The brush began to rustle as the two Alicorns took up positions on either side of the unconscious Pegasus.Twilight swiveled her head to and fro, trying to track the sound, but it seemed to be coming from all around her. She felt Luna shift and glanced at her, eyes widening at her appearance.
The Princess of the Night had grown slightly in size, her mane and tail taking on the appearance of black voids. Her horn was ablaze with her aura and her front hooves dug into the ground, small tendrils of blue-white energy crawling up her forelegs.
“Luna?” Twilight whispered.
“Stay near to the mare, Twilight,” Luna spoke, her voice echoing slightly. “This is my realm, and within which I fear little. Ward our charge should aught pass me by.”
The brush directly ahead of the midnight mare burst open, revealing a misshapen form, it’s leonine face snarling as it stalked forward, oxen body born on six stubby, clawed ursine paws. A gleaming carapace covered its back as a dripping stinger waved back and forth over it on a segmented tail. As it squared off against the older princess, it roared in challenge and Luna shifted her stance slightly.
“A tarrasque,” she muttered. “Lovely.”
“What is it?” Twilight asked. Her mind raced as she tried to recall anything she had ever heard resembling this creature, but she came up dry.
“A creature that wanders the Dreamscape and eats the essence of fear left in a nightmare’s wake,” Luna replied. “For it to have entered a dream that still plays, the fear in our charge’s mind must be far more than she has let on.”
Another tarrasque stepped out of the brush, slightly to one side of the first and somewhat smaller. The brush continued to rustle as the clearing around the well slowly filled with a low growling and snapping brush.
“A pack,” Luna said, worry starting to show on her face. “This is bad.”
Sunset’s horn dimmed, her face taking on a worried look.
“Their heart rates just shot through the roof,” she said, turning to Fluttershy and Starlight. “I don’t know what’s going on in there, but it can’t be good.”
“Sever the link, then!” Starlight said. “Pull them out of the dream!”
“I can’t,” Sunset said. “Twilight’s magic has fused her with Luna’s Dreamwalk spell, and as strong as you and I are, we can’t break the power from two Alicorns in their elements.”
Fluttershy stepped forward, her eyes turning slightly red in the shadows as she shifted her membranous wings.
“Let me try,” she whispered, her voice stronger and deeper than normal. “Open Twilight’s eyes, please.”
Sunset shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, love,” she said slowly. “You could get pulled in instead of pulling her out.”
“I’m willing to try,” the shifted Pegasus said, moving slowly around to settle in the front of Twilight’s stiff body. “She’s our friend, and she’s risked a lot for us before.”
Sunset sighed, lighting her horn to gently spread the closed lids of the younger Alicorn.
Fluttershy raised her gaze to meet the glassy orbs in front of her and let out a deep breath before her eyes turned hard.
“Twilight,” she sing-songed. “Oh, Twilight…”
As she blasted one of the tarrasques back, she turned to step back over Tabula. Luna had conjured a shield built of magic and was managing to ward them against the brunt of the assault. She went to step forward and cover Luna’s left flank when suddenly she froze in place, unable to move.
Twilight… a voice sang in her ears.
“No,” she gritted, fighting against the thrumming stream of magic trying to pull her into obedience. “Not now, Fluttershy, please not now!”
She forced her body forward, the process agonizingly slow, and she cried out as a stinger flashed out and buried itself into the unprotected side of the Princess of the Night.
“NO!” she bellowed, her magic flaring out and blasting the landscape apart, the small space around the well floating in the black void as their attackers fell into the abyss.
A bright flash of light washed through the room, hurling Fluttershy back and into one of the hospital ward’s walls, her cursed form dissipating momentarily. Her vampiric look came back as she struggled to her hooves, an amazed cast to her features.
“She rejected me,” she whispered in surprise. She then saw that the two Unicorns were gathered around Luna.
“What happened?” she asked as she came up, seeing the perspiring coat and pained breathing coming from the elder Alicorn.
“I don’t know,” Starlight said, bringing over some spare blankets. “But she’s burning up and going into something like shock.”
Fluttershy nosed the princess, sniffing deeply. She raised her head and frowned. “This smells like a manticore sting, but she’s no wounds.”
“What in Equestria is going on in there?” Sunset asked, looking at the gleaming gem resting on the throat of the comatose Pegasus.