//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 
// Story: Star Tiger, Moon Girl 
// by SPark 
//------------------------------//

Stripes woke once more with Luna practically wrapped around him, cuddling him tightly.  This was extremely pleasant, but also somewhat unnerving.  Even though she was the one who'd invited him to be here, he still couldn't help feeling as though he were trespassing.  He was half braced for exclamations of one sort or another when Luna's eyes blinked slowly open, but she only smiled at him and gave him a squeeze before rising and climbing out of the bed.
He climbed out as well, stretching and then licking a few stray patches of disarranged fur back into place.  He looked over at Luna, who'd begun to pull her top off, presumably in preparation for dressing in something more formal for the day.  She paused, glancing at Stripes, and he remembered that humans had a nudity taboo.  No doubt she was about to ask him to go so that she could undress.  But instead she suddenly smiled and resumed removing her clothing, moving slowly now, sliding the fabric over her body in a way that was instantly extremely distracting.
Stripes found himself having to take a deep breath and look away from her as certain reactions started stirring.  His people didn't wear clothing, but they did often wear ornaments, and such were sometimes removed before mating to avoid damaging them, sometimes in a teasing or flirtatious way, even, so he was familiar with the concept of stripping.
But surely Luna couldn't be doing a strip-tease for him.  That was a completely absurd thought.  No doubt there was some human thing going on here that he didn't understand, that was all.  He glanced at Luna again. She'd turned away from him and was wiggling as she pulled her pajama pants down over her rear, her delightfully rounded rump, clad still in some sort of undergarment of black lace, on full display.
Stripes swallowed hard.  "Uh... I go wash now.  We, uh, have breakfast later?"
Luna straightened and stepped out of her pants, turning and giving him a smile.  She was wearing only her underclothes now, and even though he was used to seeing his own people wearing much less, something about the black lace against her pale skin was making it incredibly hard to think.  "Certainly," she said.  "I'll have Selene send your usual order to the kitchen."
Stripes found he was licking his lips.  He cleared his throat awkwardly, his ears heating.  "Yes.  Good.  Thank you."  Then he turned and fled out to the balcony and across to his own room.  It took some time before he felt calm enough to head out the front door and towards the dining room.
Luna was already there when he arrived, sipping a cup of coffee.  His own cup, heavily adulterated with cream, was waiting.  He jumped up onto his seat and lapped at it, trying to think of something to say other than bringing up last night's cuddling.
Fortunately the door swung open a moment later, and the hovering breakfast cart came through it.  Applejack herself was pushing it today, rather than the usual kitchen servant.  She set out plates and platters with brisk efficiency, but when all the food was served she gave Stripes a smile, and Luna a somewhat more hesitant one.  "I wanted to say, your highness," she said, her voice just a bit nervous, "that I right appreciate how much you seem to like my cooking.  Thank you mightily."
Luna blinked at her for a moment, astonished, then a radiant smile blossomed on her face.  "You're very welcome.  Applejack, isn't it?"
"Yes, your highness."  Applejack gave an awkward little bob, as if trying to bow but not quite sure she should.
"Applejack top of kitchen," said Stripes, grinning.
Applejack flushed slightly, but also looked pleased.  "Yep, that I am," she said and gave Stripes a nod.
"There's a rivalry among the chefs?" asked Luna, her expression amused.
"Yep," said Applejack again, giving another little bob towards Luna, though she was smiling.  "And I'm winnin' right now, thanks to you, your highness.  Though I dunno if I'm beatin' Pinkie Pie, she ain't playing by the same rules."
Luna chuckled.  "I'm aware of the pastry chef.  She doesn't seem to play by the laws of physics, either.  She's one of the strongest earth mages I've ever met, but she channels that in...unusual ways."
"That she does."  Applejack was grinning now, and Luna was smiling too.  Stripes found himself pleased to see them speaking.  Perhaps this could be the seed of a friendship for Luna.  He could see what she'd said, about it being difficult to make friends with someone one had authority over. Applejack's initial awkwardness certainly bore that out.  Yet now the awkwardness seemed gone.  Looking at the pair, Stripes resolved to do anything he could to help such friendships for Luna grow.



"Come along, darling.  We're almost there."  Stripes padded along behind Rarity, both moving in the peculiar gait suited to the low lunar gravity.  Rarity still did it more gracefully than Stripes did, but he was getting the hang of it, finally.
They were on their way to something called the Grand Airspeed Tourney, which Rarity had invited him to.  He had no idea what that was, but he also had nothing better to do with his time, so he'd been delighted to accept her invitation.  "One of my friends is competing, and I must cheer her on," Rarity had explained.
Now, having made their way through the streets to the Tourney's location, they stepped aboard a peculiar structure.  It superficially reminded Stripes of the river barges his own people made, a flat surface with a railing all around the edge, narrowed to a prow at one end, but it was all of metal, and there was no water nearby.
A figure, clad in a pale blue dress and with long golden hair, was already standing on the barge when Stripes and Rarity arrived.
"Fluttershy, darling!  You made it!"
"Hello, Rarity."  Fluttershy's soft voice was barely audible over a hum that seemed to come from the barge's floor.  The hum wasn't loud, but then neither was Fluttershy.  She looked at Stripes, and gave him a shy but warm smile.  He gave her a silent nod, continuing their habit of seldom speaking to each other.
He and Rarity stepped aboard the barge.  A moment later another pair approached, the bright-pink of Pinkie Pie's hair was visible, bobbing cheerfully as she bounded as high as possible in the low gravity, for some distance.  Moving more sedately beside her, with long, efficient strides, was Applejack.
"Pinkie Pie!"  Rarity greeted the pastry chef with delight, and Pinkie engulfed her in a hug.
"Hey Rares!  I brought AJ along too, so the group would be complete."
"Howdy."  Applejack held out a hand.  "I'm Applejack.  Think I've seen you about the palace, but I dunno that we've met."
"Rarity.  Stripes tells me you're responsible for all the things I order when I'm feeling sinfully indulgent," said Rarity with a laugh.  "I'll admit I usually get something from Gustave's side of the kitchen, his style quite suits me, but there really is nothing like your cooking for comfort food on a bad day."
"Well thank you kindly, ma'am."  Applejack beamed at Rarity, who beamed back.
"My work here is done," said Pinkie Pie with a firm and strangely serious nod.  Then she grinned.  "Now let's get up there and watch Rainbow race!"
"Indeed, let's," said Rarity, and she moved to a spot where a panel that Stripes could by now recognize as a control panel stood mounted on the barge's railing.  She fiddled with it for a moment and the barge's hum grew ever so slightly louder.  Then it began to lift, and Stripes understood.  He looked up, and overhead he saw several more barges like it floating, making a rough line in the air.  Theirs hummed steadily upwards until it joined them.
Ahead of the line of barges another line hung, a glowing thing that reminded Stripes of the glows he saw in dreams.  But this one was real, a ribbon of golden light hanging in the air.  It stretched off to either side, and curved about, and as he took the tracery of it in, he realized that it formed a huge loop, with air barges dotted all along it.  There were other glows hung about it as well, rings that pulsed with light, and far off to his left a solid structure hovered touching the ribbon, a kind of platform not unlike the barge.  It was covered with little figures.  A disembodied voice boomed from it, echoing all along the ribbon of light, announcing that the race was about to begin.
"This is the powered, high-speed, mile, which is Rainbow Dash's event," said Rarity, as Stripes watched the distant figures lining themselves up along the long platform that must be the race's starting line.  "There's a powered low-speed race, a few shorter races, and several different unpowered races as well.  We'll stay to watch those too, but we must cheer for this one."
Stripes put is paws up on the barge's railing, standing beside the humans, as they watched the starting line.  A glowing red spot came to light above it.  It pulsed once, twice, a third time, then turned yellow, then green, and with a sharp clap almost like thunder, the racers were off.
They moved swiftly through the air, each leaving a long streak of some kind of exhaust, like a cloud behind them.  Most were white, though some were tinted other colors.  One, though, was a distinct rainbow, and with his human friends shouting "Go, Rainbow Dash!" he suspected that was the one he was to cheer for.  He watched as the rainbow flier took the lead immediately, and he shouted a cheer of his own, enjoying joining in the excitement.
As the racers drew nearer, he could see that they were all clad in sleek suits that had membranes between arms and legs, and bulky objects on their backs that left the exhaust trails behind, apparently propelling them through the air.  Tiny motions of the membranes adjusted the angle of their flight, and he watched as each flier did so in order to pass through the glowing rings that dotted the course.
Rainbow Dash whipped past their barge, and Stripes shouted with the others as the goggled figure, her hair as rainbow as her contrail, sped past.  She was well in the lead, though the others also whipped by at high speed.
Just past where the barge floated, a trio of rings forced the path of the race into a tight arc.  Rainbow Dash curved gracefully through it, but pulling out of it to follow the straighter course again she didn't quite make the right angle and nearly touched the glowing ribbon that marked the course's outer edge.  She over-corrected from that, and suddenly spun out of control, her rainbow contrail corkscrewing wildly.  Stripes drew in a sharp breath in shock.  Would she spin down and crash?  She seemed likely to, but suddenly a glow lit beneath her and some force along the bottom of the racetrack caught her.  The rest of the racers sped by, though the tight curve made another of them miss the last ring, and that flier arced away, back towards the starting line, apparently disqualified.  Rainbow Dash started moving again, launching from the force field that had saved her, but she too arced back towards the starting line, out of the race.
"Poor Rainbow," said Rarity with a sigh.  "That's the second time she's spun out during a race now."
The race finished, and somebody with an orange-and-yellow contrail won the prize.  As the winner was doing a victory lap, an aircar halted by their barge, and Rainbow Dash jumped out of it.  "Hey there."  She was a fit young woman with bright rainbow hair, and with her goggles off, something about her looked vaguely familiar to Stripes.
"Rainbow, darling, I am so sorry."  Rarity hugged Rainbow Dash, but Rainbow laughed and pushed her off.
"Nah, it's fine. The new rig is awesome!  It's just that so much speed takes a lot more finesse.  I've crashed in about half my practice runs too.  Eventually I'll win one, just gotta keep trying."
"You're sure you're okay?" said Rarity.
"Yeah.  Just so long as nobody starts calling me 'Rainbow Crash' again."  Her narrowed eyes swept over the gathered group, and everyone present shook their heads, including Stripes.  Rainbow's gaze settled on him.
"Hey, you're that tiger guy that nearly fell on my head the other night.  Nice to see you when I'm not on duty."
Stripes blinked at Rainbow Dash.  "Do not recall falling on you. Sorry?"
Rainbow laughed.  "I'm in the guard.  Regs mean I have to keep my hair up under the helmet.  I was on post by the garden doors when you fell off your balcony."
"Oh!  Yes, sorry."
"Nah, it's all good.  Is it true you're banging Luna?  I saw you jump back up to her balcony instead of yours."  Rainbow grinned at Stripes, who felt his ears heating.  She was as bold in conversation as she was in flight, it seemed, and as willing to crash.  Asking such questions could very easily offend.
"Ah, no, only rumors.  Luna is friend."
"It's gotta be pretty sweet, being friends with a princess."
"Is good.  But is good much because am liking Luna, not because princess."
"Yeah, I gotcha."  Rainbow grinned again.  She looked around the group.  "Having friends is great.  Thanks for coming to cheer me, gals."
Pinkie Pie waved a pair of rainbow pom-poms, which she hadn't been carrying when she arrived.  Stripes wondered where she'd gotten them from.  "Go, Rainbow Dash!"
Rainbow Dash laughed again.  "They're about the start the powered low-speed, I gotta watch that.  I started on an electric wing-suit, back when I was a kid."
She went to the rail, and Stripes put his paws up on it beside her, peering towards the starting line, where another group of racers was lining up.  Stripes glanced over at Rainbow Dash, who was intently watching the preparations for the race, her brightly colored hair moving in the breeze.
Deciding that if she could ask personal questions, he could too, Stripes said, "Why hair rainbow?  Most humans not so bright colors.  Is natural?"
"Nah, it's dye and a little bit of magic.  My natural color is brown, which is boring."
"Oh.  Is for, uh..." Stripes fished for how to say it.  If it was just because brown was boring, did it have nothing to do with status, then?
"It's fashion, darling," said Rarity.  "Colors are a personal statement, and I do think they should be more common than they are.  I keep telling Fluttershy that she should consider color.  Something subtle, but distinct would suit her quite well."
"It's silly, is what it is," said Applejack, and she rolled her eyes.
"Well your natural color suits you just fine," said Rarity, with a little sniff.  "But I am very fond of my purple, I wouldn't go back to black for all the world."
Fluttershy giggled.  "I like pink," she said softly.  "Maybe someday."
"I can book us at the spa tomorrow, darling," said Rarity, her eyes suddenly bright.
Fluttershy ducked her head, her hair falling over her face.  "Oh my.  I don't know..."
"Come, you just said you like pink.  Pink it shall be!  A nice, pastel shade, I think, nothing like Pinkie Pie there."
"Pink is the best! P, I, N, K, pink!"  Pinkie Pie's pom-poms were pink now as she waved them around excitedly.  Where had the rainbow ones gone?  A sudden loud noise sounded and Pinkie squealed.  "Ooo, there's the starting gun!  The race!"
The group all turned to the railing and peered at the race.  The fliers were going at a good clip, but without any contrails, and they all had membranes that not only stretched from arm to leg, but extended further on long finger-like rods, which they gripped with handles to tilt and steer.  The glowing rings had been re-distributed to make this course more of an acrobatic challenge, the point obviously being the difficulty of going through them all rather than sheer speed itself.  The fliers swooped and looped and spun through them, still fast, but not so alarmingly fast as Rainbow's race had been.
That race soon ended, and more followed, including several shorter courses, and a set of downright sedate races where the fliers had no propelling jet packs at all, but used the sweep of wings even larger than those from the second race, in designs that mimicked bird's wings, to propel themselves through the air.  Those races were separated into men's and women's categories, as scooping the massive wings through the air required considerable upper body strength, in which human males had a distinct advantage.
The cheers of the crowd, the company of friends, the interesting tastes of food sold from little air-carts that served up hot, greasy things on sticks, all of it was fascinating and exciting, and Stripes found himself extremely glad that Rarity had invited him along.
The only stain on the day was the occasional thought that he wished Luna could be here to share it with him.



"How was your outing?" asked Luna.  She had requested Selene send Stripes to her workroom when he got back from the races.  She sat perched on a stool, a pair of goggles pushed up on her forehead, her hair pulled back out of the way from working on the object that lay on the workbench in front of her.
"Was fun.  You come next time."
Luna blinked, surprised at the suggestion.  "I haven't presided over a race in centuries..."'
"Not preside, just come.  Cheer, eat food, have fun."
"I don't know. If I go, it will certainly be turned into a big fuss."
"Go in disguise," said Stripes, grinning.  "But should go.  Should have fun, find friends."
Luna frowned faintly, not sure how to feel about that.  There was something appealing about the thought of shedding the mantle of rule for a while.  Yet there was also something terribly intimidating about it, especially about that last bit.  "I've mentioned I'm not very good at making friends."
"Just talk, friends happen.  Talked to Applejack this morning.  Was nice?"
Luna’s frown eased into a smile as she remembered.  "I suppose it was.  It was good to tell her in person how much I appreciate her food."
“Yes.  Talk, make friends, all good.”
Luna jumped on the chance to change the topic immediately.  “Speaking of talking, I believe I’ve found the problem with the language spell.”
Stripes’ ears perked up and he looked at her with obvious interest.
“It has to do with bodily magical fields, you see.  Your species has a strong one, which is uncommon, since self-integral magic is rare.  I should have seen it, really, I’m in the same situation myself.”
Stripes tipped his head.  “Not understanding, quite.”
Luna waved her hand.  “The details don’t matter, really.  The result does, and the result is that casting the spell on your person directly is why it went so wrong.  I need to cast it on an object which you can have touching your body at all times.  I, ah, considered a necklace, but it would bounce around as you walk, so the spell would be discontinuous.  I considered a number of things, but the easiest for me to get, was this.”  She picked up a length of black material from the workbench.  “It’s, ah, from one of the tigers at the zoo, they have occasional outings with Fluttershy, and wear a leash and collar for better control.  I, uh, left the leash off…”  Luna felt her cheeks heating as she explained. The whole situation was absurd, really.
“So, will stop talking like am stupid animal, and will be looking like instead,” he said, grinning at her teasingly. “Such improvement!”
“You’re terrible,” said Luna, shaking her head and laughing.  She knew he didn’t mean it.
“Yes!”  Stripes’ whole face and body were set in lines of laughter.  “But still love me anyway?”
The question caught Luna completely flat-footed, and she stood for a moment, staring at Stripes in stunned surprise.  Love?  She did, though, she realized.  He’d wriggled into a heart she thought long since closed off to such things.  Her whole being wanted to melt into that word, and yet at the same time it was terrifying.  Love?  And what if it were only a translation error, what if he hadn’t meant to say love at all?
He was looking at her, curiously, and she knelt down in front of him, getting on his eye level.  “You’re great,” she said to him gently, at least wanting to express that.  “But I think we really need to fix this spell before we talk more.”
He looked faintly puzzled, but he nodded at her in agreement.
She took the collar and Stripes tipped his head back so that she could buckle it around his neck.  Once it was secure she triggered the spell on it, and was pleased to see the magic shimmer into place just as it should.  She touched Stripes on the forehead, removing the faulty translation spell there.  Then, finally, she straightened and said, “Okay, say something.”
“I’m not sure what to say, but… Hey, that’s working!  Yes!  I don’t sound like an idiot!”
Luna laughed.  “I’m sure all the senators and newsies will be shocked all over again.”
“Hah.  Indeed.”
“It is good to talk to you properly outside of the dream realm,” said Luna with a smile.  Some of the shock at hearing “love” had worn off, but the word was still lingering in her mind.  Knowing that now if Stripes said something about love he would mean it, Luna dared to make something of a move.  She touched the collar gently, then brushed her fingers up the back of his neck to his ears.  She knew just enough to be certain that this should be an overtly flirtatious touch, and not just a “friendly” touch.  If Stripes meant “love” in that way, if he truly wanted what he seemed to want sexually, if he meant something more than just friendship, he should respond.
But instead he flattened his ears, his tail suddenly lashing, and oozed away from the touch in the manner of cats everywhere.  Luna felt her heart sinking.  She’d obviously misunderstood things somehow.
“Sorry,” she murmured, awkwardly.
“It’s fine.  So… Ah… Rarity is having a garden party tomorrow, just past noon.  I thought you might like to come?  Meet some of my friends?”
“Oh.”  Luna thought about that.  As much as she wanted more, she liked having Stripes as a friend.  Meeting more people who were his friends seemed less intimidating than trying to make friends of her own.  “Sure, why not?  Selene, clear my schedule, would you?”
“Of course, your highness,” came the voice from above.
“I’ll see you at dinner?” asked Luna.
“Yes.”  Stripes nodded.
As he walked away, Luna was left feeling quite the jumble of feelings.  She still wanted him, and yet it seemed  he didn’t feel the same way. But she’s seen his dreams, he must!  Perhaps she should call him back to talk to him?  That would be dreadfully awkward.  And she liked having him as a friend.  Tomorrow seemed almost exciting, meeting more friends, with him.  But also intimidating.  Trying to make friends.
What a tangle.



What a tangle, thought Stripes to himself as he walked through the castle halls.  He was headed down to the garden, to get some air and clear his head.  His tail was lashing, and Luna’s touch was still singing along his spine.  His ears were an incredible sensitive erogenous zone, and he’d half wanted to just jump on her right there, the way he had in that first dream meeting.
It wouldn’t go anywhere near that well in person, he knew.  He was nobody at all.  She was a princess.  She could have any lover on her world, or in half the galaxy.  She wouldn’t want him.  She had to have touched his ears thinking it was only an innocent, friendly gesture.  And if he’d responded the way he wanted…  No. Bad idea.  Pushing something like that on her would be wrong and presumptuous.  And might get him zapped into space or something.
But he probably should tell her that his ears were a turn-on, so she didn’t do that again.
At least their friendship seemed to be going well.  He hoped that she could make some other friends, too.  He didn’t like how lonely she was.
As he went on his way his mind bounced from topic to topic, avoiding seeing or admitting the obvious, his own self-depreciation keeping him from noticing the plain and simple fact that a lonely lunar princess would no more have many lovers than many friends.