Nightmares in Ponyville

by Tower of 0

Speed and Fashion

The three stood at the base of one of the large twisters. Even with the air at a stand still, it still spun at a painfully slow speed. The sound it made was that of perpetual brakes on a train. Something rather ear grating. This particular one is where they suspect Rainbow Dash is inside of. Luna shifted a little bit as the human counterpart of their trio smiles. Was it in confidence or was he simply mad? The Princess couldn't really decide.

"Remind me again why we are trying this?" The lunar diarch asks with uncertainty.

"We gotta get the others out of here, right?" Justin looks down to Twilight.

Twilight is just staring at the large wall of cloud.

"Twi?" Justin kneels down and lays a hand on her shoulder. "You doing okay there?"

"It's just..." She tears he gaze away and to the human's eyes. "More intimidating up close."

Without another word, Luna's horn charges up with a spell and unleashes it on the spiraling tower of clouds. The reaction it has, however, is not one they were looking for. The twister fluctuates as it carries the pale light of the spell up into the overcast. They all watch the spectacle in an almost trance. A literal lightbulb almost went off above the human's head that noone noticed, not even him.

"I have an idea!" He exclaims, both alicorns looking at him inquisitively. "What if you two overloaded the thing with magic?"

Twilight looks at the human now. "You don't think that will work, right?"

Justin just shrugs his shoulders. "It's worth a shot if we don't have any other ideas. Do we have any other ideas?"

Twilight takes a moment to scan the human's face for any sign of him joking, when she doesn't find any, her gaze turns to Luna. "Luna?"

Luna doesn't seem to respond as she is also scanning the human's face, then looks to Twilight. "We could always try that old pegasus trick they use to wrangle up stray twisters. Use Justin's idea as a last resort."

Twilight gave her a nod then turned to Justin. The man gives them both a small smile. He relents and takes a few steps back away from the two alicorns to let them do what they agreed upon. Both princesses unfurled their wings and take off into the storm at blinding speeds. The human can see the streaks of bark blue and lavender as they race counter-clockwise to offset the twister they're in.

The twister starts to shift and sway, a crackle of magic starts to form around the two. Then it happens, the first to be ejected is Luna. She strikes the ground next to the human with a loud thud. Justin raises a brow at the scene, taking a moment to help the moon princess off the ground. The crackle starts up again and both look back towards the storm. The second ejection is a lavender form, this time hitting the human square in the chest. Justin's immediate reaction is to brace while wrapping his arms around Twilight to catch her, his heels having dug a little into the ground.

"Hm." The human grunts a little, opening his eyes to stare at the storm.

"What is it?" Luna asks, light prodding his side.

"Something, call it a hunch." He simply replies while setting the lavender mare back on her hooves. "Might need more wing power for these twisters."

"What do you mean by that?!" Twilight asks, using her wings to dust herself off. "Are you saying TWO alicorns aren't enough for these things?"

"I believe so, yes." Luna chimes in. "Shall we proceed with the first plan?"

Twilight gives an unsure nod to the princess and they both step forward, horns charging up a spell. They fire off their magic in concentrated beams at the base of the twister. The reaction is more potent this time but not quite what they're looking for. Justin walks up between the two, his eyes fixed on the storm ahead as he gently cups his fingers around their chins. Without a word, he starts to direct their beams closer until they meet. The wall of clouds start to react rather violently now before it disperses after a few minutes, sending out a shockwave that puts the trio on their asses.

"Hot damn! Now that's what I'm talking bout!" Justin screams like an excited filly, pumping his arms into the air.

"As much as I appreciate your revelry, dear Justin, but could you please watch your human cursing?" Luna sits up, rubbing her horn.

"For you, sure. Tia seems to find it 'charming' though" Justin says with a wide grin.

"My sister has some peculiar tastes as it is." Luna grumbles.

"Sure she do, but everyone tends to have those." Justin rises to his feet, helping the other two to their hooves. "Dirty little secrets and odd things that make us who we are."

"Like drinking hot sauce?" Twilight has smirk as she looks to him.

"How about a sweet tooth for cookies?" The human counters, causing the alicorn to scrunch her snout.

"Or eating peanut butter out of the jar?" He just points at Luna and winks at her.

They all break into a small fit of laughter, soon coming together in a hug. They hold the hug while moments pass for them to calm down from their merry quips at one another. Then they start to examine the sky above. Much like the library, Rainbow's cloud home is broken apart in chunks like it exploded. Rainbow is held up in the center, far above the ground and out of reach for one of them.

"How're all of us going to get up there?" Twilight ends up breaking the silence.

"Simple, Twi, you two will have to go up there and get her out."

Luna looks at the human with a bit of surprise. "What? You are coming with us!"

"If you haven't noticed, humans don't fly on their own. Neither can we stand on clouds naturally either."

"No inherent magic, right." Twilight sighs, bit of defeat in it. "What if we cast that cloud walking enchantment on you?"

"Could work, but how would I get up there?"

"We take turns lifting you with our magic." Luna replies.

It takes a little bit more convincing for the human to agree to the plan. Twilight cast the enchantment on him and Luna was the one to engulf him in her own telekinesis and fly him up to the first piece of cloud. Twilight flies a bit higher above and picks the human up on her way there. To say that Justin feels like a baton is putting it somewhat mildly. He feels like a ball being passed around like he is while trying his damn hardest to not look down and induce a panic attack. The entire process takes them all but a few minutes, the three of them surrounding Dash.

"So... we just push against it, and it'll let us into the dream?" Twilight asks, a bit confused at the explanation on the way up.

"Yes." Both Luna and Justin reply.

---

"Take that!" Rainbow yells out while throwing a kick.

Justin is finding himself blocking blow after blow from the prismatic pegasus. He doesn't know what's going on other than that Rainbow is fighting him. It's safe to say that he is currently losing this fight due to the sheer speed this mare flies at, and she hits just as hard. Then something clicks and he side steps out of the way of the kick, quickly grabbing the rainbow tail with both and pulling her back towards him. This throws Rainbow off as he grabs her and holds her back against his chest.

"Rainbow! Listen to me! I'm not going to fight you!" The human states as the athletic mare struggles against him.

"Should've thought about that before taking out my friends, you traitor!" Rainbow retorts, continuing her struggle.

"What.."

Justin doesn't have time to dwell on what she said for very long, she leans forward and rears her head back. The strike breaks his nose and he releases her from his grasp, opting to hold his face. What does she mean? A hind leg collides with the back of his head, putting the human on the ground. Justin is currently lost in his thoughts while poorly protecting himself from the prismatic assault. A kick to his side there and a hoof to the back of his head here.

"That's enough, Rainbow!" He heard Twilight's voice bellow in the Royal Voice.

A blast of magic hits Rainbow and freezes her mid-flight.

"T-Twilight! But you were-"

"I was what?" Twilight inquires, landing near the human.

Rainbow snarls as she gestures to the downed man. "I saw you taken out by that traitor!"

Twilight raises a brow and looks at the slowly recovering human next to her. "You okay?"

"Wish I could say I've had worse." Justin murmurs as he gets up on his hands and knees, battered to hell. "It isn't."

Luna is the next to show up, landing on the other side of Justin and helping him up.

"Princess Luna?" Dash sounds confused, then her eyes widen. "Oh pony feathers, this is a nightmare, isn't it?"

"Of course, young Rainbow Dash." Luna confirms. "We are all here together."

"Waaait... so that's-"

"The real me? Yeah. You hit like a sack of rocks, that hurt." Justin is holding on to his side with some red running down his nose. "Dream or not, this hurt."

"Tartarus" Rainbow curses under her breath, then looks at the human. "Sorry about that, Big Guy."

Rainbow gets released and is explained to about what's going on. She doesn't quite understand it and it takes Justin to give her a watered down version of their predicament. The cyan mare then explains to them her nightmare about the human turning on Equestria to take the Elements for himself. The three are looking at each other in contemplation. Luna then stands up and her horn flares up with a magic aura.

"I think it's time for you to join us."

---

Again, the human was first to open his eyes this time. Leaves him to wonder why that is as he feels for the pegasus. He finds her on his back, still snoozing. He makes the mistake of looking down and seeing the ground, almost going in to a full panic. Until he realizes that he isn't falling, he's just floating there. Justin knows it can't be Rainbow, the princesses are still alseep on nearby pieces of cloud. He feels something is out to get him here. He takes a cautious step out, and slides along nothing to the closest piece of cloud he can find.

He reaches the cloud and gently sets Rainbow down, then presses his hand into the fluffly mass. "Damn, these are soft."

"Rainbow..?" Twilight says in groggy tone, looking around for her friend.

"Over here." Justin quietly replies, waving to the lavender mare after taking a seat next to the sleeping pegasus.

Twilight flies over and seats herself next to Justin, looking over Rainbow. "Is she okay?"

"Oh yeah, she's going to be fine."

Luna soon joins them up on that piece cloud. The three exchanging some small smiles, believing they're making some sort of progress in the right direction. Rainbow lets out a cute little yawn while stretching out, causing the human to internally d'aw. She blinks her eyes a little bit to focus in on a three faces around her, then her eyes widen and pupils shrink at the realization of what just happened.

"Uh... hey." Rainbow meekly puts out.

"Hey yourself." Justin just replies with a smile.

Much like the library before it, the pieces of cloud start to shift and put Rainbow's house back together. The bright light and it's all back into one piece with the four in the main hall of the house. Rainbow is quick to get Twilight in a hug, watching the two, Justin uses his hips to nudge Luna's side and smile at her. The princess does return the smile and nudges the human back with her side.

Justin opens his mouth and is about to say something when a blur of rainbows and cyan clash with him. Rainbow takes the human in the tightest hug she can manage. He lets out a sharp gasp as the life is being squeezed out him, struggling to reach up and pat her on the back.

"Dash... can't... breathe." He manages to get out.

Rainbow quickly lets him go, a small blush on her cheeks. "Sorry, just wanted to thank you."

"You're welcome, just no death hugs yet." Justin chuckles a little and ruffles her mane.

The cyan mare tries not to show she enjoys the touch and gently swats his hand away.

"So, who's next?" Twilight asks on her approach to them.

"Hm.. a little extra unicorn magic couldn't hurt." Justin shrugs a little, shifting his eyes to the lavender Alicorn.

"Wait a second!" Rainbow interjected. "You can't be talking about Rarity! She's not even a fighter!"

"Right you may be, Dash, but I have a feeling this place isn't just going to let us try the alicorn trick we used to get to you." Justin takes a seat on the floor of the cloud home. "So, I think maybe some extra magic will help, even if it's not much."

"And what if that is not enough?" Luna asks the human.

As if finally catching on to the implications, Twilight responds with a small smile "We use wing power!"

---

The area outside the cloud villa turns out much like the library. Overcast giving way to a clear and star-filled night sky. The serenity of it was peaceful at best, but the remaining darkness over the rest of the dream state Ponyville remained and it wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. The four stand tall at the front of the house, ready for the next task. Justin took one look over the edge and takes a couple of noticeable steps back away from it.

Luna looks over at the human. "Are you okay, dear friend?"

"Not really a fan of heights." Justin manages to mutter.

"Oh don't be such a scaredy pony! It isn't that far down!" Rainbow adds.

"Easy for you to say, Dash!" Justin puts out his hand and gestures at her. "You got wings!"

"It's also just a dream. Can't you like imagine some wings or something?" Rainbow seems to throw out in a nonchalant manner.

"Unfortunately, it does not work like that, Rainbow Dash." Luna interjects now. "This is not a dream-state we have control of, it is something else."

"We could fly him down, the three of us." Twilight suggests, stepping closer to the human. "If that will help."

The human looks down at the cloud beneath his feet. A lavender hoof presses up against his chest, pulling his attention to the mare that put it there. He's met with a calm smile from the alicorn princess. He gazes over to Luna and she is just staring at him with concern. The gears turn as he thinks about what Twilight said, then he nods.

"Okay...let's go for it."

A couple of minutes later, they come to the ground. Justin having Luna in something of a death hug as he is carried down and set on the ground. Luna has to bring a hoof up and softly pat the human on his back, letting him know he's all right. He opens his eyes, looking at his surroundings and dropping his arms from the bark blue mare.

---

"I think it got bigger." Justin comments.

The storm before them looks more violent than before. Lightning seems to arc within it, lighting the pillar up. The twister also seems to have increased in size. It's a tad louder as well. The four just stand there, gazing up at the pillar of clouds.

"You all are afraid of this kind of storm? Hah! I can take that in my sleep!" Rainbow boasts, taking off towards the storm in a blur. "Leave it to me!"

"Dash wait!" Justin calls out a tad late.

They watch spirals of rainbow and cyan go around in the twister. The speed continues to take hikes until there are just rings of the two colors. The three take a couple of steps back as lightning arcs more sporadically, striking the ground cloe to the base of the twister. Then it happens, the storm spits Rainbow back out in the human's direction. The mare striking him square in the chest and sending him to the ground.

Twilight is the first to jump into action, helping Rainbow off the human and getting them both up. "Oh my gosh! Are you two okay?"

Justin just groans out in pain.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Dash replies, rubbing a hoof against her head. "What in the hay was that?"

"I do believe he did try to warn you." Luna chuckles as she walks up behind the human to keep him on his feet.

The human is tenderly rubbing his chest from the impact. He gives Rainbow a slight glare, even if it's a weak one.

"Should we try overloading this one?" Twilight asks the man.

"Worth a shot I guess." Justin replies, silently thanking Luna.

With a nod Twilight looks at Luna, she returns the nod and steps up to the storm with the younger alicorn, horns charged.

Justin lightly tugs Rainbow back towards him. "You may wanna step away for this."

Both princesses fire off their respective spells, meeting at the base of the of the twister. The reaction is almost instant as the storm engorges in the center. Rainbow's eyes widen as she tries to hide behind the human now. Lightning is arcing out and striking the ground around them, a few strikes a little too close for comfort. Magenta and pale lights flicker inside the storm before a beam shoots out towards Rainbow and Justin.

Twilight is quick to react, casting a shield over the two of them just as the beam is about to strike them. Justin having his arms around Rainbow, ready to take the brunt of the blow to his back. They both start to look around as nothing happens and see the dome Twilight is casting. Justin lets out a concerned hum as he stares at where the beam struck the shield. Both Luna and Twilight have stopped, gazing at the two.

Rainbow nudges the human. "Whatcha thinkin' about big guy?"

"I thinks we need a new take." He mutters, rubbing his chin.

What he doesn't say is that he feels a target has been on him since they arrived. It's no coincidence that he was hit by almost all three mares here and a close call with some magic. His staring at the storm, however, is giving him something of an idea. A smile creeps it's way across his face and he motions for the girls to come together.

"I have something, a long shot, but it's something." Justin opens once they're all within earshot.

"It's better than nothing." Twilight responds.

"Alrighty then. Here's what I got." The human takes a moment to clear his throat. "Twi and Dash will fly counter-clockwise in the storm wh-"

"Did me crashing into you knock a few screws loose in that head of yours?" Rainbow interrupts. "We tried that, didn't work, remember?"

"You tried doing it yourself, net me finish, Dash." Justin snaps back. "While Luna, you'll be blasting the storm with magic."

"Wait, why just me?" Luna asks. "Won't Twilight's magic be more help with mine?"

"Possibly, but your magic is stronger than hers and she has stronger wings than Fluttershy."

"Better not let her know you said that." Rainbow snarks.

"She's admitted she isn't a strong flyer anyway." The human remarks back. "Any more questions?"

Luna shakes her head along with Twilight.

"I just want to get my friends out of here." Twilight says.

The human breaks the group up with a smile, helping pick out some decent positions for them to start. Luna being somewhat close to use her magic and horn charging. Twilight and Rainbow farther back to gain speed as they fly into the storm. Justin uses his hands to signal their flight path and the two friends fly off and start their rounds. The storm has an almost immediate reaction.

Next up is Luna, he signals her with a pat on her shoulder and she fires away. The spell colliding with the spiraling clouds of varying colors. The storm emits something a kin to a growl but it's otherworldly. The smile morphs into a grin as the human takes it as a sign that it's working. The lightning starts to arc again, striking the grounds near them and the clouds above. Justin stays close to Luna as the lightning strikes out.

One of them arcs towards the pair, Justin sticking his hand up on instinct. It hits him but is deflected to the ground near them.

"The hell?" Justin questions, looking at his hand to see no mark.

"Is something the matter, dear Justin?" Luna asks, still focusing a stream of magic at the storm's base.

Justin looks to her for a moment. "I think I just deflected lightning?"

Before Luna could open her mouth to say something, the storm collapses in on itself. Twilight and Rainbow fleeing from the storm to join up with the other two. Rainbow being more pumped up at the display of storm busting rather than the stare down going on between the human and the princess. Twilight walks up to them, almost inquisitive about what' going on.

"Hey, is something the matter?" She asks.

"No, not at all Twi." Justin responds first. "Why don't you take Rainbow to Rares and we'll catch up."

Twilight just nods, figuring she will be told when the time is right.

Taking Luna with an arm, he turned their backs to the destroyed boutique. In a hushed tone he opens up. "Look, I know this is going to sound weird, but I think I deflected a bolt of lightning."

"How?" Luna whispers back.

"I may not have been entirely honest about all my problems here of late."

Luna's gaze of concern shifted to a glare. "I am not mad, friend. More disappointed that you did not see it fit to tell us about your problems. Do you not trust us?"

"It-it's not that, Luna. I do trust you, I just didn't know how bring it up. More so I needed to know for sure if it's real." Justin looks down a bit in shame.

"What else have you been experiencing?" Luna asks, bringing a hoof to his chin and makes him look at her.

"Well, floating, things appearing near me, rooms in my house shifting gravity, appearing around town at random." Justin looks over his shoulder to look at Dash and Twilight, seeing that they are somewhat distracted. "I was flying after we got Dash out of her sleep."

Luna gazes at him some more. "Do you know what it is?"

Justin just shakes his head.

"How long have you been experiencing these things?"

"I think several months?" Justin seems uncertain now.

"We will discuss this when we are out of here." Luna states, the human just nods.

---

"You will not lay a hoof on my Element, ruffian!" Rarity yells out, firing off a spell behind her towards her pursuer.

She finds herself sprinting through the thick brush of the Everfree. It's trees looming over casting shadows on the dirt path below. Rarity comes to a screeching halt as the path comes to an end. She starts to frantically look around for another way out. With no such luck, she turns to face her rapidly encroaching pursuer and charges a spell on her horn.

"Well, here goes nothing, I suppose." Rarity mutters under her breath.

Failing to notice four more figures rise from the bushes behind her. The figure chasing her comes to a complete stop just a little ways away. Rarity just smiles, not knowing why the thing chasing her has stopped.

"What I thought." She harrumphs

A rainbow blur flies right past her and towards the figure. The trail is followed by magenta and pail magic, then a familiar lanky form dashing right by. Realizing that her friends have manifested here is causing a state of confusion. She looks behind her to see Twilight and Princess Luna step out of the bushes, horns charged and ready for a fight. Rainbow collides with the figure, knocking it off-balance. The two spells hit the figure next and knock it to the ground. Justin follows up and drops an elbow right onto the figure and cast it back to the shadows.

"Wha-How did you all get in here?!" Rarity asks, figuring the answer may be Luna.

Rainbow lands next to her friends. "Dream within a dream."

Well, that certainly wasn't the answer she expected. "What?"

"Rainbow is kind of right." Twilight agrees, as does Luna with a nod.

"I feel like everypony here has gone crazy." Rarity mutters.

"Feels like that, don't it?" A familiar male voice calls out from behind. "Trust us-"

Rarity lets out a small 'eep!' and a spell slams into Justin's body, knocking him down.

"Woah there, Rare!" Dash flies out in front of her before another spell is cast. "It's okay, he's our human."

"How can you know for certain?" Rarity asks, raising an eyebrow.

"I did just land a pretty sweet elbow drop on that thing chasing you." Justin mutters as he gets back up.

It takes some convincing for Rarity to finally not blast the human a second time. With word from both of her best friends and a princess, she finally drops the offensive and allows him to get close. After some small talking amongst them, Rarity does accept that this one is the real human she knows. Once they all come to an agreement, the dream fades away from their senses.

---

Hushed whispers fill the air around him. He can't make out what they're saying, but it sounds like they're over him. The ground is cold, almost too cold to be comfortable. Was that carpet? At least it was soft, it's no cloud but still. His senses slowly came back to him. The voices were clearer, he can hear-no-FEEL the concern in their tone? That is a strange feeling. He opens his eyes slow, blurry vision plaguing him.

"Hellooooo?" A raspy mare's voice calls out. "Equestria to the Big Guy!"

Justin's vision starts to focus, seeing the five mares staring down at him. Except Dash, she's floating mere inches from his face.

"Dash, you get an closer and I may suck ya face off." He teases, causing the pegasus mare to reel back and sputter.

"Oh thank goodness you're okay, darling! You had us worried!" Rarity exclaims.

Justin starts to sit up, rubbing his eyes. "Worried? Why?"

"You may have been talking in your sleep, friend." Luna responds.

"Couldn't see it?"

Luna just shakes her head and the human huffs.

"Figures."

The group sit around on the boutique floor is something of a circle. Most of it idle chit-chat as they're taking the breather. Luna seems to be remaining silent for the most part, just enjoying the company. Justin slowly scooching his way over to her, inch by inch. Up until he was close enough to slightly nudge her with his shoulder, grabbing her attention away from the group.

"Bit for your thoughts?" Justin whispers to her. "I see that look in your eyes."

"Do you not find it strange?" Luna seems to ask, but not being specific.

"Find what strange?" The human has a tone of confusion.

"These two Element bearers having dreams about you turning on us?" Luna hasn't looked back to the group yet, still scanning the human's features.

Justin scratches his cheek a bit in thought and nods. They don't talk much more about as they turn their full attention back to the group. The human in his deepening concern about witnessing the recent dreams. He mostly stays next to Luna while the group continues on. Once a comfortable silence takes the room, a plan is formulated for the next captors of this weird place: Applejack and Fluttershy.