Good day, friends! It seems you have stumbled upon yet another Blueblood story, and are ready for it to begin, hmm? Fancy that, so am I!
Dreams are a little bit like wishes, I suppose. Really, really big wishes. Sometimes they are wishes so large that you spend your entire life working to make them come true. As the title indicates, Blueblood is no stranger to dreams.
What he is a stranger to, however, is deciding how to pursue a dream. It’s a particularly sticky wicket, especially considering what comes next.
So, let us eavesdrop on the prince himself as he lives out a certain dream in the comfort of his own home…
***
Prince Blueblood found himself mere inches away from a delightful smooch with Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Harmony.
It was the perfect moment. The fireplace was the only source of light in the room, casting its ruddy, flickering glow across the two alicorns. The cushions beneath them were soft, almost as soft as the honey buns they had been sampling a moment before. They stared into each other’s eyes until they reached that invisible line, that unmistakable yet inexplicable moment where they were close enough to close their eyes and let their lips meet. It was the perfect moment.
That was about the moment Blueblood began to suspect that something fishy was going on.
He knew that a night as perfect as this one would have been eternally burned into his memory. Conversely, he found himself unable to remember the conversation they had been having, the activities they had participated in prior to entering the sitting room, or even what vintage of aged grape juice they had drunk.
He hadn’t even kissed her yet, and his mind was already fuzzy. Either that was some darned good grape juice, or there was something… ulterior going on.
“Enjoying yourself, nephew?”
Blueblood’s eyes shot open. He swiveled his head to see his aunt-several-times-removed, Princess Luna of the Night, standing within his sitting room. She was munching on the remaining honey buns with leveled eyebrows, her eyes more on the fireplace than on the pony she had spoken to.
“I suspect you shant be too pleased at my interruption of the proceedings, but I am the currently-acting ruler of Equestria, and as such I would have a dialogue with you.”
Blueblood blew a tired breath between his lips. “Meaning this could not wait until the morning?”
Luna nodded as she licked her hooves clean of honey bun morsels.
Blueblood turned back to the still-puckering Princess Twilight. “Oh, darling, I am terribly sorry about all this—YEEEK!”
Twilight flopped to the ground, thin as a sheet of cardboard. Blueblood’s hoof went over his heaving chest, as if to restrain his heart from plowing its way into the outer world. His pupils became pinpricks as he searched Twilight’s flattened body for any clue as to what in the blinking applebuck was going on.
“You know, Blueblood,” Luna said with a wave of her ethereal blue, starry mane, “ponies usually understand that they’re inside a dream the very instant I show up. What’s keeping you?”
“Perhaps is has something to do with the fact that I live in the same building as you!?” Blueblood growled. He choked on his own spittle, pressing his hoof into his chest for a different reason than holding back a heart attack. A deep breath in through the nose, a deep breath out through the mouth, and he was calm and collected once more. “In any case, a visit from you is surprising, not improbable.”
Luna shrugged as the room around them melted into a variety of muted colors, then vanished into a blank whiteness. “Fair enough. Regardless, t’was not the point of my visit.”
He stood before her, still a head shorter than the elder alicorn. It was at this range that he noted the lines decorating her face, wrinkles forming at every crevasse. They nicely complimented the black circles surrounding her eyes.
He gulped in air. “So, what was it you wished to tell me about?”
She shook her head. “I’m afraid it would be far easier to show you, Blueblood.” Her eyebrows raised in concert. “I am truly sorry about this next bit.”
Her horn glowed, and the world swirled around Blueblood. His head seemed to spin, and colors burst behind his eyes. The prince felt himself being dragged along as if by magic, though it could easily be described as tearing at his very soul.
He regained consciousness a moment later, his face resting on a soft shag rug. He wiped away a spot of drool and shot a glare at his nearby aunt.
“Sorry,” she said. “Dreamhopping is always disorienting the first time you experience it.”
His eyes widened. “So that means that I—”
“Am in another pony’s dream, yes.” She walked forwards, beckoning him to follow. “It is somepony who you have familiarity with, if my sources are correct.”
His eyes jumped to and fro, searching the building for signs to spark his familiarity. The purple-striped walls and ponnequins dotting the landscape stuck a sickle of ice into his heart. “We’re in Carousel Boutique, aren’t we?”
“An approximation,” Luna said with a nod. “A half-remembered figment of Lady Rarity of Ponyville’s imagination.”
She pulled aside a curtain, and Blueblood could see a white unicorn mare weeping into her intricately-curled purple mane. A yellow pegasus sat beside her, placing what tried to be a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “It’s alright, Rarity. Applejack will have that dress done in no time at all!”
“That’s—” Rarity coughed as her mascara ran in black streams down her face. “That’s what I’m afraid of!”
Blueblood glanced away at a nearby door, one that seemed to have rumbles of noise issuing forth from it. He turned back to the scene of the cry and was forced to do a double take as the yellow pegasus morphed into a purple unicorn.
“According to my research,” Twilight Sparkle, the suddenly appeared pony, stated, “the critics and fashion moguls waiting on the other side of that door are fifty percent likely to love your outfit!”
“I don’t exactly like those odds,” Rarity murmured.
“Wait!” Blueblood squinted at the purple unicorn. “Why isn’t Twilight Sparkle an alicorn?”
“It’s possible that Rarity still sees her friend as a unicorn,” Luna mused. “At the very least, this dream utilizes memories of her as one.”
Twilight Sparkle suddenly sprouted two more horns, replaced her fur with scales, and grew spikes out of a long tail.
Luna blinked. “Or, it is possible that Lady Rarity is just tripping.”
Applejack trotted past them and into Rarity’s changing room of shame. “Howdy, Rares! Ah made you this here dress!”
Rarity cringed at the monstrosity, arrayed as it was in fifty shades of pink, alighted with gemstones of varying qualities and types, and topped with an absolutely garish crown. “It’s hideous! It looks like it was designed by a three year old!”
“Well, it sure as shootin’ should!” Applejack exclaimed. “Ah used your old preschool drawin’s tah put it together!”
Rarity swooned, her hoof on her forehead and her eyes rolled back beneath the lids. She was unable to gain the unconsciousness she so desired due to the fact that she was neck deep in her own dream. The next instant found her wearing the alleged outfit and pacing slowly towards the noisy door.
Blueblood shook his head. “All this jumping about is making my head spin.”
“Dream logic,” Luna said. “You get used to it.” She placed a hoof on Blueblood’s shoulder and pushed him forward. “Come, this is the important part.”
They followed Rarity on her indomitable walk to the door. She plodded along as though dragged by unseen forces that refused to allow her to retreat. She lifted a hoof slowly and placed it on the door handle, squeaking in protest as she did so.
The other side of the portal was an enormous room, filled to the brim with ponies wearing regalia of the priciest sort. A long runway stretched before Rarity, lined with lights and cameras and potential patrons of her work. She set forth, slowly making her way to the end of the aisle.
“What’s this then?” one nearby pony cried out. “Who does this pony think she is, assaulting our eyes with this garbage!?”
“She is indisputable dimwitted if she thinks to woo us with such disgraceful adornments!” a pony looking very much like a wingless Blueblood helpfully pointed out.
Blueblood himself cringed as the Blueblood-alike threw popcorn at Rarity. “How on Earth did he find popcorn at a fashion show?”
“You’re being too literal, nephew,” Luna mumbled out of the corner of her mouth. “Look at what’s happening. Do you understand what it means, yet?”
Blueblood glanced around at the crowd of ponies riling themselves up for a fashion riot. “I’m afraid not. To the best of my reckoning, it seems that Lady Rarity is merely having a bad dream.”
Tomatoes flew through the air to splatter against Rarity, Blueblood, and Luna. The prince among them shook himself off and glared at his dreamy counterpart. “Alright, that’s enough of you!”
He grasped the false Blueblood with a quick telekinetic spell. The figment of Rarity’s imagination soared through the air to crash headfirst into one Hoity Toity. The fashion patron crumpled to the floor, crushed beneath a tower of unicorn muscle.
“She has slain Hoity Toity!” a pegasus mare said. “Avenge him! Avenge hiiiiiim!”
Ponies climbed up onto the runway, grasping for Rarity’s hem and constantly bombarding her with rotten fruit. She screamed and collapsed to the floor, weakly fending off her attackers.
Blueblood’s mouth fell open. “Oh, dear. Did I do that?”
“Yes, yes you did.” Luna leaped over Rarity and lifted the ridiculously-garbed mare in her forelegs. She carried her aloft, to the rafters and to safety.
Blueblood noted that the safety was merely relative. “They’re climbing up the walls! They’re— Good Heavens!”
He shuddered as the ponies began to morph from a frenzy of fashionable furies, to a storm of sinister spider-ponies. Six-legged, multi-eyed, fanged, and furry creatures of ill intent slobbered their way towards Rarity and Luna.
“Don’t you see, Blueblood!?” Luna called out. “Lady Rarity is having no mere bad dream…” Her horn glowed as she cast a shield around the unicorn beside her. “It is a Nightmare!”
Blueblood gasped and took to the air as the runway was overrun with spider-ponies. He flapped and fluttered this way and that to avoid the dripping fangs and swiping legs. He halted his flight as the fashion show hall morphed into a horror land filled with enormous webs and chittering monsters. The sky was a hazy brown, and what could be assumed to be the sun was all but blocked by the dastardly smog.
The rafters the princess and the fashionista were perched on likewise morphed into a few thin lines of webbing. Blueblood landed beside them and faced down a particularly-irritated monster. “Do your worst! I can’t be hurt inside my own dream!” He glanced back at Luna with pleading eyes. “Right?”
“Blueblood,” Luna said. “This isn’t your dream. It’s Rarity’s.”
Blueblood screeched and ducked a swipe of the cloven hooves of the spider-pony. His balance lost, he swung beneath the line, grasping it between all four of his legs and holding on for dear life. There was a flash, and the spider-pony fell past him, tumbling into the void.
Luna blew a trail of smoke off of her horn. “Wings, Blueblood. Wings.”
Rarity twitched and cowered beside her, repeating something of a mantra. “I just want to go home… I just want to go home…”
Blueblood released his death grip on the line and flew over to his aunt. “Sorry, I seem to forget at the worst of times.” He looked down at the terrified Rarity and raised his hoof to place it on her shoulder. He thought better of it, and instead turned to Luna.
“Nightmare it is, then,” he said. “How to we awake her from it?”
“Horrors of this magnitude are usually crafted by a Night Terror.” Luna turned around and searched through the crowd of oncoming creatures. “Either one of those monsters is the terror in disguise, or he is hiding in some part of the dream. Perhaps in the scenery or some such nonsense.”
“I just want to go home…” Rarity mumbled. “I just want to go home…”
Blueblood flew upwards to get a bird’s eye view of the landscape. Each and every spider-pony looked the same, right down to the eight eyes on their foreheads. Spider webs of great enormity stood as tall as skyscrapers, trapping entire houses in their silky, sticky threads. His eyes lit up as he recognized several establishments from the town of Ponyville.
He flew back with a smile on his face. “Lady Rarity! Do you recognize any of those buildings?”
She looked up with a cry. “Ponyville! They have eaten Ponyville!”
Luna knelt down beside her. “No, Rarity, they have not. This is just a dream, Ponyville yet stands! But if you wish to awake from this nightmare, you must concentrate.”
“Rarity,” Blueblood said. “Can you find your house?”
Rarity’s ears stood up straight. Her eyes glided across the buildings caught up in the webs, and soon found what she was looking for. “There! Right over there!”
Shee pointed to a small house sitting beside Ponyville’s windmill, one that had escaped the brunt of the spider-ponies’ entrapment. “Rarity,” Luna said, “that’s not Carousel Boutique.”
“No,” Rarity replied. “It’s home.”
Luna and Blueblood exchanged a glance. “Right, then,” the prince exclaimed. “Let’s get you home, and out of this blasted nightmare.”
They flew above the screeching hoards, Rarity upon Luna’s back. The three of them made good time to the little house. Blueblood knocked on the wooden door and awaited an answer.
“Who is it?” a soft voice asked.
Rarity spoke up. “It’s me; Rarity! Oh, please, please let me in!”
There was silence for a moment. “Of course, deary. You just step right in out of the cold…”
The door opened, and Rarity stepped inside. It was not that much later that Blueblood and Luna’s ears were assaulted by a high-pitched scream from the same unicorn. They rushed inside and were instantly tangled up in the webs that had filled the inside of the home.
Blueblood struggled, and was soon left immobile by the twirling threads. “Unhand us at once, villain! Show yourself!”
A softness passed down Blueblood’s back, leaving his fur tingling. He twisted his head around as much as he could in his efforts to catch a glimpse of the being beside him.
He was met by the sight of a nearly-shapeless mass of red, drifting along as if it was a translucent blanket. The ends were frayed, and danced liken to cobwebs hanging from a slow-rotating fan. At the front of the thing was something of a head, pointed and sporting two deep red eyes that seemed to see nothing and everything.
The soft voice from before spoke again, coming from the shapeless thing before him. “Three dreamers for the price of one. It is my lucky day.”
“You, um…” Blueblood struggled against his bonds, but made a negative amount of headway. “You won’t get away with this.”
“Silence, dreamhopper.” The Night Terror slithered through the air to Rarity. “I have my good work to do.”
Luna hissed through her teeth. “I wouldn’t do that if I was you.”
“You aren’t,” the terror said simply.
“Then know who I am, creature!”
The terror cowered as the room filled with bright light, and the spider webs were burned away. Luna stood tall before it, her face hard and her horn aglow. “We are Luna, Princess of the Night and Guardian of Dreams! This little pony is under Our protection!”
“No.” The creature flopped back and forth as if buffeted by winds. “No, you were imprisoned. You were inside the mooooon.”
Luna stomped a hoof; the entire building shook. “Yes, monster. But now, after a thousand years, We have returned to defend Our kingdom once more!”
“No,” the Night Terror whispered. “Noooo…”
“You can return to your place in Tartarus,” Luna growled, “or you can face much more dire consequences.”
Blueblood sat with his mouth agape as the world around him transformed from the dark and diseased dreamscape into that of a blank, four-walled room. Light came from everywhere at once, driving the Night Terror lower and lower to the floor.
“No…” it hissed. The sound was like a balloon’s air being let out through a pinprick. “I won’t go back.”
The ceiling blew off of the top of the room. The terror stared through the new hole and came face-to-face with a full moon. A moonbeam blasted its way through the ethereal creature, tearing it asunder. The dismembered bits and pieces of cobweb-like immaterial floated down to rest at Luna’s feet.
The princess turned to the ponies accompanying her, her face serene. “Lady Rarity, are you well?”
Rarity’s entire face had gone limp. Her mouth was ajar, her ears flopped, her very nostrils seemed to sag slightly. A twitch had developed in her right eye, nicely accompanying the tick in her left. “Ahuh?”
Luna’s horn glowed, scooping up what was left of the Night Terror. “Then I shall leave you to your rest. Do try and get some deep sleep, you will feel much more rested.”
“Ahuh?”
“Blueblood!” Luna grasped his foreleg with hers. “We return to your unconscious mind! Farewell, Lady Rarity!”
“Ahuh?”
Blueblood felt that pull again, the one that had left him utterly disoriented and discombobulated after his last dreamhopping trip. He briefly considered telling Luna that, no, he was perfectly fine staying within the dream for a little while longer, just to get his bearings. He would also have like a nice chocolate chip frappuccino, while he was wishing for the impossible.
They found themselves in his sitting room once more, the fire burning brightly and the cardboard cutout of Twilight lying on a pillow. Blueblood let out a sigh and slumped down behind it. “A Nightmare. A real live Nightmare.”
“Do you understand now?” Luna asked. She sat down beside him, her eyes going to the fire before them. “Do you know why I have shown you this?”
“I’m… afraid not.” Blueblood scratched at his mane, and one ear flopped down. “I will say that it is truly astonishing that a Nightmare, a Night Terror, no less, exists in this day and age, but what does that have to do with me?”
Luna lifted the tattered remains of the terror. “Blueblood, I have come to talk with you about your grandfather.”
“That old coot?” Blueblood chuckled. “He died years ago! Lot a bet with a river serpent, if the rumors are to be believed.”
“No, Blueblood,” Luna said. “Your great-grandfather.”
“Oh.” The smile fell from his face. “Oh. Oh, no.”
“He has summoned you to Tartarus.” Luna stood and circled about Blueblood. “He wishes to speak with you about a matter of most importance. I am sure you know by now exactly what he wants to say.”
“But… b-but…” Blueblood rose to his feet and stomped a hoof. “It-it isn’t fair! He promised! He’s the one that made the oath! It is his duty, and his alone!”
“He is dying, Blueblood!” Luna sucked in a breath of air and let it out slowly. “His time is coming, and it falls to the next in line to fulfill his oath.”
Blueblood shook his head fervently. “But… But me!? The warden of Tartarus!? I am not fit for the role! I am not the pony you want!”
“You are the pony we need!”
Blueblood was blasted back by the force of his aunt unleashing the Royal Canterlot Voice; that magically magnified speech that was so prevalent in the affairs of royalty. Luna’s mane waved in an inexistent wind, blown as it was by the mystical forces she called unto herself. Her face became hard, her eyes glinted, and her teeth clenched.
“I understand that you have neither the desire nor the skills needed to hold back the forces that would harm Equestria. The fact remains that an oath was sworn long, long ago, and it falls upon you to keep it. You will not be alone, but it will not be easy.”
“I… I’m not a guard. Or a soldier,” Blueblood said. “I’m an inventor! A-a scientist! I must perfect my automated servants! Or continue my research of the other world! You can’t do this to me—”
“I am not ‘doing this’ to you!” Luna shouted, her face growing purple. “I am relaying a message! I am informing you of a decision that was made hundreds of years ago! And there is nothing that either of us can do about it!”
The two alicorns glared at each other from mere feet away, their chests heaving. Blueblood flinched away first. “How much time do I have?” he asked.
“Two weeks,” Luna said quietly. “I told him that you would be there in two weeks.”
“Two week’s notice,” Blueblood muttered. “Time enough to get my affairs in order.”
“Yes,” Luna sighed. “You must be about your business. Tie up your loose ends, as the saying goes.” She tilted her head. “That is how the saying goes these days, is it not?”
“Close enough.” Blueblood lowered himself onto his pillow. “Is there anything else?”
Luna gently rocked her head side-to-side, her eyes closed. Blueblood nodded. “Then please, Aunt Luna, leave me be.”
Luna’s horn shown with power, and a portal appeared beside her. She frowned at Blueblood. “You will question your fate, nephew, but remember this thing…”
Blueblood lifted his head, his wet eyes meeting Luna’s hard ones.
“You are not royal by blood.” She lifted her head and looked down at him. “Your stature beyond alicornhood is a gift, and one that was hard won, indeed.”
She passed through the portal, and it was closed up behind her. Blueblood stared at the spot for a long moment. His lids began to droop as he felt the dream take him once more, the lady beside him nudging him and asking what was wrong. He turned to answer, but his lips felt as though they were made of lead. His head flopped down on the pillow, and everything went dark.
He awoke the next morning as the sun came up over the horizon. He blinked his bleary eyes, still drowsy from the adventure of the previous night. He sat up and rubbed his unruly mop of mane. A yawn came next, one that he saw no reason to hold back.
“Good morning, nephew. I hear you had an interesting night.”
The yawn transformed into a hasty exhale that was followed up with a cough, which left Blueblood red-faced and breathless. His eyes widened at the white alicorn princess that sat beside his bed, her pastel mane flowing in the sunlight.
“Aunt Celestia!” he shouted politely. “Good morning how are you!?”
Celestia, Princess of the Sun and Diarch of Equestria, smiled. “Just fine, Blueblood.”
Her smile melted away, as if it was ice cream unable to keep its shape in the heat of the sun she guided. “And you? How did you take the… the news?”
Blueblood leaned back on his headboard. “I suppose the way you might expect me to react. Words were exchanged, feelings were hurt. The usual Blueblood drivel.”
Celestia sighed, her mouth melting further into a frown. “I wish I could have been the one to tell you the news, but you did have to see what was happening.”
Blueblood’s ears perked up. “Wait. What was happening? I mean, beyond that a Nightmare escaped from Tartarus?”
“It wasn’t just the one Nightmare, Blueblood.” Celestia’s shoulders sagged. “As your great grandfather grows weaker, so does his hold on Tartarus.” She eyed him pleadingly. “Nightmares are appearing all over Equestria. Just small ones now, but how long until the more powerful ones break free?”
Blueblood’s eyes grew wide, and his brows peaked. “So, it seems that I am the only one who can save Equestria from total and utter despair.”
“Believe it or not, Prince Blueblood,” Celestia said with a sad smile, “you’re our only hope.”
Princess Luna flew over the countryside, her eyes peeled for one landmark in particular. She found it in the form of a tall mountain, covered in ice near the peak. She dived to the bottom, a rocky landscape barren of any life save for mold and moss. It was a short walk that took her to the gates; large, iron plates that could hold back a dragon. The chains locking it closed were enchanted with the highest-level spells, and the lock itself required knowledge of both the combination and the possession of three distinct keys.
That, or the possession of a diarch’s crown. “It is I, Princess Luna of the Night. I bid you let me enter!”
A snarling and howling came from the side. An enormous, black-coated, three-headed bulldog pounced from the shadows. Its fangs opened wide, all three sets of them, as it barked right in Luna’s face. The princess took it in stride. “Down, boy. Sit!”
The dog obeyed instantly, sitting on its haunches and lolling its tongues out in hope of a treat. “Good boy, Cerberus,” Luna said. “No treats today, but I shall not forget on my next visit.”
The dog rolled onto its side, all three heads begging for Luna to rub its belly. She gave Cerberus a small smile as she complied. “You are incorrigible.”
Her ears perked up as the chains came loose, and the doors parted with a screech of metal and a creak of ancient hinges. She trotted inside the darkness, flitting her eyes about for any sign of trouble, or the proprietor.
“Bluebones?” she called out. “Bluebones, are you here?”
“Of course oi’m ’ere!” came a harsh, coughing voice. It waited for the coughing to die down before continuing. “Where’ve oi been, all these long years since… since.”
Dim lanterns lit a long corridor, leading Luna deeper underneath the mountain. She followed the voice and lifted a small container. “I have brought an escapee, a Night Terror that sought to drive one of my little ponies mad.”
“Foolish of it t’ show itself so soon,” the voice wheezed. “I would’ve thought it would enjoy the illusion of freedom, instead of riskin’ bein’ caught.”
A pony stood at the far end of the corridor. It was cloaked in brown sackcloth, completely shrouded from view. It stood still and allowed Luna to come to it.
“Freedom isn’t always an illusion, you must realize,” Luna said with lowered brows. “Even your efforts down here have kept innumerable ponies safe and free.”
“Big lot of good it did me,” the pony mumbled.
“Suck it up, old horse!” Luna growled. “Perhaps you could think of positive things, for once in your life!”
“Awroight, then,” the pony said. “Gimme somethin’ to be positive about, eh?”
Luna frowned. “I didn’t come here to discuss outlooks with you. I came so that we could do our duty and be done with it!”
The hood lifted slightly, but still fully obscured the face beneath it. “Well you ain’t the one with the curse, are you? You ain’t the one that’s gorra live in this dank, dark little cave ’cause of some maniac and his little band of backstabbers.”
“No.” Luna steeled her gaze. “But I was not the one given the choice to do so.”
The hood tilted, and then nodded. “Then hand over the Night Terror.”
Luna balanced the bottle holding the shredded tatters of the terror on her hoof. She extended her foreleg to the pony.
The leg that met hers was bare bone.
She hissed, pulling away as soon as the other pony held the bottle. The Night Terror was soon hidden beneath the folds of the cloak, in the darkness where nopony dared look. “Good day, Princess.”
Luna stared at her hooves for a moment before nodding to the pony. “Good day, Bluebones.”