//------------------------------// // Chapter Two: Dreaming of Bunnies // Story: Luna and Tiberius: The Nightly Crusade // by TheCrimsonDM //------------------------------// LUNA AND TIBERIUS: THE NIGHTLY CRUSADE Chapter Two: Dreaming of Bunnies Written by TheCrimsonDM Luna soared through the night sky enjoying the cool breeze rushing past her as she made her way to Ponyville. Tiberius was clinging to Luna’s back as she flew. The moon was bright tonight, casting its pale glow across the world beneath her. The stars however beautiful in the night sky, were a little dull tonight. A byproduct of Celestia having raised the moon tonight to be sure. It was only a short flight down to Ponyville, especially when one was having fun anticipating all the entertaining things she would do with her friends. The question earlier had been who should she visit first, and the answer came to her quickly. There was one mare in particular that Luna enjoyed being around, a wonderful, kind, and rather cute mare. Luna found the small cottage on the edge of the town. It was dark inside making Luna began to question whether the Fluttershy was home or not. She landed gently outside the front door and trotted up to it. Luna took a deep breath and knocked lightly. She waited for nearly a full minute before knocking again a little louder. She was beginning to consider the fact that her dear friend might not be home tonight. It was disheartening as she turned to leave, and stopped suddenly as she heard a noise from the upstairs window. Taking flight Luna flew up to the window which had been cracked open ever so slightly. She could hear a deep snoring sound from inside the room. Luna opened the window a little more and found the yellow pegasus lost in a deep sleep on the bed. Luna looked back up into the starry night sky and considered if maybe it was past Fluttershy’s bed time. This was only of minor concern as Luna could see the dream cloud hovering just above Fluttershy’s head. Luna climbed into the window with deft ease, Tiberius began to make some clicking noises in disapproval. Luna got inside the dark room and looked back at him before whispering, “we have done this many times before, maybe not with Fluttershy…but ponies are used to us assisting them in their sleep.” Tiberius gave her a disappointed look before looking away. Luna smiled and said, “oh come now, Tibbles. It should prove to be entertaining to see Fluttershy’s dreamscape. “ Tiberius made another clicking noise and Luna responded, “You do not expect us to wait outside while we enter the yellow one’s dreams, now do you? That would not even make sense.” Tiberius finally rolled his eyes and relaxed himself on Luna’s back. Luna walked up quietly to the sleeping form of Fluttershy and whispered, “besides we are a princess, we are unhindered by boundaries.” The dream cloud hovering above Fluttershy’s head was something that only Luna was able to see or interact with. As Princess of the Night, Luna had special abilities to see, interact with, and enter dreams. Most ponies did not realize that Luna actually entered their dreams with her physical body, and for when they would awaken during a dream, she had gotten good at disappearing into the shadows. Luna reached a hoof out and poked the dream cloud. The fluffy substance jiggled a little at her touch, Luna giggled quietly as she leaned in and touched her horn to the cloud. This was going to be fun. Luna felt the dream cloud began tugging her and Tiberius into the dream world, and her heart raced as she wondered at what kinds of entertaining dreams were in store. *** Luna found herself standing in the middle of Ponyville on a hot sunny day. She looked around herself excited to figure out what kind of dream this was. Everything seemed to be normal, and quiet. It was exactly like the night, only with the sun out. Luna let out a sigh realizing that she was going to need to find the dream if she wanted to have any fun. Luna walked along the empty Ponyville streets looking for any signs of Fluttershy. Tiberius began tugging at Luna’s hair catching her attention. She looked back at him as he made some paw gestures before sitting back down peacefully. Luna’s face grew grave as she understood perfectly what he was saying. Luna took off into a flight and said, “you are right, it is far too empty for this to be a normal day. Let us venture forth and find the source of everyponies disappearance.” Luna flew over the dream version of Ponyville for a few minutes before finding a few villagers cornered in an ally way. The terrified looks on their faces told Luna that there was trouble in Ponyville. Luna landed next to them and asked, “dear citizens, what is the problem?” One of the mare’s pointed a hoof to something behind Luna. Luna turned and found the source of the trouble. Three small bunnies stood in front of her, their bodies covered in black armor, and their eyes glowing red. Luna stood valiantly before them shouting, “you shall not have these ponies. I, Princess Luna, shall stop your villainy today.” A slightly taller bunny hopped fearsomely to the front. His white coat was stained with dirt, and a black eye patch covered his left eye. This bunny was wearing a military hat, and held a carrot in his mouth like a cigar. He looked at Luna with his one good eye, studying her for any sign of weakness. The white bunny was clearly the leader. “So you are the cause of the trouble here,” Luna proclaimed, already feeling triumphant in her victory over the small creatures. The white bunny stuck a paw out, and motioned his hand downward. Luna noticed only then the mass of ninja bunnies that were hiding on the roof top. With the downward motion of his hand, they all leaped at Luna at once. Luna gulped and said, “oh…well then.” *** After the fearsome battle Luna found herself in a new and rather embarrassing position. She was stuck inside of a large cage, being wheeled over towards the center of town. Tiberius was still with her. Luna had underestimated the combat prowess of the ninja bunnies. Now she realized that she had never even stood a chance. Finally Luna was wheeled right up next to the statue of Celestia, and there the bunnies left her. The statue was looking down at her with an almost mocking smile telling her, ‘you lost a battle to a horde of bunny rabbits.’ Luna looked up at the statue and stated, “it was an unfair match, these rabbits have been trained…by ninja’s…and I think they are mutants…but hopefully they are not teenagers, because that would simply be weird.” “Shh, it is okay my princess,” cooed a seductively alluring mare from Luna’s side. Luna turned to face this mare and could not believe who she was looking at. Fluttershy stood before her, only she had red stripes dyed into her mane, red lipstick, and purple eye shadow. Fluttershy was also wearing a long red dress. Luna was not entirely opposed to this new look of Fluttershy’s. “I know this may seem a little horrid of me, but you may not understand my purpose here,” Fluttershy said as she walked around Luna, looking her up and down. “You see, I have spent years training my bunnies, teaching them all the combat skills I could. Eventually they were good enough that I could begin my take over. Do not worry; the new Equestria will still need you and the other alicorns…just in a lesser extent than before.” Luna opened her mouth and with her brain still unable to process exactly what was going on, only managed to say, “what?” Fluttershy looked towards the sky and said, “me and my army of bunnies will take over Equestria. I will be loved, respected, and treated with dignity by all.” Luna shook herself hard and said, “what about your friends? You are the element of kindness will they not need you still?” Fluttershy looked a little confused as she processed this, then after a moment she looked flustered and said, “no, I will not stop. Everypony will love me. Every animal will love me. I will be your princess, kind, and caring. Nopony shall stop me.” Luna looked at the mass of bunnies surrounding her cart, and then she looked at Fluttershy. Luna then looked down at her own hooves and said, “so…you are using these creatures to lead a revolt against Equestria. Hmm…this is a very intriguing dream.” Fluttershy gave a mighty laugh before saying, “see, even you understand my desire. Yes this is a very intriguing…dream.” Fluttershy’s eyes grew wide as she looked around herself and said, “oh…my.” Luna couldn’t help but give a little laugh and say, “please, continue. I am curious as to how this plays out.” Fluttershy looked back at Luna and said, “I…why am I doing this?” Luna sighed and said, “you are most likely feeling pushed around by those closest to you, so you are dreaming of a way to take the power back. At least this is not a romantic dream, or else this could be very awkward.” The world began fading and Luna realized that Fluttershy was beginning to wake up now. Sometimes when ponies realized they were dreaming they would wake up. It was a shame too, because Luna was enjoying this dream so far. *** Luna found herself standing inside Fluttershy’s room, right next to her bed. The yellow pegasus was twisting in her sleep, Luna didn’t have enough time to squeeze through the window a second time. Luna saw the dark corners of the room and jumped into them. A unique perk of being the Princess of the Night, was that she could become one with the shadows around her, effectively becoming invisible. Fluttershy awoke and sat up straight in her bed. She was sweating a little and looked around nervously before saying to herself, “calm down, Fluttershy…it was just a dream.” Fluttershy looked over towards Luna and her eyes focused on Luna’s position. Luna’s heart began to race. It should not be possible for anypony to see her when she was surrounded by shadows. Fluttershy crawled over to the end of her bed and looked down at Luna’s hooves and said, “um…hi there…I’m Fluttershy, what’s your name?” Luna looked down and saw Tiberius standing at the edge of Luna’s shadow looking directly at Luna. She had forgotten that Tiberius couldn’t join her in the shadows; he was after all only an animal. Tiberius looked at Fluttershy and made a few clicking noises garnering a smile from Fluttershy. “Tiberius is a wonderful name, I love possums you know,” Fluttershy said. Tiberius pointed his paw at Fluttershy’s door and began rubbing his belly with the other paw. Fluttershy’s eyes grew wide and she covered her mouth and said, “oh no, there is a bunny downstairs and he’s hungry. Thank you for telling me, I’ll be right back up so that we can get to know each other better.” Fluttershy flew towards her bedroom door, opened it, and left the room. Luna let out a breath that she didn’t know she was holding before saying, “come Tibbles. We shall make our escape with great haste. There is no need to stay here when we have are other friends to go and visit.” Tiberius climbed up onto Luna’s back and together the two of them jumped out of Fluttershy’s window and soared into the night.