To Sleep, to Die, Perchance to Despair - Finale
Everypony was silent as creeping dread filled their bodies.
"Uh... Tantabus?" Flam was the first to speak.
"The fuck is a Tantabus?" asked Lightning Dust.
"I... remember the name," Nurse Redheart swallowed. "Several years ago, there was an incident where everypony in Ponyville suddenly found themselves within a shared dream... including myself. During the next few days the hospital saw an increase of patients seeking treatment for insomnia and night terrors, with a small increase of reports of sleep paralysis. The only thing these patients had in common was something they had seen in the shared dream."
"And... that was...?" goaded Flam.
"It called itself Tantabus... A creature of pure nightmare, towering over the entirety of the population. Some say it was pony-shaped, but made from magic so black it was like staring into the abyss. Others say it was a massive blob of raw flesh, bloody tentacles and glowing green eyes. Still others say they saw their deepest, darkest fears come to life right in front of them. But what they could all agree on, was that it was the single most horrific thing they had ever seen. They feared going back to sleep, for whenever their consciousness slipped, they would see it again... watching them."
Bulk Biceps shuddered behind his podium, teeth chattering so loudly it was a wonder they didn't shatter. "I... I-I REMEMBER T-THAT...! I-I COULDN'T SLEEP F-FOR WEEKS!"
"But... that cannot be!" Princess Luna argued. "I forgave myself for my past sins... I drew the creature back into myself!"
"Upupupu..."
We all turned to Monokuma, who was giggling ominously.
"That's what you think, huh? You thought that I'd disappear, just like that?" he smirked. "After letting me taste the dreams of every pony in that town, you thought I would just come along quietly and let myself wither away and die?! Upupupu... puhuhuhu... puhuhuhuhuHAHAHAHAHA!"
"It survived somehow...?" I breathed, the creature's laughter chilling my blood.
"Well, now that you all know my secret... I guess there's no point in keeping this form any longer!"
Suddenly, Monokuma violently exploded. But where there should have been fire and shrapnel, there was a dark blue magic; so dark it was almost black. It rapidly ballooned, expanded and reshaped itself into mind-boggling proportions... until it was almost a perfect silhouette of Princess Luna, except so massive and so tall I couldn't even make out its head high above.
"Oh, no, dear Luna... I couldn't let you spoil my fun so soon!"
"WHAT?!" Bulk shouted especially loudly. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU FROM DOWN HERE!" We nodded amongst ourselves, echoing the sentiment.
"I don't care about you, you simpleton! I'm not talking to you!"
"I CAN BARELY HEAR YOU MYSELF," Luna roared in Royal Canterlot Voice. "YOU'RE FAR TOO BIG TO HOLD A PROPER CONVERSATION WITH!"
"Oh, for the love of... fiiiiine, hang on..."
Surprisingly, the Tantabus began to shrink just as quickly as it had grown. In no time at all, it had rearranged itself into a form that resembled Monokuma: it was now about ten times as tall as the bear had been, and the black half of its body was replaced with smoking, dark blue-black energy that trailed off into the air like haze. It also streamed lazily out of the black eye on the white half, while the red eye glowed fiercely. Its razor-sharp teeth and claws were bared, glinting in the light like stars.
"Haaah... Better?" it asked with an uncharacteristic politeness.
"Much," Luna nodded.
"Alright..." the Tanta-kuma took a moment to clear its throat, while I pondered whether a mass of negative spiritual magic energy even had a throat to begin with. "...Oh, no, dear Luna... I couldn't let you spoil my fun so soon!"
"How did you escape?" asked Luna. "I watched you... you came to me willingly!"
"Only because I had managed to implant a fraction of my energy into the dreams of those other ponies," the Tantakuma grinned wickedly. "Oh, yes... safely tucked away inside their minds, I hid in the shadows of their subconscious and recuperated, biding my time, waiting for the night I would finally be strong enough to taste their dreams once more. Sadly, most of the ponies I had infected were unimpressive. They were weak and lived safe, tedious, boring lives... they were of little worth to me. But not you, dear Twilight," it suddenly turned to me, "...I could not have hoped for a more promising host."
H-Host...?! All this time... the Tantabus was hiding in my dreams...?!
"Wh... W-What...?!" I stammered.
"You heard me," it replied harshly. "Didn't you notice? Those sleepless nights after the incident... you laid awake for hours."
I shivered as I thought back to those nights. Yes, they had been sleepless, and yes, I had felt a presence. But I had figured that it was because I then had a solid week's worth of official and legal paperwork to sort through in response to the incident and was dreading it. And the presence... well, after encountering a creature made of literal nightmares in a dream being shared with everypony in Ponyville, who wouldn't feel the aftereffects of so many ponies being so intangibly close?
"Yes... such a powerful Alicorn, I could easily feed off your latent mana undetected. All of the terrible things you've seen in your short life, all of the negativity you channeled into your dreams in response... ahhh, such conviction! Your emotions are so strong, so powerful, soooo delicious! And...! The day Luna and her hapless sister revealed to us that you were to become the sole ruler of Equestria... oh, I nearly showed myself just to be able to laugh with joy! For if Luna was to give up her crown and duties, then of course, they would all fall to you..."
Me... Luna's duties would fall on me...
"...You knew I was going to become the Caretaker of Dreams," I quivered. "You knew I had to learn how to dreamwalk...!"
"Oh, yes! I was so delighted to learn about Luna's plans to create a magical device that could produce a shared dream among a select few of you... We made a few subtle influences, here and there, all to secretly assure my ease in slipping into everypony's subconscious and overriding whatever pathetic dream you had planned in the first place... and it worked. You all wholly and utterly forgot why you came to the realm of dreams," it grinned sadistically. "Instead of Twilight and her friends working through the dreams of the others, with their dear Princesses and that Discord creature instructing them on the finer points of dreamwalking... you arrived at my school. Then... I broke you. I taught you all the true meaning of despair, so that you would become teachers of a sort, to the weak, insipid masses yourselves. And when your dear Princess Luna predictably tried to contact the realm of dreams for help, she unwittingly set me free into the waking world, where I could reunite with my other fragments and begin my grand plan. Now, with the power of the Dream Machine and your kindly-provided sustenance, I have grown strong enough to infect the dreams of every pony in Equestria and beyond!"
"So... that's how you did this..." Luna breathed in horror. "That's how you've brought Equestria to its knees."
"This... none of this was supposed to happen?!" Lightning screeched.
"Of course not," Luna replied softly. "Sister and I intended for the dream to be one of blissful peace, beauty, and serenity, providing the perfect setting to explore the subconscious of our subjects."
"Hah! Boooooring!" Tantakuma mocked. "No, now all everypony knows is an eternal waking nightmare! Much more fun, in my opinion."
Yet another wave of frozen dread immobilized me. I could only gape vacantly as my mind tangled with the implications... all this time, the Tantabus had been nestled within my subconscious, regrowing its strength while watching my every move, learning exactly how my mind worked and how I would react to various stimuli... through what I could only assume was a sort of osmosis like an eldritch parasite. Then when I had learned I was to become the next ruler of Equestria... it did everything in its power to guide me into making the choices that led to the Dream Machine's creation. And then... once we'd begun the first experiment together... we had fallen directly into its trap, without even realizing anything was wrong.
But... if the mastermind had been the Tantabus all along... why this form?
"Why did you take the form of Monokuma?" I asked. "Where did he even come from?"
"Ahh... why this form?" the Tantakuma asked with a sneer. "A pony as well-traveled as yourself has seen many things... many different ways for a nightmare to take form. This particular form I've adopted comes from that 'other Equestria' you've visited a few times... once we learned just how terrifying, how illogical, how indelibly evil this metallic creature was... well, it just seemed perfect for what I had planned."
The other Equestria... the human world...?!
Frantically, I searched my memory for the things I had seen in that parallel universe. It took me a good few moments until I glimpsed an image of stark black and white in the other Fluttershy's manga and media collection, taking up an entire wall of her room in her apartment. It was during an extended trip where I documented human forms of entertainment, and collected spare electronics to take back with me to Equestria. Grimacing in concentration, I focused on the image in my mind's eye as hard as I could, forcing it out of obscurity.
...Was that it...?
The image... there was no mistaking it. It was Monokuma, the self-proclaimed mascot of the Danganronpa series. He had been a truly abhorrent creature, tormenting trapped high school students with his killing games and spreading despair throughout the entire world. Multitudes of his clones gleefully sent those students to their deaths, endeavored tirelessly to break the minds and spirits of the survivors, and heartlessly slaughtered countless innocent men and women, even brainwashing their own children to join them in their killing spree.
Oh, yes... I spent a sleepless night poring over the details of the series on the humans' Internet, long after that Fluttershy had gone to bed. I gradually committed to memory every doomed character, every detail of the murders and trials, the timelines and the chain of events that ushered in the Tragedy. When I had finally read all there was to read, I couldn't help but feel anxious and wary of a similar catastrophe happening in my own world. Here in Equestria, every pony was basically an Ultimate... and what if one of them was just like her?
The world and everypony in it was brought to its knees. All because of a single person. All because she was bored.
Well... could've been worse... it could've decided to take Junko's form...
I shuddered at the thought. Thankfully, being a completely fictional character, there was no Junko in the human world, nor was there an analogue of her in my own world.
"You see now, right?"
"Yes... he was from a multimedia series in the human world," I answered. "...Why not Junko, if you were choosing the most evil villain I had learned about?"
"Simple: it'd be a bit too on the nose," Tantakuma shrugged. "She was a human, so you probably would've figured it out way faster, and that wouldn't be any fun, now would it?"
"Uh... mind explaining for the rest of us who aren't special enough to go to Human Equestria?" Lightning grumbled.
"A video game villain... probably one of the worst I've ever heard about," I pursed my lips. "He basically destroyed all of civilization and drove millions to insanity."
"Ah, so like most of our own worst villains," Flam stroked his mustache. "Such as Chrysalis, or Tirek... or Trixie." During our contemplation, Luna suddenly tilted her head to one side and nodded briefly.
"...Trixie says that she heard that, and that she resents that statement," she spoke casually.
"WAIT... SHE DID?!" Bulk reared back in shock.
"Yes... she's alive, after all. They all are," Luna repeated.
"Oh? And we should take your word for it?" smirked Tantakuma.
"I speak only the truth... unlike you," the Lunar Princess glared.
"You're only here because I allowed you to be here. I want you to witness your own creation... both of them, really... destroy everything you hold so dear."
"Allowed to be here...?" Flam asked.
"Hold it," Redheart warned. "We still aren't sure whether this Princess Luna is truly real and alive, or if this is yet another cruel illusion and a fabricated story."
"Yea... all of Equestria has lost its' fuckin' mind and are trying to kill each other? Yea, right! No fuckin' way!" Lightning scoffed, although the wavering of her voice hinted that she was only partially convinced. But my mind raced as I struggled to swallow the lump of dread in my throat.
No matter how I looked at it... every explanation was terrible to behold. If Princess Luna was telling the truth about Tantakuma's plan to infect the dreams of every pony in Equestria with an endless waking nightmare... just what state was the country in now? How bad was it that she, Princess Celestia, Discord, my friends and everypony else that had died was powerless to stop it?
But if Luna was just an illusion, some kind of hope-fueled fever dream... were the ponies still suffering from unshakable despair, with nopony able or alive to fight against it? Everypony had been forced to dream, to watch as we slowly succumbed to helplessness and despair... losing all hope that their leaders, heroes and idols were the paragons of power and perfection they had believed us to be... losing themselves to unfathomable despair.
...Did I dare hope that they were all still alive? What if, at the end of all this, after fighting horn and hoof to escape and survive after being told my friends were waiting for me... they weren't?
Nothing tore at my heart like the last memories I had of them. Finding Princess Celestia's partially-roasted corpse in her room. Watching Princess Luna being torn apart in the grip of a black hole. Watching my best friends die or be murdered, one by two by one. If I held on to Luna's words, the hope that they were still alive... and they weren't...! I... I-I...
...
...No. I can't think like that... I won't think like that!
They're alive... Luna said so... Pinkie said so, and I trust her! I trust them...! And Friendship... is nothing without trust!
I needed to make sense of this dream, our own waking nightmare. The answer had to be hidden within! There had to be a way to determine which path to take!
There has to be a discrepancy somewhere... if I think about it, something about what Luna said and what we've experienced here doesn't quite match...
...
...
...Oh! That must be it!
"Wait a minute," I spoke suddenly, startling everypony. "Princess Luna said that the Dream Machine was only meant to link up to sixteen ponies within the shared dream!"
"Yea? What of it?" asked Lightning.
"Don't you remember? At the very beginning of all this, Monokuma specifically said that he selected seventeen of us!" I whinnied. "If there could only be sixteen ponies involved, then how did Queen Chrysalis appear?!"
"Oh... you're right!" Redheart's eyes widened after a moment of thought. "She was here at the very beginning of our ordeal!"
"Yes... honestly, Sister and I never really knew what to make of that," said Luna. "And we were never really given the opportunity to find out why she was here."
"She did die pretty fuckin' quickly," mumbled Lightning.
"I DON'T THINK SHE WAS EVEN IN THE STORY FOR MORE THAN A MINUTE," added Bulk.
"True. But nevertheless, she was still present for a while," said Flam. "She was even given her own Ultimate title and lodgings! ...Although it was just a spare broom closet."
"But it's simply not possible," Luna shook her head. "Queen Chrysalis is still trapped in stone with her comrades Tirek and Cozy Glow in the Canterlot Castle Sculpture Garden... well, what's left of it, anyway. Sister and I both saw the statue on our last trip to try and quell the violence."
"So she couldn't possibly have been trapped with us! She couldn't possibly have been real!" I gasped.
"Oh, she was real enough for you guys, alright," Tantakuma shrugged. " But I always knew she wouldn't take her new situation very well... though I didn't expect her to just die in one hit!"
"But that brings up another question," Flam interjected. "Queen Chrysalis was immensely powerful... and she even drained all of our power to add to her own! Her attack had more than enough oomph in it to destroy an entire city!"
"The Princesses and Discord together couldn't put a dent in him, and neither could the fuckin' Magic of Friendship!" said Lightning. "I dunno about being hit with a rainbow beam of light, but the Princesses and Discord together should've fucking annihilated him!"
"But it didn't," Tantakuma sneered. "Perhaps it was all just a way in which I could prove my power, my superiority over the lot of you. After all, what better way to convince you all I could wipe you out without a second thought than to effortlessly shrug off your pitiful attacks and destroy one of your most feared enemies?"
"Just... a way you could prove your power?" I echoed.
"From the moment you arrived, you were all convinced that this was reality, no?" Tantakuma asked flippantly. "Once I stood up to your oh-so-fearless leader, once I planted that seed of doubt in your minds, your fears that I was truly more powerful than her, than all of you pathetic Alicorns, and even the magic of Friendship... became reality."
It... became reality...?!
"And now that that fear has become so deeply rooted in your hearts and minds, there's literally nothing you can do to stop me from my goal! You can't kill me... you can't even put a scratch on me! In fact, I could snap my claws and snap you all out of existence right now!"
"...But you won't. You like watching us suffer," Redheart glowered.
"WHOA! DON'T GIVE HIM ANY IDEAS!" warned a worried Bulk.
"I see... your hubris is showing," Luna teased coolly.
"Oh?" Tantakuma tilted his head, his red eye glowing like a star.
"You've just admitted it. If my ponies have come to believe that you are all-powerful, they can also choose to believe that you are powerless."
Choose... to believe...?
"We... can...?" Flam stared in disbelief.
"The mind within a dream works both ways," she continued with a smirk. "And anypony can learn to influence their own dreams. I know that, and so do you." Tantakuma didn't respond, he only stood there menacingly. Suddenly, Redheart's face was slapped with an incredulous expression.
"...Don't tell me we could have avoided this whole mess by just lucid dreaming...?"
"Lucid dreaming?" Flam repeated.
"OH! I KNOW HOW TO DO THAT!" Bulk smiled. "IT'S SO MUCH FUN! I CAN PRETEND I'M A PRETTY ALICORN PRINCESS IN MY DREAMS AND LIFT ANYTHING I WANT!"
"No... 'fraid not," Lightning growled as she crossed her forelegs. Our faces fell as we stared at her. "I've dreamed of kicking Monokuma's stupid fuckin' ass every night since I got here... but it sure hasn't happened for real, now has it?"
"Well... have you actually tried?" asked Flam.
"Fuck no! I ain't suicidal!" Lightning barked.
"But there's your problem, right there," Luna pointed with her hoof. "You don't truly believe you can do it. You don't truly believe you can defeat the Tantabus... and as long as you believe that... you never will."
"And they never will!" Tantakuma roared with a monstrous grin. "My will is absolute here!
As long as we don't believe we can defeat him... we never will...
The pieces... every morbid, macabre piece was finally falling into place. The Tantabus had been planning its return and domination of Equestria, success hinging on the Dream Machine and its participants... namely myself and Princess Luna. It was therefore likely that the reason none of us could remember how we'd arrived was to erase any possible clues as to the nature of our prison. The shared dreams of the Elements of Harmony, three Alicorn Princesses, a Draconequus and the others had provided more than enough dream magic for it to grow strong, and then... using its deception and brimming with newfound power, Luna tried to call for help in the dreams of the citizens... and had unwittingly set it free into reality. It then enacted the second part of its plan... forcing the citizens to dream of us as we suffered endless torment and anguish.
Everypony had seen the same dream, the same things happening, so it was easy to assume that it was, in fact, reality. And that reality was their favorite celebrities stooping to murder... the gruesome deaths of their immortal Princesses... the Elements of Harmony killing and getting killed... right in front of their eyes. I was struggling, not even really sure if I'd held on to my sanity all this time... I could easily see the citizens faring even worse. It was absolutely possible the majority of them had been driven insane, and if I died now... there would be no end to the waking nightmare. All hope would die in the hearts of the remaining ponies, and despair would destroy Equestria... possibly even the entire world.
It all made sense. Perfect, chilling, impossible sense. In a frightening manner of thinking... Junko Enoshima really did exist.
...But now, Luna was telling us it could all be reversed. We could fight back! But... how? Was it really so simple as believing we could?
Can I really believe her...? Oh, what would my friends do...?
I closed my eyes, trying to imagine their voices... I was already beginning to forget what they sounded like...
...
...
...
...She's right...
...Wha...?
...Luna's right, darling...
...You guys got this...! You're the key to ending the waking nightmare...!
...Once you've kicked that mean ol' Tantabus's butt, you guys can wake up and join us...! Just like I said you would...!
...So c'mon... all ya gotta do is beat 'im at its own rotten game...! Ah know you can do it, Twi...
I gasped quietly to myself as I heard the voices of my friends so clearly... almost like they were standing right beside me. I gasped again as I suddenly felt five spots on my back grow warm and press inwards slightly... as if they were comforting me... reassuring me. In an instant... I believed her wholeheartedly.
I can believe her... I will believe her! But... the others...
Looking around the room, they all seemed less than convinced... Lightning glared at Tantakuma with tears in her eyes, wishing with all her might she could tear it apart with her bare hooves. Bulk was shivering fiercely behind his podium, teeth chattering and dripping with sweat as his eyes darted around the room. Redheart's face was stuck between dubious annoyance and reluctant hope. Flam nervously chewed on his lip, the only sign of wavering defiance on his otherwise stoic face. And before us all, Tantakuma laughed and jeered, tainted smoke billowing from its dark half in an endless smog, his eye smoldering like a sparking ember.
"You can't defeat me! I'm basically a god! I hold the power of life and death over all of you! What makes you think you can stop me?! All of you ponies will bow to my will! Not just you simple-minded ponies... but all creatures everywhere! Today, Equestria... tomorrow, the world!"
I need to prove... once and for all... that the Tantabus is not all-powerful! I need to prove that it has its limits...!
"I am immortal! I am invincible! I am all-powerful! I am all-knowing!" Tantakuma roared at the top of its ambiguous lungs, and howled with laughter as I realized a final lie - the weakness that would prove Luna right.
This is it! My final proof!
"This is a dream! And we can definitely influence it ourselves!" I cried. "My escape runes are missing!" In an instant, Tantakuma's raucous laughter ceased.
"...W-Wha?"
"Escape runes?!" Flam spouted.
"Don't you fucking tell me now we could've escaped...!" Lightning snarled.
"No, we couldn't have... in my school, along with all the other defensive enchantments I set up to protect the school, I also set up special runes in the entrances to the school's escape tunnels bored into the mountain behind it. Touching one would have instantly teleported us all far away to safety. They were enchanted so that only I could see them, and also in a way that if somepony other than myself saw them, they'd forget it was there as soon as they took their eyes off it!" I stomped my hoof down. "If this was truly my School of Friendship, those runes would have been present in my own office - the very first room I could search, and this whole horrible mess could have been avoided! But it wasn't... none of them were there."
"I see... in reading your mind to create this place, Monokuma was susceptible to your protective enchantments and therefore couldn't copy the locations of the runes!" Redheart gasped.
"I believed from the very moment I cast them in the first place, that nopony would ever break the enchantments," I affirmed. "And... it looks like I was right all along. Long before the Tantabus stole us away to its dream, before any of us entered this castle... it couldn't recreate the runes; neither when I first created them, nor even when they had crossed my mind while we've been trapped here!"
"D'oooh..." Tantakuma hissed under its breath. "...I didn't go back far enough..."
"So it's true, then?" Flam breathed. "...We really are in a dream?"
"Yes... and you all have the power to fight back against the Tantabus!" Luna exclaimed. "All you must do is believe in yourselves!"
"We... have to fight that...?!" Lightning gasped in surprise.
"Oh, don't even start with that lame drivel about believing in yourself," Tantakuma snarled. "I've proven time and again that my power here is infinite! So what if I didn't put in some silly hidden runes? It's not like you could've used them to escape anyway!"
"It's not just believing in ourselves..." I spoke, hope slowly but surely filling my heart, "...it's believing in each other, too. And I believe in each of you! I may have barely known you all before this started, but I count you all among my dearest friends. You've all shown me that Friendship is the most important tool you can have in a survival situation... without it, we all would have died long ago."
"AWW... I B-BELIEVE IN YOU GUYS, TOO...!" sniffled Bulk, moved by my short speech.
"As do I," Flam nodded. Redheart nodded as well but remained silent.
"Yea, but... apparently we would've been totally fine afterwards," Lightning tilted her head.
"True... after your Princess Luna released me into reality, most of you became pretty useless to me," shrugged Tantakuma. "But watching the lot of you kill each other and lose your sanity was soooo much fun! And it saved me much of the effort in creating my own horrors to power my waking nightmare... I can't believe how much all those nobodies care about ponies they've never met! It's hysterically pathetic! Puhuhuhu!"
My fur bristled. "...Most of us?"
"Look... I've already won. Just hit Graduate already and you can leave," Tantakuma motioned to our podiums, its expression growing bored. "No more killing, no more investigating, no strings attached."
"No!" Luna shouted. "If you leave the shared dream now, the Tantabus will have no reason to remain here, and will disperse into the minds of every single pony in Equestria! We will never track it down, let alone defeat it!"
"Not to mention it'll probably kill Twilight anyway, especially if doing so will permanently ruin the psyches of every citizen in Equestria," Redheart muttered.
"...Alright, yes. But the five of you will escape alive and well, entirely free from my influence. It's better than uselessly throwing yourselves at me only to die in the process!" it replied with a grunt. "Even if it's just a dream, getting killed is still pretty painful... life-changingly so."
"But that's... that's just... unconscionable..." stammered Flam, staring at the floor.
"I'm no masochist," Lightning frowned, "But if we're the only ones who can fight that thing? We gotta fuckin' do something!"
"What, though?" asked Redheart. "Even if we all believe in each other... believe that we can fight back and win..."
"WE CAN'T JUST LEAVE AND LET IT DO ALL THOSE THINGS!" Bulk argued.
"I know it sounds daunting... scary, even," I closed my eyes. "I've always felt the same way whenever my best friends and I faced a threat to Equestria... but we all believed in each other, and we've always prevailed. And I know we can prevail, too! I believe in each and every one of you... I've seen echoes of the Elements of Harmony within you all... but even without them, you're all more than capable of fighting back. We can defeat the Tantabus if we all believe and work together! And no matter what happens... you're all my dearest friends, and I'll always believe in you!"
With confidence I hadn't felt since I had arrived here, I looked around at my friends with a smile. Gradually, with growing confidence of their own they smiled in return, and we all turned our bold gazes to Tantakuma. In the blink of an eye, a new third button appeared on my podium's monitor, shoving the Graduate and Repeat choices offscreen. I could hear it ping onto the monitors of the others, reading "Fuck your choices" on Lightning's and simply stating "NO" on Bulk's. But Flam's, Redheart's and my own all read the same word...
..."Fight".
"So, what'll it be? Graduate, or Repeat?" Tantakuma growled dangerously. "What's it gonna be? ...What's it gonna beeee?"
For the first time, I stared into Tantakuma's eyes without fear... and I smirked.
"...None of the above."
All five of us pressed the button at the same time. Mere moments later, silvery-blue light engulfed each of us. I opened my mouth in surprise as I felt raw magic rush into my entire body, but quickly shoved the thought from my mind and focused on the belief I held in the others... my friends. The light and intensity of magic increased exponentially, flooding our bodies until, in a massive, sparkling explosion, it all dissipated into a shimmering mist. For the first time in weeks, I felt as though my magic power had fully returned, and I could once again bend the very fabric of reality to my whim.
And as I looked to the others, I was both shocked and thrilled to discover that each of them had also transformed. Bulk and Lightning had sprouted Unicorn horns (Bulk's being comically tiny, much like his wings), Flam had grown Pegasus wings, and Redheart had manifested both. Everypony had turned themselves into an Alicorn. With bold grins we all channeled our magic, aiming the silvery tendrils straight at Tantakuma's limbs. One each wrapped around its arms and legs, while the last dragged him into the air by his throat.
"What?! What is this?! No... no! Put me down! I demand you let me go this instant!" the Tantakuma roared. But as he continued to rise slowly into the air, Lightning casually flew over and into his face, and replied with a smirk.
"No... it's YOUR PUNISHMENT TIME!"
As she screamed into Tantakuma's face, Lightning's horn crackled with magic. She beat her wings and flew circles around the giant bear, punching and kicking it to her heart's content. Tantakuma grunted in pain with every blow, but try as he might he was unable to do anything about it.
Meanwhile, Bulk, Flam, Redheart and myself focused our magic into the tendrils that held Tantakuma prisoner, ensuring it had no chance to escape. It thrashed and pulled at the bonds, roaring in anger and demanding to be set free. All at once, we then imagined each of the gruesome executions it had subjected our friends to, feeling a sense of vengeance, vindication and poetic justice. Tantakuma shrieked as a beam of light manifested from above and scorched its body, dark blue mist seeping out like the blood of our friends. Then the tendrils holding its legs spun around, twisting its torso... I heard the sound of metal buckling and shearing, and what sounded like the quiet hiss of popping gas bubbles. Then two sets of giant metal walls covered in razor-sharp spikes flew in from the darkness and slammed into its body repeatedly, alternating between the two pairs, mashing Tantakuma between them until it was as stretchy and supple as a brick of gelatin.
And then, finally... just as it had managed to regain its shape, howling with anger and fury... Lightning banked around in the air from a distance. And with an electrified version of her own Sonic Rainboom, aimed herself right at Tantakuma's throat... and ripped off its head with a single punch. Mist billowed into the air like a geyser as the head motionlessly fell, exploding into a deluge of black energy once it hit the ground. The body slumped over and melted into the same black substance - we all beat our wings a few times to move backwards and away from the lake of Tantabus remains, not wanting to touch even a drop of it.
There was silence for a minute as we stared daringly at the black liquid, just in case we saw even a twitch of motion. But nothing happened.
~
...Nothing happened. The Tantabus had finally been beaten at its own game.
"Well... would'ya look at that!" Flam chuckled. "We did it!"
"Hoo-yea! We kicked its fuckin' ass!" Lightning shouted, flexing her body. "We wrecked its shit!"
"I KNEW WE COULD DO IT!" Bulk smiled, tears of relief forming in his eyes.
"Yes... and all because we believe in each other," Redheart sighed, a warm smile finally gracing her lips.
"I knew you guys could do it," I beamed. Before anything more could be said, however, suddenly a gigantic cage fell from the ceiling and slammed down on top of the lake of Tantabus remains.
"Yes... it is just as I said," Princess Luna nodded serenely. "However, the Tantabus has not yet been entirely defeated."
"Wha?! But-"
"Now that its hold on the five of you has been broken, we are able to finally wake you up," Luna interrupted Lightning. "Once awake, Twilight, I will need you and your friends to meet me in the Power Crystal Room one floor below the Dream Machine. With my influence over the realm of dreams, and your combined Elements of Harmony, you and your friends can charge the power crystals with pure Friendship and end the waking nightmare for everypony in Equestria."
"Ah, good... I was wondering how we were going to leave this place without dying or being allowed out," sighed Redheart.
"Take a moment to gather your bearings, but please come as quickly as possible: we must act while the Tantabus is fully weakened," Luna turned her head to the lake of black under a cage. "I will see you soon... it is good to have you all safely back."
"OH, PLEASE... GET ME THE HECK OUTTA HERE!" Bulk whined.
"Indeed... I don't think I'll be sleeping for a while after this dreadful experience," nodded Flam.
"I myself am probably gonna be up for weeks straight trying to figure out how this all happened," I frowned. "In a roundabout way... I guess you could say I was kind of the 'traitor' all along."
"Hey... none of this was your fault," Lightning shrugged. "It was all that fuckin' Tantabus's doing, and we beat the everloving shit out of it for the effort."
"None of us blame you, Twilight... it's water under the bridge now," Redheart smiled as she tilted her head. "But now we should prepare ourselves for what has happened in Equestria during our absence... I fear I'm going to be very busy for a long time."
"Thanks, guys," I smiled, reassured. "And you're right... it sounds like we've got a lot of work to do." I motioned with my hooves for everypony to come together in a group hug, just as I would with my best friends. While Bulk and Flam came willingly, Redheart and Lightning exchanged grimacing glances with one another before shrugging and forming the outermost layer of hugs. It may not have been a group hug from my best friends, but it felt just as warm and loving and comforting.
And then, all of a sudden, my consciousness faded away into nothing.
...
...
...
...And then it returned.
~
I opened my eyes slowly, savoring the feeling. A tranquil blue ceiling came into view, quickly obscured by many familiar faces. Lost memories flooded into my mind. Finally, I felt a sense of safety, of true clarity.
"Twilight! You're finally awake!" Spike wailed as he landed squarely on my chest, squeezing it for all he was worth. Tears came to my eyes as I wrapped my forelegs around him.
"We were all so worried!" Starlight exclaimed as she rushed in to wrap her forelegs around my shoulders. I laid there with a dumb, happy grin as I also began feeling the hooves of Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie snaking around wherever they could grasp to join in the embrace. Behind them, Princess Celestia and Discord stood proudly among a few other ponies in white lab coats, smiling at the reunion.
"Ya see?! I told you it would be okay!" Pinkie chirped happily.
"You guys..." I sniffled, tears filling my eyes... Tears of relief, happiness, restored hope... tears of newfound harmony. I could only repeat those two words over and over, too overcome with emotions to say anything else. My mind raced with thoughts of how happy I was to see them all alive and unharmed, and that I would never take that for granted ever again. I resolved then and there that I would never again leave anything left unsaid, nor anything left undone between us. Life was far too precious for that.
After much too short of a reunion, my friends pulled away from me. "Can ya get up? Princess Luna needs us to help scrub every trace of that Tantabus from the realm of dreams," said Applejack. "An' she said the sooner, the better."
"We can give you a hoof if you need it, it took us all a little bit until we could properly walk around again," added Rainbow.
"Thanks... but it's just a simple matter of teleporting one story down," I smiled. "I think I can handle that." Despite my bravado I sat up in my bed with great difficulty, my body tired, sore and stiff from lying down for so long. The electrodes fell from my head as I shook it and cracked my neck.
As much as I wanted to, I couldn't rest... not quite yet. Charging up my magic, I teleported my friends and I to the Power Crystal room directly below, where Princess Luna was waiting. However, a couple of weeks straight of slumber had weakened my legs; having assumed I could at the very least stand, I immediately crumpled to the floor upon materializing.
"Twilight!" Rarity shrieked dramatically.
"I'm fine..." I held up a hoof. "My legs are just weak after all this time... I don't think I need to stand for what comes next."
"It is good to see you awake," Luna nodded. "Now come, let us put an end to this, once and for all!"
I nodded, my friends surrounding me. Each of us, the six of us, focused deeply on the thoughts of our friendship. All of our shared memories; the good, the bad, the painful, the triumphant... the times we fell apart, only to mend together stronger than before. As we concentrated, our bodies began to glow the color of our Elements. We looked back on our happy memories with tender fondness, our hearts swelling with a familiar power, pure and sublime.
But suddenly, the doors to the Power Crystal Room behind us burst open. I whirled around and locked eyes with many of the others - Redheart, Flam, Lightning, Bulk... and Princess Celestia, Trixie, Discord, and Coloratura. Celestia was holding my friends upright in her magic aura; they, too, had been too weak to walk as soon as they awoke.
"Wait! The Great and Powerful Trrrixie! ...Would like to help!"
"I understand that we may not be all that powerful compared to the seven of you," said Flam, "but if it's all the same to you, we were all part of this nightmare. It is only fitting that we also take place in its banishment."
"It would do us all wonders for the inevitable PTSD and mental trauma we will surely suffer," Redheart added. As the rest nodded in agreement, my eyes stung with strangely comfortable tears.
"Of course... my friends," I smiled serenely. The eight of them moved close and closed their eyes in concentration, although only half of them had an idea of what to do. Tendrils of pink magic slithered from my horn and linked with Redheart, Lightning, Bulk and Coloratura, while Princess Celestia, Flam, Trixie and Discord intertwined their magic with ours.
Our light was radiant. The air around us was balmy and gentle. The power within my friends and I lifted us into the air, casting shadows on everything around us. All ponies present gazed up at us in awe of the beauty and perfection of our friendship.
Finally, our emotions reached their apex. I opened my eyes, the whitest of light pouring out of them. Focusing my gaze on the power crystals, I gently aimed the accumulated power of my friends and let it rush through the air like a heavenly river. Six bright, gleaming beams of pure Friendship shot from our hearts and into one power crystal each, filling it with an Element of Harmony. Luna's horn and eyes glowed silver as she released her magic into the center crystal. As we released our might together, channeling everything we had into the intangible force, the power crystals glowed with rainbow colors. The light then coalesced into pure white, and soon everypony was blinded by it.
Nearly a minute later, the rainbow had been exhausted and the light faded away. I blinked a few times to recover from the spell, and glanced hopefully over to Princess Luna. In time, the silver in her eyes faded away, and her stoic muzzle slowly formed a smile.
"...It is done. There is no trace of the Tantabus' influence within the realm of dreams any longer. Friendship and Harmony has been restored... The citizens are free."
It would be a few days until I saw the true extent of the effects of the waking nightmare, and proof that the Tantabus' influence was truly gone.
But now... I could finally rest easy.
The Nightmare was over.
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Please atleast show us what punishments they give to Fancy and who else was guilty or real crimes? I kind of feel sorry for Cozy and others, they were executed by despair ridden ponies.
Ahahaha! What a great way to defeat the Tantabus. The power of dreams indeed. Lucid dream the nightmare away, and then friendship blast the realm. Classic pony ending. Everybody lives!
This was a well executed story from start to finish, with only the occasional minor hiccup. And for a Fangan that uses the simulation twist, I didn't feel cheated. I didn't feel like the story ended with no consequences. It used the idea plausibly, in a way that fits perfectly with a gap in the show's narrative that this story managed to fill. That's not easy to accomplish, and you did it well.
I'm looking forward to this epilogue, to see what other consequences await. As for the surprise, I think I know what it is, but I shall keep quiet.
Glad to see everything worked out in the end.
That's kind of boring, Twilight didn't even played a single danganronpa game in the human world.
I hope the 'surprise' isn't bad??!! Anyway, the Tantabus/Disguised-Monokuma/'Tantakuma' as as the True Mastermind and Villain is a Good Plot Twist. And using Twilight herself as the unwilling and unintentionally 'Traitor' is diabolical by 'Tantakuma'!
At least it's finally gone!
10634556
Agreed with that. Fancy should be heavily punished! Fleur will get Extra Therapy and she needs to frickin APOLOGIZE to everypony or else!!!
And they will have to deal with the potential deaths of Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow by the Rioters!
So I was right
Then why not pony version of Junko Enoshima?
derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/10/22/748086.png
Yep I pointed that ou too.
Shouldn't this ring a bell for Twilight?
Like in the first game?
This is alarming if she forgets something like that.
If that worked then,why didn't they tried to wake them up similar or this way ?
Even then, that's not how that would work if he saw her memories.
Tantabus would only be influenced by enchantment if he/she saw them themselves in the real world but Tantabus did this in Twilights memories
Nope it's too positive,too good
It will probably be like Danganronpa V3 , with a not really great ending
In short, this ending is a lie.
10634556
10634701
From what Luna said what was damaged/attacked was Sculpture Garden but not the statue itself.
If it was destroyed then she would say that they saw the statue in fragments
Then everyone lives happily ever after
but then they saw something that covered their world...
10634915
Oh COME ON!!!! Don't be like that! They did finally beat 'Tantakuma', and they did escape from the Dream Machine. Besides, they still got the PTSD, and need a lot of Therapy for Everyone/Everypony. So it's technically, Not a 100% 'Happy/Best' Ending. Just a 'Good' Ending with the Bittersweet at the end.
10634987
Really?!
Of course. Spongebob did succeed to stop Patrick from doing that. 😂
Aunque todo lindo y eso, los personajes van a tener traumas severos con esto, en especial con lo de pinkie y lo que le hizo a rarity y a los demás ponys muertos y discord (aunque fuera con buena intención)