The Mare of Her Dreams

Twilight was on the verge of tears as she descended the long spiral staircase. She heard it from Rainbow herself. "I don't." Rainbow didn't like Twilight. "Not cool enough." Of course she wasn't cool enough. She would never be cool enough. She was just a nerd, and she was lucky that someone like Rainbow Dash was even willing to talk to her. Twilight would never be able to hold Rainbow Dash in her arms, stroke her mane, feel her powerful wings...

There was only one thing left for Twilight to do. This was her rock-bottom, but she had no other choice. The royal harem. A secret, well-kept from the public. A way for the princesses to work off their sexual tension. Tax paperwork classifies them as part of the royal guard, and in a way, they are; the ponies that worked there protected the princesses from the bad publicity and humiliation involved in seeking more traditional escorts.

Twilight never wanted to go there. The concept disgusted her. Using a pony for sex... Someone she didn't even care about... and who didn't care about her. How could Celestia even call that sex? Long before Twilight's coronation, and even before her studies on friendship, Celestia had told her of the harem's existence, and even offered her admission to the exclusive, secret halls. Twilight almost immediately turned down the offer, taking special care not to insult Celestia's way of life. Through a very uncomfortable conversation, she insisted that she didn't have strong enough urges to justify it, and that she was happy just taking care of herself when the need arose, as it only did very rarely.

Back then... that was mostly true. She was so focused on her studies, she really only found the inspiration to pleasure herself a few times a week; sometimes less, if she was in the middle of a particularly important or interesting assignment. When she came to Ponyville, though, everything changed. She started to make friends. Not just with the other Elements of Harmony, but with the rest of the town as well. As she began experiencing more and more ponies on a more personal level, she started to become familiar with all the different kinds of feelings one can have for other ponies, and she developed her first real crush — at age 18, mind you — on her friend's brother, Big Macintosh.

That's when life got awkward.

Previously, when she had clopped, if she thought about anyone, she thought of fictional characters, or famous ponies. Creatures she thought she'd never meet. There was one time — one time — that she thought about Celestia, and she spent the next month of her life as a hermit, never leaving her quarters except to acquire more books on memory-erasing spells. She could hardly look her mentor in the eyes until every remnant of the thought was all but completely wiped from her mind.

When she laid back in her bed on a hot summer night, and began to masturbate, only to find the large red stallion running freely through her mind, a lot of very complicated and painful feelings resurfaced. Damage done during her last foray into mind-altering magic discouraged her from trying to solve her new problem in the same way as the old one, so she just lived with the shame and the guilt that other ponies would have grown out of in much younger years. Thankfully, over the next several months, she reached a more appropriate level of emotional maturity, but by the time she was able to touch herself to thoughts of the great burgundy farm-pony without feeling like she was doing something wrong, she no longer felt any significant attraction to him.

As time passed, fleeting feelings of infatuation for various ponies came and went, and Twilight became more comfortable with her sexuality. She had sex with a couple of stallions... and a mare. Nothing that lived up to the romantic fantasy she had developed in her childhood, but... At least she could call them her friends. Ponies she had met before... Ponies she liked and cared about... Ponies she thought she might be able to love, even if she didn't feel like she was quite there yet.

That's when... Rainbow happened. A quiet night, the two of them alone in the library, reading the latest installment of Daring Do together... Hooves touched, eyes locked, heart-rate quickened. She had always found the pegasus to be beautiful, but she was starting to notice things that had evaded her before. Her unkempt mane had a certain bestial majesty to it, but that was nothing compared to the burning passion in her eyes, or the undeniably intense and complex magical fields generated by her beautiful wings— a latent energy that overwhelmed Twilight's particularly sensitive horn any time she was physically close to the pegasus. Twilight could go on for hours describing that field, for years even, finding the right mathematical terms to define it perfectly, with its infinitely regressing fractal patterns... Even without meaning to, Rainbow Dash stimulated Twilight in all the right ways.

No. It's time to stop thinking about Rainbow like that. It's time to be cured.

I got over Celestia... And Big Mac... And Cheerilee... I just need to get over Rainbow now. This must be how Celestia feels all the time... This must be why the harem exists. It's a psychological treatment. A way to get past these stumbling blocks, past these obsessions, and get back to focusing on things that matter.

At last, Twilight reached the end of the long staircase, finding herself deep within the mountain under the castle. This was another part of the same crystal caverns she had once been imprisoned in; not quite as far down, but still tucked away where nopony sane would ever find it. The grand carved doors, enchanted only to open for those authorized for entry by Celestia herself, swung eagerly outward to make way for Twilight, to induct her into the ancient royal rite.

Sitting before her, at the front desk, was the last pony she had hoped to see there.

Rainbow Dash.

A sultry voice poured from the prismatic pegasus' lips. "Hey there, egghead."

Twilight backed away slowly, only to find herself bumping ass-first into the door, which had silently closed behind her.

Rainbow Dash gracefully slithered out of her chair and began swaggering towards Twilight with an undeniably sensual swing in her step. "Don't be shy, Twi... I'm gonna make you feel all better..."

Twilight was far from relieved by this announcement, and she found herself pressed ever-harder against the door with each passing second, hoping it would swing open and free her; that maybe she could fall down into the caverns below and be lost forever.

"Are you okay, my sweet? What is the matter?"

That didn't sound like something Rainbow Dash would say. Or... Well, she might say something like that, but that's not the way she would say it.

"Did I make a mistake? Is this form not most pleasing to you?"

"That... That form?"

"I attempted to take on the form of the one you most longed for... The creature who resonated within your heart most strongly..."

"I... I don't understand..."

A pale green glow filled the room as the Not-Rainbow-Dash revealed her true self. A black, chitinous body, legs riddled with holes, shiny translucent wings...

Twilight jumped, slightly startled, and prepared mentally to defend herself. "A... A changeling..."

"Yes..." The creature bowed her head, and winced, as thought Twilight was raising a hoof to strike her. "I... I might have tried to hide it, but you know of my kind. I can feel your resentment for me... burning... Tasting of acid..."

"I'm sorry..." Twilight replied guiltily, as she tried to think of a way to help.

"That's a little better already, thank you," The changeling offered, straightening herself up a bit. The way she lived was so strange; feeding empathically; feeling in one's heart what one wasn't fully consciously aware of to begin with. "You believe I work for the one called Queen Chrysalis?"

"Don't all changelings?"

"She commands but one swarm; and there exist many. I decided that that life was not for me, so I found a new swarm— within the hive called Canterlot... Celestia hoped to make me part of normal society, but I... I could not live that way. The ponies at the surface... Their distrust burns like boiling oil. So many of them... So much hate..."

"You're all alone down here?"

The changeling smiled, as Twilight's genuine concern for her was soothing and satiating. "There are other changelings living here... Others like me... And... There are a few ponies who live among us... Kind ponies... Ponies who we can help..."

"So... When the princesses come here... They're... feeding you?"

"Yes."

That... That isn't quite as bad as I thought... I mean... I mean... Okay. So they need love to live. Which means... If I'm feeding them... It's... It's love isn't it? I think that makes sense. So... It's not... I'm not using them. It's like a... A mutualistic symbiosis! That's exactly what it is.

"And... And you're okay with... With having sex to live day to day?"

"My people have lived that way for hundreds of thousands of years... The difference between other changelings and myself is that my hosts are willing donors."

Twilight nodded agreeably.

The changeling's eyes faded from their typical iridescent blue to familiar bright magenta rings set behind light blue eyelids. "So... Shall we start back where we left off? Do you have any requests?"

Twilight slunk back a bit. "Do you have to become Rainbow?"

The changeling's eyes shifted back to blue. "It is... recommended. We will both derive the maximum benefit from it."

"But... The thing is... I'm trying my best not to... It's complicated."

"The heart is a simple thing, Twilight... You just haven't yet learned to listen to it yet." She tapped Twilight's head gently with her peculiarly hard and hollow hoof. "Too much thinking; not enough loving."

Twilight shifted uneasily, trying to wrap her mind around the alien concept of 'thinking too much.'

"Now," The changeling started, as her form gradually shifted into that of Rainbow Dash, and she took Twilight's hooves into her own, "Shall we begin?"

Twilight shuddered at the touch of the changeling's cold hooves, but within moments, they approximated the same warmth she might expect from a proper pony. Maybe this is the key. Maybe... If I just give my heart what it wants, and I... I don't think about it too much, things can go back to the way they were...

The Not-Rainbow-Dash nuzzled Twilight's neck, and nibbled on her ear. Even if Twilight had wanted to resist, she would have had trouble at this point. This was her fantasy... her dream. And it was playing out in real time, in real life... A hoof wrapped around her neck, and gently stroked her mane... A pair of lips came up to meet hers...

As Twilight attempted to allow herself to give in to the experience, she found the eyes looking back at her to be unsatisfactory. They weren't Rainbow's eyes; a close approximation, but not the same thing. The changeling within felt that in Twilight's heart, and could see it on her face, so she adjusted her illusion to better suit Twilight's needs, fine-tuning her appearance to perfection in a matter of seconds. She was used to handling complex replications, but this was far beyond what she might expect from a creature as young as Twilight. The obsession was so specific, so very passionate...

Now satisfied with the eyes, Twilight found herself leaning into the kiss and denying herself any kind of complex thought regarding the situation she found herself in. She was just going to play it by heart, and let things happen. The changeling was not only a professional, but her purpose for being was to infiltrate and understand the hearts of other living things, so Twilight decided to trust her expertise on the matter. Just this once.

Twilight reached around the would-be pegasus, and ran her hooves along the covert feathers, eliciting erotic moans. It felt so very real; like real feathers, on a real limb, filled with real muscles that tensed and pulsed under her touch. In fact, every inch of Rainbow's physique had been replicated with remarkable precision... Wiry, lean legs, toned buttocks, a petite trunk with muscles that could only just barely be seen through a soft, shiny coat— Even the very specific twirls and out-of-place strands in her hair, a subtle scar on her left cheek from a particularly rough crash through a window... Every little bit of Rainbow was there, including details that sometimes went missing in Twilight's dreams. Truly, the changeling's skill was marvelous, demonstrated in her ability to imitate, with such accuracy, someone she had never even seen, through only the imprint left in Twilight's heart.

Rainbow Dash slowly pulled her lips away from Twilight's, and ran a hoof under her chin gently, teasing her, coaxing her... 'Follow me,' she said, without any words. Twilight's body complied, almost without assistance from her brain, trailing closely behind the mare of her dreams. Together they entered a more private room, furnished with a fine bed adorned with silken sheets. The changeling turned away, depriving Twilight of the sight of her lover's face, but providing instead a glorious view of her rear-end, her prismatic tail excitedly twitching to and fro, revealing a tantalizing patch of flesh that Twilight had longed to taste, and to touch.

Twilight watched the changeling circle around her and shut the door gently, and then found herself backing towards the bed as the creature followed closely. Or, perhaps, the changeling was pushing her towards the bed. Such subtle distinctions hardly mattered, as Twilight felt her pulse quicken, her mouth drying, a warm heat developing in her groin. She lost herself to primal lust as her dream came closer and closer to fruition. She stumbled up onto the soft cushion, and the pegasus aggressively and hungrily pursued, climbing over Twilight and looming above her.

"So, I take it you like it rough?"

"Uh... A little... I think..." Twilight replied sheepishly.

"Mmhmm... Don't worry... I won't be too gentle." She responded, as she bent down to nip at Twilight's neck carefully.

Twilight laughed nervously. She didn't want to think about this situation any more than she absolutely had to, but... This wasn't quite right. Sure, she had fantasized about Rainbow taking command and throwing in a little tinge of pain here and there, but in her dreams there had been a level of trust there that didn't exist here.

The changeling interrupted her train of thought, breaking character for a moment. "You're forgetting, I can feel you as you feel yourself... I'll know if I'm going too far."

"Oh..." Twilight muttered, the illusion shattered. For a moment, the pegasus atop her felt a little different; a little bit wrong. But a moment passed, and she forgot that, so that the pony she was with was once again Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow drew back, away from Twilight, running a hoof down along the violet mare's midriff, right down to her crotch, withdrawing right before she made contact with Twilight's clitoral hood. Her wings came down on either side of Twilight's legs, and tenderly stroked her sides, and then her flanks, before the tips of feathers just barely teased her posterior. The pegasus smiled warmly as she bent down to service Twilight, applying gentle kisses all around, her tongue occasionally teasing at Twilight's labia...

"Rainbow..." Twilight whimpered... "Oh my gosh..."

The changeling withdrew her mouth and stroked Twilight's marehood gently with her feather. "Just like you always dreamed..."

"Oh... Exactly..."

"I had the same dreams, Twilight... I laid in my bed, late at night, thinking of you just like you thought of me..."

"Really?"

"Mmhmm..." Rainbow mumbled through sealed lips as she dropped a kiss onto Twilight's clitoris, before slowly engulfing it with her lips, and then with her teeth, applying just enough pressure to hang on the fine line between pleasure and pain.

"OooOooh. Oh... Ouch!" Twilight's head bolted upright as the sensation suddenly changed— the changeling's teeth felt sharper.

"It's okay... It's okay," the changeling insisted, her insectoid voice slightly unmasked, some audible concern in her tone. "Just relax... Relax..." Her voice shifted back to a perfect imitation of Rainbow as Twilight was calmed. "Just cool it, egghead... Don't think too much... Let your heart decide..."

Twilight again had trouble with the concept of not 'thinking too much', but she was trying her best. As though to help her empty her mind, the changeling's tongue entered Twilight's vagina, scraping at the walls, finding all her most sensitive spots, touching her in wonderful ways she had never even discovered on her own, all while using her muzzle to massage at other, nearby, sensitive areas.

But it wasn't working. It felt good, but it wasn't what Twilight wanted. Physically, it was the greatest sensation Twilight had ever experienced, but emotionally, spiritually... there was something missing. She hardly even reacted to the changeling's touch at all.

Sensing she was beginning to lose Twilight, the changeling withdrew her tongue, and pursued even deeper, darker, more hidden fantasies from within Twilight's mind, penetrating her anus with her tongue. The pleasurable feeling... the taboo nature of the act... It excited Twilight, but with time, Twilight's arousal collapsed and the changeling's illusions broke down. Rainbow's tongue was replaced with the relatively thin serpentine tongue of a changeling, the soft face of Twilight's lover was replaced with the hard cold shell of a changeling's muzzle.

The changeling strained... She pushed... She was hyperventilating and dizzy and visibly exhausted. As she drew her tongue back into her mouth, her sad blue eyes rose to look upon Twilight's face. "I... I couldn't do it..."

"It— It's okay..." Twilight sighed, trying her best to mask her disappointment as she pulled the changeling close and cradled her in her arms, stroking her gently.

"Your... Your love... It's so powerful... So cerebral... There was nothing I could... I'm not strong enough..."

"It's okay...." Twilight insisted as she comforted the pitiable creature in her hooves. "It's okay..."

"I'm so sorry..."

"It's okay..."

Twilight rode a chariot home from Canterlot for the first time in a long time. She was too physically exhausted to fly, and she was sure that any and all attempts to teleport would land her next to Rainbow Dash. She was unable to focus on any other location. The whole ride home, she thought of nothing except for Rainbow Dash— How, instead of the taxing day she had just gotten through with, she could have had a relaxing dinner with the mare she loved, maybe retired back to her home to simply hold each-other and feel one another's warmth. But no. That wasn't how the night had gone. Instead, she paraded her humiliating shortcomings around town, sharing her feelings with everypony except the one who mattered, and then finally visited a whore, finding herself unable to find any kind of relief from even that venue. Now, it was late; it was already tomorrow, in fact. Twilight didn't even arrive home until 12:30AM, tired, depressed, angry, and horny.

Without even waiting for the carriage to come to a stop, Twilight dove out of it, opting to fly the last few dozen feet and save herself the time it would take for a proper landing. She swung her door open magically, rushed inside, silently crept past her sleeping assistant, and tucked herself into bed. What an absolutely miserable day. Her friends couldn't help her. Prostitutes couldn't help her. She was too incompetent to help herself. And Rainbow... Rainbow could probably never love her anyway! As if she had to worry about the consequences of loving a mortal... That would never happen. The only place she could be happy was in her dreams...