Dreamwalker's Tale: First (and Last?) Adventure

With an unremarkable night shift coming to an end, my consciousness slowly stirred within my body. Warmth surrounded me. A downy softness covered me above, and a silken one below. The soft breathing of Celestia right beside me. A little higher up. A little too high for my tastes. I wrinkled my muzzle and mild displeasure. It would not be easy to just stretch my neck and give her a kiss this way. Where was I? How had I come to rest against her chest? Sometime last night, I must have shuffled myself further down.

Despite this observation, I did not move. Not quite yet anyway. I just listened to her calm and steady breathing. She was still fast asleep. It lured me in, coaxed me to join her. I could certainly do with another hour or two, I would not mind. But my mind started working, the gears turned slowly and with a creak. And my mind was fed up with sleep for one night. It would not let me drift off again.

The universe does not appreciate a vacuum. I did not understand why. Emptiness was the ultimate form of order, was it not? At least one possibility for it. But the universe despised emptiness, and rushed to fill any void with something. Anything. At the earliest opportunity. And me being part of this universe had implications in that regard. With my night being neither overly enjoyable, nor overly arduous, my emotional state was the equivalent to a blank slate. Blank meaning empty. And I felt a rush coming to fill that void.

Lucky for me, it turned out to be about last evening. My memories flooded the empty space and I involuntarily smiled. It still felt strange on occasion. To see how devoted we were to each other. Well, to be honest — I wondered a lot more about her devotion to me than the other way around. In that regard, I could understand Luna a lot better. She was no mare of half-measures. And neither did I seem to be a stallion capable of such.

But how. How had I captured the sun? I heard her heartbeat when I bent my head just right to carefully put my ear against her chest. Strong and powerful and yet restrained. It spoke of how much more it was capable of if push came to shove.

These moments of doubt sometimes turned to more innocent moments of wonder. Of appreciation, and gratefulness. I did not comprehend how this had happened. But goodness gracious, was I grateful that it did. I tried to nestle even closer to her, despite us already lying skin on skin. I would have crawled into her if that would have been a possibility. It just felt so peaceful to be close to her. No storm or concern or vile part of reality would dare approach closer than the furthest point on the horizon as long as she was this close. And I basked in her light and warmth like I never did with her actual sunlight.

My nostrils flared and I took in her scent. Summer heat, morning dew and sunflowers. And the remnants of sleep. Without thinking much about it, I brushed my lips along her chest, slowly shuffling even further down. I slipped past the edge of her wing, and my head finally vanished beneath it. I had to stifle a giggle. For a second or two, I felt like a colt hiding under his blanket. And as a blanket she had extended her wing, had she not? The actual one was situated on her other side, draped halfway across her back.

My continued movement finally proved too much for her sleepy mind. She hummed a little in appreciation as I continued to kiss, nip and lick a little trail, lazily making my way to her stomach. Another couple of seconds and she cracked an eye open. “That must be one of the nicest ways to wake up,” she murmured.

And I smiled. I was glad she did not feel disturbed. That she was not annoyed. Or grumpy. So I continued further. As I reached her teats, I felt my smile tilt a little lopsided and gave one a tentative lick. A quiet sigh, followed by an even quieter giggle was my reward. She carefully folded her wing and rolled onto her back without dislodging me. Once she felt comfortable again, she raised her head and looked down on herself. “What are you doing…?” she whispered, traces of tiredness still lacing her expression and voice.

I repositioned myself as well, slowly grabbing hold of her nice, plump rump. I raised my muzzle just enough to let her see my smug grin. “Something something pineapple,” I mumbled in response, which elicited a less restrained giggle from her. She shook her head in mild disbelief, but at the same time, she beamed at me and then let her head fall back down onto the pillow. It was all the encouragement I needed. She relaxed, and gave control over to me. And I vowed to take good care of her.

Her shuddering breaths were delightful to listen to. I crawled back up and kissed her without hesitation. There was a fraction of a second of surprise, but with her currently addled mind, she quite enjoyed the flavor. And I pulled away a second later to let her catch her ragged breathing. I scooched a little lower again and laid my head on her chest once more and listened to her heart going on a rampage. I giggled a little as I felt her left hindleg twitch and yank, even more than half a minute after the fact. Would her mind have been in any state to do so, she would have at least tried to chide me for my amusement. Not in earnest, of course. It was all just teasing and fooling around.

“I feel—” she started with a slightly raspy voice, before clearing her throat and searching for the right words to finish, “… quite spent.”

“Well, you’ve been quite a hoofful,” I replied with a chuckle. “And rather insatiable,” I added a moment later with a smirk. I honestly would not have minded to go for another round or three, were it not for my lower jaw being a little tired.

“Somepony told me that there is no such thing as ‘too much of a good thing’,” she shot right back with a giggle. “And somepony seemed quite eager after the first… hm…” She fell quiet for a few moments, her brow furrowed while she tried to count something. The details of which had become fuzzy, however. So she ultimately shrugged. “After the first couple of times.”

My grin intensified to a degree that my cheeks started to ache. My jaw muscles felt sore. My tongue had gone numb for a brief period at some point and my hooves were aching a little as well, my magic was in a less than ideal shape and none of that really mattered. I felt proud beyond words. She had enjoyed herself a lot and I knew that without asking and I had been the reason for it. How could I not pride myself on that?

We drifted into a companionable silence for a while. Minutes passed. Her breath evened out. Her heartbeat became calm and steady once more. Her nethers and tail were damp and sticky, but right now, that did not seem to matter all that much. She had no intention of getting out of bed just yet. And so we just enjoyed each other’s proximity, accentuated by the occasional sigh.

However, even a deeply relaxed mind eventually started to run again. And she was the one who broke the silence first. “How is Luna doing?”

I was just glad she had not asked that sooner. It could have been a bit of a mood killer. But I couldn't help but smile either. She was always so worried about her little sister. Even though Luna was perfectly capable of looking out for herself. “She’s fine. Don’t worry. We did our job and she barely mentioned any catastrophes in Canterlot, so I’m inclined to say: Fancy, or whoever else is giving her advice, is doing a fantastic job.”

She nodded and I saw relief disperse what little worry had built up in that short amount of time. “I still owe you an answer,” she continued after a moment. “For yesterday. If I wish for us to return home.”

I nodded, grateful for the clarification, and tilted my head enough that I could properly look at her. Though admittedly, speaking was more difficult this way, since my throat and jaw rested on her chest. “Before you speak. I want to contribute something to that decision of yours, if I may?” She agreed and I shot her another grateful smile. “I admittedly could have said so earlier, but honestly, it just slipped my mind. There are five sites I wanted to visit. Five in total.” I saw her do a little mental mathematics and I nodded as she asked me wordlessly. “Today would be the last.”

“But you had planned for an entire week?” she replied with a slightly furrowed brow.

I grinned and shrugged. “Yupp. I like to have buffers. I mean, every time I leave Canterlot by train, you remind me that I leave half an hour early and that I will stand around the train station for half an hour, bored out of my mind. And you’re right. Almost every time, you’re right. But I plan for inconveniences with a low probability. A toppled cart might block the street I need to use. I might want to help somepony with something on the way. Maybe a guard stops me for a search or something. You can never know what might happen. And half an hour is an acceptable sacrifice to ensure that I will get my train anyway.”

I saw her grin with that specific kind of understanding that two similar souls shared. She was used to such planning in her own way. Trying to accommodate for failing plans. Allowing for bureaucratic hiccups when constructing a time table. She even considered her aides’ and clerks’ unique quirks when planning her lunch breaks.

I knew she understood. Which meant that I had no reason to explain any further than I already had. The conclusion however was worth talking about. We had another two days before we were expected back. Given today’s events would not completely derail everything, of course. And admittedly given that she was still willing to go through with it.

I even tried to throw a little incentive on top. “I was thinking, once we’re done here, you could take charge? We pack things up, head home and you can decide what we do for those two days?” I grimaced a little once my mind caught up and tried to reframe the idea as me giving her the bare scraps I had no use for any longer.

“Anything I want?” she asked with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

I gulped. My mind was on fire, racing with hypotheticals and potential scenarios, but ultimately, I came up empty-hoofed. I could not imagine a single thing I actually had to fear. Maybe she would drag me to some high society fashion show or something. But that would mean she would suffer just as much as I would. Or maybe she had a shorter journey in mind? She could be quite adventurous herself.

I ultimately shrugged and nodded. “Anything,” I answered. And with the decision made, I was ready to stand by it and see it through to the end, no matter what.

She smiled for a while and followed her own trail of thoughts until she finally sighed. “We have come so far. Let us finish what we started. I have an inkling that it will most likely be emotionally draining, at the very least, so we should plan with us staying here for the rest of the day. But I will think about tomorrow.”

I crawled a little upwards and kissed her. She enjoyed the gesture as much as I did, but once we pulled apart, she grimaced a little. “We both need a toothbrush,” she announced with a grin. My belly rumbled. “And maybe breakfast.”

I chuckled when her belly replied in kind, both of our stomachs having a conversation again. “Definitely breakfast. Alright, let’s get this show on the road then.”

Seeing as we faced the last trial today, we both felt a little excess excited energy. Our bath routine was done quickly, our breakfast was assembled and devoured quickly, and our preparations, few as they were to begin with, were done quickly.

And soon after, we found ourselves in the jungle once more. The heat was still oppressive, the humidity still very much annoying and the insects buzzing around me like hotel guests swarming a free buffet were very much aggravating. But it was all a lot more bearable just because I knew that it was the last time.

And yet I felt some strange kind of sorrow, almost.

This ‘adventure’ of mine had been strange through and through. We had cut out some parts I did not like. I had been complaining a lot. Or I trudged along like a zombie, brainlessly muttering about heat and aching hooves. And we had lived in a tent that was the equivalent of a palace.

But today, it all came to an end. And it felt rather abrupt for some reason. I was looking forward to being done with this forsaken jungle. I was looking forward to finally getting back home. Back to civilization. Back to Luna and Twilight and all my friends.

Had there been anything I enjoyed about this adventure? Anything apart from Celestia? Because I could have her company every day.

Then again. That was not entirely true, was it? I could visit her, true. We could have afternoons. Evenings. Nights. But she was chained to Equestria’s throne. She was The Princess Celestia. Eternal Ruler, Beloved Mother. Upon our return, things would go back to the way they had been before. The way they were meant to be. She would rule and I would have to get by with whatever time was left beside that. Lazing around in the morning. Joking around while assembling a makeshift breakfast table. These things were so incredibly mundane. Family life. Home. Yet back home, they were a lot rarer than out here in the wilderness.

We trudged through the jungle, our progress slow as usual. And I found myself looking at her time and again. I longed for this way of life. A part of me wished to be with her like this forever. And that part was insistent enough on this wish being fulfilled that it was willing to put up with a freaking jungle.

I sighed.

And despite the jungle being quite loud with the sounds of birds and the rustling of small critters in the underbrush, she heard it. “Is everything alright?” she asked. I internally cursed her ability to read me this easily. She could effortlessly distinguish between 'I'm warm'-sighs and 'Something is on my mind'-sighs. And yet I was glad she could. It made things easier on so many occasions.

I did not want to explain myself fully. My thoughts, due to heat and insects and ongoing chaos, were less than fully formed and I had not yet drawn any proper conclusions for myself. But she would not accept silence either. “Depending on how things went with Luna in charge… do you think we could do this more often?”

“You mean ‘vanish from the spotlight, exit civilization and live off the land in a remote location with nopony around’?” she asked with a teasing smile.

While I could appreciate her attempt to lighten the mood, a part of me was quite petulant right now and saw no fault with the scenario she so flagrantly presented as ridiculous. I tried to keep a tight lid on that and merely nodded in earnest, before managing to add some words as well. “Maybe. Vacations, in general.”

With her experience with reading ponies, it really was no wonder that she quickly picked up on my mood. She sighed with a wry smile. “I would love that.”

I replied with a similar smile and nodded. “Me too.”

We fell silent once more, and continued on until we reached our destination a few more hours later.

“Alright, so, here’s what I’m thinking happened here,” I started and sat down on my haunches so that I could properly gesture. “We obviously can’t know which trial site was built first, right? I just picked the order at random. Well, actually not completely at random, I picked them clockwise. Doesn’t matter. So, they built that first temple, right? They are like ‘oh yeah, nice trials, you need to keep your body in shape to progress and such’. And then one of the builders steps up and is like: ‘But do we really care if those contestants are in good shape?’ And they all have a mighty think and they suddenly realize: Damn. No. It actually doesn’t matter. Heck, it shouldn’t matter. But the first trial is already built, right? Makes no sense to tear it down now. But, they can learn from mistakes. And that first trial will at least ensure that nopony passes these trials that isn’t at least decently in shape. Just to make sure that the contestant doesn’t keel over because he had to climb three stairs or something like that. And that’s why they all look like this, with one notable exception.”

Celestia sat beside me and all throughout my annoyed rant, she listened with an amused smile while she watched yet another lone, dome-shaped ruin. “Maybe they ran out of stone or enchantment ingredients?” she contributed her own ideas. “You have to admit, the landscape in the entire region we have seen so far does not really offer good spots for a quarry. No steeper hills, not mountains. Just a gently curved and endless green sea.”

I huffed and leaned against her. She put her wing around me for comfort, but it quickly grew uncomfortable. Too warm. Too damp. Too everything. But I appreciated the gesture. “Thanks.” And with a sharp inhale, I stood back up again. “Alright, fine, let’s get this over with.”

We entered the dome and I sighed in relief as the temperatures dropped immediately and the constant buzzing of insects receded. We had tried to keep our eyes peeled for the occasional opportunity to fill our saddlebags again on our way over her and while we had not come across another garden, we still managed to find some bananas, a lemon, a grapefruit and another avocado tree. Sadly only a few of them had been ripe, but those that were we had taken along.

The half-filled saddlebags we discarded next to the entrance again before once more walking around an empty room, inspecting it for any clues or traps. We decidedly ignored the lone stone pedestal in the middle for now. And the flat bowl sporting a key ready to be grabbed.

We found nothing, of course. But it was worth being thorough. We would not get sloppy on the finishing straight. “Right, let’s see,” I murmured when we both concluded our examination of the dome and stepped up to the pillar in the middle. Things were quite clear again. The key just lay there. Ready for pickup. And as soon as we tried, all Tartarus would break loose. We had been through that before. More than once. “Are you ready?” I asked.

She snorted. “For what?” she replied and took a defensive stance.

“Hm. Good point.” I grabbed the key with my magic.

And all Tartarus broke loose.

The very second my magic dared to touch the key, something wormed its way into my head, quicker than I could have anticipated. It broke through all defenses with intimidating ease. And then it took control of my magic. Something far beyond my capabilities sparked into my horn, channeled energy from who-knows-where and we were both ripped straight out of our own world.

I wheezed and reeled from what had happened when Celestia’s voice reached my ears. “Are you alright?” My first impulse was to laugh. Did I look alright? Did I seem alright to her? But something made me hold back my snark. There was a tinge of genuine worry in her voice.

I raised my gaze and took in what I had not expected to see. The dome was gone. So was the entire jungle. We once again stood in the dreamscape. A star-studded landscape of inky nighttime, with the occasional dream bubble floating and bobbing around. We had reached the trial site in the afternoon — no wonder barely anyone was around. Or maybe the significantly decreased density of dream bubbles correlated to our remote location?

I was given no time to analyze this curiosity as Celestia grabbed me with both hooves and pushed herself off into a jump, carrying me with her. We landed a few feet to the side and I was about to ask why she had jumped in the first place when a massive hoof, or something resembling one, came crashing down right where we had been.

“What in the heavens is that thing?” she whispered while we both stared at the giant hoof and then slowly followed the connected leg upwards.

I had a bad feeling about this. This ‘hoof’ did not look right. It was not made of keratin. That leg was not made of hair, skin, flesh, blood and bone. But it was not made of light either. Unlike other dreamscape creatures, this one was a swirling, twirling mass of star constellations, intermingled with colorful shades of nebulae, held together by an unfathomable force of will.

We had almost been crushed by the Tantabus.

“Horseapples.” For a fraction of a second, I was very much confused. I thought I had not said anything. I could still feel myself gawk at the sheer size of this thing with an open mouth. But at the same time, hearing Celestia swear and curse was utterly incomprehensible.

The Tantabus had assumed the general shape of a pony. An alicorn no less. But it was the size of a mountain. And with a swift flick of its horn — or what I assumed to be ‘swift’, given the size of this thing — it created a tear in the dreamscape.

My blood froze upon seeing this. I knew what I saw and I knew what it meant. “Shoot!” It was both a swear on my part as well as a command. I shot a simple energy beam at the creature. With a moment of imagination, I formed it into a net at the last second and tried to encompass the entire creature. I quickly gave up on that and made the net large enough to catch its head. And with the ‘rope’ the energy beam had become held tight over my shoulder, I tried to walk away from the rift, tried to pull the enormous creature away.

Celestia had followed my command and shot the Tantabus as well. A steady, focused beam of light clashed against the creature’s chest and admittedly, her efforts seemed to do a lot more than mine. As far as I could tell, the best I had managed to accomplish was to annoy the thing mildly due to ropes being draped over its face. Then again — the Tantabus was a dreamscape creature. They did not have real faces, real eyes, real muzzles. They did not care about such inconveniences.

“Remember,” I yelled in hopes of Celestia hearing me, “you can imagine anything and force it into being!”

The dreamscape and its mechanics required a certain mental flexibility that did not come naturally to many ponies. Being the mistress of this realm, Luna was of course a master of this. But Luna was not here.

And just like that, it clicked.

I was useless. But judging by the Tantabus being at a standstill: Celestia was not. “Keep it away from the rift, I’ll get help!”

She had just conjured a set of golden armor into being — her formerly used battle armor, I assumed — and looked mildly terrified by the prospect of having to deal with this fight alone, but she nodded anyway. She was aware that we needed more firepower than we had. And she trusted me.

Luckily, I had a lot of friends. And even more lucky for us: The dreamscape was in its beautiful night sky theme already, meaning Luna was asleep and dreamwalking.

Navigation in the dreamscape was a little fiddly. Since everything depended on willpower and the strength of one’s convictions, it was simple enough to find another dreamwalker: I just had to think about them. That was the theory. In practice however, I returned to the scene of the fight twice, because my decision wavered and my thoughts returned to my worries if Celestia would really be able to hold the line.

Only on the third attempt did I gallop straight ahead, away from the fight and barreled straight into Luna shortly thereafter. We both tumbled into a mess of bodies and limbs. She had not seen me coming, which struck me as weird. But then again, it was afternoon. The dreamscape seemed quiet. Her shift was probably boring and uneventful so far. Not that this was any reason to get sloppy.

I considered if maybe, this was not the real dreamscape. It was a possibility after all. The mirror hallway of the other challenge had tricked us into believing we were here as well. But this time felt different. I could tell it was real. It had somehow used my magic to bring us here. And this dreamscape followed all the rules I knew, not like a simple illusion for eyes and ears.

“Luna, we need help!” I half-yelled while I tried to scramble away from her.

She was on her hooves quicker than I managed and in seconds, her armor was on her and her scythe appeared floating behind her. “Explain yourself!” she demanded.

I cringed a little. “Sorry Luna, but we really don’t have much time. There’s a dreamscape creature trying to escape the realm and I don’t know how long Celestia will be able to hold it!”

She recoiled from my short version alone. “You brought my sister here?”

I stumbled for words but ultimately shook my head. “Long story. Help? Please?” It sounded more like me desperately begging her than I would have liked, but I was not about to take anything I had said back. She nodded with grim determination and while she focused on following me, I focused on returning to the battlefield. As soon as we arrived, she stopped and took in the scene before her. Her mouth hung open as she saw the creature. “According to Celestia, that is a—“

“The Tantabus,” Luna cut in and corrected me. I saw her mind race. A few seconds later, she gave me a nod. “We have not faced this creature for a long time. Let us test our mettle.”

And with that, she ran straight ahead and threw her scythe like a boomerang in a wild, wide arc. The blade cleaved through the nebulous stuff the creature was made of, but each slice closed right behind the passing weapon.

Luna took position beside her sister and both exchanged a relieved smile. “’T hast been a while since we stoodeth side by side, sister mine! Thy armor looks… different.”

With a flick of golden glow, Celestia manifested a massive battle axe and threw it in an arc towards the creatures’ chest not, dissimilar to what Luna had done with her scythe previously. “It is quite nostalgic, I will admit,” she replied with a smile before she furrowed her brow and looked down on her armor. “It does?”

Luna grinned and shot a massive beam of moonlight into the creature’s ‘face’. “Forsooth. Allow me to offer thee this: For every decent strike thee lands, I shalt disclose another detail thee remembered wrong!”

I was not sure if making this battle into a competition was such a smart idea, but Luna was well aware of the threat this encounter posed — probably more so than I was. I just hoped she was not taking unnecessary risks out of boredom.

While they reunited and fought at the same time, I tried to focus on pushing the massive beast back as best as I could, but I still felt like this was just not enough. If the Tantabus made it to the rift, it would enter our world. The passage would twist its mind, bend and break it, rip it apart, until only shreds of insanity remained. And then we had a huge problem on our hooves.

Even with Luna herself now leading the charge, we barely managed to push the creature away little by little. And I did not feel like any of that was my contribution. Luna seemed to agree as she addressed me while she swooped by, shooting the Tantabus from several different angles to confuse and annoy it. “We need more,” she told me and already rose higher on unseen and unfelt winds, throwing her scythe right into the Tantabus’ face. Its head split wide open, Celestia shot up in a jump regular physical laws would never have allowed for and brought her battle axe down right in the middle of the split head. She tried to cleave the entire creature in two, a solar lance propping up the already impressive display alongside her axe, but once again the nebulous mass the Tantabus consisted of just reformed after the attack.

It was still a good hit though. And a spectacular sight to behold. Something Luna seemed to agree with. “Thee weareth a medal of honor, sister, but we never hadst any ourselves. We didst not liketh the ceremonies.”

While trying to separate one foreleg from the body’s rest with a horizontal sweep of her axe, Celestia looked down on her armor’s chest and took notice of the medal. “Oh. Right. How silly of me.”

I knew that tone. I was preparing to leave the battlefield once more to gather more allies to our sides. But I had admittedly been loitering a little. Their banter was quite entertaining despite the world-threatening event. A little light-hearted teasing to distract from the severity of the fight. But I recognized that tone in her voice as one of her being caught red-hoofed. I knew that there were times she yearned for more recognition on a more personal level. That subconscious desire had apparently wormed its way into her manifested armor.

“… sister?!” I heard Luna's reply and her own voice indicated the uncertainty she felt towards this revelation.

They would work this out eventually. I tore myself away from the fight again and ran away, just far enough to not get distracted from the scene. My mind raced as I checked names and requirements. I needed more friends to fight alongside, yes. But I could hardly pull just half of Ponyville in here. First off, most of them were hard working ponies that would not be asleep right now. And even if they were asleep, I needed ponies with both vivid imagination and a strong will. Preferably ponies that already knew a thing or two about the dreamscape. And that last criterion especially reduced my list of possible options by a lot.

I first checked our ‘usual’ fighters. I had little hope to find Applejack asleep, and that was only confirmed as a gray, lazily swirling bubble swooped down in front of me when I called for her. I had a little bit more hope for Rainbow, but her dream was gray as well, as usual trailing right behind Applejack's dream. “Shoot. AJ, come on, let the girl nap,” I muttered in frustration as I sent Rainbow’s dream off again. I had little hope to find Twilight asleep and was not surprised when she, too, was apparently wide awake. Rarity was not available either.

Well — two more to go from the inner circle. I stomped my hoof down onto the dreamscape and wordlessly called for Fluttershy’s dream. Despite me having little hope, I was surprised to find her asleep. Maybe she was taking an afternoon nap. But I quickly realized: Fluttershy would have problems entering this fight. None of her other friends were there. And all by her lonesome, with only two Princesses for company… she would be intimidated. It would break her concentration and do little good for our goal.

I needed backup if I wanted to bring her in. Somepony she could cling to.

Or, maybe, somedragon.

I knew that Spike took the occasional afternoon nap as well. Usually when he took a break from his daily chores or when he was already done with them. And he tended to fall asleep with a comic book on his belly. I was not all that surprised to find him asleep now. I stepped closer to his dream, placed my hoof against it and carefully sunk into the bubble.

I came to my senses in a massive cave. Rough, unworked stone surrounded me on all sides, even though I could barely see the ceiling due to how high it was. I was barely able to spot rough patches of the floor as well, since most of it was littered with heaps of gemstones. And comic books, amusingly enough. Not a single bit or piece of gold though.

Spike was resting on the biggest pile of his massive hoard. I saw no entrance, no windows. The mountain-sized dragon dwarfed even his other adult kin over in our real world. And judging by his flaring nostrils and his slowly shifting head, he knew full well that I was here and that I should not be here.

“Who dares so foolishly to intrude upon my domain?” his deep gravelly voice growled. It was strong enough to even make the stone surrounding us vibrate.

Seeing as I had no intention of getting eaten, I quickly manifested a wizard hat on my head and a fancy red cape across my back. I slowly walked towards him, along a narrow passageway leading through the hills of his hoard up to the central mountain. All of this could obviously have been a regular ‘once I grow old enough (or big enough)’-dream. But the way he spoke implied a certain mindset and I wanted this recruitment to be as smooth and quick as possible, so I played along to the best of my ability.

I bowed deep before the almighty dragon. “Greetings from a faraway land, oh Great and Honorable Spike the Brave and Glorious!”

He seemed quite pleased with my groveling show of respect. “You speak well and yet you fail to answer.” There was no haste in his voice just yet. No displeasure or demand. He was merely hinting that he still awaited a name.

A dreaded task, really. When we played Ogres and Oubliettes and I created a new character or NPC, names were usually the last part I did — because it was the hardest thing to come up with. I was searching for something decently believable when I became aware of a sound I had not noticed previously. A sucking and slurping I initially attributed to Spike allowing himself some gemstones, but the unmistakable crunch of his teeth biting down on those was missing. And the direction was off as well.

I raised my head just enough to shoot a glance in the direction of its origin and noticed two lion’s paws half-buried in the gemstone mountain. An eager feline’s tail jerked from side to side. Feathery wings twitched in excitement. And a feathered head bobbed back and forth with unrelenting focus. With Spike lying on his side like he was, and that figure being busy in the general region of his loins…

I quickly refocused my attention back to the patch of floor I was standing on and tried to ignore those sounds as best as I could. A low grumble from Spike himself made me realize that I was still failing my simple task. “M-Mithran—…dir. Mithrandir, oh Great and Honorable Spike the Brave and Glorious!”

It seemed quite ridiculous how hearing the full title he was known as in the Crystal Empire seemed to completely mollify him every time I used it. But I was not about to question small mercies.

“And what brings you to my lair, Mithrandir?” he asked.

“My nation is small and of little note to the wheel of fate,” I started in my best performance yet. “Our neighbors care little about the plight that has befallen us. But a terrible creature rises from the depths below and threatens to tear apart what once was peaceful. We need to act quickly or all shall be lost. I was sent here to beg for your assistance in hopes of your legends being true.”

I heard his massive form shift and a deep, low grunt rumble in his throat. At long last, a satisfied sigh escaped him and I tried not to think about that too much. “Very well. I will grant your request and we shall depart immediately. I assume you have the required magic to take me to your home, Mithrandir?”

“I can assure you I have come well-prepared.” I pretended to cast a spell. Fancy magic runes started to glow above me and him. I had borrowed their design from some cryptic symbols I had spotted in one of Twilight’s formulas once. While he looked up and was distracted, I quickly levitated over to him, touched his neck and pulled the dreamer out of the dream.

We stood in the dreamscape a moment later. I was glad to have escaped his fantasy and even more glad to have my little buddy back. I hugged Spike while he still tried to make sense of his new surroundings. Luckily, he was quick on the uptake and I had droned on and on about the dreamscape to him for ages. So he basically knew about this realm just about anything I knew. How much of that had stuck with him might have been a totally different question though.

“Uhm… why are we here?” he asked tentatively. “Aren’t you supposed to be on vacation or something?”

“I am. And we participated in a trial that brought us here and gave us a massive dreamscape monster to fight. Celestia and Luna are already on the case and they are trying to keep that thing from entering a rift. It wants to escape into our world. You know. Like Celestia’s farmer. Just worse, I think. So I’m making the rounds and recruit whoever I can get. Welcome to the team – ready to fight?”

Considering everything I had dumped in his lap within a few seconds, he took it surprisingly well. A few moments passed with him blankly staring ahead as he processed words and meaning until he pumped his fist into the nonexistent air. “Heck yeah!”

I chuckled. His excitement was a nice breather for my frazzling nerves. “Right. This way, please. Just remember what I told you — imagine it. And then try to force it outside of your head. But for now, just focus on following me.”

He eagerly nodded and kept step with me without issue. It would not take us long to return to the battlefield, but he took that time nonetheless as he remembered the dream we just exited. “So, uhm,” he started while he fidgeted around with his claws, “you, uh… you saw Gabby?”

I grimaced a little, but could not help but smile at the same time. “Mostly her butt. Close enough?”

He audibly gulped and I was just about ready to laugh when he asked in a surprisingly timid voice: “You’re… you’re not going to say anything, are you?”

I was honestly not even sure who he feared I would inform. He had been rather secretive with his relationships for years. We had all speculated about it, of course. Because that was just what friends did. Sticking their noses into the private affairs of their friends. We had suspected that he was in a relationship with one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Or two. Or all three. But now he was dreaming of Gabby. And he was giggling like a love-drunk little colt every time he received a letter from Ember. So I had just given up. If he wanted to share anything, he knew where to find me. I had no overview of his life.

But it seemed to trouble him that I might do something. A tiny part of me wanted to feel offended, but I could understand his fears all too well. I bumped my shoulder into his without missing a beat. “Nah. You’re my buddy, buddy. And buddies stick together, right?”

He grinned as relief washed away his worries. “Right,” he answered and set his face to a determined ‘let’s beat up some bad guys’. Just in time, too. We reached the battlefield and took in the scene for about a second or three. Luna swept across the void, juggling a dozen scythes or so. She sliced and diced away without much progress being made. Celestia had meanwhile changed strategy and tried to keep the Tantabus and the rift apart by placing ‘physical’ obstacles in its path. A massive, golden-glowing brick wall currently concealed the tear.

“You mind helping out?” I asked him again. I knew that it could be an intimidating sight. Two Princesses were already battling this foe. What was he supposed to add? But the dreamscape cared little about age. This realm knew not the implications of time, age and experience.

After reinforcing his determination, he gave a curt nod. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you. And good luck. I’ll be back as fast as I can!” I already turned to leave again. I shot a quick glance back over my shoulder to see him grow back into his massive fantasy-form. The enormous dragon lunged forward and his claws grabbed into the shoulders of the Tantabus. And for the first time since this battle had started, it looked good. He pushed the creature back a good few paces before it started to absorb his claws and wobble around him. He tried to pry his claws free and that became a fight in itself.

More help was better than less help I concluded and refocused my mind.

I returned to Fluttershy’s dream. She was still asleep. “Alright, Shy. Please don’t make this difficult. I really need you.” With a careful touch, I pressed into her dream.

It was so bright that I had to squint. A couple more blinks for good measure and my eyes slowly adjusted to what quickly turned out to be a normal day. The sun was up and bright, a few tufts of cloud hung in the sky and I was surrounded by a massive, but not overly dense broadleaf forest. With barely any underbrush to speak of, I could see a good distance to either side, but I stood on a dirt path that led in both directions for miles. No sign of civilization.

A forest setting was not all that unexpected for one of Fluttershy’s dreams. At least I did not stumble into her fantasizing about Pinkie. That was a good start as far as I was concerned. Then again, I had not found her yet. Maybe they were having their fun in a nearby pond or something.

The task of finding Fluttershy here was daunting. Despite the low density of trees, their canopies were thick and bushy and formed a somewhat closed roof over the entire area. Flying around and searching for her did not seem all that promising.

Maybe I should just—

“Oh,” I voiced in bemusement. “Found her.”

To be fair, it was not particularly hard to find that one tree with yellow bark and pink leaves. Noticing it actually made me chuckle. It was as subtle as I would have expected Rainbow to be. I walked over, leaned against the tree and carefully raised a hoof to knock on its bark. “Hey, Treeshy, I’m searching for Fluttershy. Heard of her?”

It was meant as a tease, but I still stumbled a few steps back when the tree suddenly grew a face on its bark and disturbingly fleshy eyes opened up. “Oh, hello there, sweetie. Did you get lost?”

Sweetie? I furrowed my brow and tentatively nodded. “You’re… a tree. With a face.” I tried to play along with whatever this dream was, but my performance was still a little off-balance from the sudden tree-face and her strange accent and choice of phrasing. It sounded awfully familiar, though…

“Well don’t you worry none, this is just my tree shape,” she explained. “I use it to regenerate when we rest. This way, we have to use less healing potions and spells.”

And with that, it finally clicked. She was in character. She was Buttercup. Her druid character from our Ogres and Oubliettes game. Which was weird, really. That campaign had ended more than a year ago. But she had been awfully fond of Buttercup. She had even drawn her a couple of times.

With this revelation in mind, playing along got considerably easier. “Buttercup? Are you the druid Buttercup?”

Her bark-brows raised. “Why yes I am. You have heard of me?”

“Actually, yeah, I was searching for you. I need your help.” Going for the same angle again might not have been the most original, but then again — it had worked with Spike. Why mess with a formula that had been successful?

“Oh! Well, let me just quickly…” She began her transformation back to her pony form. It was just like Fluttershy used to describe it at the table. Her leaves became a flowing mass and coalesced into two distinct spots while her bark started to smooth out and shrink. It then finally bent to allow for the formation of legs and a head. Her leaves stretched into thinner and thinner strands and became hair in the process until her transformation was done and she opened her eyes again, smiling warmly at me. “Now we can ask the others.”

Right. Others. She had been speaking of ‘we’.

It honestly should not have come as a surprise to me. Where Buttercup was, her team could not have been too far off. They had made camp on the street. I was even somewhat certain that it was very close to the spot I had initially appeared at. But there had been no camp before. Dream logic.

And I saw them all. It was a massive hit of nostalgia. Vortex the Gray, an ambitious unicorn with little regard towards moral limitations. Twilight’s character strived for knowledge and cared little where that knowledge was found. Ulfred One-Swing, Derpy’s barbarian. And of course Commander Storm, Rainbow's pegasus barbarian. It was a scene that could have been ripped straight from my games. Vortex was studying one of her spell books, giving the occasional annoyed grunt when the others got too loud to concentrate. Ulfred and Storm were somewhat quietly hollering some kind of drinking song. While they drank water. Because Vortex had made it perfectly clear how she would deal with them if they were to ever get drunk in her immediate vicinity again. After all, they had spilled hard cider on her book and ruined a spell she had not learned yet last time.

I followed Buttercup closely, and she cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention. Even Vortex’, despite her not looking up from her book.

Even more than a year after the campaign had ended and their stories had been told — here they were. Living, breathing. Adventuring on. They had survived the closing of the book. They had survived the end of the story. And lived on in Fluttershy’s mind and memory. In her dreams and fantasies. It was heart-warming to see.

“This fine young gentlecolt here says he requires our help,” Buttercup said.

I shook myself out of my reverie and stepped up to her side. “My name’s Dreamwalker. I’ve heard of your various, uh… exploits. You are adventurers, right? We could use a band of those. Or two, if I’m being honest. I hail from a small town with a long and troubled history. A forest nearby has been the source of many problems, spouting monsters and dark magic. But it has gotten worse these past years. And we aim to set things right. We are willing to pay, of course. And you’d be lodged in our finest houses, free of charge for meals and drinks.”

I knew I had them all, hook, line and sinker. Vortex’ ears had swiveled around as soon as I had mentioned dark magic. Ulfred cared more about the monsters he would be able to best. And Storm was all too eager to have a good bed and as much food and cider as he cared to stuff himself with. And Buttercup, well. Being the sweet and helpful thing that she was, she would come along just to help. And maybe mediate between ‘my people’ and the forest.

They all exchanged glances of varying lengths and intensities. Their group had never had a real ‘leader’, per se. Who was in charge changed depending on the situation. Magical problem? Follow the lead of the wizard! Something needed a good kicking? The barbarians led into battle. This time though, Buttercup was the one to turn to me. “We will gladly help you. And with the sun still being up, we could make a good few hours, if you’d like?”

I smiled and nodded eagerly. “Thank you, all of you! And yes, I think it would be best if we depart immediately.” I stepped up to her, put my hoof on her shoulder with a warm smile and once again pulled the dreamer out of the dream.

“Eep.”

Now that sounded a lot more like Fluttershy. I turned to her, a warm smile on my lips, and hugged her. “Hey. No reason to be afraid, it’s just me.”

“Dreamwalker? What— why— where—” But her confusion was put on hold, when she was once again entranced with the beauty of this realm. The endless black void, dotted with shimmering and twinkling lights. The occasional dream floated around. It was pretty — even if that word barely scratched the surface.

“You took an afternoon nap?” I guessed, just out of curiosity.

She blushed a little and nodded. “Pinkie said I looked tired, and she would not let me go until I listened to her being very reasonable.”

I tried not to be too loud as I broke out into laughter. “Let me guess,” I wheezed in between, “she didn’t exactly sound very reasonable?”

Fluttershy’s timid smile grew into a small grin as she nodded. “Not at all,” she quietly added.

“Well. She did get you to sleep and I should really thank her for that, I guess. Listen, I need your help and it’s urgent.” With my warning ringing all relevant bells in her head, she straightened a little and nodded, ready to listen intently. “We’ve run into a bit of a problem. A dreamscape creature is trying to escape this realm.”

“A-Again?” she cut in in surprise before she noticed how ‘rude’ her interruption had been.

Before she could start mumbling apologies, I nodded and continued. “Yupp, again. This time, we’re not prepared. We don’t have a party of Elements waiting on the other side. Heck, we don’t even know where it will emerge into our world. Celestia, Luna and Spike are already there. They try to keep it away from the rift, but so far, we are barely managing a standstill. We need you, Shy. I’m going to see if I can get anypony else into the fray, but we need every single helping hoof we can get. Are you in?”

Our fight against the farmer — or rather, their fight — had been more than six years ago. But I assumed that she still remembered a lot of what I had said back then. Because Fluttershy was easily frightened and she usually remembered quite well things that frightened her. World-ending threats especially, because they threatened her beloved critters as well.

Much to my relief, her mind was made up rather fast. She looked around, took in the beauty of the dreamscape once more and smiled at me. “You don’t need Fluttershy,” she said with the same strange accent she used for Buttercup, “you need someone who knows a thing or two about transformations, deary.”

I chuckled. “I guess I could use a druid, sure. Please. This way, follow me.” And she did. She even gave me a little tidbit of information I was eager to use on our way back: Pinkie had been so damn keen on getting her to relax and rest that Fluttershy was pretty sure that she had fallen asleep as well. And bringing Pinkie into any encounter of any kind was usually a guarantee for both chaos and victory.

We reached the battlefield. Luna and Celestia had apparently switched positions. Searing beams of intensely focused sunlight burned bright through the Tantabus’ nebulous body. But again, it closed soon after. Soon. Not immediately. Maybe we were wearing it down?

Spike was stuck in the creature’s back with one claw, hesitant to put the other one against it as well. He swiped with his massive draconic tail against the Tantabus’ legs and indeed managed to part them into separate masses. They reconnected, sure, but until they did, the Tantabus did not move. Luna meanwhile closed the last remnants of a rift that I did not remember — and the Tantabus tore a new one close by within seconds. Which explained the strange position of the last rift. She was closing them, one after the other, with new ones being made constantly.

“Maybe help Spike out?” I asked Fluttershy. She had taken in the situation as well and focused herself on her ‘role’. Within seconds, she grew in size, more and more, until a massive and fierce looking yellow dragon with pink spikes on her back towered over me. She unleashed a primal roar before she lunged forwards and… gave the Tantabus a slight shove.

Well.

According to Fluttershy, Buttercup was a violent brute. According to everyone else, she was a polite and well-mannered druid who rarely resorted to violence. But her involvement was enough to free Spike, who quickly scanned her color scheme, put one and one together and grinned a very toothy grin from ear to ear. “Yes!” he hissed, his forked tongue extending beyond his maw. “Dragon-bros go!”

I chuckled. Luna berated her sister for never admitting that she would have liked some stupid medal and ceremony while she closed yet another rift. The world as we knew it could be ending soon if we failed here. And I chuckled. Because quite honestly, this entire scene was just hilarious in so many ways. It was all just so surreal.

I quickly went through my mental checklist. Derpy, Applejack, Twilight, Rainbow, Rarity – all awake. Pinkie was left. I quickly turned and distanced myself from the battlefield once more and stomped my hoof onto the ground with the last vestiges of my patience slowly running out. Pinkie's dream quickly zoomed close. Fluttershy had been right, her dream was vibrant and pink. Of course it was pink.

“Here goes nothing,” I murmured and entered.

I sighed deeply. I had not been sure what to expect. That was the eternal crux with Pinkie. Expect the unexpected. I was floating in the sky, upside down. Or maybe the entire world was upside down. I had a distinct feeling the latter was true. Whenever I turned over, I felt like falling, but I could not. I just floated about like a Celestia-damned balloon. Above me, I saw a forest not dissimilar to the one I had found Fluttershy in.

A clearing drew my attention. I saw a red and white checkerboard picnic blanket. A basket with two plates, two glasses, two sets of cutleries, a cupcake on each plate and a Pinkie sat on one side. She stared up at me with wide eyes.

“Mind giving me a hoof?” I yelled.

She pulled on an invisible line while she grinned widely and yanked me down bit by bit until I was close enough to the ground that I could almost touch it.

… almost.

“Hiya Dreamwalker!” she greeted me with her usual overload of enthusiasm and energy, “Funny seeing you here! What brings you around?”

I tried once more to force my will to shape this dream. I didn't even try any major changes. I just wanted to stop floating like a balloon! But I ran into a figurative brick wall. Pinkie’s subconscious would not budge on this. I was a balloon and I would stay as such. Fine!

I grumbled a little under my breath.

“Diiidn’t quite catch that,” she said with a grin and leaned in closer.

I inhaled deeply. “I said:” I yelled straight into her ear, before considerably decreasing my volume. “Hey Pinks. Nice to see you. I was just floating by.”

Her head rang a little at first. It literally produced the sound of a kitchen timer. But she giggled madly with her usual exuberance once the ringing stopped. “Oh, that’s great! You can join me for my picnic!”

I looked at the blanket. The two sets of plates. And I noticed a few empty wrappers nearby. Some cupcakes had apparently already met their demise. I had a sneaking suspicion about that, but once again, I wanted to trust her. And for the time being, that meant ignoring the obvious.

After all, being confronted with Pinkie’s very own brand of ‘sanity’ and maybe even finding a kindred spirit in her and on top of that witnessing the kindness Fluttershy used to deal with just about anything and anyone… maybe he would come around eventually.

But with no warning signs present, I was willing to give him a wide berth. To give him time.

“Picnic. Sounds lovely. Thing is though, I could really use your help right now,” I explained.

She just giggled again. “I can see that, yes.”

I sighed and flailed around with my limbs, still helpless. “That’s… not even what I mean. See, there’s a dreamscape creature trying to escape the realm again, and I’m gathering a small army to stop it. It’s a small army because most of my friends are wide awake right now.”

“Ohhh, we’re teaching some meanies some manners again?” she asked with a weird twinkle in her eyes.

“Uh… no? Maybe? Not sure,” I admitted. “These things don’t talk. I’m not even sure they truly understand what they are doing. They are not inherently ‘meanies’ either. But passing over will twist its mind and it will bring a lot of devastation. We’d rather not have to deal with that… right?” For a second. Just a fraction of a second. I was not sure who exactly I was currently talking to. It was the weirdest feeling I had experienced in some time. And I had been through some very weird trials lately. But the moment passed and Pinkie’s smile stretched beyond physical limitations, which for some reason eased my worries, as that was very much the Pinkie I recognized. “I already gathered Celestia, Luna, Spike and Shy, we’re—“

“Shy? As in my Fluttershy?!” she suddenly cut in, her eyes wide. “She’s not—… you can’t—… Dreamwalker! How could you?!”

“Pinkie! I. Need. Help. This is serious, and I need all the help I can get!” I shot right back. “And Fluttershy is not some kind of fragile flower you have to protect from the world. She’s very capable, you know that!”

“Y-Yes, but… it’s still Fluttershy we’re talking about!” she answered.

I reached forward and gave up on any and all attempts to touch the ground. I instead touched her cheek. When she looked at me, I shot her my best reassuring smile. “We’ll stand side by side, like we always do. Right? It’ll be fine.”

She sighed, but her smile bloomed into a small smirk. “Because with a friend by your side, you can overcome any challenge. Yes, I remember. You look really funny, being upside down.”

I felt my own smile widen a little. And since I was still in contact with her, I pulled her out alongside my own retreat from her dream. She stood in the dreamscape and spared it little attention. She instead looked back to her dream with an almost wistful sigh. “Now I’m going to miss the picnic.”

I patted her back a little. “There will be other nights, err, afternoons… and other picnics. Don’t worry.”

She nodded with less conviction than I would have liked, but quickly turned her attention to me. “Alright, lead the way!”

I hesitated briefly. I would have loved to tell her something to perk her up some more. Problem was, I came up empty-hoofed. And a clock was ticking in the back of my head. So I gave her another smile, a curt nod and we walked along the coiling, nonexistent paths of the dreamscape.

We reached the battlefield in time to witness a strange spectacle. Luna was still busy stitching rifts together and Celestia, apparently having been told what to do, was helping her as much as she could. The Tantabus had switched tactics and resorted to opening several rifts at once, which posed a considerable new threat: Instead of just having to worry about the massive creature itself escaping, we now had to worry about random stragglers and other dreamscape creatures slipping through as well.

Meanwhile Spike was using all his bulk to wrestle with a single arm the Tantabus had grown from its back in place of its wing. Fluttershy did the same on the other side, still in her equally impressive dragon form.

With my list of potential allies being at its end, I did not hesitate and ran straight for the Tantabus and fired short bursts of energy at it. Barely a tickle, I assumed, but maybe it would make a difference for the others to make some progress.

Pinkie bounced alongside my advance before skipping to the side and pulled an entire cartography table from out of nowhere. With some crayons in her mouth, she quickly sketched the creature, the rifts, the princesses and the dragons and added a bunch of weird lines and dotted lines and circles until barely anything was recognizable anymore.

“It’s just, you see,” Fluttershy said with a little discomfort being apparent in her voice, “I’m not really a dragon-bro, you see? More like… I don’t know… maybe a dragon—… uh… sis?”

Spike grunted with effort and pushed the Tantabus’ weird back-arm a few paces before he was pushed back in equal measure. “Yeah, but, I’m not a sister, so that wouldn’t work!” he replied.

And their argument made me wonder if they tried to help each other or if they had gone mad.

“Maybe dragon-siblings?” Fluttershy offered with a grunt. “But we are not really related. I already have a brother…” She furrowed her scaly brow before an idea sparked a smile spreading on her lips. “But I wouldn’t mind another one! Especially if it is such a nice one!”

Spike chuckled, despite his exhaustion slowly setting in. “Nice, thanks! But ‘dragon-siblings’ sounds kinda weird, don’t you think?”

“Ahhhh-ha!” Pinkie yelled somewhere behind me. But with all the things going on, I was the only one who seemed to take notice of it. “Got it,” she said to herself before she grinned maniacally. “We just need something bigger.”

And with that, in the blink of an eye, she had grown to, well, ‘something bigger’. Now everyone took notice. And out of her mane, Pinkie pulled the Party Cannon. The thing was massive enough to stuff Spike into it. Everyone braced for impact. Everyone except Luna and I, since the blast would not affect and deafen us if we denied it that much power over us. But we both used shields to keep the heads of the others safe. The important part was that they saw the shields, as once again believing in their protection was more vital than the shield itself.

The blast sent a rumbling thunder across the dreamscape.

And it sent tons — literally — of confetti in the direction of the Tantabus. The load hit the creature straight in the chest and it actually reeled back a few paces. Enough for Spike and Fluttershy to gain some ground. Enough for Celestia and Luna to stitch up the remaining rifts and enter the battle again.

It was this point that I realized a teeny, tiny problem.

What next?

Dreamscape creatures had no constitution as such. They could not succumb to exhaustion. They were creatures of pure will. We, on the other hoof, were not. I already saw signs of fatigue with Spike and Fluttershy. And even Celestia would eventually tire. I had mused about us wearing the creature down earlier and only now did I recognize the futility of such hope.

How did one defeat a cloud monster again?

“I wonder what would happen if I were to go through a rift,” I heard Pinkie muse. And despite knowing that Luna and Celestia had closed all tears, I still quickly, almost frantically, scanned the entire scene in a panic. “Oh well. Another time, maybe. Let’s just make a cupcake out of you!”

I craned my neck to look up and saw her mane wobble around as it formed talons. Just long enough and just distinct enough to give a snap with them. I panicked once more and looked to my other allies, but they were still too distracted with the fight. That is, until the Tantabus was suddenly compressed into the form of a massively oversized cupcake. Still made of the same stuff however and it quickly uncoiled itself again into its former shape. “Aw, no fair!” Pinkie whined.

I started to see another problem though.

If she continued to use these powers this freely, the risk of Celestia noticing it would increase more and more. And I was not willing to find out how she would deal with this situation. I had faith in my love. She would never harm a fly if she did not have to. And that was the point: What if she thought she had to?

Maybe I was just overreacting. But I would not lose a friend today. I stomped my hoof onto the ground and summoned Pinkie’s dream. Without waiting, I reared back to kick the bubble. Once it would pop, Pinkie would wake up. Sure, that would put us at a disadvantage again. But we would hopefully manage without her.

Just as my hooves should have connected with her bubble though, I suddenly yelped and fell to the ground with no contact made. Pinkie was considerably smaller now but still ten times my size and looked at me with curiosity and something I could not quite name. “And what are you doing, hm?” she asked and nudged her own dream away.

“Saving your hide, Pinks! I don’t want to find out what happens when she sees that. Do you?” I vaguely gestured towards Celestia.

We both looked, and noticed Dragonshy staring at us. She said something to Spike who nodded and put extra effort in to hold the reformed Tantabus in place while she came over to us. “I-Is this about D—… h-her d-dapper mane?” she whispered.

Dapper mane. Right.

So she knew.

I squinted again and rubbed the bridge of my muzzle with a hoof. This was getting too much. All of it. I had to deal with the Tantabus and with the world ending and with Spike apparently longing for Gabby and with Pinkie housing and maybe slowly reforming Discord and with Fluttershy apparently knowing that and with everyone bickering and bantering while said world-ending was going on.

It was just too much.

“Shy, Pinkie’s doing a horrible job at keeping her secret and that has me worried. Would you mind terribly if I would wake you two up?” I asked her and already summoned her dream sphere as well and called Pinkie's closer again. She did not interfere this time. She just watched and listened and seemed intent to not upset Fluttershy.

“O-Oh… but what will happen with the battle?” she asked worriedly.

“Well…” Good question, Shy. “I thought I had seen the Tantabus struggle earlier. Maybe we’re wearing it down. I hope so. And I’m pretty sure Luna and I have held back so far, maybe it’s time to put more into this. But I’m very glad you both agreed to help. I just… I don’t want to risk either of you getting into trouble, okay?” Because if that thing made it out of here and into our world, they would not be in trouble at all. My own logic was quite frankly baffling me at times. But such was the nature of extreme situations, I assumed. It had a nasty tendency to twist perspectives. What seemed like a good idea one minute was a terrible one the next.

“Well, maybe you could ask it again to please stop fighting?” she suggested.

I chuckled dryly. “If only they could talk,” I replied. And I had not expected to suddenly be subjected to a very, very stern stare from her.

“What do you mean?! You have not asked?” There was a firmness in her voice that painted a stark contrast to her usual tenderness. A tone she usually used before staring some critter down.

“W-Well, they don’t—” Don’t. Don’t what? I reached, grasped for words, but they failed me. Everything cowered under her gaze.

“You have some making up to do, mister!” she insisted and pointed a hoof at the creature. “I will take Pinkie away from here because you are right to be worried about that. But you will talk to that creature!”

“Fluttershy!” I half-whined. That's not how it works! “It’s a smoke monster, it’s just… weird mist and… stuff…”

“I’m a pegasus,” she shot straight back. “I have weird wings instead of a horn. I look different than you. So?”

I cringed hard. The Tantabus had shown signs of intelligence. Most of the dreamscape creatures were intelligent. That did not mean they were friendly. Or that communication was even possible. And the language barrier might actually have been the smaller hurdle on that road.

But a part of me knew that she was right. This ‘Tantabus’, whatever it was, was different. Different from all the other dreamscape creatures I had seen so far. Different from all I knew, even my various memories of other cycles included.

“Fine, I’ll go talk to it,” I relented.

Only then did she give a nod and her features melted into a warm smile. “Don’t worry. I am sure you will be fine. I don’t think we actually ever really hurt it. I am not even sure it feels pain. Just be friendly.”

I nodded like a good little colt and her smile persisted. Pinkie had meanwhile shrunk down to her regular pony size and stepped up to Fluttershy’s side. Fluttershy immediately draped her wing over Pinkie’s back. And as I looked at them, at their familiarity with each other, I had to ask myself how I had never suspected that Fluttershy knew. Their relationship probably had a very weird and quirky dynamic, I mused. Something I might talk to them about later. Or not.

“Thank you,” I repeated once more.

Pinkie shot me an apologetic smile. “Sorry I got a little carried away. Good luck with your monster of the week!”

And with that, they both kicked back and with their dream bubbles bursting, they simply ceased to be.

I turned back to the ‘battlefield’. The Tantabus had managed to gain some ground against Spike again who was straining to keep it in check. It had also opened a new rift which Luna was busy stitching shut again. And Celestia tried to contain it by blocking its path with manifested walls of golden light.

I had to wonder though. This creature was enormous. But it had chosen. It had chosen that size and that form. Had it not? If there truly was only one Tantabus — something Luna had strongly implied —, then I had seen this creature in the secret room Celestia had immolated. It had apparently survived. And somehow found its way back here? Or maybe the temple trial had revived it. There was a lot I did not know or understand. But the creature I had seen in that secret room had been tiny. A hoofful, maybe.

I rubbed the bridge of my muzzle again. With Fluttershy gone, I had a lot less faith in her plan. If one were to actually call it that. But hey, listening to friends — those more experienced with their own ‘monsters of the week’ especially — was a virtue, right?

“Celestia, fall back and help Luna with any and all rifts. Spike, let go of it!” I ordered them. While Celestia had no issue with that first part, they all took umbrage with the second one. For obvious reasons. “I’m going to try to talk to it. Fluttershy's idea.” A moment of hesitation followed before they agreed to give it a shot.

Why in all of Tartarus had I phrased it like that, though? I am going to talk to it? It would have been a lot better to let Celestia do the talking. She was the born diplomat after all. But then again, Luna and her had proven capable of closing multiple rifts fast — something I did not know how to do at all. Right now, I was the most useless part of this battlefield. Might as well try to make myself more useful.

I stepped closer to the massive, giant beast before me and had to raise my head straight up to even see its head. “Hey! Tantabus! Down here! I, uh… would like to… talk?” With each and every word, I felt less confident and more ridiculous.

The Tantabus retracted its weird back legs and reformed them into neatly folded alicorn wings the very moment Spike stopped his assault. It had started to slowly advance towards the rift again. Rifts rather, as they were closed as quickly as it managed to open them.

Once I had yelled my invitation, there was a noticeable change though. I found it hard to believe, but the creature stopped. It stopped walking. It stopped tearing new rifts into the fabric of this reality. And after a moment, its entire body mass started to wobble and contort, until it shrank down. Further and further and it only stopped once it was as large as I was. And in a weird way, it seemed to mimic me. A boarder chin. No wings on its back. Shorter, messier hair.

Hey, come on, my hair’s not that disheveled!

I bit down on my tongue. The last thing we needed right now was to sabotage our newfound diplomatic option with a disgruntled, snarky comment. I instead took a deep breath and prayed to… well actually, Celestia was right there. I briefly looked over to her and despite my deepest, strongest wish for her to take over, she instead gave me an encouraging nod. It’ll have to do. “Do you understand me?” I asked.

And the Tantabus gave a curt nod.

I honestly would have loved to groan at that point. We had battled this thing for what felt like a really long time. And I had required Fluttershy to basically shove my sorry ass over here to even attempt talking. That was a pathetic display, all in itself. And of course it would have been Fluttershy who rectified this. Element of Kindness and all that. She was just all around a nice pony.

That nod alone obviously implied a lot. It understood our language. It knew and understood basic gestures. It had an understanding of size and anatomy. Since everything within the dreamscape was just thought and will and the manifestation thereof, I assumed the obvious source was the one it had used: dreamers.

Though without knowing which dreamers specifically it had gleaned its knowledge from, that was of little use. A blank slate of a mind that learned from a hostile creature would surely produce a different mindset than one that had learned from a friendly one. And things got even more complex once multiple sources were considered. I could not hope to grasp how much this thing knew or understood. How old it was, or how powerful.

And as such, I clung to Fluttershy’s advice, as laughable as it seemed to me. Be friendly.

“Did we hurt you? Are you in pain? If so, maybe we can help you.” I had no idea if we could. But offering that much was important, I felt. Because without the added offer, those questions could easily have been misinterpreted.

The Tantabus slowly moved its head to the left, then to the right, before centering it again. The barest minimum of a head shake. Fair enough. “Do you understand that we tried to stop you from passing through those rifts?” A nod. “Do you understand why?” A head shake.

And that was a problem.

I slowly started to realize that this thing had never truly fought us. Not really. Not with full force. It was probably capable of a lot more than just the little things we had seen. We had inconvenienced it. Heck, maybe it had slowed down on its own accord, hoped for this exact scenario that was unfolding right now, hoped for some explanation as to why we were so insistent on stopping it.

That did not help my dilemma, however. “Do you know what ‘sanity’ is?” Another head shake. Marvelous. “Do you know what a wound is?” A nod. Maybe that was a viable angle. “Do you know the difference between body and mind?” It honestly all came down to this anyway, did it not? In the dreamscape, everything was thought. A body was a direct product of thought and with little consequence.

To my surprise… it nodded. It took its merry time to do so, but after a while, it nodded. Probably something it had only a vague grasp on, due to having read enough memories and fantasies of various dreamers. At least that was the hypothesis I was currently basing my work on. “You are familiar with wounds of the body, then?” Another nod. Still a little hesitant, but less so than with the previous question. A single filly running down a dirt path and tumbling to scrape its knee was enough to understand that much, I presumed. “You are a mind. We are body and mind. The body carries the mind. Protects it. Holds it. Like a vessel. A body can be damaged. A mind can be damaged as well. A mind can suffer wounds. Can you understand that?”

There was a strange ripple effect going on. The surface of its body shuddered and twitched, without the Tantabus losing its form. It was a weird spectacle. The effect ultimately stopped once it nodded again after some time had passed. “We tried to protect ourselves. And you. When you go through a rift, your mind takes wounds. A lot. Many cease to be because of that. The few that make it across have many wounds of mind. And they start lashing out. Causing wounds to others. Ending their existences. Do you understand that?”

I felt like an idiot. I constantly asked if it understood, twice and thrice over. Maybe it understood all of these things a lot better than I did. Who knew how old this thing was. And here I was and talked to it like I was explaining the hot stove to a foal.

It nodded and I tried to trudge through despite my feelings. “Do you understand that we had to stop you?” It nodded again. It was the first time that I allowed myself a sigh of relief. We were not done just yet. Not by a long shot. But knowing it did not begrudge us our intentions and actions was worth a lot already.

The question arose, though: How to proceed from here?

The first step was still simple enough. I just had to use a question it could answer easily. Preferably with a nod or head shake. But try as I might, I could not come up with such a question. In my rising frustration, I just asked anyway. “What do you want in our world? Why did you even try to cross over?”

There was this weird ripple effect again. But this time, it was stronger. More pronounced. Like waves on a beach, mimicking the tides. It produced some ungodly sounds, a violent screech that made all of us flinch back because of the intense volume and the sound’s nature itself. It quickly modulated this noise into something quieter, bearable, before switching a lot of other components. After what felt like a very uncomfortable but thankfully brief timespan, it spoke. In my own voice, eerily enough. “Knowledge.”

Well, that was not as surprising as I had expected. Most dreamscape creatures that tried to cross over got curious about the stuff they saw in the dreams they fed on. Assuming this was a similar case was not hard to do. “So you wanted to learn more about our world.” It nodded. It apparently only resorted to producing sound when strictly necessary. “With the new information I gave you — what the crossing will do to you — you realize that this is not possible, right?”

I was surprised when Luna spoke up at that point. She stepped forward with a heavy sigh. “It can, actually. It knows how to protect itself.”

I didn't even try to hide it this time. I groaned and slowly turned in her direction. She knew this thing. She knew what its name was. And she apparently knew what it was capable of. I would have to dig into that at some point. To see how deep this connection really went. Had she created it? Found it? Nurtured it? Was Luna the source of its understanding of our world? Was the Tantabus what the nameless farmer had been to Celestia? Goddess knew, I was fed up with secrets and revelations for one day.

At least Luna had the decency to lower her head and avoid my gaze. I felt like I might have growled at her like a displeased dog or something, otherwise. So I turned my attention back to the Tantabus and took note of that ‘we’ll talk about this later!’-look Celestia shot her little sister.

“You have been in our world before, right?” I asked. Just to make sure that yes, that thing under the small enchanted glass dome in the secret room had indeed been the same Tantabus we were negotiating with right now. And it confirmed as much with another nod. Great. Just great. And Celestia burned it to a crisp. Well. Considering what exactly my love had done, I had no explanation for what was standing right in front of me. How the Tantabus had survived and managed to get back to the dreamscape was beyond me.

And I resorted to telling myself that it did not matter right now.

“Are you hostile?” I asked. And it slightly tilted its head. That was new. Maybe it didn't quite understand yet. A single word could mean all the difference between a clear understanding and some misguided assumptions. “Do you wish to inflict wounds on others?” I rephrased and fell back on familiar words. It shook its head this time. “Right. Progress. Marvelous.” I rubbed the bridge of my muzzle. I started to feel strangely tired. “We can’t just let you run around our world without supervision, that’s just an invitation for disaster,” I mumbled more to myself than anypony else, “But it’s quite obvious that we can’t keep you in here against your own will either. And really, we shouldn’t try to, knowing what we do know now. You’re not our prisoner after all. Sheesh, what a mess. So… maybe we could put you in a guest room in the palace for now? Or… would Zecora terribly mind a roommate? Yeah. Yeah, she probably would. And nopony would ever forgive me if you learn her rhyming and do that all the time, just like her.”

I snapped out of my loud thinking when Spike cleared his throat, unexpectedly close to me. My head spun around almost painfully and I found him standing right beside me, back to his normal size. “So, uh… if I got this right, you’re basically looking for a place to dump a very curious stranger that needs supervision by a super-powerful being with a lot of spare time and a will to teach, right?”

I immediately knew what he was talking about. And I really, really did not like it. He probably realized as much as I grimaced, judging by his lopsided, apologetic smile. But he did not take back what he had implied. Simply because it was the best solution we had. He knew that. And despite my misgivings, I knew it as well. “And I suddenly feel like my hypothetical Zecora,” I mumbled. I fell silent for a short while and mulled things over. Sending this strange ‘visitor’ to the Crystal Empire? Out of the question. Neither Cadance nor Shining had the time to foalsit something that did not even understand basic concepts of the material realm. Celestia was way too busy as well. As was her sister. And the castle staff… well. They would freak out as soon as they saw that thi—

The Tantabus.

I should probably stop calling it a thing.

Ponyville on the other hoof was used to weirdness. Just last month, ponies were going about their daily business unhindered and unperturbed. Despite another parasprite invasion taking place. There had been a period wherein the town got rebuilt almost once per month. Ponyvillians had a certain reputation within Equestria by now. Oh they still very much panicked at every occasion if it was ‘required’, but it had become more of a weird hobby, so to speak?

And Twilight would delight in this. I knew it. Without asking her. Without being able to see the future. I knew it. An opportunity to learn about this creature and its way of thinking, its way of perceiving the world. What it could tell her about its origins. About its history. About the dreams it had seen. And Twilight would have a student of sorts. Someone she could pump so much knowledge into as her library and own head could hold. And more, probably. I had no idea how intelligent the Tantabus was. If it would even prove to be a good student at all. But Twilight would love to find out.

Maybe there was a tiny part of me caught up in a web of preemptive jealousy. A student meant responsibilities. It meant less time for me.

Everypony stared at me, Tantabus included. I had known for some time but only now did it grow more and more uncomfortable. “Alright, fine. Spike, I’m going to wake you up. Could you deliver—… err… could you… just tell Twilight what the heck happened here?” I half-turned towards the Tantabus. “You will have to wait here for a while. It won’t take long, I think. But we must organize your arrival first. Are you willing to wait until we come and get you?” Once more, its surface rippled. I started to think of it as a humming, like somepony deep in thought might hum to himself. It nodded after a brief moment. “Alright. Good. Spike, you, uh…”

He chuckled and patted my shoulder. “I got it.” His encouraging smile was more than welcome right now. I leaned over and nuzzled him despite his protests that ‘there are ponies watching’. And after that, I summoned his dream and popped it. He was gone, back to the waking world.

Which left four of us.

I looked over to Luna and while there was still a rumble in my throat that wanted to be heard by her, I instead resorted to walk over and hug her. “I have no idea what this creature is to you,” I whispered. “And I hope that maybe, one day, you will trust me enough to tell me. Until then, I think I shan’t press you about it. I hope your rest continues to be less doomsday-like and more relaxing. We’ll see each other in a few hours.” I felt her nod and brushed my neck along hers as I withdrew from her. She did not let me get far though as she suddenly extended her wing as a privacy shield of sorts to spare her sister and kissed me.

I felt myself smile into the kiss and leaned in just a little. “Thank you,” she whispered after she pulled back.

I was not entirely sure what exactly she was thanking me for, but that mattered little to me right now. I just lunged a short distance forward, pecked her on the cheek and elicited a giggle from her. With that done, I trotted over to Celestia’s side and faced the Tantabus again. “Remember. We will come to get you. Please, please, please. Do not cross over on your own.” It nodded. Despite my frustration with the simplicity of the gesture, I knew that this was as good as it would get.

Be friendly, she said. You’ll be fine, she said. I was putting a lot of burden on Fluttershy’s advice.

I looked over to Celestia. She still regarded the Tantabus with a hard to decipher mixture of emotions. “Are you—“

I was promptly cut off when a blinding light flashed through the dreamscape. And we suddenly stood in a jungle ruin. “… ready?” I finished and rapidly blinked in hopes of getting rid of all these stars dancing in my vision. Celestia stood before the pedestal, right beside me, and she stood firm and proud. But I noticed a little quaver in her legs. “Are you alright, love?”

Instead of answering, she slowly craned her neck to look at the entrance. “Could you get our saddlebags, please?” I levitated them over with no problem, but when I tried to put hers on her back, she grimaced slightly. Without a word required, I took them upon my own back as well. It was heavy, but bearable. With another flick of magic, I put the waiting key in my saddlebag as well. “I should have enough to bring us back to camp,” she revealed, “but I should refrain from using too much magic for today after that if we truly wish to get back home tomorrow.” She draped her wing over me and before I could properly respond, her horn charged with a last surge of magic.

We blinked in and out of existence and with a bright light and a wave of heat that did not even matter in this jungle climate, we arrived at our destination. The tremors in her legs immediately got worse. “Shoot,” I managed to curse before I threw the saddlebags off and leaned heavily against her to hold her upright. “Sunny, goodness, don’t do that… I didn’t know you overexerted yourself like that!” We carefully balanced each other into the tent and I navigated her to the bed where she unceremoniously let herself fall to the side, right onto it.

“Sun above, I have not been this tired in a long, long while,” she murmured.

“You haven’t fought in a long while either. And under such weird circumstances,” I remarked and quickly went outside to fetch our saddlebags. Once back inside, I rummaged through them to retrieve the Neverend bottle. I went back over to her, opened it and just put it to her lips. “Drink.” And so she did. Once she stopped, I removed the bottle, closed it again and sat down on my haunches in front of the bed. I could not help but worry about her. I could not remember a single instance in which I had ever seen her spent. Not like this. Post orgasm fatigue, sure. Tired after a long, grueling day of paperwork and stubborn nobles, yes. But this, this was new. And as with all new things, it troubled my mind.

“You look at me like I am about to die,” she said with a ghost of a smile.

“Are you?” I asked in return. And even to my own ears, it sounded more serious than I had intended.

“Probably not,” she replied with a jest of her own. “Though if I were… I would feel better having you closer than this.”

There had been a bunch of plans in the back of my head for our return. What we could do. How we could spend the rest of our day here. Another nice, long bath. Some fooling around, maybe. Another meal, prepared together. Another night watching the sunset, and the moonrise, and the stars twinkle overhead. Less romantic and more mundane steps had been part of this, too. Washing the sweat and grime off of me before even so much as touching Rarity’s bed sheets, for example.

But her request could not have been clearer and right now, I did not care enough. Rarity’s bed sheets would have to endure. I stood back up, finally noticed my own legs being a bit less stable than I was used to and crawled into bed behind her. The small pony, being the big spoon. It still amused me to this day. We switched roles according to mood and necessity, of course. And I was exactly where I belonged right now. I kissed her neck and smiled as she replied with an appreciative sigh.

It took probably less than a minute and she was fast asleep. As far as I was aware, sleeping was like a universal remedy for an alicorn. The ultimate cure-all. Got poisoned? Sleep it off. Got stabbed? Sleep it off. Exhausted yourself magically? Sleep it off.

I knew that she was more or less indestructible to a certain extent. She did not need me to be here, to lie right behind her and hold her with such care as if she were a little filly. But I liked to think that she liked that. And with that, no force of this world would get me away from this spot, I decided.

That was considerably easier done once I fell asleep myself. Which unsurprisingly did not even take me all that long.