//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 
// Story: Star Tiger, Moon Girl 
// by SPark 
//------------------------------//

Stripes should have been tired after a long day, but instead he found himself restless.  He paced around his room, his tail lashing, and finally went out onto the balcony, staring out at the unchanging black above.  No cloud-strewn sky here, ever.  Even when the sun was in the sky it was framed against a backdrop of stark black.
Still, the strangeness wasn't all bad.  In fact it was mostly quite fascinating.  He's been in something of a rut back home.  It was good to step out of it, to see and do and learn new things, even if he was occasionally rather homesick.  And Luna... She was another fascinating thing, perhaps moreso than the little miracles of electricity and living tools.
A sound from the balcony beside his made him twitch an ear in that direction.  It had sounded like a whimper.  But wasn't that Luna's room?  Who would be in the powerful ruler's room, whimpering?
Another, slightly louder whimper made both ears swivel.  He could swear it was Luna's voice.  But why would she be distressed?  He went to the edge of the balcony, and he could see that the princess's balcony doors stood open.  More whimpers sounded, and suddenly they seemed to have a familiar timbre.  Just as his training mates had sounded, when he'd learned the art of walking amid dreams, when they chanced on a nightmare that had ensnared them.
Without really having decided to act, Stripes found himself eying the distance between the two balconies.  It would be a long jump, but he was certain he could make it.  The three story drop made things a slight risk, but discarded that thought immediately on hearing yet another sound of emotional distress from the next room.  Instead he gathered himself, bunching his legs and giving an involuntary little tail-wiggle, before leaping as hard as he could for the opposite balcony.
He'd forgotten the lower gravity of this world, and even as his legs scrambled uselessly to catch some purpose he sailed completely over the princess's balcony and into thin air on the other side.
Fortunately the low gravity also meant that his landing wasn't that bad, and he'd been able to twist and get his feet under him.  He crouched in the garden courtyard below and met the eyes of a startled guardswoman who he'd nearly landed on top of.
"Sorry," he said, then gathered himself, keeping the lesser gravity in mind this time, but knowing he'd need all of that assistance to make it three stories up, if he could at all.  He leaped as hard as he could, and rose just above the lip of Luna's balcony in a strangely stately arc.  He scrambled just a bit to get all four paws over the railing and down to the balcony proper, but there was no one to see his awkward landing.  He gave one paw a lick, dismissing both the bad landing and his earlier complete failure, and padded towards the open balcony doors.
Inside, his sensitive eyes could instantly make out the form of a bed much like his own, and a blanket-tangled shape sprawled restlessly on it.  Luna, a spot just above and between her closed eyes glowing with a wisp of magical power that showed she was doing more than merely sleeping, tossed and turned on the bed, whimpering as she did.
He put both paws up on the side of the bed, then halted, hesitating.  Instinct to render aid had driven him here, but would that aid be welcome?  Would he be interrupting some great dream work or vital dream battle if he tried to wake her?
Another sound of terrible pain and despair decided him.  Whatever the risks, he couldn't simply sit back and hear her suffer like that.  She was his rescuer, and he owed everything to her.  He had to try to help if he could.
Tentatively he reached out a paw and touched her shoulder.  She didn't respond, she only let out another whimper and rolled over in the already tangled bedsheets.  He shook her shoulder, trying to be gentle.  "Luna.  Luna, wake."
She whimpered again, but her eyelids flickered.
"Luna.  You dream.  Wake."  
He shook her shoulder a bit more firmly, then yanked his paw back as she suddenly sat bolt upright with a sharp, indrawn gasp of shock.  Her eyes stared at him blankly, uncomprehending, then slowly focused.  "Stripes?"  She blinked at him.  "How did you get in here?  The door was locked."
She was still shivering faintly, and her breath was coming a little too fast, so he ignored the question and instead returned his paw to her shoulder, patting her in what he hoped was a reassuring manner.  She gave a little shake, as if to shake off the last of the nightmare, and put her hand over his paw.  "You wanted to help me, didn't you?  Did Selene let you in?"
"I would never.   You ordered me to lock the door, your highness," came the AI's voice, and there was a little sniff of offended pride in her tone.  Stripes almost chuckled at it.  "You never closed your balcony doors though."
Luna shook her head and smiled, the last of her distress seeming to fall from her.  "I see.  Well, I won't complain."  She lifted her hand and stroked Stripe's head, petting him gently.  "I am not usually so...troubled by nightmares, but I admit this one got the best of me, at least temporarily.  So thank you."
Stripes let out a deep, rumbling purr, enjoying both her thanks and her touch.  Emboldened by the closeness of the gesture, something she'd done in the dream realm but not in person until now, he said, "Want me stay?"
"I..."  Luna hesitated.
"Not have to.  But will be chasing away nightmares again if need.  No more."
Luna chuckled at that and lay back down on the bed, shifting to one side and patting the spot beside her.  "If you promise to behave, I'd like that."
"Promise, yes."  He settled himself beside her, tucking his paws under him and getting comfortable within touching distance, but not touching her directly.
She smiled again and let out a soft sigh.  "Thank you," she murmured, and then her eyes slid closed, and just like that she was asleep.  She must have been truly exhausted, to slip back into slumber so easily.  He was tired, but not enough so to instantly close his eyes and be in the dream realm.  So he sat for a time and watched her.  The lights were still off, but his eyes were more than sensitive enough to see her clearly in the dim light that filtered in through the still-open balcony doors.
She looked strangely fragile, lying there beside him.  He'd been thinking of her in terms of her power, both political and magical, and it didn't hurt that she was so much taller than he, but she was also perhaps a quarter his weight, and in this moment her slender form seemed something incredibly delicate, something he wanted to protect any way he could.


Stripes woke up feeling warm and comfortable.  Very warm.  And perhaps a little too comfortable, for he almost instantly realized that he was still in Princess Luna's bed, and that the proper owner of said bed was pressed against his chest, clinging to him like some kind of oversized cub's toy.
He held very, very still and tried to figure out what to do.  Luna shifted against him, stirring, and he tried to avoid panic.  Would she be upset to find them so close?  Should he move back quickly?  But if she woke to him shoving himself away from her, would she be insulted?  Surely since she had said he could stay, she wouldn't be angry, yet some irrational part of him was certain she would be.
She blinked her eyes open and regarded him fuzzily, her arms still wrapped around him.  Then her cheeks blushed brightly pink.  "Ah, forgive me."  She swiftly disentangled herself, and Stripes felt a bit of relief that she merely found the situation as awkward as he did.
"No need forgive," he said.  He rolled away from her and off the bed, landing smoothly on all four paws.  Then he stretched luxuriously.  As awkward as the awakening had been, the night itself had been very pleasant.  He'd slept soundly, once sleep had finally claimed him, and Luna seemed to have done the same, for she looked fresh-faced, with no signs of tiredness.
She climbed from the bed, then glanced over at him.  "I need to dress for the day."
He tilted his head at her, puzzled, then remembered that humans had a nudity taboo and nodded understanding.  "I go then."  He looked at the door, then smiled and went back out to the balcony.  There were enough odd rumors about himself and the princess without him emerging from her quarters in semi-public first thing in the morning.
The jump back to his room was simple, he made it on the first try this time.  Inside his own quarters, the bedroom was just as he'd left it, but there was a strip of light showing underneath the door to the other room.  He frowned faintly.  He was fairly certain he'd left the lights off.
Feeling curious, he opened the door, and found Rarity sitting primly on a couch; a flat, rectangular object resting beside her.
"Good morning, Ambassador Stripes."  She looked past him to the bedroom beyond, and smiled rather slyly.  "Sleep well?"
He blinked at her, then grinned.  "Yes, much well."
"Wonderful.  Now today you have no particular agenda, though I did want to get your signature on a few official documents.  And there is another formal dinner this evening, should you choose to attend.  But that is optional, and the rest of the day is open for you to explore the city, or spend time in the gardens, or whatever else might capture your fancy."
Stripes' ears perked up.  "Gardens?"
"Yes.   You've seen the main garden, of course, and there are additional gardens around the base of the tower, as well as several other public gardens throughout the city.  I can arrange for you to visit any of them, if you like."
He considered that.  "No need go far, have not seen gardens here yet, much.  Look here now, go there later, maybe."
"Would you like my company?  I suggest you have some form of escort if you leave the tower, but you're perfectly free to explore on your own within it."  She gave him a little wink and added, "So long as you refrain from terrorizing technicians again, at least."
That made Stripes flatten his ears just a little.  "Am much sorry.  Was excited!  And had coffee.  But no, will not do again.  Think will go alone, here."
"You can ask Selene to get me for you if you need my assistance, then.  I'm here to help you with whatever you may require.  But before I go, let's get that signature."
She showed him how to use his paws to make marks on the front of the rectangular thing she'd carried, which she called a "pad" and which apparently recorded various sorts of information.  He put down the characters of his name, which he understood to mean that he was accepting the responsibility of representing his species here in a formal way.  Since he was the only member of his species here, he couldn't help but represent them informally, so making it official didn't seem like a bad idea.
Then Rarity left, leaving him to make his way to the gardens on his own.  That wasn't hard to do, since they took up the vast majority of the "floor" level of the castle that sat atop Luna's tower.  Soon he was strolling along a path amid trees and shrubs that—though alien and strange in many ways—were not entirely unlike the trees of his home.  He noticed, as he sat down on the grass, that though the sky above was still black and the sun shouldn't be up, there was a golden, sunlit glow over the garden.  It didn't seem to have any single source, it was like the sun on an overcast day, but warmer.  It must be some of the humans' wonderful technology again, no doubt to aid the plants in growing properly.
He thought back on the previous times he'd passed through or looked over the garden, and all had been at "night", when the lights would no doubt be left off, which was why he hadn't noticed it before.  There must be some way of shading the garden when the sun was up during what should be night time too.  He puzzled through how this might work for some time, relaxing with the little mental exercise while enjoying the cool grass beneath him and the calls of small creatures from all around him.
"Oh my!  I didn't think we were getting any tigers!  Aren't you handsome!  Such an unusual coloration!"  The voice was soft, yet bubbling with excitement.  Stripes looked up to see a human standing on the path a few yards away, her hands clasped together in delight.  She was tall and slender, and as best he could judge fairly young.  Her hair was long and blonde, and her eyes were a deep, intense blue-green.  "You must be very tame, too, if they've just put you out with the free-roaming animals and not in the menagerie.  That's just wonderful.  May I come say hello?"  She approached, holding out a hand.
Stripes felt his lips twitch in a smile.  "Hello," he said.
She let out an adorable squeak of surprise.  "You talk!"  Then her face suddenly fell and her cheeks turned bright red.  "Oh!  You're not a tiger at all, are you?  You're a person!  I'm so very sorry."
"Is well," said Stripes with a deep chuckle.
"I, uhm," the girl ducked her head, letting her long hair fall in front of her face.  She shuffled her feet a bit.
"I called Stripes.  You?"
"I'm Fluttershy," she said, so softly only his keen hearing made it possible to pick it up.  There was a long, awkward pause while Stripes tried to think of some response.  Fluttershy shuffled her feet again and glanced away, no doubt planning her escape.
On a sudden, whimsical impulse, Stripes let out a ridiculous mewling sound, the sort of noise a cub or a pet might make.  A startled giggle emerged from behind the curtain of blonde hair.  Fluttershy put a hand over her mouth as if dismayed by her own laughter, still hiding, but also sneaking a peek at him.
Stripes rose to his paws and approached her slowly, repeating the sound.  He had played the pet to discomfit the powerful, why not do so again to ease the fearful?  Fluttershy giggled again, and he tilted his head and gave her a broad wink.  She laughed outright at that, finally lifting her head and looking out from behind her hair.  Stripes butted his head against her hip, again the way a cub might, and she reached down and petted him.  He leaned carefully into the petting and started a deep, rumbling purr, a warm smile on his face.
Fluttershy smiled too, and both stood close together for some time without any words, and without any need for them.
On the balcony high above, Princess Luna looked down at the pair, and found herself smiling too.  Yet there was something wistful in her smile.  She was up here, alone, and they were down there together, and though only a few dozen yards separated them, suddenly those two places seemed worlds apart.


Stripes decided to attend that night's formal dinner once more.  He'd spent most of the day with Fluttershy.  It had been an absolute delight to roam the garden with her.  They'd mostly wandered in silence, enjoying a wordless understanding, but she'd broken into long stretches of conversation when he asked questions about the alien plants and animals there.  She knew a great deal about them, and regarded the animals in particular as practically her property—or perhaps more like her friends—though they properly belonged to Princess Luna.
He'd helped her with her daily routine caring for the various free-roaming animals, and had visited the menagerie where less tame creatures lived in spacious enclosures.  Fluttershy knew each of them by name and went fearlessly into the pens of even the largest and fiercest to check them for injuries and give them food and medications.
It had been fascinating, and also quite relaxing.  Fluttershy's company was soothing, and she required nothing from him, not even speech.  He found himself glad that she worked there, where he could see her every day.  She said much the same, a little shyly, when he retired from the garden before dinner.
Now he was once again seating himself at the long table filled with people from all over the galaxy, and laying plans for causing more of the same mischief that had kept him entertained the previous night.  Eating straight from the dishes was an obvious start, but that was simple practicality as much as anything else, holding a fork was far too much effort with his short thumbs.
The portions weren't especially large compared to his usual meals, so he finished his food rapidly and was left with nothing but time on his paws.  Noticing that Luna's plate was still mostly full, he had a sudden impulse.  He slipped out of his seat and crept along behind the backs of the mostly bipedal dignitaries.  A few people noticed him passing, but he was below the eye level of most.  A moment later he tickled the back of Luna's elbow with his whiskers.  She started, nearly dropping her fork, and looked down at him.
"Stripes?  Is something wrong?"
"You eat all that?"  He nodded at her plate.  
She blinked at him, then let out a snort of helpless laughter.  "You're here to beg for scraps?"
He winked at her and nodded.
Luna shot a glance down the table at her guests.  None were so crass as to be staring at her and Stripes outright, but she spotted a fair number of sidelong glances.  She was torn between annoyance and amusement, the coin of her mood balancing on edge for a moment, but as she looked down at Stripes' expression it fell firmly on the side of amusement.  She laughed and held a bit of meat out under the table.
"There, you ridiculous creature."
Stripes grinned up at her and picked the piece daintily from her fingers.  She smiled back down at him, shaking her head.
Luna knew that being annoyed was probably the more rational reaction to the feline's antics, but she couldn't help but be cheered by them.  It was good to have somebody around who could make her smile.


Later, when she was once more lying in her solitary bed, Luna slipped once more into her own personal realm.  Her every sense was alert for the Nightmare, she would not be taken by surprise again.  But of course, since she was being watchful, the damnable creature was nowhere to be seen.  So she set about her task, surveying the dreamscape for nightmares.
Some time later she'd found only a handful.  It looked to be a slow night. As she drifted amongst the dreams, she didn't consciously realize she was seeking out one particular dreamer, until she halted before a dream bubble, sensing that Stripes was dreaming within. She could tell by instinct that it was not a nightmare, far from it. For a moment she was tempted, but such...private dreams weren't appropriate for her to view.  Tempting as it might be given what the dream probably contained. 
Still, as she moved away to soothe other dreams, she kept finding herself glancing back, trying to deny to herself that she was curious about exactly what sort of fantasies occupied his nights.  Such thoughts led to other thoughts, and Luna shortly decided that it was time to wake herself and do something about a growing itch that needed scratching.
Out of the dream realm and lying in her own bed, Luna  closed her eyes and her mind slipped back to memories of what Stripes had done to her in those first dreams.
Some time later Luna relaxed, her blood cooling, her breath evening out.  She heaved a deep sigh.  It really wasn't decent of her to do what she'd just done.  Stripes had only behaved so in the dream because he'd been away from his own kind, and hadn't known she wasn't a dream construct.  He'd had to turn her into one of his own species to even want to touch her, so he couldn't possibly be interested in her actual self in that way.  Still, she had to admit that she'd just had one of the best orgasms in recent memory, and her cheeks flushed in both pleasure and shame at the recognition of how much fantasizing about the odd feline had been responsible for that.
Luna sighed again, and glanced at the wall display.  It was still relatively early.  She should get back to the dream realm and finish her patrol for nightmares.  She straightened her clothing, and the bedding, wiping her fingers off on the sheets, and then closed her eyes.  Time to dream again.
Her power gathered around her and she slipped warily into the dream realm.  There was a flicker of black tentacles at the edge of her vision.  The Nightmare had been hovering about.  Had she been watching what Luna was doing?  Their minds were inextricably tied together, so perhaps she had been.  Feeling both embarrassed and angry, Luna sent a spark of power at those black tendrils, and they recoiled.  There was a faint hiss, and the Nightmare retreated.  Whatever the monster had been doing, she didn't apparently consider it worth a fight.
Feeling better, Luna set out across the dream realm, in search of dreams to aid.  Yet she instantly found a familiar dream floating before her, still pulsing with a hint of unmistakable lust.  Luna scowled.  The subconscious had great power here, so it wasn't surprising that Stripes' dream should turn up again, but she really should just ignore it and move on.
She should.
She really should.    
Trying to find some way to rationalize it, Luna turned and approached the dream again. She could think of a few questions to ask Stripes about his homeworld, and surely he would sense her presence and the dream would shift away from whatever tigress he was dreaming of.  Holding to that thought, she entered the dream, knowing what she would likely see, but pretending that she did not know.  It was a thin lie, but she clung to it all the same.
Much, much later departed the dream entirely, but her head was spinning as she did.  Not so long ago she'd been thinking that surely Stripes didn't want her, given how very unlike they were physically.  She'd just seen direct proof that this wasn't the case, for it hadn't been one of his own people he'd been dallying with, it had been a dream construct of Luna herself.  She also had immediate evidence that she found him attractive, given her own recent activities.  It seemed very obvious that these two facts should fit together, should lead to the two of them being lovers.
Yet something about that thought was terrifying.  Luna had taken lovers often, yet always casually, for nothing more than pure physical pleasure.  It was why she also often went centuries without one, for a toy her own hand suited just as well.  But Stripes...  She found him fascinating as a person.  She already dared to think of him as something like a friend, and just that seemed terrifyingly vulnerable. To take a friend as a lover, to become even closer, even more intimate...  She had not been truly close to anyone since...
Luna cut that thought off.  She would not let old fears, and the Nightmare's old poison ruin her current life.  So the idea of loving someone was scary.  That didn't mean she should hide from it.  She set her face in an expression of determination as she went about her night's work, another dream—this one a natural nightmare, just the sort of thing she came here to deal with—floating before her.  She would not hide from this. She would see where it led, and trust that the one who'd given her such care in the wake of her own nightmare would take care with whatever other feelings she might entrust to him as well.