Princess Luna made her way through the endless void of the dream realm, as seemingly countless glowing orbs and doors floated in the ethereal expanse. She had enjoyed a second evening of gaming with her pegasus guest, before likewise telling him to stay up as long as he could in preparation for entering the realm himself. She was hoping Sky would be up for the task; he wouldn't have to be the fastest learner, but he would eventually have to learn to navigate the dream realm independently.

She knew that morning was quickly approaching, and decided to see if her assistant-in-training had managed to remain awake until now. Closing her eyes in concentration, Luna pictured the pegasus in her mind. When she opened her eyes again, an orb had floated to her, faintly glowing, suggesting that her guest had fallen asleep by now.

But as she reached out for it, she suddenly felt a twisting knot in her stomach, and she hesitated; That was one of the signs of a nightmare. Steeling herself, she reached out again, and when her hoof came in contact with the orb, she was pulled into it, and she felt the sensation of falling for several moments before she felt solid ground underneath her hooves, and slowly opened her eyes.

The setting was immediately familiar to her; Ponyville, specifically the marketplace near the town pavilion. But the sky was a sickly color, as thunder rumbled overhead, and lightning arced across the clouds.

"Sky?" She called, looking carefully across the stormy landscape, looking for any trace of the pegasus, or anypony else for that matter,as the town looked abandoned. She looked up to the sky, and decided the best chance to find hm would be to move closer to the eye of the storm, so she began trotting into the eastern neighborhoods.

Most of the residential structures were either one and two stories tall, and were completely dark as she walked down the street. The wind began to pick up, and the last house on the right had red fog pouring out the windows and open front door, spilling out onto the front lawn and nearly dissipating by the time it reached the street. Steeling herself, she went up the front walk, and went through the front door.

The red fog obscured the floor entirely, and gave the walls and ceiling an ominous crimson hue. The house may have well been in an otherworldly swamp. The thunder and lightning were muffled now that she was indoors. She walked by the living quarters after barely giving it a passing glance, and kept in the direction the fog was flowing from; the hallway. The fog was pouring out of the last doorway on the right. Keeping her steps steady, and staying as calm as possible, she came up to the door and peered inside.

There sat Sky Scribbles in the center of the room.

"Sky? Is everything alright?" Luna asked, stepping into the room.

The moment she was in the room proper, she saw it an instant too late; an ethereal, sparkling equine form burst out from behind the corner, ramming into her, knocking her against the wall. She managed to stay on her hooves, but just as her horn lit up, the form lunged forward, pinning her against the wall by her neck and lifting her up.

It glared at her with glowing white, soulless eyes.

"Harmony is a lie," it said, the voice too distorted to be identifiable as fog poured from the mouth.

Luna's eyes widened as she realized what it was; a tantabus, a dream realm creature that manifested itself through very negative emotions.

Sky seemingly wasn't aware of anything that was transpiring behind him, so Luna knew the safest thing to do would be to wake him up, now.

"Expergiscor!" Luna shouted, her horn glowing a brilliant white.

The spell shattered the orb, and the entire dream melted away, along with Sky. Luna knew that was hardly the end; the tantabus was still intact, and would undoubtedly be back. Right now, she needed to talk to the pegasus and find out what in her sister's name was going on.

Sky sat up in his crib in a sweat. He felt as if a bomb had gone off with how suddenly he had bolted awake. He tried to calm his heavy breathing as he looked around the room. Everything in the tower was just as it was when he had come up here after nearly seven hours of gaming after Luna had departed for the evening again.

The window out to the ethereal expanse glowed momentarily, and the Princess of the Night materialized on the carpet, immediately looking to the crib.

"Are you alright?" She asked him.

Sky took another deep breath as the bars of the crib were lowered, and he felt himself get lifted up with her magic, as he was floated over to the changing table. Apparently she figured he would need a change after all those hours of sitting there drinking and playing games.

The pegasus quivered as he was laid down on the changing table.

"Sky, are you alright?" the princess asked once again.

He nodded, swallowing.

"Yes, I think so. I'm sorry, please don't be angry..." he pleaded as Luna began to untape his soaked diaper.

"I'm not mad," Luna began, getting the wipes from the shelves below and began to clean him up. "...yet. I'm shocked and a little confused. A tantabus is large quantities of very negative emotions made manifest. Where did you learn how to do that? What have you been hiding?" Luna asked as she pulled the wet diaper out from under him, rolling it up and tossing it in the pail.

Sky quivered again.

"Sky? I am not a mind-reader, even here," Luna told him. Her tone was mildly scolding and accusatory. She wasn't angry, but she definitely wanted answers.

The pegasus took another deep, shaky breath.

"I learned it from you," he answered, forcing the words out of his mouth. "I was there, in the shared dream when Princess Twilight and her friends helped you with your tantabus. I was... I was going through a really rough time in my life. I guess I still am. The tantabus was helping me," the pegasus said softly.

Luna's eyes widened at such an incredulous statement as she magically grabbed a clean diaper from the stacks on the shelves.

"A tantabus does not help ponies," Luna told him as she unfolded the diaper.

"Then what was yours doing?" Sky asked her as she lifted his legs and got the diaper positioned underneath him.

"It was... Reminding me, of things I really should have put behind me," she answered.

"That seems a good answer as any, I suppose," Sky replied.

Luna carefully dug deeper as she powdered the pegasus' diaper area.

"So what is it reminding you of?" she asked.

Sky remained silent for a moment, taking quiet breaths.

"Sky?" Luna repeated, in a motherly tone, letting him know the conversation wasn't going to go away.

"To not let anypony get close again. To not let myself get hurt again," he replied, quivering as shame washed over him.

Luna let out a soft sigh as she got the fresh diaper taped up securely around his waist, and his onesie buttoned up. The answers weren't exactly crystal clear, but she didn't want to pry; she was rather tired from a night of dream patrolling, and there were more effective methods of getting to the heart of the matter rather than demand he spit out the whole story right then and there. She lifted him up, turned him over, and set him down on his hooves on the floor of the nursery.

"Not letting anypony get close again. You lost somepony?" She asked.

"M-my... My boyfriend. We were living together. He left without saying goodbye," Sky replied.

Luna could tell the memories were very unpleasant.

"How long ago?" She asked.

"Two years," he answered.

Twilight and the others had aided her with her tantabus nearly eighteen months ago.

Luna wasn't even going to pretend that she was even the slightest bit surprised that the pegasus was attracted to her, if that was the case. For pony's sake, she probably even initiated those feelings the previous night of playing games together. They shared a love of games and a love of ageplay.

"So you... Prefer what the tantabus does?" Luna asked, likely already knowing the answer; she had preferred what hers had done before Twilight and the others helped her.

"You mean would I rather have unsettling dreams and wake up relieved, rather than dreaming of being happy together with a pony I love, then waking up alone? Yeah, I guess you could say I do prefer that."

Luna could see that the pegasus was fighting back tears. She stepped forward, sat down in front of him, and pulled him into a gentle hug.

"I'm not going to judge what I do not know. But in terms of why you are here with me, this is an impasse. You have to rediscover your sense of self worth before you have any hope of helping me in the dream realm. You will have no chance of aiding me quell the inner demons of the rest of Equestria if you cannot conquer your own."

Sky slowly parted the hug, a defeated look on his face.

"So... I'm assuming we're done? This is it, then?" he asked, tears finally falling from the corners of his eyes.

"Do you want to be done? Please consider your answer carefully," Luna told him.

Sky took a deep breath, wanting desperately to get his emotions under control.

"N-no. I don't want this to be it."

Luna nodded softly.

"Take whatever time you need. Before we can begin your Guardian trials proper, you will need to overcome your tantabus."

With that, Luna got to her hooves, and headed for the door, parting the fog, and opening it.

"And thank you, Sky," she said, turning her head.

"For what?" he asked, wiping his eyes and sniffling.

"For not giving up," she told him, smiling softly, before continuing into the stairway and closing the door behind her.

Sky wasn't sure how long he sat there in the center of the room. Despite only two hours of sleep, he didn't feel like he could return to the crib. He felt his emotions bubble up again as he began pacing.

No, sleep right now wasn't an option. He instead turned for the door, passed through the fog barrier, and descended down to the second floor of the castle. He needed a change in scenery, and a shower felt like a good idea as the sun slowly started to come up over the city of Canterlot.

Author's Note

Art Source (DeviantArt)