Star Tiger, Moon Girl (M)

It was a gorgeous lunar day, because of course all days were gorgeous, the temperature was perfectly maintained and the artificial light kept exactly so, but Luna still found herself appreciating it as she stood on her balcony and looked at the garden below. Several figures were scurrying around down there, preparing for Rarity’s intimate little garden party. Luna spotted the unmistakable cotton-candy fluff of Pinkie Pie, wheeling out a cart laden with cupcakes, and smiled.

Then she stepped back into her room to consider her own final preparation. What to wear? Any of her formal outfits would be right out. She wasn’t attending this as Princess Luna, she was attending as just Luna, Stripes’ friend.

Though she definitely wanted to be more than just his friend.

She circled the thought of her—to be honest—sexual frustration for a while. She needed to just talk to Stripes about this. But it was so hard to bring the subject up! Perhaps she could send some more obvious signal?

Luna heaved a sigh. Sending “signals” was a good way to have more misunderstanding. Still, perhaps she could do something to help bring the topic up naturally? Perhaps she could approach Stripes in a dream. Tartarus, perhaps she could even “walk in” on one of those sex dreams? That would bring the subject up! In what was probably the most awkward way possibly, admittedly Or…

Suddenly an idea came to her. It would be a terrible tease if he really did want her outside of dreams, she knew. But it would certainly be a way to broach the subject. A way to let him know that she knew, even. And after how much he’d teased and pranked and been silly so far, he should probably appreciate a good prank in return…

“Selene, can you have a few items fabbed for me quickly?” she said, and grabbed her datapad and stylus to sketch out what she would need. The fabric she could take care of herself, she had a spell to change the color of her clothing. All she needed was a couple of decorative pieces…

Stripes flopped down on the picnic cloth beside Rarity, and was greeted with a warm, “Hello there, darling.” Fluttershy was already sitting on the blanket as well, peeking out from behind her newly pink hair. Pinkie Pie and Applejack were having an amiable debate over the finer points of baking next to where the cupcake tray and a platter of apple tartlets sat side by side. Stripes had been the one to invite Applejack. Nobody had invited Pinkie Pie, it was a known thing that if there was a party in the castle, Pinkie Pie would simply be there, cupcakes and all.

Rainbow Dash arrived a moment later, striding amidst the flower beds with a jaunty wave, which meant the little party was only missing one person.

A moment later she arrived, emerging from the castle with a walk that was every bit as much a “stride” as Rainbow’s, but which somehow had quite a lot more going on around the hips. That wasn’t really where Stripes’ attention was fixed, though. That was, for once, on the outfit she was wearing. The close-fitting jumpsuit wasn’t quite skin-tight, but it was closely tailored enough to show every curve, and it was uniquely patterned with stripes that were definitely based on his own. They were white on blue rather than white on orange, but the shapes were very familiar indeed to him.

Even more startling than that, though, was the belt, and the neck-adornment, somewhere between a choker and a peytral, an elaborate woven thing that was tight about her throat but also covered all the bare skin that showed above the jumper’s neckline, with animal teeth—familiar to Stripes even though the species they were from couldn’t possibly be found here—woven into the pattern. The belt was similarly adorned with claws. The whole thing was familiar, because it was what a female of his own species might wear. It was, in fact, what he’d dreamed of Luna wearing on one particular occasion when he knew it had been a construct and not the princess herself in the dream.

Was he dreaming again? No. There was no way he could have slipped into a dream without noticing. He was far too experienced a dream-walker for that. So what was going on here?

“Hello there Stripes, Rarity, Fluttershy.” Luna waved at the three on the blanket. “May I join you?”

“Of course,” said Rarity, ever the gracious host.

Stripes just kept staring.

Luna looked at him with an impish smile and a wink. “How is your day going, Stripes?”

He shook himself. “Er. Well?” Strangely, he thought to himself, but then Pinkie Pie was bouncing in between everyone suddenly, insisting that it was cupcake time and they all needed to have one, and something at least resembling normal reasserted itself, if anything involving Pinkie Pie could be called normal.

The picnic proceeded, and Stripes was delighted to find that Luna and his other friends seemed to get on well. There was a bit of hesitation now and then, a certain awareness that they were Luna’s subjects, but Luna’s own hints of hesitant shyness soon had all the rest trying to draw her out.

Stripes, meanwhile, participated less than he might have otherwise, because a great deal of his attention was going towards keeping control over his wayward libido. Seeing Luna dressed as one of his own people—dressed as she’d been in a dream where they’d had sex, even—was incredibly alluring. It was hard to keep himself in a decent state, and hard to keep from staring, too.

When the picnic ended, Luna lingered in the garden, wandering along the paths with seeming aimlessness. Pinkie Pie had packed away the leftover cupcakes, Rarity had taken her color-coordinated picnic blankets, and even Fluttershy had gone, though not without saying goodbye to all the animals in the menagerie. But now it was only Stripes and Luna, and in the quiet little nooks of the garden not even the guards stationed at the castle’s doors could see them.

Was that on purpose? Was Luna…teasing him? Now that Stripes wasn’t struggling to act normally, now that he was following her into one such shadowed nook he could really think about what was going on, and his head spun with it. Luna had to have seen his dream to know what this outfit looked like. She had to have seen him mating with the dream construct version of herself. Yet if she’d been horrified by that, surely she wouldn’t invoke it by wearing that outfit! This had to be an invitation, surely it had to be?

But what if it wasn’t? What if she was only taunting him with her knowledge of what a pervert he was? Some terrible little voice inside Stripes’ head insisted that was the more likely answer. She could not be teasing him with intent to follow through, she had to be teasing him cruelly.

Yet Luna had never been cruel.

He was not inclined to be cruel either, but with his head completely whirling he was perhaps a little too abrupt when he finally stalked up to Luna, more or less cornering her in a shadowed nook beneath a massive tree, bordered by dense hedges that would allow neither her escape nor any passing voyeur’s view.

“What in all possible hells and heavens are you wearing?” he said, ears half-flat in frustrated confusion.

Luna arched one eyebrow, her expression amused, teasing. “Is it not obvious? Something I saw in a very…tempting dream.”

“Tempting—!” Stripes halted, having no idea how to even finish that thought. He yanked his mind back on something resembling a coherent track. “Luna… Do you know what you’re doing? Do you know the effect you have on me right now? Do you know what it did to me earlier when you touched my ears? If you keep doing things like this, I’m not going to be able to control myself.”

Luna looked at him for a long moment, and then her expression turned downright evil and she reached out, fondling Stripes’ ears again. He shuddered as the touch sent a wave of pleasure through him, no longer a feeling of confused arousal, for he was no longer confused. He’d told her what this did to him, and she’d done it anyway. She wasn’t toying with him after all, this was real.

“I’ve been so bad about finding words for how I feel about you,” said Luna, gently. “For which I apologize. Though you have not exactly spoken up either. If I hadn’t seen that dream I would believe you didn’t like bipeds, and no longer found me attractive after coming to know my true self.”

“I, er…” Stripes felt his ears heating, but Luna also continued to stroke and fondle them. “Sorry. I assumed you wouldn’t… I mean you’re a ruler, while I’m nobody. And you, I, uhm…” Hell, he might as well still be using the mangled translation spell, for all the eloquence he was managing.

“You are not nobody, Stripes. You are somebody very special. You’ve pulled me out of my solitude and helped me see my own world with new eyes.” She smiled, her eyes twinkling, while her blush grew brighter. “And I have just now put a little charm on this part of the garden, so that no one can hear anything that happens here. So I was rather hoping that we could re-create the better parts of certain dreams, if you’re willing.”

Stripes licked his lips. “You are amazing, and I’m not remotely worthy of you. But I am beyond willing.”

“Wonderful.” Luna went to one knee, her fingers still working at his ears, stroking and tugging and scratching behind them, but with her head now at his level she rubbed her cheek along his in a deliberate gesture, imitating what one of his own people might have done. He rubbed back, scent-marking her, and feeling the arousal he’d been fighting all this time flare brighter at the thought that he’d scent-mark her much more thoroughly shortly. His cock was hard beneath his belly, his pulse pounding faster, his breath rapid.

Then Luna did a human thing, pressing her lips to his. The kiss was awkward, and not something he was used to, but he knew what it meant and did his best to kiss back.

When Luna pulled back from the kiss, Stripes found himself feeling uncertain all over again. It had been easy to simply take what he wanted from her, or from the construct of her, in dreams. Now, though, he wanted to please her. He wanted to give and not simply take.

“What do you want?” breathed Luna, in an echo of his own thoughts.

“Whatever you want,” he said.

Luna gave a soft chuckle, and tugged his ear again with her long, graceful fingers. “I see.” Her expression went thoughtful, though her fingers continued to work. Stripes couldn’t bite back a soft moan, and he leaned into the caress. Her fingers tugged at his ears, teasing him dreadfully. He expected her to move on, to make some indication of her desires, verbally or otherwise, but she only continued to crouch beside him, her face nearly resting against his shoulder, and stroke and pull at his ears.

Each movement of her fingers sent waves of need through him, and he groaned again. “Luna… I’ve said what that does to me…”

“I know,” she said, and her tone was evilly amused as she grabbed one ear more firmly and twisted.

Stripes whined. He couldn’t help it. Need was pulsing through him, and the sting of pain added to his already aroused state was almost too much. He knew his tail was lashing and he was breathing hard, and he couldn’t help any of that either.

Luna leaned in and bit Stripes on the ear, and he lost it completely. With a low growl he shoved her over onto her back, unable to hold back any longer. Luna’s eyes were wide as she looked up at him, but she reeked of desire, so Stripes had a feeling that it wasn’t fear, that she’d deliberately bothered his ears until she drove him to this state.

That was only a tiny observation in the back of his mind, though, hardly a thought, because his mind was on fire with the ache of need that filled him, driving all thoughts aside. He crouched over Luna, pushing his hips down on her, and the way she let her head roll back and moaned only fanned the fire within him higher.

Unfortunately, she was still clothed, so all he could do was grind himself against her. She writhed under him in a way that began unraveling what little self-control he had left. To hell with it. Luna was rich enough, she could replace clothing if he ruined it. He lifted himself from her, but only to unsheathe his claws and hook them in the collar of her jumpsuit. With a low growl he tore them through the fabric, shredding it, paw crooked so that he didn’t touch Luna herself.

“Oh, stars,” she breathed, a shiver going through her. Stripes nuzzled at the flesh he’d revealed, running the soft fur of his muzzle over her smooth skin. He nosed at her breasts, strange things that his people didn’t have, but their soft, pliable texture was pleasing. Then he nuzzled lower, breathing in deeply as he did. The scent of arousal coming from her was strong, intoxicating. It drove Stripes even more wild.

His claws came out and he tore her jumper further, until it was only hanging from her in tatters. Though he remained careful with his claws all the while. He was wild with need for Luna, but he would never harm her, not for all the world. Luna gasped, but made no move to object. His muzzle sought out the source of her wonderful scent, nuzzling down her stomach and then down further, pressing to the fuzz of blue between her legs. She sighed and shifted, parting her legs for Stripes, revealing the pink flesh of her sex.

Stripes let out a low, feral growl, eagerly pressing his muzzle to it, past all thought. All he knew was the taste of her, the scent of her, the feel of his own desperate need, an ache between his legs.

That he could ignore for the moment, though, for his nostrils were full of Luna’s musk, and he couldn’t resist lapping at her, tasting her, his muzzle buried against her pink, musky folds.

She gasped and arched under him, her hips pressing up, her eyes shut as she cried out in pleasure. Stripes hummed in pleasure and licked again. Luna moaned again, shuddered beneath him. Soon she was arching and squirming as he lapped insistently at her. His tongue slid between her folds and worked up over the heated nub of her clit over and over again.

Her hands clutched at him, fingers raking through his fur, nails digging in as she moaned and writhed. His ears were full of the sound of her, nose overcome by the scent of her, tongue coated in the taste of her. The ache of need still between his legs throbbed with desperate need, yet he was so caught up in the scent and sound and taste of Luna that there was no way he could stop, not yet.

Her hands found the collar he was wearing, caught at it, clung to it as she bucked and writhed. Her cries grew faster, more urgent, her body tensed under him, and he applied himself with even more vigor to his licking, pushing his tongue against her clit in broad, rapid strokes.

“Oh, Stripes!” She bucked again, her whole body shuddering, hips lifted, and Stripes thrilled at the thought that he’d brought her to such a state of pleasure.

He gentled his licking, but didn’t stop until she went limp and let go of her grip on his collar.

Luna let out a long, happy sigh. Stripes lifted his head, licking his muzzle clean, but he was far from done.

He gripped Luna’s upper arm, his short thumb just enough to let him get a decent hold, and pulled, rolling her. Luna let out a squeak of surprise and resisted for just a moment, then suddenly moved eagerly with the motion, not only rolling onto her stomach, but pulling herself up to her hands and knees. She then moved her knees apart and shifted to rest on her elbows, displaying herself shamelessly. She wasn’t done any more than he was, it seemed.

Stripes couldn’t resist the open invitation. He wouldn’t have wanted to even if he could. So he moved immediately to mount her, both of them shifting until he could grind his cock, aching and eager, against the equally eager wetness of Luna’s folds.

Luna let out a needy whimper, rocking back against him. Stripes heard himself whining eagerly as well, feeling nearly desperate with need by now, and shifted his hips to try to find the right angle. He felt Luna’s fingers, cool against the raging heat of his erection, cup his cock and help guide the tip of it into her.

They both moaned together as he thrust in. Stripes rested deep inside Luna for a long moment, savoring the feel of her. He ground his hips down as hard as he could, sinking as deeply as possible, reveling in it. This was no dream, this was real, and she wanted it, wanted him, and oh stars above did he want her!

His hips started moving without his even having consciously decided to begin. His forelegs wrapped around Luna, paws holding her tightly, as he took her hard and fast.

Luna made little cries of pleasure with each thrust, bracing herself beneath him and pushing back eagerly. He bucked his hips against her, losing himself in it, letting go the last tiny scraps of his self-control. Luna’s moans only grew louder as he thrust in with wild abandon, and the sound was music to his ears.

The heat that had driven him was now building, a growing fire, and swelling pressure, a lava in the core of him that he couldn’t have held back even if he wanted to. It erupted into bliss, his thrusts becoming shudders as his seed spurted out into Luna.

She let out a cry beneath him, pushing back even harder, and he held her tightly as he filled her with hot cum. It didn’t matter that they were different species and could have no offspring, he still felt the primal force of putting his seed in her.

When the last spurt was done, Stripes pulled free with a deep sigh, and slumped over on his side beside Luna. She sighed too, and turned to snuggle up to him, pressing her warm body to his and nuzzling into his fur. “I can hardly believe that just happened,” she said. “It was even better than in my dreams.”

“You read my mind. Are we certain we’re both awake?” He felt like sleeping, drowsing in the warm light that filtered down through the trees above them. Idly he wondered how long the magic Luna had used to hide them would last.

“I think so.” Luna nuzzled at him again, and began combing her fingers through his fur. He couldn’t help himself, he rumbled with relaxed pleasure. This did seem unreal, but if it was a dream, let him never wake.

Eventually Luna sat up and stretched. This did very interesting things to various bits of her body, and Stripes idly wondered how she’d feel about a second round.

Luna nudged at the shredded remnants of her clothing with one foot, and shook her head. “I won’t complain at all about how this went, but we have a bit of a problem now. I really should get back inside and take care of a few things. But I can hardly stroll naked through the castle gates without making a stir.”

“Won’t your spell cover you?”

Luna shook her head. “The building is warded. I could cast the spell inside, and I can cast it out here, but I can’t carry it functioning over the threshold, it’ll break.”

“Oh.”

“Guess I’m stuck here with you.” Luna laughed, then bent and kissed his forehead.

He rubbed his cheek against her affectionately and chuckled. “I don’t think I mind at all.”

Luna was at yet another interminable formal pre-dinner reception. With the cooperation of the palace guard she’d gotten inside and to her rooms without a scandal, and now she was dressed in a flattering but conservative suit, appropriate to the occasion, even if she’d rather be naked and back in the garden with Stripes. The reception was, in a word, boring.

She had been to uncountable thousands of such events over the centuries, requiring almost none of her conscious attention. She could spend the entire event on a kind of auto-pilot, dealing with would-be toadies, genuine admirers, and those maneuvering for power with equal-handed noncommittal pleasantness that would satisfy the first, delight the second, and quietly infuriate the third. Normally she took some pleasure in making various little games of what to say and how to say it, just to keep from going mad with boredom, but tonight she needed no such stratagem, for her attention was focused on Stripes.

Not that anyone else in the room was likely to notice. She only occasionally let her eyes slide over him, though his bright coloration made him easily spotted amid a sea of dark clothing. Night colors would never go out of fashion as formal wear under her rule.

Instead of watching Stripes, Luna was listening to him. It was a small spell, simple yet undetectable save to an adept of similar status to herself, of which there were perhaps three on the whole of the moon. So while she mouthed empty pleasantries, she was listening to the glorious trail of confusion that Stripes was leaving behind him.

And all he was doing was talking.

“Hello, there, my friend.” Luna didn’t have to look for Stripes to recognize the man who’d greeted him. She knew that voice too well. Senator John Johnson, ever with an eye to the main chance. He was always trying to find ways to ingratiate himself with her, and she knew he’d spoken to Stripes before, seeing opportunity in somebody, however “primitive”, who had the princess’s ear.

“Are you well tonight?” Johnson was speaking very slowly, using simple words, as if Stripes had ever shown any signs of not understanding him.

“I’m doing quite well, thank you for inquiring,” replied Stripes, his tone urbane, a near perfect imitation of Johnson’s usual affect with fellow politicians. “And how are you this fine evening? Doing well, I trust?”

“Uh.” Luna did her utmost to not laugh, and spared a little glance to where Stripes and the senator were standing. Stripes was up on his hind legs, meerkat-style, the nearest he could come to a pleasant smile on his feline features. Senator Johnson looked like he’d been poleaxed. “I’m. Uh. Fine. Thank you.”

“How delightful.” Stripes neatly snagged an appetizer with one large paw, gave the senator a nod, then turned away in obvious dismissal, popping the morsel into his mouth and then dropping to all fours as he did so. He left Johnson looking completely gobsmacked, an expression Luna hadn’t ever seen on the arrogant, self-assured career politician, and she allowed herself a tiny smile as she turned her full attention back to the conversation around her.

Stripes continued to be a surprising delight in so many different ways.

The bowl placed in front of Stripes smelled wonderful, and with a wicked sense of fun he plunged his muzzle into it and started to drink messily. He’d spent the whole evening acting exactly the opposite of normal, with careful, culture language and delicate manners. Now he was deliberately reversing things once again, and the confusion he was causing was far too much fun.

It had been a pleasure to see Luna trying to hide her smiles whenever she looked his way. As incredibly arousing as she was, and as amazing as the sex earlier had been, he would rather have her smiles than anything else. Cheering, guarding, and comforting her were things he found deeply rewarding, even though he knew that she was in many ways so much more capable than he, making such urges a little absurd. Yet she did obviously need at least the cheering, and he would do what he could about the rest, too.

So he ate the meal with messy abandon, and gave Luna frequent sidelong looks, seeking the elusive sight of her smile. He also gave a few choice senators and ambassadors glances, reveling in the confusion on their faces. He’d been speaking in broken pidgin one moment, in their own cultured language the next, and now he was acting the animal again.

This meant, though, that he finished his food before most of the rest of the diners. That left him at loose ends. He considered the merits of a good, indecent grooming session for a moment, then, seeing the way Luna’s eyes were glazing over again as she sat at the head of the table, decided on something else.

The table was at a height such that he only had to crouch slightly to slip beneath it. He was sure at least some of the other guests saw him go, but he was also sure that nobody would be so poorly mannered as to bend over and peer under the table at him. So, with a grin on his face he crept slowly forward, avoiding the various legs and other appendages beneath the table.

He soon reached Luna, and he crouched and regarded her legs for a moment, still grinning. She was wearing a skirt, long enough to cover her knees, but short enough to leave a swathe of bare skin showing between its hem and the tops of her boots. He leaned slowly forward and deliberately brushed his whiskers against her legs.

Luna’s squeak of surprise made Stripes want to laugh. Her retaliatory kick was playful enough to reassure him that he hadn’t overstepped, too. His keen ears could just hear her murmur, sotto voice, “If I hadn’t known that was you, I might have kicked your nose in, you ridiculous creature.”

He slunk closer, until he could just about have put his head in her lap, and replied as softly as he could manage, “I could try something else under the table, if you didn’t like that. Wearing much under the skirt?”

That got another squeak, this one strangled, and another kick, which thumped him in the side. He chuckled.

“You’re terrible. Not just begging for scraps this time?”

“I’ll take those too, if you don’t want them.”

“No such luck, I happen to like crab bisque.”

“So sad.”

“Now shush, the next course is arriving, and I’m supposed to be hobnobbing, not talking to my lap.”

“Yes ma’am.” Stripes slunk back under the table, amusing himself by letting his tail brush a few various lower appendages as he went, and slipped back to his seat just in time to have a plate of something unfamiliar but delightfully savory-smelling placed in front of him. Food kept him busy enough for the rest of the meal, and when it was over and he might have gone and bothered Luna again, he saw her excusing herself. He didn’t say any farewells himself, he simply jumped down from the low bench provided him and left too.

Others were doing the same; once the highest ranked person left, Rarity had told him while discussing dining etiquette, everyone else was free to leave if they wished. No others, though, caught up to Luna to walk at her side as she threaded her way towards the elevators. Most of them did not live in the upper castle, they either had their own homes or resided in the conventional diplomatic quarters in the lower part of the tower.

“You are quite the prankster,” said Luna to him with a look that might have been dangerous were her voice not filled with laughter.

“I have to keep myself entertained somehow. I don’t have much actual diplomacy to do.” Stripes smiled.

“Even when there is real diplomacy, I do like a good prank. My sister and I…” Luna stopped abruptly, and her stride faltered.

“You’ve spoken of her before,” said Stripes gently. “It always seems to make you sad.”

Luna began walking again, but more slowly. “Yes. She and I… We were as close as any two people could be for many centuries, you understand. We were two immortals, alone amidst all humanity, heirs to a kingdom we had vowed to rule together. But we fought, too. We were—are still, I suppose—very different. We value different things. But our last disagreement… Celestia took it too far. I know she intended nothing more than to win, to get her way as she usually did, perhaps to teach me a lesson. But circumstances aligned such that it cost me a dear friend’s life, and I thought for a time it would cost my own life, and that of my companions as well. I cannot forgive her for that.”

“Oh.” Stripes couldn’t come up with anything else to say. Finally he said, “I’m sorry.”

Luna shrugged. “Ancient history, now. I do still miss her, though. I will always miss her. I have long since ceased cursing her name. But the things I said when last we spoke… No doubt she curses mine still.”

“I’m sorry,” was all Stripes could think of to say again, and there was a heavy silence between them as the elevator arrived and they rode it up to the top floor.

As they walked down the hall, though, Luna said, “Could you walk with me as I guard the dream realm tonight, Stripes?”

“It would be my pleasure,” he said, feeling a warm glow inside. Luna’s smile made that glow burn brighter. She opened her door and ushered Stripes inside. He entered, peering curiously around the first room, which he hadn’t seen before. He’d come in through the balcony the last time he’d been here. It was the same size as the similar room in his chambers, though he noticed an extra door leading from it, in addition to those leading to the bedroom and bathing room.

“I’m going to get changed.” Luna gave Stripes a little wink. “You can stay here, or you can come along if you like.”

Stripes felt his ears growing hot, and he permitted himself a leer as he replied, “I’ll take that second option.” Luna laughed, and put a little swish in her hips as she went into the bedroom. Stripes followed behind, finding himself very pleased that the swish was right at eye level. It was almost unreal to think that the owner of that alien and yet intensely alluring body actually liked him, wanted him, had willingly and openly courted him. Had lain with him, and not only in a dream!

He could almost convince himself he must in fact be dreaming now, and it became even more unreal as Luna began shedding clothing, not making a show of it, merely casually removing everything before crossing the room totally nude to retrieve a flowing nightgown.

She reached out and stroked his cheek once she was dressed. “It’s been a long day, so I won’t tease you tonight. My invitation was to sleep and to dream, I want to be clear. If that’s acceptable?”

“Of course!” said Stripes. He felt a hint of arousal, and it wasn’t exactly easy to tamp it down, but he wouldn’t dream of pushing further. Luna had already given him more than he could have hoped for today.

When Luna sat down on the bed and patted the blanket beside her, he jumped up readily, and soon they’d both cuddled up in the bed together. Stripes put both forepaws around Luna, and she pressed willingly close, snuggling into his fur, her head tucked beneath his chin. He nuzzled the top of her head tenderly, feeling a warm contentment settle over him. All hints of passion had ebbed away, but that was fine. This was wonderful.

“Before we sleep, and especially before we dream, I should speak to you about the dream realm here on my moon. It is like other dream realms, and yet it is also unlike, for it harbors a Nightmare.”

Stripes made a soft, wordless sound of questioning. The way she said “nightmare” suggested that she didn’t mean an ordinary bad dream.

“When I say Nightmare I mean an ancient, alien creature of great power, that is all mind and spirit, with no body. Long, long ago it used mine, for I invited it in from the dream realm. That was folly, but at the time I was distraught and desperate, and it seemed a wise choice.”

Stripes let out a soft hiss of breath through his teeth. “I’ve heard of such beings.”

“Yes. Other dreamwalkers I’ve spoken with often have heard legends of them, though I’ve never spoken with any who has met one directly. They seem to be ancient relics of some long past age. The one here, bound to this moon, will not speak of her past, so I know nothing of her origin. What I do know is that she delights in pain, feeds on suffering, and stokes the more ordinary nightmares of my citizens into horror-traps that allow her to fatten herself on their fear. Each night I travel the dream realm here and drive her off whenever I find her. When she is not about, I shepherd my people through more ordinary nightmares too, which is how I first found you. But because of her, the thing I ask of you may be dangerous. She is dangerous. Normally dream things have no power beyond the dreaming itself, but her nightmares are perilous. She can scar the mind, heart, and even body if permitted enough leeway.”

“I see.”

“She has at times held me trapped in nightmares of her devising, when she has caught me unawares. You woke me from one such, not long ago. Yet normally I have enough of an upper hand to keep her at bay. With your aid I think I will fare even better. But there is some risk, real risk and not only dream risk, in what I’m asking of you.”

Stripes almost said that he wasn’t afraid. But there was a thin shiver of fear somewhere near the base of his spine. He knew that Luna was beyond him by far, when it came to power. If this nightmare creature could outmatch her… Yet he certainly wasn’t going to leave Luna to fight it alone. “I’ll take that risk,” he finally said, and nuzzled the top of her head again. “I’d take greater risks, even, if you asked them of me.”

She let out a little sigh and burrowed further into his embrace. “I do love you so, my Stripes. My One Who Stalks The Night.”

Stripes felt warmth wash over him at those words. It was as if a fire, long banked, had flared within him. Gently, and with a feeling of something that might almost be called wonder, he replied, “I love you too, Luna.”

Then they were silent, as each sought the realm of sleep, needing no further solace than the deep intimacy of the embrace they shared.