• Published 7th Dec 2012
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Luna's Dreamscape Journey - ugugg93



A boring night at the castle turns into an adventure Luna will never forget.

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Chapter 13: Throw Down

Once again, Luna found herself flying through the darkened skies over Ponyville. The morning would be arriving in just a couple of hours to spoil her fun, but for now her moon was the celestial object that cast light upon the land below. The clouds from several hours ago had finally cleared up, allowing the infinite stars above to twinkle to the one-pony crowd below. Such a masterpiece was something that should be shown off to everypony in the entire realm. Sadly ponies all over still slept though it, but Luna had resigned herself to this fact by this point.

Luna quickly turned her eyes west and over the trees of the receding Everfree Forest, and saw her gibbous moon just barely unobscured by the treetops. In fact, if Luna's mental clock was anything to go by, she would assume that there was just over an hour and a half left until she had to meet with Celestia on the Eventide Balcony to lower her moon. Sure, she wasn't in nearly the foul mood that she had been when she started the night, but it was still an occasion that she was not looking forward to. She much would rather continue to enter into ponies' dreams, and see just what adventures they were going through.

However, as a princess, she had “important duties” to attend to, and so with reluctant strokes of her wings, she banked east, and began to make her way back to the castle off in the distance.

Such a lazy turn translated into a lazy flight across the expanse between the two settlements. Instead of taking the straight shot to Canterlot like any normal pegasus would try to do, she allowed herself to drift left and right, and inspected every bit of land in between Ponyville and the castle. While she saw the occasional house here and there—most of the time accompanied by a field or two of crops—there weren't any actual towns on the winding road to Canterlot. In fact, with the exception of these small farms, the land between the Ponyville and Canterlot was surprisingly uninhabited.

It was right when she made this realization that she noticed a small cluster of covered wagons off in the distance. The details of the four or five wagons were hard to perceive due to the dim light and far distance, but what she could tell was that they were parked right alongside a five-way intersection of roads, with each leading off into another part of Equestria. It was a surprising place for a gypsy caravan to stop for the night, for the potential noisy hoof-traffic alone would put such real estate low on the list of desired campsites. It was definitely something that Luna had never seen before, and so was reason enough for her to turn her nose towards the wagons, and dive down to them.

While just moments before, Luna was lazily drifting along in solemn resolution of her impending “imprisonment,” Luna now found herself speeding as fast as she safely could towards the group of wagons. So fast she flew, that by the time she found herself above the wagons, she was forced to overshoot them, and circle back around so that she may safely land. It was a foolish slip-up, but one she really didn't care about right now—her mind was much more occupied on who would choose this lifestyle, and why.

A soon as her hooves touched down near the wagons, she began to scour the area for any details that would be important. Almost every single one of the wagons was the same as the others. Each had four wheels to move on. Each was covered by a tan canvas to shield the ponies inside from the natural elements. Finally, each was completely bland in their decorations—the owners apparently going for the full utilitarian look. The only thing missing from the wagons were the ponies themselves, though Luna assumed that they were all currently inside sleeping.

However, there was one wagon that stood out against all of these. This wagon was much larger than the others, and while the others had a canvas cover that was somewhat arch shaped, this one had a covering that was much more akin to a tent of some kind. A double hitch in the front showed in full display that this wagon required far more horsepower to be pulled across the roads. Add in the extra axle, the folding wings on either side of the wagon, and the large and featureless banner that was hoisted high into the air, and Luna could see that whoever was in this wagon was somepony of note indeed.

Or at least somepony who thought he or she was somepony of note.

Again, Luna's curiosity got the better of her, and with muffled steps on the cool grass below, she quickly found herself approaching this tent. Only a few seconds passed until she got to get to the flaps of the doorway, but as soon as she got there, she couldn't help but to stop at the precipice. Strangely enough, while Luna had found herself in all sorts of bedrooms that night, this single doorway was the one door that was the hardest to pass. Whether it was because it would most likely be the final one of the night, this one might house a pony of great status, or maybe even merely that this one was outdoors, she couldn't be sure. However, after just a few more seconds—and a few breaths to ready herself—she poked her head through the door, and peeked inside.

She nearly blew her chance right there and then, for it took a hoof to her mouth to stifle the near scream that she let out. Laying in a very overburdened bed in front of her was truly a monster to behold. She had not seen a creature like this since before her banishment, but if her time during the war was experience enough, then she knew what horrors this monster could inflict on a creature. The horned creature's blue fur couldn't hide the bulging muscles that were certain signs of his ability to rip a pony in two, sending fear through her body. This fear bubbled up and through Luna, despite the ridiculously short tie that he wore around his neck.

Yet, for whatever reason, Luna did not leave the tent. Instead, her eyes were completely focused on that tie, and that tie alone. Whatever was up with that tie gave Luna the confidence to stay in the room, and watch as the minotaur peacefully slept the night away. Ever so slowly, she removed her hoof from her mouth, and allowed her eyes to peel away from the neckpiece, and look at the minotaur as a whole as he dreamed whatever dreams he had.

“Whatever dreams he has...” Luna trailed off as she whispered her thoughts back to herself. A second later, she took a few steps forward, and smiled. “I am already here. Why waste this golden opportunity?”

By the end of her sentence, her horn was already alight with arcane energy. Just like so many times before this night, she bent her head down, touched the tip of her horn to the minotaur's head, and entered his dreams.


As Luna's brain frequencies began to align with the minotaur's, the scene around her became much more apparent. She was floating above what looked like an open air stadium for some sort of event. While normally, it would possibly be partially unclear what the event would be, the “stage” that the event was to take place in—a square platform with three ropes going all around to form a border—made it quite clear that it was some sort of fighting arena. The dreamer had not arrived yet, and while she was fairly certain of what role the minotaur would be taking, she couldn't say for certain.

All around her, thousands of ponies sat around in anticipation of the grand event that would surely unfold before their eyes very soon. Their loud chants for action were difficult to make out, but the call for violence was obvious. Every so often, Luna could make out a word or two—usually along the lines of “fight”—with the viscous movements of the crowd all around attracting Luna's eyes. Looking closely, Luna saw that there really weren't any actual individual pony figures, but only a sea of shapes and colors to fill their role. Regardless, they chanted all the same. This went on for several minutes—long enough for Luna to begin wondering when the dream would finally start.

As soon as she thought those thoughts to herself, a onyx-hued stallion began to make his way onstage. For such a rambunctious looking place, he was actually very professionally dressed. Upon his barrel, he had a black collared shirt covered by a black suit jacket—both of which looked like they were pressed just before he came onstage. However, one thing that was especially notable was the tie that he wore—a snow-white bow tie that stood out in stark contrast to the rest of the stallion's repertoire. Add in a microphone attached to his ear, and the pegasus looked like the definition of class.

Starting with a low growl, he slowly began—the crowd dying down slightly as he spoke. “Mares, and Gentlecolts, tonight I give you the best two of their trade!”

Ah. It appears I have finally come full circle.

With a dramatic wave of a foreleg, he said into his mike, “In this corner, coming in at an overpowering three hundred twenty kilos, I give you the monster of a beast... Iron Will!”

As soon as he made the announcement, a hatch opened from the floor of the ring, and allowed the massive body of the minotaur to rise up out of the ground. All around them, the screams and hollers of stallions asking for blood and mares asking for him to kiss their foals filled the air. Reacting to the cheering crowd, Iron Will grasped his two hands together above his head, and shook them in recognition of their praise. When his little elevator of sorts finally situated itself so that it was level with the stage floor, he took a few bows, and made his way to his corner of the ring.

All the while, his little black tie was tied around his neck.

The announcer waited another few moments for the crowd to die down, before he began anew. “And in this corner, coming in at... wait... is that right?”

Suddenly, the announcer brought a forehoof to the ear that his earpiece was in, and appeared to be listening to something that was being told to him via the tiny microphone inside. As he murmured and nodded to whoever was on the other side, the crowd around them all grew more and more restless with every second. With the restlessness came louder clamoring—except it was now complaints instead of praise—until it was nearly unbearable to hear.

Thankfully for Luna, she was close enough to be able to hear the murmurs of the announcer as he spoke into the microphone. “Two? Tag-team? Uh huh... you sure? Double pay? Alright!”

Finally—with the forehoof he had up to his ear—the announcer waved to the other side of the ring. With a booming voice, he spoke over the crowd's protests. “Coming in at one hundred twenty-three and one hundred twenty-two kilos respectively, we have the infamous Flim Flam brothers!”

Suddenly, there was a bang, and a cloud of smoke appeared in the opposite corner of the ring that Iron Will was standing on. There was a surprised gasp in the crowd, and as Iron Will and the announcer covered their eyes slightly from the smoke, the cloud quickly began to dissipate. As it cleared, it became apparent that there were two figures that had appeared inside the smoke. Both figures were very slim stallions, but other than that—and the fact that both were unicorns—it was impossible to discern anything more descriptive of them.

Just as the smoke began to clear a little bit more, the clean shaven stallion began to speak. “I do say, Flam, you weigh a full kilo more than me? I see you've been packing on the pies lately!”
see

Turning towards his other, Flam quickly retorted, “Neigh brother. Merely proof that my marvelous mustache is most magnificent!”

While the two stallions began to quip between one another, the announcer trotted over to where Iron will was standing. With a slightly concerned voice—most likely merely for theatrics—he said, “Iron Will, do you have a worthy comrade to call on to fight with you?”

To that query, Iron will thought to himself for a few seconds. During those seconds, the entire stadium grew quiet with anticipation over who he would choose to fight with him. Luna could think of several ponies that would be perfect for the job—Vigilant Watch, Shining Armor, any of the Wonderbolts, or even she or her sister would be perfect candidates.

However, as time went on without decision, it became less clear on if he even had anypony to call on—let alone somepony that was worthy to fight in such an arena. Granted this confused Luna to no end, for he technically could call on anypony, but it was his dream to mess up as he wanted to. The crowd must have started to think the same thing, for hushed murmurs began to spread through the stadium in unease.

“Let me make sure I have the facts correct.” Iron Will pointed at the two unicorn brothers he was to fight soon. “This is a tag-team, and only one combatant on each side may fight at once. Right?”

The announcer nodded. “That is correct.”

A smile grew on Iron Will's face, and with a quick motion, Iron Will turned his pointing arm into a mighty flex to show off his bicep. “Then Iron Will will fight them alone!”

The crowd erupted in cheers at his declaration. However, as the announcer took a few steps back, he spoke again. “Are you sure, Iron Will?”

Another flurry of motions, and the minotaur now had his hands next to his waist as he flexed his pecs. “Of course! I do not require assistance to fight those two los—UFF!”

Iron Will was caught off guard by a blast of green magical energy smashing into his unguarded face by way of Flam's horn. Stumbling back from the attack, Iron Will brought his hands to cover his face, only to receive a second shot of magic—this one to his stomach. This second blast didn't appear to knock him off balance as much as the first, for the minotaur was able to stabilize himself on his hooves before the third shot got to him. As the third blast of energy flew through the air, Iron Will bent his knees in anticipation—a mischievous gleam in his eye. Just as the blast from Flam was going to hit Iron Will, he jumped forward and up into the air, sailing over the blast with relative ease.

Iron Will hit the ground with a roll, and quickly got back to his hooves in anticipation for the next flurry of attacks that Flam would throw in his direction. Indeed, the smirking unicorn once again charged his horn with arcane might, and after pointing the appendage at the minotaur, blasted the magic in Iron Will's direction. Iron Will was quickly able to shift to the left and dodge the vast majority of the blast, with only the very tips of the hairs on his right shoulder being singed by the magical punch.

Shifting his weight further left, Iron Will spun around, faced towards Flam, and stared down the unicorn that stood thirty hooves away from him. With an primal snort of fury, he quickly lowered his horns in aggression, and charged at the nearly defenseless unicorn. However, while the sheer brutality of the aggressive action was terrifying, a charge from that distance was easy to avoid, and so with a quick step to the right, Flam dodged the deadly points of Iron Will's horns. Meanwhile, Iron will slammed into the ropes of the ring's border, and using the ropes to stop his charge, bounced back into fighting position. From there, he looked at Flam, and charged once again.

His charge was stopped by the sudden impact of a magical force against his unguarded back—a magical force that did not come from Flam. Instead, Flim had stepped into the ring, and with a green glow on his horn, fired off more bolts of energy against Iron Will. The minotaur took the first few hits of these fairly poorly, but once he recovered, he was quickly able to turn around, lift his arms, and shield himself well enough. Displaying the true power of a minotaur to the deafeningly cheering ponies all around, he waded through the magical onslaught being thrown at him—taking every single shot in stride. In fact, because Flim was already standing in the corner of the ring, there was no escape for the unicorn. There was only the massive minotaur that was in front of him, which at close range, could only result in—

That was when Iron Will took a blast of magic to the back of his knees.

Taking the opportunity that the cheating Flam had given him, Flim quickly ran towards the now kneeling minotaur, and with a hard buck, kicked the massive creature in the face. The impact drew a loud gasp of shock from the crowd as Iron Will flew backwards. Instead of falling to the ground, Flam instead grabbed the minotaur in his magic, and with a leap into the air, brought all four of his hooves onto the soft belly of the floating and defenseless creature.

“Sweet Mother of Celestia!” the announcer exclaimed in shock. “These Flim and Flam brothers have no shame! They're cheating! They're breaking the rules of tag-team, along with Iron Will's back!”

Why is everypony obsessed with mom?

From that moment on, the fight quickly degraded from its former fight status into a simple game of “beat up the minotaur.” After jumping off of Iron Will's stomach, Flam used his magic to bend the creature's limbs and joints—effectively folding him up into a more manageable object. From there, Flam did a few more bends and pushes, forcing the minotaur to basically turn into a small ball.

With a devilish smile, Flam looked over to his counterpart. “I do say, brother, would you like to play a game of catch?”

“Why brother! I never thought you'd ask!”

With a smirk on his face and a flick of his head, Flam took the minotaur that was in his control, and tossed him over towards Flim. From there, Flim caught Iron Will in his magic, and swung him around his head with a gleeful swing. With a quick flick of his head, Iron Will orbited the unicorn’s body, and then launched him back towards his brother—Flam promptly catching the flying creature. This process repeated itself several times, until the crowd was both booing and laughing at the scene before them.

Suddenly, a massive explosion rocked the entire stadium, sending gasps of shock and fear through the crowd. The explosion forced the Flim and Flam brothers to break their concentration, and as Iron Will fell to the mat below, they looked around to try and find where the source of the sound came from. Luna herself noticed that it appeared to have come from one of the entry tunnels to her right, though the flames and smoke from the explosion prevented her from making out much of anything. Slowly though, the smoke began to clear, and every single pony in the entire area watched from the edges of their seats as the form of the perpetrator appeared.

As the one in charge of the interruption appeared, it was the announcer that first regained control of his voice. “By Celestia's beard, is that who I think it is!?”

Heh... Celestia with a beard...

Before the smoke could fully clear, the perpetrator ran out from the smoke, and sped towards the ring—becoming a blur as he did so. He wasted no time as he quickly jumped his way into the ring—easily sliding under the lowest rope as he did so—and stood next to the crumpled Iron Will. From there, he gave the two unicorns that were standing before him the nastiest glare that Luna had ever seen out of anypony.

However, the announcer was completely unaffected. “It's Angel Bunny! Angel Bunny has arrived to help Iron Will!”

Angel? I believe with an entrance like that, “Angel” is not quite befitting of this... thing.

Completely against his name, Angel Bunny gave the two unicorns a final glare, before he turned around, and looked at the mess of a minotaur. For as strong and fearsome as the creature was, there was only so much that he could take on his own, and it looked like that he might have reached his limit. That wasn't to say that Angel was going to give up on him, for with the sternest of faces, he reached out with a paw, and waited for Iron Will to get up. Slowly, Iron will looked over at Angel, then at the paw, then back at Angel.

With a grin on his face, he grasped the paw, and pulled himself up. “Are you ready to bring the smack-down on these clowns?”

Angel let a smile grow across his face, and nodded.

Both now standing, they turned towards the two unicorns across the ring from them, and watched as the two took one or two steps back in nervous anticipation of what was surely to come. Together, the two monsters of destruction quickly began to run towards Flim and Flam—the two completely different sized creatures matched for speed.

Flim blinked once or twice, before he spoke. “I do say brother, I do believe that we are very much—”

That was all he was able to say before a blue colored fist smashed his nose.

As Flim rocketed back into the ropes behind him, Flam also had his face smashed in by way of a small white paw of the Angel Bunny of Death. Angel wasted no time getting vengeance against Flam's cruel cheating, and with a flurry of fluffy blows, proceeded to pummel the unicorn's face. After the first few punches, Flam was finally able to get his forehooves up to defend his face, but this only served to leave his underbelly unprotected, which Angel took quick advantage of as he used his powerful hind legs to kick again and again. Finally, Flam lowered his forelegs to try and defend his belly, to which Angel reacted by attacking his face—starting the cycle anew.

Meanwhile, Iron Will was taking Flim's entire body, and showing the unicorn what pain truly meant. He was doing this via grabbing the legs on the unicorn’s right side, and using Flim's body as a jackhammer against the ground itself. Sure, Iron Will wasn't making much progress digging any holes, but he was making a lot of progress when it came to turning Flim into pulp. Again and again he slammed the unicorn into the ground, until Luna was sure that if this was not a dream, the unicorn would have long since passed on to the next world. Instead though, this was a dream, and as thus, she could still hear the panicked screams.

Suddenly, Angel took Flam, and with a powerful throw, tossed the poor stallion towards Iron Will. Without missing a beat, the minotaur grabbed Flam by the head with a single hand—a small grin forming on his face as he did so. With his other hand, he grabbed onto the face of the other stallion, and with a mighty throw, launched both unicorns into the air. The entire crowd erupted with excited cheers as the two stallions flew through the air, with only the sounds of the two screaming brothers attempting to drown out the noise.

From there, Iron Will bent his powerful legs, and with a strained grunt, jumped high into the air—effectively chasing after the two living projectiles he threw just seconds before. Soon after, Angel Bunny used the ropes around the ring to jump up as well, and proceeded to chase after his partner. It took a few seconds, but after Angel caught up to Iron Will, he grabbed onto the minotaur's arms, and using whatever forward momentum he had left, threw Iron Will up into the sky—effectively giving Iron Will a speed boost. It was through this speed boost alone that Iron Will was finally able to catch up with the two unicorns.

At a height of ten kilometers in the air.

Iron Will wasted no time in violently regaining his hold on the two unicorns that were still too stunned to react in any way. With a quick swing of his body, he took both under arms so that they were facing in the opposite direction as he was. Satisfied with the way the two very unfortunate souls were positioned, he tightened his grip on them, and let them three of them begin to fall to earth.

“Sweet Luna dancing in a tutu!” the announcer screamed into his microphone. “It's the Double Dragon Destructo Driver Deluxe!”

What?

Luna didn't get a chance to ponder the potential look of a ballerina outfit on her, for almost as soon as the announcer finished saying his lines, Iron Will slammed into the ground with the most tremendous explosion Luna had seen since her return. Instantly, a shock-wave began to reverberate from the epicenter of the impact site, sending every single pony that was in the crowd to their flanks, as well as sending the announcer flying into the seating area itself. Angel Bunny was unaccounted for since he threw Iron Will higher into the air, but Luna suspected that his fate was no better than the announcers. As for Luna, she was too incorporeal to really feel much of anything.

Even as the shock-wave blew past the crowd of ponies and off into the distance, the dust from the impact blocked any and all vision around the alicorn. Indeed, anything past Luna's nose was completely impossible to make out—the loud coughing and clamoring of the crowd around her sending signals to her that this was the case for everypony else as well. Luna supposed that she could have just flown closer to try and figure out what was going on, but the suspense was much too enticing to ruin with something as lame as that. Slowly though, the dust began to clear, and as it did, Luna began to take in the scene before her.

What was once a magnificent fighting ring was now nothing more than a wide crater—the rest of the ring completely obliterated from the near-orbital impact. Two meters down, the proud figure of Iron Will stood tall with his fists on his hips in triumph. Very soon afterward, the white form of Angel Bunny, hopped onto his shoulder, and began to stand in the exact same stance as Iron Will was. Below them, the only things that could be seen of the two opponents anymore were the slightly twitching hind legs of the once dominating Flim and Flam.

Iron Will's tie was still neatly tied around his neck, as if nothing ever happened.

“Ha! Haha!” the announcer laughed a little bit as he shakily scrambled down the crater. As fast as he could, he slid down the crater wall, and ran up to the pair of triumphant combatants. “I believe we have clear winners here! Iron Will, are you and Angel Bunny going to team up for the longer term, and try and become the best tag-team there has ever been?”

Iron Will and Angel Bunny looked at each other, and instantly, the smiles they bore dropped into a much more serious look. Where once they were celebrating their victory, they were now scanning each other in an attempt to figure out if the other was worthy of their fighting prowess. However, it only lasted a moment, before Iron Will brought his right hand up, and put his fist next to Angel, and waited. Angel Bunny looked at the fist for a second, before smiling, and punching it with his own paw.

Iron Will turned back towards the announcer. “If ponies are going to cheat, we'll turn them into meat!”


Luna pulled her head back up from the minotaur's forehead just in time for him to snort a little bit in his sleep, and roll over. Silently studying the creature before her, she couldn't resist letting a smile grow across her face as she watched both his light breathing, as well as the small black tie that was tied around his neck. However, she knew that staying any longer tempted fate, thus she quickly backpedaled her way out of the tent that she had entered just a few minutes ago.

Stepping out into the night sky, she turned around, and with a smile across her face, she spread her large wings wide. “I have to admit, it was a satisfactory end to the night.”

With that, she flapped her wings a few times, and with the wind from her wings causing the structures around her to shake slightly, she gained altitude, turned toward Canterlot, and headed home.