Dream Effects
B_25 & Ploish
It occurred in an other-worldly state, the return of the demised king, ruined by darkness to rule in the absence of light. It'd been night upon his strike. The damming of a child to the hell of endless nightmares, a collection composed from pony kind, ensuring Flurry Heart would never arise from her slumber.
And if she were... to never arise the same as she once did.
But this fate—in its irony—was set instead on her parents who, in braving the nightmares of their daughter, were bound into a combination of their bodies. Truly becoming one with each other. That was, their individuality retained only in their head.
And by this, the couple, somehow, became a two headed-being.
Let's start from the beginning.
Flurry Heart rolled in her bed, again and again, unable to keep the nightmares away; they tingled in the space between skull and flush, swelling in pressure, a constant threat of horrible release. Blackness composed the bags of her eyes, which also lost their subtle glow.
She wanted both to sleep and stay awake, a horrible paradox, one with unexplained pain from everywhere. What was worse? The nightmares or keeping awake? The answer didn't matter as sleep always won out. Days made longer and sunlight rendered too bright for her eyes.
Flurry needed release from this hazy hell.
It'd been Princess Luna who felt the woe of the little girl, the connection of their relationship the first tick against her skin. Searching the dreamscape for nightmares, for whatever reason, left Flurry's undetected. It was only in the sense of an aunt that Luna felt something was up.
Plus... visiting her niece in her dreams was easier than Flurry paying her a visit.
Princess Luna hovered in the dreamscape, a visage of clouds and wisps composing the place, all darkening on her descent. Thunder muffled and pelting rain echoed. Weariness comprised her soul as sleep was whispering seductions.
The vast expanse of the fog-gate billowed from nothing, exhaling hashing and brisk winds, a storm pushing back her best attempt. The beating of the wings allowed the winds to push Luna back harder. No spell of shield best the contents of the brewing storm.
Luna hovered in a place where the currents touched her the least, bowing her head and closing her eyes, channelling swirls of blue through her horn. From its tip flourished a beam that spread into the breach—connecting with the gate.
To the feelings of emptiness and the sounds of static. Sounds took form in the fog as the chaos of its shifting broke into a form, slowly, a tightening rhythm constraining the chaos. In this appearing screen, a voice cut through the static, slow and its words laced with weight.
"Come... and... get... us..."
The static tightened across the fog-gate and composed its true shape, the sudden appearance of a ruler long dead and gone, his face returned, the glee of King Sombra. His head leaned back to roaring laughter, the full force of a storm breaking the area, throwing the tiny mare around in its currents.
The static composed Sombra then dipped its head, exhaling steam, his eyes closing. Seconds passed before an eye broke open, smiling on its own—as the rest of the gigantic face lunged toward her. A magical explosion sparked her out of existence seconds before the snap of jaws could click around her.
Luna was safe.
But Flurry Heart wasn't.
Luna didn't hesitate, upon waking from her journey, to break into a new one. Her wings unfurled, and she leapt out the open window of her study—taking flight across the night sky. It was long and cold, but it was a trek she made all the same.
To the Crystal Empire to visit her family.
Landing in front of the tower had roused the guards, though they bowed on spotting her vigil, allowing her entry. The princess raced up the steps to the ground floor of the home. In putting a word in with a guard in the station, she waited in the conference room for the couple to arrive.
Which they then did, woken from slumber, both still in nightly attire. Fluffy slippers on their hooves. Cadance wore a gown and Shining a robe, both rubbing their eyes, Shining his left and Cadance her right. Always in joined opposites was the basis of their relationship.
They didn't share words even on being seated at the table. Princess Luna crossed her forelegs over her chest, waiting for the two to wake up. Shining's head leaned left and Cadance's fell right. Both of their mouths were open. He chortled while she sleepily giggled.
Luna made a face of disgust.
Lovers.
The wafting of steam entered the scene.
Doors to the right opened to the maid stepping in, a plate balanced on her hoof, one cup and one mug, one black and the other faint green. Setting it on the table, the maid bowed and turned. Shining watched the sway of her rump while she left and Cadance swatted from every swing of booty.
They confuse me terribly.
Once the affair of the mare had passed, both of their muzzles sniffed the air, coffee and tea, dense and minty. Cadance took the cup and he took the mug. Both of their muzzles dipped beyond the rim like a dog with a blow.
Cadance pursed her lips and sipped.
Shining licked.
Princess Luna moved back and narrowed her gaze the best she could, hoping the scorn could be felt by the two but, in their present states, seemed obvious to her effects. Life flooded back into their skin in veins, dim white and violet turning brighter.
And when their muzzles lifted from the shameful display.
It was the happy, proudest faces, the ones the public saw all day.
"So, so so sorry you have to see us like that!" Shining and Cadance said in unison, both leaning their backs together, supporting the other, lifting their legs into the air. They pushed and kicked the slippers from their hooves. "But we're useless without caffeine? Isn't that right, hon?"
Hooves free allowed them to sit normally again, but already glancing to the other, nodding their heads. "That's right!"
Flurry Heart is growing to become a clown, won't she, raised by these two?
"Enough of these games," Luna punctuated the words with a swipe of her foreleg. "Your daughter and your empire are threatened from an ancient threat once more. King Sombra has found his way to the dreamscape and infected his curse in the form of nightmares on your little one."
Cadance bunched her muzzle and turned, glaring at shining, pushing on his foreleg. "You dolt! I told you her troubles sleeping weren't from 'acting-out.' It wasn't sugar-high or wanting to skip nap-time. You owe me multiple points for this!"
"What! You kidding? I just said they're a possibility." Shining shook his head and closed his eyes. "Think about it. Normal parents don't regularly deal with foes of darkness capable of ruining dreams! Kids act out! It was more likely at the time."
"I guess mothers know better than fathers then, huh?"
"You're acting like I didn't try cradling her to sleep or warming milk."
"Physical solutions to mental problems, huh?"
"And what's wrong with that approach?"
Princess Luna knocked on the table. Both prince and princess were pressing their snouts together, blowing steam, pushing even while their necks turned. They glared at Luna—but she glared back harder.
None could out-glare Luna. "Perhaps—once this squabbling of parental raising is over—we could focus on the present problem? Once your daughter is sleeping soundly after days without rest, we may continue this other discussion of yours."
Anger melted into sadness across their expressions and, maybe because their snouts still meshed together, they nodded in tandem to the words. They were listening while keeping like that. The closeness of the other was their craving—even in anger. Maybe this could work to my advantage.
"Sombra has taken control of Flurry's dreams and," Luna bowed in defeat, "not even my lunar might could break his defence. I loathe to dream of the power if he were to attack. He's far stronger in that plane than he ever was here. Exercising that hell and bringing your daughter peace... this is a duty I've failed in as an aunt."
The couple looked at each other and, feeling the coursing of shame across them, pulled away from the other. Lowering their heads as well, they all shared in defeat, the painful moment and everything it meant.
Then, in a synchronization finally kind to her, Luna felt two hooves brush against her chin. They tilted up and until it was straight, allowing her to see the two leaned in, bearing soft expressions and hopeful smiles. Cadance spoke. "But you're Princess Luna, aren't you? What's that quote you always like to preach?"
Happiness tugged Luna's lips into a smirk. "Defeat is victory if the next plan is a success."
The couple pulled their arms back and nodded with their own smiles. Shining took charge of the next question. "So what's the next plan, Princess Luna?"
"King Sombra and his power, no matter the world and realm, will forever fear the Crystal Heart. It dwells power from love, which his own means cannot match." Princess Luna sighed. "Perhaps the darkness of nightmares has accelerated the collection and growing of his powers." She shook her head. "By that logic, however, the Crystal Heart and dreams evoking love should operate to a similar level of a conduit."
Shining and Cadance bore expressions either deeply in thought or terribly confused and, deciding not to find out which it was, Princess Luna continued on. "Using the current energy in the Crystal Heart, I can send those who Flurry loves and trusts the most across Sombra's barrier to save her."
"And that would be us?"
Luna nodded.
Shining gazed into his empty mug. "We'd volunteer, obviously, but how long do we have to prepare?"
Luna shook her head. "We're already operating on borrowed time. Sombra was able to expel a dream essence like me without difficulty. Every second compounds his power further. Wasting away now renders him invincible later." She sighed. "He's already too far ahead now to be granted any more time."
Candace stood up from the table, the glow of her horn summoning a tendril, one pulling the gown from her body. She turned and laid it on the table. "I trust you'll watch the Crystal Empire for us while we're gone?'
"Once I am done sending you two through," Princess Luna began upon rising as well, "I'll send a letter to Celestia explaining the situation. Depending on the length of your departure, we may need to include Twilight to assist in Canterlot."
Princess Luna turned her muzzle away. "Or, at the worst, send her and her friends after you."
Shining coughed on rising to his hind legs, allowing the robe to become loose around his frame. "Hey now! Didn't become a commander and prince out of chance y' know." He pulled the sleeves from his forelegs one by one. "None are going to deny Twilight isn't something special. But we're still Flurry's parents."
He threw the robe onto the table and pressed a forehoof into his snout, taking a stance... and a chance on it looking cool. "No amount of power or magic can triumph over parental rage! That’s still our daughter terrified of dreams and unable to sleep." His other hoof he rose and tensed to express the firm muscles of his wrist. "Sombra's getting knocked out for pulling this crud again. Sometimes a fatherly beatdown is truly needed to end things, y' know?"
Cadance rolled her head with a smile, a few giggles from her lips, as if she knew all of this was silly—yet joined in on the action all the same. "Don't forget a motherly smack after that. It's the parental team that keeps the child safe."
"Hear hear!"
They bumped hooves.
Luna wanted to cry not for the reasons the duo would have hoped for.
The trio had walked out beneath the spire and below the Crystal Heart, already feeling the surge of its power—along with the chilly winds of the night. It nipped at the skin and licked ice across their coats. Something was brewing in wait for them. Terribleness seeking to build until being unleashed.
The time for words was done between them all upon slowing before the heart. Princess Luna was first to step before it, turning around, its heat awash across her back. Closing her eyes and dipping her head, a ball of light blossomed at the tip of her horn.
The Crystal Heart swirled and swirled behind it, a violet spark that shot from its core, collecting into Luna's glow. It grew and swelled from the infusing magic and inflection of love. Above where the ceiling of the spire loomed, another spark of electricity shot down, the colour complexion of the troubled daughter.
It struck the ball as well, swelling it outward, its colours joining.
Shining and Cadance bowed their heads as well, summoning their magic into a ball, a constant beam of energy. Swirling currents were exhausted from the gathering power, which was too contained for the might brewing within.
The couple were lifted from the ground, the force carrying them up, a shared connection established between all. That ball of density sizzled and tore into the fabric of reality, a cutting sound never before heard.
Before anyone could question it—a flash was torn from inside of it, swiped around the couple, blinking them out from existence. Princess Luna felt a blast strike against her chest, knocking her frame into the pillar for the heart, resting her back against it.
Lazily her head pressed into her mane as she rested into the pillar, looking high above, seeing the blurring swirl of the heart slow. Slow and slowing until stopped. It became static and still, not even bouncing in invisible waves. Its kinetic energy was tethered elsewhere.
"I've played my part," Luna whispered through a smile, "now it's on you two to get your act together."
From the battle of the evening and flight of the night, the princess rested entirely on the structure, seeing the first brim of orange on the horizon. Gazing into the starting of the rising sun, her eyes closed upon feeling its warmth, a blanket provided by her sister, always, no matter what.
A washing blanket of sunlight to help her sleep.
Shining Armor hadn't expected the flash or the feeling of his colon imploding. His stomach clenched as his being was being condensed. He was faintly aware of his wife, her side pressing into his own, their forelegs searching for the other inside the nothingness.
And hugging each other at the first feeling.
But something didn't feel right. Their embrace allowed them to melt into the other... but never was it so literal. He could feel his hardness merging with her softness. Strange compression that balanced their qualities into one. Their connection joining their feelings into one sense.
Until nothing could be felt at all.
Shining was aware he was lying on his chin for the fresh grass was damp against it. Light winds bristle the sound of the spades into his ears. With a groan, he arose, softly and slowly, a wet smacking of the lips and repeated blinking of the eyes. Haze greeted his vision of towering browns and sprawling greens.
Until his focus clicked everything centred again.
Another groan followed through on something not feeling right. His vision had centred, sure, but that feeling didn't extend to his body. Everything about him felt inched to the left. Organs and sense an inch from where they once were.
Discovery of the current setting, however, took importance over self-care.
Shining gazed around to trees towering to a darkened sky, one not lacking like, but rather, painted black in swirling strokes. Grey clouds populated the canvas, dense and stagnant, a draining of willpower even to stare out. They evoked the urge to vomit—something substantial with the stallion already.
His hooves pressed and crumpled against grass—as another did the same next to him—and he jumped in place. Feeling the presence of a threat, he gazed around, seeing nothing but the woods. No sounds or impression of movements. Yet something else still lurked here.
This truth he found next to him.
Seeing the sudden blotch of pink caused him to jump away, and the blot did the same, their attempt of fleeing in opposite directions, however, keeping them in place instead. He and she jumped away and, together, they jumped in place.
Something was seriously wrong.
"W-Wait... Sh... Shiny?"
Shining ceased his second attempt, calming down, panic still flushing his heart. "Cadance? That you? But where..."
Both of their heads turned to the other's voice, an excitement awash on their faces, the joy of not being alone in these woods. They nuzzled each other's cheeks and closed their eyes to the embrace. They rose a foreleg to intertwine to the other.
To the result of them falling forward, both gasping, chest smashing into grass. Muzzles pressed together in a trench of dirt they carved together, their adjutant eyes fixated on the other, fearing the proximity not consciously held.
Slowly and together, both of them pressed a foreleg against the ground, standing on their own again, a tandem forced to be kept. Looking into the other restored courage to their soul, a needed quality for, in looking over their back was where their nightmare began.
The frame of a pony bigger than any before met, a joined combination of their physique, colour and muscles and feathers and the like. Slender in some curves and broad in others. The front of his husk spouted two heads, one for his and one for her, their forelegs being the pair set to their side.
And bearing the growing weight of this revelation, the lovers looked to each other and, with a chuckle and a giggle, used that to exhale their tensions. In the seconds after that, however, both of them screamed loud enough to bring despair for any notion of a stealth mission.