Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep Review · 4:33pm Jul 11th, 2015
Well, we might as well enjoy this episode, because we've got a mid season hiatus that's likely to last until October. Yeah, Discovery Family's scheduling has been really weird.
In any case, this episode had the story once again be courtesy of Jaysen Thiesen and Jim Miller, and this time it was Scott Sonneborn who penned it. Scott previously worked with Larson and McCarthy for the Season 5 premiere, so how well did he do this time? Well, there's only one way to find out.
We open up with Princess Luna turning into Nightmare Moon again, and the mane six dawning Rainbow Power to defeat her. But the dream has a happy ending, and Princess Luna is horrifed at what that means.
At Carousel Boutique, the mane six are all giving their pets some quality grooming time, but they're too tired to do a proper job. Already, this is looking like the fan favorite "Nightmare Rarity" arc from the IDW Comics, and I have to say that it's done much better here.
Realizing they've all had a nightmare with a blue smoke object, the mane six instruct Spike to send a letter to Princess Luna. And no sooner has he done so, when Princess Luna arrives. She reveals that the blue smoke object is a Tanterbus, a creature that can turn dreams into nightmares. And it has become strong enough to feed off of the dreams of other ponies besides Princess Luna.
Princess Luna gets the mane six to sleep in the same room, and she goes into their dreams one by one to try and catch the Tanterbus. And during Rainbow Dash's dream, her nightmare involves singing flowers that chant a tune similar to that of a certain purple dinosuar.
Ultimately, Princes Luna is unable to capture the Tanterbus, and then she learns that thanks to Pinkie Pie's dreams, it will be able to feed off of the dreams of all of Ponyville, with the end goal of escaping to the real world and making it a living nightmare. At the suggestion of Twilight, Princess Luna creates a shared dream for all of Ponyville. During the dream, Derpy is a giant, Lyra and Bon-Bon share a body ala CatDog style, and Big Macintosh is a unicorn.
When Princess Luna isn't able to defeat the Tanterbus on her own, due to having to maintain the dream world, it falls to the mane six to try and stop it. But when that isn't enough, the citizens of Ponyville step up to help, with some encouragement. At one point, Big Macintosh transforms ala Sailor Moon style into Princess Big Macintosh.
But even that isn't enough, as the Tanterbus grows stronger still. Even Rainbow Dash as Zap, Applejack as Misstress Marevolus, and Spike as his Dragon Knight from his fantasies aren't enough to turn the tide. And the mane six realize that the only one who can stop the Tanterbus is Princess Luna, because she created it.
Why did she create it, you ask? It's because Princess Luna wanted to punish herself for being Nightmare Moon and ensure she would never again fall to the dark side. The mane six convince her that she doesn't have to worry about that anymore and to move on from her troubled past. With that encouragement, Luna recalls the Tanterbus and it merges back into her body. And Equestria is saved once again. The mane six and Spike awaken to find that Princess Luna has fallen asleep, and we see that her dream is a peaceful nighttime area with colorful trees and plants.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the episode? Well, it closes out Season 5's first half on a very strong note, and it feels like a much better done take on the "Nightmare Rarity" story from the IDW comics. I do think a few of the jokes fell flat, especially the ones with Spike, and Pinkie Pie's rapidly changing dreams were a bit too random even for her. There was also a plot hole considering that Pinkie's dream with all of Ponyville didn't happen til after the Tanterbus left. But all in all, those largely boil down to nitpicks, so I give this episode an A+. It narrowly loses to "Slice of Life" seeing as that was a bit more original, but this episode manages to beat out "Make New Friends But Keep Discord". Season 5 has been a season for callbacks and emotion, and I hope Meghan will continue that work in the second half.
Rest assured that I intend to review "Equestria Girls: Friendship Games" and the second half of Season 5 when they come out.
I don't know. Let's see...
She's probably like..AAH! HAPPINESS APPEARS BEFORE ME! I SHALL END IT!
Oh,..I would have never guessed that that nightmare had Barney's qualities! RD now has a perfectly good reason to be scared!
Uh, I saw wings on the latter, so I have a correction: "Big Macintosh is an Alicorn".
Whoo! Princess Luna is already pissed off with her "Nightmare Moon" image. Makes me wonder how Prince Blueblood feels about his "Royal Pain" image.
Wait...so why isn't a new episode coming next week?
Oh...
You tell me.
What was pinkie's nightmare? And the dash one sounds effed up poor dashie :( I like action packed episodes.
I'll be honest when Fluttershy could turn into Flutterbat than Rainbow turned into Zapp, was i not the only one expecting Fluttershy to become Saddle Rager?
So we reach the halfway point and I thoroughly enjoyed this episode.
But we have to wait until October?!
Dear Discovery Channel, you are a disgrace! 
3228897
Um did pinkie do anything at all in this episode?
3229013 besides be funny, she helped everyone realize they're in a dream and can use it to their advantage
3229018
I see well that's our clever girl. She's been like this all season I swear. Also Luna's dream magic finally we get to see more of it.
3229061 I know. and the return of Flutterbat. no matter how brief
This episode gets A SOLID 9.5/10!
This is most definetely the best written story on the show. I got blows to my mind when I saw the CatDog reference as well as callbacks from previous episodes. I love how well Princess Luna was handled. I just enjoyed this episode so much.
The biggest thing I enjoyed about it is the action and boy do we have action in this episode. The climax was hands down my favorite. Not only do we get a emotional moment to boot but we get to see ponies going ham on the Tantabus monster. Also, Princess Big Mac.
This was a great episode to leave on as the hiatus begins.
Better and worse, actually. See, while the Nightmare Rarity arc had its problems, the Nightmare Forces created better nightmares. The Tantabus's idea of scary is just creating a bunch of spooky monsters. Oh, and making fun of Rainbow Dash's tough girl persona (seriously, she sleeps in little Tank slippers; I think she's past the point where "cute" bugs her
). Applejack and Fluttershy's nightmares were both very effective because it played off of their fears (Applejack losing her farm, and Fluttershy having Angel turn on her). Why couldn't all of the nightmares have been like that? It would've made the episode so much better. 
Not that I think the episode was bad, mind you. It was a fun little romp that served as an effective allegory for people who kick themselves too much. I just think the Tantabus wasn't as scary as the Mane 6 made it out to be.