My dreams were nothing short of an empty void tonight. Normally it’d be whatever crossed my mind in my sleep, but this time, it was as if I’d actually been caught in another dimension. For the longest time, I could only stare at nothing, just letting my mind conjure up crazy scenarios and story inspiring things. And then I saw a nebula of stars enter my field of vision. I blinked a few times at the mass that had dared interrupt my dream, at first not recognising it, but as I saw the edges and curves of its silhouette, I finally recognised it.

“The tantabus? The hell am I dreaming about that for?” I asked myself. The tantibus didn’t answer, instead just choosing to stare at me like some creepy ass animal. I stared back, initiating a staring contest, as was only fitting in such a situation. As I stared, it gave me some time to contemplate things. Like for instance, now that I focused, I couldn’t quite seem to be able to wake up, and this whole thing felt entirely too surreal to be a dream. Could this be real?

I was taken off guard as the tantabus rushed up to me and started cuddling me. Surprised as I was, I was hesitant to return the affection, especially since this thing was infamous for being what Luna made to punish herself for the whole Nightmare Moon thing. Guilt made manifest.However, seeing as it wasn’t really doing anything but hugging, I hugged back, although awkwardly.

I felt a tingle down below in my legs when I did and looked down… to find them being drawn into the Tantibus. Immediately, I began to panic and struggle out of its grip, but I couldn’t even slow it down. I was quickly drawn into the tantabus and absorbed. I closed my eyes as my head vanished in, not wanting to see what gruesome fate awaited me. However, after several moments of nothing, I opened an eye.

“What the fuck?” I exclaimed in shock as, instead of a blank void, I saw instead a massive space. Surrounding me were several bubbles, which upon first glance only showed a cutie mark of some pony or other. Many bubbles contained cutie marks I didn’t recognise, convincing me this wasn’t my dream anymore. However, in that moment, something else demanded my attention.

“...Was that my voice? Is this my voice?!” My voice was very feminine, with only the slightest hint of a tomboy nature, though it wasn’t that much of one. I had a rather booming mezzo-soprano voice now, whereas before it had been a light baritone. Curious about that, I looked down at myself and saw a starry mass with a pink outline, bearing the figure of an equine.

“Whoa… wait, did I become the tantabus?! Holy shit…” I realized as I looked myself over. I held up a hoof to my face, staring at it intently. I didn’t much want to stay like this. I preferred a more human like form, for the utility of hands. As I stared, memories from the tantabus invaded my mind, showing me how it felt to change shapes as it did, being amorphous. I tried to replicate those feelings, stretching nonexistent muscles to create a hand on my hoof. I smiled as I succeeded, and then proceeded to do the slow, and strange process of trying to fix up my new body to be more anthropomorphic. I chuckled as I finished, glad I’d gotten that out of the way. Next thing on my mental “If Pony” checklist was to explore. In this case it was checking out the surrounding bubbles.

The first few I approached showed off a rather plain family. Each one had the same ponies, but with different focuses in perspective. As well, I noticed from afar that there were various different colors of the orbs. I moved on to others as I looked at them.

As I neared them, just floating along in the strange space, the opaque blue orbs slowly faded into something else. One showed a white mare having a lovely looking picnic with a humble looking orange stallion I could tell the two loved each other. It was a similar romantic scene in the other bubble, the two ponies enjoying dinner at a fancy italian place.

Close to the two, but not much farther, I found a deep violet one. Investigating, I almost recoiled as I saw an easily recognisable orange mare with bacon for a mane. She looked about in her teenage years, and was enjoying a rather errotic dream involving the use of magic to summon tentacles from another realm to please her. Even at a young age it seemed, Sunset Shimmer still dreamed of power.

By then I’d about pieced together that I was looking at ponies’ dreams. If I had to guess, the position of the dreams marked where the dreamer was sleeping, in this case, Sunset was sleeping in her parents house. Another thing I took note of was the different colors. Each one seemed to indicate a different emotional theme to it, like violet was sexy stuff, black was a nightmare, blue was love, pink was joy, and so on. It was kinda structured like changeling colors in the Shifting Melodies fanfiction.

Getting a few ideas, I searched about the Dreamscape, looking around for Twilight’s cutie mark among the dreamers. I found it, but I was concerned when I saw the bubble had a very dark color. Getting near, I found her dreams plagued by a nightmare, one it seemed involved Magic Kindergarten. Other foals were laughing at her as they forced her to do embarrassing things, including wearing a diaper and making her soil it…

Enraged, I threw myself into the dream and charged my magic for forceful removal of the horrid foals. The second I was in, I lost a beam at the bullies, vaporising them and the tools of humiliation. Twilight blinked when she saw them get blasted, and wiped the tears from her eyes in surprise, not sure if she could believe what just happened.

“Fear not young one.” I spoke as I landed lightly near her. “This nightmare won’t plague you any longer.” I smiled as she turned to face me with curiosity, though she wouldn’t see my smile. I had no discernable features, besides my eyes.

“Oh… this was just a dream…” she said, sounding relieved. “Who are you? And what are you?” I seethed at the implication that this thing happened in the waking realm. But I answered nonetheless.

“Yes, this is a dream. My name is… Eclipse. I’m a dreamwalker, and I watch over dreams like yours. Or… do now. I’m actually kinda new to this.” I said with a giggle.

“Really?! That’s amazing! How do you do it?” Twilight asked giddily.

“Sorry, squirt. It’s a kind of magic only me and Nightmare Moon can use.” I said apologetically. She shrank away a bit at the mention of that name, but seemed a bit hesitant to believe it.

“Nightmare Moon? But… she’s just an old pony’s tale.” she said confused.

“No, Twilight… listen, old legends like that? They have to come from somewhere, right? There is always some degree of truth to them. It’s up to you to figure out what that extent is though. Understand?” I made sure she knew what I was saying.

“You mean she’s real? And she’s stuck on the moon?” Twilight asked in shock. I nodded sadly.

“She actually made me… I was meant to spread nightmares and to punish those who don’t follow her, but I recently got a will of my own.” I said, tilting my head and giving her an eye-smile.

“That’s good. I like you like this.” she said, smiling back.

“I like me like this too.” I said in return. “So, about those other foals… can you tell me who they are? I wanna make sure they never bother you again.” She frowned and shivered a bit. She didn’t need to say anything right then as I got a picture from her memories, showing me their cutie marks.

“Some of them live nearby… My brother keeps them from bothering me while I’m home, but he can’t help at the academy.” Twilight said.

“Don’t worry… by sunrise, none of them will ever want to bother you again. Hehe… and don’t be surprised if more than one of them start bowing to you like you’re a Princess.” I said with an amused chuckle. She giggled at the idea.

“Thank you. I owe you.” she said as I began to leave. As I left, I reached out with my mind and gave Twilight a pleasant dream about owning a library. Smiling in joy that I’d saved her from some of her fears, I moved on, glaring daggers into the nearest matching cutie mark Twilight had given me. Unsurprisingly, it was a crown. I pounded my hands together, pretending to crack my knuckles as I approached it. That orange, prideful dream was about to go blacker than a pot and kettle. The second I touched the dream, it darkened. I chuckled darkly as I sank into it.

“W-what the…?! What’s going on?” I heard a lame-voiced foal whimper. I laughed louder with clear malice.

“You, my pathetic little tyrant… are about to have the greatest Nightmare of your life.” I said, laughing up a storm… literally. With that, I poured my magic into his head, flashing away the current dreamscape for something a little closer to home… my home that is. He was now aboard the USG Ishimura. I watched with glee as he started exploring cautiously.

“What the hay is this place?” he asked shakily, probably hoping I was still there. I chuckled, echoing my voice throughout the place.

“Welcome to my special hell. Even I would be afraid of this place… if I were there. Just watch every corner you can see, even the ceiling. If you aren’t careful… you could die.” I warned. With him thoroughly scared now, I almost left… but then I felt something intruding into his dream.

“Gifted? Gift, please, wake up! It’s just a-” I cut the voice off with a scowl, recognising that it was the kid’s mother, worried about him. Let the bastard suffer. You have no idea what this little bitch did to Twilight.

“Oh, don’t listen to that nag… you need to suffer for what you did to little Twilight.” I said, my voice clearly filled with more hatred.

“T-twilight?! What the hay do you mean, what did I do to deserve this?!” He asked, more afraid than ever.

“Two words. Diaper Dance.” I growled. Right then a Brute Necromorph smashed through a wall and beat down on the kid, and I watched with absolute bloodthirsty glee. The dream reset when he died, and he curled up shivering.

“I-I-I’m sorry! Please, let me go, I won’t ever do it again!” He begged. I dropped a Slasher Necro into the room with him, slowly stalking towards him.

“Let me tell you something, Brat. Twilight Sparkle is one day destined to become an Alicorn Princess, right alongside Celestia. Needless to say, she will remember you when that day comes. It’ll be up to you whether you get punished the day she sees you again after.” I ominously stated.

“WH-WHAT?! … What do I need to do?” He asked nervously.

“When you wake up, you need to redeem yourself. Every day you go without apologizing to everypony, even the Princess and your parents, I will plague your dreams with my best Nightmares.” I promised. The Slasher dispersed as I finally broke the dream lock. “Now wake up and apologize. Attone for your sins.”

The dream bubble burst as the foal woke up crying. I relished in the sounds of the four bully’s misery as they all woke up from the same dream. “Hehehahaha…. Oh how amazing it feels to be Dark when I can get away with it.” I laughed to myself. Shaking myself of those thoughts, I move on to setting another goal.

So, I suppose since I’m in the dream realm, and I’m the Tantabus, I can only interact with things here. I should try and find the right ponies to give premonitions or whatever to… Queen Chrysalis seems like a good start. Maybe her hive won’t be starving to death at this time, but I can convince her of several things, maybe hope things don’t spiral downhill too far or at all if I meet with her.

Determination boiling ever higher in my body, I set forth to find her dream.

Author's Note

Heya. Welcome to my newest fic, based on an RP I had with someone else. Just a warning, but there's gonna be some sexual content next chapter. As is typical when it comes to me and a certain Cheesequeen. Hope this fic is enjoyable, despite it being yet another "back to the past" kind of story. I seem to do a lot of those, don't I?