Dream On You Crazy Princess

by insaneponyauthor

2. Princess Luna's Jungian Adventure

siege tower, her coat changing to grey scales, her blonde mane changing to a spiky crest of gold, her wings losing their feathers and gaining scales. Only her cutie mark remained intact, though etched in scales. Derpy the Dragon roared, and scared off a number of the knights with a blast of fire.

How can she do that? Dumplin thought, causing Lady Marble to frown.

“Where did you learn how to do that?” Luna asked.

Derpy the Dragon shrugged. “I didn’t,” she said, before breathing fire again and toasting a number of the soldiers while the Bonies dealt with the others. The tide had turned. Sir McBiggen leapt down from his perch to fight the dragon, too enchanted by the opportunity to fight a full-sized dragon to remember his pledge to his Lady.

“Dost thou ever tire of this, Tantabus? You know I shall rend you from your host yet again.” Her horn glowed, preparing for a potent blast of magic.

“Not this time,” Lady Marble said smugly. “Kyaaaaah!” she let out a proper maidenly wail and shrank in fear within her cage.

“My lady!” Sir McBiggen bellowed, as he made an impossible leap from the battlefield below, throwing himself in the path of Luna’s magical blast. The blast struck him square on his armored torso. Luna’s eyes widened, seeing her error, but it was too late. The magic engulfed McBiggen’s form, and the unicorn knight disintegrated.

“He’s… dead,” Lady Marble said, seeming shocked by what Luna was capable of.

Luna’s heart stopped. Dead. McBiggen was dead and gone. Normally nothing that happened in the dreamverse mattered: but she was the only exception. Anything she did to someone in the dreamverse would impact them in the real world. That meant Big Macintosh was gone forever.

All of these thoughts ran through Luna’s mind in an instant, paralyzing her with fear and doubt. That moment of doubt was all Lord Dumplin needed. He had Lady Marble send a magical counter-blast Luna’s way, a spell designed to break her spirit utterly.

“Augh!” Luna writhed as the blast hit her. *Crack* something snapped, and Luna’s necklet, a part of her very spirit as the Moon Princess, fell from her form to the battlefield below. In the next instant, the battlefield itself disappeared, fortress and siege machine alike. It was replaced by a room in Twilight’s Castle. There was a table with a map, as well as a number of books and notebooks. Big Macintosh was sitting there, as was Discord, Spike, and for some reason Berry Punch. Derpy the Dragon was still in the background.

Luna’s body glowed as she fell to the floor, while Marble Pie morphed into a small orange rhinoceros with thick, horned-rim glasses: Lord Dumplin’s true form was revealed at last.

“The die says 2,” Spike said, ignoring the full-size dragon and other new arrivals in the room. “Sir McBiggen is disintegrated in a blast of magic.”

“Aw shucks,” Big Mac said.

“Uhh, guys?” Berry Punch asked.

“Well I for one want to play again,” Discord snorted, “I will *not* fall to that D20 critical failure again! Are you up for more, Big Macintosh?”

“Ee-yup.”

“Guys!” Berry Punch exclaimed, slamming her hoof on the table.

At last the three of them noticed the changes; the fallen princess, the rhino, and the full-sized Derpy Dragon in their room.

“I’ve done it!” Lord Dumplin shouted. His true form had a whiny, nasally voice. He leapt forward, grabbing Luna’s cracked necklace. “With this, I can achieve my age-old dream! With the Moon Princess’ necklace, I can use my dream-manipulation powers to become, at long last, a Pretty Pony Princess!”

He ran to the door and waved a hoof, opening a portal to the next dreamspace. “Sorry I couldn’t stay longer,” he said. “But I’m sure you’ll all be seeing me again real soon. As the new Princess of the Night!” He laughed madly before diving through the portal.

“Ugh…” Luna groaned before she stood.

“Luna?” Derpy asked, morphing back into her pegasus form. “Where’d you put your horn? And your wings?”

Luna ignored her, her eyes going instead to the still-living Big Macintosh. “Sir McBiggen! Thou art not slain?”

“Nope.”

“Well, Sir McBiggen was,” Spike said. “But yeah, Big Mac’s fine! Why would he be dead? And Derpy’s right,” he added. “What did happen to you? Who was that weird guy?”

“I thought he was the Tantabus,” Luna said. “But he seems to have been something much more sinister.”

“Where did he come from?” Berry Punch asked.

“That is a story for another day,” Luna said. “He seeks to take my Alicorn powers, and that is cause enough for now.”

“So that’s where your horn and wings went?” Spike asked.

“Verily. I was an Earth Pony before I achieved Alicorn status. My elder sister was of pegasus kind. In my moment of doubt and fear, the fiend struck me and removed the symbol of my power. And now he is gone. I know not what we shall do.”

“Really?” Discord snorted. He had been glowering in the corner as Luna told her story. “You really don’t know? Look, I know I’m in a dream and am not the one true Discord, but I will still be darned if I will sit by and watch the pony who helped imprison me 1,200 years ago lose to some nerdy little rhino!”

“You would seek to help me?”

“Well, I don’t know if the real me would. He would find it too funny. Big Mac’s-dream-me, however, is a gamer, and we have our pride. I’m in a lower tier than you, I’ll admit that. But I won’t stand to be in a lower tier than whatever that… thing back there was.”

“If we could catch him before he returns to his own dream, we can stop him,” Luna said. “But without my powers, how can I move between dreams?”

“Come on!” Derpy called. She had already gone through the portal, and was looking back into Big Mac’s dream.

“How… how did you do that?” Luna asked.

“Dunno,” Derpy shrugged.

“It doesn’t matter,” Discord said. “Just get in there and get your powers back!”

Luna nodded, a determined expression forming on her face. She made to follow Derpy, before Big Mac once again leapt between her and the object of her pursuit. “Wait!” he said.

Luna paused, wondering what he wanted, as the laconic pony did not reply. Gazing into his eyes, she ascertained his state of mind. “Thou wishest to quest with me, feeling responsible for my current state?”

“Ee-yup.” Big Mac looked imploringly at Spike, who nodded.

“Oubliette Master decrees: Sir McBiggen uses the resurrection stone!” And in a flash, the sword-toting unicorn knight of Pohan was back, now ready to serve a new lady. “Let us depart, fair princess,” he said.

They followed Derpy on into the next dream world, hoping that they could stop Lord Dumplin before it was too late.

Jumping between dreams required little more than a split second of time, but one’s perception of time tends to run at a different speed in a dream, and so that split second would feel more like a minute. And in that minute of perceived time that Luna had felt, she noticed something had gone wrong.

“Something is not right. What is going on?”

A portal between dreams should only connect one point in each dream, and so she did not expect a feeling of being separated from Derpy Hooves and Big Macintosh. What she expected was to be pulled along the same dreamscape pathway as the two other ponies, carried to the same location in the dream they were travelling to. Instead, she felt herself being pulled along a different pathway, drifting farther and farther apart from her companions.

She cried out into the void. “No! Come back! We must stay together!” But her cries were in vain, as Big Macintosh continued to drift away. The red stallion seemed oblivious to the situation, and had likely not heard her at all.

There was nothing else that Luna could do but follow the path, wherever it led. At the end, where she expected the other end of the portal, she instead saw her own cutie mark, painted in watercolor across some sort of barrier. She put a hoof to the barrier, and the world between dreams faded from her view.

She opened her eyes, and saw herself in front of a pile of presents. To her left was her sister Celestia who was looking rather upset. Luna at first wanted to ask if everything was alright, but immediately felt annoyed by her sister as well. The feeling caught her by surprise, which gave Celestia the opportunity to speak.

“What do you mean you left it on the counter?!”

“I thought you were bringing it!” Luna felt the words coming out without having to think about it, despite not understanding what was going on. Then it dawned on her: This was the wedding of Cranky and Matilda in Ponyville. She and her sister had both forgotten to bring the wedding present, and were arguing about who was to blame.

She did not have long to think about this situation, for she felt her consciousness being pulled up and out of her body. The world faded to black for but a second, and when she awoke, she found herself elsewhere.

“GO AWAY! NO CANDY HERE! VISITORS NOT WELCOME ON NIGHTMARE NIGHT!”

This scenario was easier to recognize. It was not long after Twilight Sparkle and her friends defeated her when she was Nightmare Moon. The young unicorn had taken her to Fluttershy’s cottage to teach her how to speak as normal ponies do (for she was still using the Royal Canterlot Voice, something that had fallen out of use some time in the 1000 years that she was away).

But once again, she felt the pulling sensation, and the world fading to black. Each time she awoke, she found herself in a new place, staying just long enough to realize where and when she was, only to be whisked to yet another place and time. All this left Luna thoroughly confused. Was this not a story about her traversal through various dreams? And yet all of these scenes were things that she had done in the real world. Had the portal somehow taken her to the time-travel story?

Her fears were assuaged somewhat when she had been brought to the dreams of the fillies that called themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Not their current dreams, but dreams of the past. She was guiding each of them through their nightmares, giving them advice and encouraging them to face the terror they were experiencing.

And yet something at the back of her mind felt that all of this was wrong. No, that much was obvious, she should at least be able to control her travels through dreams. But this was something else. It was almost as though she were exploring something other than dreams.

When she awoke in the ruins in the Everfree Forest, she had a startling realization.

“Greetings, Tantabus”, she heard herself say. “I am ready. Do your worst.”

These were her memories.

She was whisked away yet again.

Luna found herself in the middle of Ponyville, channeling a familiar spell. She was surrounded by a scintillating sphere, streaks of magic emanating from her horn and reaching upwards into the night sky. It was the magic that connected everyone’s dreams together and joined them into one dream. She felt a sort of compulsion that would not let her stop maintaining the spell, but to her relief, she found that she had regained some control over herself.

She saw Big Macintosh and Derpy Hooves somewhere in the distance, appearing as they were in the dream that they had just left. Behind them was a glowing disc that shrank steadily until it was but a point of white light, then a puff of vapor, then nothing. The pair galloped towards Luna as fast as their legs could carry them.

“My lady”, Big Mac said with a bow, sword ready at his side. “We waited for you, but several minutes passed, and we feared the worst.”

“We don’t know where Lord Dumplin went”, said Derpy. “He could be anywhere by now.”

It took almost all of Luna’s strength to maintain the spell, which made it a struggle even just to speak. “I think I know what Lord Dumplin is attempting to do. The necklace that he stole from me might grant him my powers, but he does not yet know how to control it. He escaped to my dreams, making me relive my memories, hoping they will give him insight as to how to use the power of dreams. We must take my powers back from him, or we are all in danger.”

“What kind of danger?” Derpy then looked up and saw an enormous creature made of shadow, one that she had previously seen in a dream. A dream much like this one.

It was the Tantabus.

Big Mag, speaking with the noble air of Sir McBiggen, stood tall. “Fear not, princess, for I have made a vow to protect you from any that seek you harm today.”

“No, Big Mac, the two of you must find Lord Dumplin and stop this nightmare.”

“But my lady, without your necklace…”

“I may be but an earth pony without my alicorn power, but he has taken us to my dreams. Here, I am able to imagine myself at the height of my power.”

“Oh yes,” said a mysterious voice somewhere around the trio, “you might have your powers while inside your dream. But you see, I’ve put you in something of a little trap.”

“It’s Lord Dumplin!” Derpy pointed toward a shadowy figure standing in front of one of the nearby houses.

“In this particular dream, you’re currently using all of your alicorn magic to keep this shared dream together. I’m sure you’re feeling the compulsion of being in a memory right now. You have no choice. And even if you do manage to break free, without the spell, this dream collapses. And what do you think happens then?”

Luna knew full well what would- or could- happen if she did manage to break away from playing out this memory and let the shared dream inside collapse without the alicorn magic she was supposed to provide. Yes, this Tantabus was only a shadow of the original, but considering the original had been a shadowy creation of her mind as well, and uncertain of the link between this memoryscape which Lord Dumplin had yanked her and her tagalongs into and the dreamscape they had previously traversed, she was loath to give this one any free rein (or, for that matter, free reign, considering the inordinate amount of royal equine mojo that had gone into its creation).

“This changes nothing. Big Mac, Derpy,” she hurriedly continued, momentarily ignoring the smug shadow perched atop the nearby rooftop. “You will need to apprehend him and retrieve my necklace, as you are clearly not under the same compulsion as I.”

“As you command, princess,” Big Mac vowed, still quite immersed in his medieval role and garb.

Derpy had already rocketed off towards Dumplin with uncharacteristic focus, but the figure had already vanished. “Come now,” Dumplin’s mocking tone echoed, “we can’t have the fun end that quickly! And this way you can help me get some practice with my new dream powers.”

“They are my lady’s powers, not yours, fiend!” Big Mac scampered towards what seemed to be the voice’s point of origin, drawing his sword with his broad jaw (the bow being not as useful when you don’t yet have a target), but skidded to a halt at the edge of the faux Ponyville common.

Naturally, Lord Dumplin suddenly popped into visibility back near the center, smarming up at the frozen Luna. “Hmm… memories are much less malleable than the subconscious, but it looks like they can still be-”

A giant bran confection smashed into Lord Dumplin, followed by a large red bolt of light and swooping gray and crimson figures- much to Mac and Derpy’s shock, as they were still perched at the perimeter of the common. Luna, shocked to greater awareness of her surroundings, realized that, yes, the past-shadows of the other denizens of Ponyville were still racing about with their own dream powers as she remembered, and that included copies of Mac (complete with his imagined wings and horn) and Derpy. And with any luck, they may be attuned to the real ones.… “Derpy, Big Mac!”

No other words were necessary, as Luna’s companions could feel their dopplegangers tugging at their inmost beings- and past them, the rest of the denizens of their beloved town- through the connection they shared for the time being with the Princess of the Night. They raced back into the center of the village, now thoroughly infested with the memory-dreamselves of ponies fighting off the Tantabus. Though hard to discern at a casual glance- if anyone with such a voyeuristic spirit even could glance in on this world casually- a few of those figures, then a few more, could be seen to veer off from the fray, or at least veer oddly within it, ever so slightly, forming a few loose layers of perimeter around the scene.

Derpy’s prodigious peripheral vision caught Lord Dumplin popping back into corporeality, and she angled her flight, not towards him, but some distance above and beyond him- and a jangling golden column suddenly shot in from the side and knocked him up into her flight path. She spied the gaudily begarbed Filthy Rich avatar down at the other end and grinned as she grabbed at Luna’s purloined necklace. “Looks like I hit the jackpot!”

-schlorp-

Derpy’s prey seemed to melt away from her hooves and into thin air….

And so it went on for a bit, Luna watching Big Mac, Derpy and the denizens of her memory play whack-a-ling with both the giant shadow monster and the insufferable thief. It was a not unpleasant shock to hear suddenly the voice of a particular bookish mare- distantly, as though from outside a dream, though she knew it to be otherwise- and feel a sudden rise of spirit, realizing that this particular memory had just about played out. And indeed, the Tantabus was shrinking….

Luna mustered up her will- calling upon the numerous times she had dragged herself out of bed early for afternoon meetings with her sister and other functionaries for some crisis or other- and forced herself against the grain of the past events. Slowly, she felt her magic seep out into the battle, even as the Ponyville scenery started to crack and fade. Soon enough, only the dreamscape within Luna’s memory remained, and herself, her companions and her target floating within it. “Surrender thyself, Dumplin,” she Voiced. “Your game has gone on long enough! Surrender the necklace before its power goes out of control!”

“Mmmmmmmm no.” Lord Dumplin spun and flew away from the group. “Feels like it’s getting more in control. A few more practice sessions like this…” A jolt ran through Luna, Derpy and Mac as the memoryscape itself started to fail. “Assuming you’re not done playing along, that is!” Dumplin disappeared, and Luna felt her remembered power do the same, her real magic- and her spirit- vanished with her necklace as the trio found themselves moving back through the real dreamscape.

“Despair not, princess, ” Big Mac consoled her, “we must simply continue our pursuit.”

“And stick together!” Derpy joined in.

Luna gave a wan grin as she stretched her wings around the others. “Indeed.” We shall see this story come to a happy ending yet.

The companions felt themselves accelerate, following the distant tug of Luna’s stolen power, within moments finding themselves passing through another bubble threshold- and gaped.

“Oh, not vexing again….”

Princess Luna groaned upon entering the dream bubble, hearing incredibly loud and incessant shouting.

Meanwhile Big Mac and Derpy Hooves looked around the room they had entered, though they were immediately drawn to the source of the noise: two gray-skinned beings with candy-corn colored horns upon each side of their head, and one of them was yelling at the other about romance and… quadrants?

This wasn’t right.

Luna cleared her throat to gain the attention of the strange beings. They both turned to look at the three equines.

“WHAT IN THE HOLY NOOKHUMPING CLUSTERFUCK ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU HERE”, one of them yelled with a gray-colored intonation.

Princess Luna grimaced; she did NOT want to deal with this now. But before she could reply to the rather rude individual, the other inhabitant of the dream bubble spoke instead.

“Now, now. There's no need to 8e so mean to our new friends :::;)
After all, they pro8a8ly came to help us. Why else would they 8e here?”

Luna didn’t like the way that the blue-speaking one said that- her words sounded incredibly manipulative and she felt much more dangerous than anything else that Luna and her crew had encountered on their adventure so far; and that includes the fiend that had stolen her magical necklace and was abusing his newfound dream powers.

The two inhabitants quickly started bickering again, at which point Luna once more cleared her throat.

“I must apologize, however we are searching for a ‘Lord Dumplin’ and we must hurry,” Luna said with as much tranquility as she could muster, “he should have passed through here.”

“........oh.” she replied disappointingly.

“So…” Luna replied impatiently, “have you seen him?”

The more irritable of the two creatures gestured behind him and said
“THAT PRETENTIOUS FUCKLICKING ASS VOLCANO WENT THAT WAY”

Luna quickly thanked the two for their “help” and the group trotted over to where the angry inhabitant had motioned. She pulled her companions close with her wings; the three of them closed their eyes and felt themselves move forward through the dreamscape, chasing after Luna’s stolen powers.

The three ponies felt themselves pass through the membrane of a dream bubble, and as such they once more opened their eyes.

Looking out into the dream before them, they saw the Castle of the Two Sisters laid before them- however, the Castle was in good condition. Uneasy, Luna trekked forward.

Big Mac, still dressed in medieval attire, consoled his princess, “M’lady, there is no need to continue if you do not wish. The Hooves of Derpy and I can continue and capture Lord Dumplin in your stead.” Derpy nodded along with a determined smile on her face.

“No,” Luna said with confidence, “I can’t leave you two to fix my problems for me- I must push forward no matter how tough.”

“Princess…” Derpy said with uncertainty.

“But… thank you for your concern, and most of all thank you for helping me.”

Big Mac and Derpy perked up at hearing Luna’s thanks, and the three of them pressed on forward.

They pushed open the giant doors of the castle- and inside they found walls, a rug, tapestries… the stuff you’d expect in a castle. Nothing was out of the ordinary, which in and of itself was out of the ordinary.

Big Mac and Derpy were on guard, ready for anything that might pop out and try to scare them.

Luna, on the other hand, was mystified. She slowly walked through the hall, bringing in all of the sights and indulging in millennia of nostalgia.

Gentle twilight poured in from the stained glass, lighting up the hall in an unspeakably beautiful fashion. The light bounced off of the rugs, bringing out the beautiful red color of the fabric. The tapestries were lit up in the glow of the waning sunlight, bringing about an air of nobility and remembrance.

Suddenly, two young alicorn mares hopped before Luna’s hooves, unperturbed about the the dreamwalking visitors. Laughing and giggling while playing games that sisters tend to play when their day is long and their work is short.

“I’m gonna get you Celestia!” the darker and younger of the two mares giggled.

“Nuh uh! I’m way faster than you are!” the pearly white older sister teased.

“Oh yeah? Just watch me!” the younger sister laughed as she chased her sister into the next room.

“Luna?”

Derpy startled the Luna from her focus.

“Are you okay? You seemed very spaced out, even more than I can be!”

Luna gathered herself once more and replied “Ah, yes. I’m fine. Let’s continue onward.”

Big Mac came trotting back from the end of the hall, apparently he had been checking the rooms while Luna had been lost in her thoughts.

“I hath searched this entire hall, yet Lord Dumplin remains hidden, my Princess of the Night. Dost thou believe that he may have left this Dream Bubble?”

“No,” Luna replied, “I can definitely feel my magic here. We just have to keep searching; it is a big castle after all.”

He’s here for a reason, Luna thought to herself, we need to find out why- and fast.

Big Mac brought his hoof to his chest “Yes, princess. I will take Derpy and continue to search elsewhere.” Big Mac signalled Derpy Hooves, “To me, my gray companion!” They quickly took off in search of the evil shadowy being that always seemed to be one step ahead of them.

Luna, on the other hand, followed after the visions of the past that she had just seen. She entered the room that the sisters had fallen into, to find herself in a rather large library. She stepped through the humongous rows of books and tomes that decorated the shelves, most of which had been there for as long as she can remember.

Wait a moment, these books contain information on pretty much every magical being and object. Maybe I-

Luna’s train of thought was promptly derailed by the sound of two fillies getting into what can only be described as “trouble”. Following the sound of glee, she found a certain pair of sisters playing around with the ancient texts surrounding them- building large book forts and slinging stuffed toys across at each other.

Stifling a chortle that aroused when the older sister was beaned in the face with a stuffed elephant, she looked upon the two with wistfulness and memories of a simpler time. Somewhere down the rows of books an annoyed “What do you two think you’re doing?” from an old librarian echoed across the room.

Shrieking with laughter, the alicorn fillies quickly ran out of the library into the foyer, continuing their playing unburdened by responsibility and regret.

Luna slowly made her way out into the main foyer, with sunlight spilling out the last bit of day and a warm glow setting in upon the room.

And there was Lord Dumplin, floating peacefully in the center of the room.

Luna steeled her nerves and approached the enigmatic being. He did not attempt to run.

“Give me back my necklace- my cohorts will be here any second, and you have nowhere to hide. We can avoid needless violence if you just hand it back to me peacefully.”

The shadowy presence spoke to Luna, “Fine. I concede! I’ll give you back your necklace and return with you peacefully.”

“Wait, really?” replied a shocked Luna. His powers should be getting stronger as he wears the necklace for longer, so why is he giving up now?

Dumplin spoke once more. “Sure, so long as you can honestly tell me that you want it back. But… wouldn’t you rather just stay here? You’re clearly happier here. You can spend time with your dear sister once more, without any worries or bitterness in your’s or your sister’s hearts.”

“I-I can’t!” Luna stammered, “I have responsibilities! I have ponies I must look over! H-half of a country to run…”

Lord Dumplin snapped his fingers, and Luna slowly floated in the air with light surrounding her body. When she felt her hooves touch the floor again, she had taken the appearance from back when she was a filly- from a time before burdens and regrets.

“You can,” Lord Dumpin explained, “As long as I have this necklace, I can make this your reality again.”

Luna could only stop, speechless at the offer being given to her. The shadowy presence disappeared as the sound of hoof steps came from behind, and when she turned around she saw her dear older sister from the dream bubble.

“Is everything okay, Luna?”

“I, um..”

“C’mon! We’ve only got a few hours left to play!”

Luna hesitated, unsure if she wanted to accept young Celestia’s offer to play or not. Part of her mind remembered her mission and the nightmares plaguing so many ponies, but that was quickly being drowned out by the happy memories and thoughts of her fillyhood, and the more carefree mindset she had back then.

“I’m gonna catch you!” Luna called out to Celestia, going into a mock-fighting stance. Celestia giggled and took off, with Luna in hot pursuit. The two of them began racing around the room, taking turns chasing each other. Meanwhile, in one corner of the room, a different dream bubble was starting to intersect with the one Luna was currently in, and a portal between the two bubbles began to form. With Luna chasing her, Celestia ran in the direction of the portal, oblivious to it, and made a sharp turn to the right as Luna caught up to her. Unable to change directions in time because of her forward momentum, Luna crashed into the portal, tumbling into the world of a different dream.

Luna opened her eyes and the first thing she realized was that she had her adult-sized body back. The second thing was that she was in a place she had never seen before, although there was something familiar about it. It was obvious she was in some sort of school, with chairs and desks, just like the one Celestia had for gifted unicorns. As Luna looked around the school room, she was shocked to see a picture of a creature she had only seen once before. It was a strange, bipedal creature wearing clothes, like a mostly-hairless monkey without a tail. The only time she had ever seen one of those creatures before was when Twilight had come back from the mirror world. Twilight had drawn a picture of what she had looked like in that world, and identified it as a “human”. Had Luna found herself inside the world of a “human’s” dream?

Suddenly, the door to the school room opened, and a human girl crept in, looking around nervously as if she was trying to hide from something. She had mint-green skin, hair of the same color that was streaked with white, and she seemed oddly familiar to Luna. The human girl caught a glimpse of Luna and rushed over to her, suddenly breaking down into sobs of combined relief and terror.

“Princess Luna! I’m so glad to see you! Please save me from this horrible nightmare!” the human girl begged.

“How do you know me? I do not believe I have ever visited this world,” Luna said, her usual regal tone of voice coming back to her.

“I know you probably don’t recognize me in this body that this nightmare has given me, but I’m Lyra Heartstrings! Don’t you remember when I asked you and Celestia about the secret agent service Bon Bon told me about, when we were at Cranky Doodle Donkey’s wedding?” the human girl pleaded. Luna looked at the girl’s yellow eyes and recognized that, yes, she had once met a unicorn before who looked very similar to this human girl. From what Twilight had said about the alternate human world, ponies who traveled there would be turned into humans, so the same thing might have happened to Lyra.

“But what is troubling you about this dream, Lyra Heartstrings? Do you simply dislike being in that body, or is there a more pressing danger?” Luna asked, somewhat anxious to get back to the dream world that Lord Dumplin was in. Derpy and Big Macintosh had been left in that world with him, and who knew what he could be doing to them?

“The humans hate me! And this world isn’t at all what I imagined a human version of our Equestria to be like! Princess Celestia is a mere school principal here, the humans are too skinny, and everypony is still in school, like they’re somehow younger here than they are in Equestria! How can a successful business pony like Rarity have a human version that’s young enough to still be in school?!” Lyra cried out.

“Do the humans really hate you, Lyra Heartstrings? Or is it that your own disappointment that they are different from their Equestrian counterparts is causing you to assume that they would be just as judgmental of you?” Luna pointed out.

“But they attacked me! They tried to grab and kick me and one of them threw exploding candy at me!” Lyra protested.

“Do you know what caused them to attack you? Did you perhaps express your disappointment with this world to them?” Luna asked. A guilty look came into Lyra’s yellow eyes.

“Well, yeah, I guess I did complain out loud about the things like them being in school, and it was where they could hear me…but is that really a reason to attack me so violently?!” Lyra whined.

"Perhaps not, but look at it from their point of view. How would you feel if somepony felt you were disappointing because you did not match expectations you were unaware of?" Luna challenged. Lyra became a little calmer, beginning to think about what Luna had said to her. She then squeaked in fear as she heard footsteps and indistinct angry voices outside the door.

"They've found me! Do you really think that they'll stop attacking me if I apologize for insulting them?" Lyra pleaded.

"It is worth a try. I know that once I apologized to my own sister for my misdeeds as Nightmare Moon, I was able to reconcile with her," Luna said, "This may be something you need to do on your own. There is something I must find that will lead me to be able to stop these nightmares from threatening not only you, but other ponies as well." As Luna stepped away from Lyra to look for where the portal had moved to, the door slammed open and a human version of Rarity stomped into the classroom.

"There she is! That's the girl who insulted me!" human Rarity shouted as several other human teenaged versions of Ponyville ponies crowded into the classroom after her.

"I'M SORRY!" Lyra wailed, hoping Princess Luna was correct that they would listen to her. "I shouldn't have said you were disappointing to me!"

"It's too late now! Get ready to die!" human Applejack roared, flinging an entire desk at Lyra as if it weighed nothing. Lyra shrieked in terror and leapt out of the way, the desk crashing onto the floor where she had just been standing.

"Please help me, Princess Luna!" she cried, frantically searching for the familiar pony princess. Unfortunately, she could not see Luna in the classroom anywhere, and what was worse, she lacked her usual unicorn powers in this human form, leaving her uncertain how to deal with the horde of humans who were raising various objects up into the air, ready to throw them at her.

---

Meanwhile...

In Dumplin's dream zeppelin, Derpy and Big Mac hung upside down bound in coarse hemp rope in a storage room. Derpy swung listlessly. It felt like she was forgetting something. Something important. She tried to think. "Hey, uh, Big Mac?"

"Yeah?" he said. Derpy twisted and wobbled to bring the red stallion into view.