The egg was safe… Allura was finally out of their manes for a while.
But now the Mane 6 had a brand-new issue… a life-or-death situation as a matter of fact.
Barney, the kids, the dragons and Gentle Rain had lost control of their imaginary plane, and if they didn’t act fast, their friends would be in more danger than anyone else realized!
Luckily, Zipp had pinpointed that the plane was going to go down just near the farm they had left behind that morning, so the ponies flew ahead with their wings and jetpacks and managed to get there before the plane could in order to set up a soft landing. “Okay, guys, gather as much hay as you can find and put it in a pile!” Sunny told her friends. “That plane will be here any second, so GO GO GO!! Our friends' lives are at stake!”
Grandma Ida and Grandpa George were with Fig on the porch, watching the ponies flying back and forth gathering hay. At first, they didn’t think much of it… until Grandma Ida saw the plane descending over the cornfield. “George,” she said, pointing it out, “what is that?”
The screams of their friends were enough to alert Sunny of their incoming impact, and luckily, the hay pile was just perfect for their landing. “Guys, we’ve done the best we can do! We have to move out of the way, now!”
“Right!”
The Mane 6 leapt out of the way of the plane and ducked for cover as it slid against the ground before colliding with the haypile and slowing to a stop… and thankfully, everyone was fine, other than being covered in hay from head to toe.
Zipp sighed in relief. “Good thinking, Sunny-- that was WAY too close.”
As the Mane 6 approached their friends and helped remove the hay, Grandma Ida and Grandpa George, with Fig in Grandma Ida's arms, quickly approached, having seen the landing from the front porch. “My stars!” Grandma Ida cried out. “What happened?! Are you all right?”
“You kids okay?” Grandpa George asked. “We’re fine,” Abby told her grandfather. “We just had sort of a bumpy landing.”
“It seems,” Pipp said with a teasing chuckle, “that Cody forgot to put landing wheels on his make-believe airplane, so we had to create an emergency landing pad.”
“Wheels…” Cody hummed in thought. “Wheels would be good.”
“Well, what kind of game were you kids playing out here?” Grandpa George asked. “Well, we weren’t exactly playing, Grandpa George,” Sunny began first. “And we weren't even here most of the time.”
“You see,” said Cody, “we took that big old egg over to Ms. Goldfinch.”
“The bird lady,” Izzy interrupted. “And her book said that it was a dream-maker,” Misty added, “and that we needed to bring it back to the farm. Only it took a ride on the truck, and then--”
“An enemy of ours, Allura? She was after the egg too,” Hitch spoke, “and then Barney--”
“The dinosaur,” Grandma Ida assumed. “He helped us chase it,” Cody nodded, “but it rolled under a parade.”
“So we went to this really fancy French restaurant,” Pipp said, “and Barney led the whole place in a fantastic sing-along!”
“But at the circus, the egg got tied to a balloon,” Abby said. “And,” Zipp added, “not a little balloon.”
“A BIG one!” everyone said at once. “So,” Cody said, “we made this old tree trunk into an airplane…”
“Slow down, children, children,” Grandma Ida interrupted the story to turn to her eldest grandson. “Cody, I think you better start at the beginning.”
Cody smirked at this. “The very beginning?”
“Yes. The very beginning.”
Cody looked at his sister and friends with a smile on his face, while the faces of his grandparents merely showed major confusion. “Okay, Grandma and Grandpa-- we’d like you to meet some friends of ours. Gentle Rain, the Night Light triplets… and Barney… the dinosaur.”
Barney emerged from the hay pile first, with Gentle Rain following suit with the baby dragons, trying to get the hay off of them from the landing. “Hey!” Grandpa George exclaimed, startled. “Hey!”
“Yes, I know,” Barney chuckled. “A lot of hay.”
Misty only giggled and waved at the dinosaur. “Hey, everypony.”
“Oh, hey, guys!” Ripper said before spitting some hay out of his mouth. “Man, I don’t see how Agnes eats this stuff.”
However, Grandma Ida looked just as startled as her husband did. “What are they? Where did they come from?”
Zipp chuckled nervously. “That’s a story all its own, but we can explain everything later if you need time to consider everything.”
“Look out below! Yahoo!” came a voice, and everyone looked to see BJ sliding down a rope from the barn and down to the ground before running over to them. “Hi, guys! Was that cool or what?!”
“Hey, BJ!” everyone greeted while Gentle Rain, Barney and BJ high-fived one another. And after a moment of chattering, Grandpa George cut them all off. “Hold it, hold it! Let's start over again,” he said. “This is all about an egg.”
“Sure is!” Barney smiled. “Hey, where is it?” BJ wondered. “Riiiight here,” Abby moved away, revealing the egg on the log. “Got away from us for a while,” Bat said in relief, “but we finally found it and kept it safe from Allura. Speaking of which… what happened to her anyway?”
“Let’s just say she’s taking a swim, and if she has any common sense,” Sunny said, rubbing Bat on her head, “I don’t think you guys will be hearing from her ever again.”
“Us, on the other hoof,” Hitch sighed reluctantly, “is another story.”
Suddenly, during that brief moment of silence, Grandma Ida saw the final ring on the egg glow a bright pink. “Oh my… what’s it doing?”
“The very last ring is lighting up!” Barney exclaimed as the glowing finally stopped. “But that means…” Sunny gasped. “It’s time for the dream-maker to hatch!”
“Quick, Cody,” Abby gave the egg to her brother, “you gotta put the egg back exactly where you found it.”
“Come on, everyone, hurry! We can't miss the dream-maker hatching!” Noir encouraged, and they all began to race toward the barn. “No problem!” Cody said from out in front. “The egg was right here in the…”
Unfortunately, before he could even set foot in the barn, Cody tripped and fell, with the egg flying out of his reach and into the air!
Everyone screamed and tried to not look, when suddenly, they saw Baby Bop, pulling her blankie out from some hay bales. “Oh, look, I found my blankie!”
And thankfully, thanks to the heavens above, Baby Bop caught the egg in her blanket before it could hit the ground! “Yes!” Zipp pumped a hoof while she helped Cody back onto his feet. Then, everyone came over to Baby Bop while Cody took the egg, congratulating Baby Bop on her deed, while the young triceratops looked confused. “Did I do something good?”
“I’ll say you did!” Pipp said in relief, hugging Baby Bop in relief. “You saved the dream-maker just in time!”
“And besides, we told you your blankie was in here somewhere,” Izzy giggled. “You just had to find it!”
“Cody, over here!” Sunny gestured to the spot where the egg was. “This is the exact spot where the egg was!”
Cody nodded and placed the egg right where Sunny said, and stepped back in order to see if something would happen. After a brief moment, the egg began to wiggle and move, getting everyone extremely excited… just before a beam of light, possibly moonlight or starlight came through the open barn roof and shot down onto the egg, making it glow extremely bright.
“Whoa!”
“Oh my pony!”
“Check that out!”
“Amazing!”
“Look!” Gentle Rain pointed out. “The egg is cracking!”
Indeed, the kirin was right-- the egg was cracking until a star shape appeared, and from the egg came a glorious rainbow light that filled the entire barn. “Looks like a rainbow!” Cody exclaimed. “And it’s everywhere!” Izzy agreed before the rainbow light touched her, making her giggle. “And its ticklish!”
The rainbow light soon disappeared back into the egg, which began to crack all the way, revealing a soft, gray furry creature inside, which everyone couldn't stop gawking over. “Awww, so cute!”
“He’s so furry!”
“This is totally cool!”
“Oh,” Grandma Ida gasped, “it’s wonderful!”
“But… it’s a baby what?” Baby Bop asked. “A dream-maker, Baby Bop. We’re not exactly sure what it is,” Sunny said, “but honestly? That little thing is too cute, I don’t really care at the moment.”
“Here! We can put it on Baby Bop’s blankie!” Misty said, setting the blanket down so Barney could set it down. “Here you go, little fella,” Barney said, settling the dream-maker on the blanket. “Hey there, little guy…” Hitch said, patting the dream-maker with his hoof. “What’s your name?”
The dream-maker began to make a soft cooing sound, making Marcella giggle. “It’s trying to tell us its name.”
As the dream-maker cooed again, a soft jingling sound filled the air. “Sounds like… twinkle-twinkle.”
“Oh, that’s it!” Izzy said. “We should name him Twinken! It kinda sounds like what he’s trying to say, huh, guys?”
As the others agreed with the name, Cody pondered over this for a brief moment. “Twinken. Twinken, the dream-maker. Huh. Okay.”
“Oh-ho, he’s cute,” Grandpa George smiled before humming. “Doesn't seem to do a whole lot, though, does he?”
“He's a lot like you that way, George,” Grandma Ida chuckled as Zipp snapped a couple pictures. “We gotta study and see if dream-makers have been seen in Equestria-- we could redevelop the entire species!”
“There’s time for science later, Zipp,” Pipp said as she booped Twinken on the nose. “Right now, there’s only time for cuddles and snuggles!”
After a few more moments, Twinken let out a longer coo, almost sounding like it was trying to do something, attracting Abby's attention. “Hey. What are you doing?”
Twinken cooed again, and as he did this, Hitch suddenly saw an image forming above them. “Uh… I think you guys better look at this!”
When everyone looked up, the image fully developed into Abby, wearing a riding uniform and sitting on Agnes, holding a bouquet of flowers. “Look!” Abby said in awe. “It’s… it’s me!”
“Oh!” Gentle Rain gasped, her hooves over her mouth. Pipp and Zipp were so in awe, they even forgot to take pictures (if you can imagine that). “Abby…” Ripper turned toward his new friend. “Is… is this your dream?”
“Yes!” Abby responded with a nod. “And I’m seeing it!”
“We all are,” Grandpa George chuckled. “And,” Abby said, “I’ve never seen it so clearly!”
“So that must be the dream-maker’s gift,” Misty thought. “To let you see your own dreams more clearly.”
“...but why?” Bat wondered. “Well,” Barney told her, “because the dreams you see most clearly are most likely to come true.”
Grandpa George turned to Twinken with Fig in his arms, fully enamoured with the little creature. “Well, you are just full of surprises, aren't you?”
“Lookie!” Baby Bop giggled as Fig gently rubbed Twinken’s nose-- truly an adorable moment.
At the same time, the Mane 6 had moved closer to Barney as they continued to watch Abby's image. “You know… you ponies can take these memories back to Equestria with you,” Barney told the ponies. “So you can remind them that believing in themselves can take them places even they didn’t think were possible.”
“Barney… you’ve never been more right,” Sunny nodded. “This was an adventure we’re never gonna forget… not by a long shot.”
“Well… we could forget the Allura parts,” Hitch named off, “and you guys almost dying, but yeah-- never gonna forget this part.”
The ponies giggled at this, agreeing with the earth pony duo wholeheartedly… just before a voice spoke to them. “Barney? Ponies?”
All seven of them turned to see Cody, who looked a tad guilty about how he treated them before, standing next to them. “Yes, Cody?” Barney asked. “I’d just like to say,” Cody began, “that… I was a big doofus before, and… I think you’re all pretty cool.”
Sunny chuckled-- it took Cody this long, but… seeing him finally accept them as friends was totally worth it. “Thank you, Cody.”
“And I think,” Barney smiled, “that you’re pretty cool too.”
Cody smiled, but just after a moment of hesitation, he went to Barney and gave him a huge hug, making the ponies follow.
They knew Cody was good at heart… and now, they finally could accept him into their friend circle too.
After the hug ended, Marcella turned to the purple dinosaur with a question. “Hey, Barney, now can we see your dream?”
But when they turned, Twinken had disappeared from sight. “Hey… where’s Twinken?” Noir looked around. “We wanna see Barney’s dream!”
Everyone began to call for Twinken just before Cody went to the barn door and saw something that made him slightly panic. “He’s flying away!”
“Oh!” Sunny gasped. “Oh no!”
“Come on!” Zipp shouted, leading everyone outside, where they saw Twinken flying up to the top of the house and showering sparkles all over it, causing everyone to gasp in awe.
It was truly a sight to behold, but... there was still one thing that needed to be answered. “What's Twinken trying to say, Barney?” Zipp asked in awe. “He's telling us, he knows what my dream is,” Barney explained. “It's a special time, a special place and sharing it all with the people I love.”
“And that,” Misty said, “is a dream everyone should share… whether they’re near or far.”
As soon as Twinken began to descend from the sky, everyone raced closer to the house, where Barney caught the little dream-maker in his arms. “I gotcha, little fella.”
Everyone couldn’t believe the awe and wonder of the experience, but as they talked and discussed, Gentle Rain couldn’t help but notice that her little dragon friends looked a little sad. “Hey… what’s got you three frowning so deeply?”
“Well, we’re glad everything is okay now,” Bat admitted, “but…”
“We still wish we could find our mom and dad,” Ripper said. “Maybe they would let us visit here more often, and we could see Cody, Abby and Marcella again.”
Suddenly, the flapping of wings above them caught everyone's attention, and Zipp smiled at what was above them. “I don’t think you’ll have to wait too much longer-- look!”
Bat and her two brothers looked to the sky and gasped to see two figures, grown Night Lights, in fact, flying over the house, searching for something.
The female Night light had a mostly white pelt with a black patch on her neck, along with a black underbelly. Her spines were small and black, and ran all the way down to her tail. She had black tail fins at the base of her tail, and a black heart-shaped tail fin with a rounded dorsal fin connecting the two together. Her wings were broad and rounded, and she had light blue eyes.
The male Night Light, on the other hand, was mostly black with white patches adorning his feet and two white spots just above them. His wings featured a solitary claw-like spike on each, covered in scales. His back and spines were white, along with white spots along the sides of his body. At the base of his tail, where it meets his body, he possessed a pair of tail fins and boasted a single webbed sail at the tip, a scar on his left shoulder and light blue eyes.
Bat was the first to call out to the dragons, overjoyed to see them. “MOM!! DAD!!”
“We’re down here!” Ripper called. “Yeah!” Noir jumped up and down. “Here we are!”
The female dragon gasped upon seeing them, overjoyed herself. “There they are! Our babies!”
Both dragons dove down to greet the three triplets, and there laid a whole dragon family reunion right in front of the others’ eyes. “Oh, thank goodness you three are okay!” the father Night Light said, nuzzling Ripper and Noir before looking at his sons. “You are all right… aren’t you?”
“Yes, Dad, we’re fine,” Ripper said. “We got lost, but we met Gentle Rain who took care of us, and then we met a whole bunch of new friends!”
“And then,” Noir said, “we had to save a dream-maker egg from an evil snow leopard named Allura, and once we got the egg back after crashing our plane, the egg hatched and--”
“How did you guys find us?” Bat interrupted. “We saw a shower of light from this direction and thought it was you trying to signal us,” the mother Night Light said before looking at the others in curiosity. “Are these the friends you mentioned?”
“Yes… that’s us, ma’am,” Sunny nodded. “We helped Gentle Rain here take care of your kids until you could find them, and… well… they’re little heroes, honestly.”
“It’s true,” Gentle Rain nodded. “I’ve taken care of the little sweeties, and their powers over imagination are unlike anything I’ve ever seen. You’re very lucky to have them.”
“Oh… thank you. I’m Celeste, and this is my husband, Onyx,” the female Night Light introduced. “Thank you all for taking such good care of our kids, but… we really must get going.”
Suddenly… the mood dropped, and the hearts of many sank. “So… you’re leaving?” Abby asked sadly. “Right now?”
“Afraid so, young lady,” Onyx said. “We have to migrate every so often, and now is our migration time. Come on, kids.”
As Bat and Noir looked behind them, bidding their friends a silent goodbye, they prepared to flap their wings and follow their parents into the air… until Ripper uttered one word that shook everyone. “No.”
Suddenly, Celeste and Onyx stopped, and the former looked down at Ripper with a firm expression. “Ripper, we’re not joking. Say goodbye and let’s get--”
“Dad, maybe you didn’t hear me right,” Ripper said. “I don’t want to leave… and Bat and Noir don’t either, do you, guys?”
Bat and Noir looked at each other, then at their brother, before nodding and landing on the ground. “Kids… we understand it’s hard to say goodbye,” Celeste tried to soothe, “but we really must go.”
“...Mom, we hated not being with you, but we finally found people who accept us for who we are on the inside… not that we’re scaly monsters,” Noir admitted quietly, looking back at Marcella, who smiled fondly at him. “I mean… I love it when Marcella gives me tummy scratches.”
“And I love to play ball with Cody,” Bat added, making Cody smile. “And Ripper? He loves having his scales polished with Abby. We each found a kid we really connect with… and what about Gentle Rain? We can’t leave her all by herself again-- whether you accept her as family, we already have… and you can hate us for that if you want.”
“We’d rather be punished,” Ripper concluded, “then sent away from friends who really care about us.”
Everyone seemed touched by the little dragon’s speech… and even Celeste and Onyx seemed a little moved. “Kids… we had no idea you felt this way,” Celeste said as she landed. “I’m sorry if we made you move so many times. I-I guess me and your father were just… being overprotective of you.”
“We know you love us, Mom,” Noir said, “but… if you really wanna protect us, then maybe you can let us explore the world on our own terms for a little while.”
“We still wanna see you guys as much as we can,” said Bat, “but… I think I wanna spend some more time with our new friends. And Gentle Rain.”
“That’s very sweet of you three,” Gentle Rain said, “but I don’t really think--”
“We’d love to have you guys stay with us!” Abby interrupted. “We’d have to talk to Mom and Dad about it, sure, but--”
“It would be totally weird to not have you guys here,” Cody then added. “All four of you.”
Celeste smiled at this generous union and turned to her mate. “Well, Onyx, honey? What do you think of our kids leaving the nest for a bit?”
“...I can’t say I’m exactly fond of the idea,” Onyx said, making the group frown. “But… I do respect whatever my kids want to do, so if they want to make a home with these kids and kirin… it’s okay by me.”
“Super-dee-duper!” Bat flipped and hugged her father tight. “Thanks, Dad!”
Everyone else cheered at the fact that the dragons and Gentle Rain were going to be living with Cody, Abby, Marcella and Fig, but… that left Celeste and Onyx without a home to call their own.
Well… at least until Grandpa George cleared his throat. “You know, we always have room up in the hayloft for a couple of dragons to stay, don’t we, dear?”
“I think so,” Grandma Ida agreed. “We do need help keeping wolves and foxes away from our chickens and cattle, so you're welcome to stay for as long as you want.”
“Oh, that is so generous,” Celeste said warmly. “We would be happy to stay, so we can spend more time with our kids and get to know our new friends before they head off to their homes.”
The Mane 6 watched all this beside Barney, still holding Twinken, realizing that the dragons still had their biological family, but they had brand new friends and a brand new adventure ahead of them...
...and that was the best kind of adventure there was.
Then, as hugs were exchanged throughout friends old and new, Barney began to sing a soft tune.
Barney: I love you, you love me
We're a happy family
With a great big hug
And a kiss from me to you
Won't you say you love me too?
The ponies' cutie marks began to glow as the song progressed, and everyone found themselves singing along as well.
All: I love you, you love me
We're best friends, like friends should be
With a great big hug
And a kiss from me to you
Won't you say you love me too?
“Barney?” Baby Bop asked, looking at Twinken. “Can I hold him?”
“Sure,” Barney nodded, and handed the furry creature off to Baby Bop, who couldn’t help but gush at the furry creature before the song reached its final verse.
All: I love you, you love me
We're a happy family
With a great big hug
And a kiss from me to you
Won't you say you love me too?
Then, as the song ended, a portal opened up nearby, catching Onyx by surprise. “What in the wide world of dragons is that?”
“That’s our ticket home,” Sunny said with a sad smile. “Take care of each other, okay, guys? We'll miss you all so much.”
“Oh, wait! Here... take this,” Gentle Rain pulled a star shard out of her mane. “As a token of appreciation for all that you have done for all of us.”
Zipp gasped as she closely studied the object. “This is the third star shard! When did you find this?!”
“A day or two after I found the triplets,” Gentle Rain shrugged. “I hadn't thought anymore of it until now, but it deserves to be with you three.”
“Thank you so much,” Misty said, hugging the kirin. “Bye, everybody! Thank you all for such an exciting adventure!”
Then, as the rest of their new friends exchanged pleasant goodbyes, the ponies disappeared through the portal just before it closed.
After a moment of silence, Baby Bop let through a squeaky yawn as she gave Twinken back to Barney. “But speaking of dreams, I think it's time you were getting to bed,” BJ told his younger sister. “Come on, sissy.”
“Okay...” Baby Bop sighed reluctantly. “Goodnight, everybody. Goodnight, Twinken.”
Twinken giggled as everyone began to exchange goodbyes with the young dinosaurs, and after a moment, Baby Bop and BJ had disappeared from sight. But just a moment later, Baby Bop's voice came from out of nowhere. “Hey, where's my blankie? Oh, there it is!”
And as soon as the blanket levitated off the ground, it disappeared as well, prompting Grandpa George to chuckle. “Barney, this is a...”
Suddenly, as everyone turner, Barney had mysteriously disappeared. “Barney?” Gentle Rain called, looking around. “Well... where is he?”
“Well, now they're both gone!” Noir said, noticing Twinken was gone as well. “But... that doesn't make any sense,” Celeste shook her head, frowning. “Barney would never leave without saying goodbye.”
“No...” Grandma Ida agreed. Then, Fig noticed the plush toy version of Barney and Twinken, sitting on the nearby swing, his attention locked and loaded. “Barney...”
Everyone turned to see that very sight, and this made them know that one way or another...
...Barney might be back sooner than they thought.