//------------------------------// // 290. Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep? - Part 1 // Story: Blaze the Pony Tale // by Wolven5 //------------------------------// They were coming. She could hear the echoes of their hooves galloping, becoming louder and louder as they got closer and closer. She waited, knowing it was inevitable, surrounded by the destruction she had wrought in her and her sister’s throne room. Despite the vice she felt pressuring her insides, her stoic poise betrayed no anxiety, not even when it appeared over her shoulder. An amorphous blue-ish purple orb of haze. “Greetings, Tantabus. I am ready... Do your worst.” The orb rose up and suddenly radiated with the reddish haze of a lunar eclipse, beams of darkness reaching out, their touch bringing the pitiless pain! The twelve of them burst into the throne room and gasped to see her rise in writhing agony as she was enveloped in darkness and Twilight cried out in alarm, “Princess Luna’s turning into Nightmare Moon... again!!” Indeed, her deep blue coat darkened, her wings became blade-like, her mane and tail dissolved as they were replaced with an eldritch nebula, her crown and regalia twisted into that familiar frightful helm and armor, and even as her teeth painfully scraped and sharpened into fangs within her mouth did she cackle with madness as Princess Luna became again the dreaded and megalomaniacal Nightmare Moon! “Yeah? Well, we’ve got the cure for that!” Rainbow Dash responded with a cocky smile. In quick succession did Twilight Sparkle, Midnight Blaze, Applejack, Thunderlane, Big Macintosh, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Soarin, Rarity, Blueblood, Pinkie Pie, and Cheese Sandwich all become enveloped in pillars of flashing light and again wore the colors of Rainbow Star Power! The twelve of them rose up, showing no fear, assured that everything would be alright, and their power released in the forms of colorful beams that launched against Nightmare Moon. The dark alicorn staved the offensive with her wicked power, even as those beams all came together in a concentrated rainbow force, cackling madly- “Wait!!” she looked to see the orb she had called ‘Tantabus’ revert from the eclipse back into its hazy form and tear some kind of hole through mid-air, “What is it doing?!” The orb vanished through the hole, making way for daylight, as Nightmare Moon cried, “NO! It’s gone!!” The distraction gave the Harmonic Twelve the time they needed to marshal the full of their collective power and unleash it upon Nightmare Moon who cried out as her fallen state was burned away! In a flash of light, she was Princess Luna again, and immediately flocked by the Twelve as they gave her a happy group hug, not noticing Luna frantically looking around, confused- *GASP!! Pant - Pant...* Luna woke up, her heart hammering, and found she was back in her royal chambers, safe and sound. The same moon-themed bed, the decor featuring many shades of blue inspired by nightly wonder, the black lamps that resembled trees but with soft glows akin to that of starlight. “My dream ended... happily?” Somewhere in her mind, Luna couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief. Only for her horrific realization to drown that relief out as she exclaimed in alarm, “That... cannot. HAPPEN!!!” It was late into the morning in Ponyville, as the Harmonic Twelve had gathered at Carousel Boutique for a pet grooming day, Pinkie Pie declaring ,”Ooh! This is amazing!” Letting out a big yawn, Rainbow Dash added, “Yeah... thanks for setting all of this up, Rarity.” Everyone was there, along with their beloved pets. Applejack and Midnight were brushing out Winona and Dreamer’s coats, Rainbow Dash, Soarin, and Cheese Sandwich were giving Tank, Skye, and Basil baths (Basil had put up quite a fight until the badger found the warm water to be quite relaxing), Rarity was styling Opalescence and carefully combing the cat’s tail, Blueblood, Big Mac, and Twilight were carefully cleaning the feathers of their pets, Splendor, Goldilocks, and Owlowiscious, Fluttershy and Thunderlane were drying off their pets Angel and Soundwave, and Pinkie was going around, enjoying everyone’s company having already cleaned Gummi. Everyone else... Well, the bags under their eyes, the yawning, and the nodding off *doink/CAT YOWL* “Oh my!” The cry of her cat snapped Rarity out of it a little and she peered up to see poor Opal hanging from the ceiling while giving her the stink eye, “I didn’t get my normal beauty sleep last night.” Opal responded with a miffed hiss. “From the looks of us...” Midnight yawned, “I’d say you’re not the only one, Rares.” A round of tired murmurs agreed with him, Pinkie cartwheeling through it all with an upbeat, “I’m totally beat, too!” *Bark* “Aw’righ, Winona, time fer yer brushin’,” Applejack absent-mindedly grabbed for Winona’s brush but accidentally grabbed Gummi, who nipped onto the dog’s ear, to Winona’s irritation, as she whipped the toothless aligator off, causing him to land on top of Owlowisious’s head, startling the owl into accidentally bumping intow Twilight, who fell over into Basil’s tub- *SNARL/”EEYAUGHUGAAAUUAAARRGHHHG!!!!”* Twilight screamed bloody murder as Basil pounced her in a toothy fury for having his bath interrupted, Midnight and Big Mac quickly coming to Twilight’s rescue while Cheese grabbed Basil and calmed him down while Pinkie chased after Owlowiscious, who still had Gummi on his head. “Whoop! Uh, sorry y’all,” Applejack sighed, leaning onto her hoof, “Ah guess Ah’m too plumb tuckered out t’ do this right.” Yawning, Fluttershy commented, “I even went to bed early last night, but then... I had this really scary nightmare.” “ME TOO!!” “Eeyup...” Uh- Only, y’know...” Rainbow backpedaled, “I didn’t think mine was that scary.” “Then why’d you ask me to hold you, Dashie?” teased Soarin, who got a stink eye from his mare but the way her feathers ruffled in embarrassment was worth it. “Well, mine sure was scary. There was this blue smoke monster and-” Twilight began to explain but then she noticed the way everypony was gaping at her in shock. “What?” “I dreamed about a blue smoke thingy too!” Fluttershy responded, and a chorus of ‘Me too’s followed, along with Big Mac’s typical ‘Eeyup’. “Oh come on, guys, so we all had a similar nightmare,” Thunderlane shrugged it off, “prob’ly just a coinky-dink.” “I dunno, Thunder,” Midnight pondered as he levitated some towels Spike broguth over for Twilight as she got out of the tub, “I’m getting a funny feeling there’s more to it.” “Huh, I wonder why I didn’t have that nightmare, I slept great!” said a chipper Spike, everypony else thinking, Lucky dragon... “Well, that still begs the question,” Blueblood spoke up, “How could we all have had the same nightmare?” “I don’t know but I do know who might,” Twilight finished toweling off, before asking, “Spike could you send a scroll to Princess Luna?” “Sure!” Spike threw the towel away and pulled his quill and a roll of parchment from behind his back, “All set!” “’Dear Princess Luna,’” Twilight began, “’Last night, my friends and I all dreamt of a creature made of blue smoke. I’m sure you’re very busy but’” - Yawn. - “’when you have the chance, please let me know if you have any idea what it could mean. Yours,’” - Yawn. - “’Princess Twilight Sparkle’ You can leave out the yawns...” Spike gave her a cheeky smile while crossing those yawns out in the scroll. Putting his quill away, he blew his magic breath on it, the glimmering ashes vanishing out the window. It wasn’t two seconds when there was a loud BANG and Rarity’s door flew open to reveal a frantic looking Princess Luna. “Which of you saw the creature of blue smoke in your nightmare?!” “Wow that was fast,” Fluttershy muttered, her husband muttering, “Eeyup.” “We all did!” Twilight responded to Luna. “Not me!” Spike added in a smart alecky tone. “Ugh, we know!!” the ponies groaned. “So you’ve encountered the smoke monster too?” asked Midnight to Luna. “The Tantabus is a creature of my nightmares,” Luna explained, sounding strangely guilty as she approached the Council of Friendship, “It escape from my slumbers yesterday.” “but... how did it get into ours?” asked fearful Fluttershy, Big Mac hugging her close, the both of them concerned. “The Tantabus is like a parasite. My dreams must no longer be enough for it,” Luna went on, “Now it seeks others to infect and corrupt. It must have learned of the twelve of you from seeing you in my dream.” “Whoa-whoa-whoa! So what you’re saying is...” Spike spoke up, “you dreamt about all them and not me?” Spike got puppy-eyed but Midnight zipped his lip and glared the limy lizard down before Rainbow Dash scoffed, “So smoky gave us bad dreams, no biggie!” Princess Luna shook her head, “I saw that the Tantabus had grown more powerful, but I did not realize that power was enough to allow for it to escape my dreams. If its power grows, it could very well find a way to escape into the waking world. It could turn the whole of the world into a living nightmare!” The scenario Luna had just described, along with the morbid fear on her face became reflected upon the ponies and Spike, Rainbow Dash uttering, “Okay-okay-okay, I take it back - That does sound bad!” “Really bad!” Thunderlane added. “What can be done to stop this creature?” asked Midnight. “We’ll do whatever we can to help.” “Unfortuantely, there’s not much any of you can do to help, Midnight,” Luna sighed woefully, “Only through dreamwalking can the Tantabus be tracked...” Then something seemed to dawn in Luna’s eyes, “But there is something you do to assist me in this task.” Night had just fallen and as everypony gathered in the Castle of Friendship, Twilight stated, “We’ve prepared everything exactly as you requested.” They all ushered into Twilight and Midnight’s bedroom and found multiple beds had been added to accomadate them all, Luna saying, “Good. As the twelve of you slumber here, I shall pursue the creature into whose ever dream it infests.” “Ooh! It’ll be like a royal sleepover!” Pinkie cheered as she hopped into one of the beds, everypony else climbing into the covers. Big Mac and Fluttershy shared a bed, as did Blueblood and Rarity. Soarin tried getting into bed with Rainbow but she was too conscious to share a bed with all their friends in the same room, to Soarin’s mild hurt feelings. “Speaking of royals, aren’t you going to ask Celestia or Sombra for their help as well?” asked Twilight as she and midnight got into their bed together. “There is nothing my sister and brother can do to aid me,” Luna shook her head no, “They have no power in in the Realm of Sleep. Only I and my Dreamwalking Lunar Ponies are able to move from dream to dream, and they are busy watching over the dreams of Equestria. I am afraid nopony can help me tonight.” “Well what about us?” asked Thunderlane. Luna looked to him and then at all of them, seeing the looks on their faces, worried but wanting to help. It made her heart swell and ache at the same time, “Nay. Even you, the Council of Friendship, cannot help me tonight. You have all suffered so much because of me. You need only slumber while I hunt the Tantabus in your dreams.” *Yoink-yoink-yoink* Luna looked down to see Spike had tugged at her mane, “I know you said no pony can help, but I’m no pony!” Spike hopped onto one of the empty beds, declaring, “I’m gonna stay up and watch over you guys just in case.” “Oh, thank you Spike,” Twilight held her hoof over her heart while Midnight chuckled at the little dragon’s bravado. Yawning, Applejack said, “Well, one good thing about not sleepin’ well last night: shouldn’t be too hard t’ fall asleep now.” “Are you kidding?!” Pinkie popped out of the covers on Applejack’s bed, “This is so exciting! I don’t know how I’m ever-” *Plop/SNORE* Apparently, not sleeping well the other night and keeping up her usual exuberant self had finally taken its toll on the pink party pony, and sure enough everypony else followed her into blessed slumber. Their tranquil looks, their sleepy murmurs, it all served to strengthen Luna’s determination, to protect them from her mistake. She rose up, the lines of her horn lighting up all the way to the tip, threads of white magic weaving out and connecting to the twelve sleepyheads around her before Luna ventured forth into the Dream Realm. “Oh my!” Rarity marveled to see a host of gowns floating all around her, each of exquisite design and eye-catching color, “This is simply divine!” A little bluish-purple orb of smoke floated behind her - “How avant garde!” - and passed through one of the dresses, causing it to collapse in a heap before it rose up, blue ribbons flaring out, and snarling through the neckline which had taken on a monstrous mouth-like appearance as it charged Rarity! “Forget ‘avant-garde’,” alarmed Rarity as she backed up in fear, “I should have said en garde!” Squealing in fright, Rarity fired beams of magic, striking any dress that launched its monstrous self at her, one of them hitting a wall and sliding down in a heap... before it swelled up and burst in a flash of fabric, revealing Princess Luna. “It is here!” Indeed, the Tantabus passed through more dresses, corrupting these figments of Rarity’s dream into phantasms of fear, tearing the dresses that hadn’t been corrupted into pieces, upsetting Rarity. “You were such a pretty little chiffon...” she whimpered while rubbing a piece of torn fabric to her cheek before she collasped and cried, “What kind of mosnter would do this?!” “The Tantabus,” answered Luna who’ stepped up beside Rarity. “Then let’s stop it!” Rarity wasn’t about to let this trespass on her mind and imagination go unpunished! “No please!” Luna stood in front of Rarity, looking ashamed, “I don’t want for you to suffer anymore because of me” - The Tantabus flared mockingly behind her before zipping away - “I will catch it!” Luna zoomed after the Tantabus but several monster dresses barred her way. She zapped them aside just in time to see the Tantabus fly out a window, which almost suddenly became bricked over. “It has fled to another dream! I’m sorry but if I am to stop it I must follow it to where you cannot!” “Go!” Rarity bade and watched as Luna blasted through the bricks and flew on, “I should be able to handle things here!” That boldness deflated some when she saw how many more monster dresses were closing in, and she squeaked, “I hope!”