The Small Hero Within Us

by Darkevony

Chapter 3: The Moment of Truth, Lies, and Self-Sacrifice

Lunge after lunge, the toy wooden sword met and parried each blow that came its way. Each swipe at it arrived with such intensity, that the vibrations from the impact left its wielder shaken up a little more as it trembled between his teeth. Yet, the small colt did not falter, even as a the rocky tail of a Cragadile struck him on his side, sending shockwaves of pain across his body.

Pip had never fought with such ferocity before. His mind had only one track now. He was fighting for the sake of someone he really cared about after all, and that was enough to summon all of his bravery in order to save the Princess which helped to beat out the fear in his heart as he fought back the waves of monsters one by one as much as he could and as desperately as he was able to. While his efforts still did not amount to much, for once, he was finally standing his ground in real combat. Or as real as fighting in a dream can get.

It's in times of dire stress when individuals tend to show their truest nature. And Pip, well, he was undeniably hero material. His mind was sharp and clear despite the terror that griped at it, and he could follow every lightning quick movement tossed his way. While he did not have the strength to fight back in any capacity, he had just enough to protect himself from attacks as they connected with his sword. Just enough agility and reactionary speed to dodge projectiles and other more heavy close combat hits. And barely just enough wit to keep himself from being surrounded and outnumbered. And while "barely" is not the kind of quality anyone would want in their hero, it was barely enough to still be one.

Still, this battle really was the best that Pip had ever fought in his life. The Tantabus' assault had started off lean and normal as far as his usual nightmares were concerned, and he might have performed better had he faced off against the monsters of any night prior to tonight. That was until the Princess herself responded to his calls and appeared to him in his dreams. Something was off about Luna. Nothing in her appearance, but evident by the very Tantabus itself when all of its many forms turned to look at her after she had crossed the boundaries between dreams and into Pip's. Like sunflowers, the gazes of the monster army locked on to her while she flew over the battlefield. Then they shuttered in place as if a cold chill had run down their spines, likely from the new feelings resting inside the Princess.

To Luna and Pip's dismay, this was not a welcome reaction. Not one bit. Suffice it to say, whatever the Tantabus had taken from Luna's heart at that point in time only managed to doom them further. Finding the monsters distracted for a moment with the Princess, Pip used the opportunity to begin his assault and heaved his mightiest blow against the hide of the nearest Timberwolf. His raised wooden sword fell onto the wolf's side, only for his sword to fly backwards from a burst of light that happened upon impact, sending a shockwave powerful enough to toss even Pip's whole body backwards as well and winding him from the force of it. He quickly regained himself and took his trusty sword into his mouth again to face his enemy.

But there the ghastly sight of the monsters had grown ominous and dark, still with their eyes fixated on the Princess who was flying way above the ground preparing some sort of spell. Now the outlines of each of the monsters were exuding a purple mist from every inch of their bodies, like smoke jetting from an engine's blast pipe with violence. The maws of the beasts with horrible jaws in that monster army like the Timberwolves and Cockatrices grew pointier and scarier by the second, their very fangs and claws growing in size and sharpness. The muscles on the monsters with the most profound muscle definition like the Manticores and Cragadiles bulged and rippled in the moonlight, hardening as if readying for a pounce or a chase. And even the eyes on the small parasprites were glowing with a hint of malice.

“Princess Luna!” Pip yelled out to the Princess who was all too focused on her spell, hoping to catch her attention. Upon hearing those words however, she put a pause to it and scanned the ground to find the small colt.

“Pip! Get back! These monsters are not after you! I’m here to lure them away!”

“I know! I came to tell you about it! It’s important that you should know!” At Pip’s words, the Princess flew down to grab him and place him at an even further distance away from the monster army. Their gazes never stopped following her but they did not physically follow. It was as if they were waiting for something...

“Tell me about what?” The Princess finally asked as she set him down.

“This magical mist. Mr. Rock told me about it when I went to go visit him today.”

“Sorry for not showing up, Pip. I’ve had a lot on my hooves, as you can see.”

“It’s okay, Princess. I understand. I also spoke to Diamond Tiara. She told me it was important that you should know what the purple mist is!”

“It’s a Tantabus, Pip. A dream monster created by regrets. My Tantabus... It seems that your nightmares have all been my fault. I’m really sorry about all of this.”

“Wait, you already knew?!”

“I only found out about it this morning. It’s why I didn’t show up. Ever since I acknowledged what it was and actively started to fight against it, it’s been growing more and more powerful. Now it seems to have grown to this extent...”

“What can I do to help you, Princess? There has to be a way to get rid of it!”

“I’m sorry, Pip. But I can’t have you involved with this. That’s why, while I still can, I’m going to lure it away from your dreams. I'm going to cast my spell and create a portal through the pond, so take caution not to step into it after we're gone. Everything will finally be alright for you after today's dreams, Pip.”

Before Luna could take into a flight again and back towards the pond, Pip stopped her by placing a hoof to one of her forelegs. “Wait, Princess! I can help. Take me with you!”

“That's out of the question. It's much too dangerous for you!” Her face had furrowed with a troubled expression as she tried inching away from Pip so she could have enough clearance to fly off.

"You shouldn't have to fight this alone!"

"No, Pip. That's my final answer." Luna's voice had harshened as she was growing increasingly more annoyed. And something else entirely. Without either of them noticing, the silent patient army in the background was now taking small steps towards them. They seemed to be sensing something else in there that was driving them, or "it" since it was all one monster, crazy. It was that something else in Luna's hesitation.

"I can't just let you fight this on your own Princess! You've been suffering longer than anyone. It doesn't have to be this way! Please, Princess Luna. Let me hel-""

"ENOUGH!!" Luna's frustration had boiled all the way to the top and had incurred her royal voice to yell out that word. It came with such suddenty and anger, it had taking Pip entirely by surprise, causing him to flinch and be unable to speak another word. When his heart finally slowed and the ringing in his ears ended, he looked up towards the Princess again only to be met by a terrible expression splattered across her face. A mixture of anger, of sadness, of concern, and of disappointment... “You need to learn when to give up, Pip. For your own good. This isn’t your fight. You’ll never be a true hero.” Her words were soft and gentle now, but she was saying the worst things that Pip could have imagined.

At these words, Pip’s heart seemed to wretch with pain. His eyes grew uncomfortable from a pressure coming from within as tears welled up behind them. What little enthusiasm and bravado he had been desperately holding onto had left him.

The Princess stepped backwards and took flight, her invocation now complete with her spell at the ready. Before she could send it in the direction of the pond however, a horde of parasprites had now descended upon the Princess, forcing her to ground to better protect herself from their tiny, but admittedly painful bites. But the parasprites were the least of her concern now that she had taken to ground, as the rest of the monsters had already begun their assault and were waiting for the opportunity to attack. With their newly increased strength, even Princess Luna was now finding it difficult to fend off the encroaching mass and was being quickly overwhelmed.

Glassy-eyed from the mist of tears that refused to drop from his eyes, Pip regained his heart at the sound of Princess Luna grunting as she desperately fought her way towards the pond. He quickly wiped his eyes with his forelegs to see her being attacked by the cockatrices and timberwolves. And although his limbs failed to respond to him in earnest at first, the sight of a cockatrice sinking its sharp teeth into Luna's hindleg which caused her to yelp in response, spurred him to action once more.

Despite the horde being almost entirely focused on the Princess, Pip's presence had caught the attention of a few monsters which had readied themselves to attack him as soon as he got close. The head of a timberwolf lowered with it's maw agape in order to do just that as Pip ran towards the closest one. Before he could get close to feel its jaws close in on him however, he dug his hindlegs into the ground and leaped over its open mouth and onto its head, propelling him upwards as it tried to shake him off by bring its head back up. One by one, Pip stomped on the monsters who were now swiping at his hooves as he jumped near and on top of them. Quickly adapting since they were all of one mind, the Tantabus calculated one of his jumps after his fifth consecutive one and quickly diverted all of the monsters out of the way to keep him from continuing the chain, inevitably leading him to hitting the floor and kicking up a cloud of dust from the powdery layer of dirt on the ground.

If Pip has one good quality, it was his quick-thinking in such situations. With only seconds to act before the obfuscation from the cloud of dust fell again, he kicked the nearest pebble towards a tightly packed group of monsters in the opposite direction of Luna, making them believe that he was trying to escape through them. The gazes from the monster army all turned to look at where they were fooled into believing that Pip had escaped to. The monsters in that area had gone into a tussle, all of them scrambling over each other to look up, down, and around each other. For all the advantages that the Tantabus had with its army following one mind, its disadvantage came when such tricks were played on it, as an unorganized army might have spotted him slipping between their legs. But with EVERY nearby gaze turned either to Luna or where he had created his diversion, he was practically invisible for those precious short moments before it realized Pip was nowhere near there. By the time it had figured that out, Pip had already squeezed his way to Luna's side and was fending off her assailants.

"Are you okay, Princess?!" He yelled above the noise of battle to better understand the wounds Luna might have incurred.

"I'm fine." Luna grunted while she let out wide-sweeping laser beams left and right. "This the dream realm Pip, we can't be injured here. It's just a bit painful, is all." Her voice was quiet and strained, from more than the physical and magical effort she was exerting. Deep inside, Pip understood that what the Princess had said before had hurt her to say just as much as it hurt him to hear. But now with the fighting underway, there was no time to think any deeper than that. All the two could do was inch towards the pond with Luna clearing the way ahead of them while Pip protected the rear to keep her from being overrun.

If you've never fought a Tantabus before, consider this: Imagine an unfeeling, unstoppable monster. A normal hero may never have to face the level of difficulty that comes from fighting one. Battles, you see, have hundreds of different factors in them that can give an individual an advantage, and most conventional heroes fighting their battles in the waking world use them constantly, subconsciously, and often times purposely without knowing it. One of many such examples is the psychological aspect of it. Instilling fear in an opponent. Whom do you think you'd face better off against, someone brimming with confidence that they'll win, or one cowering in fear? Someone who can be read like an open book or someone who is a complete mystery?

There's also a physical element of pain and emotional feedback to it. In the same way that hitting something terribly hard with a baseball bat can leave your muscles shaken from the recoil, so too are there psychological effects when being assaulted by the feeling of pain. It takes you a while to recover from hitting your head slightly hard upon a low ceiling or stubbing your hoof against a table leg, doesn't it? So imagine recovering your senses after a much harder hit, one entirely intended to incapacitate you. Our bodies do a great job of providing adrenaline to ignore such pain, but we all have our limits.

With all that said, now picture what fighting a Tantabus is like. It cannot feel pain, not one bit. Smacking it does not cause it to flinch or even to reel back in order to take caution after it has become damaged enough, which is usually when battles have their small moments of breathing room in order to give either of the combatants their chance to reassess their approach. For the entire breath-stopping moment of its assault as it tries to maul you, it upkeeps its ferocity with zero downtime even after an exchange of blows.

It cannot feel emotions or psychological changes. Any attacks against it might as well be bug bites, and even strong enough blows that disperse it into its cloudy form only stops it momentarily in order to reconstitute its fallen monster. Pip and Luna were learning of this the hard way, since the horde was equally as endless as it was ferocious.

Worse of all, a Tantabus does not think logically. It does not think at all. It has no mind to speak of, only a goal it must meet at any cost. It does not value its safety one bit, so it was throwing itself at Pip and Luna entirely with a reckless abandon that was incomprehensible to any living being.

Without a doubt, fighting a Tantabus is perhaps one of the most difficult challenges a hero would ever have to face. And Pip, for all his lack of heroic traits and inexperience, was still managing to hold his own while doing a mighty fine job of keeping Luna safe as her rearguard. He'd bat parasprites away with his sword like baseballs, using his body to shield the Princess from the few stragglers who managed to slip his aim. Thankfully, the parasprites did not have teeth, so there were no seriously painful bites amongst their midst. Even with the knowledge that he could not be wounded at all within the dream realm, the pain was very much real and there was only so much of it that he could withstand, so he had purposely not paid them too much attention during the fight which had allowed them to bite him on occasion, all in order to help him focus on the bigger, more dangerous monsters.

Unfortunately, the Tantabus was far too strong for them both, and it knew it. It was only a matter of time. And that time was looking to be fast approaching when things became truly dire after Pip had lost his sword trying to protect the Princess from a Timberwolf that had aimed its jaws against her wings. With barely enough time to act, Pip tossed his wooden sword into it's mouth to stop it from crunching down just as it was about to set its teeth upon her. This bought Luna enough time to react to it properly and blast it away with her magic, which had unfortunately destroyed the sword in the process.

With no weapon left to defend him, Pip was now entirely vulnerable and he would have felt the horrible repercussion of that against a manticore's open claws that swung at him in that moment, but stopped just short of connecting. With how desperately he'd fought to keep Luna safe, he hadn't noticed that they had finally managed to make their way to the pond.

Luna cast her magic directly at the pond in the middle of the grotto, transforming its nightly reflection into a swirling mass of energies that likely led to another dream world for which the Tantabus to haunt. She flew straight up into the air high, high above, and with her magic, she produced a bright light that had called the attention of the Tantabus. They both seemed to understand what came next. Luna turned to face Pip one more time, sadness written all over her face. "This was never your fight, Pip. Please, I beg of you, do not follow. You will only get in the way... I’m sorry. For everything I’ve put you through. One day I hope you can forgive me.” Her voice carried with it a truly somber finality. Pip could do nothing more as she then dove into the pond to disappear from view. All of the monster gazes tracked her descent as she dipped into it, and like moths to a flame, all of them followed. Leagues of them poured into the pond by the handful, all wildly tossing themselves into the pool. Until finally, all that remained was that quiet grotto and that still swirling portal-bound pond.

His heart was still racing a mile a minute from the sheer adrenaline coursing through his body, but more than that, his mind was trying to process all that had happened in those moments. He peered over the edge of the pond in hopes to catch a glimpse of where the Princess had traveled to, with no luck as it showed nothing of note. He was feeling the strongest desire to be a hero that he had ever had in his life at that moment, wishing he could take that leap in. But his mind was now reliving the Princess' words again, which ultimately gave him pause.

You will never be a true hero. You will only get in the way.

His heart seemed to be flushing away into those murky depths, drowning in sadness as he thought more on it. Maybe he could've stomached those words from a stranger or someone he disliked, as it was easier to swallow. But by someone you cared about? It was devastating. The tears that had been held back that entire time had now found their out, streaming freely into the pond.

And he would have likely stayed this way until the end of this particular dream, when at that moment, three figures were thrown about the grotto behind him, landing with resounding thuds as they hit the ground. Spooked at first, Pip's first instinct was to dry his eyes to keep anyone from seeing his weakness.

“Ow, ow, ow. I think I bent my tail.” Spike held on to his tail as he got up from the ground and shook the dirt off of himself, getting his bearings and immediately running over to the small changeling when he noticed what had happened, forgetting his pain entirely. “Chrys?! You okay?”

“Mm.” She said, nodding from where she was still hunched over on the floor, slowly recovering herself. "I'm, fine. Where is, Tiara?”

“You mean the one who got us into this mess?!” Spike crossed his arms, furious as he turned to look over at Tiara who had landed near Pip and was being helped up by him.

“Wait, what are you guy doing here? Am I still in a dream?” Pip looked at them quizzically, not understanding why they had shown up like this. For all he knew, these were just figments of his dream.

“Guardian, Mr. Rock spell, go bang!” Chrys tried explaining.

“No idea what the spell was originally for anymore. It got interrupted midway through and we suddenly found ourselves here with you, Pip. Speaking of which, this place looks familiar...” Tiara trembled as if she had just had a shiver run down her spine. “Um, but yeah, whatever that spell was that friend of yours gave you, it was really something. Like, I’m talking REALLY something. Ancient magic sort of something. You know, the dead kind of magic that no one in Equestria, not even the millennia-old royal sisters remember anymore. The kind of magic that can create eternal apparitions like the Windigos.”

“Oh... That sounds serious. I wonder why Mr. Rock wanted us to have it.”

“If you don't know, then I know less. But this does make me want to visit your friend later to ask. Thankfully the spell seems harmless enough, we should all be fine and back to normal once this dream ends.”

“Wait, wait. What’s going on?” Spike interjected, not fully understanding the circumstances or even as to where he was. They quickly laid it out plainly for him so he could catch up. "We're in a dream right now? Doesn't look like one." Spike looked around the grotto to see what amounted to a battle site, with laser beams having scorched the nearby earth and trees, and where monsters had thread the grasses into oblivion.

“Speaking of which, Pip. I don’t see Princess Luna anywhere. Did you get the message to her?”

“I did.” He said sadly as he went back to looking at the swirling pool.

“Pip, going to be, okay?” Chrys asked him even more worriedly than usual, seeing fully well how distraught he was.

“I don’t know, to be honest. Probably not...”

“Why, what happened Pip? Did you fail?” Tiara asked as she watched the small changeling make her way to his side, placing a hoof on his shoulder to console him.

“No, I was able to tell her directly. But the Princess already knew about the Tantabus. She even knew that it was hers. The Tantabus was too strong. It nearly overpowered us. She decided to run to another dream and lure it away from mine to protect me. That’s why this pond is like this right now.” He pointed to the whirlpool of energies. "She's probably fighting it alone right now... I want everything to save her, but... she told me not to follow." He walked over to its edge again to peer into the waters with longing.

"It's for the best, Pip." Tiara had now joined his side to peer over to the waters. "Tantabi are beyond us. It's not something that we can deal with on our own. But everything will be alright once Twilight steps in. Princess Luna will find her heart."

"How can you be so sure? And how will she last that long? You said that Twilight is meant to know after a few more days right? I can't possibly imagine the Princess lasting out that long after what we went through already..."

"You'll just have to trust me, Pip. Just have fait-"

Spike interrupted at that moment, overhearing their talk and none too happy over what had transpired. "Now that's the biggest load of boloney I've heard so far! Why are we even trusting Tiara of all ponies here?! We should be going to tell Twilight what happened immediately! She deserves to know."

While Spike didn't know just how much of a big deal a Tantabus could be, he understood it was serious. And by now with all that he had gone through with Twilight and her adventures, he knew better than to keep such matters away from her. Nothing Tiara said could change his mind, even when echoed by Chrys who was asking for him to reconsider. Up until now, he was convinced that Tiara was leading the small changeling astray and he'd been secretly upset about having Tiara over in the castle to study with them. Perhaps there was even a hint of jealousy now that Chrys was spending less time with him so that she could attend to Tiara instead. Whatever the case, Spike would not budge on his stance, and as soon as this dream was up, he would likely go to tell Twilight all about it.

All the while Tiara fruitlessly tried persuading the ornery baby dragon, Pip wallowed in his thoughts. He felt entirely alone even when surrounded by friends, since none of them seemed to share or so much as understand just how horrible a gut feeling it was to know that there was something he could yet do, but was denied doing it. The Princess was in trouble at that very moment. He had seen what kind of trouble it was first-hoof! And yet... Every time he felt the call to action, asking for him to jump into the pool, he swatted that feeling down into the corners of his mind, thus stunting his soul just a little bit more in the process.

"Spike, please calm dow-"

"How can I calm down Tiara?! I knew I couldn't trust you!"

"That's on me, I know. I take full blame for everything I've done in the past, and I'm truly sincerely sorry Spike. But this is not the time to argue. Please if you would just listen..."

"I listened once. I listened twice. I tried with you. But every single time, you bit my open hand. So now you have to give me a real good reason to trust in your lies."

"I..." Tiara's heart seemed to falter, not knowing what to say. "I have none... I'm sorry. So, so very sorry Spike. I don't expect for you to ever have a reason to listen to me. And I don't expect for you to ever forgive me. But please, just this one more time, listen and know that this is for the good of Princess Luna. This could have severe consequences for the Princess if we go to tell Twilight about it now. This is going to sound so far-fetched and outlandish, especially coming from me, but the truth of it is... is that I know the future. I know Luna is going to make it out of this alright, and that everything will be fine. But if something, ANYTHING, deviates this event for her, then the future I know might not come to pass. And with a monster like the Tantabus, that could spell certain doom for Equestria as a whole."

Spike only rolled his eyes, growing more annoyed with such a flimsy reasoning. "Okay. Let's say that IS true even for a moment. Maybe you DO know the future and everything that happens in it. So then, why would you care about the fate of Equestria?! Aren't you trying to ruin it too?! Let's not forget the very pony who almost brought ruin to Equestria before by tipping off Nightmare Moon where Twilight and her friends were going for the elements of Harmony the first time around when we first arrived here in Ponyville! From what Twilight told me, they almost lost because of you, since Nightmare Moon tried time and again to split them apart on their way to the castle of the two sisters. Thankfully their friendship pulled them through."

"..." Now Tiara truly was speechless. Her head seem to lower in shame at having her history thrown back at her.

"And that's not the only time you almost doomed us all! You also sided with Discord when he made a mess of everything and tried turning us around by keeping Twilight from reigniting her friendship with the others! Or when you told Trixie about Twilight's plan to trick her out of the Alicorn Amulet which almost jeopardized her plan and all of Ponyville! Thankfully, Twilight was careful to lock that thing away. Especially when you tried to steal it almost immediately after for yourself!"

Chrys had now made her way over to Tiara to comfort her, as she seemed to be shaking with remorse after having heard a mention of that event with Trixie. Something about that whole incident, despite not being nearly as world-shatteringly catastrophic as the previous two, seemed to be the worst of it for her. Tiara seemed strong enough to stomach all and any terrible accusations thrown her way. She was strong enough to accept them, take responsibility for them, and apologize for them. She was strong enough to still keep face even after having to do many hard tasks in order to try and redeem herself of them. Something about this new Tiara was just that much more mature and strong. She was almost entirely unlike how she used to be.

But in hearing about that event, she seemed to shrink a little. Her internal sobs seemed to well from her throat, and the slight tremor of her sadness seemed to revert her to the child she was meant to be. A vulnerable, emotional child who could really use a bit of love and understanding, if nothing else. Thankfully for her, there was one such creature there for her. And that creature was now shooting quite the glare at Spike while using its hooves to comfort the ailing girl beside her.

"What's that look for? I'm only stating the truth..." That look was enough to make Spike reflect on his words, although indignantly since he didn't feel like he was wrong to have said them. He hadn't meant to attack Tiara so harshly but the circumstances had called for him to bring it up to defend his stance. Still, how was he to know that his words would be a landmine for her? It never felt nice to make others feel terrible, even if that someone was an infamous mean-girl like Tiara who entirely deserved it.

At that moment, Chrys tried placing her forehead to Tiara and she closed her eyes in order to focus on her horn, but after a bit, nothing happened. This is the part where her horn would've lit up in the warm golden light of her magic in order to use her soothing spell, but instead, there was no such effect.

"It's okay, Chrys, thank you for thinking of me. I'll be fine. It's understandable that you're confused about your magic. We're in the dream realm right now. You need to be attuned to dream magic in order to use any spells here. So only Princess Luna is able to make anything happen here with magic. Or, I guess, the Tantabus as well." Tiara said to the concerned and befuddled expression on the little changeling as she sniffed back her remorse with a foreleg, quickly composing herself again. "And don't think badly of Spike, Chrys. You weren't here for those events when they happened, but what he says is the truth. I did almost cause everyone's ruin multiple times..." The regret in her voice was palpable.

"Thank you, at least someone gets it." Spike crossed his arms. "But I won't budge in that we NEED to let Twilight know."

This conversation between the two would've gone in circles since Tiara could not afford to let Twilight know just yet and Spike did not trust her even an inch, but at that moment, the pond exploded into the air as if a giant behemoth had just canon-balled into it with force. The water spurt that was kicked up went high, high even above the canopy of trees surrounding the forest, until it eventually rained down the dispersed water onto everything on the ground. Thankfully for dream-realm logic, none of the kids were left wet after being bombarded with that shower.

Pip had gotten quite the scarce since he had spent that entire time looking over the edge of the pond trying to picture anything within that magical swirl. But all he could see was the occasional flashes of magic lighten up in spots across the pond sort of like a lightning storm. It was the signs of a magical battle taking place across the dream plane. Right before the pond burst, Pip saw that the flashes had stopped altogether, and instead, the pool became a dark swirl of oranges, blues and greens. They started off as muted dark colors, but slowly, instead of pockets of light illuminating at random, now it was the entire pool that was becoming brighter and brighter, as if the entire dream plane was being FILLED with incomprehensible amounts of magic. Only inches off the water, Pip's attention was focused entirely on the pool now and was desperately trying to make sense of what these signs meant, wanting to know what had happened to the Princess. He could sense a hot melting heat emanating from the energies in the water, but strangely, he could also feel a freezing, blistering cold.

Then it happened. After the light had grown far too bright to look at, the pond imploded causing it to sink into itself and then rise up high into the air in a sort of explosion of energies. What remained was a thoroughly spooked group of kids who had been too busy arguing to notice what was about to happen, Pip whose heart had nearly left his chest after getting a face-full of water thrown on his face, and the pond who now lay still and silent like shimmering glass.

But that wasn't the only difference in the pond. Now that it had calmed, it was now showing with almost impeccable clarity the sight of the dream realm it was connecting to. And there in that image Pip's heroic desires were now screaming at him to JUMP IN.

The waters were now showing that Princess Luna had been defeated. But it wasn't an army that had done her in. None of the monsters from his dream realm had translated over to this new dream. Instead, it looked to be that Luna had been defeated by a single creature. That creature was a wavy dark purple cloud in the image of the very cosmos, it's silhouette in the shape of a tall unicorn pony. It wasn't clear as to where they were in that dream realm, as everything that could be seen of the scenery was abnormally dark and green from moss having overgrown every part of the walls and ground. The image also had a slight distortion that could not have been from the pond's reflection, as it was deadly still. Instead, the distortion of the image seemed to wave and flow with each movement that Luna or the unicorn figure made, as if they were viewing this scenario happening deep, deep underwater. Into the dark ocean depths. Which would've explained the moss and lack of light being shown.

"Wait, Princess Luna has been defeated?! Oh no! This is not what was supposed to happen at all... What changed? What could've caused this?! I don't know... not enough information, too many blind spots in the story..." Tiara's voice muttered to herself as she viewed the image while peering over Pip's shoulder. The kids had all crowded around the pond with Pip in order to view what had happened and to see the images being shown through it.

"What did you say Tiara? Is this not part of the plan?" Pip had caught her words despite her trying to mutter exclusively to herself. Her blank stare to him as she tried processing this new information seemed to tell him everything he needed to know.

"Mistress!" Chrys' voice yelled out at the sight of that cloudy apparition. Something about this whole image was seeming very familiar to the young changeling, and her own desperation was beginning to grow after seeing that cloudy unicorn figure. Chrys turned to look at Spike to see if he shared the same thoughts as her. In unison, the both of them knew exactly the kind of threat they were facing now.

"Tiara! Get us out of this dream right now! We need to go tell Twilight as soon as possible!" Spike sounded deadly alarmed now, urging her with intensity.

"Even if I wanted to, Spike, I can't! We have to let this dream end naturally. None of us can break this spell without dream magic."

"Oh this is not good, this is not good at all!" Spike was now dancing on his feet, nervous as all can be. "I didn't think that when you said 'Tantabus', you meant THAT of all things."

"Of course I meant that. A Tantabus. Luna's regrets come to life." Tiara reiterated what she'd said about it before. But then, she had a realization as she said it. "Wait wait wait, how do you know of it Spike?"

"Are you making some sort of joke right now, Tiara? It's not funny. ALL of Ponyville should already know about those things. Maybe not by name, since this is the first I'm hearing about it. But this is not the first time we've faced one!"

"What?! I never heard about this. Chrys is this true?" Tiara turned to Chrys to see her nod in response.

"Mom's... monster."

"Your mother's? But that would be... Hold on, so that incident that happened in the past with changelings was Ponyville dealing with a Tantabus?"

"Seriously Tiara, you were there too, don't you remember? It's not something you just forget. What's up with you? Knowing the future and now not even remembering such an important event in Ponyville..." Spike's suspicion was now through the roof, and he had now gotten in front of Chrys to stand between them, putting his arms out to keep her from getting closer. Spike was now partly believing that Tiara was connected to this entire thing, and perhaps even a part of the Tantabus' ploy too. It had happened before, after all.

"No seriously, I don't remember! I... wasn't there for it when it happened." Whatever Tiara had mumbled at the end there had fortunately not been caught by anyone. "But if that is all the case, then I've been turned around from the start!" She laughed defeatedly as she slumped into the ground, having to restart her entire idea of the 'future' she understood. "This should have been the first time Equestria was supposed to be met with a Tantabus in over a millenia. But I failed to realize that wasn't the case... and so the future I thought I knew is no longer the future that is happening now. Oh how could I have been so stupid..." She turned to Spike who was still trying to keep Chrys away from her. Tiara looked terribly defeated, tired from having thought so much and so hard over everything. Now she seemed to be turning herself over to the whims of fate.

"So what are you saying Tiara?" Pip questioned intently, fully focused on the answer.

"It means that I was wrong. And Spike is right. The first thing we should do now is tell Twilight all about what's happening. The sooner we can get aid to the Princess the better. We can't know what will happen from here on out.

There it was. The kink in the metal shackles that bound him. Like a wildebeest hoping to break free, his desires now edged and pushed against the fault. There were many things that had stopped him from jumping into that pool. From Luna's words, his own feelings, and the agreement he had with Tiara about trusting her judgement since she seemed to know the future better than he did. And now, the future was uncertain. The Princess had been defeated, and no one was around to save her.

Luna was in need of nothing less than a hero.

And who had been Luna's hero before?

Pip stepped towards the edge of the pond to peer in. The cloudy Tantabus figure was gone. Now it was just the lonely sight of a defeated Princess Luna, chained to the ground by rusted shackles. He closed his eyes and ran his courage through. Going in there would mean fighting that same creature he had just fought, alone. Luna was probably the only reason why he hadn't just been overwhelmed instantly the first time. And now that Tantabus was likely far stronger than before, and growing in power by the minute.

But again, there is no one braver than Pip. For no amount of fear would keep him from his aim, even as that fear chilled his blood, chattered his teeth, wobbled his knees, and brought out a cold sweat. He slowly reached towards the ground where a wooden stick lay that could substitute his old sword and took it onto his mouth, then he gulped his mightiest gulp.

"I don't think I have to tell you this twice, Pip. You should know better than us already that we cannot fight this monster alone. So whatever you're going to do, please, don't do it." Tiara called out to him, noticing what he was intending to do. "Twilight needs to know, and we can't end this dream if you're not in it. I know you want to save the Princess, I really do. But we can't do it alone."

"We need ta save da Rincess" Pip replied, stick still in mouth. "Not enugh tiem. We haf to act now. Tomorrow might e too late."

"I can't believing I'm agreeing with Tiara on this one, but she's right Pip. Take it from us, that thing is too dangerous to handle on our own, especially without magic." Spike pointed an arm to himself and to Chrys to signify who had been through that ordeal with one before. To his surprise, he found he had been pointing at nothing, as Chrys had disappeared from his side. Instead, she seemed to be standing by Pip's side.

Intrinsically, Pip seemed to know what the small changeling was thinking as well. The two were very similar to one another indeed. It was hard for them to watch someone suffer in front of their eyes without doing anything themselves. Perhaps it is extremely reckless for kids to believe that they can be heroes simply by throwing themselves at a problem. But then again, heroes are not born through inaction. Sometimes, kids are just meant to take those leaps, dangerous as they may be, in order to learn and grow and live the lives they want to live. Because changing oneself for the better takes courage, no matter what we do.

Now there were two parties in opposition to one another. If Pip had been entirely alone in that decision, they could've easily talked him out of it or forced him to concede. But although silent as she tended to be, Chrys was a force to be reckoned with when it came time to argue about anything. Both Spike and Tiara cared about her deeply, and trusted her with impunity. To them, this issue was as black and white as it was going to get, and the obvious decision was to rely on the grown-ups for help. But that issue was now incredibly grey now that Chrys had thrown her hat into the ring.

Oddly enough, Spike was the first to concede to the small changeling after some time, since every time he would open his mouth to try and convince her otherwise with some argument, he would shut it quickly again since he found himself losing that battle almost immediately after any number of imaginary arguments he had against her in his head.

"Spike, seriously?" Tiara said as he watched him walk over to her side, his shoulders slumped defeatedly.

"I mean, I can see where she's coming from. And I care about Princess Luna too. She tends to be my accomplice in a lot of things and is a great friend to hang out with. I don't want to see her suffer either. If I can help, darn it I will!" He crossed his arms and huffed some fire from his nostrils, fanning his own pride a little.

"You can help by calling on the ones who can actually save the Princess!" Tiara scratched her head from frustration and sighed. "Luna has always been a great pony, and she has comforted me in my dreams a lot too... I owe her a lot, so it's not like I don't want to jump in myself. But let's think about this logically for a second! Really. I cannot overstate how important it is to not face a Tantabus alone. If it gets released into the real world, it could spell serious trouble!"

"Then we'll just have to handle it at that point, just like we did with The Mistress. Right Chrys?" Spike got a hearty nod from her.

"We can't let the Tantabus hurt Luna any more." Pip had dug his stick into the ground momentarily to speak clearly. "We can't let it increase the amount of regrets she already has... We have to save her. She deserves a second chance. She deserves to be saved!"

Tiara seemed to be taken aback by those words. They seemed to resonate so strongly with her that she felt her heart clench with happiness. "You're right, Pip. We all deserve second chances, maybe even third, or fourth, as many as needed. We all deserve to be happy." She nodded and stepped forward with the rest of them. They all stood by the edge of the pond, waiting for someone to signal them forward into the unknown.

"Besides, look at this way. We're not alone, are we? We've got each other." Pip took his stick into his mouth again. Building his courage up again, he found, was much easier when he was taking that leap with someone else. "Les saev da Rincess".

Finally, he swiped it forward to signal the group of kids that the time had come.

And into those waters they delved, into its murky dark depths.

Crossing into sleepy worlds.

Comments

[TheGJ90]

To those of you who are confused by Diamond Tiara's behavior and apparent history:

I recommend you read "I Will Be Your Villainess", as that explains a lot.

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As for this chapter, OH BOY this was a trip and it's gonna get wilder from here!

[Forcalor]

Well, now I wonder how this encounter with what seems to be another Tantabus will go
Will it break 'convention' and proceeds to communicate? Since that was established here, it would be interesting to see. What a being such as this have to say?

Long game of waiting has begun.