The group are well on their way back into Ponyville at this time. The girls keeping Fluttershy up in the front and distracted enough to not pay any mind to the human in the back. Justin keeps himself in the back, with only Luna for company, and not getting any closer to the five in front of him out of worry. Luna, more or less, is staying near him so he doesn't feel alone. He doesn't seem to mind as he does keep close to the princess.

"Well..." Justin pauses for a moment as he tries to remember what happened then. "There was a lot of panic, doubt, and quite a bit of isolation. That last part mostly on me. Twilight did her best to try and calm me down, but that's easier said then done when trying not to get hit with your own broom."

Luna silently nods, mostly at his self imposed isolation. Much like she had done upon her return.

"And then the bond spell was severed and she sent me off to the palace for a little while."

"I remember your arrival." Luna remarks, then pauses and looks at the human. "Bond spell?"

Justin just chuckles a little bit. "Oh yeah, apparently getting unintentionally summoned as a familiar had me bound to Twi for a while. That was fun."

"Having an arcane leash dragging you where ever they go is totally fun." He says with sarcasm, then pauses. "What was your return like, y'know, after being turned back into Luna." Justin shifts his gaze to look at her.

"Filled with doubt, guilt, and isolation. Much like yours, but also relief in knowing I had returned to my sister." Luna responds, not giving it a second thought.

"Celestia definitely is happier having her sister around." Justin gives her a warm smile.

Luna returns the smile with one of her own and the two continue behind the five friends, returning to their comforting silence.

The group finally makes it to Ponyville, most the the chatter coming from the five girls leading the pack. The skies above are clear for the most part with the only spot still containing the last storm. Just the mere sight of it and close proximity to it was enough to put a certain yellow pegasus at an unease. The group came to a stop with Justin and Luna keeping a respectable distance away. Twilight broke off from the group and approached the two.

"Have you two noticed anything....strange about this storm?" Twilight asks in a hushed tone.

At first, the two are confused by the question, but instead they listen in. No wind. Looking at the storm and upon their inspection, it isn't being violent.

"Yeah..." Justin admits after a moment of silence. "We should be careful, something ain't right this time."

"Agreed, but how." Justin starts to kneel down, mostly to get on Twilight's level.

They continue to whisper away, quickly laying out a changed plan. All three working to iron out this new set up, all the while the four other Elements idly chat amongst themselves. Twilight returns to them and talks to them about the changes. Luna and Justin sit and watch them.

Twilight comes back after a couple of minutes later to the two. "So, the girls are okay with this plan."

The group take some time to gather a few items, then split off into two teams to stake out on opposite sides of differing buildings. The first team consists of only Luna and Justin while the Second team is made up of the five friends, both observing the storm. Something about the storm makes it seem dormant. There's no sound, rushing wind, arc of red lightning, nothing. Twilight pokes her head around the corner of her building and peers over to Justin and Luna. Both start to signal back and forth for a little while before nodding and ducking behind the buildings.

Applejack emerges from her side of the buildings with a rope in mouth fashioned like a lasso. Using her mouth to twirl it as she charges in a full sprint towards the twister. They all watch as she gets closer then throws the lasso into the storm to catch on to something. Catch it did and she tugs. Something tugs back before yanking the farm mare off her hooves and spinning her around like a toy before throwing her back towards her group. She ends up okay thanks to the use of magic from both Rairty and Twilight along with the quick action of Rainbow and her wings.

"That was... interesting." Justin muses as he watches the rope just linger outside the storm. "Luna, you should go see if AJ is okay."

Luna stares at him for a moment, knowing what's about to happen, and flares out her wings to fly over to the other team. The human takes a deep breath and steps out from around the corner. When the night princess arrives, she feel relief in seeing that Applejack having quickly recovered. Not many of them currently any the wiser to the storm's increasing activity.

Justin's approach towards the storm is slow and with each step he takes, he sees a faint flash of red. His eyes drift over to the group of six still making sure their recently flung friend is okay, then draw back to his destination. The rope disappears into the twister and flashes of lightning get bright. The bright flashes drawing the attentions of the group.

Before she can go, lightning arcs out like an appendage and wraps itself around the human's neck and yanks him forward. Justin digs in his heels and grabs a hold of the magical bolt of energy. Two more arc out and latch on to his wrists and pull with great force. Justin is pulled off his feet and towards the storm only to be stopped a little ways in.

He turns his head a little to see what's holding him back and it's Twilight using her magic to hold his foot in place. The lightning appendages pull on him with another hard tug and get nowhere. It sends a bolt out and strikes the ground near Twilight, but no avail as she doesn't flinch. The others are making their way towards her and the human. The storm lets out what sounds like a growl and manages to hit the alicorn with another bolt. Twilight lets out a yelp as her magic breaks its hold and Justin lurches forward.

He gets tugged back again, this time Rainbow is pulling on his pants with her mouth. Her eyes fixed on him with the fires of determination in them. Another of the supernatural bolts wraps itself around his waist and pulls them both forward. Applejack jumps forward and bite down on Rainbow's tail and pulls hard. Rairty follows suit and pulls on AJ's tail while Luna and Twilight combine their magical grips to even the odds. Justin groans out in pain more than relief due to being yanked in opposite directions. Then his gaze falls to Fluttershy, cowering away from the storm and the situation before her.

He can see the frown on Dash grow and she begrudgingly lets go of his leg, letting him lurch towards the storm with another pull. The only thing holding him back is Twilight's and Luna's magic. Both are staring at him in silent contemplation and fear.

Justin manages to give her a small smile. "I think I'll be fine. I know you'll come for me."

Once the magic falls from around his form, Justin puts his legs out in front of him as if he is going down a slide.

"Self-sacrifice, baby!" He yells out before being pulled right into the storm and disappearing into the dark clouds.

Luna turns to the lavender mare next to her as the rest of her friends stare at the storm falling dormant again. "Are you certain we made the right call by listening to him?"

"Part of me says no." Twilight responds, then finally looks the Princess in the eyes. "He's right about one thing though, we are going after him."

Justin finds himself standing on a ledge, looking towards a tree line. In the distance are silhouettes of mountains. He nearly looses his footing to his right with a slight shift of his weight and looks behind him towards the ledge. His eyes are met with the dark of an abyss and what could be a long way down with no end. He puts his foot back on solid ground and takes a few steps away from the ledge. He goes back to scanning the horizon and soaking in his current surroundings.

The sky is kind of dark with a red hue to it that fades into black the higher it goes. There are no stars dotting the skies above. A hunch starts to grow that he isn't where he thinks, this isn't Pinkie's. A twig snapping nearby pulls his eyes towards the source. Three familiar ponies are standing before him; Two mares and filly. There was the confirmation he was looking for in these three faces.

Something about them seems off. Maybe it was the glowing red eyes. No, it was definitely the glowing red in their eyes. He takes a moment to look at Fudge, Vinyl, and Derpy only to find their expressions blank. These weren't his mares, but it does pique his interest about their presence here.

Justin doesn't say anything as his gaze shifts to the trees to watch six more mares emerge from them. Their trot is slow and deliberate, only his friends were expressing anger towards him. It puts him a little on edge but he doesn't want to back away or back down from whatever this is. They stop just behind the first three ponies and stare, no, they all glare at him.

"Yeah, well, I ain't the only one. Now am I?" He seems to challenge the visions of his friends and family before him.

Four horns start to charge up with magic as scowls form to compliment angry eyes. The human just stares, unflinching, unyielding as he stares back at them. Magic blasts in four differing flavors slam against his chest and send him flying backwards and off the edge. He falls into the darkness as a memory floods his mind.

"Sooooo... all I have to do is put this little magic crystal in here and it'll keep the watch wound?"

"Of course! If you need to charge it, just bring it back to me and I'll do it without opening it again." Twilight's voice echoes in his head.

"Man, magic is so cool." Was all he said then.

This was just after they got out of the book, the two were in the middle of the library as Justin had just built himself a pocket watch from scratch. He twirled the arcane charged crystal between his fingers while his other hand held the incomplete device. Twilight trotted over and planted her flank next to him.

"Why did you wanna build this anyway?" She asked him.

"I wanted something to commemorate us making up." Justin looked at her and grinned to himself, but it showed. "And the adventure we just went on."

"Is this some kind of human thing?" Twilight asked, now curious.

"Nah, this is a Justin thing." He responded and turned his gaze back to the crystal. He seemed to hesitate a bit.

A hoof touched his hand with the crystal and he looked back to the alicorn. "Then how about we put it in, together, as our friendship renewed?" She was smiling at him.

He smiled back at her a nodded. Hoof and Hand installed the charged crystal into the device and seemed to hum to life in it's new home. A grin broke across his face as even the time set itself. He closed the watch and looked over to Twilight before his arms encompassed her in a tight bear hug.

"Thanks, Twi. You're the best."

He's falling but doesn't seem to mind at this point as he has himself in a lounging position. A smile spread across his face from the memory. He opens his eyes for a moment. Yup, still dark. Then he shuts them again and starts to let his mind wander to a different topic. Soon drifting to his first arrival.

Justin took another swipe at the strange talking creature that just took him from his home. He was in full-blown panic mode and screaming at the top of his lungs. Gripping the broom like his life depended on it, which it probably did. The creature in question was lavender, looked almost like a unicorn, but smaller somehow. He can feel fear, but it wasn't his.

"Let's take this nice and slow." The voice spoke in soft tone, probably female. "Just put the broom down and we can talk."

"How do you know English!?" He practically screamed at her and readied his weapon for another strike.

"English? I speak Ponish." She simply replied to his apparent confusion. "Now, please, just put the broom down. I can feel what you're feeling."

"What?" Now he was really confused, only slightly lowered the broom.

She gave him a smile at the lowered weapon. "There we go, nice and easy..." He watched her horn light up and gently tug the broom free to set it down on the ground.

"What do you mean you can feel what I'm feeling?"

"I... don't know. Maybe we can figure that out together." She kept giving him a genuine smile that was starting to put him at ease. "My name is Twilight Sparkle." She held out a hoof towards him.

He gingerly reached out and gave it a small shake. "Justin"

He chuckles a little to himself about that tidbit to his past here. Stranger in a strange land that he now calls his home. All due to the wrong spell being casted at that time and he finds himself grateful for it now. He opens his eyes to see a little red light near him. He feels as though it's looking at him and his brow raises.

"I feel fear, I just ignore the feeling." He shrugs at the orb of light. "Got better things to focus on."

"'These ponies' you refer to are my friends, hell, family to some extent with how they treat me." He leans forward as if he were laying on his stomach on a bed, his chin in his hands. "What do you got?"

"'The one who commands me.'" He seemingly says in a mocking tone. "Who is that?"

"He calls himself 'Kronos' after leaving his real name to the sands of history."

"Yes." It didn't even pick up on the sarcasm. Does it even know what that is? "He will come to reclaim what is rightfully his."

The group of six ponies finally break through into the dream of the human. They are met with their dark doppelgangers, whom of which were quick to engage in a fight with each of them. Luna being the more unlucky of them as she not only had to get away from being pelted at with cupcakes, but some fairly accurate magical blasts and precision flight of a mail mare.

"Y'know, Twi." Rainbow shouted after kicking herself free of her double. "I know you were being all noble when you said we're coming after him, but I honestly wasn't expecting to fight myself again!"

"I was expecting his other dream!" Twilight shouts back, currently locked in a spell duel with herself. "Something's changed!"

"Then these are meant to slow us down!" Luna declares while blasting a rogue cupcake.

Justin stands in the darkness with his palms pressing together, index fingers up to his lips, and the rest of his digits intertwined. Most of his surprise at the revelation of the fact he has a different Discord's Chaos Magic flowing through his body.

"So, you mean to tell me that, I, ME, This one here, has the powers of Unbound Chaos?"

"Uncertain." The orb floats nearby. "I only see what's in your dream like I was tasked. Then Their dreams followed."

"To weaken this Equestria's protectors, you included if needed." It just straight up told him. Why?

"Doing a fantastic job of that." He shifts to a mock clap. "Cause we're tearing through these nightmares."

"What makes you so certain? What if they cut their losses to find their last friend and leave you behind?" Did the orb get brighter while trying this?

"We are friends, I'd do the same for any of them if we switched spots. We share those bonds as friends."

Fluttershy is running large circles around this weird mosh pit of doubles while screaming her lungs out. Rainbow is chasing Rainbow, Applejack butting heads with herself, Rarity dodging magic, Twilight still dueling. Luna wasn't faring any better, she was covered in assorted pastries while getting clipped by this dream pegasus. A magical blast hits one of her wings and she goes down.

"Twilight, darling, I hope you have something in mind for this!" Rarity squeals before narrowing avoiding a blast.

"That is.." Luna mumbles to herself, horn coming to life in a bright light as she rises to her hooves. "ENOUGH!" The last word she yells in her Royal Voice and her horn glows the brightest it's probably been all night.

The doppelgangers vanish as the light from Luna's horn shines. Four of the five Elements just staring at the Princess in amazement, a certain yellow pegasus hasn't stopped screaming, or running for that matter. Luna's horn lights up in her usual teal light and picks Fluttershy up mid-run. She turns the fragile mare over to Twilight so she can calm her friend down, which she manages after a few minutes of getting the mar to stop screaming.

"You have a right to ask, Rainbow Dash." Luna says as she approaches the ledge to the chasm. "If were I not occupied, I would have cast that spell sooner if not to save our friend and time."

Without another word, Luna leaps off the edge and into the darkness below. One of the Elements screams out her name but it's too late for her to acknowledge which one said it. Having been left to look at one another, the five friends exchange glances. Most of their stares landing on Twilight.

"So... uh... do we follow her?" Applejack ends up asking. "Why'd she even jump in there?"

"I think I have an idea." Twilight has her gaze fixed on the chasm. "We show up and he isn't here. They were looking at... that." She points a hoof towards the chasm. "So Luna might be on to something."

"What're we waiting for?" Rainbow asks, fluffing out her wings. "Let's go follow her!"

The sounds of her friends having an argument fades into muffled background noise as it seems something calls out to her. Almost as if her body isn't her own, Twilight rises to her hoofs and starts a trot towards the edge. Something is pulling at her very core, calling her to go for him. The others haven't noticed the alicorn's strange behavior. That is until they hear her take off and dive right down into the chasm.

"I hope she isn't mad about us arguing." Fluttershy says to nopony in particular.

Justin is still falling and rather leisurely at it. He wasn't really all that concerned about his predicament really. He had some company at the least in the form of this strange orb. Come to think of it, he doesn't even now what it really is. It talks, has been rather cooperative with his questions and what not. So he decides to totally do the subtle approach for the answer.

"An aspect of-" It gets interrupted by something flying at high speeds right passed them.

Before any speculation could be given, a mass of lavender fur and feathers slams itself against Justin's chest. The human lets out a grunt and wraps his arm around the soft object that just hit him on instinct. The two open their eyes to look at one another and a wave of relief comes over them.

"Justin!" Twilight exclaims while throwing her hooves around his neck and nuzzling against his cheek with her own.

"Twilight?!" He responds, accepting the tight embrace and cheek nuzzling. "How'd you find me?"

"I..." She pauses as she fails to find any sort of explanation. "...don't... know. Something just told me where you were and I couldn't help but listen to it."

Twilight just kind of nods her head in response to the first part. "I have no idea..." Her attention turns to the seemingly patient ball of light nearby. "What's that?"

"I think an aspect of some sort. Something flew by us earlier and it didn't finish." He explains a bit.

"You must be Twilight Sparkle, the Princess." It says, showing no emotion still.

"Yup." He just nods and looks to the orb. "Anyway, as you were sayin flashy thing?"

"Rather revealing little shit, ain't ya." Justin comments with some mild amusement.

"I am a book afterall, nothing is stopping you from getting information, but I will still follow the orders of Master Kronos."

"Later." Justin whispers back to her. "All right then." He challenges rather loudly. "Then where is our friend, Pinkie?"

"Well, that's helpful." Twilight comments as she casts a light spell to see him better. "You okay, you aren't hurt are you?"

She quickly starts to nuzzle up to him again, just feeling relieved he's actually okay. Twilight pulls back to look at him and opens her mouth to say something. Before she can, however, something latches itself on to Justin's back and dark blue wings unfurl. With a powerful flap, the mass starts to carry the two back up.

"Glad to see you are okay, my friend!" Luna responds and takes a quick glance at the two pairs of eyes looking at her. "I see you have been found by Twilight Sparkle."

It only takes a couple of minutes to reach the surface where the chasm is. Luna gently setting the human on his feet and Justin letting Twilight get back down to her own hooves. The lavender mares friends all clamor around her, where the more common question is what got in to her. Twilight leads the group away, trying to give them the answers they desire.

"So... Where does this chasm exist in Equestria?" Justin looks at Luna, pointing a thumb towards the mass behind them.

"It does not, this is your dream." Luna responds. "It represents something in your subconscious."

"Probably my darkest desires." Justin snickers as he walks away from the canyon of darkness. "The world may never knoooow!"

"You would rather not find out." Luna responds with a smirk as she trots up to his side.

"Not a snowball's chance in Tartarus." Was all he said, earning a small giggle from the ruler of the night. "Talked with the aspect of the book and I did get some info out of it and a clue as to where Pinkie is."

"I will take a gander that this 'info' is something you would rather wait until we are awake?" Luna asks.

"She is where 'our journey began.' Whatever that means." Justin shrugs, watching the group of mares ahead. "Rather ominous if you ask me. Also, where'd you get the wing power to lift both of us?"

"What, is a Princess not allowed to keep her secrets?" Luna replies with a smirk.

"Fair, fair." Justin replies, then he stops as his eyes widen. It hit him, the answer to the clue. "TWI!"

Twilight's ears perk up and move in the direction of the human. Her eyes soon follow suit and fall upon the man making a mad dash in her direction, a look on his face that convey that he figured something out. His strides up on her in mere minutes, his speed unintentionally scaring the daylights out of Fluttershy and causing her to cower away from him. Justin has his arms under Twilight's forelegs as he lifts her to his eye level.

"I know where Pinks is!" Justin all but speaks in excitement, still careful enough to not just blow her eardrums out.

"Darling, why're we in front of your house?" Rarity turns her attention to the human.

"Because, Pinkie has to be here." Justin replies, keeping his eyes on the front door.

The seven just stand in a file in front of the human's home. About half a little unsure if he's in his right mind with a couple of wayward glances his way. He either doesn't notice them or he just didn't care, this isn't going to back down from the idea. Twilight leans over a nudges him with her leg, he leans down.

"No, but I don't have a lot of rooms, so it shouldn't take too long." Justin responds.

With that, he stands back up and walks right up to his door. With a click, it opens with ease and he steps in, leading the group with him. Everything was pretty much the way Luna and Justin left it: eerily empty. An audible gasp comes from Rarity upon seeing the empty abode. The first floor is already clear from some of the quick glances and they starts moving up the stairs. They break up into three pairs to start checking the rooms. Leaving the human on his own for the time being.

Justin takes the quiet approach as he's walking down the hall. He reaches out for the piece of rope and pulls on it, bringing down the ladder to his attic. The ladder unfurls and the feet hit the wooden floor before the human with a thud. He wraps his fingers around the sides of the ladder and places his foot on the bottom rung. He slowly ascends just enough to poke his head into the crawlspace and start craning his neck around, scanning the room.

"Girls! I found our missing Pinks!" Justin calls out down the ladder and fully ascends into the attic.

A couple of minutes later and he is joined by the rest of the group. All of them looking at the floating pink mare with the faintest sounds of giggling. Each member of the group exchanging some kind of confused look. It's slowly turning into a knowing look as each gaze being exchanged is passed around. They all start their approach towards the magical field containing their bubbly pink friend.

Pinkie is having the time of her life right now. She's giggling and laughing her pink flank off as she bounds and jumps around the dream human trying to catch her. Pinkie doesn't know what kind of game they're playing, but she has a hunch that it may be tag. Then she gets the feeling of being stared at and looks over to see the seven pairs of eyes watching her.

"Ohmygosh! Girls!" Pinkie bounds over to the group just at the human is about to grab her, causing him to fall on his face. "And you brought Luna and Justin! Best. Dream. Ever."

Justin just smirks at little at the pink mare's infectious smile and energy as she takes her five friends in a tight hug. "Having fun with your ne friend there?"

"Oh absolutely! He kinda reminds me of you but if you were angry all the time instead!" Pinkie replies as she hops up on the human and squeeze the life out of him in a bear hug.

It's a bear hug he happily returns, though not earth pony strong. "I missed ya too, Pinks."

"Now we all can have fun playing tag together!" Pinkie exclaims, not letting her grip go on Justin.

"Pinkie, not to be a spoil sport, but ah don't think he's playing." Applejack interjects as she points a hoof at the recovering human not that far off.

"Yeah, but why does this one seem so slow." Rainbow interjects. "Like slower than Justin on a Monday."

"OH! We've been playing tag for HOURS!" Pinkie excitedly hops off the human and bounds around her friends for a bit, then jumps on Luna. "I think he's getting tried!"

The ponies look a bit shocked now. They knew Pinkie was a literal infinite pool of energy, but this was something else entirely. Mostly due to them thinking that it wasn't possible for any of the dream humans to get exhausted. Speaking of which, the red-glow eyed human starts to shamble his way towards the group. Then he just collapses at their hooves and feet, looks like he's out of fuel of good this time as his body just sinks in shadows. The group of ponies are staring silently at the display.

Nightmares in Ponyville

by Tower of 0

The Last Laugh