For nearly a week, the Equestrian royals and their alien visitors tried to converse in some form or another. At first they started finding a common place for their maths, but despite sharing a similar structure and base, neither side could apparently make it work for communication. Frustrated with the situation, what started as lashing out by Princess Cadance turned into a hilarious boon. You see, Princess Twilight still had a way to go on her checklists before this would have been attempted. Not knowing that, Cadance simply went with the obvious method of pointing at a tea cup and saying what it was.

From there, it snowballed into the small female and whatever of the Royals were at hand pointing, laughing, and trying to communicate in their own languages. Occasionally there was the odd hiccup with the process, like when they ran out of things nearby to name. That was remedied rather quickly and loudly as Twilight literally teleported a stack of picture books intended for foals.

Little by little, the process sped up. Through it all, the flame maned female worked tirelessly, while her compatriot came and went, seemingly at her whims. After a while, Princess Luna just began assuming that the female was the leader of the two. Unlike their leader that went unmasked, the Equestrians had yet to see the face of the larger of the duo. Every time he left the craft, he was concealed behind polished and shadowed glass, or a sheet of metal with strange glowing eyes. Some of the guards had even taken to placing bets that it was just another machine, like the intricate ones that always seemed to be about.

In truth, Luna was beginning to wonder herself. On occasion she’d faintly feel as if there were two dreams from within the craft on some nights, while on others there was a single distinct one. So she came up with a simple idea. On the sixth day, some hours after both camps had largely headed to bed, and after the lights in the craft had been extinguished, she set to work.

Under the guise of safeguarding the dreams of all creatures in Equestria, the Princess set forth to patrol the dream world from within her pavillion. In her semi-conscious state, an unseen universe unfolded in her mind. The swirls of color and lights resolved into something that looked akin to a night sky. Each spark in the distance was a different dream, with different colors meaning different things. With little more than a thought of the pony, Princess Luna could fly across Equestria in a heartbeat to be outside the dream of anypony she wished.

The representation of the dream changes the nearer you get to it. In the distance it is a small star, then a nebula as the distance closes. Finally, at least for an Equestrian, you’d be standing in front of a single door with the owner’s name across it on a wrought plate. Since the debacle with the changelings, Luna endeavored for a better method of identification. To her consternation, if the real pony was in a dreamless state, the changeling would show in their place in the dream world. Short of inspecting each and every dream, there was no way to tell which was which. So she created a new method known only to herself. Channelling a spell in the dream world would show her the true name of the creature the door belonged to.

So she closed her eyes and willed the spell into being. Luna felt it ripple through the empyrion as the dream world changed. All that was left was a simple thing. Thoughts of alienation, frustration, curiosity, and of space crossed her mind. Like what the humans would consider a search engine, the princess mentally cross checked against the abyss for those thoughts before finding several. Discarding them one by one left her in front of a doorway that looked like nothing Luna had ever seen. Within the dreamscape was a hole. A hole in the shape of a doorway with a dream behind it. After a moment of thought and consideration, she stepped into the yawning black.

As the universe swirled around her, the first thing Luna heard were moans. Not of pain, no. Of passion and lust. Wanting and need. Yet the colors still flowed despite the sensations flowing through her body. Teeth against her skin, claws down her spine, leaving sensual heat and pain in their wake.

The room finally stopped spinning, Princess Luna already knew what she was going to see, yet couldn’t avoid. No matter how she tried to focus her magic, it would not come. Instead, she was forced to watch the aliens coupling. Luna couldn’t understand what words were being said, but no being could not understand the motivations behind it. At least for a moment before the now obviously male one looked up. His eyes forcing Luna to take in the view of a lavish bedroom as the female was sprawled out underneath him.

Only for a moment before the vision did a doubletake. For a heartbeat Luna saw her own face reflected in the mirror. While the dreamer wouldn’t notice, the princess certainly did, as the color shifted. The lighting darkened, sensual lighting shifting to dimmer, redder, just before agony shot through the both of them.

Forced to look down, Luna wanted to gape in horror at a puddle of blood spreading across the bed from her host’s nethers, or where they should have been. Screaming in horror, the female reached down as if to retrieve her lover’s appendage. Instead, her hands tore skin, revealing glistening and bloody machinery underneath the flesh, before everything quickly turned to black.

“JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!”

There was nothing I could do but wrap myself in blankets and tell myself it was okay. It was only a dream. My dick wasn’t ripped off while I was fucking Rose. I was still trapped on an alien planet with her, but I still had my dick. What the fuck. As the door slammed open, just the wrong person ran in to check on me.

It wouldn’t be for several long hours before Rose understood why Alex passed out like he did. Well, fainted would have been the proper term. You see, earlier that night Rose had mentioned that she’d be doing some maintenance on her chassis while Alex slept. His sudden yell startled her so much that Rose had bolted straight to Alex’s room. Unfortunately, in her haste she had forgotten that she was both nude, and missing a fair chunk of her exterior covering in some more “sensitive” areas. Not that she was curious about the programming, use, or hidden “fun” features of the hardware in those areas or anything.

As dawn approached and there was no word from Princess Luna, a duo of her guards elected to check on her. After calling out with no response, the armored figures slipped into her tent. They ignored the rich woods and silks adorning it in favor of strict professionalism. After a few moments of searching they found the Princess curled on the ground next to her cot with her hooves wrapped around her tail. The only words they were able to get out of her were whispers. Something about how the blood won’t wash off, but she scrubs and scrubs.

Being woken up over an hour before dawn, and finding out that her sister was having a panic attack, Princess Celestia was not pleased. Soon the entire encampment and outlying groups were all roused in case something was missed and had attacked Princess Luna. After the combined Princesses managed to force a dreamless sleep spell on Princess Luna, they all agreed it was going to be one of those days. All of the Equestrians were too occupied to notice a set of large windows in the craft had dim light streaming from within. It was going to be one of those days for someone else as well.

What a fucking nightmare. I’ve never had a dream within a dream like that, and would be more than happy to never have one again. The soft light of my cabin reflects off the polished mahogany and brass that I’d selected so carefully. I’d even matched the crimson silk sheets to the motif, although after tonight it was a less welcome color. The only reason I didn’t just grab some meds and go back to sleep was the lightly blinking message from Rose.

“I figured it out.”

Figured what out? My fucked up dreams? Next Chapter: 17. First, First Contact Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 50 Minutes