Chapter 4
He Who Stalks the Night woke with a feeling of contentment. It had been good to speak with Luna in the dream. He yawned and stretched, enjoying the softness of the bed under him and the nest of bedding he'd made on it. Today was beginning well. Hopefully it would continue as it had begun. Though before he went on with the day, he decided to perform an experiment. He'd been able to speak clearly in the dream. Had that been a property of the dream realm, or had something happened to make Luna's spell work properly?
"I can say exactly what I mean," he tried, but what came out was "Me say what think." He rolled his eyes at the butchered mess and renewed his resolve to mostly stay silent.
Still, that was a minor handicap and could be exploited. Being underestimated had its uses. He wasn't going to let that little problem ruin his day. So he completed his morning grooming routine in leisurely, hedonistic fashion, drawing out his enjoyment of a pleasant, relaxed morning. Though that meant he hadn't quite finished when the peculiar voice from nowhere, Selene, told him that breakfast would be ready shortly if he wanted to eat with the princess.
Deciding that he did, he gave himself one last grooming lick and leaped off the bed, and nearly hit his head on the ceiling.. The low gravity made even the smallest of jumps turn into mighty bounds. He was still getting used to that. He'd had more practice at walking, so proceeding from there was only slightly awkward. A kind of low, bouncing motion was the easiest way to get about, attempting to walk as normal simply didn't work. The mostly bipedal people he passed in the halls were bouncing similarly, which was likely the reason for the spaciousness everywhere, otherwise everyone would be bumping into the ceiling all the time.
Then again, that didn't explain the lavish decorating style or the richness of the carpets beneath his paws, so maybe the grandness of the spaces was simply because this was the place belonging to the one who ruled this world.
It was odd. He'd first lusted after her, not knowing she was real, then been ashamed and afraid of her, but he'd swiftly fallen into thinking of her as a friend. Their conversation last night had been a conversation among friends. In his thoughts it seemed like he ought to be keeping a respectful distance from a person of such power, but his feelings just didn't agree. They wanted to be close to her.
Certain other feelings wanted to be close in entirely different ways, but he ignored those. It would be wildly inappropriate. She had forgiven his behavior before because it had been a dream. He would no doubt be in a great deal of trouble if he tried such advances here in the waking world.
Stepping into the dining room and seeing Luna, however, put some of those thoughts back in his head. How could a spindly, furless biped be so attractive? Yet she was. Everything about her spoke of grace and strength, both inward and outward. It made him want to pounce on her and be absolutely indecent. He shook that thought out of his fool head and simply nodded a greeting in response to hers.
A series of covered platters were again brought out, and this time he found all the things he'd liked last time and none of the ones he had rejected. Feeling very pleased about that, he devoted himself to his food, as did Luna, and so the pair ate in a companionable silence for some time.
A cup of coffee had been served with the meal again, but this time it was smaller, and at least half of it was cream. He didn't mind that at all, the cream was the best part.
As he was licking the last of it from his whiskers, Selene's sourceless voice spoke. It was all he could do to not jump in the air, but he managed to only twitch slightly in surprise. He was glad he'd finished the coffee, else he probably would have spilled it.
"Miss Rarity is ready, I can send her in now if you're finished."
Luna glanced over at him and gave a little nod as she saw he was done. "Please do."
A moment later the door slid open and a young woman walked inside.
She was shorter than Luna by a fair bit, thought not abnormally so from what he'd seen of the humans thus far. She was slender, but with broad hips, and she had very pale skin. She was dressed in an outfit somewhat similar to Luna's, but where Luna's was simple to the point of severity, Rarity's dark, figure-hugging suit had more variation in texture, which despite its overall simplicity lent it a kind of richness. She also had bright purple hair that fell in long curls half way down her back. That seemed a little bit unusual. Other than Luna herself, most of the humans he'd seen had more muted tones, ranging from golden through brown to black. Bright colors seemed to be uncommon. He wondered if it meant anything. Perhaps he should ask? But asking a female about her appearance was always chancy business, they could be touchy about it. Would it be rude?
"Rarity, this is Stripes. Or no, wait... He Who Stalks the Night, yes?"
He gave Luna a smile. The nickname might be a cub's sort of name, but all the humans seemed to have short names, so he would not lose any status by using it. And he rather liked it. Luna had given it to him, and as he'd mentioned in the dream, it was the kind of name one used with those one was close to. He liked being close to her. "Stripes still good," he said, giving Rarity a smile.
"I see. Then Rarity, this is Stripes. Stripes, this is Rarity, who will be your personal assistant for at least the next week or two. She can answer any questions you have about this world, humans, or anything else that comes to mind. She will also be guiding you in the duties and privileges of being an ambassador." Luna smiled. "The duties are fairly light, don't worry."
Stripes nodded his understanding.
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Rarity smiled. She held out one hand. "Let me introduce you to one basic human custom. Upon greeting each other we shake hands, by putting our hands together. If you are comfortable with trying it, you can give me your front paw?"
Stripes nodded again and held out one paw. Rarity grasped it with her hand, which couldn't really wrap around it properly, his paw was much, much larger than her hand, but she squeezed gently as best she could and shook it up and down once. "That's called a hand shake, and is a greeting of respect for most humans. Though if a human attempts to squeeze to the point of pain, they are trying to assert dominance."
Stripes nodded again. His digits were a little too short to grasp back properly, but the gesture was simple and sensible enough.
"It's said it originated as a way to show that one isn't holding a weapon, though I'm not sure I believe it." Rarity flashed him an almost conspiratorial smile. "There have been incidents of humans using the hand shake to pull somebody in and stab them with a knife in the other hand. I will not pretend that our species is harmless. We're not especially awful, as sentients go, but we have our bad apples."
Stripes blinked at the idiom, the translation was a little vague, but he didn't have to be convinced that humans could be dangerous, he knew that already. So he just nodded again.
"Figuring out who can be trusted and who cannot is part of what I'm here to help you with. But first, I would like to give you a little tour of the capitol building, which this lovely palace sits atop, and tell you a bit about interstellar diplomacy, since you are now a diplomat."
"And I have things to attend to," said Luna, rising. "Hopefully Rarity can answer any questions you may have, and also prevent you from... startling any more of the palace workers." She gave Stripes a little smile, and he felt his ears heat. He hadn't meant to frighten anyone yesterday, really he hadn't. He'd just gotten caught up in his interest, and the possibly excessive energy from the large cup of coffee he'd had that morning hadn't helped. He felt much less wired up this morning, though. The small cup was obviously a more reasonable portion for him. "I'll see you at dinner this evening. It's a semi-formal affair, there will be a few other diplomats there, but I won't be asking you to give any speeches just yet." Her tone was teasing, and Stripes felt his blush cool.
He flashed her a smile. "That good. Speeches not so good now."
She laughed. "I'll look forward to the day when you're ready to give one. And speaking of that day, the sooner I go, the sooner I can work on the translation spell some more." She gave him another friendly nod and smile, and departed, leaving him alone with Rarity.
"Shall we begin your tour?" said Rarity, gesturing towards the door.
Stripes once again nodded silently, and then followed her out into the by-now familiar halls of the palace. She led the way, with Stripes trailing behind. Her gait swished pleasantly back and forth as she walked, and he found his eyes following her from behind. It was interesting, though not quite as compelling as he'd found the similar view of Luna. He decided that he was not going to examine why that might be the case. Nor was he going to think too much about how easy it was to find these weird bipeds attractive.
Rarity's swishing gait stopped at an elevator, and Stripes was happy for the distraction. This one was larger than the one he'd ridden in before, though it had the same windows affording a view of the domed city and the distant lunar surface beyond. This elevator wend down, dropping with alarming swiftness, so the grand vista was soon swallowed up by towering buildings. It stopped finally not far above ground level.
The doors opened and Stripes followed Rarity out into another hall. This was broader, and much less opulent. Carpeted floors were replaced by smooth tiles, and carved tables decorated with elaborate art were replace by blank walls, uniformly colored. The broader hall was not without things to draw the eye, though, for it was thronged with beings of all sorts.
The majority were human, but only just. All kinds of other species mingled among them, and Stripes found it difficult to keep his eyes on Rarity as she began threading her way through the crowd.
Interestingly there were almost no other quadrupeds. Bipedalism seemed common, though a few creatures slithered, crawled, or in one case flew past. He even spotted one tripedal being, whose gait was truly bizarre. Eventually the hallway let out into a huge glass-walled atrium. He could see the bustle of the city with its many mechanical vehicles and other technological wonders beyond. In the other direction a pair of truly massive double doors led in to some unknown destination. They were shut tightly, but Rarity headed to a smaller door set in the same wall. A guard, armored much like the ones he'd seen about the palace but in slightly different colors, stood beside it.
Rarity presented the guard with a little square object, which the guard regarded for a moment. Then he nodded and opened the small door. Rarity beckoned to Stripes and stepped through.
He followed, into what at first seemed to be a kind of dim cave.
"Welcome to the Grand Lunar Conclave," said Rarity. There was a hint of amusement in her voice. Stripes looked around, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. There were no echoes here, the walls were covered in something soft, almost like carpeting, and perhaps more exotic means had been used as well, for his swiftly realized that the vast space before him must take up the entire width of the tower.
"What is?" he asked, looking out across the room. He and Rarity were standing on the uppermost of a series of rings that fell away to a distant floor. The place was empty, obviously not in use, but it looked like it could hold thousands.
"It's where the Lunar Senate meets, on those lowest two rings. Luna herself presides on some occasions, or the senate chair does when she isn't present. They sit at the bottom, there." Stripes looked at the lowest level, where there were two chairs. One was simple and ordinary, the other was still simple, but made of darker wood, and was taller with a crescent moon on the top. A thing he didn't have a name for stood in front of the ordinary chair. It was a sort of pole with a flat, angled plane atop it. The surface reminded him of the control panels in his suite, so it no doubt was some similar interface of some kind.
There were more of these objects on the two rings above, each one positioned in front of a chair or pair of chairs. The next two rings above that had groups of seats, some of which were nothing like chairs. Some of the groupings were large, especially on the lower of those two rings, while others had a single seat in front of a single interface object. The ring where they currently stood was above these, and was circled by a railing from which one could presumably watch all the proceedings below.
"Come on, your seat is around this side." She set off around the upper ring, and Stripes trailed behind her again, though his mind was puzzling over exactly what went on here that he should have a seat. The word "senate" had seemed to mean a governing council, and a stranger such as himself should have no part in governing this world, surely. Yet obviously strangers did participate here, given the seating arrangements set up for creatures other than human.
Rarity kept talking as they walked. "You don't actually have to do much, mind. You don't even have to attend if you don't want to, a lot of the upper ring ambassadors don't. And most of those in the lower ring have dedicated representatives, the ambassadors don't attend directly at all. But of course there's only one of you, so you can't exactly delegate somebody else."
She glanced back at him, and flashed a blinding smile at his confused expression. "I suppose I should explain in more detail. The Lunar Senate governs here. Luna can theoretically overrule their decisions but almost never does. The Grand Lunar Conclave refers to this place, but also to the larger group that includes both the senators and the foreign delegates who have seats in the upper two rings. The lower of those is traditionally held by nations who have large influence here, because of trade deals or large immigrant populations, things of that nature." She waved a hand in the general direction of the ring in question. "Any world or species who has sent us any sort of ambassador gets a place, though, and a voice. Not a vote, you don't get to decide anything, but there are points in the proceedings when you'll be given a chance to speak, if you happen to have anything to say. And even when the foreign delegates aren't speaking to the Senate, they do quite a lot of their speaking with each other here. The podiums are set up for private communication as well as public address."
Ah, podium! That was the word for the interface objects. Stripes nodded, since Rarity was looking back at him again. She smiled and continued. "There is all sorts of intrigue, wheeling and dealing, and carrying on here. It can be very exciting! Like the galaxy's largest soap opera. Humanity punches above our weight class a bit on the galactic stage, despite our actual home world being a complete backwater. So the moon has power. People come here to try and get a slice of that pie, one way or another. And we're handily positioned in a few ways, the moon is a bit of a trade hub. Being our ally is seen as a very good thing by many species."
She reached a set of stairs and descended to the next ring down, the one with several dozen little groupings of a few seats around a podium. A few strides further she stopped at one, which had a lounging couch about right for him, and a human-style chair beside it. "Here we are. There's no name as yet, since we don't know your writing system or what your species is called. If you want to write it out yourself you can, of course. As your assistant I'll be here to help you use the podium and follow the proper protocols for anything else you want to do."
Stripes nodded again. He put a paw on the podium, but unlike the control panel in his room, it remained dark when he touched it.
"Everything is turned off right now, since the Conclave isn't in session."
"Ah."
"Do you have any questions?"
Stripes had about a thousand, but half of them were probably too complicated for the poor translation and he didn't even know where to begin with most of the others. He looked around the dim, cavernous space again, and his eyes fell on the grander chair that Luna would sit in.
"Luna. You say she no rule?"
"They say she did in the early days of the colony, a thousand years ago, but now? No. Not often. She is very, ah, distant, I suppose you could say."
"You talk her?"
"Do I talk to her? Almost never. I work for her, but I almost always get my orders from Selene, not from Luna directly."
"Who talk her?"
Rarity blinked. "Well... no one, really."
Stripes tilted his head to the side. "She lonely, then?"
"I don't know." Rarity gave a little shrug. "She's not like us mere mortals. And I would think she could have all the company she wanted, if she actually wanted it. But perhaps she is."
Dinner that night was a formal affair. In fact it began with a formal reception, which initially confused him somewhat. He had expected a larger version of the meals he'd eaten with Luna, with guests seated at a table and served food where they sat. Instead Rarity ushered him into a large room with no seating at all, where the guests—mostly humans but with a fair scattering of other species—walked about and gathered in small groups to speak. Servants carried trays laden with bite-sized bits of food that seemed hardly worth bothering with. It was all quite strange and unexpected.
"This dinner?" he looked up at Rarity, tilting his head in confusion.
She laughed. "Oh no. This is the pre-dinner reception. The hors d’oeuvres are meant simply to tide one over until the meal proper. I suppose it would be dreadful if all these politicians and diplomats were cranky with hunger. Someone might start a war!" She winked at Stripes, and he couldn't help but chuckle.
"I'm going to go get a glass of wine," said Rarity. "I'll be back in just a shake."
Stripes, left wondering exactly what she was going to shake—the translation spell didn't seem to be working quite perfectly on that one—looked around the room once again. As he sat considering how best to get some of the tidbits of food from trays carried above his head height, a human male approached. He had dark hair, streaked with gray, and was just a little bit broader across the stomach than the shoulders. He was dressed in dark, rather boring clothing.
"Good evening. You must be our newest ambassador. Stripes, isn't it?"
Stripes simply nodded.
"Senator John Johnson," the man replied with a nod of his own. "Are you familiar with the human custom of shaking hands?" The man held out one hand. Stripes sat back on his haunches and held out a paw in response. Senator Johnson tried to wrap his smaller hand around it and squeeze hard, which made Stripes smile just a little, for it didn't work terribly well. He remembered what Rarity had said about asserting dominance, and about stabbing in the back. He couldn't quite squeeze back, given the differing shape of his paw, but he returned what pressure he could with his claws out just a bit, letting the human feel them.
Senator Johnson pulled his hand back rather swiftly. "Ah yes, very good to meet you. How are you finding your visit to our little moon?"
"Good," he said simply.
The senator blinked, having obviously not expected such a terse reply. "That's, ah, good. Are you here on business? I have quite a number of trade interests myself. I'm always happy to talk shop about interstellar commerce." He flashed Stripes a smile that was probably meant to be friendly.
Stripes considered his response, but couldn't really come up with one. He ended up simply giving a small shrug and saying, "No business."
"I see. Just politics then, hmm?"
"No politics."
The senator blinked yet again. "But surely as an ambassador there's some... I mean you must have a reason to be here. You can't be appointed ambassador if you're just on vacation."
Stripes couldn't help but chuckle at his confusion. "No? Why no?"
"I... But Luna herself..."
"Stripes, darling," Rarity swanned up out of the crowed, a delicate glass full of blood red liquid in her hand. "I see the senator has introduced himself. It is as much of a pleasure as always, Senator Johnson."
"Rarity." The Senator gave her a little nod, but didn't hold out his hand. "Forgive me, I see Senator Sidana over there, and I must catch up with him on several important matters." He gave her a second nod, then turned and left, striding rapidly away.
"You no like," said Stripes.
Rarity snickered. "That is a massive understatement. The man is a pompous ass, among other sins."
"All senators like him?"
"Hah. Alas, far too many are. But many are decent people." She took a long drink from her glass. "Did you want some wine?"
"What is?"
"Alcohol. It's a mildly mind-altering substance. I don't know if you have it where you're from." She held the glass down at eye level. He sniffed it and recoiled.
"That spoiled."
"Well, yes it is fermented. Which is to say that it's technically made from rotten fruit. Not your thing, eh?"
"Coffee is good. Not this."
"Fair enough. Do you want a cup of coffee? I'm sure the kitchen could provide."
Stripes shook his head. Bipeds could wander around holding things. Having a drink in paw would pin him in place. "Food, maybe. Have eating rules?"
"Ah... no, not as such. It's generally considered polite to eat as neatly as possible, but for appetizers one is expected to use one's fingers. Just go up to a waiter and help yourself."
"Good."
The first waiter he approached nearly dropped his tray when Stripes reared up on his hind legs to better reach the little bits of food on it, but he successfully snagged a bite of something that smelled interesting, and the waiters got used to him fairly quickly.
The politicians, on the other paw, seemed to have more trouble. He was approached by quite a few, mostly human but also some not, who all wanted to know who he was, why he was there, and—apparently most of all—how he'd captured Princess Luna's particular attention.
They seemed entirely baffled by his answers, and his keen ears picked up more than one muttering about how he was obviously some kind of novelty pet as they walked away. He found himself more and more amused as the reception continued, and Rarity's giggles and sly asides about the various politicians only egged him on. By the time dinner proper arrived, he was feeling positively conspiratorial.
He was seated at a large table that ran the length of a massive dining room. Rarity was on one side of him, and a humanoid alien with charcoal-black skin sat on the other side. The first course was served almost immediately, a bowl of soup with a slice of bread on the side. He watched the humans pick up their spoons and considered. His opposable thumb was short and stubby compared to their long digits, and the handle of the spoon set at his place was quite small, but he could probably grasp it and imitate them if he wanted to.
He caught Senator Johnson giving him a sidelong look, as if curious what he would do, and decided to have a little fun. He stuck his muzzle over the bowl, sniffing, and after deciding that it smelled edible enough he simply started lapping it up. Nobody else, human or otherwise, was doing so, they were all using spoons, and he caught several more of his fellow guests giving him curious looks, with even a few outright stares.
A glance to the head of the table where Luna sat caught the corner of her mouth twitching up, as if she were trying not to smile. He met her gaze for just an instant and gave her a wink. He didn't know if the gesture would be the same among humans, but the sudden increased twitching of her mouth suggested that she got his meaning.
Rarity, beside him, was also having to hold back a smile. "Stripes," she leaned in and muttered, "what are you doing?"
"People think I pet. Why not be pet?"
"Oh heavens. You are going to break some of their tiny little minds, darling."
He shot her a grin and then dipped his head to lap up some more soup, even more messily than before. "Is fun," he said, and licked soup from his muzzle.
It was all Princess Luna could do to keep a straight face as she watched Stripes' antics. The confused muttering from others around the table only made it better. She'd never seen so many of her politicians so discomfited. And it was the worst and most stuffy of them that seemed the most bothered, with only added to her amusement.
"Your highness?" The human seated beside Luna was Senator Thorson, the current Lunar Chair and thus head of the senate. He was a decent enough sort, though he wouldn't have been Luna's personal first pick for the position. He was a little old-fashioned and just a touch sexist, though he'd never breathed a word wrong in her presence. He was currently regarding Stripes with a faint frown. "The newest ambassador seems somewhat... unconventional," he said. "Do you know him well?"
Luna couldn't resist replying, "Our acquaintance has been short but quite close. Why, one might even call it intimate. I hold him in the highest regard."
Senator Thorson had a decent poker face, so his eyebrows only rose a little bit in response. "I see."
Just then the staff were clearing away the soup course, and Stripes chose to take that momentary pause and recline on his chair, lifting one foot into the air and grooming part of his tail. Senator Thorson blinked incredulously at the sight, his practiced politician's mask finally slipping. So did at least half the other guests, and even the ones who hadn't been startled into open staring were stealing covert glances.
Somehow, against all odds, Luna managed to not snort out her drink.
When the dinner was over, Luna retired to her room. As she undressed, Selene's voice broke in. "You and Mr. Stripes appear to have caused substantial chaos tonight."
"Oh?"
"Oh yes. The commnet is humming with scandalized messages and rumor-mongering. Did you know that you are apparently into bestiality, and have declared an animal an ambassador in order to have an excuse to keep your forbidden paramour in the palace? That was the best one I've caught so far, I think. And entirely your own fault, it does seem to have originated from your comment to the Chair about having an 'intimate' relationship, though he never put it in such terms, but his retelling of the remark does seem to have mutated into that accusation almost immediately."
Luna broke into peals of laughter. "That... is the best thing... And so close to the truth! Yet so far away. Ah ha ha! I have not had this much fun in centuries!"
"You don't think these little pranks are risky, your highness?"
"My authority is fairly secure. Perhaps it's about time something shook things up here a bit. You're not catching any hits of cabals or treason, or any outright plotting to use this against me, are you?"
"No, nothing like that. Just quite a lot of fairly scandalized politicians and very eager rumor-mongers. Do expect the worst of the tabloids to have your penchant for animal sex on the front page tomorrow."
"They've printed worse! Remember that incident with the pseudop dust and the Eltharian?"
"I do indeed have that matter in my memory banks."
"If that didn't result in revolution and overthrow, this certainly won't. Hell, so long as they don't turn regicide there are days when I'd welcome a restructuring to take me out of the government entirely. I haven't done that much of late, you know. But perhaps I'll attend the next Grand Conclave, just to see what further rumors fly."
"No doubt there will be some if you do."
Luna just chuckled again and flopped down on her bed. "Time to tend to the dream realm. Don't disturb me until morning."
"Yes, your highness." Selene's voice vanished, though Luna knew the AI was always at least somewhat present everywhere in the vast building.
Luna closed her eyes, gathered her magic, and sank into the dream realm. It was peaceful there as it had been these last few nights and she smiled. Perhaps she could find Stripes again, and speak with him further. That pleasant thought distracted her just enough that she failed to gather her power and dodge in time when a sudden blackness—shot through with sickly purple and bearing a pair of glowing teal eyes—swept up from deep within the dream and wrapped dark tentacles around her.
"Nightmare," snarled Luna.
"Hello Princess," came a voice from the darkness, arrogantly smug at having captured her unawares. "It has been so long, I worry you will have forgotten me."
Luna struggled, but fighting the Nightmare was difficult enough at a distance. With it here, entwined around her, it was able to wiggle back into all the crevices in her mind that had once welcomed its presence.
"No," said Luna all the same, still fighting. "I reject you. I want nothing to do with your evil. You ruined everything."
"Now that is a bold lie, little princess. I didn't make you do anything. I only showed you your potential. And here you have the vision we dreamed together, your beautiful Lunar Empire. All because of me. So why don't I remind you why you invited me in, hmm? Let's take a little trip down memory lane."
"No!" cried Luna again, but the Nightmare pulled her inexorably into the dreaming memory, and as her present faded away and the past took over, her struggles stilled.
A young woman wearing a crude, bulky space-suit stands on the moon's empty, barren surface, staring up at the blue-swirled planet above. Behind her the angular form of a lunar lander looms, and two more suited humans flank her, all three taking in the spectacular view. Their eyes are caught by a spark of light passing steadily overhead—the ship that has brought them here, on its orbit around the moon.
Suddenly silent fire blossoms out in a plume from the ship. At the same instant the voice over the radio cuts off. All three lunar explorers are filled with shock, dismay, and sudden grief.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, the modern Luna raged against being forced to re-experience this moment, these feelings.
The other two astronauts erupt into a babble of sound, but Luna remains silent, her mind filled with sudden hate. Explosions in space do not happen accidentally, with no warning. This is sabotage, and she knows of exactly one person with both the ability and desire to destroy her fledgling space program. Blocked on the political stage, it seems that Luna's sister has done the unthinkable and taken matters into her own hands.
"Celestia," hisses Luna softly, staring up at the fading glow of the explosion, still moving on the same track the ship had taken. Her treacherous sister has killed them all, Luna included, for with the ship gone there is no way home. They are doomed.
There is a way to save your lives, whispers a strange voice in her mind. Luna, already a mistress of dreaming and an initiate in the psychic arts recognizes it as a telepathic sending, something from outside herself. Who are you? What do you mean? Her questions echo inside her own mind, but the other answers.
I am Nightmare Moon. And you are not alone in the universe, little human. There are those watching who may save you, if you but know how to ask. Welcome me into your mind and I will show you how.
"See? Remember? I told you how to send the message that saved you."
"You did nothing. I've seen the Silirian logs. They were already watching. They were considering rescue well before our message reached them."
"Considering only. They might well have done nothing if you hadn't revealed you knew about alien life already. I saved you."
"You ruined everything."
"Did I? I did not cause your animosity towards your sister. She caused that, when she betrayed you. Your hate for her was what woke me, what drew my mind to your little spark of doomed life. I didn't cause your feud."
Luna snarled wordless defiance. The Nightmare hadn't caused it, but her poisoned words whispered in Luna's ear had made things a thousand times worse. She didn't want to remember the arguments, the accusations, the bitter fights that had spiraled far further out of control than any fights they'd had before. Yet the Nightmare inexorably dragged her through the memories, through every terrible thing Celestia had done or said, and every hateful response Luna had given in turn.
And as the dream-memories played out yet again in Luna's mind, her body twisted and turned in her bed. Whimpers of distress escaped involuntarily into the still night air, the sound carrying through open balcony doors to the garden below, where a guard standing watch sighed in sympathy, but remained at her post.
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Who will the sex be between?
8929889
This is the T-rated version, so in this version, nobody.
Nice to see an update. I was afraid the was dead.
8929948
Not dead, not by a long shot. I didn't give Spark a deadline and it's open-ended, so it gets worked on as the Muse strikes her.
Never try to force your Muse... they typically don't like that.
Hm interesting. Let's see where this is going
8930237
Amen to that
Nice to get a glimpse of the wider, weirder galaxy. And to get some further insight into this Luna's life. I just hope someone can help her through this Nightmare.
(Also, I'm with Stripes. Why so many people enjoy the byproducts of rot, I'll never know.)
8931212
Never did develop a taste for things of that nature myself, either.
For Stripes though... would you really want to be drunk off your feet and trying to stay in a tree??
8931742
Ever see animals bite into a fermented fruit? it's hilarious.