, medicine and knowledge."

Twilight's eyes lit up again in surprise at this information. Apollo held the same duties as Princess Celestia back in Equestria! This made Twilight wonder who held the duty of raising and lowering the moon in this world.

"I can see that you have many other questions young Twilight." Apollo broke her train of thought. "So I shall provide with you the opportunity to have them answered." Apollo then stood up and began to exit the pool, causing Twilight to blush again as she was given a clear view of his naked body. "Come. I shall take you to see my father."

Twilight snapped out of her embarrassment and followed Apollo out of the pool. She stood by him as he closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Twilight then felt the sensation of warmth radiating from Apollo's body, and in a few seconds, his once dripping wet body was perfectly dry. He then wrapped himself back up in his red toga and looked down at Twilight with a smile.

"Follow me. I am sure that my father will be most interested to meet you."

Twilight walked alongside Apollo as he led her out of the room and down the hall. "Um..Apollo?" She piped up. "What is your father's name?"

"Zeus." Apollo replied. "My father, and King of the Gods, is Zeus."

Author's Note

Hey everypony!

Couple of tips to understand the actions of the characters in this chapter, and indeed throughout this story.

Apollo is a oracular god. hint hint

Anyway I hope you all enjoy. Will continue to update all of my stories so don't worry.

Until next time and again I hope you all enjoy!