I just thought I might ask and try to brainstorm some concepts. Since the Tantabus is sort of an eldritch being (at least I like to think it is) do you think it is possible that there are cults in Equestria dedicated to studying it or trying to even bring it into our reality?

When discussing this there are a few questions we should ask ourselves:

• What benefit will it provide the worshipers?
• How clever do you think these cult(s) are, when it concerns their concealment?
• Do they have special markings or symbols to use as a means to identify other cult members?
• Can the cult(s) communicate with each other through dreams?
• What sort of rituals do they practice?
• How successful have they been (have they managed to either pull aspects of the Tantabus into their world or do they even have followers who possess powers given to them by the Tantabus)?
• In the case that they have been successful and have individuals who either possess Tantabus fueled powers or are possessed themselves by the Tantabus, what sort of powers do you think they have?
• Are they hostile?

Well, there is a list of questions for us all to discuss. I am curious to all your thoughts.

Long live the eldritch horror!

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When discussing this there are a few questions we should ask ourselves:

As usual with these sorts of things, context is important. If we want to speculate about canon, none of this is relevant. Not one hint of any of this exists in canon. Canon may not specifically contradict these things, but it is all too easy for these sorts of discussions to take on some sort of "well, this is how it must be!" or the like. Always remember, this is headcanon/speculation at best.

If the context is, "I plan to write a fanfic with these ideas" the more important set of questions is the same for any idea: is this internally consistent? Is the information about the idea presented to the readers in a convincing manner? Does this make for an interesting piece of the setting/worldbuilding, plot, or is it relevant to the characters in the story and what they're trying to accomplish?

Your set of questions loosely falls under "making this seem like what I/readers expect from a cult." They also somewhat fall under "internally consistent" as answering them gives you a reference point when describing them in narrative.

What benefit will it provide the worshipers?

Kind of a murky question. Some cults promise some kind of benefit. Some withold secrets from the rank and file, presenting some kind of enticement to gain membership, while the true agenda of the leadership benefits from the resources provided by members.

In order to properly answer this, you'd need to know a lot of other things you don't list. How big is the cult? How is it orgnized? How public/secret is it? What kinds of benefits do they recruit with, and so on. How many layers and complexities are there within the cult?

As for some ideas on all of that for a "Tantabus" cult, you'd have to more concretely define the Tantabus. It only exists in one episode, was the creation of Luna as part of her psyche/dream magic/mystery. If it is a real entity that exists separate from Luna's imagination and dreams, others might have encountered their own in dreams.

As depicted in the dream, it caused nightmares to those ponies whos dreams it invaded. That isn't a particularly attractive sort of thing to entice people into your cult with. "Join up and experience nightmares!"

You'd have to make something up entirely whole-cloth to entice members into a cult. Maybe rather than inviting a/the tantabus into their own dreams, they seek some ability to control one/it, and inflict it upon their enemies.

If we look into the semi-commonly depicted "Nightmare cultists" in fanfics like Past Sins, you have ponies who wanted Luna/Nightmare Moon's eternal night, and her rulership over them. As Luna/Nightmare Moon is a thinking, complex, and powerful individual, you can imagine how some ponies might have political views that favor her over Celestia, for example. It doesn't take much explanation or imagination to write some Nightmare Moon cultists into a story.

I'm at a loss to imagine anything that comes to mind as easily for the tantabus. It is possibly to come up with things, but nothing seems inherently suggestive from the show's offering.

How clever do you think these cult(s) are, when it concerns their concealment?

This is entirely up to the writer. A cult is a collection of individuals. Whatever draws them to the cult is not all that dependant on cleverness. How important is concealment depends on how hostile Equestria is to the cult. Scientology and the Mormons are not particularly secretive in the real world. They're widely accepted in a lot of communities, and even if non-members consider them a little weird, they don't tend to be hostile to them to where they need to hide. Not so true in history, but today they're pretty open.

Considering the few ideas I had to the previous question, the cult probably is somewhat nefarious. But considering it is based on a creation of one of the princesses, it may not be illegal nor even frowned upon or cared about by the general populace. A random pony walking down the street in Manehattan may never have heard of or care about the cult. Especially if it only exists in Apploosa.

Do they have special markings or symbols to use as a means to identify other cult members?

That seems like a fairly popular thing for any organization, not just cults. It's less "do they" and more "what are they."

Can the cult(s) communicate with each other through dreams?

Sure. Why not. They can have whatever magic you feel like giving them.

What sort of rituals do they practice?

See the first question. You'd have to define the Tantabus more, as well as the overall organization.

Also, remember that a ritual isn't necessarily magic, not does it have to involve altars, sacrifices, candles, and so on. A ritual is literally any agreed upon set of actions, words, or props that the members learn/teach/perform. It's another word for ceremony.

With that in place, if one of the perks is to invite a tantabus into your dreams, some ritual would likely be the way to do so. If there is some way to inflict the tantabus upon your enemies, a ritual would be a way to do so too. Other rituals are more mundane and just for solidarity/membership. Initiation ceremonies, prayers before meals, blessings, and so on.

How successful have they been (have they managed to either pull aspects of the Tantabus into their world or do they even have followers who possess powers given to them by the Tantabus)?

"Pull the tantabus into the world" is but one possible goal of the cult.

Gaining magic powers from the Tantabus and/or pulling it partially/completely into the world is also a possible goal of the cult. Though in a world of ponies with magic already, this seems a bit odd. Unicorns could just study spells they want to learn, so gaining spells from the tantabus would require those spells be easier to get than usual, more powerful than usual, or offer abilities normal spells cant. Pegasi and earth ponies might be attracted to the ability to cast unicorn-style spells, or spells not readily available to unicorns too.

You had mentioned Lovecraftian Eldritch Horrors as part of your imagination for this. For the most part, C'thulu cultists are seeking to bring about the end of everything, and hope to be the first destoyed so they're spared the worst of the ensuing madness. If something like that were to happen with the Tantabus, "gaining powers" isn't really part of the process. At best, it is a side effect of the other weirdness going on in Lovecraft's novels. C'thulu itself is uncaring of the cultists, and doesn't directly grant them powers or reward them.

In the case that they have been successful and have individuals who either possess Tantabus fueled powers or are possessed themselves by the Tantabus, what sort of powers do you think they have?

Nothing about the Tantabus itself suggests to me that they'd gain powers from it. At best, they'd suffer from nightmares. The tantabus seems more like a volcano than an animal. It might be powerful, but it isn't interactive or thinking. It might erupt due to the actions of the cultists. Or it might be something they could recreate/breed/clone to use.

If any cultists have "weird powers" (like dream speaking and the like), I feel like those would be gained not directly from the Tantabus, but from researching "forbidden magic" in dusty old tomes. Gainging magic that allows them to summon, control, etc. a tantabus, learning dream-related magic like Luna knows, and so on would all be appropriate things cultists might be interested in, learn, and make use of. They learn a set of skills in order to accomplish their tantabus-related goals, rather than gain them from the tantabus itself.

Are they hostile?

Considering that the tantabus was a pretty hostile entity, it seems unlikely that any cult devoted to it in any way would be positive.

Rather than just say yes outright though, you could come up with a cult that considers itself something of a Knightly Order, which seeks to hunt down tantabi, destroy them, or protect others from them. They might work for Luna and assist her, such as sometimes is depicted of her "night guard." They might be individuals who entice a tantabus into themselves in order to contain it and keep it from harming others.

They might be something of a "gray knights" sort of idea. They make use of dark powers related to the tantabus, but do so for noble reasons. Like the Knights Iscariot, doing the "dirty work" of a larger, good organization.

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As usual with these sorts of things, context is important. If we want to speculate about canon, none of this is relevant. Not one hint of any of this exists in canon.

Indeed and I don't expect any of this to become canon. I just want to try to get the brain juices flowing (yummy brain juices) and perhaps inspire others to write more stories for the Tantabus.

Please keep in mind that while I have ideas for doing something like this in one of my stories, I have no objection to other users using a similar concept. A lot of this is just me being genuinely curious about the thoughts of others on this subject.

How big is the cult? How is it organized? How public/secret is it?

Those are... actually some pretty good questions. As for size, I can't say for sure. It could be small like some of the cults we see in the Cthulhu mythos (small in the extent that they might only encompass a village) or it could be rather large and have various political figures among its ranks (like the cult in the Condemned games or even the Illuminati if you consider that a cult).

As for whither it is secretive or not, I would speculate that it is, after all in the show nopony is aware of it during the events of the episode starring the creature. Even Twilight our beloved bookworm seems somewhat surprised by it. So if such a cult existed it could be very secretive and perhaps would even go through great lengths to keep its existence a secret, like memory removal spells or assassination attempts.

When it came to benefits most of my thoughts on the matter is what does the Tantabus tell its followers they will gain for serving it. In the Cthulhu mythos (yes, this did kind of inspire this idea ) a lot of the cults believe they will somehow gain access to a higher level of existence, that while the world burns around them they will be standing beside their "god" watching the destruction, completely unscathed.

But there is also another reason...

That isn't a particularly attractive sort of thing to entice people into your cult with. "Join up and experience nightmares!"

That could be correct... if your sane, what I mean by that is some individuals will intentionally harm themselves if necessary, either to save another or because of some sort of insanity. As show by Lovecraft, some of these cults suffer from some form of insanity. Perhaps the cult views the nightmares as trials that help them reach a new form of enlightenment.

Then there is always the chance that they seek to push pony evolution forward, kind of like how the church in Bloodborne, tried to use the blood of the old ones to evolve humanity. Or to ascend.

You'd have to make something up entirely whole-cloth to entice members into a cult. Maybe rather than inviting a/the tantabus into their own dreams, they seek some ability to control one/it, and inflict it upon their enemies.

That works as a good reason too. We see a lot of stories were a wizard or witch summons a demon or eldritch being, believing they can control it.

Sure. Why not. They can have whatever magic you feel like giving them.

I guess one question I should ask is if they can do this, how do they do it without Luna noticing? Does the Tantabus somehow provide them some sort of protection so that Luna can't spy on their conversations?

This has been fun.

Sadly, I have to go now.

I look forward to discussing this further.