//------------------------------// // Ch6.5 - Major Nightmare - Part 1 // Story: Ponyville's Tiny Librarian // by CommanderX5 //------------------------------// Ponyville’s Tiny Librarian - Chapter 6.5 Major Nightmare - Part 1 Celestia felt a chill run through her every bone as she walked through the unrecognizable forest, her gaze falling upon an endless sea trees, at least half of them dead. The moon shone brightly from above, the only source of light in the darkness. The golden regalia were no longer present on her body. I had hoped our friendly stroll through the ponies dream and helping them deal with nightmares would last longer than that. Hopefully my sister will consider making me do helpful tasks instead of punishing me in the near future. She looked around and tapped her chin. I wonder. Did Luna place me in a zombie horror, or maybe she will make me run away from a slendermare? She shivered at the very thought of that book she saw among a pile of Luna’s literature. She suddenly noticed a trembling beneath her hooves. It was weak at first, but it grew steadily stronger, like the steps of a gargantuan creature. What can it possibly be? What have you set me up to face this time? She climbed up a nearby tree, and once she passed the branch that struck her right wing, her head emerged from the rotten leaves at the top. Her eyes opened widely, pupils shrank, while her mouth opened agape more than ever before. The alicorn rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was dreaming inside a dream. After the object of her fear remained exactly where it was, much to her disappointment, Celestia felt another trembling as the beast’s forepaw crushed at least five trees under its wide grasp. The tree that the Sun Princess was hanging onto shook violently, and she caught herself on the nearby branches, taking a moment to regain her balance. She stared in awe as the monster three times the size her own tower was now slowly approached her, its transparent body violet and glittering with thousands of stars. “An URSA MAJOR, are you kidding me!?” “Kidding? We are certainly not, dear sister,” Luna’s voice echoed as Celestia frowned in response. “Listen, Luna. I would expect you to send a manticore against me, let it be hydra or even a slendermare,” Celestia said with a hint of anger in her voice, “but an Ursa Major? One of the biggest and mightiest beasts in the world?” “This monster is not of our creation, though We must admit that such beast would make a worthy challenge for an alicorn's might,” Luna responded pridefully. “This beast is thy student’s creation, as we are currently in her dream.” “We are in Twilight’s dream? But why would my student… books.” Luna frowned. “Books?” Celestia rubbed her chin thoughtfully while maintaining balance on top of the tree, her mind distracted from the humongous beast. “I think my student read a book about an Ursa Major, and now she is having a nightmare.” “Then surely thou wouldst face such a beast for the sake of thy student’s peaceful rest?” Luna suggested playfully before adding with a more serious tone, “Furthermore, it is thy punishment for today to help thy student face her nightmare.” The Sun Princess shivered as she once again looked at the gigantic monster, a drop of sweat slid down her cheek. “Do not you think that facing Ursa Major is overdoing it? There must be another way to help my student with such a nightmare.” “Thou hast cold hooves already? Thy life is not even in danger. Furthermore, facing an Ursa Major in a dream is nothing compared to the danger faced by thy tiniest student when she faced a manticore. Pity she did not grow before entering yonder monster-filled forest.” Celestia growled at Luna’s remark. “Fine, sister, I will play by your rules one more time!” she shouted, her horn lighting up. “I am no longer the weak and cowardly blind sister I was a thousand years ago, and I will face the beast in an open battle,” she declared proudly as she shot a beam of her golden magic towards the Ursa Major’s face. To Celestia’s horror, instead of a powerful beam of solar plasma, it was barely strong enough to leave a bruise on the beast’s transparent fur. The bear-faced colossus looked down at her before roaring in rage. It increased its speed, now making each step in only ten seconds. Celestia’s pupils shrank in panic as she jumped from the tree like a rocket. She tried to fly, but her wings refused her call. The moment her hooves hit the ground, she began to gallop faster than she’d ever galloped over her millennium long life. The earth shuddered under her hooves, as if announcing her demise. “Why is my magic weak, Luna!?” Celestia shouted in fear as her legs worked faster than she even thought they could. “Thou darest to call thy magic weak? It is insulting towards thy student’s achievements,” Luna responded, causing Celestia to jump to the side before reassuming her gallop, surprised to see her sister running besides her. “Tis thy student’s dream, and we abide by her rules. Her limits are now our limits as we face and defeat the mighty beast.” The moon princess frowned reproachfully. “And thou hast foolishly brought the wrath of the monster upon us without learning about thy limits.” Celestia put the information together in her mind before drawing a conclusion. “So what you are saying is, since we are... in my student’s nightmare, in terms of raw power, we are as strong... as Twilight think she is... if she grew to her normal size,” she said between quick, tired breaths. ”Furthermore, since my student cannot fly, nor can we.” Luna nodded just as both alicorns bounced from another powerful shudder, and Celestia raised an eyebrow at her sister. “What did you mean by saying ‘as we face and defeat the mighty beast?’ Since it is my punishment, should not I struggle against this monster alone?” Luna shook her head. “Not tonight. We asked thy student to decide our share of punishment for following thy asinine idea in the first place.” Her breathing became heavier. “As she refused... to punish us, We decided to take this matter... into our own hooves.” Celestia’s gasped as she didn’t believe what she’d just heard. She looked behind her at the humongous paw that smashed several trees with just one impact. She glanced back at her sister while her heart tried to escape her chest. “Luna, you cannot be serious! Dream or not, I cannot let you fight an Ursa Major just because you agreed to follow my suggestion.” “Pray tell, why not?” The taller alicorn shouted, “You have suffered for a thousand years in a cold, lonely prison! Did you not endure enough?” “Art thou saying thou canst receive punishments for thy mistakes, but We are exempt?” Luna asked impatiently. Celetia bit her lower lip before taking a deep breath. “I can endure a thousand nightmares and it will still not be enough to pay for the pain I caused to you, but you deserve nothing of it.” Luna smiled warmly at her sister’s words. Both sisters kept galloping as their breaths became more frequent. With a smirk, Luna raised her head proudly and stated, “We cannot deny some truth of thy words, but We have already made our decision. We cannot punish thee for thy mistakes if We do not set a good example.” A loud noise reached both alicorn’s ears as the Sun Princess gave her sister a pleading look. “All the nightmares you put on me seems nothing compared to facing an Ursa Major. Are you sure you want to share this one with me?” “While even an Ursa Major cannot withstand the power of two millennia-old alicorns, facing such a beast without access to thy full potential will be too difficult. Thou needst our help.” Celestia sighed as she lit her horn and started to levitate herself above the ground. “We can still levitate ourselves just like my student could.” Luna didn’t share her sister’s enthusiasm, but followed her example. When the Sun Princess thought she found a hole in her student’s nightmare, an army of parasprites and flying chicken-headed monsters patrolling the sky proved her wrong. “Cockatrices!” Both alicorns quickly dropped to the ground and started to run again, and as they expected, the army of petrifying monsters hadn’t decided to follow. “Let us guess. Books?” Luna asked. Upon seeing a nod, she added, “Thou shouldst pay more attention to thy student’s literature, unless thou secretly wishest to train thy student to become a monster hunter or beast tamer. In all honesty, she is only two enchanted swords away from being one already.” Celestia chuckled. For a short moment, she forgot the horror she was now part of. Despite running with all the speed they could muster without a break, the Ursa Major caught up with them. A giant foot covered the light of the moon from their vision and was now directly above them. Understanding that she’d lost, Celestia lit her horn and focused on her sister, ready to push Luna out of harm’s way while accepting the incoming blow. Much to her surprise, Luna had the same idea, and both alicorns pushed each other with levitations, sending each other flying to the sides as the beast’s paws slammed down meters in front of them. Both alicorns closed their eyes as their bodies slammed against the trees with great force, uprooting at least four each. Weakened as they were, both alicorns felt first hoof how strong Twilight’s levitation was if she grew to full size. After massaging her neck, the Sun Princess levitated a fallen tree to the side and stood on her trembling legs. Her breath rapid and sweat covered her face. She examined the area, quickly noticing that the humongous beast was moving away. Not wasting a moment, she ran to her sister’s aid, but Luna was already galloping to her. As both alicorns looked at each other in silence, Celestia chuckled and spoke first, “Well…. That was… surely something.” Luna wiped the dirt from her fur and responded calmly, “It was indeed.” The Sun Princess rubbed her forehoof. “So what now? Just a moment ago, it nearly crushed us both, and we do not possess enough power to fight it, how will we deal with this nightmare?” With a swift move of her hoof, Luna pointed at the walking beast, who seemed to calm down, once again making one step each thirty seconds rather than ten. “We follow it and improvise.” Celestia massaged her forehead. “Can you not… use your powers over dreams and go around the rules set up by my student? If we can have access to our full power—” she was cut off with a hoof. “Art thou suggesting we cheat our way out? Who dost thou think We are, sister? We shall accept thy student’s limitations and face the beast without access to our full might.” Celestia lowered her head and sighed. “Whatever you say.” Her ears and wings drooped. Both alicorns kept trotting at a steady pace, trying to keep up with the beast while conserving their stamina. Minutes passed while none of the royal sisters created a plan of how to defeat the mighty beast. Their peace was suddenly interrupted by a loud roar, causing both alicorns to cover their ears in pain. As the beast started to move faster, both alicorns galloped behind it. “I do not envy my student whenever somepony is yelling at her. Now I can see why she was so eager to learn the soundproof barrier,” Celestia remarked. “Speaking of soundproof,” Luna said as she shook her head, “We art sure that We heard something.” Celestia chuckled. “Something besides loud steps and roar of Ursa Major?” Noticing a nod of Luna’s head, she exposed her ears and listened carefully. Her eyes opened wide as she shouted, “Twilight!” Dream or not, her student was calling for help, and she was going to answer it. “Wait for us!” Luna shouted as she sped up, trying to keep up with her sister. After at least six steps of the humongous beast as the alicorns didn’t seem to reach it even at their full speed, Luna said, “Now that We think about it, even if We do not have access to our full might, surely with power of thy student, We can afford to use teleportation.” Celestia stopped in her tracks as it caught Luna by surprise who crashed into her. With her sister now lying on her back, Celestia facehooved. The moment Luna got up, the Sun Princess charged her horn and disappeared in a flash of light. After a few quick teleportations, Celestia was but meters behind the humongous beast as her attention focused on the escaping lavender unicorn. *** Blast after blast, Twilight tried to defend herself as she galloped, spreading dust in her wake. Sweat was covering her entire body and her legs started to tremble from exhaustion. With her eyes on the beast, she failed to notice a fallen tree, tripping over it and rolling across the ground. She shook her head and looked at the shadow above her with wide eyes. In act of desperation, she send all her raw power into levitation spell, trying to slow down the descending foot, fruitlessly, when suddenly a flash of light caught her attention. “P-princess?” *** Celestia pushed Twilight to the side with her magic and next closed her eyes. It didn’t take long before the humongous paw dropped, slamming against her. At least four trees had been crushed into splinters while Celestia felt her body being squeezed, pinned between the large paw of the beast and the dirty ground. After ten seconds of merciless torture, the humongous paw raised. The alicorn groaned as pain lanced across her entire body. So this is what Twilight felt when I stepped on her for the first time during our game of tag. She's very forgiving and brave not to fear me afterwards. She put all strength she had into raising her head, quickly noticing that she was now lying in a two meters deep crater, while her own body was stuck centimeters in the ground. After she massaged her forehead, two familiar faces came into her sight of view. In an instant, she was being levitated out of the hole right into the embrace of her student who… tightened her powerful vice grip against her broken body. Celestia grit her teeth but didn’t complain. First I was stepped on and now this? If this dream was meant to let me experience my student’s life first-hoof, all there is missing is for me to be eat… Celestia shivered at her next thought and gulped. “Princess? Are you alright? Where does it hurt?” Twilight asked before releasing her mentor as the princess spread her no longer squeezed wings as if she was made of a bubble gum. In an instant, Twilight send waves of healing magic into her mentor’s body, washing away some of the smaller bruises, though the bigger ones remained. “What are you both doing here? This place is dangerous!” Celestia was about to answer, but her sister beat her to it. “Fear not, Twilight Sparkle; for t’is but a nightmare, and We are here to help thee face it.” “Nightmare?” Twilight said to herself before rubbing her chin as she entered a contemplating mode. Ignoring the noise of Ursa Major’s steps and trembling ground as the beast was walking away, she murmured to herself, “So I’m dreaming and my mind created a terrifying vision of Ursa Major trying to crush me, alongside my mentor and Princess Luna saving me. It also means that I’m thinking inside my dream… but a dream is technically a creation of my own thoughts and imagination, so by thinking inside a dream, I am thinking that I’m thinking and any dialogue I would exchange with the princesses will be like talking with myself because they’re both projections of my mind…” Luna blinked in confusion before glancing at her sister who shrugged. “She will be like this for a while, give her a moment,” Celestia advised. Luna nodded before smirking as she poked her sister in a shoulder, who grit her teeth and winced in pain. “May We ask thee a question?” Noticing a nod of agreement, Luna asked, “Why didst thou teleport towards thy student and push her to the side?” “To… save her from the unpleasant experience of being crushed in her own dream,” Celestia answered hesitantly, somewhat worried about the smirk present on her sister’s face. “We art impressed. If We had teleported to thy student’s aid first, We would have levitated her out of the way from a safe distance, or teleport both of us, but thou ignored this simple solution for the sake of… a more painful one, so to speak.” Noticing her sister’s pupils shrink, Luna levitated over a small, damaged tree fragment and presented it to her sister, who without hesitation slammed her head into it. The princess of the night chuckled and added, “We find it ironic that thou, who canst wage plans with years or even hundreds of years in advance and put many politician and manipulators to shame, would have such trouble when a problem presents itself in front of thy nose.” With a smug grin and a regally raised foreleg, she continued, “We would not be surprised if thou waited for thy enemies to finish their monologue rather than attack them by surprise.” “So would you, Luna,” Celestia responded as she received a nod of confirmation. “Correct; but We would do it because We find ambushing our foe unhonorable and prefer to challenge and win in a fair combat.” Luna looked to the side as her ears and wings drooped. “Though if our subjects would be in grave danger, We would not hesitate to stain our honor and use an assassin’s tactic. Pray tell, what is thy excuse?” “Excuse me,” Twilight interrupted, attracting both princesses’ attention. “After deeper thinking, I came to the conclusion that you both aren’t the creations of my imagination, so may I ask, how and why are you both here, Your Highnesses’?” she asked with a respectful bow. Luna placed forehoof on her own chest and spoke proudly, “It is within our power to enter ponies’ dreams and help them face their nightmares and insecurities. We are here to help thee.” Twilight stood to her rear hooves and shook her head. “B-but… there’s no point for you both to bother just to help me with one little nightmare.” Both princesses rolled their eyes at the word ‘little.’ “Oh yes, because surely the wellbeing of our saviour is not important to us,” Luna said with a shake of her forehoof, “and besides, it is also a puni—” She paused upon noticing her sister’s hoof gesture and panicked face. “Puni... puni... t’is nothing.” After a sigh of relief, Celestia approached her student and placed forehoof on her shoulder. “Forgive my curiosity.” She pointed at the humongous beast who was looking around in search for its prey. “What had caused you such a nightmare? I doubt reading about Ursa Majors would trigger something like… this.” Twilight laughed awkwardly as she took a few steps back. “Well… it is a funny story.” Luna’s ears and wings perked upward. “Thou hast caught our attention; please, do share.” Her sister nodded in agreement. “Well... ” Twilight rubbed back of her neck. “An Ursa Minor kind of... attacked Ponyville.” Both alicorns took a step back, their curious smiles replaced with one of worry. Twilight continued, “And I had returned to my original size to stop it.” “We assume that thou hast succeeded. It bring us joy that thou didst not hesitant to grow to help thy fellow ponies; wouldst thou agree, dear sister?” Celestia was speechless and just nodded as she considered the danger the small town faced and her student’s decision to save it. Caught off guard, she pointed at the giant beast and asked, “I believe that there will be time for congratulations, but for now, how are we going to deal with this nightmare?” Twilight teleported onto the tree and examined the beast as both alicorns followed her example. After a moment of thinking, she spoke, “Considering the size of Ursa Major, I’m sure that it can barely support its own weight. If we can trip it, that should knock it out.” “Or enrage it,” Celestia added. “Just like thou did by attacking it?” Luna asked before receiving an angry glare from her sister. “Well… I’m open for suggestions,” Twilight said as she looked between both princesses.