After agreeing to spend time at the spa, the rest of the day became a blur for the prince. At first, he had reservations about the whole ordeal. Still, after giving the massage a chance, the prince had no difficulty letting his worries drift away and could finally enjoy peace and quiet. That was something that, in retrospect, he had desperately needed now that the voice in his head had finally gone away.
Sighing in relaxation while remaining in a secluded corner of the hot springs, Blueblood looked up to the setting sun, no longer caring that the day was spent. His mind was at peace and slowly driving him into slumber.
“Pathetic.”
With a start, the prince opened his eyes. He looked around for the source of the distorted voice that had just spoken to him, only to find that no one was there; not only that, but the entire hot spring also seemed unusually deserted.
“After all your hard work reclaiming your crown and showing your subjects why they should fear and respect you, what do you do? Pamper yourself with luxury and forget all of your promises?!”
The voice kept speaking. Blueblood could make out some shadows moving back and forth around him like a shark circling its prey.
"Who's there?!" Blueblood demanded, getting up and charging his horn in preparation for any attack.
“You ungrateful, spoiled brat! I was wrong about you. I thought you could be better, but in the end, you only created a cardboard copy of your predecessor."
The voice kept taunting him until, from the fog, a silhouette appeared and marched toward him. “And to think I even called you my nephew!”
At that moment, the individual made herself known, and the prince could see Princess Luna staring at him with disappointed, milky white eyes. “I wish you had stayed dead.”
With a start, the prince woke up and fought to regain his balance as he splashed the water of the hot springs everywhere until he managed to calm down and hold his pounding heart with his right hoof. That, however, left him unable to see the approaching pegasus heading his way.
"Blueblood?"
With a small yelp, the prince turned around only to find a concerned and scared Fluttershy looking back at him with a towel on her head. "Are you okay? You seemed scared a moment ago, and I…" she tried to approach him. Still shaken by his ordeal, the prince backed away from her.
"I-I'm okay, Fluttershy, just ahem… holding my breath underwater. Yeah, that is it!" he quickly said, looking back at her with a smile, "You probably saw me gasping for some air, that is all," he dismissed what happened with a chuckle. "How was your wing massage? Did you enjoy it?"
"Don't try to change the subject," Fluttershy cut him off before he could say anything else. "And please stop lying to me," she pleaded. "Blueblood, I know something is bothering you; we all see it. And it is more than just lack of sleep." Before he could back away or protest, she grabbed his right hoof with both of hers. "We want to help you but can't if you don't let us. Please, Blueblood, just like I trusted you when you guided me during the masquerade, I need you to trust me and tell me what is keeping you so on edge," she made her case and gave him a hopeful smile, maintaining eye contact.
"I…" The prince looked down in shame and sighed, deciding to accept his fate and come clean, unable to think or formulate an excuse or even have the willpower to do so. "…I don't know what is happening to me," he confessed, looking at Fluttershy again, "A couple of weeks after you and Pinkie Pie left, I started having these random bursts of emotions-" Suddenly, the prince had to hold his head as a searing bolt of pain shot through it.
“What are you doing?!… You fool!… Don't you dare utter another word!”
"Blueblood!" Fluttershy went to his side and placed her wing on his back, leaning his head against her chest as he continued. "Feelings of…anger, jealousy… what is so great about her day anyway?!" The prince had to pause to ride the pain out. "This can't be from Nightmare Moon… it can't …she is my aunt… I met her; she wasn't like that. I… I'm fine; I have everything under control," Blueblood mutters.
"You are anything but fine, Blueblood! You need our help! If you let Princess Luna enter your dreams…"
"I said, I'm fine!" Blueblood snapped at her, backing away before being surprised by her expression of anguish and fear. At that moment, the prince realized what he was doing and looked at his reflection, gasping when he saw the image of his aunt looking at him in disappointment. "What is happening to me?" he questioned while Fluttershy slowly approached and gently placed his head against her chest.
"It's okay, Blueblood. I'm here now."
"Fluttershy… I'm so sorry. Please, help me," He begged, looking into her teary eyes.
"We will, Blueblood. I promise."
After some time of Fluttershy comforting him and letting the wave pass, they headed into a secluded private room that the princesses reserved explicitly to treat his condition and where the rest of his family and Rarity were now waiting for the two to explain.
"Are you sure this is gonna work, auntie?" Blueblood looked at Luna with a small amount of concern as she performed some breathing exercises.
"Absolutely, dear nephew. The symptoms you have been manifesting so far match the description of a Tantabus," Luna elaborated, not wanting to disclose so much in front of Crossfire Tempo, "A type of creature that wanders the dream realm and creates nightmares in their victims to feed on of their fears… It is also a creation designed to act as my penance," Luna mumbles the last part while looking away.
"What was that?" Blueblood raised an eyebrow.
"It is of no importance. Dear, for now, all we need you to do is close your eyes and try to sleep," Celestia instructed him while patting Blueblood's head. "We will take care of the rest after that."
"I don't know, Auntie, I'm tired, yeah, but after what happened in the hot springs and knowing that I might have some sort of parasite that gives me nightmares… I'm not sure I can sleep that easily," Blueblood replied uneasily, looking unsure while lying on a massage table surrounded by aromatic candles.
"Oh, you will sleep, alright!" Tempo boasted in confidence as she approached with a smirk. "As the owner of the number one spa in Equestria and an expert on the art of rest and relaxation, I can guarantee you will sleep like a baby." Moving another table next to his, Tempo hopped on. It didn't waste time bringing the prince into her barrel using her wing as an improvised blanket and ruffling the feathers of her wings slightly.
The moment that happened, a sensation of softness bombarded his body as he had never felt before. The strong perfume that Tempo was wearing had an unusually calming effect, resulting in him fighting a losing battle against drowsiness.
"So… soft… so relaxing," Blueblood managed to utter those words before falling asleep right in front of everyone, surprising the princesses with how quickly Tempo managed to accomplish her role.
"There you go, ladies, nice and ready. It's time to use your magic now," Tempo looked back at them with a smile.
"Ah, Miss Tempo, how exactly did you…?"
"Sorry, your highness, that is a trade secret," Tempo said before getting more serious. "For now, there is work to do."
Luna nods and charges her horn to start their work.
Meanwhile, back at the castle, Caliber said to the blood sample, "Okay, let us see what you truly are," Before carefully collecting a small portion. "Nurse!" he called without breaking eye contact with the sample on his wing.
"Right here, doctor," A blue unicorn mare in nurse garb responded before approaching with a beaker full of a transparent liquid for him to drop the sample in, then heating it with magic. At the same time, Caliber used a glass laboratory spatula to stir the contents.
In a matter of seconds, the liquid changed colors into a neon hue, and much to their surprise, small white, shining dots imitating a starry night sky appeared. "There you go! Now I found you," Caliber informs the sample as he takes note of the changes.
"What is it, doctor?" The nurse asked him, intrigued by the reaction.
"Ever since the prince's blood turned blue, I have wondered what caused that sudden change and how I could not detect it until now," Caliber explained with a smile. "As I suspected, residual magic resembles Princess Luna's flowing through his veins.
"Isn't that a bit redundant, doctor? I mean, he DID absorb magic from the moon itself," The nurse replied with a raised eyebrow.
"Ah, but therein lies the question, Nurse Radiance. What kind of magic rest on the moon?" Caliber asked her as he retrieved a new sample from the now resting beaker before mounting it on a slide and setting it onto a modified microscope's stage. Besides the rack for samples, the device had a crystal ball surrounding it and a series of lights spread out underneath. "After all, Princess Luna wasn't the only mare moving it for over a thousand years, right?" Once the sample was placed, Caliber turned on a white light, and the sphere was engulfed in a rainbow of moving colors as he observed the liquid's contents.
"Interesting, it looks like this type of magic is denser than Princess Luna's. Other than that, nothing seems out of order, except… wait… is that?" Suddenly, the sample started to screech and turned into a purple mist that violently shook the sphere.
"Nurse! Containment!" Caliber instructed in fear as he flapped away just as the sphere cracked, the mist almost reaching his face before being stopped by a force field cast by his assistant.
"Got it!" She moved the whole apparatus towards a containment unit made of metal and reinforced glass before sealing it inside. The mist continued to struggle to get free of the box.
"How… what is that thing?" Radiance asked in fear as Caliber slowly approached it. "Whatever type of magic, the moon has it inside its core." His eyes widened in realization. "By Celestia, I know what it is… and it must consume the prince as we speak!" He exclaimed in fear as Caliber took another sample and flew away from the infirmary, Radiance in hot pursuit. "What? What is it, Doctor?!" she asks, equally scaredly, as she follows behind. But rather than answer, the Doctor kept frantically searching for the princesses or a guard who might know where they were.
"Hare! Bunny! Where the hay are those guards?" Caliber kept calling for them as he flew around the castle.
Back at the spa,
Tossing and turning, Blueblood convulses as tears form in his eyes. “Don’t go gently…into the night… no… that is not why I did it! Please… don’t… don’t leave… I’m sorry!”
Waking up from another nightmare, the prince tried to stand up only to feel two hooves on his shoulders, pushing him down again, followed by a familiar voice. "Shhh, it's almost over, Blueblood; go back to sleep," Fluttershy tried to calm him down; he stopped struggling once he saw her face and then laid back on the table.
"Flutter… shy?" the prince said, still half asleep, looking at her, confused, "Are you… crying?" Blueblood raised an eyebrow when he saw her face more clearly and even heard her sniff.
"Don't be silly, dear; why would she cry?" Rarity asked as he turned to his left and saw her smiling. "You're just seeing things, probably from fatigue. Just go back to sleep," she encouraged him while Fluttershy petted his head. Blueblood didn't know what was happening or why his friends were acting so strange, but his tired eyes felt heavy until he finally relented and went back to sleep. The second that happened, Fluttershy sobbed and looked at the princess in both worry and anger.
"We can't keep doing this to him!" she wailed out in sorrow. "Don't you see he is suffering!?"
"It will be worse if we stop now," Luna replied, ending her spell and massaging her temple while standing up. Although the session put Luna's worries to rest when she didn't find any trace of Nightmare Moon, whatever seemed to cause the prince's affliction was conscious enough to have an advanced sense of self-preservation.
"This Tantabus is quite different from the one I created. Not only has it gained enough power, but it has started to take over his emotions. It can also detect when somepony enters his mind." she sighs with a mix of fatigue and irritation. "I managed to corner it into Blueblood's deep subconscious where it can't cause any more nightmares, but that will not last. The time has come; the parasite has nowhere to escape; I must go one last time and…" Luna's legs trembled before giving out. The alicorn would have hit the ground if not for the intervention of Celestia, who immediately rushed to her sister's side after returning from moving the sun and moon. Putting her neck in front of hers, she managed to catch Luna and help her stay on her hooves. "Looks like I arrived just in time."
"Sister, I have good news. The Tantabus is trapped in Blueblood's subconscious, where it can't haunt him with nightmares anymore. Once I dive in…"
"… I'm sorry, Lulu, but that is not going to happen," Celestia shook her head and guided her to an empty massage table, and despite Luna's complaints, managed to lay her there. "You have used the same spell to enter Blueblood's mind too many times. It is clear that you have reached your limit and are in no condition to make the jump anymore," Celestia tried to convince her. At the same time, Luna fought her sister, trying to stand up, only for Celestia to push her down with a hoof.
"But our window of opportunity…"
"…Will not go to waste," Celestia interrupted with a determined look, "I will go instead."
"What?" All the mares look at her in surprise.
"Even though this isn't my specialty, I can still cast the spell. You've done enough already, Luna; I can take it from here." Celestia gave her a reassuring smile and tried to turn away, but Luna grabbed one of her hooves.
"Sister, surely you jest! While I appreciate your concern, this isn't like any other dream you have explored. What you are suggesting is venturing into the deepest and darkest corners of a pony's mind, the most bizarre and unpredictable places in the realm of dreams," Luna warned her, "Do you even have any idea of what could happen if you explore that kind of place without the proper guidance?"
"No, and that is why I need you here doing just that." Celestia countered and tapped her temple, "With the mental link, we can maintain contact, and you can walk me through what I need to do and be alert of."
Luna looked to the side, considering what Celestia suggested, unsure if she should let her do it.
"Please, Luna, trust that I can do this." Celestia pleaded with her. After more consideration, Luna sighed and gave a tiny nod before turning to Rarity and Fluttershy.
"On the condition that you take Rarity and Fluttershy with you."
The mares in question looked at her in surprise once she said that.
"They have some experience in dealing with this sort of thing before, and they can help you catch the Tantabus," Luna explained, "Plus, the three of you can keep each other in check if any of you start to lose focus."
"You can count on us, princess," Rarity nodded with determination.
"Even though the idea of going into the deepest, darkest, and scariest place in his mind is something I would prefer to avoid." Fluttershy shivered at the idea alone before gulping and looking at her in determination. "But if it helps Blueblood, we will gladly help."
"It is decided then. Ms. Tempo and I will stay here and keep you posted on any developments. Be on your guard and tread carefully; remember that once inside, the Tantabus will know you are there and will do everything in its power to trick you and escape," Luna instructed them as both mares got closer to Celestia, who kept looking at her questioning her decision but ultimately relent to her conditions.
"We will keep that in mind. Sister, for now, rest and try to regain as much energy as you can," Celestia advised her before creating a semi-transparent bubble that surrounded herself and her companions, leaving only their silhouettes before shooting a light beam connected with Blueblood's horn.
"Good luck, princess," Luna mentioned before standing up without any problem and smirking. "You are gonna need it."
"Weren't you supposed to be tired?" Tempo looked at her, confused by her actions, "And what is with that remark all of a sudden?"
"Oh, don't worry, Tempo, you are about to find out," Luna casually told her before pointing at the mare and charging her horn. "But right now, there is a message I need you to pass along…"
Inside Blueblood's mind,
Appearing inside a pillar of light, Celestia took a moment to recover her balance before looking at her companions. "Rarity, Fluttershy, are you alright?"
"We’re fine, princess, just a tad bit dizzy," Rarity shook her head alongside Fluttershy before the two looked around the place. The encompassing darkness around them swallowed up the light from Celestia's horn.
"Is this Blueblood's subconscious?" Fluttershy walked backward slowly towards Celestia in fear. "It looks different from when we helped Luna."
"Not quite; our minds need a bit of time to adjust. Once they do, everything around us will fade in." Celestia kept gazing into the darkness, and just like she explained, soon, an old wooden floor started to fade in beneath their hooves. Some planks seemed loose or burned down, revealing steel bars underneath the holes and creaking at the smallest pressure. Old books and pages were scattered all over the place, and in the far corner lay rows of bookshelves stocked with books, jars, and discarded fabric hugging the room's cracked and eroded marble walls. A twin pair of iron bedframes spread around the room with thin mattresses and metal desks with medical tools in silver plates lying next to them, completing the image of an abandoned clinic. A single window in the far left corner showed nothing but darkness. The only light emanated from the weak flames sputtering on dying wax candles on iron plates and the bookshelf.
"There we go," Celestia announced as she scanned the room.
"I liked it better when everything was dark," Fluttershy confessed, leaning on Celestia for support.
"I agree with you, darling; this infirmary is simply dreadful! So depressing and dark; what could have caused Blueblood to imagine this kind of place?" Rarity recoiled after touching the beds with her hoof. "Ew, ew, ew! The beds are even covered in dust! Seriously, who could work in these kinds of conditions!?"
Luna, can you hear me? Celestia tried to contact her sister, only to be greeted by silence.
Luna, are you there? Celestia kept trying until a scream from Rarity broke her concentration.
"Princess!"
"What? What is happening?" Celestia and Fluttershy rushed to her side, only to find Rarity pointing at an operating table where none other than Princess Luna woke and held her head in pain as she slowly regained consciousness.
"Lulu?" Celestia slowly approached her sister with suspicion, alert in case this was a trap.
"Tia?" Once Luna saw her sister as her vision cleared, her eyes widened, and she rushed to her in worry. "What are you doing here!? Wait, if you are here, then that means. Oh no… no, no, no, this is bad!" Luna kept chanting as she pranced back and forth in worry until Fluttershy tackled her to the ground with a hug.
"It's okay, princess. It's okay; we are all here; just breathe."
While that was going on, Celestia took the opportunity to scan the mare and confirmed that it was indeed Luna, which only added to the confusion. "By the stars, it’s you, Luna," she then glared at her in annoyance, "I told you to stay with Blueblood and rest!"
"Sorry to disappoint you, sister," Luna replied, regaining her breath and looking back at her. "But the mare who you spoke with wasn't me," she confessed fearfully, "When I dove into my nephew's dreams while you were moving our celestial bodies, I encountered a trap made by the creature. It tricked me into following her here, where she then ambushed me with an attack from behind," she huffed in annoyance and embarrassment for failing to see such an obvious trap.
"Wait, all those times; you were fighting the tantabus after that…?" Fluttershy asked in fear at the realization.
"…it was the creature using my body to cast more nightmares into our nephew to feed and keep weakening his mind so I couldn't reach him," Luna confirmed with a sigh. "And if she tricked you into coming here too, that can only mean one thing."
"It has gathered all the power that it needs," Celestia answered for her, understanding the situation and looking up to a rising blood moon creeping way up in the window, "And just got rid of the final obstacles in its way..."
Back in reality,
Dr. Caliber and Nurse Radiance were escorted by a platoon of guards and entered the room in the spa only to find it destroyed with unconscious guards spread out all alongside Tempo, who lay on one of the beds. A big red sphere was set next to her, showing the princesses and the elements inside, looking around an abandoned infirmary and a giant hole in the ceiling.
"No! We're too late!" Caliber yells before rushing to Tempo to inspect her wounds, sighing in relief when he discovers that she only has some scratches and a small burned patch of fur on her stomach; nothing too serious now.
"Don't touch that!" Caliber warned a guard who was about to touch the bubble, "That is the Nightmare Opera spell of Blood Moon, and unless you want to be sucked inside of it, I suggest you keep your distance!"
Groaning in pain, Tempo slowly woke up, catching everyone's attention.
"Ma'am? Ma'am! Can you hear me?" One of the guards asked her, approaching slowly.
"Yeah," Tempo weakly replies as she slowly stands up.
"Ma'am, I need your help. Do you know who did this to you?"
"Oh, I know," she answered before looking at him in worry, "But I don't think you will believe me if I tell you."
"Why is that?"
"Because the mare that did this was Princess Luna. She started to talk weirdly and afterward attacked me. She told me to relay a message to Twilight Sparkle," Tempo gulped and looked at the bubble. "She said, 'This time will be different.'"
After the initial shock, the guards immediately went on high alert. "We need to inform Princess Twilight! Send a squad to retrieve her immediately! Tell her that in an emergency, Nightmare Moon may have returned!"
"No," Caliber simply replied as he stood up. "It's worse than that. I don't have time to explain, but I need to see the princess and tell her what I discovered," he tells the guards urgently.