//------------------------------// // Dream a Dream // Story: My Little Universe: Season 6 // by EquestrianKirin //------------------------------// "K, is the sign 'pull me up' one wiggle, or two?" Off out on a lifeboat, the search for any clues about the Pink Diamond case was still deep in effect with the Crystal Gems. It was a bit troubling for many of them, sure, but in the case of this situation, Flint was extremely focused on it more than anyone else. For his own safety, he got a few others to join him, courtesy of Garnet's decision making, and Flint had his crew with Jade, Diopside, Emerald, and Steven. Flint and Jade were looking around on the boat, Steven off on the side of it and looking underwater with Emerald's help. "Will you stop fooling around, Emerald?" Flint asked. Emerald shrugged and dropped Steven in the water. He popped up again over in front of Flint, spitting out a fish in the process. "This is why we use life jackets," Steven stated. "Here Steven, I got you," Diopside said, reaching out from the boat, and picking him up out of the water. Steven landed in the boat, and flopped around a little like said fish out of water. "This is getting nowhere, feels like we've been searching for light years!" "Uh, light years measures light, not years," Emerald corrected. "It still takes a long time to do." "Will you two quit complaining? I could've sworn that I found a good spot here, but where in the stars is this thing? I swear, it's right here," Flint said, even dunking his own head in the water, and his gemstone lighting up. All he could see was the empty expanse of the ocean from where they were though. "Ok, I'm just gonna say this right now: you're worrying about this WAY more than you should!" Emerald griped. Flint gasped and pulled his head out of the water. "Emerald, I'm putting more effort into figuring out this mystery, and you know that! The sooner we can figure this out, the sooner we can clear our name," Flint reminded. Give them something they don't know, but soon Steven was down and asleep in the boat. "Can we at least get Steven back home? I think the Beach House is more comfortable than being out on a boat," Diopside said. "Huh? No, no, I'm up. Let's solve this case, girls," Steven said, half asleep, as he went on over to the side of the boat. He was about to jump in when Diopside grabbed him by the foot, him passed out in a mid-air jump position. "Yeah, let's go back." ....... "We should be back out there searching, not here, not searching!" So, into the beach house they went. It was still dark by the time they got there, and Steven was ready to fall asleep at any moment, unlike the others. They weren't alone though, as Garnet was over nearby with Bismuth. "Steven needs his sleep. Come on, you don't want to wear him out completely do you?" Diopside said. "Steven's not like us, Flint. He needs his rest," agreed Garnet. Flint felt like everyone was against him again, but Flint might as well not argue. "Oh, fine. Get Steven to bed, I'll keep going. You all can stay if you'd like." "Don't you need to rest too? You look exhausted," Steven said, worried over him. He wasn't wrong, Flint did look completely out of it: hair slightly messy, eyes straining a bit, and bags starting to form underneath said eyes. He looked like a wreck. "OK, that's your opinion," Flint groaned, ready to go. Before he could go back out there, Garnet grabbed him by the shoulder. "Flint. No. You'll be too uncoordinated," Garnet warned. "Oh, how do you know?" Flint asked. Garnet made a slight adjustment to her shades, which despite the dim light still made that O so cool shine to them. Jade walked over to Flint next. "Flint? Please?" "... You're should be glad I like you," Flint groaned. "Everyone needs to chill out once and a while. and maybe I can liven things up with ..." Steven took a moment to get some pillows together and presented them to the others. "A slumber party!" "Sweet!" "That sounds fun. come on, Flint, let's -" before any of them could talk to him, oddly, Flint was already laying off down on Steven's window seat, his back to them, and him just looking off outside at the night. "Looks like he knows how to chill after all," Diopside said. "Shocker," Emerald commented. ....... There she stood. Off outside of Steven's world, Equestria apparently had their own problem right now. At the Castle of the Two Sisters, a rather old location. Princess Luna stood still, silently waiting for what seemed to be the oncoming attackers galloping up the halls. It was the Mane Six, all rushing in from the nearby halls as fast as they could. Luna simply stood there, but she wasn't afraid of the coming fighters, as odd as the situation may be. Luna then began to hear something else show up not too far behind her, but again she didn't feel too worried. In fact, she grew to expect it. "Greetings, Tantabus. I'm ready. Do your worst," Luna said. This Tantabus looked less like an actual creature and more like some ball of magic, but it understood her all the same and acted accordingly. The skies outside the castle grew dark like the night, and Luna began to feel a deeply familiar transformation take place inside her, just as the Mane Six showed up. All six ponies gasped on what they saw next, and Luna began to alter her form: her irises slanting, her teeth sharpening. With a victorious laughter, Princess Luna had returned to Nightmare Moon once more. "Oh no! Luna's returned to Nightmare Moon!" gasped Twilight. "Well we got the cure for that," Rainbow said. Nightmare Moon wasn't so easily intimidated, and she was about ready to attack them, when *slice* Turning around, Nightmare Moon saw something that made her eyes bulge out: the Tantabus wasn't going to stick around to see the end result. With a small cut into space, it opened up what seemed to be a sort of portal, and next thing she knew, the Tantabus had left. "What? IT'S GONE!" Nightmare gasped. And not a moment too soon: looking to the mane six, each one of them had the elements of harmony on them, which started to swirl and spin above them, their magic activating within them. The colors of the mane six, gleaming in a rainbow, swirled in the air in a beam, and Nightmare Moon found herself trapped in a vortex. This was too familiar to the Alicorn princess, and that same power that gave Nightmare Moon power was suddenly drained away. In little time at all, Luna was brought back from her torment. The mane six were more than happy to see Luna return to normal, and all hug her with all smiles. ... With a jolt, Luna was awake in her bed. She was normal still, back at Canterlot castle, and by the look on her face, she seemed pretty well rested. "My dream ended ... happily? ... This. Cannot. Happen!" ~~~~~~ Next following morning, and everything else seemed relatively normal. Over off at Rarity's boutique, the Mane Six were going about their day and handling their own business. In this case, rather than handling somepony in the spa, it was pet grooming day, and they all were giving their pets some good treatment. However, and oddly enough, the group just looked ... well, out of it. Each pony looked rather worn out for some reason, though it was hard to say what. They didn't had any big adventures, or some sort of action this week. "Thanks again for letting us do this, Rarity," Fluttershy said, a yawn escaping her muzzle as she was brushing Angel. "A grooming day for our pets is a great idea," Rarity replied, a yawn escaping her too. During their little tidbit, Rarity was quietly brushing Opalescence's fur, the kitty cat smiling and purring in glee, feeling the comb run through her fur. However, Rarity tried to stay awake, yet began to doze off a little, and ... *poke* RROOOW! "Oh, I'm sorry. I just didn't get my usual amount of beauty sleep," yawned Rarity, as Opalescence hissed at Rarity for the poke, hanging from the wall drapes with her claws. "You know," Twilight said with a yawn, "I didn't sleep any good either." "Same," said AJ. "Ditto," added Rainbow. "I'm totally beat too!" finished Pinkie. Despite the fact she was doing cartwheels as she said that. Eventually, a bark from Winona got Applejack awake. "Alrigh' time for a brushin'," AJ said with a smile. however, the farm mare was so tired, she couldn't exactly see what she was doing. Instead of grabbing the brush, she grabbed the alligator, and with her eyes dozing off, she brought Gummy to Winona, just to have the gator bite her ear! Thank celestia he didn't have teeth, but that didn't mean Winona liked it, and shook the gator off ... just to land on Twilight's Owlowiscious, the pet owl flying like mad around the boutique, Pinkie trying to get Gummy down. Winona was not amused by that at all. "And I went to bed early last night ... but then I had a horrible nightmare," Flutterhy then yawned. "Me too!" said the others. Odd coincidence. "Eh, you know, except mine wasn't that scary," Rainbow added in, though mostly it was to show she didn't have too much trouble with "scary". Twilight yawned again. "Well mine was. I was in a lovely library, but then this blue smoke monster came up and -" An estimated four to five jaws dropped to the floor. "... What?" "I saw something like that too," Fluttershy said. "So did we!" gasped Rarity. Now it was more than a coincidence if their nightmares were getting this exact with eachother. "Wonder why I didn't have it. I slept great," Spike noted, who was more awake than anypony else in the room. Not really a helpful comment, and RD just rolled her eyes. "Weird. What could've given us all the same nightmare?" Rarity wondered in surprise. Though, she wasn't as surprised if not more tired. Twilight, hoof to chin, eventually got to a probable answer. "I don't know. But I think I know who would. Spike, can you get a letter to Princess Luna?" "Ready!" Spike said, already having his quill and scroll ready. Never a good idea for a messenger to forget his tools, even on the most mundane of trips. Spike unraveled the message, and began to write it in. "Dear Princess Luna, last night my friends and I all dreamt of a creature made of blue smoke. I'm sure you're very busy, but -" Twilight paused to yawn. "- when you have the chance, please let me know if you have any idea what it could mean. Yours, -" another yawn escaped her. "- Princess Twilight Sparkle. ... You can leave out the yawns." "Alright," spike replied with a smirk. Once that was done, he rolled it up, tied it up nice and neat, and then sent it on its way with a single breath. Seconds later ... *BAM* "WHICH ONE OF YOU SAW THE BLUE SMOKE MONSTER IN YOUR NIGHTMARE?!" "... That was fast," Fluttershy said. Yep, Luna had arrived, frantic on the idea, and door lucky to not be wrecked on her arrival. "We all did. ... Well, except for Spike," Applejack said, glancing to the fully refreshed Spike next to her. Luna started to feel a little bad, her ears folded back in worry. "Know anything about this?" Rainbow asked. "I'm afraid so. This is a Tantabus: a parasitic creature from my nightmares! It escaped it while I slept yesterday," Luna revealed. "But how'd it get into our dreams?" Twilight asked. "It's like a parasite: it feasts off of nightmares onepony dreams of. My dreams must not be enough to quench it anymore, and now it escaped mine and got out into yours. It must've known about you when it saw you in my dream," Luna explained, though it didn't make the situation any better for any of them. "One question: did anypony see anyone else in any dream yet?" "Aside from the Tantabus? I didn't, did any of you?" Rarity asked, but most of them shook their heads for no. Underline most. "Ok, so the Tantabus will give us bad dreams. No biggie," said Rainbow. *BAM!* *CRASH!* Suddenly, someone else bolted through the door, this time going so fast the door was knocked off its hinges and spun in place for a full three seconds before falling to the ground. Sure, Rainbow moved that quick, but that made everypony in there jump, including Luna. Looking over, they found Fulgurite had come by, though breaks were a bit lacking, and she was stuck with some mannequins and a curtain on her. Fulgurite quickly shook it off, tossing the curtain off of her. "Fulgurite?" Twilight asked. "Girls! Hey, look, I know you may be busy, but I need to -" Fulgurite stopped talking when she saw Luna standing there, suddenly jumping over to her. "Luna! Great, just the pony I want to see! Listen, I've been told hundreds of times about your little tricks inside a thing called "dreams" right? Someone, or somepony falls asleep, and all that, right?" Fulgurite asked, but Luna needed a minute to gather herself, considering Fulgurite was talking as fast as an excitable Pinkie Pie. "Did you see the Tantabus too?" "Tantabus, what? No, just come here!" ~~~~~~ "... Oh dear." It took less than a minute to get the entire gang off and over at the Beach House, but what they found once they got there was a bit out of place, to say the least. They found Pearl (her Gem covered up), Amethyst, Peridot, Jasper, Jade, Lapis, Steven, and Garnet all over on the ground in the beach house. Diopside, Flint, and Emerald were also there and getting them comfy, and Flint just got back with Jade in his arms, who also looked unconscious much like the others on the ground. "Hey, Flint, got her," Fulgurite announced, just as Flint placed Jade down on the couch. "Luna, thank the stars," Flint said. He walked over to her, but had to watch his step over the other there first, narrowly missing stepping on Amethyst's hand as he did so. "What in tarnation happened here?" Applejack asked. "I don't know, you tell me," Flint answered, looking right over to Luna in particular. Twilight went over to Peridot, and lifted her up with her magic, only to find that Peridot was passed out, fast asleep with some stray drool passing her lips. "They're just sleeping," Twilight sighed. "I know that, but they won't wake up. We've tried everything, but it won't work. Emerald, show em," Flint instructed. Emerald did as he said, and brought out a bat in hand, and just went to town on Jasper, whacking her like crazy! While it was a bit ... weird to watch, it didn't wake her up. "Nothing." "Was that really necessary?" Fluttershy quietly asked. "Actually, yes," Fulgurite answered. "Oh no, the Gems won't wake up! It's My Little Universe: Mindwarp all over again!" Pinkie gasped. Luna went over to one of them and investigated them all, seeing them all in a similar situation. None of them woke up, and they all didn't look hurt according to the gemstones on them all. Then one other thought went through her head that made her even more troubled. "Did anypony see any of these Gems in their dreams? Any of you?" Luna asked. At first, nopony actually answered her, but ... "Eh ... Ok, guilty." "Rainbow!" Flint yelled. "What?! We were in some crazy fight with a giant diamond rattlesnake, and they all fought with me." "No they didn't: they were here this whole time, We found them passed out in their rooms and brought them all here," Diopside corrected. There was a bit of a pause in the room. "... You never had a dream, had you?" asked Rarity. "May I remind you, Gems don't need sleep. I didn't have any sleep for a literal earth week, and I feel fine," Flint answered. "One tantrum, hold the ice," Emerald commented, which didn't help Flint any. Luna took this new information into account, as she reached her answer. "I saw that the Tantabus had grown more powerful, but I did not realize that power was enough to enable it to escape my dreams. If its power grows, it could very well find a way to escape into the real world. It could turn all of Equestria and Earth into a living nightmare!" Luna revealed. None of them knew much about this Tantabus, but if this was any indication, it was no joke on what this thing could do. "Ok, I take back my earlier comment: that's bad. really bad!" Rainbow said, hooves on her head. "Well, it's not going to be easy, but we don't have much choice: I'll have to enter into their dreamscape and stop the Tantabus myself," Luna decided. "OH NO! I'm going in there with you," Flint answered. "Flint, I can't let you. The dreamscape is a highly dangerous place -" "Luna. My Jade is laying right there, and can't wake up because of this Tantabus. If you think I'm going to just stand here and let you run off alone, you got another thing coming," Flint made clear, even gripping the alicorn at her front hooves. Suddenly, Fulgurite gave him a whip to the head with her electric hair, giving him a shock to snap him back to his senses. Flint took a minute before he got back together. "... Thanks. I needed that. I'm all better now," Flint said, sounding calmer. "Good. So Luna, what do we do?" "Don't worry, we got it," Spike said, already arming himself up for his guard duty. "Very good. You keep watch here, alright? and don't fall asleep," Luna advised, the ponies all agreeing. Since they couldn't wake up, Luna could just start herself off now, and went over to the center of the room, standing on the table, and her horn glowing. Eventually, white light escaped from it, like strands of spider silk, and each one connected to each Gem and into their own dreams, whatever that would be. "There she goes," Rarity said. Flint surely felt hard here, angry, and unable to do anything. "She better bring her back." ~~~~~~ ....... "AH~ This is the life, eh babe?" "I couldn't agree more.~" The first Dream, Luna flew off in what looked like a pretty picnic scene, both Ruby and Sapphire sitting down on a blanket and watching the stars go by above their heads. Honestly, pretty cute, but Luna wasn't there simply to sight see with them, she had a Tantabus to find. The landscape was wide open, and not much cover for much of anything, so it shouldn't be that hard to find where it could be hiding. As it stood though, there wasn't too much of a sign of this Tantabus anywhere. At least, she didn't at first, but eventually the starry sky that Ruby and Sapphire were looking at with such comfort then started to slowly move a little bit before it actually "touched the sky" before bolting for it. Next thing they knew the starry sky turned into what at first looked like a lovely display of shooting stars. Well, these stars turned into projectiles, and extremely fast attackers, as Ruby and Sapphire bolted to their feet to avoid the hits! These same stars turned into monsters themselves, and each one hissed at them. Luna quickly took action and blasted a few of them out of sight before meeting with the two. "Ruby, Sapphire!" "Luna! What's going on here? When did stars turn savage?" Ruby asked, Sapphire cowering slightly as a few more stars almost shot them! "The Tantabus did this," Luna confirmed. Neither knew what a Tantabus even was, but they soon saw the creature floating nearby. Luna raised her wings and tried to fly at it, just for the Tantabus to split open the dream again and fly off. "It's going into another dream." "Well, let's go after it!" Ruby insisted, Gem weapon at the ready, but Luna refused. "No, I don't want you to suffer because of me. I have to go where you can not," Luna said, and with that final statement, she flew off after it, leaving Ruby and Sapphire to deal with their shooting stars. ....... For the Tantabus, the next stop on its little hunt for nightmare fuel was off from one fusion, to one singular servant Gem, and the whole scene shifted from a nighttime picnic, into a tropical scene: a scene with Pearl gleefully enjoying herself with a big smile on her face, holding what appeared to be Rose Quartz as they surfed along a wave on top of a pizza slice. "Ah hahahahahaha! Oh Rose, this is wonderful! I'm just having so much fun spending time with you, Rose!" Pearl beamed, eventually blushing and adding in "Forget about Greg! Let's go travel the galaxy!" The Tantabus knew exactly what to do. One tap on her head, and .... "Thank you so much ... for fixing my van!" To Pearl's horror, Rose's face turned into that of the very man she had just said to forget about, freaking her out like crazy, as "Greg" gagged out a pizza slice from his mouth. Only now did Luna arrive, but she was just too late to do much, and the Tantabus was off and flying away again, acting like an arrow and skewering through time and space to get to the next dream. Well, here we go again. ....... This time, Luna got to the next dream first, and wasted no time in skidding to a halt to see which dream they ended up in now. As with the other dreams, this one didn't start too bad, and this time the dream appeared on what looked like some sort of stage. Looking over to said stage, she found it was in the middle of some sort of play, or act, and Lapis Lazuli was center stage, and dancing beautifully and gracefully alongside Pearl in a lovely ballerina duet. A nice act, but the Tantabus was still looming, and sure enough, Luna quickly caught sight of this Tantabus looming not too far away, appearing just above the stage. "There it is," Luna thought, opening her wings, and readying to attack. Lucky for Lapis and Pearl on stage, this time the Tantabus didn't have time to alter anything, and quickly tried to get away from Luna. Lapis and Pearl didn't really notice Luna, and the alicorn wanted to grab hold of the Tantabus before it could go any further. Luna flew right at it, and the Tantabus began to work itself away from the scene, off and hidden away backstage, Luna following close behind. The Tantabus was just about to jump into another dream, but this time Luna caught up with it and pinned it under her hooves. Bad decision. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! ....... Luna bolted in a huge startle, and suddenly collapsed backwards off the table and onto the floor nearby the door, everyone who was still awake in there now startled. "Princess Luna!" gasped Twilight, going up to her and getting her to her hooves, Luna startled and shaken up herself. "What happened?" asked Diopside. Luna needed a minute to calm down before she could answer. "I, I'm not sure, it must've forced me out somehow," Luna concluded, though she was shocked that it could even do such a thing. On the bright side, looking back, they then noticed Pearl and Garnet were already away, though Pearl was still gagging over Rose-ivied Greg and his gagging pizza, while Garnet was still half-shaken by the shooting star attacks. Lapis got up as well, though she appeared more surprised than scared, possibly from the screeching that the Tantabus had made before Luna got kicked out. "You three alright?" asked Fulgurite. "Perhaps. Though I can't say the same for Pearl," Garnet answered, Pearl still trying to regain herself. Lapis got up to her feet, and actually yawned a little bit. "Boy, what a dream. What's going on?" Lapis asked, stretching a little bit, feeling a little bit more rested than the others in the room. "Luna was trying to get this Tantabus out of these dreams, and clearly it shoved her out. Luna, you got to get us in there," Flint insisted again. Luna got up to her hooves, looking right up to Flint. Luna felt deeply conflicted here; this was her problem to deal with, not theirs, and she already caused enough trouble with Nightmare Moon twice before, thrice if included the second return of Sombra. "I'd hate to bother you with another problem of mine. It's something I must fix." Flint started to grow cold. "Well it didn't work, did it? It knows what you can do, but not us." "Flint," stated Lapis, disappointed a little bit. "Luna? Clearly this problem is highly dangerous, and if you're unable to follow it, then perhaps it would be best to have a group of Gems go in," Garnet suddenly said. "What? Garnet, I'd hate to see my problem become one you'll have to face. Just allow me to -" "Luna. You said before: this is a species issue that can't be crossed. You did a lot to get into our dreams to begin with, so it would be easier if a Gem would go in." "You're awfully cooperative with Flint, huh?" Emerald questioned. "I don't want Luna to hurt herself trying to get the Tantabus any further," Garnet said. Luna withdrawn on that statement, but little by little, Luna reluctantly nodded. "You all have to be careful when you're in there: the rules of real world logic don't apply in the dreamscape. Is everyone ready?" Luna asked. Flint nodded his head. The alicorn sighed, and her horn began to glow again, the same white lines connecting once more to those sleeping, and multiple one branching over to those who were standing. Flint was hit first, and he quickly started to feel tired. ... ~~~~~~ "Ok, where am I?" Flint got up to his own feet, and took a moment to check his surroundings. The whole area was quiet: seemingly in nowhere but a sea of stars, and a blue abyss above him. There was a solid ground under his feet for him to stand, though it more appeared like pixels of light rather than hard earth. He, Emerald, Diopside, and Fulgurite were all there at the same spot, and bit by bit the group all got up and observed the area. It wasn't just a empty landscape here, and looked a foot away revealed a lot of doors, each one with a Gemstone to signify which one of them had which dream inside. Flint armed himself up with his Gem pistol. "So, is this that 'dream' place Luna was talking about?" Diopside asked. "Stay alert. That Tantabus is somewhere here. ... So which one to try first?" Flint asked. The group started walking down the unforeseen hall with the doors surrounding them. It was a bit hard to really say, as the Tantabus could be literally anywhere in there, and with so many doors to choose from, this could go on for a long time. "Oh, ok this is interesting: we're checking in the group's inner psyche. Wonder what goes on in Garnet's head?" "We're not here just to sightsee, Emerald." "Well you know what, we're doin it anyway! Onward we go!" Emerald announced, and before any of them could stop him, he bolted for the closest door by him, in this case being Jasper's dream. Well, they gotta start somewhere. ....... They went through the first door, and soon the group found themselves from bright stars, into a palace of sorts, much like the palaces back on Homeworld. The exact room in particular appeared to be a throne room, rather standard for one admittedly, nothing too new about it. "Homeworld? How the heck did we end up here?" Fulgurite asked. "That's the thing with dreams dude: you can be here to anywhere in the world just like that," emerald said, snapping his finger. "So. We're not on Homeworld?" Flint questioned. "Eh, nope. Now, what's cheesepuff got going on in here?" Emerald asked. "Welcome home my dear. Look what I got for you, my Jasper." Well, their cheesepuff had their answer. Looking to the throne, which suddenly was a bit further away at this point. A being was sitting in the throne, but they couldn't figure out who it was exactly, and Jasper was standing good and proud, looking like a pure elite soldier of Homeworld, cape behind her like the one she first arrived to Earth with. Pretty straightforward this one, and the figure then gave Jasper what looked like a wonderful, beautiful medal of honor. Jasper sure looked happy for it. "It is with great honor that I present to you as captain of the royal guard." "I humbly accept," Jasper said with a smile. "Man, I was hoping for some big secret reveal or something," Emerald griped. It was then though that they got a taste of what this Tantabus could do. Coming in from a side hallway, the creature in question floated on inside. Once it got there, like the others, a wave began to occur, and the effects of this nightmare immediately began to go crazy: the medal around Jasper's neck tightened and turned into a cuff, one attached to a long, long, chain. Jasper's moment of happiness turned into surprise, as the end of the chain reached the same being, who now had her in her grasp. Jasper tried to get free, but the chain suddenly whipped her upward, and slammed her into the ceiling! "Jasper!" Diopside gasped. Fulgurite bolted up to her, but the Tantabus wasn't gonna give her a chance, and whacked her aside like a bug, isolating the group from Jasper as she tried to get away. It wasn't even close to be enough though, but before they could even manage, a door opened up behind them, and the group was sucked out fast, seeing Jasper's shocked face just before the door slammed in their face. Just like that, they were back in the room again, and before they could go back in the room, Jasper's door disappeared from sight. They got themselves recovered, just in time to hear the Tantabus slip into another door. Which one, they didn't manage to see. "K, that happened," Diopside said, getting up and shaking her head. Well, that was one door, and they had a bit more to go here. "Well, let's pick a dream, find it, and take it down," flint instructed, before he reloaded his gun, and began to move on to the next door of his choice. Seemed simple enough, but if one dream was this dynamic, then who knows what'll be in the next one? ~~~~~~ The place this time: one step through the door, and they found themselves backstage in ... some sort of studio, they weren't too sure. Steel walls, a few wires on the floor, the door they entered having one of those "exit" signs above it, the typical backstage settings. A few cameras were set up with a label saying "EQG", along with some lights fixated to some sort of box, and a few chairs. "Interesting." ....... Children's Music. Odd to hear in such a place. Looking off ahead, the group soon saw that there was actually a bit of a set up going on here: peeking around a nearby wall, they were indeed on some sort of set. The setting looked like a living room of sorts. nothing looked too over-the-top, and looked less like a room and more like a doll set: a simple red table, a round clock on the wall, fridge and counter along the back wall under a window, and three simple chairs. As for who was there, there was three characters in the chairs: Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet, each one apparently enjoying some breakfast ... or something like that. One thing too; they didn't look entirely real. Less like actual Gems and more like one of those string puppets, and they were moving just as well as one. "Wait ... what's this I'm even looking at here?" Fulgurite asked. "That doesn't matter, the Tantabus should be here any minute. just look around for it," Flint noted. Emerald only needed just a few short seconds to see what was going on here, and a shiver ran through him. "Uh, guys?" What's your favorite idea? Mine is being cre-a-tive! "What the?" Diopside said. The group took a look in the room again, and found that all three Crystal Gems were listening to what looked like a paint can. A paint can with a set of hands, one of which had a paint brush on it. How do you get the idea? I just start thinkin creatively! "Psst, guys, come over here where it's safe," Emerald whispered, now hidden off closer to the exit door. Fulgurite, Diopside, and Flint did so, but it was weird to see Emerald this freaked out over something. So as they were singing, they went out of the way. "What's wrong?" Fulgurite asked. "Guys, listen to me: I think that Tantabus had gone by already." "What?! When?" "Beats me, but now we're stuck in a 'Don't Cuddle Me, I'm Afraid' skit!" "... Huh?" the three other Gems asked. What was that even? The group took a look again, and now the group was staring out the window, the paint can bringing their attention to it outside, apparently the clouds changing into all sorts of things, Pearl and Amethyst acting accordingly as Garnet stayed quiet. I can see a hat! I can see a rat! I can see a player with a baseball bat! I can see a log! I can see a bog! I can see a apple, eaten by a hog! "What's so wrong about this?" Fulgurite questioned. "Keep watching," Emerald advised through gritted teeth. Suddenly, the group was at the table again, this time the paint can having what looked like a painted hairdo. Look what I did with my hair! I use my hair to express myself! Garnet: That sounds simply boring. I USE MY HAIR TO EXPRESS MYSELF! "What?" Fulgurite wondered. "Ah ... I get it," Flint said, getting the idea just off of that. It was a vague idea, but if this was going where he thought it was going, then it might as well be. "Do you get it now? This idea is just horrid," Emerald shivered. "Looks simply mundane to me," said Fulgurite. "Oh, we're not even there yet, and I'm not waiting for it to start!" Emerald quietly yelled. But Diopside began to notice something from her position. Her Gem eye focused a bit more like the cameras on set, directly to the paint can. The paint can, and the particularly black paint that was inside it, which at first they thought was standard red. Though admittedly, it could be just as disturbing. "Flint, over there," Diopside quietly instructed, pointing to the paint can. The others eventually soon saw the same thing, while not as clearly as Diopside, but just enough to get it right. Oh, flint wasn't gonna wait around for this one. "I got this," Flint instructed, and he started to turn invisible on them, and slip into the scene. With his cloak on, no one on set really noticed him, or if they did, they weren't doing anything about it. And what a time too, as more singing was ready to come on, and now the group had a picture frame for each one of them to use. Garnet didn't go along with it, but the other two were right with it, following the paint can. Think you're getting the hang of it now, Using your minds to have a good time! Pearl: I might paint a picture of a clown Whoa there friend, you need to slow down! Suddenly a can full of ink was suddenly poured down on Pearl's picture. Sticky, black, slimy goop covering the clown picture from top to bottom. Emerald could feel that they were getting close to that particular part. Okay everybody, let's get - *click* What happened next came out of nowhere, and made the entire studio jump: Flint fired! One shot hit the paint can, red paint and black ink spewing on the wall nearby. The paint can screeched, and the entire scene suddenly glitched out like crazy! The Tantabus formed back to normal, but with the injury, it didn't have much control over what was going on, so it had to retreat out before Amethyst could wake up! "GET BACK HERE!" Flint yelled, the group racing after it as it bolted through the exit door. All they could do was follow it through, and just as they got back to their main hub, Amethyst's dream door cracked, crumbled, and disappeared. Guess someone else had woken up, or the Tantabus made sure no dream was repeated. The next door. Jade. ~~~~~~ Stepping through Jade's door, the group were met with a rather quiet sight. So far their dreams had some sort of offer to it, but this time they were in some sort of cave. Long, quiet, and cold. When Diopside looked back, they found the entrance of the cave, but outside it was in the middle of winter. "Where did we end up now?" wondered Diopside. "And who turned up the AC?" Emerald added, shivering a little. Sure he was a Gem, but that didn't mean cold didn't affect him. Flint quietly walked ahead, though this time he didn't really keep his weapon up. He stayed that way, and continued looking around, going further into this cave until ... "JADE!" Looking around the corner, he found that the Tantabus must've stopped by already: Jade looked trapped, found out by what he only could assume to be more Homeworld soldiers. He saw his own gemstone getting crunched and shattered in front of Jade. Jade looked horrified. Before anyone could stop him, Flint immediately opened fire on the soldiers to keep them from getting to her. Jade was shocked as shocked could be, as the soldiers were destroyed with ease. "F-Flint? But they, but you -" "No, no, Jade, it's okay. I'm here," Flint said, going over to her. Jade was still shaken up by what had happened, but she was just glad that Flint was still with her, hugging him tightly. Flint returned the gesture, but unfortunately, this was short-lived. The Tantabus was closing in right behind them. "No you don't," Fulgurite then said, her lightning speed quickly grabbing the Tantabus before it could go any further. Jade had been spooked more than enough, she didn't need anymore from the Tantabus. AAAAAAA - MMMMMPH!!!!! "What's that?" Jade asked. "Tantabus. Don't worry Jade, stay with me," Flint said, reloading his pistol of shots before going over to the Tantabus, which Fulgurite wrapped in her electrified hair to keep it down. But no way was this creature going to be stopped that easily, and it started to cut through the time and space to get to another dream, but the others weren't going to let go of it that easily ... Even if the cut was large enough to get them all inside. "You clod." ~~~~~~ AND with a thud, they all, including Jade, landed in what they assume to be another dream, and soon they were ready for anything at this point. For where they were, it was surprisingly ... familiar. Looking around, it looked like some sort of alien planet, many flora unfamiliar to any typical earthling. The plants, ground, even the sky wasn't exactly matching up to what Earth or Equus would look like. The spot they landed in wasn't really just some random part of the planet either, the exterior looking like some glass in a dome. "Wait. Are we on a colony?" wondered Diopside, scratching her head. Yellooooooow! "Clod, hide!" In such a place, they weren't going to take any chances anymore. No, they didn't recognize the voice, but with what that Tantabus could do in this dream realm, it could be anyone. Unfortunately, there was no such place to hide at first, but then a chair started to appear. A diamond chair. No time to be picky: Fulgurite grabbed everyone, and bolted behind the chair, just in time to see Yellow Diamond sitting in her seat with a screen in front of her. ... Or, it looked like Yellow anyway. Sort of. They peeked around the corner, and found that it wasn't exactly Yellow Diamond, but more rather some human cosplaying as her. Seeing brown skin, long brown hair with a yellow diamond hair "helmet", and wearing Yellow Diamond's clothes. This wasn't Yellow, it was Priyanka in diamond clothing. As they kept looking. ... "Hey yellow." Then entered Stevonnie, who wasn't exactly in a cosplay. "Oh. You're still here," the other cosplayer said, even having Yellow Diamond's voice. Funny thing; Stevonnie didn't have the same voice either. "Did we end up in Amethyst's dream again?" Emerald wondered. "I don't think we did." Flint said. "What're you doing?" Stevonnie asked Priyanka. "I'm commanding the dropships to colonize this planet," Priyanka replied, not too enthused. That got Stevonnie excited. "I wanna command a dropship!" she shouted. "Well when you get your own colony, you can command whatever you want." "I WANT A COLONY!" Priyanka didn't even bother with an answer, and she began to work out a screen. Four diamond symbols appeared on screen, which Priyanka began to work with. The group took a look and saw the order: White, yellow, blue, pink, white. Once that was done, a screen of another dropship appeared. "What's that?" Stevonnie asked in amazement. "I'm contacting the commander." Stevonnie's eyes widened, but they weren't the typical star symbols one would normally see, but instead diamond eyes. "I want to do it." Suddenly, Stevonnie was up at the screen, her hands messing with the controls and contact commands, Stevonnie giggling all the while. That must made Priyanka grab her by the arm and pulled her away. "Don't touch that!" Priyanka yelled. As this was going on, the group hidden nearby couldn't help but scratch their heads on this odd little act. "Wait a minute, something's not right here. Stevonnie's not this childish," Fulgurite quietly noted, obviously confused. Much of the group had to agree. "... That's not Stevonnie up there," Flint said, almost surprised in tone, just as Stevonnie pulled her hand away. "Why not?! You got all of your worlds, and I don't even have one! It's not fair!! I! WANT! ONE!" The end statement was met with a stomp of her foot, which surprisingly began to send a very slight echo throughout the room. "I want my own army! I want my own planet! I deserve it! I'm just as important as you!!" Stevonnie yelled. "THEN WHY DON'T YOU ACT LIKE IT! PINK!" "... Pink?" Diopside gasped. As with any situation in their world with such big information, before this could go any further, Fulgurite began to hear something going on from above them. And once Fulgurite looked up, his non-existent heart skipped a beat, him gulping. "Guys, don't look now, but we got company." "What're you talking about now?" Flint questioned. All she had to do was point upward, and the group could see what happened. They weren't alone in their little cell: just outside their little glass dome, they saw something huge was eyeing them all. And no exestuation, it was almost as big as a Diamond would be! Tentacles stretched across the expanse of the dome, gripping it like tree roots, a humanoid-like figure upside down and peering in on the situation. Suddenly, everything just disappeared apart from the floor: the world, the chair, both Stevonnie and Priyanka, nothing but them, the figure, and the floor. The odd figure expanded and extended all around them in a menacing way, a set of glowing whit eyes staring them down from miles high. "The Tantabus!" Flint said, bringing out the pistol and trying to shoot it, but before they even could, the ground under their feet began to crack and break. Before Flint could take a shot, the ground broke completely, and they all suddenly fell down fast, avoiding whatever that thing was. ....... "Dang it, we're back again!" Well, on one hand, the Gems were no longer asleep, but they still didn't get their Tantabus after everything they did. In the beach house, the only one who was still sleeping was Peridot, and if anyone would have the Tantabus now, it would be her. "Did you get the Tantabus?" asked Luna, hoping for some good news. Unfortunately, Diopside shook her head. "No, we lost it," Diopside sighed. "Oi, that's enough nightmares to last me my whole existence," Emerald said, hand on his head. Jade quietly went over to Flint, the Gem still scared, but relieved that Flint was still with her, even after what she saw. Flint was glad she was back, but his mood shifted to anger. "How dare that Tantabus do that to us? ... Gems, did any of you see anyone else in your dreams?" "A dream? Is that what that was?" Jade asked humbly. "Yeah, sometimes they're not fun," Emerald answered, going up to her. The other Gems weren't too sure, thinking about what they saw, but then Amethyst thought of something. "Eh ... does a TV show count for anything?" Amethyst asked, yawning. "TV show, Amethyst?" Luna asked, a little confused. "Eh, well, me, Pearl, and Garnet were on some kid's show, and then Flint just showed up and shot everything like crazy." "You're welcome," Flint stated. "Wait ... the cameras. EQG ... OH CLOD," Fulgurite said. "You don't think ..." Luna knew where that was going, and this Tantabus was far smarter than she thought. Cold sweat slipped down her face, irises shrunken and ears folded back at the horrifying idea nearly becoming a reality. She fell down onto her stomach, terrified more than most. "Can someone tell me what a "Tantabus" is?" asked Amethyst. "It's something out of Luna's head that will throw everything into chaos if this keeps up," Fulgurite answered. Summed up the situation pretty well. "I'm so sorry about everything. And now ..." "Luna, don't jump to conclusions yet. Get us back in there." "No. I don't want anypony else -" "LUNA, EQUESTRIA'S GETTING PLAGUED BY THIS THING, DOES THAT EVEN MATTER?!" The room quickly went quiet on Flint quick outburst. "Er, I mean. We know you want to handle it, but if what we're thinking's right, then it'll have to be a team effort of some sort in order to actually finish it off." Luna thought it over a little bit more, but she still felt a bit rough on the idea. But at this point, what else could she do? Luna walked over to the only one sleeping in the room. Luna didn't say a word, and her horn began to glow. Rather than the simple strand of white magic, a extremely bright light shined, and soon covered everyone there. ~~~~~~ Then came the ultimate dreamscape: when the others came up to, the whole group soon began to see that they've been put over into Ponyville, the whole place in nighttime. On the surface, nothing really seemed too out of place, but they quickly saw Luna over nearby in what looked like a transparent sphere, her horn constantly glowing in a strain to keep this dreamscape from collapsing. Bit by bit, they started to see the whole extent of what the dreamscape was like, and many a residents of Ponyville were in it as well. It was like a scene discord would conjure up: some ponies floating without wings, others defying logic in multiple ways, be it growing to huge sizes or having extra horns or wings. "Dang. Not even my dreams are this crazy," Amethyst commented, seeing one very tiny pony run by with Opalescence chasing him. "Nevermind how crazy it looks. Luna, you okay?" asked Emerald. Luna tried to keep herself focused a bit, but some of the ponies actually bowed to her. "No time for bowing, ponies, for there's something terrible coming - no! It's already here!" And on cue, the Tantabus slowly started to rise up from the ground not too far from the group, but this time it grew a LOT bigger than it had before, and once more, the creature showed a unicorn-like appearance, towering over everyone present. The sight of it scared many a resident, as it stared them all down. "I'm so sorry! I brought this all on you, but I'll end it now!" Luna said, some of her magic branching off of her horn and hitting the Tantabus. However, the creature didn't even cringe on the hit, and soon it started to branch out like a web, around to the others, and to the buildings nearby. "What's wrong?!" Lapis asked. "It's taking all my strength to keep this dream together. I hate to ask, but you'll have to handle it," Luna said as she strained to do just that. "Already on it!" Amethyst said, her whip out and at the ready. The Tantabus was quick to notice the group coming its way, but it wasn't going to make this easy: it made multiple taps on multiple buildings, each and every one turning into a monstrous version, and immediately began to attack the residents of Ponyville. Some of the group had to get at them while the others had to get the Tantabus itself. Three houses already had ponies stuck in their grasp, each house growing limbs, claws, teeth and menacing eyes. The first pony had to race out of her own house as a tongue rolled out after her. Another pony was grabbed by one of these monsters, roaring at his face, only to get blasted by Pearl's spear, just enough to get him out. A third pony was actually trapped inside a mouth of one of these things, his hooves straining to keep the jaws open, as Amethyst just saved his life with a whip wrapping around him. It seemed that the more they fought, the more keep springing up around them, and the more ponies they had to save as the Tantabus grew stronger as time went by. "Where're all these monsters coming from?" Pearl asked. "Doesn't matter: we'll be too busy saving ponies to stop the Tantabus from getting into the real world!" Rainbow said, freaking out on the end result idea still. "Sure, How are we gonna know when it can do that?" Emerald asked. Speak of the devil: the Tantabus stretched one hoof to the sky, the end turning into a sword, as it sliced into the very fabric of space, creating a gigantic portal to do just that. "Oh, I think we'll know," Rainbow answered. The Tantabus actually began to seep itself down into it. Thinking quickly, Twilight blasted a magic beam at it to keep it back, and Luna, using what strength she had, sealed the exit for the Tantabus to escape. Even more strain on the princess. Rainbow Dash flew right at it to try and finish it, but the Tantabus turned into a ring, and she flew right through it without injuring it in anyway. "What the?!" Rainbow said, just before the Tantabus swatted Rainbow away to the ground, and reforming itself. It was not going down that easy. The Tantabus tried again, but then Lapis intervened, and her water knocked it back once more before it could even slice it. It was then that Fluttershy reached her conclusion. "Everypony, we need your help too!" Fluttershy said to the residents. "She's right: we all have to work together to stop the Tantabus from escaping!" Twilight agreed. "but what can we do? We don't have your magic or your speed," pointed out a distraught Velvet Sugar. "That's true. ... In Ponyville!" Rainbow said. "She's right. This isn't Ponyville, this is a dream. and once more, your dream! Anything you can do in your dreams you can do now!" Twilight explained. They thought about it, and one baby dragon immediately got the idea. With a snap of his fingers, he took a second to think, and then Spike turned into a muscular, brave knightly dragon! "Hey, when you're dreaming, might as well dream big, right?" Spike stated, just before he jumped, and landed on kaiju Derpy's back, the huge mare ready for the fly, and soon flew up with high speed to the beast. This was more than proof enough for many of them. Derpy and Spike flew alongside the beast, and with a slice of his mighty sword, Spike spiced the Tantabus in two, making the beast shriek in discomfort. "Alright, let put an end to this!" Garnet announced. And everyone there agreed. What happened next was a onslaught of containment and breakout: The Tantabus tried over and over again to get itself out into the real world, but with each try, either a pony, or a Gem would stop it dead in its tracks, force it back in some way, and seal its escape route. It tried one moment to slice a portal, cutting it like a pair of scissors, but then bring forced back by Scootaloo's sudden massive wings, each beat blowing it back. It tried another moment to cut through the timeframe, just for Amethyst, who had a purple panther wrestler get-up, to jump in and force it down. The more times this happened, the more frustrated it grew to be, and nopony and nobody was letting it go. Rainbow and Fulgurite came next, Rainbow now in a superhero's outfit, and both of them raced around the Tantabus and creating a cyclone to suck it down. "It's working!" shouted Rainbow. "But it's not enough!" shouted Flint, the Tantabus pulling itself out of the cyclone, much to their surprise. Lapis flew in next, and with some focus, an entire ocean appeared above her (at least it looked like such), and all that water wrapped around the Tantabus to keep it still. However, the Tantabus broke free of that restraint, just to have it shot at by Flint, the shots now having rope to keep it wrapped up. Applejack joined in on that regard, and lasso'd one of the ropes and pulled down hard. Twilight summoned up a flock of book bats to distract the Tantabus too, and Pinkie joined in with a flock of bird cupcakes. This was becoming critical for the Tantabus, no longer in such a unicorn form, and brought back to just a mass of shadow. Luna observed all of this, but felt very guilty. "This is all my fault! I-I can't hold this dream much longer. Equestria will fall because of me!" she cried, tears of both straining and emotional pain going down her face. ....... AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! It wasn't enough to break the dream, but it did launch everyone back, all restraints breaking completely, and even disappearing altogether. This horrid mass began to take shape again, growing far larger than earlier, and once more, as if to truly slam the nail in the coffin, took a form that made some of them stop cold in sheer shock. Four legs, two arms, long hair, and four eyes. Malachite. "How dare you," growled Garnet. With a sharp set of claws, starting from the ground up, it carved a gigantic portal far too large to be just sewed together and shut. "Is it me, or did it grow bigger when she said that?" Spike asked. It was then that the pieces fell into place. "Luna, it's feeding off of your guilt!" called Twilight. "If that is so, then perhaps that is how it grew strong enough to escape in the first place!" Luna strained. "Say what now?!" Emerald asked. Luna couldn't hold herself back any longer. "I created the Tantabus to give myself the same nightmare every night -" a shot of pain rushed through Luna for a moment. "- to punish myself for the evil I caused as Nightmare Moon!" Now it was out, and the reaction was no less shock filled. "WHAT?! But why would you do that?!" Fluttershy asked in shock. "To make sure I never forgave myself for how much Equestria suffered because of me! But it seems I have not learned my lesson, for now I have only made you suffer more!" Luna said, feeling completely horrible about it. The Tantabus, ever slow slowly, started to march its way through the portal it created, and now none of them could even touch it. "But that means you might just be the key to stopping all this!" Pearl called. "Yeah!" Amethyst agreed. "If it gets strong because you feel bad about what you did as Nightmare Moon, then you just gotta stop feeling bad for what you did!" "How can I forgive myself? I am no better now than I was then. My creation is about to turn the world into a living nightmare!" Luna bellowed. "But that's not what you're doing." A new voice, and one that shocked even the princess of the night herself. As the Tantabus was moving still, a shot of light slammed into its side, making it stunned for a moment and stop moving. It was then that the figure flew right down to her dearest sister. "Celestia!" the others gasped. "S-Sister?" Luna gasped. How was her sister here with her? Celestia landed close to her suffering sibling, Luna feeling just awful with herself on having Celestia see what she had done. The sun princess took just one look at the Tantabus, and felt some sorrow run through her as well. "Why didn't you ever say anything, sister?" "I-I'm terribly sorry. This is all my fault, I should never forgive myself for all the torment I've caused, and now it's happening again!" Luna cried. The Tantabus began to regain motion, and ever so slowly moved forward once more as Celestia spoke again. "But look at what you're doing! Nightmare Moon would've wanted the Tantabus to turn Equestria into a nightmare! You're doing everything you can to stop it! Don't you see? That proves you're not the same pony you were then! Everypony who knows you now, knows that Nightmare Moon is in the past! We all trust you, Luna, Equestria and Earth! Do you trust us enough to believe we're right?" Luna stayed quiet, tears still going down her face, as she looked to everyone around her. The Mane Six, the Crystal Gems, everypony else in Ponyville. They all don't see her as a monster anymore, nor had they ever had been since she had returned to normal. Eventually, her tears of sorrow turned into tears of joy, a smile coming up to her face. "I do!" AND that finally did it. The gigantic Tantabus started to deform a little, and something forced it back hard into the dreamscape. Shock and confusion edged it's face, as it suddenly began to shrink before everyone. It molded back into a pony-like shape, one that mirrored Princess Luna herself, and shrunk down to her size. Without another word of defiance, and without the guilt to feed off anymore, it walked right up to her, molded into her in light, and disappeared from sight. and just in time too, as the dreamscape started to shine and disappear too, albeit more peacefully. "Thank you." ....... "Wha?! What in the stars was that?" Peridot was the first to wake up after everything, and many of the others followed suite not too long afterwards. They were back home, and the problem had been diminished for good, according to the dream they all had shared. Everyone was back, safe and sound by the looks of things, and the crisis of a nightmare world had been adverted. "Good work everyone," Garnet said. "Good work what? what happened?" Peridot asked, completely out of the know on everything. "We'll tell you about it in a minute," Amethyst answered. *thud* Net thing they knew, Flint had fallen back onto the couch, far too exhausted, and in no time at all was soon fast asleep. Ironic, really, but Garnet couldn't help but giggle a little bit. However, he wasn't the only one sleeping now, and she turned over to Luna, who was also sleeping peacefully on the ground. "I wonder what she's dreaming about now?" wondered Jade. ....... And in Luna's dream, the alicorn was having the perfect one: a resting alicorn sleeping in the middle of a cool island by a river, a blooming night flower gently beaming a cozy light down on her, as the beautiful dream world presented a lovely scenery. Peace. Perfect peace.