Author's Note

(Edit): This chapter has been updated due to a comment that somebody posted, and this is an attempt to correct some errors. If more errors get pointed out in future chapters, they'll be updated, and if this chapter still has some flaws, expect some changes over the course of time.

The following chapter contains violence and death, because a story that covers Minecraft Manhunt and the Dream SMP isn't complete without those dark red tags, unfortunately, as much as I try to avoid them.

Thank you everybody for supporting this series, this week has been a wild one, as I updated both KOBK (A Hunger Games OC Story) on Monday and uploaded a new story yesterday, so if you feel bored while waiting for the next update, feel free to read them.

Anyways, sit back, play some Cat and Mellohi Discs from Minecraft, and enjoy.

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Chapter 7: Dream

“Welp. As far as I can tell, there’s nothing good to get here.” Ant murmured himself as he ventured through the various corridors of the castle. Nighttime had fallen, and while he had found some interesting items, for now, he found no purpose with them. “Maybe if Bad was here he could explain this.” The anthropomorphic cat said while holding a golden ring with a purple gem. He knew it had some sort of importance due to the amount of energy he felt being emitted, but unfortunately for him, he had no idea how to use it. Was it something you actively wear like a piece of armor or something you add to a weapon? Or neither?

“Anyways, I might as well try to sleep. Hopefully, the one advantage about this mod is that we can sleep even if others aren’t using their beds.” AntFrost said to himself as he began to search the castle for a bed, but the more he thought about it, the less his sentence made sense.

“I know that the creator of the mod pack said that everything would be hundreds of times much more realistic with twists and such, but… isn’t this a bit too over the edge?” Ant thought to himself before an idea came up in his head. “I know! With NPCs, there’s always going to be a limit in how many unique lines they say before they run out. Yeah! I’ll just continue talking to them, and if they end up running out of lines and repeating the same thing, then I’ll know this is a game… unless of course, the AI is so advanced that they’ll generate infinite lines… or maybe this is not a game… eh. We’ll see.” Ant said to himself as he opened a room and found a large purple bed. Pulling himself onto it, the anthropomorphic cat let his sleep take him, feeling his eyes close, before darkness overtook him as he began to sleep.

“What you have told us is troubling Twilight, and I’m glad you chose to bring us back to Canterlot the moment you realized the severity of this situation.” A tall blue alicorn with a black tiara stated as she looked down at Twilight. Beside her was an even taller white alicorn, who had a golden crown. Both of them wore regal clothing, their hair waving in an invisible wind. They wore serious and worried faces, though they still tried to remain friendly to the Princess of Friendship.

After leaving Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle quickly went ahead to contact the previous rulers of Equestria. They arrived within a few moments, and while they were excited to see Twilight again at first, upon giving them tea and giving them as many details she could to them, they soon realized the gravity of the situation.

“Yeah. While I know you two are on retirement, I’ve learned from a friendship lesson that there’s nothing wrong with calling your friends for help.” Twilight stated, remembering one of her first lessons when Applejack tried to do the Apple Harvest all by herself, only for things to go south when she began to experience sleep deprivation. “While me and my friends would’ve tried to solve this problem alone… I don’t think this is one we six could solve alone… ” Twilight remarked.

“Perhaps. While this is certainly the first verified case of a villain… disposing of living beings… it could be possible that others had done similar things, or would’ve done, but it was never recorded.” The white alicorn said. “However, I do agree that you and your friends cannot face this threat alone. Not because I doubt you could, but because in the small chance that things go south, Equestria might end up losing you all, which is something I won’t let happen.”

“Then what can we do Princess Celestia?” Twilight Sparkle asked. “Like we can’t simply let this threat roam around and potentially cause more chaos, destruction, and… death. Do you two have any ideas?” Twilight asked. For a moment the air was full of silence until the other alicorn spoke.

“I might have an easy solution to that.” The blue alicorn said, smiling softly at Twilight. “As Luna, Princess of the Night, I can peer into dreams and help those who go through nightmares. Needless to say, I never always had this ability, as I only gained it after my thousand-year return. If I had obtained this though during Equestria’s waring period against the other nations, I would’ve used it to extract intel, and perhaps even psychologically lower their morale. Thankfully, I never had to go through that path, but if you so choose I could at least peer through this masked creature’s mind to see if they’re a threat or not. I promise you though, that unless there’s no other option, I’ll never try to psychologically affect their mental state. Such a thing could lead to unforeseen consequences that we don’t want to find out.” Luna said. Twilight looked at the Lunar Princess with a shiver. Should she allow this, or should she not?

“I… Hmm… Well… “

“Twilight, do not stress yourself over wondering if you should accept my sister’s plan or not. You have all night to think about this, as well as every single day when nightfall approaches.” Princess Celestia said, seeing that her former student was starting to stress herself out a bit. The purple alicorn simply sighed as she looked at the ground.

“Well it’s just a hard decision to make… it just feels… wrong for some reason…” Twilight said, feeling stuck. She went silent for an easy five minutes as she began to pace around the room until she finally approached Luna, who stood patiently waiting for her. “Princess Luna?”

“Yes?” The Lunar Princess replied. Twilight Sparkle looked away for a moment before turning her eyes straight at her.

“You… You have my permission to use your dream-walk on the masked creature. I would like to know who he is.” Twilight said, though she still sounded unsure of herself. Luna simply nodded.

“Then let us hold hands as I prepare the spell.” The Lunar Princess stated as both Celestia and Twilight Sparkle grabbed her hands. Closing her eyes and concentrating on her power, a small flicker of light began to form from her horn, increasing in size before engulfing them all, forcing the rest to shut their eyes.

Upon opening them again though, they found themselves in the open night sky, stars twinkling in the dark purple background. But they weren’t just stars. Upon taking closer inspection, Twilight could see all of her friend’s dreams, as well as other ponies. Luna quickly tapped the purple alicorn’s shoulder to pull her attention away, but from the corner of her eye, the Princess of Friendship could see three similar nightmarish dreams, which undoubtedly were coming from Gallus, Smolder, and Sandbar.

“Given that they were in a coma, I’ve tried to enter their mind, but I’m afraid their current mental state makes it impossible for me to do it with my current mana reservoirs.” Princess Luna said after noticing that Twilight’s attention was on the three corrupted dreams. All of their magic was being limited by the magical feedback, and while it would eventually subside, it still annoyed them as it prevented them from taking proper immediate action.

Eventually, the star/dream bubble they had been looking for settled right in front of them. The Lunar Princess let out a heavy sigh as she looked at Celestia and Twilight.

“Prepare yourselves for whatever you may see. It can be anything from a regular dream to a nightmarish world that rivals any other.” Luna said as she focused her energy onto the star, which expanded and enveloped them, taking them inside the dream. “Remember, unless you make yourself known, our target won’t be able to see you,” Luna added as color began to fill the landscape.

As they finished entering the dream, they saw a land decorated with grass, flowers, structures, and buildings. Using her magic, the trio was immediately pulled to another area, where they saw the back of their target. He was geared with a diamond helmet, leggings, and boots, and a chest plate that they weren’t able to identify. He looked into the distance as he saw two figures.

The first had yellow hair and blue eyes. He wore a red and white t-shirt and beige jeans. He looked very young, probably the age of a teenager, and he wore a face full of victory. The second had blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore a dark green shirt and blue jeans. The two laughed with each other, and the calming sound of music was heard.

“Look sister. They’re both very young. I believe they’re no older than 18.” Celestia remarked, to which Luna nodded, though holding a serious look.

“I hope he doesn’t decide to use his sword on them,” Luna commented, pointing out the sword that the figure was holding. He stared intently at the two teenagers, and most importantly, at the thin circular objects that the one in red and white was holding. The Princesses simply stared at him, wondering what he was thinking, before the scene changed. The land began to evolve. Black walls were being erected, and soon a large flag began to wave in the air. Two groups of figures stood in front of each other. Three of the figures they immediately recognized, that being Tubbo and Tommy on one side, and their target on another. Besides the two youngsters stood a man with brown hair and light brown eyes, and an anthro fox. All of them wore a blue, black, white, and red uniform. They had tired eyes, as if they had gone through an intense battle, looking at their foes with defiance.

On the other side with their target stood two other figures. One had brown hair and wore a pair of goggles, and another had black hair and black eyes. The three wore the same mysterious armor that the Princesses weren’t able to identify, but unlike the first vision where their target only wore a chest plate of it, their bodies were now covered in a full set of it. The armor had a purplish glow, as if magic was running through it.

The man from the youngsters’ side walked in front of his group, taking a deep breath before he began to give out a speech.

“Independence, or death. If we get no revolution, then we want nothing. We would rather die, than give into you and join your SMP, Dream.” The man said, identifying their target by the name of Dream. And while they found his speech to be empowering, they found themselves asking some questions.

“SMP? What’s that?” Twilight asked. Celestia shrugged as Luna tried to formulate an answer.

“Perhaps it’s their way of saying ‘Kingdom’ or ‘Empire’.” The Lunar Princess offered. Twilight and Celestia thought about it for a moment and agreed that ‘SMP’ probably is a synonym. The man pointed towards the ground, bringing the princesses attention to a block made of red sticks, with the words ‘TNT’ inscribed at each side.

“You can blow up one piece of TNT in our door all you want. It means nothing to us.” The man said, almost with a smirk. Before they could say anything about the events they were seeing, Dream simply ignited the TNT with a flame arrow, smiling at the revolutionaries. As the defenders calmly backed away, they continued to look at Dream defiantly, with a type of pride and bravery that would rival any Royal Guard Pony. That is, until the block of TNT suddenly released a burst of energy, destroying the ground beneath it…

… and revealing more TNT.

The defenders suddenly screamed in fear and panic as a chain reaction took place, the entire ground blowing into the air as more and more TNT were ignited by each other’s blasts. They all ran to the water, diving straight into it in hopes of protecting themselves from the blast. Upon resurfacing though, it was to both theirs and the princesses’ shock upon seeing the place that they called home was gone, destroyed, and blown up.

“H-He… He….”

“He destroyed everything,” Celestia stated as she finished Twilight’s sentence, looking with shock and even a bit of anger towards Dream. Already he showed actions that would equal that of deeds that various villains had done, and there was probably more in store. The thought of a device able to destroy everything shook Celestia like that, her mind drifting to that of Equestria and her homeland. If this ‘Dream’ repeated the same thing in Equestria…

… she didn’t even want to think of how many ponies would get injured or possibly even die.

The scene was once again changed. The one before took place during the day, but right now nightfall had arrived. The two groups were once again near each other, but this time Dream and Tommy were on a wooden bridge, talking to each other.

“Let me just clarify something, Tommy.” Dream said as he walked towards the young boy, smiling under his mask. “If you win, we grant L’Manberg independence.” The green-hooded figure said, to which Tommy nodded. “But, we will still recognize it as part of the Dream SMP.” Dream said. Both Tommy and the man from before seemed to agree to this deal. “However, if I win, L’Manberg will lose its independence and it’ll be reintegrated into the Greater Dream SMP. Remember, this duel you made was your idea, Tommy, so no pressure if you win or lose.” The masked figure said, causing Luna and Celestia to gasp.

“He wouldn’t,” Celestia said with a sharp breath. Twilight looked at her old mentor with a worried expression.

“What’s happening?” Twilight asked as Dream and Tommy began to walk from each other, back to back, holding what seemed to be a bow in their hand.

“Dream is challenging Tommy, a child, to a duel. A duel to the death I presume. It was a custom that used to exist in Equestria that was banned a thousand years ago, where an offended pony would challenge another to a duel. These usually lasted until somebody yielded or when… death was achieved… and now Dream is doing this. To a child.” Luna said with a heavy breath as the man counted down the number of paces the two participants had to walk from each other. He had a worried expression, worried not only for losing the nation’s independence but also potentially Tommy. Was the boy… his son?

“Ten paces… FIRE!” The man yelled, prompting both the child and the masked figure to turn around. Tommy was able to shoot first, the arrow flying just over Dream’s head. The child dipped into the water, just when Dream fired his shot, which flew over Tommy’s head, though not before he needed to dodge yet another arrow soon after as the boy fired back. The young teenager began to swim under the bridge as Dream prepared another shot. The moment his head appeared above the water, the masked man fired again, as did the child, their shots narrowly missing each other. It seemed that it was down to whoever shot next would win this deadly duel.

Time slowed to a crawl as Dream aimed at the boy who was swimming beneath the bridge. The Princesses looked at the masked figure, hoping that he missed his shot so that the young boy could stay alive. With no warning, Dream suddenly let go of the arrow, which spun in the air and was aimed directly at the kid’s heart as he resurfaced from the waters. Tommy could only look in horror as the arrow was just a few inches from his chest. There was simply no time to think. No time to dodge. With a sickening thud, the arrow embedded itself in his chest, right where his heart was. His expression was that of pure shock, pain, and agony. The Princesses could only watch in horror as he tried to scream in pain, but already his life was being pulled away, as his eyes began to flutter and close, his body limping, before he crashed right back into the waters he came from.

The Princesses could only watch in silence as the aggressors began to cheer, even in the face of a child being murdered. The man who gave the order for the match to begin, and presumably the head of the revolution, simply covered his mouth in shock and grave disappointment, not at the child, but at what had just transpired.

“It has been settled.” Dream said, those four words somehow causing the Princesses to go into a fit of rage. He acted as though this was just a business gamble, not as if a child had been killed. His next words would replace their anger with confusion as he began to walk away. “Now Tommy, I’m expecting Mellohi to be given to me. As soon as it is, we will cease-fire and we will revoke-”

Before the masked figure could finish his statement, they heard the child’s voice resonating from a distance. Not as if he had become a ghost, but as if he just simply was from a far location. It shocked the Princesses again in a different manner. They were happy to hear that Tommy wasn’t dead, confused as to how he could’ve survived, and still angry that Tommy had to die. Did he have a limit on how many times his life could be taken away from him? The Princess also noticed that the body that was once Tommy had vanished. Had he truly been resurrected?

“No Dream no-no. Can we go in a call for one second, just for one second? This is our war.” Tommy’s voice said. Dream nodded, but apparently, this sentence had infuriated the other man who began to storm away. The Princesses anger turned back to the man. Why didn’t he go into the duel and not the young boy? Perhaps it was because it was never meant to be. Dream did say that Tommy had brought the idea up in the first place. Perhaps the man was thinking that the youngster was being too reckless, and thus it cost them the war? Still, they believed the man should’ve given the youngster some credit for trying.

“That boy… that boy… Fundy let’s go we’re going back.” The man said as he began to climb the hill up, motioning the anthropomorphic fox to follow him. “Eret is officially barred from entering our nation.” The man said as he passed by another who wore black glasses, who simply gave him a neutral expression.

“Understandable.”

“And you smell and are bad. And I’ve never liked you anyway. And your voice isn’t even that good. You just sound like me and Technoblade had a bad child.” The leader of the revolution said, causing everybody from Eret to Fundy to start laughing, despite many of them being on opposite sides of the war.

“Who’s Eret anyways Luna?” Celestia asked as he stared at the man who wore sunglasses. Luna simply stared at her.

“I can’t view thoughts from other creatures, especially with this magical feedback! I can’t control what Dream is dreaming, only help ponies through their nightmares. But if I must infer, he probably betrayed them, which might explain how the revolutionaries weren’t wearing armor if he stole it from them.” Luna said, causing Twilight to blink.

“He betrayed them?” Twilight asked. The Lunar Princess simply shrugged.

“Again, I can’t tell. If I decided to look through Dream’s internal thoughts and not his dreams, then maybe I could figure it out. But it’s safe to say that he knew them given that wearing their uniform, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he did end up betraying them.” Luna said, causing Twilight to become disappointed. If this was true, then it was bad news. Friends are supposed to be with each other, and hearing that Eret had potentially betrayed his friends for who knows what caused Twilight to become a bit angry.

Before she got a chance to put in her own few cents, the scene changed to that of Tommy, who was standing in the middle of the fields at night, seemingly nowhere near the place the duel took. It came to them as a surprise that Tommy and Dream were communicating telepathically through this ‘call’ they were having and without any visible spells. This also came to them as a surprise, in a different way.

“Wait… why are we looking at Tommy? Isn’t this dream supposed to be about… Dream?” Twilight asked. Luna thought about it for a few moments before shrugging.

“Perhaps he’s dreaming from a third point of view much like we are? This is still his past, at least, I think so. The ‘Dream’ within this dream is still acting as violent as the one who ki- on second thought, I’m starting to rethink what you said, Twilight.” Luna said, causing Twilight to blink.

“What exactly?” The Princess of Friendship asked, to which Luna sighed.

“Those he killed in Ponyville might have the same ability that Tommy has, which is to resurrect themselves. This means that death to them is meaningless to them, which might explain why Dream killed them in Ponyville. They wouldn’t be hurt in any serious way, I think, as they’d come back to life, so I wouldn’t be surprised if tomorrow they popped up again. So in other words, his crimes aren’t as big as we think they are, if we assume he killed them knowing they’d come back… which is twisted in itself.” Luna stated, causing Celestia to frown.

“He still threatened Sandbar, Gallus, and Smolder, and did kill Tommy, a child… I believe this is something we’ll have to look into with a closer eye.” Celestia stated. “Even if this is fake, surely his personality must be real, as I can’t imagine everything being fake. Life isn’t something that can be scripted.” Celestia said.

“Well then, let’s just carry on with the dream shall we?” Luna said, convinced by Celestia to keep them in the dreamworld to study Dream, while Tommy began to telepathically(?) speak to Dream, again this bit confused the Princesses. Tommy looked like he was talking to just the air, but they could still hear Dream’s response, so… was it telepathy in the first place?

“I’ll do this for L’Manberg. I’ll give you both of the discs if you let us have our independence. Cat and Mellohi.” The child said as he began to walk through the dense woods, still communicating with Dream. There was no response, as it was clear that Dream was thinking about the deal, and it also became clear to the princesses that these two items that Tommy was giving up must have meant a big deal to him if they were to be bartered for L’Manberg’s independence.

“That is… a very, very interesting deal. That’s very selfless of you, those are your discs.” Dream’s voice said as they echoed through the air back from the duel site. Tommy simply sighed as he continued to walk.

“For L’Manberg ya know? For Wilbur, for Tubbo… Not for Eret… Those two discs Dream, from our war.” The kid said as he began to reach the main area of the small urban area that was probably the Dream SMP, the kingdom etc.

“I think this is what Dream was thinking about at the start of the Dream. The war they’re talking about must’ve been correlated to these discs, and given how Dream acted in the beginning, he probably lost that war.” Celestia remarked.

“And he’s just giving them up? That’s… that’s very kind of Tommy.” Twilight said with a sort of pride in the boy. Even though this world did seem violent, with friendships being broken and people betraying and attacking one another, friendship could and still prosper.

“I’ll grant you technical independence for the two discs, which would mean no war, but we will consider you as part of the Dream SMP-”

“No that’s just you being deluded,” Tommy said, soured on the point that L’Manberg wouldn’t have an official independence, and it would be more like a commonwealth or proxy nation.

“We won’t fight you unless we have a really good reason. We won’t go into your grounds unless we’re allowed…”

“And you’ll respect us, basically independence,” Tommy said as he passed by Eret, whom he frowned towards, confirming that he had betrayed him and that he was no longer a friend to him. Taking a sigh and pressing a hand to his forehead, Tommy began to talk to another person, one that they instantly recognized.

“Tommy, what was negotiation- where are you? We’re in L’Manberg.” Wilbur’s voice rang as the youngster walked into a small house on the side of a hill. The young teenager let out a sigh before smiling.

“Wilbur I… I secured our independence.” Tommy said with a grin, causing Wilbur to go silent in shock as he processed what he was hearing.

“Y-You… you what?” Wilbur asked as other citizens of the nation joined the call and began to ask questions. “How did you do it?” The man asked as Tommy met up with Dream and pulled out his discs before handing them over, his hands shaking as they were pulled from his grasp and handed to his worst enemy. But it was worth it. The green-hooded figure simply smiled before leaving as Tommy’s friends continued to ask him questions through the call.

“I gave him the discs Wil,” Tommy said with a smile.

“You gave up the discs!? All of them!?” Wilbur yelled in shock, with a hint of sadness for Tommy’s loss, but also proud of the boy’s action. With a simple yes from Tommy, Wilbur became ecstatic as he began to praise the young boy. “My right-hand-man TommyInnit! What the- you… get over here! You have the declaration of independence yeah?” Wilbur asked as Tommy confirmed. “I need a book! To write a new declaration of independence-”

“It doesn’t matter that we don’t own anything right now, cause we own something more than any physical item: Freedom,” Tommy said with a smile, as the citizens of L’Manberg began to rejoice their independence through their mental call. The sight of the youngster smiling, even if he had just given up some of his most prized possessions, touched Twilight’s heart.

“I think it’s safe to say that this kid is very nice right? Giving up everything he had to save his country.” Twilight said to the two princesses. “I think we can both agree that if Tommy were to have come to Equestria it would’ve been much better compared to Dream and all the chaos he’s caused.” The Princess of Friendship stated. “How much time do we have in this dream Luna?”

“Dream has a few more hours to go, so we’ll be sticking around to see what happens next. Honestly, it feels like we’re watching one of those ‘films’ rather than an actual past.” The Lunar Princess said before turning to Celestia. “What’s your opinion about him, sister?” Luna asked.

“He reminds me of Twilight if Equestria went through a more chaotic path. I wouldn’t be surprised though that Tommy’s the hero of this world.” Celestia noted. “I still feel terrible about Dream killing Tommy, even if it was just a temporary death. I want to know how that system works though. Can you look into his memories, Luna?” Celestia asked, which caused Luna to frown.

“I’m not so sure. Who knows what types of troubles might appear if I did that… How about this? Since Twilight was the one who accepted my offer to enter the dream world in the first place, why not let her decide?” Luna asked. “It will cut off some amount of time as I’ll have to use more magic, but we’ll be able to get an explanation about that system.”

This time though, Twilight began to smile enthusiastically.

“Wait! I have an idea! Why don’t we go and check his memories before he came to Ponyville! That way we can clarify this whole mess already!” Twilight said, beaming at her brilliant plan. Luna blinked before smiling at Twilight.

“That should work, after all, I’m in his mind right now… so it should work in theory,” Luna said as she began to power her horn, concentrating on the most recent memories, only for her horn to fizzle out. “Well… that wasn’t supposed to happen,” Luna said.

“Perhaps because you’ve never tried it before?” Celestia asked, only for Luna to shake her head.

“I already did this multiple times sister, like with Sweetie Belle, by making her see events that she wouldn’t have known about. Perhaps they’re a non-magical race and thus I’m limited in my options?” Luna offered, but she didn’t find her explanation satisfactory. Wouldn’t it make it easier to view not only his dream memories but every single bit of it? Or was she right in that assumption?

“Can you still check on the memories when we end his dream?” Twilight asked, only to cause Luna to shake her head.

“I’d need to be in contact with him, as that’s more like a mind-reading spell, which requires being close to whoever you want to cast it on. I can still try looking at anything related to his dream though.” Luna stated.

“Then please do that sister, we do need answers,” Celestia ordered politely. Nodding at her older sister, Luna began to charge her horn again, this time finding the magic flowing much more strangely, perhaps because she was more accustomed to doing this specific thing. However, upon looking back, she frowned.

“Alright, I found some things, which may not settle down with you guys,” Luna stated, before continuing. “In this world, there’s this sort of thing called… ‘canon lives’. If you die in some type of important event you lose a canon life. If you die by falling or drowning or anything not related to something important, it doesn’t count. Even collateral deaths don’t count. But apparently, this was not Tommy’s first canon death.” Luna stated, causing the other two princesses to raise an eyebrow.

“Canonically? Not his first? W-what do you mean Princess?” Twilight asked, to which the Lunar Princess needed to power another spell to check another scene related to the dream.

“Remember how Eret might’ve betrayed L’Manberg? Well, he did by taking them to an underground bunker in the promise of giving them something that would turn the tide of the war… only for it to be a trap where Dream and his allies slaughtered them.” Luna finished, quickly causing Twilight and Celestia to gasp. He did betray his friends.

“So Dream killed Tommy right? Was there any official reason for doing this?” Celestia asked as Luna cast another spell, this time panting a bit as trying to view his memories while casting the dream spell was certainly tiring, especially with the magical feedback.

“Well, considering that this was a revolution, Dream might’ve decided to take an extreme measure. I don’t know how this connects with the incident we’ve seen, but it seems that he has no problems taking lives if he finds a legitimate reason to do so.” Luna answered, which caused Twilight to ask a different question.

“How many canon lives does Tommy have anyway?” Twilight asked, as Luna simply sighed.

“He…

…

… He only has one left Twilight.”