A week later…
After a week of training entering the dream realm, Pinkie Pie was in Twilight's bedroom with her friends and Princess Celestia. The atmosphere was somewhat tense as they all anticipated Pinkie Pie diving into the dream realm to save Big Mac and Luna. The usually optimistic and cheerful pony looked slightly nervous about what would happen.
Celestia noticed that she looked nervous and slowly trotted over to her and asked, "Pinkie Pie, are you ok?"
The pink pony lowered her head and stammered, "yes princess…just a bit nervous is all…."
Princess Celestia wrapped her wings around Pinkie Pie, gently pulled her into a hug, and whispered, "I know you're scared, and I thank you for doing this."
"Yes, princess, thank you for being here for me," Pinkie Pie whimpered as they held each other she then placed the pink-coated earth pony into bed as if she were a child. Twilight hooked up some monitoring equipment. Meanwhile, Applejack held her hoof tightly and whispered, "I'll be by your side the whole time."
"Ok, Applejack, don't worry, I'll get your brother back," Pinkie replied. Rarity then gave her a face mask and some lovely tea to help her sleep. Despite this being scary and knowing she was going into a nightmare. Pinkie felt comforted that her friends were with her, and she felt ready to confront whatever lay ahead. Pinkie Pie then slowly closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Pinkie Pie was now blinking, somewhat confused as she tried to gauge her surroundings. She eventually looked to see she was in her bedroom at Sugarcube Corner. But unlike her room filled with balloons, confetti, and streamers….well, it was filled with those things. Still, they were all orange and black, with the streamers of bats, and the room had a giant jack-o-lantern mat in the middle. She slowly got up and saw it was evening outside, with the sun now setting and the moon rising above her window. The mare was surprised as she got up and jumped out of bed, then turned to see her cutie mark, which was balloons but instead of blue, yellow, and white, they were orange, black, and red, and they were in the shapes of bats. She then pulled out her party cannon, which was now brightly colored orange. Curious about what it shot, Pinkie Pie lit the wick at the end and squeaked as it shot out candy.
"Well, that confirms it; this is a dream!" She shrugged, seeing her destiny in this dream was a Nightmare Night planner. Then she went out of her room and downstairs; most of Sugarcube Corner was as she remembered it, with not much being changed. She then saw Mr and Mrs cake handling their foals, wearing adorable jack o lantern style onesies.
"Good Evening, Pumpkin Pie!"
Pinkie Pie blinked, somewhat confused about her new name, which caused the Cakes to give her odd looks as Mr.Cake asked, "um, Pinkie Pie, are you alright?"
"Oh, I'm fine, just getting up! Happy Nightmares Night!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she had to remember to blend into the dream.
"Happy Nightmares Night!" Everypony cheered back. Pinkie Pie then jumped over to a table where she had a pumpkin pie plate with whipped cream. She then quickly went onto her breakfast, eating that along with a cup of pumpkin spice latte which she wasn't a fan of, but she didn't want to make the dream version of Mr. and Mrs. Cake suspicious.
She waved a hoof and sailed off through Sugarcube corner and into Ponyville. She could see the place was all decked out in Nightmare Night decorations with bats and pumpkin paper cutouts strung about. There were jack-o'lanterns all over the streets, foals dressed in costumes. Not just that, bat ponies were flying about with their families as well.
It was a spectacle, and Pinkie Pie was somewhat surprised that despite all the Nightmare Night decorations and the bat ponies, this Ponyville wasn't much different as well, with the simple houses with thatched roofs and dirt roads. It was a strange world despite being a dream, but it wasn't too crazy. Pinkie Pie then got up and went off to the apple farm, hoping to find Big Mac. Pinkie Pie expected right to the farm, but what surprised her instead was seeing the sea of apple trees that made up sweet apple acres; there was a sea of pumpkins making a massive pumpkin patch that stretched over the hills for miles. There were all kinds of white, green, and orange pumpkins. She didn't realize there were different colored pumpkins!? A pumpkin farmer can show her all these different kinds of pumpkins in the real Equestria. Pinkie Pie continued to admire the pumpkins as she trotted along until she came to the front door of the Apples' house. She was somewhat reluctant as the door opened; to her relief, it was normal plain old Applejack. The only difference was that this dream version of her friend had three pumpkins for a cutie mark instead of three apples. The farm mare gave him a curious look as she said, "uh, Pumpkin Pie, whatcha doing here?"
"Oh, Applejack, you're here!" Pinkie squealed, jumping over and hugging her as she laughed, "hey, take it easy! And my name is Jackie Lantern."
She was able to nudge her off, and then Pinkie asked, "so um, Applejack- I mean Jackie Lantern…I uh came to see big mac is here with you?"
"Uh, Big Mac is in Canterlot getting ready for his wedding."
"Wedding!?"
"Yes, wedding," the mare responded as she cleared her throat. "Anyways, I don't; know why you're still here. It would be best if you were in Canterlot helping to set things up. The wedding is happening at midnight, so you still got time."
"Right, um…yes, it slipped my mind, ya know!?" Pinkie laughed nervously, remembering what Celestia said about trying to blend into the dream.
"Alright, well, my folks and I are getting ready too. We got a chariot with some bat ponies taking us. Need a lift?"
"Oh me? Yes, of course!" Pinkie exclaimed, relieved that she was getting transported to Canterlot; as much fun as it would be to hop around this weird dream, she had to remember to keep to the mission.
"Ok, come on then," Jackie Lantern led Pinkie Pie to a royal chariot with two bat ponies hitched to it. Pinkie Pie saw that Granny Smith and Applejack were wearing dresses as well. They both seem normal as well, with the only difference was Granny Smith's cutie mark was a pumpkin pie instead of an apple pie.
"Come ere' Pumpkin Pie, sit in between us!" Granny chimed as she patted the center seat of her chariot. Pinkie squealed and chirped, "ok!" She slammed her flank between her and Apple Bloom. As the two bat ponies unfurled their wings and sailed into the sky, the mare couldn't help but reminisce about their road trip, and she couldn't believe how relaxing things were. Pinkie Pie had to keep herself from falling asleep; if she did, her subconscious would go into a different dream.
Big Mac was surprised by being in his chambers at the royal Canterlot palace; the room he was in was massive and ornamented with luxurious items, a gigantic mirror, and an ornate bed with a canopy cover. It was pretty elegant, yet there was something small and simple in the room, a bowl of apples in the middle set in the room where he was currently chomping down. He reminisced how despite being born an alicorn, he refused to be royalty. But that was until he was called to help Twilight and her friends defeat Daybreaker, the tyrannical form princess Celestia took a thousand years ago. After that, everything changed, he met princess Luna who awarded him for his efforts, and they dated for a bit. Now they're having a wedding… it was like a dream, a blur of images going through his mind as he ate his simple breakfast.
"Don't tell me that's all you're eating."
Big Mac's ears perked up upon hearing his fiance's voice; he turned his attention to the dark blue alicorn trotting into his room and responded with an "Eyyup."
"Ugh, you know we have the best chefs in Equestria, and here you are, just chomping away on apples."
"Eyyup."
"Guess you are a simple farm pony at heart," Luna whispered as she gave him a peck on the cheek. The stallion's cheeks flushed red as he rubbed where she kissed him. Luna then looked up at the clock seeing it was only around seven pm. "Five hours. We got up way too early."
"Eyyup."
Luna paused and seemed somewhat guilty as she said, "I wonder, is it odd we're doing our wedding the night I sealed my sister to the sun?"
Big Mac paused for a second, seeming not to know what to say; he then shook his head and said, "eynope."
Luna looked over at him and asked, "Why's that?"
"Because Twilight and her friends freed her, you reunited with her."
"Right…but it does feel off…not just that…" the princess groaned, rubbing her head as if she had a headache.
Big Mac nuzzled into his fiance and laid their heads over each other's shoulders. They stayed that way for a few minutes, just enjoying the moment alone until they heard Rarity knock on the door. "Darlings, I think it's time to get ready for the wedding."
"Right, we should get going," Luna sighed as she got up, gave him another kiss, and then asked, "maybe after the ceremony, you and I just get some alone time?"
Big Mac's entire face went pink at the invitation, and he gave a hearty "eyyup!"
He followed his fiance down the hall when they saw Pumpkin Pie bounce over with her overly cheerful smile. "Hello! Big Mac! I'll be getting you ready for your big day!"
Rarity gave a long exasperated sigh, "yes, Pumpkin Pie, please try to stay on task; make sure Prince Macintosh's hooves are scrubbed, his mane and tail trimmed and combed, wings preened, and make sure his suit is put on properly."
"Yes, mam!" Pumpkin Pie exclaimed; she then took Big Mac by the hoof, and he led away from Princess Luna as the two both looked at each other longingly.
"Ok, let's start!"
Big Mac squealed as he was now suddenly in a giant bathtub filled with bubble purple suds that smelled strongly of lavender. Pinkie Pie went about washing his mane and tail as she started to talk, "so, I have to ask some things as I'm…uh…forgetting a few things…is that ok?"
"Eyyup."
"Ok, Princess Celestia turned evil and was sealed away a thousand years ago."
"Eyyup."
"And Princess Luna is Twilight's favorite princess now."
"Eyyup."
"And I assume Rainbow Dash is a Wonderbolt?"
"Eynope."
"Right, a Shadowbolt!"
"Eyyup."
"And we are awake during the night and sleep during the day."
"Eyyup."
"Are we all vampires?"
"Eynope."
"I saw some bat ponies, so I assumed maybe vampires would be about…what about zombies?"
"Eynope."
"Werewolves."
"Eynope."
"Ok, but I saw Fluttershy has bat wings, conducting bats to sing. And her cutie mark has three pink bats. You're not telling me she's not a vampire?"
"Eynope."
"So that's a yes?"
"Ey…um…nope?"
"Ok, well, we're about done with the bath," Pinkie exclaimed. Big Mac blinked, seeing he was now outside the bath and Pumpkin was going over him like a pink tornado combing his mane and tail. "I already preened your wings, just gotta polish your hooves and get you dressed, and you're all set!"
"Eyyup."
"Also, don't worry about the wedding; I already have it all set up! It looks like a Nightmares Night party if you ask me, but seeing you're having your wedding on Nightmares Night, it's appropriate.
"Eyyup."
"And…none of this seems strange to you?"
"Eynope."
"You sure? Because what good reason would we be nocturnal if we were not vampires!?"
Big Mac sighed and then squeaked, sporting a dark blue uniform with medals on the right side of his chest. His mane was smartly combed along with his tail, and his hooves shone through a nearby window in the moonlight.
"There see! Finished in no time at all!" Pinkie chirped as she bounced before him and asked, "so did I do good?"
Big Mac was rather impressed, and despite her rambling, he always enjoyed his talks with the eccentric pink pony. He gave the nod and gave another hearty." Eyyup!"
"Alright!" Pinkie squealed as she shot out her Nightmare Night cannon, shooting out candy, orange, and black confetti. Big Mac laughed and hugged her. She then seemed rather sad and said, "listen, Big Mac…This wedding is important, but you must consider what I said. None of this makes sense. Can't you understand what I'm trying to say?"
Big Mac paused; some of the things she said made him think about what Luna said…something felt off, and he couldn't put a hoof on it. Then a clock chimed nearby and squeaked, seeing it was eleven p.m. The stallion then got up and said, "Eynope, gotta go!" He cried and hurried out of the room as he was going to be late for the wedding!
Pinkie Pie was feeling somewhat depressed. She knew her mission was to get Big Mac and Princess Luna to wake up, but they seemed so happy here, and we're getting married!? Can she ruin their wedding!? But then she remembered that evil Poison Apple possessing Big Mac and how scared and worried Princess Celestia and Applejack was. She had to ensure they didn't kiss at midnight. He was presented at the end of the aisle with Fluttershy conducting a group of bats to shriek out a soft, lovely tune as Octavia played on a pipe organ. The entire place looked like something out of an old gothic play. Pinkie Pie put a hoof to her chest feeling rather proud of herself. She then took a seat among the many ponies; seats among them were his family. On the left side was Celestia, Princess Cadance with her husband Shining Armor, and many other royals, including Prince Blueblood. He has waited for this moment to be admired and praised; despite marrying into royalty. The stallion has helped Twilight and her friends defeat many monsters and restore Celestia from her evil self. He stood there patiently, as," here comes the bride," started playing, and his fiance's soon-to-be wife went down the aisle dressed in a gorgeous night blue gown that shimmered over her body.
After they met at the altar, the two locked eyes and stared at each other longingly, Celestia gave a eulogy about how love conquers all. It was a rather long and tedious Pinkie Pie's full attention was on the couple as they both gave their vows. But she started to sweat, seeing the clock overhead showing that there were only a few minutes before midnight. She had to do something, or Poison Apple would win. He'll keep these two in the dream forever! Then right before the two kissed, Princess Celestia held up her head and said to the crowd, "if any pony desires to halt this matrimony, you may now say your piece."
There was a long pause of silence, and Pinkie Pie finally got the courage to get up and shout, "I object!
Everypony gasped as they turned towards Pumpkin Pie, a pink-coated pony who jumped out of her seat and shouted, "Big Mac, don't kiss her!"
Big Mac turned towards her and asked, "Why not?"
Pinkie paused again, unsure what to say; the dream was going to know she was an intruder now; anyways, she shouted, "Because I ...I think that's what the dream wants?!"
"What dream?" Applejack snapped.
Celestia shouted, her eyes narrowed, and shouted, "yeah, what dream!?"
Everypony in the crowd started getting angry, turning their anger to Pinkie Pie. Luna shouted, "SILENCE, I COMMAND THEE AS PRINCESS OF EQUESTRIA!"
Everypony stopped their shouting, and all bowed towards princess Luna who then looked over to Pinkie and asked, "what dream are you talking about?"
Pinkie bounced over, looked Luna right in the eye, and said, "Luna, this isn't you, your real body is in a coma, and your real sister is waiting for you."
The fake Celestia flared her wings and shouted, "But I'm her real sister! The one who is younger and adores her and is sorry for her mistakes."
Pinkie ignored her, looked over at Luna, and continued, "Luna…yo…you were the one who turned evil and became Nightmare Moon, not Celestia; you have to confront this; you can't run from it."
Luna didn't fully believe her, but she had to admit it sounded right; she turned to Big Mac and asked, "you think she's telling the truth? This is all just some sort of dream?"
Big Mac seemed somewhat reluctant to say anything, but then he felt waves of memories hit him like a truck, being a simple earth pony farmer.
Apple Bloom then slowly trotted to Big Mac in her cute frilly orange dress, swishing about her as she asked, "Big Mac, if this was a dream, wouldn't you be my favorite sibling!? Aren't I real?"
His lip quivered, wanting nothing more than this to be accurate, but he knew in his heart that was not true. Tears ran down his cheeks as he shook his head and said, "Eynope."
As soon as he said that, the guests were getting angry and shouting at them with their teeth growing pointy, and everypony now had giant leathery bat wings sprouting from their backs.
Pinkie Pie gasped loudly as she pointed at the horde of vampires and cried, "I told you they're vampires!"
The guests started to hiss, and they charged them, flying towards them in a torrent of leathery bat wings flapping through the air. Before vampires could get their teeth on the trio, Big Mac scooped Pinkie Pie and Luna into his hooves and flew upwards, breaking through a stained glass window and heading to the top of the palace. They all paused, with the moon overhead shining down on them. The trio then looked up to see that a silhouette could be seen flying toward them. It wasn't long until the profile was much clearer as the devilish Poison Apple landed among the group with a sad look and asked, "Why are you all leaving? I gave you everything you want, and this is how you repay me!?"
Big Mac glared at him, seeing he was the one who put him here and rage filled his heart. Meanwhile, Luna burned the dress around her body, lowered her head, aimed her horn at the green-coated alicorn, and shouted, "Because this is a dream you trapped me in!"
The red-coated stallion trotted next to her and shouted, "eyyup!"
Poison Apple laughed again, then said, "I trapped you in here!? You trapped yourselves! You could've left anytime, but you stayed! Because the truth is you both want to be heroes and be remembered like your more popular siblings! But the truth is that if you go back to the real world, you'll live in their shadows for the rest of your miserable lives!"
Tears filled Luna's eyes as she was becoming emotional as the words Poison Apple said stung Big Mac put a hoof on her shoulder, and he didn't have to say anything; she knew that regardless of how they felt, they couldn't stay here. She turned her attention back to Poison Apple and said, "yeah, you buried my memories, and until Pinkie Pie told the truth, I was going to stay here trapped in your warped reality. I had to face my jealousy again, so thank you for making me realize how I almost allowed myself to become a monster again!"
Big Mac nodded, seeing that he was also tempted to stay there, and gave the nod. "Eyyup!"
Poison Apple flew upwards, getting furious as he shouted, "You two are serious!? You have everything you want and a perfect life anypony would die for, and you're throwing it away!"
He then raised himself above the two as his eyes burned with rage and his horn glowed as he shouted, "I was too lenient on you two! I'm going to destroy you and this nuisance!"
Luna shouted, "Big Mac, Pinkie Pie! Remember, this is a dream! Together we can defeat him!"
"Right!" Pinkie exclaimed; she closed her eyes, and then her body lengthened as she felt her mane and tail grow out; a horn grew out from her forehead as wings sprouted out from her back, and her cutie mark returned to how it was supposed to be, except the balloons were in the shape of crowns. "Hello, everypony! Meet princess Pinkie Pie, the princess of parties!"
Big Mac and Luna flew towards Poison Apple, who used his horn to explode a cloud of purple smoke.
Luna gasped and used her magic to create gas masks for everypony, then had them fly over the cloud. "Stop, you almost were poisoned!"
"Ugh, it's a dream, Luna, remember!?" Pinkie replied as she shot out a beam of magic, turning the poison cloud into a thick cotton candy cloud. Poison Apple was now stuck in it as he shouted. "What the heck is this!?"
"Ha! Sorry, but you messed with the best dreamer in all of Equestria!" Pinkie chimed; she then turned to the horde of vampire ponies coming at them and beaming them with energy, turning their wings into butterfly wings. Their sharp teeth were replaced with proboscis-like tubes as they fluttered about aimlessly, carried away by wind drafts.
Big Mac and Luna then took the opportunity to face Poison Apple, who broke free from his prison. "Buck this! I'll leave this accursed dream and leave you here!"
He then flew off, but Big Mac took a lasso and wrapped it around his body, then he slammed the alicorn down to the castle roof below. Luna used her magic to levitate him upwards and then encased him in a bubble of her charm. He tried as he might, but Poison Apple was trapped, unable to move. "Curse you! Curse you all! You could've lived here and never felt misery again!"
Luna looked over at her sister, who was now a giant cake with Pinkie Pie topping her with candles; she chuckled and then said, "yeah, life can be miserable and hard, but we'll face the challenges ahead."
Big Mac smiled at Luna as he couldn't have said it any better himself and gave an "Eyyup!"
Poison Apple roared as he slammed his hooves at the bubble. "Wait… don't seal me…I promise I'll do anything; I'll stay here and advise or ease your pains at night. I can teach you to be wealthy, powerful, and respected!"
Big Mac looked downward at him and started to feel somewhat ashamed that this creature was born from his insecurities, and he realized then that he had to ensure he never ended up like this monster. The stallion then gave a nod and a simple. "Eynope."
Luna looked down at the pitiful creature before her. This creature reminded her of the one she had succumbed to long ago. She bowed her head in reverence, then said, "You're just like Nightmare Moon, just a symbiote looking for a host to feed off our dark desires or temptations. Sorry but this is the end for you."
She and Big Mac then lit their horns together and, with a combined blast of magic, slammed the bubble sending it toward the moon. Everypony watched as the bow slammed into the moon, followed by a massive explosion that covered the sky in dust. When the dust cleared, everypony looked up to see that the moon was no longer round but in the shape of an apple. It was a strange and magnificent sight, but it wasn't long until a ripple of energy tore through the sky. They then saw that the fabric of reality was torn apart, throwing it into an abyss of bright white light.
"We did it! It's over!" Pinkie cheered as she flew over, throwing confetti in the air. Big Mac turned towards Luna longingly, seeing that the dreams they were trapped in were coming to an end. Before the ripple of energy hit them, Big Mac came up and planted a kiss on Luna's lips, and then everything was enveloped in a bright light.