Changeling Therapy 2: Dreams And Nightmares

“So many ponies, so close together and yet so far apart.” Luna whispered to herself, staring across the entrancing night skyline of Manehattan. She was far enough up, and sufficiently in the glare of the full moon that she could discern little below but the regiment of lights as they climbed buildings and raced around the city blocks. It was as though the stars above, scattered and majestic were reflected into their opposite nature in the mirror of the urban sprawl - rigid and artificial but somehow beautiful.

Her mane flowed a little in the breeze, aromas of street cooking teased her nostrils and little hints of busy night life activity came to her ears from far away. There was little time for her to take it in though as there was important work for her to do in this place.

Now that she new nearly for sure that they were looking for a stallion, in his twenties or thirties without a cutie mark: the possible list of candidates was greatly reduced. It was enormously rare for one so old to have never found his mark, and when it had happened usually the circumstances were far from good. She’d seen some cases of curses or dark magic at work, other times when there were horrors in a pony’s past and that prevented them from finding their special talent.

After her disturbing encounter in the dreamscape, and her brief glimpse of the suffering stallion through that awful black turbulence Luna had immediately summoned her sister. The two had discussed the circumstances and then dispatched instructions through magical mediums through to the various cities, colonies and towns across Equestria. Specifically they instructed the local principalities to use their medical functions to look out for any colts who had come to seek help who were also absent a cutie mark.

It took a few days for the search to complete but eventually a small shortlist of possible candidates came through. Luna had set off immediately to try to locate them, the first one being in Canterlot. It wasn’t in the end the one she had seen in her dreams, but the particular stallion had been very humbled and delighted by the visit from the princess. Named Bramble Bloom his reason for still being a blank flank was quite saddening.

As a young colt he’d been abused by his father, to an extreme that Luna found to be staggering. There were cases of this kind of thing in pony society, of course, but to the extent that Bramble had suffered - this was a rare and terrible thing indeed. He’d attempted suicide many times and still had the marks around his neck and lacerations across his body. He had a look in his eyes similar to those that she’d seen in some of the battle weary soldiers of times gone past, looking out to the horizon all the time; whether it was there or not.

She had been encouraged though by how he explained that his life was now filled with a new purpose. He had trained to become a counsellor, helping other young fillies and colts who were victims of violence or abuse during their younger years. He lived well of his work, well enough to afford to live in Canterlot but was still quite reclusive, interacting mostly with the medical profession.

They had spent an afternoon talking, and despite the horrible backstory Luna had found him to be an inspiring and life affirming pony to talk to. Saying their goodbyes later she thought to herself at how disconnected she’d become from her subjects and how ponies like Twilight and her friends had brought her back to a sense of fellowship and closness. She made a note to see about getting some additional funding for Blossom’s practice but then focussed herself again on the task at hand.

The foul machinations of that ugly dream vortex had been getting worse each night, she needed to find out who he was. The mass had been engoring, and although there was no cause for alarm yet she had a small worry of it beginning to infringe on other dreams.

Manehattan was the next destination with a new name on the list to check out and this was where the search would continue.

“Sunny Shade,” she mumbled to herself. “An oxymoron for a pony’s name if I ever heard it.”

Luna glided down quietly and smoothly into the bustle of the street below. It was nearly midnight but the city was beating with life. There were a few little gasps of recognition around her as she set down next to an unassuming little apartment block - ponies recognising the princess of the night and huddling together excitedly to exchange hurried little incredulous whispers.

She stepped up to the door, looked up and down and found the name, though it seemed the Sunny part had been scratched off slightly. She depressed the buzzer with the base of her hoof and waited for a moment. There was no reply.

Luna made a few more attempts and then ultimately decided it was futile and instead teleported into the interior in a flash of brilliant light. The corridor was musky and dark inside with one too many electric lights that seemed in urgent need of replacement. It was an apartment building of some kind and she slowly made her way up the creaking stairs to the top floor.

“38” she announced to herself. There were tiny sounds from inside, barely discernable and she rapped on the door. As soon as she did so there was a scuffling and panicked sound from inside, with the telltale crescendo of stacked objects having been knocked over in a cascade. She winced slightly.

After what seemed like far too long a pause, the door slowly opened to reveal the pony she had been searching for.

Sunny Shade had a dark grey coat, unkempt hair and honestly looked like he had very poor hygiene. The coltish scent of an unclean single stallion’s room came through, complete with traces of stale takeout food, a gush of ancient smelling dust. She could see past his head that her suspicious about the room were justified, it barely looked fit for pony habitation.

“Who are you?” He asked with a meek yet somehow aggressive voice.

Luna stared for a moment then came to her senses, raising herself up a little more proudly. “Sunny Shade it is I, your Princess Of Dreams,” then she paused for a moment from what she assumed would be the inevitable gasp of astonishment and perhaps even a respectful bow. When nothing of the sort was forthcoming she looked down to meet his gaze.

“I’m supposed to be impressed?” He muttered, with layers of hidden bile bubbling away below the surface.

“I….” having never been spoken to in this way the alicorn’s inevitable anger was delayed for a moment, but only a moment in the end, “how DARE you speak to your princess this way! I came to you because you asked for help in your dream!” Raising herself up on her hind quarters a little her eyes glowed with indignation.

Sunny Shade looked up at her and there was an intensity in his eyes that made even a princess back off slightly.

“My dreams are mine, MINE! How dare you, just because you’re royalty you think you can do what you want? I hate you… I hate you. I HATE YOU, YOU FUCKING STINKING CUNT!” By the end he screamed so loud that there was even commotion in some of the adjacent flats as sleeping ponies were stirred by the outburst.

Luna’s mouth hung open and she tried to speak but found she could not, aghast at the intensity of Sunny Shade’s incandescent rage.

“You, you… don’t speak to a princess like that, ” she replied, but almost whispering, stunned to near silence.

“FUCK YOU!” Sunny Shade rasped, and then his eyes filled with horrible wet tears and he collapsed onto the floor. “I’m so sorry, oh gosh I’m so sorry, so sorry…I hate myself.” He sobbed and muttered on the ground in a terrifying pathos that Luna had never experienced even across the millennia.

She remained rooted to the spot for what felt like a long time, even as she heard the whisperings of curious ponies peering out from their own flat doors. Luna had felt a swelling, a terrible swelling, not in this world but in the dreamscape as though she could sense the collapsed and dormant form of the nightmare pulsing in response to his anger - waiting there, malevolently to torment him the next time he slept.
Never had she been spoken to so disrespectfully, not even by the worst of villains who at least usually showed some modicum of feigned respect. In days gone by she would have summoned the police or guards and sent him to the dungeon - a temptation that certainly was prominent in her right this moment.

She of course remembered that this kind of arbitrary detention was no longer permitted except in cases of extreme magical aggression or villainy. It gave her a little pause for thought though, the world had moved on and being a princess didn’t mean the same thing it did many thousands of years ago.

“Sunny Shade…” she spoke, finally, very softly, “your princess is having some difficulty knowing what to say here. I know your nightmares are horrible, I’ve seen them, but not from the inside, I wasn’t trying to pry, I heard you call for help.”

“It’s the same every night,” he grunted, prone and sobbing onto the carpet, so close that he could smell the tears dampening the layer of dust that had settled through so much neglect.

“What do you dream of?” Luna pressed, her heart beating a little faster.

“I can’t… I can’t.. tell you,” he moaned, seemingly unable to get the words out.

“How can I help you?” she pressed, moving close to him, even reaching out a little with her hoof, but deciding not to touch him: it seemed like she could not predict how he might react.

“I don’t know,” he sobbed. “but thank you for coming, thank you.”

The princess felt she was a little out of her depth, still shocked at the language he’d just used and the extent of the rage directed at her, but yet now Sunny was seemingly thanking her. It didn’t appear forced or fake in the least, it seemed genuine but incredibly desperate. There was clearly more here than she felt equipped to deal with on her own, assistance was now a necessity.

“Sunny. I don’t know that your princess, that I, know quite what to do here… But I shall be back tomorrow with help. If that is, if you want my help still?” she chose her words carefully, clearly the idea of consent was important to him and she wanted to make that as obvious as possible. IT was a strange experience for her, she was very used as a princess to generally just getting what she wanted when she asked for it. Perhaps in a strange way Sunny Shade had taught her something.

He nodded his acceptance.

“OK,” she replied carefully “hold on, just for a little longer,” she left quietly, dazed and uneasy, a queer feeling in her stomach. She’d come from feeling offended, enraged, to scared and sympathetic and then confused - all in smallest time. If this was how Sunny Shade felt then she was hardly surprised he seemed incredibly confused and distressed. Nor was it any wonder that his nightmares had taken on such a horrific quality. Still dazed she escaped into the night, resolving to get the best assistance she could.

Opening her eyes slowly Fluttershy yawned a little and felt the stiffness of her legs ease out under as she stretched in an almost feline way. She sighed peacefully and turned quietly to face Irids who was already awake, he was looking at her with a loving and contented gaze.

“You were dreaming about being the pet again, weren’t you?” he asked her, his voice still holding onto the cotton softness of recent sleep.

“Yes,” she replied very gently in that soft wonderful voice, sliding laterally under the covers a little so as to be closer to him, “I keep forgetting changelings can feel dreams too.”

“We can…” Iridis replied with a trace of sadness.

“What happened wasn’t your fault Iridis,” Fluttershy reassured him, giving him a brief tender kiss on the cheek, as she came close his comforting familiar scent washed over her nostrils - that morning scent that fortified itself during sleep. It wasn’t quite like a pony, but after getting used to it it made her feel safe, wanted and secure.

“I know.” He answered at length.

He’d explained to her how the changelings would use dream intervention magic to extract love from those they captured. Suspended in green sinewy pods the ponies were forced into a perpetual trance of desirous love: the manifestation of the emotions seeping and dripping down into a emerald fluorescent pool far below.

Fluttershy had remarked that at least they were ‘happy’ dreams that were being induced but Iridis had shaken his head. The changelings would artificially induce longing and desire, a sexual and ravenous fever so that although not strictly a nightmare the poor prisoners would never know peace. It wasn’t a duty that Iridis had ever himself performed but he did indeed understand the process quite well, having helped out in most places of the hive. He intensely hated having ever been a part of it.

The pegasus could now see that his rekindled ability was bringing them closer together. Although it was a little strange having the most private and hidden parts of her imagination exposed to him, she began to get used to it. Sometimes the results were magical as when they shared a dream and were able to talk about it the next day, or when he would wake her from a horrible nightmare and hold her tight - preempting her emergence with a soothing hug.

One of the slightly more peculiar and initially embarrassing discoveries was that Iridis would have a broadly unfettered view of some of Fluttershy's most intimate sexual dreams. Of course, like all the erotic peregrinations of the imagination there was no subject that the subconscious would not bring to the fore in one form or another - things often that would normally not turn her on even in her most honest daydreams. The first time she knew Iridis had seen a dream where she had had a passionate liaison with Big Mac she was worried he might be jealous or upset.

He wasn’t though and it prompted one of the most touching and gloriously honest conversations she’d ever had with another ‘pony’. They confessed their little crushes, and secret fantasies with each other, coming to an understanding that their desire would definitely extend to other ponies at some points in their lives. They both agreed to be faithful to each other though, but it was decided then and there that there was no such thing as infidelity in dreams. Fluttershy made a few requests - Iridis could help her by not dwelling ‘too’ much on another pony to the point it affected him, and perhaps could keep some of his fantasies about her close friends to himself.

Iridis had responded by offering to Fluttershy that he would take any form she wanted if he was comfortable with it, wanting to be there for her pleasure. It took a little while for her to warm to the idea, but sometimes, in the morning, waking up in hot arousal and enveloped within the folds of the sheets, memories of sensual visions were still lingering like an aftertaste of forbidden fruit.

She felt it right now, the need for something. Iridis sensed it too.

“Something you want to ask for Fluttershy?” he said to her, moving on top of her a little so that she could feel the weight of her mate spread over her chest.

She blushed fiercely, and closed her eyes for a moment, nursing the little itch within and trying to resist.

“Fluttershy dear, you know you don’t have to be scared with me, it’s just us,” he moved a little closer and whispered soothingly in her ear, “let me know what you want, you’ll not feel like it later, I know how you are in the mornings so you have to commit to it now.”

“Umm… hee,” she giggled nervously, flushed beyond all measure. “Umm… I always feel it’s such a bother to ask,” she protested, but her scent and little movements gave away all too clearly her arousal, her folds sliding over each other tantalisingly as she squirmed some under the covers.

“Please,” he insisted and he felt her relax completely and look up at him, lost for a moment somewhere intimate yet distant, a place where he knew she could ask for whatever she wanted.

“Can you umm, do the umm, you know, that bunny thing again,” she whispered, uncompromisingly embarrassed yet flushed and radiant.

“The bunny? Oh I remember,” Iridis recalled, smiling down at her, “I remember perfectly.”

She was of course referring to a little fantasy that she’d had; a sudden embarrassing little request after she woke up from a fairly habitual dream. That had been the first time and this was now the second time she had come back to it. In some ways it was all the more tantalising as she knew how it would feel in advance.

“You really do like being the pet,” Iridis whispered to her gently, “just relax my sweet.”

Fluttershy moaned out, “Oooooh, oh please,” in her soft quiet voice. Thinking about what was about to happen made her feel warm and wet - and wanted. She turned herself over to her front.

Casting aside the sheets to the ground the covers sank into their own little dunes like folds of chocolate draped over a counter. Exposed for him, prone and resting on her belly, the pegasus let out a deep sigh as she spread her back hooves a little and flicked her tail this way and as an invitation.

The transformation above her bathed her back in a blue light - only for a moment - then she felt the promise of a heavier form, heralded by sporadic twangs as the bedsprings adjusted to a new load. Atop her, a fully changed Iridis was now in the form of a rabbit, a very large one at that - looking similar to the dream form of Angel Bunny when he was brushing Fluttershy’s mane.

She liked this. It was so secret to them, so personal and so intimate. Something she could never share with anyone, not even Twilight whom she trusted most deeply. Her changeling lover had sensed something in the dream, something so hidden and so subtle that even she wasn’t aware of it. Having her hair brushed, having herself fussed over by a larger Angel Bunny was of course a satisfying and relaxing little role-reversal. Though apparently there was much more to it…

Fluttershy was of course acquainted with animal mating to the point where it was barely a taboo for her anymore. She’d seen the cute little bunnies rutting out their blushing fever, often in the open with no shame to speak of. She sometimes sneakily watched a little longer than she thought was warranted, loving the sight of the buck atop the doe and the fast pleasureable little dance the two would perform together.

She wanted that, to be pressed down and mated, very hard and very quick- to relinquish control and to have the pace set for her by her lover.

Iridis moved above her slowly and carefully. He was large enough to nearly touch the ceiling, pure white with large paws and even bigger hind legs. Stepping back off the bed a little he rested his forepaws on her cheeks and kneaded there, taking advantage of the rabbit paws to press into the flesh and roll waves of the yellow plot up and down. Pressing, rolling and breathing. She loved his breathing and he put on a much louder more forceful show, grunting and clicking just a bit to give little hints to her of his being a truly ‘feral’ creature.
Something about those sounds triggered something in her.

He was not anatomically a rabbit in full as there was certainly one token of his changeling form that she’d asked him to keep, his long smooth serpent like tongue. In a sudden moment of chimeral glory, the large snout of the ‘rabbit’ pressed hard between Fluttershy’s thighs, spreading her lips and giving a long slow firm lick over the full girth of her flushed vulva.

“Oooooooooh. MMmmm,” she moaned out, suddenly tipsy with delight at the first lick.

It was of the second though that she most anticipated. He spread out her cheeks further with those large soft firm rabbit paws, forcing her plot hole into a ravishing diamond shape and parting the labia. Everything of her petals was now on show for him, glistening, fragrant and overpowering with the deep complex perfume of his pretty sweet mare.

“So exposed…” she commented dreamily, “oh Mr Bunny - it’s so embarrassing, whatever ever will I ooooooooh!” she cried out as the second wave of attention begin in earnest, inevitably and to her delight.

Firm smooth licks began to fondle and explore every area, and there was nowhere he couldn’t given the blessing of his prehensile tongue. Iridis first focussed on the inside of the labia minora, massaging the inner wall to a greater arousal and spreading her intense mare flavour everywhere he could. Then next down to her clitoris, pushing through over the sensitive proud nub, even far enough to tie his tongue to an almost red bow around the small flattened swell of her breasts: he rubbed them a little as she shifted over them.

How lucky I am, Fluttershy thought to herself, maybe even I should be guilty for this, none of my friends will ever have this.

Raising her head a little she let her tongue slide slowly from her mouth, hanging lazily as she gave herself over to the indulgence. It was as though her lover was everywhere at once and as soon as one tiny place felt lonely he would come back there to caress it yet again. This was how it had been the last time and she knew what he would do, build her up to an unbearable arousal before rutting her hard - hopefully to a final climax.

Fluttershy let out a long satisfied sigh and let herself fully sink onto her belly, twitching and occasionally as she tried to remain as relaxed as she could, not tensing, just trying to let the intensity of Iridis’s attentions drive her crazy. Everything about her felt hot and flustered now, tingles along her spine, a warmth like fire on her neck as though she could suddenly feel the touch of even the tiny air motes. There was a buzzing that jumped in and out of her hooves, down her legs then back whence it came to the origin of his attentions, as though pleasure and warmth washed in and out of her vagina and back out to every erogenous zone in her body.

“Oooh ooh bunny, bunny!” she called out in little tiny whispers, as though trying to cry out in joy but simply squeaking out her encouragement, “oh, now, please, now… I can’t take it anymore!”

That was his cue, he knew it.

The Iridis rabbit reared up, hopping onto the protesting bed and scuffled itself into position above her, squatting and bringing its large red tapered and impossibly oversized penis into alignment with her winking mare hood.

He reached down with a paw and settled a little onto her, helping to press the head up against her opening which was now oozing arousal. Fluttershy lowered her head and bit into one of the pillows knowing the entry would be rough and intense - and craving it.

The head, though tapered was still fat and swollen and ready to make its rugged entrance. Pushing at the entrance she felt the pressure increase as the giant form atop her let its weight rest almost wholly on the apex of that large swollen shaft. She moaned out loud as she caved in to him feeling a long impossible sinking, longer and deeper than was feasible even with the most endowed of stallions. So far in he went she felt the the curious pressure against her cervix, even the threat of entry.

Fluttershy felt so completely filled and so entirely helpless under him, as furred muscular and enormously caricatured thighs squeezed and scrabbled over her, pushing her into the protesting bed springs. Then the mating started and it was fast and merciless. This was the moment she longed for once again. True there was less of the fresh surprise of discovery, but it was all the more delicious in knowing how good it was going to be.

The sleeve of her vagina was repeatedly rammed, stuffed and ravaged as Iridis simulated the frantic movements of an amorous buck. Each time he came down she arched her back as the cup of his groin and thighs slapped against her cheeks - then came the withdrawal, so fast and vigorous it felt as though her insides caved into the vacuum. The sucking and stretching accelerated her to the peak of arousal and it felt like it would never stop.

At least three or four motions a second it was almost too much for her and with a moan finally of a volume matching her pleasure she raised her eyes to the ceiling and let her mouth open as though having a fit - barely able to think coherently.

“Nnnnow feed… feed,” she pleaded, barely aware of her own words.

“Are you sure? it might be too much for you,” he replied in his own voice, “we didn’t last time.”

“You must. Please!” she begged with a pleading and desperation in her voice that almost scared him.

Iridis doubled over as he butted himself back and forth on her, biting her neck gently and drinking deeply from her love, as so many times before. The intensity of having her fantasy realised once again had driven her to edge of a terrifying climax, but this too was much for her.

When her orgasm finally broke upon her it felt like she was tumbling through a giant wave, washed senseless as every nerve in her body exploded - her mind imagining being driven against the soft sand of the seabed and held there, helpless and half drowned.

Filled to the brim, mated hard and fast, drained of the excess love she radiated like a dying star it was as though she died then and there - and was reborn.

“Fluttershy?””

“Fluttershy?”

“Oh dear.”

“Is she ok?”

“Twilight, is she ok?”

The voices didn’t feel real, nor could the pegasus tell who was speaking, as though her head was immersed in syrup. Everything was so indistinct and abstract. When finally she opened her eyes and looked upwards the large dabbles of colour solidified into the faces of her friends.

Fluttershy counted off the ponies she saw, “Twilight, Iridis, doctor?”

“She’s awake, oh Fluttershy,” said Twilight, her voice full of relief, “looks like she’s ok.”

“Thank Celestia,” proclaimed Iridis, nestling gently next to Fluttershy on the bed, “oh my sweet I was so worried, I was so scared.”

Fluttershy looked around a little, feeling a soreness shoot from her neck down her spine, wincing she then exclaimed, “this isn’t my room!”

“No Miss Shy you’re in the hospital,” Dr Horse explained, leaning over, “we weren’t sure if the problem was more magical or medical, or both frankly: so we took you here as quick as could.”

“I had to tell them, what we did…” Iridis explained, a little embarrassed and somewhat worried over Fluttershy’s reaction. She blushed a powerful crimson and raised a sore hoof up to her mouth.

Twilight sensed her friend’s insecurity and interjected quickly “it’s ok Fluttershy, it’s ok, only us here know. It’s not going to umm, go any further than this room. Iridis had to tell us: we were worried about you.”

“So, what happened?” gentle Fluttershy asked, sounding very weak.

“Honestly I’m not sure,” Twilight replied, “but from what I can see it’s some kind of pleasure overload. I’m not just pulling that out of my butt either, there are spells, quite dangerous ones that can cause drastic overstimulation. During part of my training Celestia performed one on me so that I would at least understand how to counter it- it was still something I try hard to forget - but it made me pretty sick for a while.

“The symptoms you had reminded me of that, but also, well, Iridis explained what you umm did. Frankly we were both a little worried about - well - broken bones or spinal injury. That’s why we’re in the hospital, just in case. I can definitely use some spells to check for injuries in a body but it’s not my area of expertise. I couldn’t just leave you in the house, I teleported us both here.”

“Thankyou Twilight,” Fluttershy whispered quietly, “and Iridis, I know you’ll probably beat yourself up about this, but don’t, please don’t. I wanted it.”

She blushed all the more severely at that confession in the plain view of the two ponies. He stayed silent and nodded some, nuzzling right into the size of her neck - but gently so as not to hurt her.

“You’ll need to stay here for a few days at least,” the doctor said “just to be on the safe side, and in future please try to be a bit more careful when you - well - when you,” his voice trailed off a little, “let’s just leave it at that, you know what I mean. But seriously whatever it was you did, it was too much, too much at once.”

Fluttershy and Iridis nodded to each other and sank back a little into the hospital bed.

Twilight blushed a little herself and smiled down at the pair. She left one final instruction as she moved to leave the room, “I’ll leave you two for a moment, but I’m going to have to get the opinion of another mage on this. Just to be safe. Fluttershy and Iridis, both of you need to think about who you’d be most comfortable with, let me know on your way out Iridis, ok?”

“Ok,” he replied.

As Doctor Horse and Twilight left the room, shutting the door behind them, Fluttershy stirred a little in the clinical pure white hospital sheets. She turned her head to look Iridis in the eyes.

“Don’t you dare say sorry,” she said and he smiled back.
“We do need to be more careful though, Fluttershy, darling you nearly gave me a heart attack,” Iridis explained, his eyes a little sad.

“Aren’t you going to ask me what it was like?” she replied, quietly and even perhaps a little seductively. She beckoned him close.

“What was it like?”

“It was like…” she leant in and began to whisper in his ear.

A few days later Fluttershy was more or less back to normal, though with a little soreness here and there.Twilight and her had blushed when they met after the ‘incident’, but that soon passed and true to her word nobody else was any the wiser. Fluttershy had chosen Luna to be the mage who would provide a second opinion on whether there anything more sinister that had occurred, such a magical malady of some sort.

It had seemed to the pegasus that Luna was probably used to being in all kind of dreams and fantasies, much like Iridis, and she felt the princess would understand a little better about what had driven her to such a risky act. Luna’s repressed smile during the explanation seemed to validate her conjecture.

In that moment that she’d become unconscious all she could remember was being broken with pleasure, and of feeling so close to Iridis that it could be though they were intertwined as one. There was a little bit of a worrisome side though which was that she’d not considered the consequences on her dependants. Spike and Discord had done a pretty good job of looking after the critters and animals during her absence (with only a few inappropriate transformations), but she did feel guilty at diving so headlong into pleasure that she’d not thought about what might happen if she got hurt.

Whatever happened though she knew the memory would never leave, and what a happy memory it was.

Now that things seemed to be regressing back to normality she was surprised to get another visit from Luna who had descended one evening into the garden as the couple sat enjoying some tea, surrounded by a collection of friendly and endearing critters - their secret chatter was obtuse to Iridis, though occasionally Fluttershy would respond in their tongue.

“Good evening Fluttershy,” Luna began, then “no need to bow, please, I feel as though we know each other well enough.”

“To what do we owe the pleasure Luna?” she asked.

“There are, some troubling things happening at present; these matter are such that I may need your help,” announced Luna, “if I may, can I come in?”

A little later the three were assembled in Fluttershy’s living room and having furnished Luna with a hot cup of tea they listened to her explain the events that had occurred recently. She described the horrific nightmare and the desperate and damaged pony who was plagued by it - Sunny Shade.

Fluttershy and Iridis listened very carefully. It was of interest to Luna though that when she described the temperament and extreme volatility of Sunny Shade Iridis began to nod, showing some kind of recollection.

“Have you encountered this kind of thing before Iridis?” she asked him.

He nodded slowly, “yes I have, when I was back at the hive, when I was my former self, we had a word for ponies like that. We called them ‘The Tainted’. It was as though their love was so close to their anger that it was impossible to tell the two apart. We found that feeding from such ponies could make a changeling very sick; it could even be fatal. They were the only ones we avoided.”

Luna agreed, “the therapists I’ve consulted on this matte suggest the label Borderline, they describe it similarly to your intuitive experience Iridis. It is as though the sufferers are on a knife edge at all times.”

“So,” Fluttershy began, “what is it that we can do to help? I’m not sure what we can do, but you know you can count on us.”

“I know Fluttershy,” smiled Luna, “you’re not the only ones involved in this, Celestia and Twilight are already informed, and soon I shall be seeking the counsel of all your friends. But there is something very specific I do need to ask, if you Iridis.”

“What might that be?” he asked, curious.

“Iridis The Changeling,” she announced, suddenly adopting a more formal tone and improvising some kind of full title for him, “I wish to request that you become my pupil, that I may teach you the ways of dreams and you may help me uncover what is at the root of this impenetrable nightmare.”

Fluttershy and Iridis looked into each other’s eyes for a moment and then looked back.

“Luna,” he whispered, after a deep breath, “this is all very sudden. You really think I can help you?”

It was Fluttershy though who nestled closer into him, tapping his thigh with her hoof, “I know you can sweet buglet,” she encouraged, “if of course, um, it’s what you want? I wouldn’t want to put words in your mouth.”

“Buglet?” Luna mumbled to herself quietly, “that’s interesting, I wonder if it works for, Celestlet, not that sounds forced,” - soon realising she was off topic she continued in earnest - “I know it is much to ask,” Luna explained, “but frankly this is something I’ve never experienced before. I fear that this dream may eventually begin to affect others. After that awful Tantabus incident I am certainly eager to prevent some catastrophe of a similar kind.”

“This is, well, such an honour to be asked,” Iridis gasped, shaking his head a little, but then finally settling his gaze on the Princess’s face, “yes, yes Luna, I accept. When do we start?”

“Right away!” she said, with an urgent tone that took both by surprise.

“What about Sunny? Is he going to be ok?” Fluttershy inquired.

“Yes he shall, I think, well, I’m not sure,” the Princess replied, a strange display of exhausted emotions flickering across her face, “it took some persuasion but we managed to get him to agree to leave Manehattan and come to Canterlot. Hopefully eventually into Ponyville. We’re treating this at much the same level of importance as when you moved you here Iridis. It’s not though been, a very easy process. I haven’t been talked to that way before, he can be extraordinarily abusive. It was everything I could not to blast him for his impudence - but then, sometimes I feel so much pity for him it hurts. It’s like he’s…”

“Turning you into him?” Iridis remarked, bluntly.

“Yes,” Luna turned to face him, “yes Iridis that’s an astute observation. Seems I picked the right friend to help me,” she suddenly appeared to drop her guard a little, letting the veil of royalty fall somewhat for just a moment, “it’s exhausting being with him. Yet sometimes, he’ll say the strangest thing, take me by surprise.”

“Luna,” Iridis began, sliding off the couch, “I admire so much what you want to do here, to try to help him, but, I don’t know that you can.”

Fluttershy and Luna both were surprised by this and after Iridis became aware of their puzzled reactions he quickly sought to clarify his remark.

“All I’m saying is that even though some of ‘The Tainted’ did change it was always, well, still ‘poisoned milk’?” he explained, gesticulating the inverted commas with his porous hooves; suddenly then he realised how that sounded. He caught a glimpse of sadness in Fluttershy which made him regretful of putting it in those terms, “I’m not like that anymore, I’m sorry, I’m not saying that he can’t change, it’s just that. It seems from my experience to be hard. I know you helped me though so I’m willing to give it a good shot, ok?”

Luna nodded and smiled at him, “thankyou Iridis, and if both of you are willing I would like to start tonight. I fear there is no time to waste.”

And so it was settled, Iridis would be Luna's new disciple.