Colonel Hooves and the Empire of Crystal

by KarmaSentinal

Chapter 19: Officer and the Gentlecolt

The sun shone bright in the high noon sky above the rustic town constructed of pine and cedar. Where these ponies found the wood in the middle of the desert was lost to interpretation, but that mattered little as I watched the blank face ponies scattered throughout the town with little purpose other than to stand in one spot. I wisely waited behind the town sign since the edge of the dream was to my back, and had watched looking for any indication why this dream was turning into a bad dream.

My only guesses were the startling statues, but that could just be me.

The Tantabus and myself had been corresponding since our first encounter, and to my great sadness have yet to learn how long it has been since entering the Dream Realm: Princess Luna has remained missing or so the Tantabus has observed. Its duty has been unfulfilled, and to her limited knowledge Luna hasn’t been performing her dream walking duties either, only adding to the mystery.

This left me in the unfortunate bind of having no further instruction into dream walking, or contact with the outside world as my reluctance to enter another pony’s dream greatly limited what knowledge I could have gleaned. A small annoyance in the greater design of the Order and Harmony, and like a good guard I took the sudden increase in time to continue performing my guard oaths while helping Luna with her own expected duties at the same time- I would start ridding ponies of their apparitions of the mind.

“I see nothing, but the statue figures.” I noted. My eyes were more focused on the windows in the chance a stray shadow might be seen, but the glare of the sun ruined my sight.

A wind of mild refreshness blew over the town strong enough to pick up a thin layer of dust, or flutter the cloaks of the faceless ponies as they stood at attention. I had entered this dream on the Tantabus’ request citing its mildness would provide enough work, but not overwhelm a being of my experience. When I crossed the barrier, I’d expected she would have followed, but found no presence of the shadow alicorn nor an indication she had crossed somewhere else leaving myself the sole benefactor of this mission.

Against my own judgment and training, I decided the best course was to enter the town from the main road to see if I could provoke a response from either the dreamer or the creature trying to infect it. The idea worked, for no sooner had the first hoofsteps reached my ears did the heads of every faceless statue turned to watch me trot down the fresh dirt path, but nothing more. I even greeted a few out of habit rather than curiosity which garnered the attention of a few further in the eight building town.

Based on its location and construction, I could safely guess it was one of the frontier settlements located near the southern desert that divided Equestria from the Badlands- my former home. I never came across one of these settlements myself, but later learned of them through a few sparse interactions of ponies moving to these new parts in search of a ‘free’ land. That notion made my muzzle wrinkle with disgust for the lack of respect, but held my tongue and let them be for it served no purpose to pursue an argument with them.

Now I found myself walking into the middle of this ‘free land’ with a sense of dread as the pony statues continued to turn my way, and I might have seen one blink if that were all possible, which it was given this was all a dream. For a town of eight buildings, I was getting lost in the streets as each path looped me around one building that bore resemblance to another building than the one I had just passed. It was like walking past the Pony Express, and turning the corner to find the building suddenly became a café.

“Hello?” I asked, having heard what sounded like hooves crushing rocks from behind.

The wind picked up once more, but this time it brought a storm on its heels; I debated staying outside, but gave that up when the clouds literally began throwing snowballs at the town. My shelter of choice became the local general store that appeared before me with a sign out front advertising its vacancy. I felt conflicting emotions coming from within the building the moment I entered the business, and found the signs on the counter boasting ‘Not allowed’ and ‘ Meanies will be in trouble’ to contradict the loneliness that coated everything.

I proceed further into the establishment searching for the source of this isolation by checking the storeroom that had manifested just a second ago, yet opening the door highlighted a dangerous lack of merchandise. I closed the door and turned my attention to the wall on the opposite side of me, and watched as the window grew to reach the floor before opening left to right creating a space near equal to my height.

This invitation was enough for me to proceed carefully as the evidence of either the hunter or victim actively aware of my presence to manipulate the very dream meant one of two things- 1, I was being guided by the dreamer to help them, or 2, the one causing this torment was luring me into a trap of its spread malediction upon myself.

The way had been presented to me, and by an adventurer's oath accepted the invitation.

Crawling through the grown window exposed another change in the dream with the general store shifting into the dwelling of a respectable home- silk curtains dyed into several pinks, and blues decorated the windows as crystal chandeliers reigned over the large marble floor room. A long rug wide enough for two ponies to trot side by side had been rolled out with care, for a single crease couldn’t be found nor a stain of the weaved thread could be seen leading a pony to the only door in the room.

Caution and vigor propelled me forward as more of the blank face ponies began teleporting into the room, but I paid them no heed as the source of this loneliness quickly turning into anger lurked behind the very door. Here my accumulation of experiences came into fruition leading to this very moment…

“Hello? Is anypony there?” I asked after knocking on the door.

I waited a respective three hooves back to give any potential pony a chance to open the door without having myself entering their space. Thank Order and Harmony I didn’t have to wait long for a low and dull clip clop was finally heard approaching the door, and as expected the accompanying struggles of a pony too small to open the door were heard as they desperately tried reaching for the handle. The door creaked open to allow a narrow space barely big enough to fit a face was my only window into the room.

“Go uh way pwease.” The foalish voice was polite, but resentful for the disturbance, and rightly so under normal circumstances. This wasn't one of those acceptable circumstances that required me to keep myself restrained due to the potential fallout if left to its own designs.

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible in the current moment with the approaching storm. Could I stay until the storm passes?” I asked hoping the worried dreamer would allow me the chance to find the cause of their anguish.

There was no sound as the dream itself waited to hear their answer, and from my limited experience had learned when a dream reacts with this level of awareness usually means the dreamer was trapped within. This wasn’t a guarantee of course, but from my own experience, and the Tantabus’s own teachings were all I had to go on.

“Wel..ok misser. Until the storm is gone.” The voice told me when the door separating us finally opened.

I don’t know what I had expected, but to find a colt barely passed his fourth birthday standing there with an Officer Friendly plush positioned between me and the foal was never too high on the list. I’ll admit my mistake for staring longer than intended, but the scene before me was very strange to see when you try your hardest to distance yourself from the inspired toy brand. The foal’s eyes began to sparkle with recognition, but the doll took a step forward and glared at me.

“Halt stranger! Who are you? State your business with the young cadet.” The foal looked eager to say something, but remained calm as an excited foal could when the doll raised a hoof to keep him quiet.

“I am myself an officer within the Crystal Guard, but I am known by the name of Idol Hooves. A pleasure sir.”

---

I learned a great deal from our chat, and that was mostly from the little doll that looked alot like me as the foal had the idea I was the real Officer Friendly; of course that is true even if I was the model for the doll, but that didn’t bestow upon me permission to impersonate an officer… even if I was an Officer of the Crystal Guard that resembled the doll eying me up.

“I still don’t like it. Your time is too well convinced to be considered believable all the while you pretend to be me?” The doll crossed his forehooves together as he sat on his rear, not pleased that the young colt pulled rank and allowed the ‘huge Officer Friendly’ doll to join them in their safe place.

I actually agreed with the doll, but said nothing as the colt’s emotions gradually corrected itself to reveal the long suppressed smile he had been fighting since seeing me earlier. The colt was an earth pony with spring colors of green fur, and a bright yellow mane who acted as if he won the grand prize at the local fair as he marveled at me. It was flattering, but uncomfortable to be viewed in this light all the time which was why I sought to separate myself from the toy line to reduce this torrent of emotions- I still never corrected the colt though.

“In any normal circumstance I would agree with you, Officer Friendly, yet my arrival here seems more prudent than before. Are you aware of blank faced ponies wandering about your town with no sense of purpose other than loitering at certain intersections?” The colt’s smile soured, but the doll’s expression grew grim at the news, making me believe the creepy ponies were part of the cause.

“Their disregard for even the most basic courtesy was our only problem until they changed their tactics…” The doll uncrossed his forelegs and pointed to the wall behind him as several stick pony drawings appeared on the wall. “We continued our observations when we noticed this trend, but gave up when they grew resistant to our presence. We’ve been held up in here ever since.”

“We were swamming in the oatswen…” The colt started but stopped and looked to the doll whose stitched muzzle tilted down, but moved closer so he could place one of his plush hooves on the colt’s shoulder. This encouraged the colt to continue recounting some event that might have led to this moment. “... anna ..anna than I waz hear. The ponies cam after me, but I ran an found this roam.”

“I was in the area and heard his call, and rushed to his aid. The blank face ponies besieged us ever since with a fury unbecoming of normal ponies leaving me to believe they’re not ponies.”

“A sound deduction. I had noticed their lack of pony features disturbing myself.” I added. “They were very.. at odds with my appearance and made their comfort known.”

“I do reconnaissance when time permits for the weather here is unpredictable, but recent observations have concluded they’re being led by something.” The Doll shifted uncomfortably as he tried not to cause the colt further distress, but knew the information needed to be shared.

“Something? As in a creature?” They nodded

“It waz scawy.” The colt looked up with the fear evident in his eyes. “It had fangs, an wood bark a lot.”

“The creature in question had red eyes and three heads. I never encountered any creature of the likes before in my service to the city, and I won’t complain if I never see it again.” The doll to my surprise shook with fear as he spoke. “The beast uses the ponies as sentinels for the day before pressing its search at night which we have avoided so far.”

I sat down to further process this information a bit startled by the severity of this growing nightmare. The act of engaging in these shadow beasts was the sole responsibility of the princess for good reason as these dream constructs reserved the ability to control a dream at their discretion. Never before had my limited training required dealing with such an adversary, yet I couldn’t in good faith nor on my oaths leave this colt to a nightmare of an increasing threat level. This Officer Friendly doll knew as well the threat this nightmare could become if left unchecked and to his great credit had reacted well in defense of the foal, but there was only so much the stuffed doll could do- he needed my help.

“Perhaps an alliance is in order? I’m but a visitor to your realm, but capable of ‘throwing hooves’ as the Crystal Recruits declare before their sanctioned duels. Do you have a plan?” I asked the doll, but it was the colt that seemed more excited by the offer for help.

“Wood you!? Two Off-it-sirs Friendlies wood be so kool!” I tried hiding my smile as the doll seemed even less eager at the proposed alliance, and I felt my excitement at the colt’s outburst might spur the plush doll to decline.

“An alliance proves beneficial…” He rubbed his muzzle as he set down, causing himself to squeak in the process. “...but I still don’t completely trust you citizen. I mean guard. How can we be sure you weren’t sent here in disguise by the very creature looking for us?”

“You can not.” I shrugged and watched as the doll quickly stood up, while the colt looked more unsure of my presence. “All I have is my word that I am what I am, and not what I could be. My Guard Oaths are taken very seriously, and have been reaffirmed by her Highness Luna.”

“The Commissioner sent you? I thought she was missing when the Rowdy Pack from the down block raided our station a few months back?.” He was more suspicious but even he couldn't mask the hope in his stitched eyes that I wasn’t there to capture them, but in fact help them like I stated. I nodded, playing along.

“I can attest the Commissioner is safe but a little troubled or so her daughter has told me.”

“What pony could blame her? Those mutts are a tough lot on their own, but that raid was not normal.” The doll began pacing between me and the colt as he seemed more relaxed, and willing to trust my words for the time being.

“She can be difficult, but that is a requirement of the job is it not?” I asked.

“True enough.” The doll chuckled, and this time I smiled.

“Indeed. I am partly saddened to admit her brash attitude has induced a thought or two that shouldn’t have been conjured at all. Her speeches are a treat though.”

We both laughed for different reasons, but in that moment we shared a common ground. A break before we gathered ourselves in preparation to find this nightmare before he could usher further harm until the colt and his dream. The Tantabus was still missing, and hopefully she found her way out for I worried what the nightmare of this dream might do to the young shadow.

---

Our plan was simple as it was dangerous.

We were going to split up leaving the colt within the safety of the bedroom while Officer Friendly and myself would perform reconnaissance of the building before pressing into the town. The plan is we shall stick close together to avoid separation and deprive the enemy a chance to capture one of alone; if we should locate/encounter the nightmare during the scouting, I’m to use my guard training to capture its attention in the hopes of buying Officer Friendly a chance to sneak close for a surprise attack.

The unicorn doll can use magic…

“It’s limited, but might be enough to injure the nightmare for a follow up attack.” The doll whispered as we took position against the doorframe that led to the main lobby of the general store.

Because of his height, the plush doll peered through looking for possible threats, but after a moment gave the indication the room was clear and proceeded to move swiftly in hugging the wall until he reached one of the counters. Here he pressed himself against its wooden surface before remembering his stitching and eased off of it, before creeping along its length so it exposed him to the general shopping area.

I watched with bated breath for any sign of nightmarish activity, but the longer we remained silent the more the room seemed uninterested in our presence. Officer Friendly gave a lite tap tap on the counter and waited before repeating the noise again- there was no response.

“Clear.” the doll gave a low, but harsh whisper. I entered the room with more confidence than before, but still continued peering at every corner.

“Perhaps they truly don’t know about his building?” I alluded to the idea this might genuinely be a set up or a real safe place constructed by the dreamer unknowingly.

“Maybe…” Officer Friendly had set down and crossed his forelegs once more as a sign of him deep in thought for a moment before shrugging. “It’s all too convenient for my liking, but it means we hold the element of surprise just a little bit longer. That in itself might prove to be our one advantage over this nightmare.”

“Agreed. But I suggest we assume the element of surprise has been lost and proceed expecting to be ambushed. I would rather expect an attack and be attacked than not expect one and learn the errors of ignorance.”

“Fair enough Guard Idol. Shall I lead the way like before?”

“Please. The lower profile might avert some eyes intended for us if just for the moment, and that might be enough.”

Officer Friendly led the way after that, first peeking his head outside and peering down the road where some of the blank faced ponies could be seen standing at the end of street, or next to the side of building across the street. The wind was absent now as the sun shone overhead in mimicry of the western towns located along the vacant Buffalo Pastures on Equestria’s western borders. I wondered if this was the nightmare’s to enhance his dominance or the foal’s doing in an effort to reestablish some stability into the madding dream by recreating the “Pie Fight’s almost two years ago; the reasoning won’t be known to me as the two of us proceed down the street, but I found the town appropriate.

We’re two lawstallions looking to dispense justice in a town overrun by a nightmare gang.

This scene came to life in my head as I recalled an early favorite character I used during one of my Catacombs and Spiders games and how the clockwork stallion performed his duties. I had envisioned the mechanical justice dealer being the opposite of myself, in that the stallion would announce himself to draw whatever wrongdoers out into the open- we wouldn’t be doing that.

Instead, we’ll be acting like Shining’s favorite rogue that specializes in guises for ‘stealth missions’ as he called them, and that was appropriate for our mission required nothing short of being sneaky. The doll was small, and wise enough to not need this guidance leaving myself able to practice the real life LARP in secluded silence. Enjoying the game was fun amongst the proper company, to practice game mechanics in real life situations was taking it a step too far.

Which was why I refused to hum any theme song as we slipped past another intersection with the blank faced ponies standing in the middle of the road.

Our silent excursion into town didn’t go fully unnoticed as several of the mysterious ponies turned their ears or heads toward our direction...

“He’s humming a stealth theme isn’t?” I asked myself, and gritted my teeth as he was indeed humming a tune while crouching low.

I almost trotted to the doll to reprimand his actions when one of the blank face ponies literally materialized a few hoof steps in front of the doll, but before I could react Officer Friendly hummed even louder and walked right past the strange pony with a glance. The urge to slap the disbelief out of my system grew strong, but fell flat when the strange pony began turning toward me; I gritted my teeth and hummed the same tune the doll had been humming, and watched as the blank face returned looking toward the street.

“Luna can keep her dream walking.” I told myself, as dream logic was for the pigeons.

Officer Friendly was four paces ahead of me by the time I caught up, where he stopped and raised a hoof signaling me to stop, which I promptly did, watching as the plush doll hugged the building’s wall even more as he slinked closer to an open window. A faint scent of baked flower and hay carefully trailed out into my nostrils as if trying to bribe my senses to a falsehoods of sorts, which thankfully the prominent Officer Friendly doll was immune and in a fascinating correlation of physical movement and use of magic to reach the window ledge. He peered inside and to my mild shock leaped into the room where the scent originated from without a word of his intentions.

I resisted the urge to call out or move forward as the risk was too great to take in the chance the little doll needed the silence, or my sudden outcry would spur the blank ponies into action. I pricked my ears up listening for a cry of help to bound through the window, or the speaking of a doll being thrown across the room, but it never came. Instead, an almost tapping of stuffing hitting the floor made its way to the wall next to the window, where the outline of a door appeared into the wooden planks and swung inward to reveal Officer Friendly standing there looking surprised to see me.

“It appears the pantry door leads outside.” He calmly stated, and looked back inside “No sign of any baked goods yet, but this house is strange and I don’t mean this door. I can’t place my plush hoof on it , but I recognize this home almost like I’ve lived here before as I recall where things are, yet it escapes me. ”

“Perhaps a former memory before entering the Dream Realm? In my very limited instruction, her High..Commissioner Luna, informed me of monsters that would draw upon a creature’s memories to gain some advantage over them. “

“Just you? Wouldn’t this information be valuable to all the precincts?” the doll questioned as we closed the pantry door, and proceeded into the kitchen once more. I nodded.

“The information would be a boon, yet the Commissioner felt the knowledge would better benefit a select few specially trained to combat such a threat. She felt over sharing of that knowledge would leak and be used against the local law enforcement, but how it could I can not say without only guessing.”

We fell silent once again as Officer Friendly took the lead, and led us through the house looking for a clue to the importance of this home. Leaving the kitchen brought us into the main living area where a single large red sofa, two matching single red comfort chairs, and a large glass table occupying the space in front of the seating furniture. A large painting of sand and ocean was hanging on the wall to the left of this arrangement while a large crystal suspended by an apparatus constructed from fiber rope levitated the object from the ceiling, casting a light onto the wall directly opposite of the sofa- an image of three ponies could be made out.

“That’s the young master if I ever saw him, but the two blank face ponies next to him I don’t recall. His parents most likely, but Dusty never mentioned anything about them.” Officer Friendly dejected as he strolled closer to the image.

“Maybe the nightmare’s power is stronger than first noted if it can isolate its prey emotionally. Your appearance is a blessing else I fear the colt might have fallen far sooner.” I watched the doll’s reaction for an inkling of emotion so I may better judge the other sole occupant of the dream. His ears pinned as he whirled around and raised a hoof before dropping it.

“I never considered that kind of power…” He looked once more at the image being projected onto the wall once more. “How long have we been under siege for this creature to gain so much strength?”

“I can not say, but wish I’d known of this nightmare sooner.”

It was at that moment a loud boom was heard like something heavy had fallen from upstairs, and a quick search exposed a hidden staircase behind a door. With nothing holding us, I went up the stairs with Officer Friendly clinging to my back for the duration of the climb, for this too quickly became another obstacle set by the nightmare. We had counted nearly 200 stairs when a door appeared before us with a sign stating ‘Welcome’.

You had to have been born under a rock like myself to see the greeting as a mockery of the journey so far. We entered anyway.

My line of work required me to keep an open mind and expect the unexpected so my fellow guards and myself could adapt on the trot, and this philosophy had served us well since the Guard’s founding several centuries prior. Today, I can say the unexpected was most definitely not what I had expected as Officer Friendly and myself entered the room.

We entered a foal’s room if the bright colored walls, and toys were to be assessed properly.

“This room is important, I can feel it in my cotton filled hooves.”

“This is Dusty’s room is it not?” I asked, and the doll nodded after looking around the room.

“I believe so. It looks right, but feels wrong you know? A feeling like somepony came in and moved something.” He moved toward the bed and in a swift movement leaped onto its Officer Friendly themed sheets to emphasize this point. “I remember…these were another theme, and not Police themed. Same with the desk! That was constructed from refurbished wood taken from a boat or so Dusty told me.”

We began our search of the room after that looking for further clues to the colt’s identity or to Officer Friendly’s connection with the colt, but found nothing. Sadden by this we returned to the ground floor and into the living area where the picture being projected onto the wall had changed- a colt and stallion in front of a pier. OF had no idea of the colt or stallion in that picture, but with that information stowed away for the moment, we made our way back outside.

“Were there clouds in the sky?” I asked, looking at the looming storm clouds gathering just on the border of the three buildings… “ There’s more buildings than before.”

“I can’t see… you’re right.” OF confirmed as he crawled onto my back.

Before the town was composed of three buildings that changed placement and rotation as you moved down the lone street, but now another five distinct buildings could be made out with signs of various states of repair. A bakery, three houses, and a black smith with a plume of smoke that rose into the sky above and fused with gathering mass.

“The Blacksmith then? I asked.

“You know it.”

This time we abandoned stealth in favor of speed, and thank Order and Harmony none of the blank faced ponies attempted to stop us as we dashed across the dirt road toward the rustic barn that served as the black smith. The sliding doors were old and large enough to properly allow a Royal Carriage through with room to spare, but the wood used in its construction was brittle and thin allowing us to peer inside- a fire and a pony working.

Without a word we ignited our magic and swiftly opened the sliding door where the only light inside was the glowing fire and the silhouette of a pony hammering away without a sound being made.

“State your name, citizen!” The doll called out from my back, completely ignoring the lack of sound around us as the silhouette slowed its pace to a standstill.

“Friendly…I feel we should take a step back.” I whispered to the doll as I began retreating toward the barn door, but my companion felt the withdrawal was too soon and leaped off my back.

“Nonsense guard! We’re here to apprehend the nightmare at once, and I shall do just that!”

He rushed the shadow pony who was now turning around to peer at the brash plush with red coal eyes- I took another step back.

“Halt Officer!” I commanded the doll and to my surprise he did as instructed. "Regroup outside.”

He hesitated, but followed my order as the silhouette began growing more grotesque as it grew larger and larger to a point it lost the pony shape, gradually growing rounder with a set of horns protruding from where the mouth would be.

“ I am this dream’s master…” It’s voiced rumbled with a calculated control I’ve only heard demonstrated by the princesses or ponies in similar power. “... and will release it when I see fit.”

We had just reached the street when a low groan escaped the converted barn before exploding in a display of power and disregard for the surrounding township, but the giant minotaur-like shadow didn’t stop as it grew taller and taller until it reached the very clouds themselves.

“More like a bipedal pig. You can tell by the snout and tasks growing from its mouth.” The doll shouted as we continued our retreat.

“Maybe you are correct that my exposure to such bipeds is limited, but now is not the time.” I shot back as the being reached in the clouds and extracted a three pronged trident as long as itself. It pointed the weapon at us and the tips began sparking with electrical current before discharging the energy toward us.

It was now in this dire situation that we abandoned stealth and began using the dream logic that governs the sleeping realm, and with a thought and will to make it happen, we leaped out of the blast radius. I landed on the opposite end of town on one of the new houses while my companion seemed to be flying through the air with his forelegs extended out trying to engage the nightmare.

He would need my assistance very soon, but to blindly rush in would only ruin any chance we might have at stopping the crazed monster. It seemed easily distracted enough as it extended its arm out and fired another blast from the trident, incinerating several buildings in the process; Officer Friendly took advantage of the missed attack and flew directly toward the nightmare, and fired off two blasts of his horn before retreating a safe distance. The attack did nothing.

Unable to stand by in this crucial moment, I made the leaps from rooftop to rooftop until I was at the base of the massive shadow using the storm clouds as a cape with no luck hitting the very small doll. I began preparing a spell based off one an absurd story Shinng had told me and the thought of performing the action rattled my body with regret for I could never do the deed in real life.

“Forgive me Topaz.”

Next to me Topaz appeared in her Deputy Affectionate uniform, which I scooped up the silent mare and threw the pegasus toward the pig manifestation with a dazzling speed that surprised me. Developing a mind of her own, she dodged some swipes of the weapon until she reached the nightmare’s face where she shouted:

“I shall Love and tolerate you!” and promptly exploded in a flashing light of pink love, and mellow blue friendship.

The beast squealed and quickly covered its face with its free hand- we attacked. I quickly threw another Topaz at the nightmare while Officer Friendly flew from the side and above with a signature move he proclaimed was ‘Flying Justice’ and further enraged the beast. It gave a loud squeal and before we could react glowed in a terrifying display of raw energy and stabbed his staff into the building underneath him, the ground, and the world around grew bright as I felt my hooves body being lifted off the building.

I was flung far. The Impact stunning myself as the physics of this dream clamored for realism now causing my damaged body great pain to hinder my breathing. The words couldn’t escape, but I cried in my mind for Officer Friendly and Topaz in the hope they were alright and by my side- they weren’t.

“Your attempts are nothing to me. I shall have this colt, and move on to another, yet you will not leave this unmolested.”

The town was gone and all that was left was a barren desert under storm clouds surrounding the pillar of the great beast. It raised its massive three pronged trident high into the sky for what I guessed would be another attack when a massive shot of silver light ripped through the clouds and smacked the beast in the chest, flinging the nightmare back.

“BEGONE FOUL BEAST! THIS DREAM BELONGS NONE BUT ME ALONE!”

What I thought was Luna coming to save my chitin turned out to be partially true. In a display not unlike the nightmare came forth an alicorn composed of shadow, and resembled the princess in every way, but its shining eyes that mirrored stars in the night sky clued me to the identity of this alicorn.

“No…how did you escape?”

“A FEEBLE SHOW AT BEST! WE ARE THE ALICORN OF DREAMS, AND WILL BEND TO NONE BUT THE GOOD TIDINGS OF THE INNOCENT!” The Tantabus disguised as Luna reared onto her hind hooves and smashed her forehooves into the very ground with a great shock.

The nightmare fell back once more to the ground as it… no.. the whole dream around us began to split and fracture like broken glass. The clouds gave way first and fell to the ground with a poof, the land tore and splintered to reveal the very Dream Realm underneath with a hiss and whine that I hear for the next year. I was lost to the reasoning behind the dream’s deconstruction, but the nightmare’s eyes were wide with worry as it knew the meaning that was lost to me.

“You reckless fool, do you know what happens when the foal awakens? We will be lost to the void, and so will you.”

“THEN IT SHALL BE WORTH!” The Tantabus shouted.

I tried moving from the splitting earth, but the pain was too incredible leaving me gasping from the shock. The dream couldn’t hold any longer as whatever the Tantabus did proved too great, the ground finally split in two to expose the dream realm.

“FAREWELL, NOT MOTHER IDOL. MAY YOU FIND THE COMFORT YOU SEEK, FOR YOU HAVE BROUGHT IT UPON ME. THIS IS WHAT I CHOOSE.”

The nightmare made one final attempt to end the destruction of the dream, and threw its trident toward the shadow alicorn, piercing her chest, but she remained firm in her mission even as the charged weapon pulsed with a deadly energy I couldn’t make out. She gave one final shout of defiance and the world was consumed with that silver light that resembled the delicate rays of the glowing moon.

---

On the West Coast of Equestria rests an old town at the end of the Colter River that bleeds into the Mareitime Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Western Equestria that needs its own ferry system to traverse one end to the next. The town is as modern as any of the larger towns on the East Coast, but somehow retained its small town feel over the past couple of centuries to create a very close knit community that treat each other as family rather than neighbors.

This made the tragic boating accident nearly three weeks prior all the more tragic where it severely injured a father and put the son into a coma.

The colt managed to mostly recover during the past weeks, but had yet to waken up despite all the medical and magical assistance the town had to spare, and so the father would visit his son every day for two hours before returning home leaving the clinic staff to watch the young colt for the rest of day. It was during her normal rounds that Nurse Caduceus Staff entered the room of her final patient, Dusty Sky, before she could retire to the monitoring station for until morning.

The monitoring system declared all vitals were normal and no abnormalities had developed since yesterday meaning the young colt was good for another night. She had just replaced the chart when a soft squeak caught her ears, and turning around discovered that the guard doll the colt loved so much had fallen onto the floor. Strange for it was supposedly nestled between the colt and the bed’s railing, but that could be fixed real quick…

A sound disturbed her thoughts as she turned to the bed and nearly faint in shock as the sleeping colt began stirring.

“DOCTOR! NURSE! THE COLT IS WAKING UP!” She cried while running out of the room, yelling for any and everypony that would listen to her.

For the town and especially the father this would be fantastic news met with celebration and wonder of the colts tale of how he was saved by two Officer Friendlies, only furthering the legend of this famous selling doll.

But in another part of Equestria, another pony was finally waking up since facing his own desperate struggle.

Comments

[duckmagee]

be a great spin off idol hooves dream guard

[BKBF]

Hope the Tantabus is alright.

[Booster Spice]

The Tantabus is a creature of the void between dreams. What does it have to fear of just existing in that realm?

[Luckysweep]

If the Tantabus is formed from places not of dreams, I don’t think it would be bothered with a dream becoming nothing.

[Emperor of Jurai]

Awww Tanta I hope you will be alright child, also sweet how the colt talks about how his favorite doll helped save him. I mean to him that is what happened after all.

[KarmaSentinal]

11213423

11213487
I'm still playing around with the idea of the Tantabus, but for the moment I'm going with she has never forcibly destroyed a dream, and didn't know what would happen. She told Idol that just in case.

[tsaukpaetra]

Wait, Luna was entrapped as well? That would explain some things.
Tantabus is so brave! But this is not the end, it is yet remembered.
It is quite curious about the kinetic plushie. The apparent independent nature and implications that there are more are fascinating, and hopefully there are more of Luna's Army in the creche...

[KarmaSentinal]

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Luna wasn't actually trapped in the dream realm, but it was the Tantabus that took on her appearance because of her admiration for her 'mother'. The Tantabus, inspired by Idol's words and her own desire to not spread misery acted the way she did by destroying the dream, thus breaking any hold the creature had on the foal, and Idol (which will be touched upon later).

For the doll, the foal loved the Officer Friendly doll in the waking world, and latched onto the doll to protect him from the nightmare.