The Little Pony Legend: A Kingdom of Friendship

by MaggiesHeartLove

Do Princesses dream of magic sheep?

Hebrews 10:1-10~

"For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—In the volume of the book it is written of Me—To do Your will, O God.’” Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

*(~)*

Do Princesses dream of magic sheep?

The sound of stomping feet echoed the hallways. The Mane Seven were on their way to defeat this new threat. They hoped it wasn't too late.

The princess of the night stood on her old throne of the now old castle she and her sister once shared, awaiting patiently as the running sounds grew louder and louder. They were arriving. Unlike normally, she was not in her pony form, rather her anthro form. Beside her a strange floating creature made out entirely of purple smoke and night-like gooey substance appeared. Luna was expecting it.

"Greetings, Tantabus. I am ready. Do your worst."

The Tantabus then shielded the sun that was seen behind the princess, causing an eclipse and the darkness began to surround the princess. She could feel the darkness growing within her once more. She hatted it but her past enjoyed it.

The seven friends stopped before the throne and gasped in horror as Princess Twilight stepped a foot forward.

"Princess Luna's turning into Nightmare Moon. Again!"

The creature of the night laughed at them wickedly, enjoying her victory, but these girls had other plans. Unlike before she was in anthro form, complete with a full black body suite with her signature armor.

"Yeah? Well, we've got the cure for that!" said Rainbow Dash.

Avatar Korra closed her eyes and placed her two palms together, engulfing her and her fellow anthro ponies in a blinding light. They all emerged, now sporting the stunning Rainbow Power transformations they used to defeat Tirek not to long ago. Unlike before, they were in author form, their manes long and flowing, each with a jumpsuit depicting their respected colors. Rainbow's was red and blue, Twilight's was white and violet, Fluttershy's was green and pink, Rarity's was blue and purple, Applejack's was green and red and Pinkie Pie's was blue and yellow. Their eyes glowed white as a powerful bright orb of pure light circled around them. Colorful rays aimed at the creature, but their magic seemed to have no effect. She simply laughed at the fools. But this joy did not last long. The Tantabus did something she thought it would never do.

"Wait! What is it doing?!"

The creature somehow managed to tear open some kind of portal out of thin air before disappearing into it. NightMare Moon was horrified.

"No! It's gone!"

Even worse, the Mane Seven's eyes all glowed a bright white, using the converged power of the Avatar State, and enwrapped NightMare Moon in their positive rainbow magic. In no time, she was back to Princess Luna.

She was shocked, not because they managed to change her again, but that they had actually won this battle. The girls all welcomed the princess in a group hug, cheering happily for their victory.

………….

Luna gasped once she opened her eyes. Anyone else would have been happy with this dream, but she wasn't. She acted as if she had woken from a nightmare. This was not a good sign at all.

"What? My dream ended... happily? That. Cannot. Happen!"

(~)

It was bright and sunny say at Carousel Boutique, where the Mane Seven, and Bolin, were having a pet grooming day. Rainbow Dash was giving Tank a good shell scrubbing, Twilight was brushing Owlowiscious, while Korra was also brushing Naga's hair. Bolin was giving Pabu a bath and Rarity was brushing her cat's Opal's tail.

"Ooh, this is amazing!" said Pinkie Pie as she hoped around the shop

Rainbow Dash yawned, "Yeah, Rarity. Thanks for setting all this up." she said, trying to sound happy but only sounded tired. She had terrible bangs under her eyes as did the rest of the girls. Minus Pinkie Pie.

"A grooming day for our pets really was a great idea." said Fluttershy, equally tired. However, many of them tried to brush it off.

Rarity continued to brush Opal's tail but slowly started to doze off, not seeing where she was brushing. The sharp ends of the comb touched Opal's rump and the cat screamed in pain, waking up Rarity in the process, now seeing her terrified cat handing for its life on the ceiling.

"Oh, my! Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't get my normal beauty sleep last night…"

Opalescence hissed back at her owner and Bolin wrapped Pabu up in a blanket to dry him off, "You guys don't look so good."

Twilight yawned, "What makes you say that?" she asked, sounding very tired and sleepy. Their heads turned to Korra…who was already snoring while cuddling close to Naga like she were a pillow.

"Call it a hunch." said the earthbender before yelling, "Hey, Korra!"

The Avatar snapped awake, "Who? What? Where? Oh…sorry." she yawned, "I didn't sleep so well."

"Me neither." said Twilight.

The others hummed in agreement, equally exhausted. Until Pinkie Pie did a cartwheel with a big happy smile on her face.

"I'm totally beat too!"

Applejack was just about to doze off when her dod baked. "Alright, Winona. Time for your brushing'." she traced her hoof across the table, completely missing the brushes and accidentally grabbing Gummy instead. She readied to brush her pet but dozed off again and Gummy bit on Winona's ear, making her yelp in pain and wake A.J. up.

Winona shook her head to get Gummy off, and the littler gator jumped onto Owlowisious's head. The owl flew up, trying to get the gator off, accidentally knocking Twilight. She tripped and fell into the bathtub made for the pets.

Applejack realized her mistake and Winona rubbed her hear on the counter. "Oops. I guess I'm too plum tuckered out to do this right."

There was a knock on the door and Asami walked in, assisting a very tired looking Mako, in his police uniform, and a sleepy Flash Sentry in her free arm. Mako's arm was swung over her shoulder as she tried to help him stand up.

Korra shook her head to wake herself as much as she could to help. "What happened?" she asked as she approached and helped Mako, who yawned as he tried to stand up.

"I saw these two dozing off at the coffee shop." said Asami, "Not even coffee was enough to wake them."

Flash wobbled once he made it to the floor. "I don't get it." he said before yawning, "We even went to bed early last night."

"Then what happened?" Korra asked.

Mako's eyes had terrible bangs under them. "Last thing I remember was this terrible nightmare. Kept me up most of the night."

Korra's eyes snapped wide open. "Wait, you had a nightmare? I had a nightmare!"

"Me too!" the other ponies replied in unison.

"Uh, only, you know, I didn't think mine was that scary!" said Rainbow Dash, trying her best to sound brave.

"Well, mine sure was." said Twilight, who was now wet from the bath water, "There was this blue smoke monster and…" she briefly stopped when everyone, minus Bolin, Asami and Spike, stared at her with shock, "..what?"

"I dreamt about a blue smoke thingy too!" said Fluttershy.

"Me too!" said the others.

Rainbow Dash only scoffed, placing her hooves behind her head to relax in mid air, "So what? Probably just a coincidence."

"She's right." said Bolin, "You guys have same dreams all the time."

Twilight stepped out of the bathtub and Spike handed her a towel to dry off, "Yeah, but when that usually happens it leads to a terrifying monster about to destroy the world."

"And, why would me and Flash have seen the creature too?" Mako asked, "That's an awfully big coincidence. Even for us."

"Huh. I wonder why I didn't have that nightmare." said Spike, "I slept great!"

Asami arched an eyebrow at him before addressing back to her friends, "So then, what could've given you all the same nightmare?"

"I don't know," said Korra, "but I do know who might. Spike, could you send a scroll to Princess Luna?"

"Sure!"

Once Twilight was done drying herself, Spike placed the towels down and grabbed a paper and quill.

"All set!"

Twilight spoke up first while Spike wrote down every word, "Dear Princess Luna, last night my friends and I all dreamt of a creature made of blue smoke. I'm sure you're very busy, but" she briefly stopped to yawn, "when you have the chance, please let me know if you have any idea what it could mean. Yours," she yawned again before continuing, "Princess Twilight Sparkle. You can leave out the yawns."

Spike scratched off the 'yawns' he had written before rolling up the scroll and breathing fire to magically send it to Princess Luna.

The door immediately flew open and the princess of the night arrived…in just two seconds flat.

"Which of you saw the creature of blue smoke in your nightmare?!"

"Wow. That was fast." said Bolin.

"We all did." said Korra, "Well, except for Bolin and Asami."

"And me!" Spike reminded them with a proud smug, making the others simultaneously groan.

"Ugh, we know!"

"So you've encountered the smoke monster too?" Twilight asked.

Princess Luna walked into the boutique, looking at them all with a face of pure regret. "The Tantabus is a creature of my nightmares. It escaped from my slumbers yesterday."

"But how did it get into ours?" Fluttershy asked with worry.

"The Tantabus is like a parasite. My dreams must no longer be enough for it. Now it seeks others to infect and corrupt. It must have learned of you seven girls from seeing you in my dream."

Flash intervened, "Wait, if you only dreamed about the girls, why did me and Mako see it too?"

Luna turned to the girls, "Did any of you see them in any of your dreams?"

All eyes shifted to both Korra and Twilight, who rolled their eyes and groaned in annoyance.

"Oh sure!" Korra said in sarcasm, "Because we're dating them that automatically means they're in every single dream we have!"

"Just because we're not single doesn't mean we're needy!" Twilight stated, rather angrily.

The two boys just stood there, blinking. "You don't have to get so mad about it." said Mako.

"Actually, I think that's my fault." said Rainbow Dash, raising up her hoof. "I was dreaming you guys got captured while on patrol and it was up to me to save ya."

Spike spoke next, "Whoa-whoa-whoa. So what you're saying is... you all dreamt about each other, and not me?" he whimpered sadly.

Bolin squatted down to his level. "Awww, don't feel so bad little buddy. They didn't dream about me either." his eyes snapped open and he stood up, "Wait, how come nobody dreamed about me?! I'm a likable guy!"

Rainbow, on the other hoof, still didn't see this as a huge problem, "Uh, so Smokey gave us bad dreams. No biggie."

But Princess Luna shook her head, "I saw that the Tantabus had grown more powerful, but I did not realize that power was enough to enable it to escape my dreams. If its power grows, it could very well find a way to escape into the real world. It could turn all of Equestria into a living nightmare!"

The atmosphere in the room immediately became grim. Rainbow's anxiety was now in full swing. "Okay, okay, okay, I take it back! That does sound bad! Really bad!"

"So how do we stop it?" Korra asked, already determined to take this monster down.

"There is only one way to capture the Tantabus…" Luna explained, "And that if is I enter your dreams to do so."

"That doesn't sound so hard." said Applejack.

"You will all need to sleep in the same room while I enter each and everyone one of your dreams. Since the Tantabus already knows of your dreams, it will no doubt come after you again tonight."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

"Uh, for it to be nighttime?" Bolin said…receiving a few glances from everyone. "Just saying."

(~)

That night at Twilight's castle, several beds were arranged in Twilight's bedroom for Korra, the Mane Six, Mako and Flash to sleep in.

"We've prepared everything exactly as you requested." said the violet alicorn.

Luna hovered over the room, ready to fight the nightmare creature. "Good. As you all slumber here, I will pursue the creature into whichever of your dreams it infests."

Pinkie Pie jumped onto her own bed, "Ooh! It'll be like a princess sleepover!"

"Speaking of princesses, aren't you gonna ask Celestia for her help as well?" Twilight asked as she got into her own bed, and Korra tucked her in like a big sister.

"What about Leilani?" Korra asked, "Wasn't she the one who taught you how to go into dreams? She can be of great help."

But the dark colored alicorn turned her gaze away. "There is nothing my sister can do. She has no power in the realm of sleep. Only I can move from dream to dream. And I can not let my mother know of the trouble I had once again caused after everything she had been put through. I am afraid nopony can help me tonight."

"Even us?" Applejack asked.

"Especially you. You have all suffered so much because of me. You need only slumber while I hunt the Tantabus in your dreams." she felt someone tug on her long night-like mane and saw it was Spike.

"I know you said nopony can help, but I'm no pony!" he crawled up onto one of the extra beds and used his claws to keep his eyes wind open. "I'm gonna stay up and watch over you guys just in case!"

"And me and Asami can help out too!" Bolin said enthusiastically while wrapping his arm around Asami.

"Milk and cookies?" the heiress pulled out a tray of warm milk and cookies, to which Pinkie PIe immediately took and started munching on.

"Aw, thanks you guys!" Twilight said with a smile.

Mako stretched and yawned, "Well, one good thing about not sleeping well last night – shouldn't be too hard to fall asleep now." he made himself comfortable, only to be surprised by Pinkie Pie, who popped up from under his sheets.

"Are you kidding?! This is so exciting, I don't know how I'm ever going to—" and just like that, the pony was out like a light, snoring loudly.

One by one, the ponies made themselves cozy and dozed off to sleep, but not before Korra rose her hand. "One more thing. Whatever happens in my dreams, stays in my dreams."

"Got some dark secrets to hide, Avatar?" Asami asked, rather curiously and amused. She flinched when Korra glared at her.

"Keep talking and I'll make sure you are in my dreams so the Tantabus comes after you next."

Asami backed away slowly, "Duly noted."

While everyone else, minus Spike and the young human couple, Princess Luna spread out her wings, activating her magic. The lines of her horn glowed to reach the very tip. Nine glowing neon white streams appeared, attaching themselves to the foreheads of the ones deep in slumber.

A soft wind surrounded Luna as she began traveling into her friends' dreams. First was Rarity's dream…

………………

"Welcome everybody to this season's epic pro-bending match! Starring the always fabulous, elegant and fiercely agile: Lady Rarity!"

The unicorn's eyes opened, finding she was in her anthro form and realized she was in a pro-bending ring. Not only that, but she was wearing the most gorgeous, not to mention form fitting, pro-bending uniform she had ever worn or created.

"Oh, my!" she could hear the audience cheering her name.

"Rarity! Rarity! Rarity! Rarity!"

"Wait, I remember this. This was when I filled in for the fire ferrets."

Indeed, she remembered the time Bolin had temporarily gathered the old team together for a charity game, but without Mako and Korra, he chose Rainbow and Rarity. At first, Rarity was hesitant, until she realized her eye for detail and fast and fluid grace was her secret weapon to winning the match. She managed to step out of her comfort zone while still being true to herself. She hadn't played in a game since it was a one time deal, but the exhilarating feeling of winning was something she carried with her always.

She was even happier with the designer uniform she wore, and she didn't even need that helmet, but instead wore her hair in a hight ponytail.

"Oh! This is simply divine! How avant garde!"

She heard Shiro's voice again. "As she faces the opposing team, single handed, the Dark Spirit Trio!"

"I'm sorry, the-what now?"

The unicorn gasped when she saw her opposing team. They were humanoid dark spirits, each wearing pro-bending uniforms, their eyes were golden in color and their mouths and teethes were attached, creating a terrifying image.

"Forget avant garde! I should have said 'en garde!"

The monsters came at her, but Rarity managed to blast them back with her waterbending and by summersaulting their bending advances.

The water beside her started to rise up, forming the outline of a human alicorn. The water disappeared, revealing it to be Princess Luna, also in anthro form while wearing a one piece black jumpsuit with a silver belt, high-heel boots and fingerless long gloves.

"It is here!"

She spotted the Tantabus moving around the opposing monster team like a serpent in the grease. It singed into the arena's floor, creating another dark spirit-player to emerge.

Rarity readied her stance, "Four against one? Hardly seems fair…for them!"

Using everything she learned from Korra and Kya, Rarity levitated the water from bellow the arena, creating a tidal wave that struck all of the monsters, besides herself, down into the drink.

The Tantabus appeared again, making another monster behind Rarity and grab her by the back of her uniform. Luna zapped at the creature, vaporizing it but Rarity's beautiful uniform was now ruined.

"It was such a pretty little chiffon...! What kind of monster would do this?!" she cried out in pain while getting down on her knees.

"The Tantabus."

"Then let's stop it!" Rarity got back up, ready to fight, but was stopped by Luna who flew up.

"No, please! I don't want you to suffer anymore because of me. I will catch it."

She zoomed after the creature, which created more dark spirit-players to attack her. Luna zapped each of them away as she came after the Tantabus, but it was took late. It went out the stain glass dome roof and looked it up with cement, preventing Luna from going after it.

"It has jumped into another dream! I am sorry, but if I am to stop it, I must follow it where you cannot."

"Go! " Rarity insisted.

Luna broke the dome, allowing her to fly out of the unicorn's dream, who then turned around to fight more of the incoming monsters.

"I should be able to handle things here." she said bravely…right before realizing just how many more monsters she now had to face.

"I hope…!"

(~)

As always, Pinkie Pie was happily jumping up and down in her pony form, and every time she leaped, the scenery immediately changed in an instant. First it was a meadow, then a cave, followed by a mountain with a dragon, and then the spirit world meadow. All the while she sang,

"La-la-la-la-la! Whee! Whee, ha-ha! La-la-la-la-la!"

During the spirit meadow sequence, anthro Princess Luna appeared before her. "I followed the Tantabus here. Now I need only find—"

Pinkie leaped again and the scenery once again changed. This time, into that old temple where she and the girls stayed while Korra had lost her memory.

"Sorry, can't help it! An idea pops into my head, it—" she leaped once more and gasped, finding herself in Sugar Cube Corner. Which was now filled with a variety of delicious cakes.

"Ooh, cake!"

She was just about ready to take a bite, unaware that the Tantabus has already infiltrated her dream. It sinked into one of the cakes while Pinkie had her back turned, transforming the once harmless treat into a hideous monster with various eyes that splattered its frosting all over Pinkie Pie before opening its mane mouths on its many layers, ready to devour her!

"Ew, cake!"

More and more cakes came to life, some with bat wings and others with sharp fangs. Once cake exploded, revealing Princess Luna within it. Using her magic, she created a clear bleu force field around her and Pinkie before expanding it. The impact destroyed all of the cakes, splattering them around the room. Luna saw the Tantabus enter a cake box. She leaped froward for it, only to suddenly hit a large crystal statue of Spike. The scenery had changed into that of the Crystal Empire.

"No!"

"Sorry!" Pinkie apologized.

Luna zapped at the sky and escaped into another dream. Pinkie Pie leaped once last time, now in Ponyville with a giant ice cream cone standing in townsquare.

"Who wants ice cream?!"

The townsponies all appeared, smiling in agreement.

(~)

Fluttershy's dream was a much more peaceful one. She was in her anthro form while in the meadow of the spirit world, having some fun with the little spirits, as well as her animal friends.

"It's so nice to have both animals and spirits playing together."

The Tantabus then tapped on Angel bunny's tail, causing him to grow intensely in size, frightening away the spirits and critters. Fluttershy spun around and gasped to see a monstrous version of her pet rabbit roaring at her.

"N-n-n-n-nice… giant... evil Angel…!" she screamed in terror, only to be rescued by Princess Luna right when the angel monster was about to destroy her with its claw.

The two hovered above and Fluttershy wiped away her sweat, "Phew! Oh, thank you, princess!"

But Luna had no time for gratitude for the Tantabus was escaping once again. This time, it went into the spirit portal and Luna quickly went after it, leaving Fluttershy to fight off the evil angel with her airbending.

(~)

Applejack sighed as she polished her brightly red giant apple with her hoof. "Now this is what I call an incredible dream."

The Tantabus appeared once more, this time destroying every tree it came in contact with. One of the flowers on one of the tress grew larger, to reveal Luna manifest herself. She gasped once she spotted the Tantabus aiming at Applejack's large apple.

Applejack quickly earthbended a rock at the creature, but it only split in two, completely missing the aim, before going onto A.J's large apple, drying it up. Luna flew into its core, following the Tantabus.

(~)

Next thing she knew, she was in Republic City. So far, all seemed to be normal…until she saw a heard of cars driving at high speed with criminals screaming and shouting like idiotic maniacs. Luna then saw what appeared to be some kind of motorcycle with wings that flew overhead. It turned out to be Mako ridding some kind of magical flying bike and used his firebending to create a literal fire wall to stop the criminals. He pressed a button on the handles and the side of the bike shot various nets, capturing each of the criminals in an instant. The fire wall disappeared and Mako landed his bike, removing his goggles while Luna landed beside him.

"So, this is what you dream about?" she asked, rather surprised.

The firebender smiled confidently, "Hey, I got an imagination too you know."

Sadly, that imagination was about to take a turn for the worse. The Tantabus had submerged itself onto Mako's bike, causing it to glow a sinister purple and wrap the seat belts around him like a snake. He struggled to break free as the machine took life, with a mouth and the headlights for eyes. It roared and Luna used her magic to bend the water from the fire hydrants nearby, causing the vehicle to malfunction. Mako was freed from the seatbelt and Luna quickly grabbed him before the bike would explode. After placing him down she spotted the Tantabus go into a sewer and she immediately followed.

(~)

She dove down and down to eventually found herself in what looked like a cave, where she saw anthro Rainbow Dash, fighting off against both changelings and Equalists alike. She punched and she kicked, unleashing fire blasts left and right;

"I can see the Tantabus has already turned your slumbers into a nightmare!" said Luna in a frantic worry. But Rainbow did not seem surprised at all.

"What are you talking about? This is one of my favorite dream!" she said happily just when a changeling came up from behind her and she effortlessly punched it's face.

The Tantabus then touched the entire cave which…changed the whole scenery.

No longer were they in a cave but in a very brightly colored meadow with candy-like trees, frosting branches and dancing, singing sunflowers, all singing to the tune of "This Old Man". Each one had big eyes.

We are such happy flowers

We will now sing for hours

Aren't we unbearably cute?

Watch me solo on this flute

Rainbow Dash screamed in terror. This was her worst nightmare of all!

Luna saw the Tantabus go up into the sky and chased it into the clouds.

(~)

The clouds were always the perfect place for Korra to be. Her large, beautiful wings spread open wide as she zoomed across the skies, bypassing various fish that leaped out of the sea before her. Nothing made her happier than to feel the wind in her feathers and the sun on her face.

She gently landed down on a nice beach to soak up some more sun. This was the perfect day…for about two seconds.

Suddenly, the skies turned dark and thunder crashed. The seas turned rapid and rain fell from the heavens. It was night and something appeared to be rising from the sea. To Korra's devastation, it was UnaVaatu, laughing his wicked laugh.

Korra was ready to face him but quickly realized she couldn't get off the ground. Her wings were now gone!

"It's over, Avatar!" he said with an evil laugh. The waves hit the shoreline, to reveal Princess Luna. Both she and Korra flew up towards UnaVaatu, using the water around them to wrap the monstrous man in a sea of water before freezing it in a matter of seconds, trapping him inside.

"Did you see where the Tantabus went?" Luna asked the Avatar.

"There it is!" she pointed behind the princess to see the monster, but it had already disappeared into another dream. Luna wasted no time to follow it.

The ice around UnaVaatu started to shatter. Now Korra was in trouble.

(~)

Flash Sentry was proving his worth by fighting off against the opposing pony guards. This was his chance to move up the ranks. He was both a fast flyer and a strong horsemen with powerful legs to punch and kick. The bell rang, naming him the winner of the match.

The Tantabus appeared once again did its dirty work, turning the opposing teammates into monstrous bat-ponies. Flash's worse fear.

"AHHHHH!!! BATS!!!!!!"

He always had an irrational fear of bats, ever since he was a young colt. He flew away from the creatures as fast as he could.

"Not the bats! Not the bats! Not the bats! Not the bats!"

Luna emerged from the spotlights and aimed towards the bat-ponies, blasting them away from Flash, much to his gratitude. She spotted the Tantabus once more, which disappeared towards the exit.

(~)

Twilight's dream was in a large library, filled with books of all kinds. Nothing made her happier. Except, maybe for the books to fly right out of the shelves for her to read them.

One of the books opened up, allowing the Tantabus to come through. Twilight turned around and gasped in horror. The books had then started turning into bat-books.

Twilight jumped away from her seat and started firebending at the things. Spreading her wings wide open, and igniting them with her flames like she did to chase after Starlight Glimmer.

She started flying away from the books, her wings still burning, making them grow to incinerate the books as she did. She stopped in mid flight to see the Tantabus approach her from the opposite end of the hallway.

Luna quickly appeared in front of her, shielding her fellow princess from the monster.

"Luna!"

Using her magic, Luna began turning the Tantabus into pure crystal, keeping it contained. She turned her head, sharing a triumphant smile with Twilight. But that did not last long. The books all started flying upwards, papers ripping off to create some sort of paper-like human being. More like a monster. It was Tirek, made entirely out of paper, aiming his giant palm directly at Twilight, right when the Tantabus escaped!

(~)

Everyone gasped as they all snapped awake, grabbing Spike, Asami and Bolin's attention, who were all reading individual books.

Spike quickly rushed over to Rarity, "What happened? Are you guys okay?" he asked.

Bolin rushed over to his brother, who was breathing heavily. "That…that was terrible!" Mako screamed, having never felt more terrified in his life.

Fluttershy was sweating and Asami gently wiped it away with a rank. "I'll say! I never want to have that nightmare again!"

Rainbow Dash shivered in fear, "Me either!" she started rocking back and forth in a fiddle position.

Korra and Twilight were only onto each other, horrified at reliving their past fears. "I never thought anything could actually make me not want to read!" Twilight said while still clinging onto Korra.

"But Luna caught it, didn't she?" Bolin asked.

Princess Luna descended downwards from the ceiling, looking at them all with deep regret, "I am so sorry, my friends. I failed. It will be back to infect your dreams the next time you sleep."

"Oh, no!" Fluttershy trembled as she covered herself with her blanket.

Flash was still trembling, "The bats…anything but the bats!"

"Yeah. I reckon I could live without seeing that thing ever again." said Applejack.

"But you will." said Luna, "Again and again, every night, until it grows powerful enough to infect the waking world!"

"And just when were you going to tell me this, young lady?"

Everyone gasped when the grown alicorn appeared into the room.

"Leilani!"

"Mother?! But, how did you--"

"I could sense something was wrong while I slumbered, so I came as quickly as I could. After all, I taught you everything you know."

Luna's head lowered in shame. "I'm sorry, mother. But I couldn't let you get involved. This was my mistake and I have to be the one to fix it."

"Luna, if this creature is as powerful as you say then it is my business just as much as yours. The fate of Equestria rests on our hooves. Besides, you should know better than to go around trying to vanquish evil creatures without my permission! Remember what happened with that hydra sixty years ago?"

"His head was in my blind spot! Besides, that tower was meant to be renovated anyways."

Mako cleared his throat, getting the two alicorn's attention. "I hate to interrupt this stroll down memory lane, but what are we going to do about the Tatabus?"

"We will catch it." said Leilani.

"We? No, mother! I can not drag you into my mess!"

"Luna--"

"After what I did as Nightmare Moon, the fact that I am once again responsible for harming others is more than I can bear. I'm the one who needs to set things right."

The queen alicorn placed her wing over her daughter. "You don't have to fight alone, my dear. What happened is in the past."

"It'll be okay!" said Pinkie Pie, in hopes of lighting up the mood, "Everybody makes mistakes!"

"As long as none of you dreamt about anybody else, the Tantabus remains confined to your dreams." Leilani explained, "We still have a chance to catch it before it's too late."

"Phew, that's good to hear! Although after Luna left, I did happen to dream that I was eating a giant ice-cream cone with all of Ponyville and then shared it with the new air nation while taking a test we hadn't studied for. See, what'd I tell ya? Everybody makes mistakes!"

Everybody's jaw dropped in horror. Now everypony in Ponyville would be infected by the Tantabus as well as the airbenders of back in Republic City, and with it it can gain more power to take over the world!

Bolin rose his hand up, "Is it okay if I panic right now?"

Korra shrugged, "Sure, why not?"

"Okay…AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

"But that means the Tantabus could be turning every dream in Ponyville into a nightmare!" Twilight exclaimed in terror.

"And the dreams of the airbenders!" Flash stated.

"It is far worse than that." Luna explained, "Infecting all those dreams gives it more and more power. Soon it will be able to escape into the real world and infect both Equestria and Republic City with its nightmare plague!"

"Then you must let us help you stop it before that happens!" Rarity said bravely.

"But how?" Fluttershy asked, "The Tantabus was able to escape Luna when it only had nine dreams it could get to!"

"It is true." said Leilani, "With so many dreams to hide in, I don't know how we can catch it."

Twilight pondered for a moment before coming up with a suggestion, "Hmm… What if everypony in Ponyville were having one dream?"

Luna's ears perked up, "I… can create shared dreams, yes, but for so many ponies at once? Including the airbenders? I have never done anything like that. The amount of power it would take…" she felt her mother's wing over her shoulder.

"We will do it together. With our magic combined we will be able to stop it. If you will let me."

"Of course, mother. I will do anything to end this, including accept your help." she turned to the others, "All of your help. I cannot allow the Tantabus to escape into the real world. All of you must now go back to sleep and hope that we can create such a dream."

Team Avatar did just as the princess requested of them. Even Bolin, Asami and Spike slept to help their friends. Mother and daughter placed the tip of their horns together as a transparent orb circled around them. Countless and countless neon white strings grew from their combined horns, extending from the palace all across Ponyville, even Air Temple Island.

The spell was activated.

(~)

Kai was one of the first to open his eyes to the strangeness he was seeing. It looked like Air Temple Island and Ponyville had merged together. The airbenders, including Tenzin and his family were all just as skeptical as to how this was happening. Ponies all around looked just as confused, not only to seeing their airbender friends with them…but all of the abnormal and abstract things happening around them.

Muffins with wings flew above the night sky, several earth ponies could swim in midair, even Lyra and Bon Bon realized that their lower torsos has been merged as one. Which, really didn't bother them. They were already inseparable before, now they truly were.

"What is going on here?" Tenzin asked right before he bumped into something. It was a gigantic Derpy, who meowed at him for some strange reason.

Jinora spotted Korra and the rest of Team Avatar approaching them. "Korra!" the young airbender rushed to her side and hugged her hips. "What happened? Where are we?"

"You're all in a dream. Literally."

"Luna and Leilani did it!" Twilight exclaimed with joy.

Applejack saw Opal the cat chase after a very small version of a stallion. This itself caused A.J. to shiver in disgust. This whole place was bizarre. She then spotted a pair of familiar looking red legs and powerful hooves.

"Big Mac! Boy, I'm glad to see somethin' familiar!"

However, not everything about her brother was the same…considering he had a long unicorn's horn sticking out of his forehead!

"Eeyup." using his new magic, Big Mac created a giant apple that hurled across the sky.

"How are Leilani and Luna doing this?" Tenzin asked, right before his son Meelo came flying down on a gigantic version of his pet lemur, wearing a general's cap and hat, added with a sword.

"All bow down before the great Meelo!" he said in a demanding voice, to which everyone just rolled their eyes at.

"Ponies! Airbenders!"

The voice of the night princess echoed across the dream land. Her and her mother, their horns still glowing individually, hovered over all in a shimmering transparent forcefield. Both were in their anthro forms.

"Princess Luna! Queen Leilani!"

All ponies and airbenders bowed before their rulers.

"There is no time for bowing, my friends! " Luna exclaimed, "There is something coming, something terrible! No, it is already here!"

Everyone screamed in terror once they saw the Tantabus, which had now grown even larger in size! The very sight of it caused great fear among the townsfolk, which in return only made Luna feel worse about what she had done.

"I am so sorry! I brought this upon you! But I will end it now!"

"Luna, wait!"

Ignoring her mother's cries, the princess shot a white beam at the Tantabus in hopes of destroying it once and for all. But even that wasn't enough. The poor princess panted from exhaustion, sweat dripped from her brows as the Tantabus began terrorizing the citizens.

"Luna, what's wrong?" Twilight asked.

Luna grunted as both she and her mother struggled to keep all of the combined dreams at bay. "It… is taking all our strength just to hold this massive dream together!" said the queen, "You children will have to stop it!"

"I truly wish I did not have to ask this of you!" Luna said with regret.

"Then you're in luck." said Korra with complete confidence.

"Yeah! We're already on it!" Rainbow Dash winked at Flash Sentry and the two ponies flew after the Tantabus together, followed by the others. The ponies all changed into their anthro forms.

The Tantabus did not waste its time in causing chaos among the dream world. It turned a house into a living monster as well as create life-man eating air gliders to chase the airbenders. One of the houses grabbed onto the always depressed Ryu in its monster claws.

"Big deal." he said bluntly, as always, not showing any emotion aside from disinterest.

Rainbow swooped in and kicked the monster's face, causing it to drop Ryu, who actually screamed in terror right before Rainbow managed to catch him.

"I got you!"

Another one of the monster houses had a stallion in its mouth, who tried to keep it from closing by using his front hooves to push its upper jaw open. Twilight swooped in and firebended at the creature. The stallion fell and Flash Sentry quickly caught him before safely placing him back down.

One of the airbenders, Daw, was caught in-between the monster's foot. Fluttershy thought really hard and changed herself back into Flutterbat to bite the monster's foot, causing it to cry out in pain and release Daw so Fluttershy could take him to safety.

Opal attempted to airbend at a gigantic venus fly trap but got tangled in its vines. Just as it was about to eat her, the plant was electrocuted and immediately dried up, causing Opal fell to the ground. Her savior extended her hand to help her up. Asami has used her electric glove to kill the monstrous plant. Opal hugged her in gratitude.

There were even more deadly plants around town, Mako and Applejack worked together to tame them and rescue the captive ponies with their bending.

Applejack spotted her brother down bellow, who was surrounded by the flying cupcakes which were anything but sweet.

"Oh, no! Big Mac! You can do anythin' in a dream, remember?"

Realizing this, Big Mac used his imagination. His body became engulfed with a golden aura. He gained golden horse shoes with apple prints, his work collar gained amethysts stones and golden trims and a large green apple king-crown rested on his head and a pair of big red wings grew from his back. Using his new attributes, he flew up into the sky.

"Wheeeeee!"

While Applejack was happy for her brother, Mako was more…confused and concerned.

"I don't even wanna know."

Rainbow flew down towards them, "Come on! If that Tantabus thing turns any more of this dream against us, we'll be too busy saving lives to catch it! And it'll grow powerful enough to escape into the real world!"

"How are we even gonna know when it's able to escape?" Mako asked.

Everyone else stopped what they were doing to see the large nightmare creature, now even bigger than before, creature a sword out of its body to tear open a portal into the night sky and began making its way out.

"Oh, I think we'll know." Rainbow said with worry.

Korra immediately reacted blasted at the creature, causing it to retreat. Luna then used her own magic to seal up the opening as fast as she could, regardless of how much energy she was using.

"Hurry, my friends!"

Asami then remembered, "If we can do anything we want in dreams, then…" using her own imagination, Asami's body started to glow before revealing she had reverted back into the pony anthro form she temporarily had back after Harmonic Convergence. Her pony ears and pegasus wings returned along with her extended hair that looked like a pony's tail.

"I like the way you think, Sato!" Rainbow said before flying up with Asami right behind her and together they flew after the Tantabus.

They attempted to ram at it, but it only created a hole that caused the two to fly right through it.

"What the?!"

Fluttershy addressed to the townsfolk."Please, we need your help too!"

Korra and Twilight tried zapping at the creature, but it still didn't budge. "Fluttershy's right! " said Korra, "We've all got to work together to stop it from escaping!"

"But how can we help?" Daw asked, "Non of us have your magic or your speed!" he said to Rainbow.

The pony crossed her ams proudly. "That's true... in the real world!"

"Which this isn't!" Bolin reminded them all, "It's a dream!"

Bic Mac flew by, zapping the flying muffins with his horn. "Eeyup!"

"And not just any! This is your dream! " Twilight addressed to the crowd, speaking strongly as she did. "Anything you can do in your dreams, you can do now!"

Spike got an idea and snapped his fingers. His body glowed and his anatomy grew in size, creating a very manly and dashing night in shinning armor appearance complete with muscles, cape and armor.

"Well, if you're gonna dream, might as well dream big, right?" he jumped up onto the giant Derpy, "Hi-yah!"

Derpy flew up with Spike ridding on her while Commander Meelo rode on Pookie while shouting, "CHARGE!!!!!!!"

The townspeople cheered with glee. They could stop the monster. All they really needed right now was their imagination.

The Tantabus once again tore open another gateway, but both Spike and Meelo extended their swords, flying at the creature and cutting it in three separate halves.

Tenzin came ridding on a chines dragon, unleashing an abnormally powerful amount of his bending that he could have never achieved while awake.

The creature tore open another gateway, and this time Scootaloo imagined herself with gigantic wings and flew upwards, using the winds to push the creature away.

Rainbow smiled proudly at her little pupil.

Kai had his own dreams too. He imagined himself ridding on some kind of board which could fly on its own and spun around the Tantabus, creating a tornado. To help him, Rainbow Dash morphed herself into an anthro version of her Power Ponies alter ego, Zap and spun around the Tantabus alongside Kai, working together to subdue it.

"It's working!"

"But it's not enough!" Flash exclaimed in terror as the Tantabus began to grow right out of the tornado. Luna was feeling even more distraught at this. This creature had yet to be stopped.

"Then do more!" Pinkie shouted, "This is a dream, remember?"

Bolin's body glowed and he transformed into his NukTuk alter ego. "NukTuk to the rescue!" using his new powers, he managed to create an ice-bridge to reach the Tantabus and grab hold of it with his newfound supper strength, pulling the creature down to earth but it proved to be too powerful so Korra helped with her own magic to blast it down. The creature then managed to grab hold of both Bolin and Korra and tossed them both away like flies. Bolin was quickly saved by Asami, still in her anthro state, while Korra was caught by Mako, who had already dreamed up his special flying bike. Korra was impressed.

"Yeah, I know." he said with a smile.

Twilight used her imagination to bring the destroyed Golden Oak Library back to life and summoned the books to fly out and attack the Tantabus.

Applejack changed into her Power Ponies persona and used her lasso to pull the creature away from the new opening. Rarity stitched the opening closed with her own magic.

Ikki came flying on a bed of butterflies that attacked the Tantabus at her command while Jinora had a swarm of Furry-Foot's do so as well. Even Fluttershy managed to tame the evil giant angel bunny monster to attack the real threat. Flash Sentry, even summoned a swarm of bats to obey him, even wearing bat crown.

"I thought you hated bats." Twilight said, rather surprised.

"I do. But I hate that thing ever more!" he pointed his hoof forward, ordering the creatures to do his bidding. "Fly my minions!"

But even with everyone's help, Leilani and Luna kept on struggling to keep this dream together. There was just too many, even more them. But the queen knew that it was not her who was truly struggling. But her own daughter, who started to cry.

"I cannot hold this dream together much longer!" she said while straining to keep her horn up, "Equestria will fall because of me!"

The Tantabus roared, causing everyone to back away and fall to the ground. Meelo and Spike managed to stay airborne while still ridding on Derpy and Pookie.

"Am I crazy, or did it just get even bigger after Luna said that?" Meelo asked.

Korra caught onto this too, and she quickly made the realization. "That's it! I think it's feeding off your guilt, Princess Luna!"

"If that is so, then perhaps that is how it grew strong enough to escape from my control the first place!"

"Say what now?!" Applejack asked, only to gasp once the Tantabus tore open yet another opening.

"What are you not telling us, Luna?" Leilani spoke in a demanding tone.

Luna continued to shed her tears. "When NightMare Moon returned the memories of my past evil doings came back to haunt me. So, I created the Tantabus, a creature only I could control, to give myself the same nightmare every night since. I never believed it would take on a will of its own."

"But why would you do that?!" Fluttershy asked while the Tantabus grew larger in size, even frightening the monster angel bunny.

"If it hadn't been for my jealousy, NightMara would have never come in the first place, and she never would have returned and taken control of Asami or cursed the entire world. I--I couldn't let that go unpunished! But it seems I have not learned my lesson. Now, because of my foolishness, I have only made you suffer more!"

The heartbroken princess got down on her knees, covering her face in shame while the Tantabus grew larger and larger as did the opening. The creature began to take on the shape of a nightmarish unicorn, depicting Luna's body.

Twilight, Korra, Mako and Asami all gathered around Luna and Leilani. "But that means you might just be the key to stopping all this!" said Mako.

"He's right!" Rainbow Dash agreed, "If it gets strong because you feel bad about what you did as Nightmare Moon, then you just need stop feeling bad for what you did!"

"How can I forgive myself?" Luna asked, still crying, "You all suffered because of my past mistakes, even after I had tried so hard to put it behind me. I am no better now than I was then."

"That's not true!" Twilight exclaimed, "You were the one who helped me forgive myself after what happened with the Red Lotus! I was in a very dark place but you never gave up on me!"

"Because you deserve that forgiveness. I don't! And now my creation is about to turn the world into a living nightmare!"

"Don't talk like that!" Korra also exclaimed, the winds causing their hair and clothing to bellow in the powerful breeze, "You think you're the only one who made mistakes? I trusted a mad man and caused a civil war between my tribes! Not to mention, I nearly started Armageddon!"

"And I only made things worse by ratting Korra's plan out to the president!" Mako said, "Not to mention lying about my feelings to the people I care about and choosing my job over my family!"

"I nearly caused an eternal dark winter and almost stole my friend's boyfriend!" Asami stated, "You think that didn't keep me up at night?"

Bolin rose his hand, "I almost choose my mover star career over my best friends! Which, may not sound as terrible as what these guys did, but I still felt really, really bad about it!"

"And I left you and your sister for many moons because I couldn't cope with the loss of your father." Leilani confessed. "Not a day goes by that I don't regret it. But I knew I couldn't change the past, only the future."

"Don't you see?" Korra continued, "We all did things we're not proud of, but we've learned from them! Believe or not, you were the one who inspired us to do that!"

Luna was surprised by did. "How? You didn't get to relive my mistakes. I was starting to forgive myself, but seeing NightMara again…it was just too much!"

The Tantabus slowly started making its way out into the real world. Time was running out.

"But look at what you're doing!" said Twilight, "NightMara would've wanted the Tantabus to turn Equestria into a nightmare! You're doing everything you can to stop it! Don't you see? That proves you're not the same pony you were then! Everybody who knows you knows that Nightmare Moon is in the past! We all trust you, Luna! Do you trust us enough to believe we're right?"

Luna looked up, the Tantabus was nearly out, but once she gazed into the loving and forgiving eyes of her dear friends as well as her own mother, who gently wrapped her arms around her youngest child, showering her with all the love in her heart.

"Mother…I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too. Do you forgive me?"

"I already have."

"Then…do forgive yourself once more?" she wiped away her daughter's tears, who smiled.

"…I do!"

The Tantabus cried out in horror, suddenly feeling weak and no longer able to escape the dream world. Much to its horror, both it and the portal began to shrink. The portal closed completely and Luna stood up as the unicorn-shaped Tantabus walked towards her. The creature merged into Luna's body, never to be seen again. The creation returning to its owner.

And with that, it was all over. Luna took in a huge sigh of relief, smiling in gratitude to all those who believed in her.

"Thank you. Thank you all."

(~)

Twilight felt the warmth of the sun rain down upon her face and her eyes fluttered open. She gasped and sat upright. She was a pony once more, as were the rest of the Mane Six and Flash Sentry.

"Luna did it!"

The friends yawned and stretched as they got out of bed.

"She sure did!" said Flash, "Only… I'm not exactly sure what she did."

"Luna created the Tantabus to punish herself! The worse she felt, the more power it had! But once she finally forgave herself for what Nightmare Moon did…"

"Poof!" Spike said.

Korra stood up, stretching her limbs and wings before jogging in place. "Wow! I never felt this well rested in a long time. I feel like I can run a marathon."

"Me too!" Mako agreed, "Who knew fighting off an evil nightmare monster could have the same effects as coffee."

"Shh…" Leilani gently asked them all to keep quiet as she wrapped her wing over her peacefully sleeping daughter like a blanket. She had not done this since she and her sister were little fillies.

Everyone in the room went, "Awwwww…"

"Huh. Wonder what she's dreaming about now." Spike asked.

Korra smiled, "Whatever it is, it must be a pretty good one."

And indeed it was, the princess perfect and ideal dream was…a peaceful slumber. No fears, no anxiety, no guilt. Just pure, complete peace of mind and spirit.

*(~)*

2 Corinthians 5:17-18~

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

*(~)*

Comments

[MovieLord101]

Glad to see this story continue. It's been FAR too long.

[PrincessLaLa]

The Tantabus then touched the entire cave which…changed the whole scenery.

No longer were they in a cave but in a very brightly colored meadow with candy-like trees, frosting branches and dancing, singing sunflowers, all singing to the tune of "This Old Man". Each one had big eyes.

We are such happy flowers

We will now sing for hours

Aren't we unbearably cute?

Watch me solo on this flute

Rainbow Dash screamed in terror. This was her worst nightmare of all!

Luna saw the Tantabus go up into the sky and chased it into the clouds.

I still shudder at this one it's HORRIBLE.