Anything for My Princess

"You're letting me stay here?!" squealed Pip, ogling the princess's room. "I can't believe this!" Dropping his overnight bag by the door, he ran over and dove into her bed. "This is so cool!"

Luna took a deep breath and walked into the room behind him. "Yes, for the next few days, this is where you'll be staying. It really is a comfortable bed."

"It's wonderful! Like lying on a cloud! I could fall asleep super easy on this bed!"

"I'm glad you enjoy it," Luna smiled. It was a bittersweet smile, as she felt a pain in her heart. She wanted him to be happy, genuinely, but she didn't want that to come at the expense of her own health. "It's a wonderful bed, one of the best Equestria has to offer."

Pip sat up. "But wait... If I'm sleeping here, where are you going to sleep?"

Luna shook her head. "It's going to be a difficult few days for us, Pip. I'm not sure how much sleep we're actually going to have."

Pip suddenly remembered back to the dream he'd had the night before. His head drooped, and he began to shiver. "O-oh..."

"You know what you did was wrong, Pip."

He nodded. "I know. I didn't mean to, I just... I wanted it so much, and I couldn't control myself..." He sniffled. "I know I don't deserve to be forgiven this time."

"That's correct," nodded Luna. "At the very least, you are beginning to understand what the problem is. There is hope for you, yet, but we should be much further along by now."

Pip nodded and held out his hooves. "I'm ready to go to the dungeons, now."

Luna shook her head. "You're not going to the dungeons, Pip."

He looked up. "I'm not?"

"No. I was being honest when I said you would be back at home in a few days. Whether you have all of your mental faculties when you do depends on you. Let me make this very clear, Pip: If you should fail the test I'm about to give you, you will never have another dream again. The next couple of nights will determine whether or not I will allow you to keep dreaming. If you cannot keep them under control, I will have to remove them entirely. That includes any imaginings you might have. The wooden fence slat you imagine as your cutlass will forevermore be a wooden fence slat. Your ship will be nothing more than a plastic box around your mattress, and your pirate outfit will look to you as cheap cuts of discounted cloth. Your world will be boring, dull and gray if you cannot hold yourself back. Do I make myself clear?"

Pip couldn't say anything. He was paralyzed with fear. He was a creative boy, and he needed his imagination. To be in an uncreative world would be worse than living in the dungeons, as there, he could at least convince himself that the food was good, and that his bed was a boat. He had options if he could imagine them. In a world without that, he was restricted to only facts, a very depressing way to live.

"Pip, I need you to tell me if you understand or not. Do I have to repeat myself?"

He shook his head. Tears were already beginning to well up in his eyes, and they hadn't even started the test yet. Luna began to have second thoughts about this, but with a deep breath, she pressed forward, placing a hoof on his shoulder.

"Pip, there's one more thing I need to say. Do you remember when this started, and I said that this was something all stallions have to go through?"

He sniffed. "Mhmm..."

"This part, along with a few others so far, are not normally involved. I've had to step in because you're advancing too quickly. It's not healthy to bloom this fast, or as bombastically as you are. What's happened to you in the past month usually takes place over the course of five or six years, and strikes way later. If I were to judge by your libido, you should be in your early to mid-twenties. That's not good for you, Pip. If this rate is kept up, then when you come of age, you might have the sexual fortitude of a stallion in his eighties. That's very much going to cripple your chances of finding somepony to spend personal time alone with."

Pip nodded, saying nothing.

Luna took a deep breath. "Pip, you're a very good colt. I want you to grow into a magnificent stallion. Somepony I can depend on. If I can't trust you, Pip, I can't allow you into the royal guard. If you can beat this, Pip, then there's a chance that, one day, you could be my personal guard, by my side at every turn. It's what you've dreamed of for years before this rash of sexual fantasies. You even told me you still wanted that. I want to help you, Pip, but you have to be strong enough to control yourself."

He sniffed and wiped his face with his hoof. Luna offered him another hoofkerchief to dry his face. "I'll try," he whimpered. "For you."

"For you," urged Luna. "This isn't just about me. I'm trying to keep you safe. Even if that means I have to protect you from yourself."

Pip took a deep breath. "I think I'm ready. Am I?"

Luna shook her head. "Nopony is ever ready for this. I will keep you alive, Pip, but you have to do the rest on your own. And remember, this is your last chance. If you fail, there's nothing else I can do."

Pip nodded. "Okay. I'll do my best. When do we begin?"

Luna strode over to the door and placed her hoof on the latch. "Right now."

As the door swung open, the four guards she had selected, having been waiting by the door when she and Pip arrived, walked into the room.

"Pip, in order to stop you from doing what you have, it is going to be drilled into your brain what it feels like to the victim of your actions. By the time you leave this room, you will know very well what it is you've put me through. These four guards will show you what it feels like to go through what you've done to me." She locked the door and sat down in a nearby chair. "He's all yours, boys."