Dream-Luna gulped, stepping back against the door until her rump crushed her tail against it. Her eyes widened as she looked at the various devices and erotic what-not that littered the lab in Twilight Sparkle’s dream. With the subconscious being the beast it was, such imagery wasn’t uncommon. At least, so far as Luna could tell, the purple pony’s tastes didn’t run too extreme, outside of a few that were so large. Luna hoped to Celestia they were for display only.
The light ‘clop’ sound of dainty hooves on wood snapped Luna’s attention back to the dreamer. Somewhere in the last second, unnoticed, Twilight had acquired a see-through pink nightie that matched the streak in her hair. Luna’s hooves scratched into the floor boards as she continued to try backing away from the approaching unicorn. Dream-Twilight paused for a moment, tilting her head and blinking in thought.
“Dearest Princess, where would you like to start? My Patented Pinkie Pie Pinkie Sense Sensory Station, as last time? Or,” Dream-Twilight licked her lips and practically purred. “Right here on the floor?”
C’mon Luna! Think of something before this goes too far! We’re here for intellectually stimulating conversation, not to be stimulated by an intellectual. This isn’t the first time you’ve gotten yourself caught in a dream like this. Twilight must be lonely or something! Happens to the best of us. Distract her! Luna grinned wide, a twitch jerking her ears back and forth rapidly.
“Ms. Sparkle! I’m sure you have the wrong idea. I came to speak to you about MAGICAL experiments! Not...”, Luna glanced about again. “Not about intimate matters, I assure you! Hmph!”
Twilight’s reaction was instantaneous, as this was an reply her mind wasn’t expecting. It might have woken a lesser mind, but not THIS unicorn. Her smile froze garishly and one eye twitched. “Buh....wah...that’s not....you’re not.......usually don’t.......what?”
Luna waved her hoof dismissively. “Magical experiments my good unicorn! As you and my sister have done. I’m sorry if I gave the wrong impression when we traded letters last.” Her grin grew wider as she wove an on the spot fabrication.
Smooth...... Luna fished about for something to keep Twilight’s mind off whatever it was thinking.
“Did you not wish to test my skills as a spellweaver? I may not be Celestia, but I am no hunchback.”
Twilight’s eye twitched again, but her facial rigamortis started to ease. “Hunch....back? I think...... you mean ‘slouch’? As meaning incompetent?”
Luna nodded, perhaps a bit too vigorously, her horn catching a overhead shelf and dislodging a small avalanche of books and plastic stallion appendage replicas. She even goes for the ‘life-like’ versions. Luna noted almost absently as one bounced off the end of her snout.
“Yes! Just that! Slouch!” Luna tried to prance gracefully away from the pile at her hooves and succeeded, mostly. But doing so put her nearer to the......the whatever Twilight called the monstrosity she had tried to study her friend Pinkie with. Luna shied away from it too, but was far less successful. One of the toys with the ‘tru-vein’ molding, caught under her forehoof and threw off her balance, turning her prance into a mad scrabbling. The next thing she knew, she was in the device’s sinister grip and held suspended and spread eagle, face down, body parallel to the floor and hung at about shoulder height to a regular pony.
The leather straps that held her creaked as Luna blinked. She could even smell that they had been oiled recently. Twilight’s dreams were ludicrously well detailed and loaded with sensory input. And all that detail is going to be going to new depths IN me if I don’t do something about this!
Dream-Twilight’s face changed back to the half-lidded bedroom eyes and hungry look. She walked up to Luna, eyes tracing her every inch, and put a hoof under the Princess’ chin. “Oh Princess, you should have just said you wanted to play the submissive part this time.”
Twilight giggled and licked her lips in a way Luna was sure she might appreciate at another time, but this wasn’t it. She struggled against the binds, but doing so only made them squeeze tighter. Her thrashing did make Twilight pause again, her expression turning curious and a little confused.
“Twilight Sparkle....huuu....I must protest! Hnnggg...stupid straps.....I am not the ‘submissive’ type, nor.......grrrr....really all that into these modern kinks!” Luna tried again to pull free but was only succeeding in getting more tangled.
“I DEMAND you let me free at once! One of these damnable straps is pinching a most....hmmmm... sensitive area.”
The unicorn continued to look confused and blinked rapidly at Luna for several long seconds before reaching over and taping a button on the device’s control panel. There was some buzzing and faint whirring sounds before Luna felt herself being spun about a breakneck speeds, the room becoming a blur. A moment later she found herself unceremoniously dumped on the lab floor.
Twilight continued to look at her in growing confusion. “I.....I don’t understand.” This seemed to make her angry, Luna noted as she got back to her feet. “You aren’t usually like this. Do..... do you want me in the harness?”
Luna brushed her mane back and righted the tiara on her head before affixing a glare on the dreaming mind before her. She felt extremely tempted to use the Royal Canterlot Voice on her, but she kept her voice at its normal volume. “No. No. A thousand times No! I came here to discuss magical experiments Ms. Sparkle, and you ambush me with these...... theses articles of perverted pleasure? Are you not the Element of Magic itself? Are you not my sisters’ faithful student?” Luna flared her nostrils and lightly stamped her hoof for emphasis.
Perhaps it was mentioning the Element, or her sister, or simply going against her expectations enough, but whatever the trigger, Luna felt the dream change a second before the surroundings did a most unnatural flipflop and rearranged itself. The lab was mostly unchanged, but now reflected, Luna suspected, a more accurate rendition of the location. Gone were the various erotic paraphernalia and the device at the center had shrunken dimensions. Gone too was Twilight’s nightie, but it was replaced with a pleated, deep blue skirt and a white blouse with blue trim. She also was now wearing a pair of thick rimmed glasses and her hair was piled up in a complicated bun held together with chopsticks. Twilight Sparkles look of confusion was, however, still very much intact.
“Y...yes. I am a faithful student. Aren’t I, Teacher?”
Luna sighed and rolled her eyes, adjusting her own glasses and tapping the long ruler in her forehoof. Excellent, we trade one fantasy for another. Twilight’s subconscious is as single minded as I’m told her waking personality is. Wait. Why am I holding a ruler?
Luna glanced at the ruler and then herself. She seemed to be dressed in some sort of dark colored suit. It fit her well. Twilight’s attention to detail was once again to be commended. This fantasy apparently put Luna in the role of a teacher or administrator of some sort.
“Faithful student, yes, but not to me. You are my sister’s pupil. NOW STOP TRYING TO MAKE THIS SEXUAL!” Ok, just a little Royal Canterlot Voice. Luna frowned as hard as she could. “I merely wish to speak with you as friends and equals Ms. Sparkle!”
Dream-Twilight frowned at Luna. “But thats not what I want. I’ve been a bad, bad, lonely unicorn! I want....I NEED to be spanked!”
Even as she spoke though, Luna could sense a change ripple through the dreaming mind. She looked confused, angry and aroused all at the same time. Twilight’s subconscious was fighting to hold onto control and maintain the narrative, while her conscious mind was struggling with the unexpected input from Luna’s invasion. And she was starting to work her way out of the deeper state of sleep. The laboratory environment started to become hazy.
“Oh great,” Luna muttered. “Wake up on me and we get nothing done. You can go back to your fantasies after we speak. I want to get to know you, Twilight, just not......in that manner.”
Dream-Twilight blinked with exaggerated slowness. “I would.... like that? I don’t..... even.....”
She might have said more. Luna might have finally gotten the conversation she wanted, but it wasn’t to be. From the waking world, back in the Throne Room, a loud noise pierced the Princess’ senses. The dream connection from her tendrils snapped as she blinked, eyes focusing. Luna scowled. Whatever disturbed her was about to get the full Royal Canterlot Voice experience in the face.
The main double doors at the far end of the Throne had burst open, breaking her trance. And at the moment, three of Luna’s Night Guard in full dark plate marched a fourth pony briskly down the red and gold carpet. She recognized the lead Guard as Captain Massing Clouds. The other two were new recruits, transfers from the Day Guard. Their coats were only just starting to turn the storm cloud grey of the Guard, while the Captain’s was almost pitch black, a trace of arc lighting playing along his mane and tail. The new recruits flanked a white coated elegant female unicorn. She looked like a model. Luna reflected for a moment that she might be. She did seem vaguely familiar.
As the small contingent reached the barrister, the bailiff Corky, awoke and started to riffle through his paperwork and wipe the drool from his snout. Captain Massing didn’t give him time to compose himself though.
“Princess Most High! Captain Massing Clouds reporting! We have captured a suspicious pony in the Forbidden Garden and brought her in for questioning!” The Captain saluted and bowed to Luna before crossing the barrister to stand before the Throne with his recruits and ‘prisoner’ in tow. Now that they were closer, Luna could see a fleur di lis cutie mark on the unicorn.
“She was found fooling around with the statue of He Most Low, Discord!”
Luna fixed her glare on the Captain. “Stop yelling. We can hear you perfectly fine, thank you. And define ‘fooling around’. While you are at it Captain, please explain why you didn’t question her in the field? Surely that would have been more expedient?”
Massing Clouds swallowed and glanced back and forth between Luna and the prisoner. “Um..... well.... yes. She was using unicorn magic and acting..... uh... odd. We found nothing missing or disturbed.... er, so far. And she would not answer questions Your Majesty. I, uh, don’t think she understands Canterlot Common.”
Luna raised an eyebrow as the unicorn in question fixed a haughty gaze on the Throne and let out a long, fast paced string of tilted Fancy. Her accent was as elegant as it’s owner and the tone told anyone listening that she was not happy to be where she was.
Luna cringed. Oh, just bucking fantastic! ANOTHER language I haven’t practiced in a thousand years. This is going to sound atrocious.... may Fancy forgive me....
“Je m'excuse pour tout traitement rugueux. Mes gardes dites que vous étiez dans notre jardin interdit. Que faisiez-vous là? S'il vous plaît.”
The white unicorn looked at Luna for a moment like she had just smelled something rotten, but then her eyes widened in comprehension. She smirked and her pose changed from indignant to graceful nonchalance. She spoke again, slower and more distinct in her pronunciation. Obviously, this was something she had done before, and Luna narrowed her eyes in concentration with the translation.
Ok..... so.... in the garden, yes. Near the statues. Going for a walk? She wanted to see the moonlight....on bushes? No, on flowers. Meeting somepony else. No wrong doing....
Luna frowned, even though it seemed liked she understood most of the Fancy being spoken. She noted absently how much the language had changed in the past millennium. Not that she had been that good at it before.
“Captain Massing, was there anypony else in the area when she was found?”
The pegasus thought for a moment and then shook his head. “No, Your Majesty. We conducted a search of the area, and did a fly over of the Royal Maze, but she was alone as far as we could detect.”
“And you said nothing was missing or disturbed?”
Massing Cloud nodded, looking a bit uncomfortable as the thought of interrupting the Princess pointlessly started to circle his mind. Luna was just considering unleashing the Voice at him when another distant bang echoed through the Throne Room. The double doors were once again open and striding down the center isle was yet another elegant, white unicorn. Though this time it was a stallion, and one Luna instantly recognized.
“Why, Lord Fancypants, to what do we owe this late evening visit?” Luna raised an eyebrow as he approached, his horn glowing as he removed his monocle and polished it without breaking step. He shot a pointed glance at the other unicorn as he drew even and bowed to Luna with one forehoof across his chest.
“My dearest Princess Luna, You Majesty, I am here to reclaim my wayward companion. We were to meet this evening outside the Royal Gardens for a pleasant stroll. I must say, I was distracted and in doing so, missed the time of our meeting and she had wandered off. She is new to Canterlot so I feared for her whereabouts. A quick query to one of your Night Guard ponies and I learned they had taken a ‘suspicious unicorn’ to see you. I came post haste.”
As he spoke, Fancypants shot another sidelong glance at the Fancy unicorn. She managed to blush and smile and look demure all at once. She hung her head and let her mane sweep in front of her eyes much in the manner Luna had heard of the pegasus Fluttershy doing when confronted.
“I must apologize for her Your Majesty! I am still only beginning her teaching in Canterlot Common and our ways here.”
Luna sat back in the Throne, trying to look as regal as possible. If Celestia was having her spied on, might as well make it a good report. “We see no reason to detain her here any longer. So, We release her to your custody, Lord Fancypants. But, be warned. Should Our Night Guard find anything amiss in the gardens, We know your residence and shall be most quick in bringing you both in for further questioning. Is that understood?”
Fancypants nodded tersely and turned to his companion. In far more flawless Fancy that Luna had managed a few moments before, he quietly scolded the mare as they walked off back towards the entrance. The two recruits followed just behind them, while the Captain remained until dismissed.
Luna took a deep breath as they reached the far doors and clapped her hooves together gently. “You may leave Us Captain. But do not let this happen again. I dislike being embarrassed in front of the Night Court by my still recovering diplomatic skills. Is THAT understood?” Luna put as much royal venom as she could into that last question. Better to make an example than show weakness.
“Yes, Most High Princess!” Massing Cloud saluted so hard he knocked his helmet askew. It took a moment for him to right it and he turned and galloped from the Throne Room, trailing sparks.
Once he was gone and the doors closed, leaving her with the usual Night Court ponies, Luna let out a rush of air and slumped in the Throne. “Jeez....... and here I had hoped for petitioners!”
Luna brushed the hair out of her eyes and looked about for her misplaced box of doughnuts. This might end up being a longer night than I expected......