"Applejack! Ah can't believe you nearly left me behind!" Apple Bloom kicks her dam's cowering body, more than a little irritated.
"Ah'm sorry, Toneapple! Ah didn't mean to let-" Applejack cuts herself off, looking around the house at the sixteen creatures picking themselves up around her. "Oh! You're safe, Apple Bloom! It was all a dream!"
"You're the one who told me that!" Apple Bloom kicks at her dam again before sitting down in a huff.
Twilight Sparkle yanks Applebaum close to her, "How did you do that dreaming thing?"
"Ah don't know," Applebaum hastily replies, "But-"
"EVERYPONY!!" Princess Luna bellows, her horn continuing to glow, "One of thou has brought the Tantabus along! We must send it to a dream, or we have been doomed!"
The blue void hiding under Applebaum silently squeals as it reverberates, a blue aura surrounding it. "What?" Twilight Sparkles exclaims, taking an unsteady step backwards as she stares at the blue void now flitting in Princess Luna's aura. "But you-"
Princess Luna cuts Twilight Sparkle off, "No time! We Need The Safest Dreamer Among You! Whatever Your Last Dream Was! NOW!!"
Rainbow Dash rapidly shakes her head, "Not mine." She stops, her eyes briefly flicking to the ceiling, "Wait, before or after the Tantabus infected it?"
"AFTER!"
"Yeah, still not mine," Rainbow Dash says, sheepishly dropping to her hooves. She quivers, rocking back and forth as she recalls her dream - so much singing! She would go insane if she had to go back there! Definitely not safe for anypony.
Fluttershy cowers down, "Um."
Princess Luna adds, "And you will be especially vulnerable physically, and quite impressionable mentally, to whatever influences are in the dream! Consider wisely!"
Applejack considers for a half second before she says, "Giant cloud of disease and decay attacking."
Rarity coughs, "My finest work coming to life and attacking."
Pinkie Pie exclaims, "Cakes coming to life and attacking! The pastries, not the bakers."
Twilight Sparkle says glumly, "Mine was just books coming to life and attacking."
Princess Luna grunts as she strains against the Tantabus, the void slamming itself against her restraints. "There is no time! We must pick the safest dreamer among you! Now!"
"Fluttershy!" five mares call, the pegasus trying to cower down even more.
"I don't know..." Fluttershy mumbles from behind her mane.
Rarity shakes the pegasus, "Was your dream violently dangerous or not?"
"Um, not physically," the yellow pegasus says just before the void is thrust into her, a bright light surrounding everypony.
*
Fluttershy's cottage sits in the background, on top of a grassy knoll, a dull sun and no clouds in the sky. The many birdhouses and burrows are still and silent, the nearby stream filled with unmoving water. The nearby trees do not sway back and forth like they normally do, the air devoid of wind. The only movement is by the dirt road, a collared yellow pegasus propping her forelegs up on the short fence that she is tied to, right by her front door. Her stallion is behind her, their lips locked, his hands tightly gripping her flanks, unrelentingly pounding away at her.
Eighteen creatures pop into existence outside of Fluttershy's cottage, quickly taking stock of their surroundings. Twilight Sparkle shrieks, hastily covering up Spike's eyes, much to the dragon's consternation. Big Mac tries to look away, having a harder time of it than he would have liked. The mares of Herd Apple merely sigh, their fillies looking on excitedly. Princess Luna hovers above, slowly descending to the ground, her horn alight as she creates a pale blue bubble around herself.
"Oh by Celestia's perfectly portioned posterior," Rainbow Dash exclaims, a hoof not quite covering her not actually closed eyes. "Come on, Fluttershy! Seriously? Why?"
"There is no time for this!" Princess Luna feebly yells, her energy sapped as she hastily constructs the dream around them. "The Tantabus is coming!" The water of the stream begins flowing, the leaves slightly swaying in the wind as she tries to shore up the weak spots by making the dream more realistic. "No! It is already here!"
"Well," Fluttershy says sheepishly as the dream Doug explodes into a blue and purple void, quickly consuming the euphoric dream Fluttershy, "I don't get tired in the dream, and it still feels really good." She points a hoof at the Tantabus, "Also, that didn't happen." The blue void grows larger, roaring and swiping at Rarity and Applejack. The two mares yelp as they dodge backwards, shooing their fillies away.
Rainbow Dash huffs, "Yeah, but it's not real! What's the point of dreaming about something when the real thing is sleeping right next to you? It's like using a cooler when you aren't in heat!" She zooms forward, bucking the Tantabus. The creature recoils before swinging a pseudopod at the cerulean pegasus, barely missing as she swoops around for another charge.
"Not the time!" Applejack bellows as she charges forward, landing a buck of her own on the swiftly enlarging creature. "Ah thought you said your dream wasn't dangerous physically!" Applejack rolls away, pulling a rope out of her Stetson. She spins the rope a few times, lassoing one of the flailing limbs and pulling it to the ground. Big Mac charges up, bucking the limb hard enough to separate it from the main body, the severed limb dissipating into nothing.
"Not all of us can fly over and get a quickie any time we want!" Fluttershy shouts back at Rainbow, escorting the fillies away from the Tantabus. She turns to Applejack, "And this didn't happen in the dream! He just got, um, more aggressive and forceful. Dominating. It feels good to be the pet sometimes!"
Rarity yells, "Then what did happen, Fluttershy? You seemed quite upset before!" Her horn shines, blasting a stretching limb that was trying to climb up Fluttershy's cottage. The Tantabus roars, more and more limbs outstretching as it continues to grow faster than they can rip it apart.
Fluttershy stammers as she moves in front of the fillies, "Well, you see, Doug was brushing my mane, he really likes doing that. And then, um, he started brushing my tail. He really likes that part, too. And then, um, he brushed my tail to the side, and-"
"Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash yells, dodging another swipe, "We're not asking how your normal nights go! We're asking about the dream!" Rainbow Dash flies up, knocking away one of the limbs that attached itself to the starless sky, the small rip in space remaining.
"Oh!" Fluttershy nods, "Well, you can see the collar, it looks like one of Rarity's-"
"Hey!" Rarity shouts, a blast from her horn sealing the rip in the fabric of space. "My collars are silk and inscribed with either my cutie mark or a stylized 'R'! Honestly, do you not look at your restraints?"
"Can we please focus on the giant rampaging creature in front of us?!" yells Twilight Sparkle, her horn shooting blast after blast as she runs to Princess Luna. "How can we stop this?"
Princess Luna shudders, tears streaming down her face as her exhaustion shows plainly, no longer attempting to conceal it, "I do not know! I will soon run out of power, to keep it contained in this shared dream. And then it will escape back into the real world!"
The Tantabus roars as it grows larger and more aggressive, no longer content to swipe at ponies that get close. Big Mac howls as he is launched by the Tantabus, quickly rolling to his hooves and charging back in.
Behind him Applejack shouts, "We aren't beaten yet!" Applejack grins as she twirls her rope, the loop getting longer and larger, "Remember, Big Mac! This is a dream! You can do anything!"
Big Mac's smile turns absolutely gleeful as he concentrates. He whinnies as he spins in place, his pupils reshaping to red and orange stars as his horseshoes gild with ruby and gold. His yoke shimmers, now etched with gold filigree, a crown topped with a green apple adorns his head, a pair of wings and horn sprouting from his body. He shouts, "Ee-Weeeee!" as he soars into the sky, shooting laser beams at the Tantabus.
Apple Bloom's hooves, Sweetie Belle's horn, and Scootaloo's wings each transform into larger, exaggerated versions, the fillies charging headlong into the fray. Applebaum begins pulling out lit sticks of dynamite from a pack that instantly appears by her side, chucking the explosives whenever a pod expands towards an open area. Lemon takes to the sky, despite her lack of wings or horn, merely speeding along with four hooves stretched in front and sealing the tears in the sky. Hedge stomps her hooves, a storm of water and ducks flowing from the stream and impacting the Tantabus. Pomarbo cowers in the back while Meringue pulls herself into a large cocoon; a glowing yellow shield appears around Big Mac, spines and spikes bursting forth as he flits around.
"We're slowing it down!" yells Pinkie Pie, a barrage of cupcakes cutting a few of the outstretched limbs to ribbons, "But it's not enough!"
"Well, if you're going to go big!" Spike yells, bashing his claws together. He shines brightly as he grows - twice, four times, ten times his normal height! Muscles burst on top of his already ripped chest, a lance appearing at his side. "Come, my noble steed!" He mounts Pomarbo, inspiring the young colt to charge forward despite the severe imbalance in size.
Princess Luna sinks to her hooves, though her horn remains lit. Her voice, raw with venom and self-condemnation, "It is all our fault! Yet again, we are responsible for Equestria's destruction!"
The Tantabus grows larger than Fluttershy's cottage, the ponies forced to use tandem strikes to stop the limb from grasping and tearing through the sky.
Spike shouts he pierces another blob of void with his lance, "Am I crazy, or did it just get even bigger after Luna said that?"
"Princess Luna!" Twilight Sparkle shouts to the despondent alicorn, "I think it's feeding off of your guilt!"
"Then it seems we have not learned our lesson, for we have only brought more suffering!" Princess Luna sobs, turning away from the Tantabus as it rips a void into the sky, her body jolting as if her own side is being torn.
Twilight Sparkle shouts, "But, if it feeds off of your guilt, then you are the one who can stop this!"
Rainbow Dash flies over, pointing a hoof at Doug, the human lounging on a folding chair and sipping a glass of lemonade as a double barreled machine gun spits rocket propelled pies and candy into the Tantabus. "Yeah! Look at Doug; if he can get over what happened, then you can too! You just gotta stop feeling bad for what you did!"
Princess Luna shakes her head, "But, how can we forgive ourselves? We art no better now than we were before. Look at what is happening, at what will happen when we fail!" Princess Luna slowly looks up at the ravaged sky. Four legs stretch down, a horn piercing through the skull and a pair of wings sprouting from the sides as the Tantabus becomes truly massive. A vaguely equine shape forms from the void as it tears a colossal portal through the dream wall.
Twilight Sparkle stomps a hoof, anger breaking through her normally controlled demeanor. "But look at what you are doing! Nightmare Moon would've wanted the Tantabus to turn Equestria into a nightmare! You're doing everything you can to stop it! You have changed, you aren't the same pony as before!"
The Tantabus' long, silent strides seem like they should be creating earthquakes with every hoof meeting the ground, yet the atmosphere remains as unshaken as Princess Luna stands. The monstrous alicorn shaped Tantabus partially penetrates through the portal while a tranquility radiates from Princess Luna, resolve replacing her resignation.
"We do!" she states, standing up straighter. "I DO!"
The Tantabus pulls away from the portal, a worried expression forming by three sections in the head dissipating, leaving two eye sockets and a wavy mouth. The blue and purple void shrinks to the size of Princess Luna, now a dark reflection, as it takes slow, hesitant steps.
Princess Luna stands tall, her exhaustion completely gone as she closes her eyes. While her horn stays powered, keeping the dream going, there is no sense of haste, of urgency, or struggle.
The Tantabus briefly hesitates as it closes to a foreleg's length from Princess Luna. The alicorn opens her eyes, a pleasant smile as if greeting an old friend. The Tantabus walks forwards, as if to embrace Princess Luna in a hug that never comes. The alicorn, now content, closes her eyes to receive the embrace. The Tantabus continues forward without stopping, going straight through and disappearing into the alicorn, a brief pause before the last of its tail vanishes into the cutie mark insignia on Princess Luna's peytral.
Princess Luna grins at the seventeen ponies surrounding her, each returning a grin of their own, "Th-"
The world fades to white.
*
Back at the Carrot House, everypony slowly staggers to their hooves, glancing around at each other. Except for Princess Luna, her mouth slowly pushing forward and back as she lays asleep on the ground.
Doug grunts out, "Luna did it!"
Applejack sighs, "Huh. So, forgiving herself for what she did as Nightmare Moon was enough to stop that? Wish she could have figured that out, Ah dunno, a week ago." She looks over to Doug, "You still have any hang-ups over what she did to you or the foals?"
"After going through that?" Doug says, shaking his head, "I sure hope not." Applejack snorts, looking outside at the dark sky, then over at Rainbow and Big Mac. The two glance at each other, groaning at having to go out and harvest despite the ordeal they just went through.
"Well, it's over now." Twilight Sparkle smiles at the snoozing alicorn, a few soft snores escaping. "Guess we'll, um, let her get some sleep."
"Huh. Wonder what she's dreaming about now?" Spike says, the group watching Princess Luna kick out one of her hind legs, a pleasant smile on her face.
Fluttershy brazenly looks up at the ceiling as she opens her mouth wide. She lifts one hoof towards one side of her face, sliding it to her muzzle while puffing up the other cheek, letting her mouth relax as she pulls the hoof away, then puffing her cheek out again.