"Care to join me, Princess?" the creature asked, patting the bed beside him.
Luna looked in disbelief at the figure before her. What... was he? And how by the stars and sun did he dispel all of her enchantments so easily? It was true she was still recovering, but she was the Princess of the NIGHT. The Princess of DREAMS themselves! And here she was, reduced to the state of a mere dreamer!
"I'm not going to bite, Protector," the being prodded, holding out a hand while his face stretched into a warm smile.
"Pro... tector?" Luna asked hesitantly.
"Ah yes, introductions are in order. Can't have you sitting there without even knowing my name, seeing as I know yours huh?" he said with a laugh.
Luna gave a displeased huff. Who was this creature, to treat her with such disrespect if he oh so apparently knew of her and her position?
"I," he started, rising up to a standing position on the bed before her. Luna realized with a start that the Ego he had chosen closely resembled a minotaur, if only superficially. "Am the King of Slumberland. Little Nemo."
He hopped down off the bed, kneeling on one knee. "It is my honor to See you, Princess Luna. Princess of the Night, Protector of Dreams."
Luna stood stunned for a few seconds. He was... a 'king'? and of a land so colorfully claimed as 'Slumberland'?
"Who are you? And what... is Slumberland?" Luna asked, not taking her eyes off the creature as it got back up and sat back down on the bed.
"I do believe you wanted to ask what I am?" he asked with a conniving, knowingly smug smile.
Luna suppressed a blush, fighting her bodies emotions as only she could. She was a master of dreams, after all.
He finally stopped waiting for her to respond, letting out a hyper cough. "Well, to cut it to the quick, I once was of a race of beings known as humans. But that was a long time ago. I do believe for the waking world, If my estimates are correct, I haven't been truly human for at least a thousand years. If I'm right, I arrived slightly after you... ahem,"
Little Nemo paused -and the more Luna watched him, the surer she was that this was an appropriate moniker. He was rather small, and his vocal cadence belied him as a child.- and Luna had a momentary pause of her own. Why was he hesitating?
"Right after you... damn! How the hell do I put this delicately?" Little Nemo cried out, massaging the side of his head with long, delicate fingers. They were much different from a minotaurs, whose were as a species thick and meaty. "Right after you... were taken. And went to the moon?" he offered sheepishly.
Luna's Ego burned, her face flushing with heat. "We were... yes. Taken. We like that wording. Can we use that?"
"As you wish, Protector."
Suddenly he whipped his arm out in front of him, staring at the area where she believed to be called a 'wrist'.
"My apologies Princess, but we really must be going if we don't want to be late," he claimed, jumping up fully on the bed.
Luna allowed a quick burst of amusement to filter through her. "And what are you going to do on the bed?"
A look of confusion filtered across his ego's face, followed quickly by amusement of his own.
"It's rather more what we're going to do on the bed, Princess. Now hurry up! A lot of ponies have been waiting a very long time for you to come home, and we really haven't a moment to lose," he finished, patting the bed behind himself.
"I will forgive your impertinence this once," Luna started, "but I must insist you keep such insinuation to yourself in the future."
"Insinuation? What? I don't..." A look of disgust filtered across his ego's face. Was the thought of intercourse with her really so unpleasant? "God, you fleshies and your rampant need to reproduce. Always thinking with the wrong brains. Come along! Get on! We need to go, hurry up!"
Luna felt a wave of embarrassment wash over her as his dismissal assailed her ears. He'd been immaterial for several centuries as per his claims. Of course he'd have eventually overcome such paltry needs for stimulation.
She decided to humor the 'Kings' request, hobbling over on limbs shorter than preferred to jump up on the bed behind him.
"So, let Us guess," she started with a knowing grin, "The floor drops out from under us, and we get washed away on a river of sorts. Then that river will take us to our destination?" She had seen many a foals dream. Beds were usually a young foals loyal craft, braving the brutal waters of an imagined current.
"River? No no no no no, nothing so mundane," he said mockingly, as the bed raised itself up underneath them, stretching its legs.
"Legs?" Luna said hesitantly. A bed that walked was also a common dream, the safety of ones bed being able to come with them a major comfort. For where was a safer place, than ones bed? Truly, if monsters came a'calling all a foal had to do was pull up their covers to be rewarded with piece of mind.
The bed lurched forward on its stretching posts, moving with fluidity belying their seemingly wooden design. The windows before them opened onto the outside world, the crisp nighttime breeze moving through her mane. The bed lurched once more underneath them, Little Nemo grabbing at the hoofboard of the bed and tugging upwards at it.
Luna realized with a start that this was how he translated his control of the bed into the dream. A true oddity, most ponies just controlled objects with their will, leaving manual control for over the top fight choreography associated with epic tales concerning long dead heroes.
Luna had been known to once or twice play act as Grizeld the Lithe. She was heralded as having fought Grogar alongside the Magog, plucking stars from the sky to pepper the demonic goat while the Magog powered up a magical rainbow which she wore like a necklace. The Magog was also an interesting hero, a true shame there wasn't much more known about her. Nopony even knew what kind of pony she had been, saying she simply 'came from the earth'.
So it was simply assumed she was an earth pony.
Luna drew her attention back to the moment at hand, waving away the fanciful visions of a sparkling rainbow which had woven its way around her eyes.
Little Nemo had been watching her during her repast, and let out a short chuckle as he watched her return to the present.
"You shouldn't let yourself be distracted by a dream within a dream, even if it's as weak as a daydream," he chastised her.
"I... do not yet find myself back at full strength," Luna admitted, letting out a low huff. "Mine sister believes it will be yet a few days till I have fully recovered."
"It's not every night you return from the moon and have a nightmare torn from you," he affirmed, the beds legs stretching up to hook around a houses chimney, bringing them to a sudden halt. Luna looked around, finally scrutinizing the town which Little Nemo had constructed to ensnare her. It was an odd little burg, while tranquil and unassuming, its architecture was of such that Luna was unfamiliar with. It didn't even match any of what Luna had glanced at upon her arrival to Canterlot, it altogether carried itself with a simplistic elegance.
"Where... are we?" Luna asked, leaning over the edge of the bed to look down at the street. "What is this place?"
"My home town," Little Nemo stated sullenly. Luna looked over at him, seeing that he wore a saddened expression. "At least as much of it as I can remember of it. If you look closely, you can see that a lot of it is copied and pasted, over and over again."
He waved at one house, then at a second. Luna's gaze tracked his gesture, noting that the two houses looked remarkably similar. From their paint to their structure, all the way to their identically damaged chimneys. Luna noticed with a start that they were actually perched upon a building that matched them as well. Looking around she could see four more houses that matched their landing site, and looking ever outwards she could see other houses that were matches of each other.
To construct a dream from what he claimed were 'fragments' of a thousand year old memory, it was put together quite well. Luna mused to herself what it might have looked like had he been able to remember it perfectly.
"Stop that, I'm trying to establish the bridge to Slumberland and that's rather distracting," Nemo claimed, breaking Luna out of her reverie as she had been modifying some of the buildings adjacent to them.
"Sorry," Luna apologized, letting go of the fabric of the dream. She stared at the little kings back, as he held an odd looking key above his head. The dream swirled around the key, bending to his will.
Was that the manifestation of his control? Most ponies imagined their control coming from their horns, even if in the waking realm a majority of them didn't have one. A unicorns awesome power came from their horns, so they were often seen as a source of 'control'. An easy enough permutation to add a unicorns horn to ones ego, and use that as their focus.
Plus a glowing limb was often popular among the younger crowd, regardless of their race.
"Got it!" he claimed, the bed launching itself into the air under Luna's hooves and pushing her down into the mattress. It flew upwards, despite its lack of wings.
They flew ever higher, up above the highest clouds. As they passed through one, it collected around them and obscured the dream from view.
It took on a golden glow, tinging the clouds around them with a golden yellow color. They spiraled around them, forming a tunnel that spun with a dizzying tenacity.
Finally they broke from the cloud bank, the last wisps of them swirling through her mane and leaving a scent of strawberries.
The sudden increase in light seared against Luna's eyes, forcing them closed with a violent wince. Seconds passed, and Luna fought to re-open her eyes. If only to see what in Tartarus that growing clatter just out of earshot was.
It was a city. A sprawling metropolis that extended as far as she could see, the airspace over which teemed with a seemingly unending source of ponies. And griffons. And dragons. And buffalo. Everywhere she looked, she could see yet another species she hadn't seen in nigh over a millennium. Those that could fly, did so under their own power. Those that couldn't...
Luna had never seen a more varied assortment of balloons, dirigibles, cloud carts, and other things she couldn't even identify. Where the air grew too thick to squeeze yet another device to enable one to cheat gravity, she saw ponies and many others riding on the back of others.
All faces she saw were turned towards their slowly descending bed. All faces wore brilliant smiles, expressions of abject happiness.
I don't..." Luna stammered, looking around wildly as the cheering only grew in volume underneath them. "I don't understand."
They were... real. True personalities, not simply shadows of a dream. They each held their own individuality, their own presence as they conjoined in this... staggeringly huge shared dream. The very fabric of this dream wasn't even strained, yet she was hardpressed to find a single contour to the dream. It was just... immense.
Directing her attention back to the dreamers, Luna noticed something odd. A multitude of them held banners strung between them, a blinding array of colored strips that each held their own statements.
Focusing her power the her Egos eyes... Luna was struck silent.
[welcome back!]
[We missed you!]
[Praise the Moon!]
On and on the banners went, each crying out their own personalized message.
Luna started, jerking upward in shock as she felt a warmth press into the small of her back. Whipping her head around, she saw the diminutive king had- -laid a hand across her withers in an assuring gesture.
"It's been a long time. A lot of your subjects thankfully have long memories as well," he confided, "The stories that have been passed down... I know you felt alone, that a sense of abject isolation played a big part in what happened all those years ago. But you were loved. There were ponies, donkeys, griffons and many many others that were completely destroyed over what happened to you. While its true that your name has faded in the majority of Equestria... The stories, the tales, the love that they felt for you has been preserved in your absence. And now that you're back..." he swept his arm in a dramatic gesture, looking out among the copious number of ponies in the air before them. "they can finally show you just how much they ca-"
Nemo was cut off, a loud explosion coming from a brightly colored ball that had been thrown in the air alongside them. It turned out to be a very virulent firecracker, seeing as over the next few seconds it let out a wide variety of flashing colors, loud snaps and the burning smell of sulfur. Once all the hullabaloo had died down -Luna coughing along with the little king as they both tried to clear their lungs of smoke.- Luna noticed a piercing laugh she had hoped to never hear again. Peering through the rapidly dissipating smoke, she could see the serpentine form of an old rival she had thought long gone to the sands of time.
"Discord," she hissed, noting that he lay splayed over the back of a gigantic raven.
"Nope!" he crowed back at them, letting loose another flurry of guffaws. "Oh how I wish you could see the looks on your faces! I totally got you!"
"You little brat," Nemo hissed, waving his key in Discords' general directing as he let out another whoop of a cough. "I told you Flip, you pull this shit again-"
"Whaaaaat, I didn't use anything too explosive, I just used regular firecrackers! You can find these things all over Equestria nowadays!" Discord replied, cutting him off.
His raven suddenly dove, cutting off any of Lunas' vehement replies as his laughter was quickly overtaken by the boos of the crowd. Luna watched as more than a few participants summoned rotting fruit to pelt at the departing menace.
"We must make haste," Luna stated resolutely, rising to a standing position as she prepared to dive off the side of the bed in pursuit, "we musn't allow him to-"
Luna found herself enveloped in thin, small arms as Nemo dragged her back to the center of the bed.
"That's NOT Discord," he explained, tightening his grip as he sat with his back against the headboard. "His name is Flip. He's... technically one of mine."
Luna glared at the diminutive king as she slowly relaxed, ceasing her attempts to break free and chase the miscreant down. "Explain," she demanded pointedly.
"Uhh... So basically Discord doesn't dream like normal. For him its more like he fades in and out of here at random, but what shows up isn't him anymore. Its split," He started, loosening his grip. "One half is his desire to screw things up, -Flip- who you just met, and one half is a rigid, anal, self pretentious individual who strives to put the 'world' around him in order."
At Lunas look of pure disbelief, Nemo let loose a rolling tinkle of laughter, "They freaking hate each other. Can't stand being in the same room. It happened when Discord first finally managed to fall asleep. He tried to take over, natch," he stated with a slight shrug, "Tried to affect me through the dream. Somehow -I didn't even do anything, I have no idea how it happened,- it backfired on him, splitting him and leaving him with mostly nothing. I say mostly nothing because they're still dreamers, but neither of them seem to like affecting the dream anymore."
"He is playing you for a fool, young king," Luna insisted, rising up once more, "The moment you relax he'll,"
"Try to throw Slumberland into chaos? Turn everything into cabbages? He tried that the first time, and that's what happened to him," he countered, gesturing towards his departing form. "In the thousand years since he first tried, he hasn't had the power to make another attempt. All his power is stuck in a third personality, one that is physically incapable of doing anything."
Luna stared at him for a few seconds before urging him to continue. "I'm listening."
"Well, you know how they say fiction mirrors reality?" he asked, wincing as Luna refused to change her expression, "Well, Discords main personality is stuck in a statue, unable to move or even try a single spell."
Luna fixed him with a disbelieving glare, "This is a dream," she snapped, "He could break free at any moment-"
"This is my dream," he calmly explained, "If he wants to come to my party he has to play by my rules. He's tried many, many times in the past to circumvent this princess, the concerns you're voicing are nothing new. And they have never, in the past thousand years, proven true."
Luna slowly winded herself down, finally turning back towards the smiling faces that appeared in the crowd all around them. During her... perfectly understandable concern, they had descended through the crowd of ponies that had gathered in the skies. They gave the bed a respectable clearance, throwing confetti - Luna found now that she noticed, a large amount had already lodged itself in her mane- and kind words to shower the pair.
"He's actually kinda depressed now, all things considered," Nemo continued, "He can still see and talk in his statue, -small blessings and all that- but he finds talking to random ponies without being able to influence them to be 'obscenely boring' so he stays quiet most of the time. Talks to this one little filly a lot, -screw and a baseball for a cutiemark,- she seems to cheer him up a little."
Luna nodded, only half listening as he continued. She peered out as they continued their descent, mentally wincing as she saw a familiar form waiting for them at what looked like a landing platform.
Luna let out a low hiss, slightly flaring her wings and drawing Nemo back to the present. "So, this one is called... Flip," she choked out, resigned herself to the absurdity of a 'powerless' Discord. Even without any powers he could still probably cause some potent damage.
Nemo followed her gaze, "No, that's the professor. You can tell by the clothes they wear. Flip always has that ratty looking bow tie and coat," Luna remembered with a start that Discord HAD been wearing a coat, as mismatched and poorly made as it looked. It had hung loosely over his rather thin limbs, making him look smaller than he actually was. "The professor ALWAYS wears his ascot, top hat and spectacles. He'll actually break down in tears in you try to take them away."
The bed touched down on the platform, the 'professor' clapping his claws twice over his head. Normally. As in, he simply clapped his claws, a short *tut tut*, in a normal, tight rhythm. Luna goggled at him for a moment in disbelief, mentally looking around and simply waiting for something untoward to happen.
Nemo jumped off of the bed, and waved his key above his head. The world... for lack of a better word 'flipped' around them, the platform they were on seeming to flip upside down into the ground. Luna started, the sounds of the crowd having cut off suddenly and leaving them in suddenly terrifying silence. She looked around, seeing as they found themselves in a wide room with a high ceiling.
"Sir!" the... admittedly better dressed Discord stated, "Thank goodness you're back, you're late by over three. Minutes." he stated, a look of near frantic disgust alighting his face, "We must hurry if we wish to save the schedule, as it is we're going to have to skip pleasantries!"
"The Professor loves his pleasantries," Nemo affirmed.
"I really do," Discord agreed, wiping away a tear from his eye. A normal tear, made of water, mucin, lipids, lysozyme, lactoferrin, lipocalin, lacritin, immunoglobulins, glucose, urea, sodium, and potassium. A completely normal tear, which he wiped away on the corner of his ascot.
"So I'll just boil it down so we can get back on track," Nemo said, leaning over to whisper something in Luna's ear, "The professor lives his life by a list. I shudder to think what he's going to do to Discords mentality if he gets free in the waking world,"
Nemo took a step, standing between Discord and Luna herself. He bowed low, from the hip, and Discord hurriedly copied his motions. "Princess Luna, I would like to welcome you to Slumberland proper. Welcome, and may thy dreams bring happiness," He straightened, adjusting the large scepter which was strung over his back. "Princess Luna, Professor Genius," he stated, waving an arm between them. "Professor Genius, Princess Luna-"
"Lady of the night, protector of dreams, slayer of shadows," Discord simpered, not raising himself from his bow, "One with the moon, singer of the eternal song, wielder of the half moon sickle, creator of moon pies-" He continued like this for a good minute, the titles spilling past his lips sounding more and more obscure -Yet Luna remembered them all, having heard of each one at least once in her long life-.
"He really likes his titles too," Nemo provided after he came to a stop.
"I really do," he agreed with a nod.
Celestia gazed down at the slumbering form of her sister, slowly brushing at her mane as she slept soundly. She had worried that the first night would be one filled with nightmares for her younger sister, eager to torment the temporarily diminished alicorn for her return. In the very opposite, she appeared to be having a very good dream, such was the smile that adorned her lips and the brief giggle that passed them.
One of her eyes snapped open, focusing on Celestia as she cringed from the sudden movement. "Sister," Luna drawled out in a monotone, and Celestia sagged. She HATED when she used to do this, dividing her consciousness between a dream and the real world. It was just so... unusual.
"We require..." she started, her eye shutting closed for a second as she momentarily returned her full attention to whatever dream she was having. "A top hat. Light blue, with a deep blue band around the stack. An ascot. Maroon. And Spectacles," she continued in her eerie monotone. "All sized to fit Discords statue."
"What?" Celestia exclaimed as Luna returned to sleep, thoroughly ignoring her protests. Clothes? For Discord? What kind of dream could she possibly be having? She let a light smile stretch itself against her lips, brushing carefully at her mane with her hoof once more. She sat with her sister for a while longer before something... worrying occurred.
Her sisters smile had disappeared, and she had adopted one of intense concentration. Her horn was glowing, fueling whatever power she was bringing to bear within the dream. Her condition steadily worsened, her body letting loose with cold sweat as she grimaced and whimpered.
Finally she sat up straight with a heavy gasp, her gaze darting around around the room in a panic.
"Luna, are you alright?" Celestia asked, nuzzling her sister as tenderly as she could.
"Sister!" she exclaimed, quickly removing herself from her bedding, even tearing at one in her hurry, "We must make haste to Ponyville! He's slowed the dilation of the dream as much as he could, but we must hurry or we will be too late!"
She stopped, contained as she was in an aura of Celestia's magic hue. She turned towards her, a look of blind panic in her eyes.
"Luna, you need to calm down, it was simply a bad dream-"
Luna thrust her own magic against her bonds, shattering it. "Celestia, we don't have TIME for this. Either fly with me to assist, or STAY out of the way, we NEED to get to Ponyville, NOW."
"What has scared you so, my sister," Celestia crooned, lifting a wing to put it protectively over her. She flinched as not only did she spurn such an embrace, but she slapped it aside.
"You must listen to me sister, we NEED to go to Ponyville, NOW," Luna reasserted, slowly calming her breathing in an attempt to placate her sister, "The King has done everything he can, and it hasn't been enough. A conjoined nightmare has attacked the bearer of honesty -it stopped her heart here in the waking realm, Tia- and is attempting to KILL her. We need to go to Ponyville now, and weaken the nightmares hold on her from this side while the king continues his attempts on the other side."
Celestia reeled at the information her sister had presented her. She decided to follow her sisters judgement, snapping her wings open. She hadn't listened to her sister before, she would be DAMNED if she laughed this off, especially seeing with the certainty she had on the matter. There was just one bit of information she noted which made... very little sense.
"King, sister? she asked as they flew towards Ponyville, Celestia lending her sister additional magic to quicken their flight.
She turned to her and gave her a sad grin, "The King of Slumberland... Little Nemo."