Continuity Disrupted

by Doug Graves

33 The Dreamland, Part Four

Princess Luna's booming voice rattles the windows of the house, fortunately not breaking any of the glass. The mares peel themselves off the walls - or, in Rainbow's case, the ceiling - each in a daze. Fluttershy peeks out from behind the couch as Big Mac picks himself off the floor next to the alicorn. The fillies mostly roll away from Princess Luna, bumping up against the couch or continuing to the far wall, though none stir after the concussive blast. Pinkie Pie merely stands through it, her cheeks blowing around like she is standing in a wind tunnel.

"Wow, that's one way to wake up," Twilight Sparkle shouts, rubbing her ears as her eyes roll around in their sockets. "Loud much?" her eyes focus as she gasps. "Princess Luna!" Twilight Sparkle drops to a bow, followed shortly by Big Mac.

"What?" yells Applejack, the furthest from the blast of sound. "Ah can't hear you!" Her eyes wander around the room, trying to locate the source of the blast, finally spotting Princess Luna. She digs a hoof into one ear, then the other, her eyes squinting as she tries to clear out an imagined blockage.

"We're just lucky she didn't blow everypony's eardrums," Doug mutters to himself, having dove for cover in the kitchen when the door burst open. He glares as he bellows, "YOU!!" His arm snaps forward, pointing a finger at Princess Luna, the alicorn briefly taken aback as she points a hoof at herself and mouths the word 'me'. Doug stops himself from cursing out Princess Luna, finally shouting, "NO SHOUTING IN THE HOUSE!"

Princess Luna yells, still in a loud, overemphasized voice but without the deafening Royal Canterlot, "But, We Thought That Twas Proper, To Address One's Subjects! It is tradition to use" - her booming voice returns - "THE ROYAL 'WE' AND THIS MUCH VOLUME!!"

Doug plugs his ears as Princess Luna gets louder and louder, slowly recovering as she stops talking and regards him. He shakes his head as the mares glance around in a stupor, confused and barely able to hear the conversation, aside from Princess Luna's thunderous parts. He points a finger to the furthest corner in the house, calmly stating in a loud voice, "No. And if you don't behave, you're going to sit in the corner."

Twilight Sparkle gasps, holding a hoof across her muzzle as her eyes dart between Doug and Princess Luna.

Princess Luna sneers, "We are not afraid of your threat, to make us 'sit in the corner!' T'was the least feared of Tia's punishments." She glares at Doug as the mares recover their hearing, loudly stating, "And as our subject, you do not get to order us around!"

"My house, my rules," Doug states, meeting Princess Luna's stare.

"Um, as ruler of the land..." Twilight tries to interject.

"And if that won't work..." Doug trails off, scanning around the room, his eyes finally resting on Pinkie Pie. He points at the bouncing pink mare, her smiling growing larger and hypergleeful, "Pinkie Pie will stay with you in the corner." Pinkie Pie pronks next to the alicorn, pressing the side of her face to the alicorn's withers and beaming up at her.

Princess Luna's eyes narrow, cracks showing in her adamantine expression, "You wouldn't."

Doug stares down Princess Luna as if daring her to make him make her. Rainbow drifts from the ceiling to Doug, impressed at his confident, assertive attitude and more than a little turned on; she nuzzles him, trying to diffuse some of the tension. Applejack joins the pegasus, backing up her stallion as the showdown persists. Doug finally glances down, one hand rubbing at Rainbow's mane as his harsh expression slowly softens. Princess Luna also backs off just a hair, returning to scanning the rest of the mares, especially Twilight's aghast expression at the exchange she just witnessed.

After a few seconds Doug walks back to the kitchen and the mostly unburned pancakes. "Can I get you something?" He sighs at the silent response, trying to add a little joviality to his tone, "It's more Meringue's specialty, but I can make you a cutie mark out of syrup or something. Maybe a nice, smiling, cheerful face out of some apple slices. She's way more artistic than me. Speaking of," Doug says to the mares, a worried note joining his motioning to the eight fillies still asleep on the floor, "Are they okay? Why haven't they woken up?" His eyes narrow, "They aren't hurt from your shouting, are they?"

The mares seem to break out of their daze, their attention turning to the eight fillies pushed to the furthest wall or up against the couch. Fluttershy leaves her hiding spot to find Hedge on the other side, her lips quivering as she lifts the small pegasus. Rarity levitates Sweetie Belle, placing her on the couch to better inspect the softly breathing unicorn.

"We appreciate the offer, but must decline," Princess Luna says in a normal speaking voice, looking to the floor. Her horn lights as the mares nuzzle their fillies, despondent looks traded among them. The alicorn's muzzle curls to a frown, a heavy sigh escaping her as she scans the small bodies. She loudly states, "They Art Not Physically Injured."

"That's good to hear," Applejack remarks as she gathers her three, "but Ah'm sensing something else."

Princess Luna thunders, "WE ART AFRAID... WHAT? WHY DOTH THY STRIKE THY NECK SO?"

"You're shouting again!" Doug yells, huffing as he slides another stack of pancakes to Rainbow, the mare greedily devouring them. He makes a slashing motion against his throat, "This means cut it out, or be quiet!"

Princess Luna nods, "We art sorry, for we art not familiar with the, how would thou say, idioms and gestures of the day." She pauses before muttering to herself, slightly fearfully, "Thou has an expression meaning 'be quiet' that requires slitting the throat?"

"Regardless of that; Thank You, your Highness, for getting here so quickly," Twilight says with a large grin, eagerly pushing forwards, barely any trace of her earlier exhaustion. "To answer your earlier question, we all had dreams of some variation of blue smoke." Twilight Sparkle glances back at the other mares, "And we had just noticed the fillies not waking. What's happened to them?"

"WE ART AFRAID..." Princess Luna sighs at Doug's glare and raised arm, one finger pointing at her face. She nods to Doug, "We art sorry." She turns to Twilight Sparkle, "We art afraid that the Tantabus has invaded their dreams. All of your dreams, though it lingers in theirs."

"Not my dream!" Spike pipes up.

"Ah'm sorry, the Tantabus? What's that?" Applejack pushes up from Apple Bloom's limp body, her jaw twitching as she tries to suppress her shaking limbs.

Princess Luna sighs, her shoulders slumping as she explains, "The Tantabus is a creature of our own creation, made to express our worst Nightmare. We created it to serve as a reminder of our misdeeds as Nightmare Moon, and as penance to never forget or forgive what we have done." She grits her teeth at the confession, "It must have escaped from our slumber yesterday, during one of our dreams."

"Hold up. You're saying that you did this to them?" Applejack grits her teeth, gently yet quickly dropping Apple Bloom to stand defensively in front of her three, pawing at the ground. She forces out, "You better explain yourself right quick. You hear me?" She is quickly joined by Rainbow and Rarity, both mare's eyes narrowing. Pinkie Pie cautiously backs away from Princess Luna as Fluttershy pauses in her stroking of Hedge's mane. The muscles around the pegasus' eye spasm, her breath turning to rapid snorts through clenched teeth.

Princess Luna nods, tears forming in her eyes as she confesses, "WE DO HE- We do hear thou, Honesty. We did not mean for this, for any of this, to happen. The Tantabus must have learned of you all from our dream, in which..." Princess Luna trails off, a heavy sigh at the consequences of her continuing actions. Her meek demeanor serves to quell Applejack's rising fury, though Fluttershy still looks like she can explode at the slightest provocation. "In which we attempted, as Nightmare Moon, to..."

"Wait!" calls Spike, folding his arms across his chest. "You're saying you dreamed of all of them, but not me?" He huffs, whimpering slightly at the implied insult to his significance.

"T'was a dream of Doug's that we appropriated for our own usage." Princess Luna glances at Doug as he frowns. "We have been monitoring them for some time, to try to understand him."

"Is that why my dreams these last couple of times have been so disjointed and weird? Like a movie someone keeps hitting a random chapter?" Doug groans at Princess Luna's hesitant nod, massaging his temples, "It's been pretty awful. Jumping all over the place."

"We art sorry; we were observing your dreams in an attempt to help thou overcome the difficulties thou art facing. We did not wish for any undeserved suffering." Princess Luna grimaces as she drops to her hooves, "We wish we could take all of the suffering we have caused upon ourselves, but it appears in our hasty desire to do so we have merely inflicted more." Princess Luna sobs, "The fact that we art once again responsible for harming others is more than we can bear."

Twilight Sparkle moves over to Princess Luna, nuzzling the tearful alicorn. "Princess Luna, this can't continue! What you did as Nightmare Moon was wrong, but you can't keep beating yourself up about it!"

"But Thou Does Neigh Understand!" Princess Luna exclaims loudly, one hoof slamming into the floor. She quiets down slightly, "The Tantabus grows more powerful with each moment that it resides in their dreams! If it draws enough power, it could escape to the real world! And turn all of Equestria into a living Nightmare!"

"We won't let that happen!" Rainbow Dash shouts, nodding furiously. "We'll show it who's boss!" She grins a confident smile, the other mares nodding as they back her up.

"We art thankful for your vote of confidence, Loyalty. And we will require your assistance in this matter." Princess Luna sighs, "We would vastly prefer to do this ourselves, but circumstances demand otherwise. We would do anything to end this, and we art truly grateful for thine assistance, demanded as it may be."

"Of course, your Highness," Twilight Sparkle says with a smile and nuzzle for the still slumped alicorn. "You have to stop beating yourself up about this!"

Princess Luna smiles as she recovers, "Thank you for that, Magic. Your sentiment is admirable, if misguided." Princess Luna turns to address Spike as Twilight Sparkle frowns. "As the dreams did not include thou, Spike the Dragon, in Doug's initial foray, your own dreams have been spared. Thou ought to be thankful for this, not feel slighted." Princess Luna looks to each mare in turn, "We did not intend for any of thou to be involved. We only wished to use the ending of his dream as the substance of our Nightmare, but we admit to selfishly using the rest in an attempt to further our own suffering."

As Princess Luna stops talking Rainbow Dash steps up, looking towards Scootaloo. "Okay, so, we wake them up. My dream wasn't that bad, so what's the worst that can happen?" Rainbow Dash shakes her head, her grin turning forced belying her nervousness.

"We art afraid it will not be so simple, Loyalty. We believe that the Tantabus was able to infect each of their dreams, much like it did your own." Princess Luna nods towards Lemon, "One of the dreamers, Laughter's eldest, attempted an advanced and particularly dangerous maneuver. I believe that maneuver allowed the Tantabus to deepen its hold, creating a manifestation of itself within each of your eight offspring's dreams. And it will not give up its hold so easily, instead trapping them in an eternal nightmare!"

The six mares, Spike, Doug, and Big Mac gasp.

Princess Luna continues, "It will take a dreamer of unparalleled skill and imagination to rescue Laughter's eldest from the depths of her own creation. Alas, i will not be able to perform in that role. You see, all eight of your offspring will need to be rescued simultaneously from the Nightmare the Tantabus has no doubt created for each of them. And I will need to provide each of thou with a lifeline, in order to bring thou and each offspring safely back from the dream world."

"Alright, then," Twilight says, looking over the resolute faces surrounding her. "What do we need to do?"

Comments

[Luna is back]

"And if that won't work..." Doug trails off, scanning around the room, his eyes finally resting on Pinkie Pie. He points at the bouncing pink mare, her smiling growing larger and hypergleeful, "Pinkie Pie will stay with you in the corner." Pinkie Pie pronks next to the alicorn, pressing the side of her face to the alicorn's withers and beaming up at her.

Princess Luna's eyes narrow, cracks showing in her adamantine expression, "You wouldn't."

"WE ART AFRAID..." Princess Luna sighs at Doug's glare and raised arm, one finger pointing at her face. She nods to Doug, "We art sorry." She turns to Twilight Sparkle, "We art afraid that the Tantabus has invaded their dreams. All of your dreams, though it lingers in theirs."

This whole interaction is gold.

"We won't let that happen!" Rainbow Dash shouts, nodding furiously. "We'll show it who's boss!" She grins a confident smile, the other mares nodding as they back her up.

Are we going to get OP human lucid dreamer soon?

[Doug Graves]

9760497
Ah, the threat of spending time with Pinkie Pie. Works every time.

You're reading the wrong series if you're holding your breath and waiting for OP human shenanigans. That doesn't happen until Errant Finale! Sort of.

[DarkPhoenixx]

Doug plugs his ears as Princess Luna gets louder and louder, slowly recovering as she stops talking and regards him. He shakes his head as the mares glance around in a stupor, confused and barely able to hear the conversation, aside from Princess Luna's thunderous parts. He points a finger to the furthest corner in the house, calmly stating in a loud voice, "No. And if you don't behave, you're going to sit in the corner."

Oh no he didn't!! Lol

[GamingWolf]

What plays during the scene with Doug and Princess Luna