Lady Moon Dancer galloped across the wasteland of dead trees and withered animal carcasses, her pure-white paladin armor clattering along with her hooves. Up ahead she could see the menacing black tower of the dreaded (and ugly) evil Witch of the Deadlands. The noble knight crossed a conveniently placed bridge over a moat of lava (which seemed a rather useless in retrospect), and grinded to a halt at the base of the tower.
“Hark, fair maiden Twilight Sparkle!” Lady Moon Dancer called. “Tis I, the brave and just Lady Moon Dancer of the Knights of the Rectangular Table!”
There was a window at the top of the tower, which actually seemed to be the only way inside – a major design flaw no matter how you look at it. Twilight Sparkle, garbed in a medieval princess’s outfit including that ridiculous pointed hat, which was apparently called a hennin. The fair maiden Twilight put her hoof to her head with a dramatic sigh (almost knocking her hat off.)
“Tis you, beautiful and exceptionally brilliant Lady Moon Dancer!” Twilight bellowed in an overdramatic fashion. “Please, save me from the evil (and ugly) witch, my valiant knight!”
“Worry not, fair maiden!” said Moon Dancer theatrically, drawing her glittering silver sword (which hadn’t been there a second ago.) “I shall rescue thee from the wicked (and ugly) witch!”
Not if I have anything to say about it!”
Suddenly, a cloud of blue smoke exploded in the air between Twilight and Moon Dancer. The conjuror, however, threw a coughing fit and waved the smoke away with her hoof, mumbling “Too much, too much….” The noble knight Moon Dancer narrowed her eyes at the evil (and ugly) witch Trixie Lulamoon, her starry wizard’s cloak fluttering in the wind and the enormous boil on her nose pulsated disgustingly.
“You will not take another hoof closer, super smart and ultra-pretty majestic knight Moon Dancer!” Trixie declared. “For I, the less talented and repulsively hideous Trixie, shall put an end to your heroic rescue and force the fair maiden to be my marefriend!”
“No!” fair maiden Twilight cried, flailing her hooves exaggeratedly. “Anything but that!”
“You fiend!” shouted Moon Dancer, pointing her sword at Trixie. “I shall never hand the beautiful fair maiden over to you, monster!”
“Then have at thee!” Trixie challenged.
The (ugly) witch outstretched her hooves, lightning shooting down from the clouds and coating them in a surge of electricity. Trixie flew down towards Moon Dancer with an insane cackle while Moon Dancer lowered her stance, then dashed forward with her sword tilted towards the (ugly) witch. The two were about to begin the most epic dual of the ages –
“Uh, excuse me!” said Luna, suddenly popping in between them.
Moon Dancer tripped over her hooves, landing on her face and sliding across the ground. Trixie let out a startled yelp and swerved to avoid the princess, inadvertently smacking into a tree. Moon Dancer groaned as she raised her head, spitting out crumbs of dirt and realigning her glasses.
“Princess Luna!” Moon Dancer yelled indignantly. “We were just about to have our epic duel!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Luna apologized sheepishly. “But I am in the midst of a troubling situation and require your assistance.”
“Couldn’t you have waited until morning?” asked Moon Dancer.
“I’m afraid that this is something that can only be done in the Realm of Sleep,” said Luna. “That’s why I must call upon you, Moon Dancer, for you possess the power to dream walking like myself.”
“Well, if it’s something only I can do…,” Moon Dancer hummed, feel a little smug. She rounded to Trixie and said, “Hey, can we put a hold on our epic duel?”
“Sure, it’s fine,” said Trixie, waving her hoof nonchalantly. “Same time tomorrow?”
“I’ll be here,” answered Moon Dancer.
“Hey, wanna go get some smoothies?” fair maiden Twilight Sparkle shouted from atop her tower, dropping her (horrible) acting.
“With extra hay, just as Trixie likes it!” Trixie cheered.
Moon Dancer rolled her eyes as the two mares teleported in flashes of magical light, off on their smoothie date. This was not how Moon Dancer intended her dream to go.
Moon Dancer ignited the magic in her horn and evaporated her shining armor and sword, replacing them with her usual sweater and glasses combo. At the same time, Luna used her magic and summoned a door that seemingly melted into existence. Moon Dancer recognized it as her own Dream Door because it had her glasses painted on the surface (like it was her only defining characteristic.) Luna opened the door and gestured Moon Dancer through.
The two of them came out into Realm of Sleep – a seemingly endless sea of stars and swirling nebulas. And on either side of them were rows of Dream Doors that led to other pony’s sleeping consciousness’. It was always so fascinating to see the different kinds of doors everypony had whenever Moon Dancer visited the Realm of Sleep (which was only under Princess Luna’s strict observation.) The one across from her door belonged to a Earth Pony named Jeff Letrotski, who often dreamed of winner a huge bowling trophy. And the one next to it belonged to a Pegasus named Strawberry Sunrise, who seemed to have a recurring nightmare of having her wing broken in various cartoon-like incidents.
“This way, please,” Luna requested, directing Moon Dancer down the path. The two dream walkers floated alongside each other, passing dozens of doors along the way. “I see that you are getting the hang of dream magic. Yours was particularly lucid tonight.”
“Maybe a little too lucid,” said Moon Dancer. “If I’m not controlling the scenario, they act like their real world counterparts.”
“That can happen,” said Luna understandably. “Most ponies aren’t conscious of their dreams and often forget them when they wake up. Those of us who are aware tend to subconsciously make dreams of things we are familiar with. I’m impressed by how far you’ve come along with your training, Moon Dancer.
“Aw, it was nothing,” said Moon Dancer, rubbing her neck with a sheepish grin. “If you don’t mind me asking, Princess Luna, why did you pull me out of my dream?”
“I’m afraid I made a grievous error, Moon Dancer,” Luna admitted, frowning. “I was supposed to attend a very important meeting tonight, but completely forgot about it until the last minute.”
“Twilight didn’t remind you?” asked Moon Dancer, surprised.
“No, this meeting is to take place in the Realm of Sleep,” said Luna, shaking her head. “More specifically, it will be held in the dream of Queen Lucy.”
“Who’s Queen Lucy?” said Moon Dancer curiously.
“The former Dragon Lord of Pride and the current ruler of the Dragon Lands,” Luna explained. “Queen Lucy has recently been attempting to expand the Dragon Land’s territory southward into Ornithia, and I need to…convince her to reconsider.”
“This is the same person that kicked out Belphagor and the other Dragon Lords, right?” asked Moon Dancer.
“She’s not as large as Belphagor – no one is – but her magic is the most powerful of all dragons,” said Luna with a slight grimace. “Last time, I required the Elements of Harmony just to match her, and even then, it was dangerously close. Had I not taken her son in a moment of desperation…but it won’t come to that. Despite her vanity, Lucy can be very reasonable. Obviously I can’t visit her in person since I can’t afford to leave Equestria alone for so long – “
“Not like you do anything in the first place,” Moon Dancer muttered.
“Anyway…,” Luna glared, having heard the side comment. “The reason I requested your aid is because I have another matter of equal importance that requires my attention. One that could very well affect the entirety of the Realm of Sleep.”
“What is it?” asked Moon Dancer curiously.
“I need you to play with my pet Tantabus," Luna answered seriously.
“…Huh?” Moon Dancer mumbled dimwittedly after a moment’s pause.
“Here we are!” said Luna, waving her hoof theatrically.
They stopped in front of a lone Dream Door that was strangely separate from the rest. It was painted midnight-blue with a sea of glittering stars surrounding a crescent moon. Moon Dancer could tell by the theme that this was Princess Luna’s personal dream world. She was going into the princess’s dreams! Luna noticed Moon Dancer’s giddy expression was a small grin and turned the knob with her horn, gesturing the smaller mare inside.
Moon Dancer looked around excitedly, expecting to see some kind of fantastical world filled with wonders only an ancient immortal could imagine…. But instead, she just found herself in the same old boring throne room inside the royal castle.
“Well, this is anti-climactic,” Moon Dancer commented while Luna shut the door behind her.
“I spend the nights guarding other ponies’ dreams,” said Luna, “so I hardly ever spend time in my own.”
“Okay, so why are we here?” asked Moon Dancer inquisitively.
“As I said,” said Luna, “I need you to play with my pet Tantabus while I am away negotiating with Queen Lucy.”
“Okay, but what is a Tantabus?” Moon Dancer inquired.
“Give me a moment and I will summon him,” said Luna with a hint of excitement in her tone like she was eager to show off. She put her hoof to her lips and made a sharp whistling noise that made Moon Dancer jump. “Here, Tanty! Here, boy! Mama’s brought a friend!”
Hearing the ruler of the kingdom call herself “mama” was a surreal experience.
Suddenly, the dream world trembled violently, making Moon Dancer stumble on her hooves. The light beaming through the six stained glass windows was clouded by a veil of blue, sparkling mist, giving them the impression of the starry night sky. Tendrils outstretched from the windows and connected in the air at the center of the throne room, congealing together into a single globular form. Moon Dancer took several cautious steps back while Princess Luna remained in place, appearing somewhat amused by her reaction.
The starry blob hanged in the air for many seconds until two bright white eyes appeared in the center, staring at Moon Dancer. The bespectacled pony gasped and fell on her flank as the starry blob suddenly lunged at her. Moon Dancer raised her hooves over her face to defend herself…when she suddenly felt something wet and slobbery gliding up her face, making her coat equally moist.
“Ew! Ew! Ew!” Moon Dancer complained as…whatever it was kept licking her face. “Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!”
“He-heh, I think Tanty likes you,” Luna chortled.
Moon Dancer finally managed to get her hooves on the snout of whatever was licking her and shoved it back. She wiped her face and glasses clean, then looked up. The creature Luna referred to as a “Tantabus” was vaguely shaped like a pony roughly around Luna’s height, but it’s entire body was composed of the blue starry mist that Moon Dancer had seen on the windows. It’s entire body undulated like it was composed of water, but it had a faint transparency that Moon Dancer could partially see through. Beyond that, it had no real defining characteristics.
Another sharp whistling drew the Tantabus’s attention to Luna, who briefly turned into a cloud of mist as it lunged over to the nightly mare. It reformed at Luna’s hooves, presenting itself like a dog wanting belly rubs.
“Aw, who’s a good Tantabus?” Luna said in a babyish voice, patting her hooves on the Tantabus’s ‘belly’ or some facsimile. The misty creature wagged its tail happily. “You are! Yes, you are!”
“Uh, Princess Luna…,” Moon Dancer spoke up nervously. “Um…what is that?”
“This is a Tantabus,” Luna repeated. “Or, in simple terms, a nightmare spirit.”
“And why do you have a nightmare spirit as a pet?” asked Moon Dancer, dumbfounded.
“I admit that Tanty’s wasn’t originally conceived as a pet,” said Luna. “I created him in response to General Fredrick Krieger and his army of dream demons attempting to invade the Realm of Sleep many moons ago.”
“Oh, I read about that!” said Moon Dancer interestingly. “The first Nightmare Night!”
“Exactly,” Luna nodded, petting the Tantabus’s head. “Ironically, dream demons are just as afraid of nightmares as anypony. Once General Krieger and his army were repelled, I felt guilty about having to destroy him, so I keep Tanty locked up here in my personal dream realm. And once every new moon, I would take a night off and play with Tanty so he doesn’t get bored and wander off.”
“But you forgot?” said Moon Dancer.
“With everything that’s be happening lately from Celestia to the Parasprite infestation,” said Luna, “I completely forgot about the phases of the moon and unknowingly planned my meeting with Queen Lucy on the same night. That’s why I need your help, Moon Dancer. I need you to keep Tanty occupied until the meeting is over. You’re the only pony besides myself who can dream walk.”
“Well, I guess that doesn’t sound too hard,” said Moon Dancer. “Sure, I’ll watch him!”
“Wonderful!” Luna clapped her hooves cheerfully.
Luna horn glowed with magic and Moon Dancer suddenly found herself weight down by several stuffed duffle bags filled with miscellaneous items. The princess of the moon shuffled around Moon Dancer, pointing out each item in a long, fast-paced explanation.
“These are all the essentials you’ll need for caring for Tanty. These are his favorite treats, so you can give him a couple every hour, but make sure he doesn’t eat more than ten, even if he begs you. Make sure that Tanty takes his vitamins between one o’clock and two o’clock, but he’s very picky, so he will only take the ones shaped like dinosaurs. Make sure he wears plenty of sunblock when going outside, but not too much or it will ruin his coat. If he starts sneezing, make sure he uses the special tissues with aloe vera – he has a very sensitive snout. Also – “
“Princess Luna, don’t you think you might be going a little overboard?” asked Moon Dancer wearily.
“Oh…oh, I suppose you’re right,” said Luna, laughing sheepishly. “Sorry, sorry, I’m sure you’ve got this handled. You’re a responsible mare. There’s just one rule I need to make clear….” She leaned in close to Moon Dancer, making the bespectacled unicorn reel back. “You must never, under any circumstances, allow the Tantabus to leave this room.”
“Why?” asked Moon Dancer nervously.
“The Tantabus is the psychic manifestation of nightmares from hundreds of thousands of ponies,” Luna explained with a dark edge in her voice. “Even if he has no malicious intent, his mere presence can cause the dreams of innocent ponies to shift into horrific nightmares. And the more nightmares that manifest, the more powerful he will become. And if he becomes too powerful, he could potentially breach the barrier between the dreams and reality. If that were to happen, he could plunge all of Equestria into a waking nightmare!”
“…Why are you keeping this thing?” Moon Dancer screamed incredulously.
“Well, that’s should just about cover everything,” Luna perked up, literally prancing towards the dream door. “If anything should happen, I trust you can handle it, Moon Dancer. And if you can’t, it will reflect very poorly on my opinion of you…. Okay, bye!”
She slammed the door behind her, leaving Moon Dancer and the Tantabus alone in awkward silence. The bespectacled unicorn craned her head back, looking up at the Night Mare. The Tantabus looked down, blinking only once.
“So…whatcha wanna do now?” Moon Dancer asked strangely.
Moon Dance let out an involuntary yawn before the Tantabus dropped the red squeaky ball she conjured at her hooves.
An hour had gone by since Princess Luna had entrusted Moon Dancer to watch her “pet.” Thus far, she could compare the Tantabus to an oversized puppy. He liked belly rubs, begged for treats, knew “roll over” and “play dead” – the latter led to a brief zombie apocalypse that Moon Dancer was not eager to repeat again. And the night mare seemed to have unlimited energy. They had been play fetch for half an hour and the Tantabus wasn’t even remotely winded (then again, she wasn’t sure that was even possible for a nightmare spirit.)
“Aren’t you getting bored yet?” asked Moon Dancer dryly. The Tantabus nudged the ball closer to her, looking ready to pounce. She exhaled a sigh. “Fine…fetch!”
She tossed the ball again, sending it who knows where. While the Tantabus scampered after it, Moon Dancer sat on her flank and lit up her horn, summoning a large pile of books around her like a miniature fort. She picked up the closest book, which was labeled “Dreaming of Sheep – A Study of Sleep Magic and its properties.”
“Well, if I’m stuck here, might as well catch up on some light reading,” said Moon Dancer. She had just opened to the first chapter when she felt something roll up against her flank. The Tantabus was back with the red ball, looking at her expectantly. “Geez, you’re getting faster at this. All right, let’s see how long it takes you to catch this one….”
She lifted the ball off the ground with magic and, without looking, threw it with all her strength. The Tanatabus chased after the ball eagerly and Moon Dancer went back to reading.
What she failed to realize was that she had thrown the squeaky ball at Luna’s Dream Door. And thanks to her magic-fueled toss combined with her dream walking abilities and sheer dumb luck, the ball hit the knob and accidentally set it ajar.
The Tantabus did not stop sprinting, its singular focus on the ball, and barreled through the door with a mighty crash! Moon Dancer jumped at the noise, throwing her book in the air, and spun round as the hard cover bopped her on the head. She winced and grimaced while rubbing the sore spot, which immediately morphed into an expression of fear and dread when she noticed the Dream Door had been blown open. A quick look around the imaginary throne room made her realize that the Tantabus had escaped.
“Oh Luna, oh, Luna, oh Luna – that’s not good!” cried Moon Dancer.
She scrambled to the door -
And skidded out into the corridor of Dream Doors. She searched frantically up and down the rows until she spotted the Tantabus down the line. The misty mare seemed to be inspecting one of the Dream Doors, tilting its head curiously and pawing at the handle. Moon Dancer hoped against hope that it wouldn’t open, but since the Tantabus was a nightmare spirit, it had the power to enter dreams like her and Luna.
“No! Bad Tantabus!” scolded Moon Dancer, pointing her hoof. “Don’t go in the – He went in there.”
She trotted over just as the Tantabus snapped the door shut behind it. Moon Dancer took a closer look at the door. It was colored in a mixture of reds, oranges, and yellows with a stylized sun emblazoned on the surface.
“This is Sunset’s Dream Door,” said Moon Dancer. “I have a really bad feeling about this….”
She turned the knob and pushed inside –
Moon Dancer was taken aback by the chorus of screams and cheers, knocking the bespectacled mare on her flank.
She appeared to be standing on an elevated stage like the ones used in concerts. There was a sea of ponies ahead of her, waving around hoof-painted signs and glow sticks of every color of the rainbow. Most of the signs were surprisingly about Tempest. Moon Dancer looked to her right and spotted the colorful neon sign overhead that announced that the “Rainbooms” were playing.
And who were the Rainbooms, you may ask? Why, it was none other than the Mane 6.
Sunset was front and center, as Moon Dancer would expect, bouncing around the stage while jamming on the fiery-painted guitar. Tempest was in the back, accompanying Sunset with her drums. Trixie was beside Sunset, surprisingly shredding on the bass. Starlight was on vocals and her singing voice was phenomenal even though Moon Dancer couldn’t understand it (Luna explained that things like music can’t be translated clearly in the Dream Realm.) Moon Dancer’s dream counterpart was on the keyboard, taking it slow and steady while perfectly complimenting the rest of the group.
And Twilight was…on the triangle.
…yeah, that seemed accurate, Moon Dancer thought.
The song finished with a final shriek of Sunset’s guitar and the crowd went wild.
“Thank you, Equestria!” Sunset shouted into the microphone, her voice echoing across the stadium. “We’re the Rainboom and we’re awesome! Let’s hear some noise!” Sunset put a hoof to her ear, grinning as the crowd screamed themselves hoarse (pun fully intended.) “This next one goes out to by best buds in the whole world! You know who you are! One – two – one, two, three, four!”
The Rainbooms began their next set, which was indecipherable to Moon Dancer, but crowd seem to enjoy it. Moon Dancer herself was entranced by the performance for a few short seconds before she quickly shook her head. She had no time for fangirling! She had a nightmare spirit to find!
Moon Dancer snapped her head back and forth so fast, she nearly gave herself whiplash. There were so many ponies in the darkened stadium, it would be next to impossible to find a dark misty entity in the middle of it…. But, now that she thought about it, wouldn’t it be likely the Tantabus would be drawn by the owner of the dream? It certainly seemed like a possibility.
Moon Dancer looked back at Sunset, who was now doing a windmill strum with her guitar, then looked up. Unnoticed by the dream owner, the Tantabus was hovering over Sunset, looking down at the mare like she was an interesting bug.
“Hey, you!” Moon Dancer shouted at the Tantabus.
“Huh, what – Moon Dancer?” Sunset sputtered as both she and the Tantabus looked at her.
In her moment of distraction, Sunset struck a bad chord that sent an skin-crawling note across the stadium, making everypony wince and shudder. To add insult to injury, the chord snapped immediately afterward, slapping Sunset across the face. Moon Dancer had to assume that this was the result of the Tantubus’s influence, though she hardly considered this ‘nightmarish.’
Until she looked out into the crowd.
Everypony suddenly had glowing, demonic-red eyes and was glaring at Sunset. The rest of the Dream 6 seemingly bailed immediately, leaving their leader alone on stage. Sunset smiled sheepishly and backed away with a nervous laugh…until somepony in the crowd threw a pitchfork of all things and stabbed the floor next to her hoof.
“Whoa! Hey! That’s a bit excessive, don’tcha think?” cried Sunset.
The strangely demonic audience surged forward, climbing on the stage, and clambered toward Sunset like zombies, all of them armed with torches and farm tools they got from who knows where.
“Back! Back, you animals!” Sunset screamed, picking up the thrown pitch fork and using it to protect herself from the mob.
Moon Dancer hissed inwardly. Part of her wanted to help her friend, but the best thing she could do for Sunset was to catch the Tantabus.
Speaking of whom, the misty nightmare spirit had glided away while Moon Dancer was distracted and reached for the door back to the Realm of Sleep before she could stop it. It might have been Moon Dancer’s imagination, but she thought it looked a little bigger…. Eh, she’d worry about that later. She needed to catch the darn thing!
Moon Dancer dashed outside–
And back into the corridor of Dream Doors, grinding her hooves into the nonexistent floor while using magic to close Sunset’s door behind her. The last thing she needed in this situation was for Sunset to wander through the dream world.
She spun around with haggard breath as she heard a sharp slam coming from her left, spying the Tantabus whimsically floating out of another door. Moon Dancer used her horn to slam the door shut as a curious pony tried to peek out. Unfortunately, when she wasn’t looking, the Tantabus had moved to the Dream Door on the opposite side and entered. Moon Dancer trotted over, noting the wispy star that marked the door.
“This is Starlight’s dream,” Moon Dancer said aloud. “I can only guess how this is going to go.”
Moon Dancer took a deep breath and plunged inside –
To a large and extravagant ballroom just as big, if not bigger, than the one in Princess Luna’s castle. It was incredibly ostentatious and glittered with so much gold that it put the royal treasury to shame. And yet, despite the size of the ballroom, there were only two occupants on the dance floor.
One, naturally, was Starlight Glimmer is a massive poufy dress straight out of a fairy tale that really did not suit her. Her partner looked like the character of some cheesy romance novel: chiseled jaw, swept back mane, blinding white teeth, pointed eyebrows, and six-packs abs (don’t ask how that works on a pony.) The two of them were spinning around in circles while a familiar song seemed to be playing from the walls themselves.
“Tale as old as – “
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Moon Dancer screamed, flailing her hooves. The music stopped with a cartoonish needle scratch. “Copyright laws are a thing even in dreams!”
“Moon Dancer?” Starlight looked away from her (literally) dreamy dance partner and noticed her friend trotting over. “What going on? Me and Sunburst were in the middle of dancing.”
“That’s not in – wait, that’s supposed to be Sunburst?” Moon Dancer did a double take, looking at the obviously unrealistic stallion.
“Of course it is,” Starlight laughed. “Can’t you see how handsome and smart and talented he is?”
“…Starlight, I say this as a friend…,” Moon Dancer slowly, “but you really need to lower your expectation.”
“What do you mean?” asked Starlight, tilting her head.
“Never mind,” said Moon Dancer, shaking her head exasperatedly. “Look, have you seen a nightmare spirit. It’s about yea tall” – she raised her hoof above her head – “and looks like a pony made out of a blue shadowy mist.”
“You mean like that?” said ‘Sunburst.’ Dear Luna, even his voice was ridiculously cliché.
‘Sunburst’ was pointing at the balcony overlooking the ballroom. The Tantabus was leaning over the railing, tilting its head left and right like a curious observer. What it didn’t seem to realize was that the golden glittery backdrop behind it was steadily turning midnight-blue, like a viral infection.
The darkness spilled over the railing, slithering down the columns, and spread across the dance floor. Moon Dancer casually floated off the ground (dream powers rule!) and Moon Dancer seemed unaffected, if a little disgusted. ‘Sunburst,’ on the other hoof, was quickly swallowed by the infection and mutated into a massive hairy beast three times Starlight’s size with crooked pointed teeth, sharp horns sprouting from his head, and was drooling a puddle on the floor.
“No! Sunburst!” Starlight cried dramatically. “Moon Dancer, we have to help him! …Moon Dancer?”
The lilac mare turned around, blinking owlishly. She saw the tail end of Moon Dancer running out the door, chasing the Tantaus outside, before slamming the door behind her. Starlight just stared, aghast, as the beastly ‘Sunburst’ snatched her off the floor with his meaty claws –
Moon Dancer tripped over her front hooves, stumbling face forward on the nonexistent ground. She quickly shrugged it off and looked around again. Five more doors were left ajar as the Tantabus was coming out of a sixth. Moon Dancer started to chase after it when several ponies started milling out through the Dream Doors, looking around the Realm of Sleep in awe.
“Okay, everyone back where you came from!” Moon Dancer instructed, lighting her horn. A magical aura shrouded the confused ponies as they were unceremoniously slingshot back into their own worlds, slamming the doors shut behind them. “Out! Out! There’s nothing to see here!”
Meanwhile, the Tantabus slinked over to another door and slapped open with its horn. The nightmare spirit dove inside and slammed the door behind it just as Moon Dancer stopped in front of the Dream Door. It was a pale-blue door with a magic wand.
“Oh, great, Trixie’s door,” Moon Dancer groaned. She had actively avoided entering Trixie’s dream if she could help it. “Bet she dreams about being princess of Equestria or something.”
With a reluctant groan, Moon Dancer opened the door –
And blinked in surprise.
She was standing in the middle of the Final Act – Trixie’s entertainment bar. Only it was complete and filled with ponies who looked like they were having a good time eating nachos and sipping Fizzy Fruit Potions. Sunshine Starhunter was skating around the tables, picking up and dropping off bottles like a pro, and Berry Punch was mixing drinks while sneak a bottle here and there.
And to top it all off, all of her friends were sitting in a booth together, acting like their normal selves.
“Wow, is this what Trixie dreams about?” said Moon Dancer, astonished. “I always figured she was a shameless narcissist. Maybe I misjudged Trixie – “
“A-Hyuck!”
Moon Dancer looked sideways. She spotted her dream counterpart, only she had cartoonish buckteeth, cross-eyed, wore a dunce cap, and was trying to drink a Fizzy Fruit Potion with a straw in her nostril.
“ – or not,” Moon Dancer remarked dryly.
Just then, the lights dimmed and several spotlights flew across the stage curtains until converging on one point. A colorful explosion went off on stage and Trixie appeared, flapping her cape with a flourish.
“Welcome to the Great and Powerful Trixie’s grand magical performance!” declared Trixie, and the audience began clapping their hooves with cheers. “We have a great show for you tonight! The Great and Powerful Trixie has prepared a fantastic spectacle of mysticism the likes of which you have never seen before!”
“Guess she really is living the dream, huh,” Moon Dancer remarked, then looked around the bar. “Now where did – AHH!”
Moon Dancer let out an involuntary shout. She spotted the Tantabus sitting in a booth between Dream Celestia and Dream Luna, only it had now doubled in size, effortlessly towering over Celestia. Being a dream, no one initially reacted to the Tantabus’s presence. But like in Starlight’s dream, a dark miasma radiated off the nightmare spirit and floated around the ceiling like blue smoke. In no time at all, the ponies that had once been cheering for Trixie suddenly started booing and hissing, spitting cruel words that made Trixie reel back.
Then somepony threw a rotten tomato at her face.
“Hey, what’s the big idea?” Trixie complained, wiping her face clean.
“You keep boasting about how great and powerful you are!” a rainbow maned Pegasus shouted harshly. “And you keep showing off your magic! That means we automatically hate you to an unreasonable degree!”
“That’s literally Trixie’s job!” argued Trixie. “And like you have any room to talk!”
“She’s being mean!” a random pony yelled. “Get her!”
Moon Dancer winced as Trixie was pelted with an assortment of rotten fruits and vegetables until she was buried under a pile. Even she can’t help but feel bad.
Moon Dancer returned her attention to the Tantabus, but let out an aggravated groan as she witnessed the nightmare spirit slip out through the Dream Door.
“Oh, come on!” Moon Dancer complained. “Just give me a break already!”
The bespectacled pony left Trixie at the mercy of her cruel audience and dived out the door –
And nearly plowed into an Pegasus stallion in royal guard armor as they were both coming out of opposite Dream Doors. The stallion looked at her in momentary confusion before Moon Dancer used her magic to fling him back to his own dream and slammed the door shut. But, Moon Dancer realized, that hardly made a difference as she looked down the corridor, her jaw dropping in horror.
There must have been over three dozen ponies wandering around the Realm of Dreams, staring at the starry scenery like curious foals. Their respective Dream Doors were left wide open, allowing ponies to come and go as they please. And the worst part was that Moon Dancer couldn’t just toss them back inside because she didn’t know which pony belong to which door!
The bespectacled mare pulled at her mane, threatening to tear it out at the roots, a crazed look in her eyes.
“This is a nightmare – literally!” Moon Dancer screamed, drawing some curious stares. “Princess Luna’s going to be back any minute and everything is in complete disarray! I need to catch the Tantabus before it gets any worse!”
“Halt!”
Moon Dancer and the rest of the wayward ponies stopped in their hooves at the domineering voice and snapped their attention towards the large gathering of soldiers that had emerged from one of the open doors. They looked like yetis outfitted with polished black armor wielding shields on one bulky arm and carrying spears in the other. Their armor was branded with a two-pronged symbol in electric-blue. And leading the army was none other than Tempest, who had replaced her cloak with a set of matching black armor.
Tempest slammed her hoof, which echoed in the corridor, making every pony flinch with fear.
“This land – however strange it may be – now belongs to the Storm King!” Tempest declared with an intimidating edge in her voice. “You have one chance to surrender peacefully! Any who resist will be struck down and be made an example of!”
“Oh no, the Tantabus has already gotten to Tempest!” Moon Dancer gasped. Against common sense, Moon Dancer ran toward her villainized friend, who quirked her brow curiously. “Tempest, snap out of it! This isn’t like you!”
“What are you babbling on about?” questioned Tempest.
“This is the Tantabus’s doing,” Moon Dancer explained, which went over Tempest’s head. “The side effects have turned you into a ruthless villain with admittedly badass armor. But don’t worry.” She rested a reassuring hoof on Tempest’s shoulder. “I’ll fix this and turn you back to your normal self.”
“You dare lay a hoof on the second-in-command of the Storm King’s army?” Tempest yelled furiously, her broken horn sparking dangerously.
“Uh-oh,” Moon Dancer mumbled.
Tempest lowered her head and blasted Moon Dancer pointblank with her explosive magic. Moon Dancer was sent flying across the corridor, barreling through one of the Dream Doors –
And landed on her back with a painful grunt.
“Ooh, yeah, I’m gonna feel that in the morning,” Moon Dancer ground, rubbing her aching head as she slowly flipped around and stood up on her hooves.
She appeared to be in a gigantic library literally three times the size of the Canterlot Library with nothing but endless rows of bookshelves from one end to the other. The books were literally flying off the shelves, flapping their covers like birds and disappearing deeper into the halls.
“Wow,” said Moon Dancer. “Whoever this dream belongs to must be a huge nerd.”
And wouldn’t you know it, the owner of said dream came trotting around the corner, murmuring to themselves as four books floating in front of their snouts.
It was Twilight Sparkle – and suddenly everything made sense to Moon Dancer. Although, for some odd reason, she was dressed up in a starry cloak with bells wearing a matching pointed hat on her head, and even had a fake beard on her chin.
“ – if I use an alternative sigil to the initial rune course,” Twilight mumbled aloud, too absorbed in her reading not to notice Moon Dancer as she passed, “then I could theoretically open a portal into the realm of the elder squid gods – “
“Twilight?” Moon Dancer called out strangely.
“Moon Dancer?” Twilight yipped like a startled puppy, jumping a few inches off the ground while dropping her books.
“Are you…wearing a Star Swirl the Bearded costume?” Moon Dancer asked her awkwardly.
“No!” Twilight quickly, ripping the beard off her face and throwing it away. “Anyway, what are you doing in my dream world?”
“Well, Tempest really laid it into – wait a minute,” Moon Dancer stuttered, doing a double take. “You know this is a dream? You’re a lucid dreamer?”
“Of course,” said Twilight proudly. “I’ve been fully aware of my dreams ever since I was a foal. And thanks to my self-awareness, I‘ve been able to convert my dream world into a library containing all the knowledge I’ve collected in my entire life. That way, I can study even when I’m sleeping. Isn’t that wonderful?” she added with a happy cheer.
“Wow, that’s incredible sad,” Moon Dancer remarked. Twilight frowned at the comment.
“Anyway, why are you here?” Twilight redirected the question back at Moon Dancer. “And where’s Princess Luna? I thought you weren’t allowed to enter other pony’s dreams without her permission.”
“Yeah, well, it’s a long story,” said Moon Dancer grimaced. “To put it simply: Luna left me in charge of her pet Tantabus while she’s off talking to the dragon ruler and now everything’s going down the toilet.”
“Did you say a Tantabus?” gasped Twilight.
“You know what it is?” asked Moon Dancer, surprised.
Twilight lit up her horn and used magic to pull down one of the books from the tall shelves. She plopped it open between herself and Moon Dancer, flipping through the page until she stopped somewhere near the middle. On the page in front of them was a gritty image of what looked like a little wispy ball of darkness. It had the same coloring as the Tantabus, but it looked nothing like the misty unicorn Moon Dancer knew.
“I read about it in my free time,” said Twilight. “The Tantabus is a nightmare spirit that transforms the dreams of everypony in its presence into literal nightmares. And the more nightmares it creates, the more powerful it becomes until –
“Until it tears a hole into reality, plunging Equestria into eternal nightmares – yada, yada, yada,” Moon Dancer said flippantly. “Does that book say anything about how to stop it?”
“Well…no,” said Twilight hesitantly, putting the book away. “But I believe there is a way to overcome it. The key to defeating the Tantabus is – AHH!”
Twilight and Moon Dancer ducked down, shrieking, as something flew over their heads, nipping at their manes. Twilight looked up in horror as her precious books suddenly sprouted wings and vampire fangs, glaring at the lavender mare as they swarmed to attack.
“No! My books! How could you betray me?” Twilight cried dramatically, covering her face with her hooves as they snapped at her.
Moon Dancer took a few steps away from them when she noticed a dreary blue mist wafting from Twilight’s body, floating towards the ceiling, and curved to the left. Moon Dancer followed the trail. It was heading out through the Dream Door! Fearing the worst, Moon Dancer sprinted out the door –
And stopped herself in the middle of the corridor.
She took in the surroundings and felt a lump of terror the size of a boulder hit the bottom of her stomach. As far as she could tell, every possible Dream Door had been thrown wide open. Ponies from every part of Equestria were milling into the corridor, confused and curious, but also overwhelmed with fear. That fear took the form of the blue mist that wafted of the ponies and floated in the same direction, all converging into a single stream.
That’s when she saw it – the Tantabus.
The nightmare spirit was now taller than even Princess Luna’s castle and seemed to be growing by the second thanks to the supply of terror that was flowing into it. The Tantabus stomped slowly across the corridors, its heavy hooffalls shaking the ground like miniature earthquakes. The ponies who had wandered into the corridor screamed and moved out of the way before they were trampled. The Tantabus didn’t even notice them – it was too busy staring off into the endless void.
“Oh my Luna, this is getting out of hoof,” Moon Dancer mumbled, sidestepping the Tantabus as it walked past. “At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before it – “
Then , suddenly and without warning, the Tantabus’s horn somehow created a tear in space; a bright, tantalizing light beamed through. The Tantabus stopped and craned its head, staring at the tear interestingly. It leaned its head forward, peering through the hole it unintentionally made.
And on the other side of the gash was Canterlot at night, filled with hundreds of sleeping ponies.
“No!” cried Moon Dancer, watching in horror as the Tantabus inched closer to the rift. “Equestria is about to become a nightmare world, and it’s all my fault! I should never have been so irresponsible! I’m…I’m sorry everypony…. I’m so….”
Suddenly, there was a thunderous screech of a guitar string and a shockwave flew across the corridor, striking the Tantabus in its chest. The nightmare spirit stumbled back several paces with a pained groan. Moon Dancer was wide-eyed and spun around, shocked to see Sunset standing on an oversized loudspeaker with her flaming guitar in hoof.
“Are you the one scaring everypony?” Sunset shouted bravely. “That ain’t gonna fly with me!”
Sunset struck another chord, creating another shockwave that knocked the Tantabus back. As it stumbled, it was suddenly tackled from the side by the monsterous ‘Sunburst’, who was being ridden by Starlight Glimmer – her glittery skirt torn and her face marked with war paint.
“You ruined my fantasy with Sunburst!” Starlight screamed furiously as ‘Sunburst’ lifted the Tantabus and threw it away from the rift. “You shall pay in blood!”
“Does that thing even bleed?” asked Trixie, appearing at the hoof of Beast ‘Sunburst’ in a poof of blue smoke.
As the Tantabus tried getting back on its hooves, Trixie took off her hat and pointed the brim at the nightmare spirit. A geyser of fireworks burst out of the opening and showered the Tantabus in colorful, fiery explosions.
The Tantabus whined and edged away from the fireworks, covering its face with its hooves, when it felt something climbing up its foreleg. It looked down as Tempest scaled the misty mare and jumped to an impossible height, momentarily floating in front of the Tantabus’s face before spinning around and nailing it with a solid buck! The Tantabus’s head was thrown back, screeching in pain, and collapsed backwards with a heavy thud.
Moon Dancer gapped. Not only had her friends escaped their respective dreams and came to her rescue, but they were actually hurting the Tantabus! Not only that, but it seemed that with each strike, the blue wisps of smoke floated off the nightmare spirit and it gradually began to shrink.
“Moon Dancer!” the bespectacled unicorn spun around as Twilight trotted up to her. She looked bedraggled, but was no worse for wear. “Oh, thank Luna you’re all right.”
“What’s happening?” said Moon Dancer, gesturing to the Tantabus as a giant version of Spike being ridden by a knightly Grubber suddenly appeared. “They’re fighting back and the Tantabus is getting weaker.”
“That’s what I was trying to say,” said Twilight, smiling knowingly. “The Tantabus grows more powerful with nightmares – that is to say, fear. But if everypony were to overcome that fear – “
“The Tantabus would lose it power…,” Moon Dancer said in realization.
“Exactly,” said Twilight, nodding. “Now we just have to find a way to everyone not afraid anymore.”
“I’ve got an idea,” said Moon Dancer confidently. “Now it’s my turn to help everypony.”
Moon Dancer closed her eyes, gathering all her magic into her core, and then exploded in a burst of brilliant white light. Everypony in the corridor covered their faces with their hooves, briefly blinded by the ethereal glow. When they lowered their hooves, everypony craned their heads in awe.
Much in the way she did against Belphagor, Moon Dancer had grown to monolithic proportions, towering over even the giant Tantabus. But unlike Nightmare Moon Dancer (as her friends jokingly called it), this version of herself was a beautiful and elegant alicorn with a pearly-white coat and a flowing mane that looked like solidified waves of sunlight. Her eyes were pure white, like a pair of suns in her skull, and both of them were gazing down at the Tantabus with a blazing stare.
The Tantabus visibly cowered.
Princess Moon Dancer stretched and shouted in a godly voice, “BE AT PEACE!”
She flapped her wings once and a cloud of golden dust blew over the corridor, dousing everypony present. The powder created an odd effect when it came into contact with anypony, causing them to suddenly become happy and relaxed, all the fear in their hearts had been washed away. Another side effect was that everypony the powder touched felt a sudden urge to return to their respective dream worlds and shut the doors behind them. Moon Dancer was inwardly relieved that worked – it would’ve taken forever to find everypony’s door!
When the last Dream Door closed, Princess Moon Dancer turned her attention on the Tantabus. Where there had been a kaiju-sized night mare, there was now only a shadowy wisp the size of a baseball. Moon Dancer returned to her natural form, walked over to the weakened nightmare spirit, and took it in her hoof.
“All right, little fella,” said Moon Dancer calmly. “Time to get you home….”
Moon Dancer hummed leisurely, reclining against her book tower while levitating a tome in front of her. The Tantabus wisp was nearby, this time in a foal harness strapped to Moon Dancer’s waist to prevent it from running off. Things had been pretty quiet….
Until –
“Ugh! Finally!” Luna groaned, practically bursting through the Dream Door and slamming it shut harder than necessary. “If I have to listen to that reptilian blowhard prattle on and on about herself….”
“Hello, Princess Luna,” Moon Dancer greeted formally, setting the book aside and walking over with the Tantabus. “I trust everything went well.”
“That’s putting it lightly,” said Luna exasperatedly. “At the very least, I convinced Queen Lucy to call off the expansion. But I don’t want to talk about that. I just want to hug Tanty,” she added, holding out her hooves longingly.
“Here you go,” said Moon Dancer, handing the princess the harness leash.
“Oh my, Tanty, just look at you,” Luna gasped. “You’ve practically withered to nothing. We need to get some nightmares into you – ASAP! I hope Tanty wasn’t too much trouble.”
“It was a little…tough,” said Moon Dancer, wincing internally. “But it calmed down in the end.”
“Yes, I imagine he did after that impressive transformation you pulled off earlier,” said Luna knowingly.
“Oh…you saw that?” Moon Dancer winced.
“It was hard not to,” said Luna amusingly. “Queen Lucy was blind for almost half an hour.”
“You’re…not mad, are you?” asked Moon Dancer anxiously.
“Hmm…,” Luna hummed thoughtfully. “While I am disappointed that you failed to heed my instructions and nearly brought catastrophe to Equestria…I am proud of the way you handle yourself in resolving it. Well done indeed, Moon Dancer.”
“I had my friends to help out,” Moon Dancer admitted, then rubbed her hoof nervously. “I’m really am sorry for being so irresponsible, Princess Luna.”
“We all make mistakes, Moon Dancer,” said Luna kindly, throwing a hoof over the small pony’s shoulder. “What’s important is that we learn from them.”
“Trust me, I learned a lot tonight,” said Moon Dancer. “Some more than I would’ve liked.”
“Good to know,” said Luna. She turned back to her Tantabus wisp, caressing it gently with her hoof. “You know, if you ever feel like sitting for me again, I - Moon Dancer?”
The Princess looked up just in time to see Moon Dancer’s tail fleeing outside before the Dream Door slammed shut behind her.